Witch Monastery

Kaisa spread her hands, her face flushed, and lied: "I am just an average figure among moon elves, there are many who are better than me."

As she spoke, she imitated Hanni's tone and teased, "No way, no way, after not seeing you for a thousand years, are the dark elves now so skinny?"

Hanny covered her face with her hands. There was a burst of laughter around the campfire, and the camp was suddenly filled with a happy atmosphere.

Chapter 570 Arrival at the Underdark

The next day, the group packed up their things in the camp and continued to move towards the Underdark.

The essence of the Underdark is actually the underground world of the material world. It is separated from the surface by a thick rock layer that is nearly a thousand meters high. In this underground world without sunlight, it is a world of its own.

The origin of the Underdark can be traced back to the distant creation era. The gods created all kinds of creatures in the world, but some lives were not suitable to live on the surface of the earth and under the sun.

For example, various fungi, scavengers, intelligent mushroom people, and various creatures that are allergic to sunlight, such as gray dwarves, underground gnomes, etc. They need to live in dark areas without sunlight and need a brand new home.

Hence, the Underdark.

Relying on the substances and energy that seep down from the surface world, these creatures can live comfortably in the underground world. They have some communication with the surface world, but most of the time they do not disturb each other.

But unfortunately, later, some strange mind flayers began to appear in the Underdark; later, the dark elves who followed the spider demons also hid underground;

Later, some evildoers, such as goblins, orcs, various looting and slave-hunting teams, etc., discovered that the Underdark seemed to be a good hiding place...

In fact, because this area is composed of intricate caves, it is naturally a huge maze, which is very suitable for the Minotaur people to display their talents.

As a result, many Tauren tribes that make a living by committing crimes would also come underground to occupy a piece of territory.

This area became more and more crowded, and the original resources began to become insufficient. After all, there was no direct sunlight here, and the energy input still depended on the surface.

Until now, all major races, whether out of their own will or out of necessity, have begun to go to the surface world more frequently to grab resources, causing the reputation of the Underdark to become worse and worse.

And now, after a long journey, Hawthorne and his party finally arrived at this place.

Although it is deep underground where there is no light, this world is actually not as dark as people imagine.

Many of the walls in the Dark Area are covered with special fungi that can emit fluorescence. These fungi emit the unique underground world's ground radiation, while transforming the underground magical environment, they also create basic lighting conditions for this area.

This also allows many races that do not have strong dark vision abilities to move freely in such places.

As for them, with the strong lighting that Celine could provide, they didn't have to worry about any vision problems and could move freely underground.

Originally, Hawthorne thought that the situation would become more dangerous after entering the Underdark. After all, this was where all kinds of evil races gathered, and all kinds of encounters should have occurred one after another.

However, the actual situation was beyond his expectations. They did not encounter any new threats along the way.

They did encounter small groups of other races on the way, but after meeting Hawthorne and others, they tactfully took a detour and did not have any conflict with them.

I don't know if it was because Shapiro, who was walking in the front with a huge sickle on his back, was too murderous, or because Hawthorne and his group were too imposing, which scared them. In short, no one came forward to cause trouble.

This prevented Hawthorne from even getting a chance to get a glimpse of Shapiro's true strength. He had always known that this guy dared to sign up and was successfully selected for the team to hunt down Mombot. His strength must be extraordinary, but he had never had the chance to see it with his own eyes.

Although Celine had fought alongside him in the past, according to her description, those Balrogs that fell from the sky had already been seriously injured, and the threat was not that great.

The same thing happened to the giant bull demons, who had been beaten half to death by the dwarf griffin knights. They had just cooperated with each other at the beginning, using magic to lure the Balrog demons away, or directly teleport them to a place far away from humans, and then concentrated their fire to destroy them.

During this process, Shapiro, who was only good at close combat, did not perform well, so Celine guessed that he must have a lot of strength that has not been revealed.

Hawthorne also thought so. He needed to have a more comprehensive understanding of Shapiro's strength, but unfortunately he did not have this opportunity for the time being.

