Chapter 342: Hammerfall Fortress (Part 1)

Chapter 342: Hammerfall Fortress (Part 1)



After flying for more than four hours, Bloodfeather Griffins began to feel weary.

Minutes later.

In a clearing by a forest lake, Rain and Anna circled a bonfire, roasting smoked meat and pickled salmon for dinner, and at the same time, allowing Bloodfeather to rest.

"Rain, if I were to encounter danger, would you come all the way from here?" Anna's face turned red as she spoke, and she stopped talking.

"Of course," Rain nodded affirmatively with a smile.

"Hmm!"

Considering the Secret Silver Engraved Plate Armor, which was too eye-catching, Rain wore a gray-white wizard robe on top, which could just conceal the silver-white hue of Secret Silver.

At the same time, he didn't wear any weapons on his back or waist, only holding a dark staff in his hand, which was transformed from hardened Mithril, and the rest of the metal was placed on Bloodfeather's body.

Anna was dressed similarly, so from the outside, they looked like a couple of wizards.

Hours later.

"Look, Rain, what a majestic mountain range!" Anna exclaimed, pointing at the gray-black mountain peaks that stood like blades with her fair fingers.

Following Anna's direction, Rain couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

He didn't expect that this world would have such uniquely shaped mountains.

The bare gray-black mountain body had sparse vegetation, but there were large patches of black fog swirling around the peaks, creating a hazy gray mist that stretched into the distance along the mountain range.

As the Bloodfeather Griffins approached, Rain's keen perception could vaguely sense the danger hidden within the massive black mist, with the mist surging and swirling.

"Is this the Black Fog Cyclone?"

"It's said that there are many Black Fog Beasts inside, a peculiar elemental creature that cannot be completely eradicated and will continuously regenerate. Fortunately, their range of activity is just around the peaks of the Hammerfall Mountains."

"No wonder Olenna suggested that I choose to pass through the Hammerfall Tunnel." Rain thought to himself as he looked at the scene.

"Anna, down there should be the Hammerfall Fortress, let's find it."

"Hmm." Anna nodded.

Regarding the general itinerary, Anna had already learned about it from Rain during their previous bonfire conversation.

She could also sense the unknown risks hidden within the large and small black mists before her, so naturally, she had no objections.

"It should be over there."

Rain controlled Bloodfeather and descended towards the lower left.

In the sky, he could clearly see the winding road behind leading to the lower left, which was obviously the road to the Hammerfall Fortress.

"Rain, there seem to be a lot of people blocking the entrance of the Hammerfall Fortress!" Rain exclaimed as he circled in the air, spotting the grand entrance of the Hammerfall Fortress.

Upon closer inspection, they appeared to be caravans and travelers coming and going.

This gave Rain an uneasy premonition.

Could something have happened at the Hammerfall Fortress?

The descent of the Bloodfeather Griffins naturally attracted the attention of almost everyone present.

After all, those who could ride flying mounts were not ordinary people.

Just as Rain had landed and was about to ask someone for information, a plump middle-aged man with a big belly and wearing a silk robe quickly approached, bowed slightly, and said, "Greetings, sir. I am Janis, the leader of the Cameron Caravan. Are you also heading to the Morzal Province through the Hammerfall Tunnel?"

Rain glanced at the man, recognizing him as an ordinary person.

The man had just come from the caravan, and he seemed to be the leader of a caravan.

Rain had looked at the map and knew that after passing through the Hammerfall Tunnel, he would enter the territory of the Morzal Province.

Additionally, anyone could tell that Rain and Anna were planning to cross the tunnel, so there was no need to hide it.

"Yes, may I ask what happened here?"

"You're not very lucky. The tunnel was closed two days ago due to an eruption of underground lava snakes, and it won't be reopened until the Empire sends a specialized team to clear it."

"The Hammerfall Tunnel is closed?" Rain frowned.

This was quite troublesome because crossing the Hammerfall Mountains through the tunnel would only take two to three hours.

However, if they had to take a detour, even with Rain's flying mount, it would take nearly two extra days.

"By the way, how powerful are the lava snakes?" Rain asked.

"The lava snakes are a type of elemental creature similar to the violent lava species. A formal knight can typically handle one on their own."

"But the problem is that lava snakes always appear in large numbers. It's estimated that there are at least hundreds of them in the tunnel." Janis, the plump man, explained frankly.

