The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

Those piles of white bones are still displayed in the long tunnel, scattered all over after the surging blood tide receded.

However, despite his dissatisfaction, Li Yin was surprised to find that those crazy and bloodthirsty little spiders seemed to really understand Cassia's words.

Not only the spider that had just landed on the ground from Cassia's fingertips, but all the scarlet spiders crawling aimlessly around her suddenly began to move in a unified direction in an instant.

Like a well-trained army, they lined up in several long red lines and crawled forward along the tunnel. After crawling a few meters, they all stopped at the same time, turned their round bellies, tilted their heads, and headed towards Cassia, waving their two tiny claws back and forth, as if asking Cassia why she didn't keep up.

Cassia smiled slightly, her bright ruby ​​eyes staring at these slightly anxious "navigators", and said gently: "Please give us some time."

Afterwards, she promptly issued orders to the officers of the Borgia family to reorganize the troops.

Seeing this, Princess Du Feiya immediately ordered her troops to regroup.

Li Yin walked through the crowded crowd and came to a place about three meters in front of Cassia, timidly.

According to the pre-determined formation, he should stand next to Cassia, but the scarlet gadgets in front of her made him hesitate.

He already had a phobia of insects, not to mention these creatures that grind their teeth and suck blood.

Plus... he vaguely remembered the scarlet spiders crawling in and out of Cassia's robes. What if there were still a few spiders left on her body, and they would bite him hard when he wasn't paying attention? What would he do?

He stood there hesitating for a while, but saw that Cassia had turned around, her ruby ​​eyes staring at him brightly.

The intention of that gentle and bright look was very clear, and Cassia almost waved to let him pass.

Li Yin had no choice but to move forward with his hair standing on end.

However, at this moment, a familiar figure suddenly flashed across his eyes.

"Instructor Mircella!" In order to divert attention, Li Yin greeted happily.

A tall and fit female dark elf with long braids was walking towards this side, separating a group of soldiers. Her pretty face under her smooth and full forehead was quite majestic, as if she was inspecting her slave army. But after what happened just now, Li Yin knew that the slave army commander had few people left to teach.

Mircella turned her head when she heard the voice. She was stunned for a moment at first, then her face turned red inexplicably, and then - she glared at him fiercely.

Li Yin touched the back of his head, feeling puzzled, but she turned away without saying a word and walked away in a hurry in the predetermined direction.

Li Yin was quite puzzled, staring at her back, and suddenly noticed that there was something indescribable... weird about her posture.

"Don't worry about her." At this moment, Cassia's voice suddenly came from behind. Li Yin turned around and found that she was smiling at him: "Instructor Misella still has something to do."

...Yes, it’s my own business.

Cassia's soft voice came from behind, but to Myrcella it sounded inexplicably mocking.

Was she discovered? She was startled at first, and then her snow-white face turned even redder, feeling embarrassed and annoyed.

It’s all this damn bitch’s fault. Since she discovered the names of those spiders, why didn’t she say it earlier and explain it clearly?

When those scarlet spiders crawled up her hands and feet and covered her whole body, Myrcella was so frightened that it was not until a long time later, when the scarlet tide completely receded and she returned to a safe and worry-free situation, that she slowly realized that at that time, under the great pressure of fear, what was lost from her body was not only spirit, strength, consciousness, courage... but also some other things.

Damn it, she had to hurry and find a hidden place before the troops assembled and set off.

Get yourself a new pair of pants!

------

Led by Scarlet Spider, the troops returned to the path they came from.

These wonderful guides, coupled with the firm look in Cassia's eyes, made Li Yin feel a lot more at ease.

However, in the huge and empty tunnel, traces of the previous feeding of the scarlet spiders could be seen everywhere - those scattered white bones still made Li Yin feel a little frightened when he saw them.

He tried his best not to look at those pale skeletons, and instead focused his attention on the silver back of the head of the female dark elf warrior in front of him and her long hair that was swinging like a ponytail.

About ten minutes later, they came to the last corner they had passed before. Here, the solid stone wall facing them had disappeared, replaced by an irregular large hole. Judging from its size, it should be the origin of the earth-shaking noise, the place where the huge stone that Du Feiya turned back with the stone turning technique collided.

When they passed by this place before, they did not realize that there was another world behind the stone wall. Unexpectedly, after a series of coincidences, they returned here again and discovered its true appearance.

At this moment, Li Yin looked at the dark hole and had a new understanding of what Cassia called "gods" and "revelations". It was as if there was an invisible hand in the dark, weaving the fate of everyone. The thread of fate went back and forth, intertwining constantly, just like they had passed by here before and now returned again...

Of course, this does not mean that Li Yin will worship the Spider Goddess worshipped by the dark elves. The so-called "non-believers" do not mean that they do not believe that there are really gods in this world, but that they think that the so-called gods are just powerful creatures, and it is not worth it for mortals to put their will above their own lives. At this moment, Li Yin just has some concrete and practical experience of the power of this powerful creature.