Under Hanny's guidance, the group soon arrived at the edge of Dark Lake, the small market town pointed out by Jarlaxle Baenre.

It is obvious that this town was built recently, because many of the caves here were obviously dug recently, and many traces are still very fresh, which should be no more than a month at most.

There was a rift running from east to west in the center of the town, dividing the entire town into two parts, north and south. Hawthorne asked Celine to take a rough look and found that the people active in the market in the north of the town were mainly dark elves and various surface humanoids wearing night vision goggles, while those active in the south were mainly gray dwarves and underground gnomes.

Without giving it much thought, Hawthorne went directly to the north and found a merchant who sold thief and trap removal tool kits. After paying for one each, he asked him, "Excuse me, if I want to find Mr. Lotun, where should I go to try my luck?"

The man took the money and gave him the item with a slightly hesitant expression: "Oh, Lotun, go east and you will see a cave with a circle with six edges drawn on it. Ask there and he will appear."

Hawthorne thanked him and led the team eastward along the direction indicated by the sign. The sign the vendor mentioned was not difficult to find. It was very conspicuous. Under the sign, several human men with yin-yang hair were smoking pipes together.

Hawthorne walked straight over and asked the group of people, "Excuse me, who is Lotun?"

Those people turned their heads and looked at him in surprise. At this moment, a hoarse voice suddenly sounded from behind him: "I am Lotun."

Hawthorne turned his head and looked back, then his expression was a little surprised.

What did he see?

It turned out to be an eye demon!

However, this beholder does not look as glorious as Shannasa, and can even be said to be a little embarrassed.

A normal adult beholder should have ten long eye stalks that can emit different eye rays, but he only has six.

There were obvious scars on the four broken eye stalks, which were obviously cut off by someone else. In addition, there was also an obvious scar on the upper left side of the main eye of this eye demon.

Obviously, in the past, this Eye Demon could be said to have been through many battles, otherwise he wouldn't have been injured so badly.

Hawthorne's expression was slightly surprised, and his eyes were fixed on this eye demon. He scanned it up and down several times before finally retracting his expression and saying, "Uh, hello, Mr. Lotun, uh, your true identity is really beyond my expectation."

He had never thought that the informant would be an eye demon.

In front of him, the beholder opened his mouth and a hoarse voice sounded again: "I am also surprised that the famous Earl Hawthorne who destroyed the Lord of the Abyss in Libel Port is so young."

"Besides, he would come to me and ask me to do something for him. I feel really honored."

This is not necessarily true, but it is clear that this beholder is actively seeking to release a friendly attitude.

Hawthorne smiled softly: "No one can be omniscient and omnipotent.

Enemies, there will always be opportunities for cooperation, right? "

As he said this, he turned his head and looked into the distance: "There are a lot of people here, Mr. Lotun, do you have a quiet place where we can talk safely?"

Suspended in the air, Lotun's huge main eye nodded gently: "Of course, Earl Sang, follow me."

As he spoke, the huge floating main eye slowly turned around and walked into the circled cave, then suddenly turned and floated in another direction.

Hawthorne and several witches followed, and after passing through a remote cave and away from the hustle and bustle of the crowd, the Eye Demon stopped in a quiet place: "This is almost it. I can sense everything around here. No one will dare to eavesdrop here."

"Mr. Hawthorne, now you can tell me in detail what you want."

Hawthorne nodded. He could sense the fluctuations of magic here. Obviously, this eye demon had turned this cave into its own lair, a territory absolutely controlled by it, just like his monastery.

He didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I'm tracking this thing down. Should Jarlaxle have told you about it?"

"He didn't describe it clearly in the interrogation room. He said that he could only show it to me after you arrived." Lotun said, and Hawthorne did not delay any further and showed his documents to the eye demon.

The latter looked at it for a while, and several of his eyestalks could not help but stand up: "Oh my God! Wow, this guy Jarlaxle hasn't given up yet? He still wants to go against his family?"

