Blood tax

Chapter 224
Professor Bell's record is chilling.What is even more frightening is that Sonia's divination - "safe food" will point here.

Looking at the severely damaged corpses and the separated piles of flesh and blood, everyone had somewhat confused and crazy thoughts—could this be food for Sonia?

"Let's go down and look for it." The fortune-teller himself didn't think there was any problem at all. "Look, there are bloodstains and scattered debris left on the stone steps. There may be something edible living underneath."

Both Griffith and Lana were panicking with hunger. Powerful Beyonders like them needed more food to maintain their actions and combat effectiveness.Considering that there is really no better idea, everyone is in desperate need of food, and continuing to explore the tunnel has become the only option.

Equally remarkable, the professor himself was not among the wreckage.Although he is not as powerful as the professor at Homemonwerts, he is probably also an Extraordinary with certain combat power.

"Let's go, I'm the rear," Lana nodded, "Professor Bell's expedition team should also bring dogs and mules, who knows~"

……

This long tunnel extends obliquely downward of the pyramid. The ancient stone steps are clean without leaving any traces. There are some luminous minerals and mushrooms in the toppled stone walls on both sides, shining a long blue light in the dark.

I don't know if the mushrooms are edible.Griffith walked ahead holding a shield with a big hole in it, holding the mace "Meteor" in his hand.

Galadia closely followed his footsteps with her bow and arrow half-opened, her vigilant gaze swept over corners and shadows in caves from time to time.Everyone was quiet and nervous, wary of the man-eating monster that would jump out of the darkness at some point.

"Listen, the sound of water? An underground river?" Galadia suddenly said softly, "There is a dark river ahead."

Soon, everyone came to the end of the stone steps.Here is a huge cave, with a dark river running through the tapered stalactite pillars.Sonia cast a lighting technique to light up here.

The wide cave was filled with light, and the strange and rugged rocks cast ferocious black shadows, and shadows swimming appeared in the river water.

"Ha, there are fish here!?" Lana whispered excitedly, and was ready to catch it.He took a step towards the river, and suddenly there was a creaking sound under the iron boots.

"Griffith," Sonia exclaimed in a low voice, "there are some fish bones and shells on the ground, and these bones don't last long!"

"Back to the passage!" Galadia shouted hurriedly almost at the same time.

The last remnants of this civilization hid in this temple while escaping from monsters, and survived for a while on the food brought by the groundwater.

Before the words were finished, swaying shadows emerged from behind the stone pillar, and surrounded them silently like cockroaches.They have been lurking around for a long time, and their quiet breath is actually integrated with stalactites, cave plants, and darkness, without revealing the slightest breath, and even the keen elves have not noticed their existence.

Griffith and Lana retreated on the stairs where they kept the others in the middle.However, many spider-like crawling creatures appeared on the stone wall above the exit of the stairs, falling down one after another to block it.

There are more than 200 creatures lurking in the darkness, and they are quickly surrounded from all directions.They appeared in the light armed with spears, axes, and various weapons.These creatures have a humanoid physique, with sharp canine teeth at the corners of their mouths, pointed and long ears, slender torsos and limbs, and dark green or bronze skin.They use colorful oil paints to paint patterns and patterns on their bodies, wear clothes made of vines and leather, and move swiftly and steadily.

This is a bunch of trolls!
Griffith and Lana clenched their weapons tightly, fighting intent and murderous aura surged in their chests, their sharp eyes patrolling the dense crowd of trolls, ready to tear them apart.

"Wait, Griffith, they may be the remnants of Belomon," Sonia shouted hastily, "Let's communicate first, we should be able to communicate!"

As she swung her wand, arcane light enveloped her.Sonia chanted a brief incantation, and spoke a few indecipherable words aloud to the trolls approaching from all directions.

She was answered with a barrage of spears.

Galadia immediately activated the spell, gathering an invisible gust of wind in front of everyone as a barrier to block the raindrops of spears.The others hurriedly retreated to a conveniently hidden corner, ready to fight.

A troll with a huge square mask on his head came out from his tribe. He stared at the human beings huddled in a corner, and the words under the mask were so weird that people couldn't understand.

"He is the elder of the clan, and he said that we are all bugs, and we should be nailed to the wall or used as sacrifices." Sonia was translating for everyone while preparing a new round of spells, "He spoke the language of ancient trolls, I will activate a communication spell for you, which can translate the dialogue, it is not very accurate, but it is barely usable."

The brilliance of the arcane immediately descended on everyone.Griffith suddenly understood the troll's words, as easy to understand as the lingua franca of human beings.

