Lord Highlander

   Chapter 922 908. The dead world tree

  After the army walked out of the poisonous swamp, Suldak let the large army rest in place and prepared to march towards the Dark Worm Valley.

  Here has already entered the sphere of influence of the ghost-striped red ants.

   At this time, every step forward, Suldak asked the scouts to go ahead to explore the way.

  The scouts who had just been sent out brought bad news to Suldak not long after they walked out.

The scouts led Suldak over the **** at the edge of the poisonous swamp, and what came into view was a large lake that could not be seen at a glance. Suldak got on his horse and rode to the lake. It's just a thin layer of ice, and it will take at least a month for the lake to completely freeze.

  There are several giant arched stone bridges on the Great Lakes, and the shape of these stone bridges is very exaggerated.

   It looks like the dead roots of a giant tree are exposed to the ground, but the bridge decks are all round.

The thickness of these stone bridges is also very uneven. Some stone bridges are tens of meters wide, and only two or three meters narrow. The middle is high, the sides are low, and the **** becomes steeper towards the edge.

   Only by standing in the middle of the stone bridge can you pass safely...

  Once standing too close to the edge, it is easy to lose balance and fall into the lake.

At this time, the lake has been covered with ice, and the water temperature should be close to zero. Ordinary soldiers will lose their temperature quickly if they fall into the lake. It may not be easy to swim out of the lake. What kind of underwater monster.

Although this kind of steep bridge deck is a great challenge for humans, war horses and armed thunder rhinos, it is not difficult for these ghost-striped red ants. They have six powerful legs and can walk three hundred Sixty degrees climb.

   Moreover, this kind of stone bridge across the lake actually stretches from the north. It is not clear how many meters the span of these stone bridges is for the time being.

  Ghost-striped red ants can be seen everywhere on the stone bridge. Surdak didn't expect that these ghost-striped red ants would even know how to retreat to the stone bridge.

  Suldak just walked around the lake, then rode back.

  This is the territory of the ghost-striped red ants, and it is blocked by poisonous fog all the year round, so it is usually inaccessible.

Among the grassland and shrubs by the lake, some primary magical herbs such as silver-leaf grass, kudzu root, and pit grass can be seen everywhere. Suldak immediately realized the value of this grassland, and quickly waved to the cavalry behind him to let him Call some people over.

  The cavalry quickly turned their horses and left, and soon a large group of people came.

Suldak selected those with collecting experience from these cavalry, and asked them to take advantage of the ghost-striped red ants retreating to the gap of the stone bridge to quickly collect all the magic herbs here, and wait for the adventure group and mercenary group They all walked out of the swamp and followed, I am afraid this is where all parties compete.

The cavalry came here on horseback, much faster than Samira and the archers. When Samira arrived at the lake, she saw magic herbs everywhere on the grass in front of her, and quickly called her archers to grab the bushes with the most herbs. Forest.

  Now the magic herbs of the Grimm Empire are worth more than gold. At this time, no matter what kind of magic herbs are in the market, they are hard currency.

It's just that magic herbs eat land resources very much, probably because they need to absorb the surrounding elements continuously during the growth period. They can't grow in large patches, and there are only one or two trees in an area. Give these resources to the archers.

   This kind of silently making a fortune only lasted until dark, when Andrew's cavalry outpost encountered a large group of ghost pattern soldier ants in the distance, and then quickly retreated.

At this moment, the allied forces of the adventure group and the mercenary group following behind have also come out of the poisonous swamp. They almost stepped on the muddy water, digging the thousand-legged poisonous insects along the way. This group of people ventured here just to make a fortune. Come on, these millipede poisonous insects are a fortune for them.

  When they walked out of the poisonous swamp and came to the side of the big lake covered with thin ice, they immediately found traces of collecting on the grass.

  These adventure groups were completely crazy. They were like a group of gadflies smelling blood, and rushed into the grass with a bang. They didn't even care about the darkness of the sky, and searched for magic herbs farther along the grass by the river.

   Even ignored the kind reminder of the cavalry sent by Suldak.

  It may also be that they don't have the same panic about these ghost-striped red ants before, so they are so unscrupulous.

   Who let the magic herbs on the nearby grassland be plucked by the soldiers of Lord Suldak, what else can they say except to find magic herbs in the grassland by the lake farther away?