Hawthorne's expression changed. Because there was no beholder character in the game, he didn't know what faction this guy belonged to. So he calmly took on the matter for Jarlaxle: "That's not very clear. I commissioned him to investigate this matter because it is related to one of my businesses."

"Why? Is the story behind this very troublesome? Can you tell me in detail?"

Lotun's huge main eye shook, and finally he sighed in frustration, "Ah! This is nothing, it's purely his own business. Forget what I said just now, this should have nothing to do with your business."

As if afraid that Hawthorne would continue to dwell on this issue, he hurriedly said, "I know where the place you are looking for is. But the problem is that the land route to there is basically blocked by the dark elves."

Chapter 571 The Dark Elf’s Matron

Lotun's attitude seemed nonchalant, but what he said made people feel distressed.

Hawthorne frowned, thinking that the connection between Sulfaro and the dark elves seemed to be deeper than he had initially expected.

Plus what the beholder said just now, Jarlaxle is still at odds with his family, hiss...

Jarlaxle's family is House Baenre, the number one of the eight ruling families in Menzoberranzan. They are the most powerful and cruel lackeys of the Spider Queen. The female members of the family are all experts in playing with demons. Their power is so great that Hawthorne cannot afford to provoke them now.

Just to say one thing: the current leader of House Baenre, Matron Kunsheer Baenre, is a legendary spellcaster who can rival the current Leila Silverhand and Vajera Safar who wields the black staff. They are one of the most powerful people at the top of the material world, and Hawthorne cannot challenge them at all.

Therefore, for the time being, it is better for these people not to have conflicts.

Go around it!

Noticing the change in Hawthorne's expression, Lotun's tone also carried some gloating: "So, if you want to go directly to deal with them, I can take you out now."

"But if you want to sneak in secretly, I'm afraid we'll have to put in some more effort: for example, first get a boat and be prepared for it to break down."

As he said this, his eyes narrowed slightly, as if he was staring at Hawthorne with some ill intentions: "Here, a ship is very expensive. After all, everyone needs it for trade. Earl Hawthorne, at least I really can't afford it."

Hawthorne looked somewhat relieved. This Eye Demon had heard of his reputation, but didn't seem to know that he was actually very rich.

Fortunately, it seems that my real information has not been circulated that widely.

As he thought about this, he rolled his eyes and looked at Lotun with a slightly surprised expression: "Wait, you just said that you would take us there in person?"

"Of course." Lothun snorted twice. "I promised Jarlaxle what I must do. So, my suggestion is that you spend some money to get a reliable ship to come here, so as to avoid any other problems and make me and you lose our lives in vain!"

Looking at the arrogant Eye Demon in front of him, Huo Sang felt a little unexpected. In his heart, he didn't really trust this guy, but looking at his disabled appearance and thinking about the people on his ship, if it really dared to come over, it would definitely be easily controlled by him.

Apart from anything else, the weapons in the hands of himself, Kassa and Shapiro are all first-class deadly things. Even if it opens an anti-magic field, it can easily pose a fatal threat to him.

Therefore, this eye demon came on board, and apart from leading the way honestly, it had no ability to cause any other damage.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"It's ok.

"He said to Lotun, "The money issue is nothing. Please tell me directly where the destination is and from whom I can get a reliable ship."

Lotun did not continue to trip up or keep the issue in suspense. He then raised an eyestalk, emitted a force field ray, and moved a stone on the wall next to him. Then, two huge pieces of parchment slowly flew over, landed in front of Hawthorne, and were slowly spread out.

"This is a map I compiled myself, of the area around this town and the Dark Lake," he said. "Because the paper is not big enough, I have to look at it separately. But don't be afraid, I'll point out where these places correspond to each other, and then you can just go there."

Hawthorne looked at the complicated maps and felt a little headache. He turned his head and looked at Die and Willow and her daughter behind him: "I'll leave it to you."

With her super memory, Die is definitely the best person to handle this kind of problem. It is absolutely the most appropriate person to leave this kind of thing to her. And Willow and her daughter came here for the map, and of course they also want to stay here and make the map.