"Oh? If that's the case, it should be difficult to pass through. Why are so many people gathered here?"

"Is it about to reopen?"

"No, we don't know when the Empire's clearance team will arrive. Unlike you, sir, who has a flying mount, taking the detour would cost our caravan nearly half a month more."

"So, we plan to organize our own team to cross over. I'm wondering if you'd be interested in joining us? On behalf of the Cameron Caravan, I'm willing to pay you both a fee."

"Oh, we already have three official wizards and a rather capable Conis Mercenary Group."

"I think, with the two of you, we should be ready to depart." The burly Janis smiled broadly, finally revealing his intention.

Rain nodded, and at the same time, he glanced at the group of people behind the burly Janis with his peripheral vision.

The dozen or so men dressed as mercenaries looked quite rugged and should be the Conis Mercenary Group that Janis mentioned.

The three wizards, two men and one woman, seemed unfamiliar with each other, each standing apart. However, the female wizard in a white robe had a good figure and a fair complexion.

As for their strength, the three seemed to deliberately conceal their psychic energy fluctuations, and for a moment, Rain couldn't discern their power levels.

After a moment's thought, Rain shook his head and said, "Thank you, but no need."

"Sir, do you plan to ride your flying mount around?"

"In that case, you'll need at least two more days, and if we cross directly, it will take at most four days to reach the other end of the tunnel." The burly Janis continued to persuade, unwilling to give up.

Rain was well aware of this.

On the map Olenna gave him, she specifically marked why they needed to go through Hammerfall Tunnel. If he had to go around, he would indeed have to fly a big detour to bypass the towering Hammerfall Mountains.

But the issue was that Rain didn't plan to take a detour. If the Lava Snakes were only at the level of official knights, then even with their large numbers, they wouldn't pose a threat to him, so he could just pass through without joining their team.

Seeing Rain's disagreement, the burly Janis looked dejected and returned to the crowd.

"Oh well, it seems this gentleman isn't interested in my offer. We'll have to wait a bit longer, Melita."

"That's normal. If I had a flying mount, I wouldn't accept your invitation either." The white-robed female wizard looked enviously at Rain's Bloodfeather Griffin and said.

"This flying mount looks like some kind of horned eagle beast. It's so beautiful."

"Huh? Why aren't they leaving?" Suddenly, the female wizard's gaze froze.

"Hmm?" Janis followed Melita's line of sight and saw that the two gentlemen weren't riding the horned eagle beast away but were instead heading towards the fortress gate.

"It seems they have something urgent to attend to as well, or else they would have flown away like the others before." The female wizard smiled upon seeing this.

"Sir, our caravan is quite familiar with the Stone Hammer Fortress garrison. Although you are powerful, they won't open the gate for you." Janis, still unwilling to give up, shouted from behind.

But Rain seemed to ignore him and continued walking towards the Stone Hammer Fortress.

"Don't worry, Janis. He'll probably come back soon after hitting a wall."

"By the way, you can haggle the price down, isn't that a good thing?" The female wizard named Melita teased.

"Uh"

As Rain approached the Stone Hammer Fortress, the entire fortress came into view.

The Stone Hammer Fortress was located above the ten-meter-high tunnel gate, resembling a protruding second-floor balcony.

Dozens of elite guards in chainmail, armed with bows and arrows, stood guard over this vital transportation route from a commanding height.

"Please stop, the Stone Hammer Tunnel is closed and won't open for a few days." A guard in chainmail, holding a bow and arrow, shouted.

Apparently noticing the Bloodfeather, he knew that the two in front of him should be allowed to pass.

This was the advantage of having an official letter.

As long as it was an official letter from the Empire, they would be allowed to pass.

As for the Swordsman's insignia, it was more widely known within the Swordsman system. Many in other departments or lower-level official organizations weren't aware of the Swordsmen.

"An official letter?" The guard's face showed surprise.

He quickly said something to his companion and then shouted to Rain, "Please wait, sirs. Please show us the official letter."

Soon, a basket was lowered, and Rain placed the official letter in it.

A minute later, a middle-aged man dressed like a knight came out and checked Rain's official letter.

"Huh, it's indeed an official letter. Diamond Rank Swordsman Rain. Signed by Admiral Edward of the Empire."