  The temporary camp has been set up, and the marching tents are closely connected, and groups of soldiers are walking around the camp.

  These patrolling soldiers stared at the arched stone bridge not far away, for fear that a group of ghost pattern soldier ants would suddenly rush out from the stone bridge and attack the camp. They had experienced the beast tide, so they naturally knew the power of this swarm of red ants.

  In the past, when fighting ghost-striped red ants, everyone relied on the north city wall to block them and occupy this position.

  Now Andrew and his cavalry can deal with these ghost-striped red ants in the wilderness.

  But ordinary soldiers still couldn't stop the impact of the ghost pattern red ants.

Armed Thunder Rhino also brought the bed crossbows and catapults that they ordered this time. Aung San’s younger brother Tu La is now the captain of the ordnance maintenance team. He didn't do it, and directly led his men to start assembling the bed crossbow.

   Underneath this bed crossbow is the chassis of the four-wheeled carriage. This four-wheeled base with magic axles has an extra-reinforced structure and looks very bulky.

  If there are no horses to pull it, at least six people are needed to push it away, and the road surface should not be too bad.

  The bed crossbows that had just been assembled were all pushed onto the soil slope, pointing at the stone bridge by the lake several hundred meters away.

  …

Suldak's dinner was very rich. In addition to toasted wheat cakes and broth, there were also half-grilled millipedes. The meat of this barbecue was indeed very, very tender, but the poor appearance made Suldak have no appetite. .

  A magic circle lighted up inside the marching tent, and Aphrodite walked out from the void gate.

   "You came just in time, I just happened to have something to show you..." Suldak sat on the chair and wiped his mouth, then left the tent with Aphrodite.

  The two walked directly up the slope, where a group of bed crossbow maintenance workers led by Latu were assembling these bed crossbows overnight.

  Suldak pointed to the stone bridge hidden in the distance in the night, and asked Aphrodite, "Do you know what those are? They can't really be some natural stone arch bridges, right?"

  Aphrodite turned her head to look at Suldak with a speechless face, but then she observed carefully.

  The great lake under the starry sky is like a bright mirror, and also like a huge gem. The shimmer reflected from the lake surface just makes these stone arch bridges fully exposed.

  A phantom of transparent insect wings appeared behind Aphrodite, and her body also floated into the air.

  Suldak thought she would fly over to investigate, but she landed on the spot after waiting for a while, and said to Suldak after a little thought:

"I read similar records in the goblin city library on the Maca plane. The goblins think that these stone bridges are likely to be exposed to the surface after the world tree died. After countless years of weathering, it becomes stone. ...Dark, do you think that the mountain in front of you was originally a world tree?"

   "Look at the broken marks on the top of this mountain..."

  She pointed to the pillar-like mountain in the northern night sky, which was just a dark shadow in the night.

   "If you think of it as a stump left after a big tree dies, these stone bridges are likely to be its roots exposed to the surface, and its body and roots have gradually petrified for countless years."

   "You said that mountain is a dead World Tree stump? The Dark Worm Valley is on the root of the World Tree..."

"If this is the case, these ghost-striped red ants really occupy a treasure land of geomantic omen, even if it is a dead World Tree, I am afraid that it is full of treasures... But... After so many years, there may be nothing left! "

   "If you can build a city inside this world tree stump, at least you won't have to dig the moat."

   "I guess this mountain must be hollow. Such a high mountain wall can be used as a city wall. The disadvantage is that the city is built inside, and the lighting must be very bad. I heard that the elves like to build cities on the top of the world tree."

  Aphrodite squinted her eyes, not afraid of the cold wind blowing from the north at all, sitting on the soil slope, looking at the distant mountain peaks and starting a series of daydreams.

Suldak continued to express his distress: "Now our army is going to pass through the stone bridge, but there are ghost-striped red ants all over it. If we want to cross this stone bridge, we may have to fight hard. Fighting on the stone bridge, the ghost pattern red ants have too much advantage."

   "Then what are you going to do?" Aphrodite asked.

  Suldak pointed to the bed crossbow and catapult being assembled not far away, and said to Aphrodite: "I'm going to use the catapult and bed crossbow to bombard me all the way..."

  (end of this chapter)