"Use you as the millstones of the warriors." The troll elder said.

"What's the use of translation!" Galadia yelled, "Don't you just want to kill us?"

"If we can communicate, we may be able to negotiate," Sonia actually began to rummage through her backpack under the rain of guns, and found a book, "Yes, you see, in the ancient troll civilization, there is a legend called 'Na' Zac's ritual, outsiders may propose an honorable and sacred duel."

"Nazak, Nazak!" Before Galadia could explain Nazak's rules in detail, Griffith and Lana shouted.

The trolls drowned out their voices with ever-increasing hurls of spears.

"I'm sorry, it's really useless..." Sonia covered her face with a book.

"It's not necessarily useless. I haven't seen any trees along the way. It's impossible for them to throw a lot of spears." Griffith pointed to the spears that fell on the ground. opportunities can be found.”

The two sides are at a stalemate like this.Sure enough, not long after, the rain of spear throwing became rare.Suddenly, a few trolls who besieged them ran towards this side with their bare hands.

"Don't let them recover their weapons!" Griffith yelled, "I'll go first, Lana, you cover everyone."

As soon as the words fell, he rushed towards the enemy, pulled out the mace and smashed it down at an enemy.

The troll who was hit let out a scream, but clung to the hammer tightly and refused to let go.The few fellow clansmen around him stopped picking up the spears, and pulled out a small black knife, howling and rushing forward.

Griffith drew his "boning" dagger and stabbed a troll warrior in the jaw.Immediately, two grabbed his arms and stabbed him in the waist with a short knife.

"Bah!"

The black dagger made of unknown stone smashed away on the ice armor. Griffith twisted his hands, smashed their heads together, and smashed the head of another troll who had just rushed up with his elbow.

The subterranean cave suddenly became the scene of a scuffle.Griffith thrashed like a big bear rounded by wolves, grabbing troll after troll and knocking them to the ground.These creatures rushed up and besieged him one after another, and then one after another, their arms were broken and their cheeks were smashed.But they became more and more courageous as they fought, and more of the same tribe who watched the battle rushed over to join the battle group.

"Griffith, come back quickly!" Sonia saw her contracted knight surrounded by swarming enemies like a candy bar attracting ants, and immediately began to arrange dust crystals and magic circles, preparing to launch a large-scale attack Spells deal with these enemies.

"Slow!" Galadia hurriedly pressed her hand, hesitated for a moment, and then said with certainty, "Don't worry."

A rolling ball of meat appeared in the cave, and many hands and heads rose one after another.Suddenly, a powerful energy surged in the meat ball, and with a loud noise, the troll warrior flew out in a radial pattern in all directions.

The icy airflow, shattered ice, severed arms, and blood splashed everywhere.Griffith's streamer shield exploded amidst the dense attacks, knocking all the trolls to the ground.

The chaotic cave suddenly fell silent, and the carnival-like shouts were subdued by low moans.

Griffith wiped the corners of his mouth, picked up a troll crawling at his feet and threw it aside.His gaze swept across the crowd of troll clans, and he said coldly in a language they could understand: "Next."

Gradually, the troll began to emit rhythmic low voices, eerie, mysterious and majestic.The other trolls began to echo, and beat the ground with their weapons rhythmically, making a rumbling cry:

"Nazak, Nazak!"

Elders wearing huge wooden masks stood out and shouted majestically at Griffith:
"Outsider, you already have the qualifications to challenge our warriors. You will be hung on the highest cliff to dry and become our food reserve. Your shriveled head will be hung on the wall of the warrior hall. Your maiden will Be an offering to the son of Domon."

very good!Griffith turned to look at Lana.The latter carried Xialong's double swords on his back, retreated tacitly between the stone pillars, sneaked into the darkness and acted quietly.

"Send out our warriors." The troll elder raised his arms and shouted.

The rumble of war drums echoed in the darkness, and the silent remnants began to growl with a unified and forceful voice.The soul-stirring and neat roar seemed to have some kind of magical power, awakening the most cruel and bloody desires in human nature.

"Nazak, Nazak!"

"This is the Sacrifice of Nazak, a blood sacrifice ritual that exists in the legend," Sonia said softly. "The two sides in the war each send their warriors to take turns to fight until the last person is killed. The winner will have everything."

The version I heard is not like this... Griffith recalled the countess' promotion ceremony where even the light cavalry and spears joined the battle, and felt that Sonia's statement was very unreliable.

　There will be another chapter in a while.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)