"Wow"

In a short while, the knight, accompanied by two guards, quickly descended from the fortress and approached Rain, saying, "Sir Rain, I'm Leyman, the captain of the Stone Hammer Fortress. We wouldn't dare stop you from passing through the Hammerfall Tunnel. But the issue is that there's a riot of lava creatures inside, so your safety..." After hesitating, the knight captain still reminded them.

"Don't worry, Captain Leyman, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Alright, then please wait a moment. I'll open the door now. If you feel something is amiss, you can always return and knock three times."

"Thank you," Rain smiled.

"Boom!"

As the ten-meter-tall stone gate opened a crack, Rain, along with Anna and Bloodwing, stepped inside.

Not far away, Janiss, the fat man, suddenly widened his small eyes and exclaimed, "What? How is it possible that the Stone Hammer Fortress guards opened the door for him?"

"Interesting. It seems the other party is an official from the Empire, and not of low status," the female wizard smiled and shared her assessment.

"Janiss, let's follow in a few minutes. With this person leading the way, our journey will undoubtedly be much easier."

"Why not follow immediately?" Janiss asked.

"Haha, if you get too close and anger this lord, don't blame me for not warning you," Melita said with a smile.

Five minutes later.

As Janiss and the others from the caravan entered, it wasn't long before they were shocked by the scene before them.

In the tall and spacious tunnel, a faintly scorching aura permeated the air. Under the illumination of the torches on the walls, dozens of lava snake corpses lay scattered on the ground, leading deeper into the tunnel.

"Oh my..." Janiss was so shocked that he froze.

In less than five minutes since they entered, the other party had killed so many lava snakes?

Even slaughtering chickens wouldn't be this fast! Melita's expression turned solemn, and it took her several seconds to regain her composure.

The other two male wizards were also visibly stunned.

At that moment, two men in leather armor at the front of the caravan quickly moved forward, each turning over a lava snake corpse to examine it carefully.

These lava snakes were about three to four meters long, resembling pythons but slightly thicker. Their bodies were covered in palm-sized red rock-like armor plates, providing high defense.

Yet now, these lava snakes lay motionless on the tunnel floor, and from the outside, there were no apparent wounds.

"My lord, it seems they were all killed with a single strike, probably by a sharp weapon piercing through the toughest part of the lava snake's skull."

"To be precise, it's a penetration, entering from the front of the skull and exiting from the back. This level of attack power..."

Soon, the three wizards exchanged glances, all aware that they could easily kill lava snakes too, but that would require the use of sorcery. Mental energy was limited, and to kill this many lava snakes, any one of them would likely deplete their mental energy, making it impossible to continue the journey.

That's why they had formed a team to enter together.

"It must be at least twenty-five degrees of attack power to achieve this effect, almost reaching the power of first-rank sorcery," a male wizard said solemnly.

"Impossible to continuously cast zero-rank sorcery dozens of times," the other male wizard shook his head.

"But these dozens of lava snakes weren't killed by group sorcery. It's more like they were taken out one by one, casually," Melita spoke up.

The three of them fell silent for a moment.

"Could the other party be a second-rank Liquidation Wizard?" the male wizard asked in a low voice.

A second-rank Liquidation Wizard was a high-ranking position, whether in the Empire or among the various wizard schools.

"It's possible," Melita nodded.

A moment ago, she had thought that Rain and Anna couldn't be second-rank Liquidation Wizards.

But now, it seemed that might not be the case.

At that moment, several hundred meters ahead, Rain's longsword flashed with a silver light, and with a "pfft," he thrust it into a charging lava snake, quickly withdrawing it.

His figure flickered, and Anna, standing nearby, felt as if Rain had created three or four clones, simultaneously slaying multiple lava snakes.

"Is Rain's strength at this level?"

"He's truly formidable."

The girl's beautiful eyes remained fixed on Rain, unblinking, without a trace of worry that she might be attacked by the surrounding lava snakes.

Because whenever a lava snake came within ten meters, Rain would instantly strike it down with a single sword blow.

"Tweet, tweet!"

Bloodwing, on the other hand, happily pecked at a lava snake's body with its iron beak, swallowing a certain red, oval-shaped object.

Rain killed, and Bloodwing ate, enjoying themselves.

However, at that moment, Rain paused and turned to look behind him.

He had just heard the sound of the gate opening again.