Li Yin heard rustling sounds coming from the huge hole. It was not as grand and unified as the previous scarlet tide, but upon closer listening, each unit that made up these sounds was very similar. At the same time, he saw the small "guides" on the ground also crawled in without stopping, and also made small sounds in response. Soon, those faint sounds, along with their shapes, merged into the moving darkness ahead.

Then Li Yin seemed to understand something:

"Is that the nest of those scarlet spiders ahead?"

"The stone turning technique broke open their nest, so they escaped from it?"

Cassia nodded, confirming his guess.

At the same time, Li Yin inadvertently caught a glimpse of Du Feiya's cheeks turning slightly pale from the corner of his eye.

"It's not your fault." He knew that she was blaming herself for the soldiers who died earlier, and, given her personality, perhaps also for the Scarlet Spiders that were killed by the stones, so he silently comforted her in his heart: "This is all fate."

"Besides, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been able to find this way out."

He felt that Du Feiya's nervousness and sadness had eased a little.

Then, at Cassia's command, everyone followed the footsteps of the leading scarlet spiders and walked into their huge nest.

The interior of the scarlet spider's nest was still quite empty. It was not as horrific and bloody as everyone had imagined, as it was when the scarlet tide hit before.

However, the biggest difference from the outside was that here, on both sides of the dark tunnel, on the ground, and even on the top of the stone wall, there were clusters of scarlet spiders that gathered from time to time, like a living thing, squirming densely. They were clusters of scarlet spiders that moved in small groups.

Along the way, groups of scarlet spiders would suddenly crawl over from the ground, the sides, or even drop directly from the top. Their excited appearance made people feel that they were about to attack in the next second, but in fact, they just passed through countless soldiers and came straight to Cassia, circling around her like a familiar close friend, climbing up and down on her, as if to express their warm welcome.

Cassia responded to the scarlet spiders' greetings very enthusiastically, and even uttered a few words of dark elf from time to time, as if she was talking to the spiders on her own. Her beautiful face was filled with a brilliant look - this was an expression that Li Yin rarely saw her show to her fellow dark elves.

However, by doing this, she made life difficult for Li Yin and the dark elves who stayed by her side.

Except for her, everyone was terrified of these tiny creatures. At this moment, these scarlet spiders crossed the crowd to meet Cassia, and they inevitably had to come into contact with the dark elves who blocked their way.

The dark elves who watched the spider crawling past their feet were all terrified as if a scarlet tide was coming again, but they dared not say anything due to the princess's majesty. They could only suppress their fear in their hearts and make silent promises.

There was a dark elf in the middle who was so panicked that he lost his balance and accidentally stepped on several scarlet spiders to death. Immediately, the angry scarlet spiders swarmed towards his body. Amid the wailing of the unfortunate dark elf, they used his flesh and blood to show everyone the magnificent scene of the coming of the scarlet tide.

During this process, Cassia not only reminded everyone again not to be afraid, not to be nervous, and not to hurt the scarlet spider, but she also watched the scene of the spiders eating with interest, smiling as she watched her subordinates turned into a bloody man and a pile of bones under the bites of the spiders.

When a personal guard warrior summoned up the courage to remind her whether she should take some measures to reduce the probability of such an incident, Cassia smiled and said that it was okay. She said that everyone should accept the gift given by the goddess with all their heart. But if an elf insisted on offering a sacrifice of fear to the goddess, she should not stop the goddess from accepting this sweet sacrifice. When she said this, she even licked her lips uncontrollably... It was as if she was possessed by those spiders that grind their teeth and suck blood, which made everyone shudder.

Du Feiya was the first to give up. She had been with Cassia to coordinate the actions of the two armies, but she found an excuse and ran away from Cassia. As for the guards who had followed her, they were also overjoyed and rushed to follow their princess.

The unfortunate Li Yin and the Borginia family's personal guards had no reason to stay away, so they had to do their duty and continue to guard Cassia. Of course, the worst were the unlucky newcomers - these Borginia family soldiers were not originally nearby, and they were just watching from the sidelines, but because of the temporary withdrawal of Du Feiya and her personal guards, they had to come to fill the vacancies...

Chapter 153 Doubt

Among these unfortunate people was Myrcella.

Damn it, Mircella moved towards her princess tremblingly, cursing in her heart, I just changed my pants.

As for Li Yin, he suddenly found that Cassia turned around and smiled at him knowingly. In deep concern, Li Yin smiled back with great effort. After laughing, he immediately felt a little regretful and thought it would be better not to laugh. Because he suspected that the stiff smile he just put on was uglier than crying.

He was afraid that Cassia would do something intimate to him. If that happened, the spiders crawling on Cassia might crawl onto him.

But what you fear will come true. Cassia smiled, then suddenly took a light step, tilted her upper body slightly, and moved closer to him naturally.

She stretched out a hand and pinched his chin, causing Li Yin's whole body to stiffen for a moment, and then tremble slightly.

Whenever she made such ambiguous gestures towards Li Yin in the past, Li Yin's reaction was roughly the same. However, the fundamental reason for this reaction was completely different from the past.

Li Yin's heart was beating wildly as his mood was mixed with fear and ambiguity.

Just then, he suddenly felt Cassia's face close to his and her lips close to his ear.