Die nodded slightly, took out a piece of parchment from her dimensional bag, and said, "Please tell me, I will draw it and try to find the most suitable route."

Lotun was about to speak, but Hawthorne suddenly said, "Oh, yes, Mr. Lotun, you should first tell us where we can buy the boat. Then you two can draw it here, and then we can go directly to buy it, without delaying either of us."

The Eye Demon paused for a moment, then continued, "Okay, well, go west along the rift in the middle, and look around after you get out. You will find a village of murlocs."

"Their villages sell all kinds of boats, from small fishing boats that can only accommodate five or six people to warships that can accommodate hundreds of people. They build all kinds of boats, and the prices are the only ones here that are relatively fair."

As he said this, he suddenly chuckled again, as if he had bad intentions: "But I have to remind you, after you go there, don't mention my name."

Hawthorne was slightly surprised: "Ah? I thought I would get a discount if I mentioned your name."

After all, just now, the Eye Demon had kindly recommended that he take the water route. He thought that the Eye Demon had a vested interest in the matter and would sell him some ships built by its own subordinates later.

"Hey, you can try it then." Lotun said, "Spending a little more money will be a small matter, but not being able to buy a boat will be a big problem!"

Huo Sang nodded, thinking that this Eye Demon was probably really ill, otherwise he would not have recommended him to go to Qiu's house to buy a boat.

He did not stay long afterwards. He let Die discuss the map issue with Lotun here, and he turned around with the others and left the cave.

After they were far away from Lotun's lair and the feeling of being enveloped by magic faded, Hawthorne turned around and said to the others who followed him, "Let's split up. Shapiro, go buy the materials needed to draw the magic circle."

"Oh yeah, how much does this cost? The Underdark is different from the surface. The price here is probably more than twice that of Liber Harbor."

Shapiro snorted coldly: "No, I have money, I can afford it no matter how expensive it is."

Hawthorne lowered his head and sighed, "You don't have to be so formal with me, Shapiro. You bought the materials, and I will need them in the future, right? Besides, in a market town like this where there are all kinds of people, there is a high chance that some treasures will appear. If you don't have enough money, wouldn't you miss out on them?"

As he said this, he took out a dimensional bag and handed it to him: "There are 20,000 gold coins in it. Take it with you. If you really come across any rare magic items, don't be stingy, just buy them directly."

"The battle against your ancestors later is the key. We must do our best to increase our protection for that battle."

Shapiro's throat moved for a while, and finally he lowered his head and took the dimensional bag: "Okay."

Chapter 572 Mermaid? Fishman!

Seeing his reaction, Hawthorne's mouth curled up slightly, and he was not in a hurry to go further. Then he turned his head and looked at Kasha and Hanny: "You two should go with Shapiro and look for Hanny's family at the dark elves' market. As for buying a boat from the murloc, Heidi, Celine, and I can go together."

Shapiro suddenly said, "Actually, I don't have to buy it from the dark elves. The types of magic materials needed for this magic circle are very complicated. I may have to go to the other side later."

He is still used to being a lone ranger, and he feels uncomfortable acting with others.

Hawthorne rejected this outright: "Then let Kasha and the others go with you. At least they can take care of you, and it will be convenient for us to find you when the time comes."

Shapiro lowered his head, holding back what he wanted to say, and did not object. Seeing his reaction, Hawthorne's smile suddenly became more obvious.

On the other side, Kasha nodded, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she poked Hanni and said, "I never thought about coming to the Underdark, and I haven't studied the strategy here before. Hey, tell me, what delicious food is there here?"

Hanni tilted her head, then said with certainty, "Mushrooms!"

Kasha's face suddenly fell: "Ah? Anything else?"

Hanni curled her lips, as if she was unhappy with her reaction: "Oh, come and see, our mushrooms taste very good..."

She is like this

As he said that, he took Kassa's hand and went to the dark elf market together.

Seeing that they all set off, Hawthorne did not delay. He took Celine and Heidi and walked westward towards the outside of the town.