"Rain, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, there's probably someone else coming from behind," Rain shook his head.

"Is it that caravan?" Anna immediately thought of the fat man, Janis, who had just invited Rain to join them.

"It seems so."

Rain didn't mind others taking the opportunity to follow him through the tunnel.

Although it was called a tunnel, Rain realized upon entering that it was more accurately described as a grand hall.

At this moment, he and Anna were walking through what could be considered the central corridor of an underground hall.

On both sides were tall, cylindrical columns, and between the columns were rounded archways with torches installed at the junctions of the archways and columns.

To be able to excavate such a spacious underground area was an immense undertaking.

At this moment, Rain noticed the ancient-looking patterns on the archway walls, which seemed incredibly old and not in the style of the Dragon Empire's architecture.

"When I get back, I should take the time to learn about the history of Hammerfall Fort and its surroundings," Rain muttered to himself.

This time, he had come in a bit of a hurry and hadn't thoroughly explored some of the dangerous areas along the way.

"Rain, this seems to be the architectural style of the Ancient Dwarves," Anna said.

"Ancient Dwarves?"

"Yes, at the Druid's Circle, I saw similar patterns in the introduction to ancient races," Anna affirmed with a nod.

Rain nodded in agreement.

Elves had long lifespans, and even ordinary elves lived as long as human wizards, not to mention the high elves. As a result, they had the most complete ancient records.

"I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to visit and take a look at the elves' collection of books. I'm sure there will be some valuable findings," Rain thought.

"Who knows, I might even find rare metal-based sorcery," Rain mused to himself.

Rain led the way a few meters ahead, with Bloodfeather and Anna following behind.

When faced with a lava snake, Rain swiftly dispatched it with ease.

Soon, they had covered about a third of the distance through the Hammerfall Tunnel.

The air became increasingly hot, and Rain's path ahead suddenly opened up. He noticed a reddish glow emanating from the ground in front of him.

Rain took a few more steps forward and realized that there was a long stone bridge ahead, and hundreds of meters below, there were tall and short, uneven rock structures. Most of them were abandoned, and the lowest level had already sunk into the magma.

It seemed to be a complete city from ancient times.

However, it was unclear why it had been abandoned here.

"Anna, you're right. This must have been a city of the ancient dwarves," Rain confirmed.

"Huh?"

At that moment, Rain raised his hand, signaling Anna to stop, and he looked more intently into the darkness on the left side of the bridge.

"Roar!"

A beast, the size of a calf, with a ferocious face and engulfed in flames, suddenly emerged from the ground and charged towards Rain.

"Whoosh!"

Simultaneously, a fireball the size of a washbasin shot out from its gaping maw.

"Boom!"

A Enchanted Serenite Eagle Shield abruptly appeared in front of Rain, blocking the fireball's damage, and a silver arc of light flashed by.

"Pfft!"

A great sword pierced the beast's head.

The creature twitched a couple of times before collapsing to the ground.

"Huh? What kind of creature is this?" Rain looked at the lava beast he had just killed with a puzzled expression.

Clearly, it wasn't a lava snake.

Moreover, in terms of strength, it was much more powerful than a lava snake. Not only did it possess an innate ability to spew fireballs, but it also had both speed and strength.

Suddenly, the female mage Melita shouted, "Stop!"

"Did you hear that sound just now?"

"Huh?" Janis immediately waved his hand, signaling the entire caravan to slowly come to a halt.

"The sound I just heard seemed to be..." Melita looked towards the front with a serious expression.

Then, another beast-like roar echoed, and Melita immediately turned to the few people behind her and said, "Not good! That's the sound of a lava hound!"

"Lava hound?"

The faces of the two male mages changed as they exclaimed, "It's an elemental creature with the strength of an archmage?"

"Exactly."

"Should we retreat now?" one of the male mages asked anxiously.

"There's no time! Lava hounds are pack animals, and if one appears, it means a whole pack is about to emerge! And that's not even the worst part..." Melita muttered to herself.

"What should we do?" the other male mage asked.

"Now, we only have one choice. Quick, follow me!" Melita pointed forward.

"Huh? Lady Melita, didn't you just say not to get too close?" Janis was a bit confused.

"The situation has changed. Hurry, have the caravan speed up."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Everyone, accelerate!"

The drivers whipped their horses, urging them to pull the cargo forward at a faster pace.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end