"My dear, just now, I noticed," Cassia's gentle and calm voice, but with a special depth and meaning, rang in my ears amid my increasingly rapid heartbeat, "you seem to be quite concerned about the safety of Princess Dufia."

In an instant, Li Yin's disordered heartbeat stopped completely - not that the disorder stopped, but that the heartbeat stopped completely.

A deep chill suddenly rose up his spine, making him feel numb all over.

The dangerous information contained in Cassia's sudden and calm words was even more frightening than the threat from the spider that she had originally imagined was coming!

"You were the first one to rush over and catch her when she released the Stone Turning Technique." Cassia's clear and calm voice continued.

"Afterwards, when the Crimson Tide struck, you also helped her while escaping."

However, as she continued to narrate, Li Yin felt dizzy as if his brain was over-congested.

"Can you tell me why, my 'good man'?" Cassia casually stroked his chin and cheek with her slender and fair hands, her eyes as gentle as water and her tone soft.

"Princess Dufiya bluntly said that she wanted to take you from me to be used as experimental equipment. Why don't you hate her, but instead you are so concerned about her safety?"

"Could it be that... there are some little secrets between you two that I don't know about?" She curled the corners of her mouth and smiled seemingly without any grudges.

Li Yin's body shuddered violently. He didn't know whether it was because of the tingling touch that gave him goosebumps, or because of Cassia's words that sounded completely harmless.

After a brief blank, his mind immediately fell into crazy thinking.

He realized that he had to find an answer that would satisfy his mistress.

Because whether he answered this question well or not would directly determine his future fate - whether he would continue to follow Cassia's guidance and walk out of the maze safely, or immediately become a feast for her new friends like those unfortunate dark elves.

"Because she is a mage," Li Yin said slowly after a pause, "She is our only mage at the moment, and the only spellcaster in the entire army besides you, Princess."

"Your Highness, I am your servant. All my actions are guided by your personal will and personal safety."

"I think that a figure like Princess Dufia and her power will be very important to you before we can truly get out of this maze and find the lost ruins."

“Her strength is an important part in helping you realize your plans.”

"Therefore, I am only protecting her for the sake of protecting your power." Li Yin stared at Cassia without blushing or beating his heart.

"Oh," Cassia smiled lightly. She pinched Li Yin's cheek, her eyes full of meaning. "So, I was wrong about you?"

"No," Li Yin straightened up, with a look of regret, "Your suspicion is completely justified. It's my fault. I did something that obviously caused doubts, but I didn't clarify it to you in time."

"Please forgive me, I should have explained it to you earlier, Your Highness."

"Oh," Cassia rolled her eyes and smiled, "It's not too late now."

"However," she changed her tone, "I already know your intention of helping her, but could you please explain why she pays so much attention to you?"

"What?" Li Yin looked confused.

"When the Scarlet Tide came, it was not only you who helped her. Before that, she was the one who took the initiative to drag you away from me and reminded you to escape." Cassia smiled and reminded patiently.

Li Yin's heart skipped a beat.

He forgot about it.

He thought that Cassia was like a possessed person at the time, who would not listen to thunder or move horses, and was completely unaware and insensitive to everything happening around her. He didn't expect that she would notice this inconspicuous little detail in the noise and chaos, and has remembered it to this day.

Li Yin suppressed his inner distress, paused, and replied calmly, "You know, Princess Du Feiya has always been very concerned about me."

Cassia's eyes sparkled as she stared at him silently.

This is a reasonable answer, but Li Yin also knows very well that this is just an answer. It is wishful thinking to expect Cassia to reveal the matter with just this sentence.

So, he continued, "Princess Dufia is a wizard. You know, wizards...are weird people. Many of them value magic and experiments more than their own lives. When I was still on the surface, I heard a lot of horror stories about this."

"So, I think it's not hard to understand why she didn't forget to save me as an experimental material even when she was in danger."

"Oh, by the way," he rolled his eyes, as if he suddenly remembered something, "Do you remember?"

"It was the same thing in Nevre before, during the tavern riot. Princess Dufia didn't even care about her own family warriors, and she took me and fled first."

Hearing this, Cassia lowered her eyes slightly, as if thinking about something.

"Of course," Li Yin thought for a moment and said, "This is just a guess. It's also possible that -"

He paused, "Because I saved her once when she used the stone turning technique just now, so she is returning the favor."

Cassia raised her eyes and chuckled: "It sounds like you are very confident in her character."

Li Yin's heart trembled again.

"This is just a guess," he said with an awkward smile, "just like the previous point, it's just a random assumption."

After saying that, he closed his mouth awkwardly.

"Is that all?" Cassia asked casually after a moment of silence.

Li Yin gritted his teeth secretly... It sounded like she still didn't trust what he said, which was not a good sign. It seemed that he had to reveal some more explosive information...

So he thought about it and said:

"There is one more thing. I should have told you before, but there was never the right time and place."

"explain."

"Earlier, you sent me out to find a way out. When we met Princess Dufiya's troops, Princess Dufiya...tried to recruit me."

"What?" Cassia frowned slightly, and her originally casual tone suddenly became cold.