The fourth layer of the Underdark is inhabited by various powerful monsters. In fact, there are also a large number of monsters on the third layer. In order to survive, the drow elves have waged a brutal battle with these powerful monsters on the third layer that has lasted for thousands of years. Even with the protection of the Lord of Darkness, they are now the overlords of the third layer of the Underdark, but outside the traditional territory of the drow elves in the third layer of the Underdark, monsters still rule the world.
The monsters on the fourth floor are even more powerful than those on the third floor. Even the drow elves dare not go down.
It is said that there are terrifying mind flayers living on the fourth layer. These mind flayers who are good at controlling the minds of creatures have established a mind flayer kingdom on the fourth layer and enslaved various creatures.
Legend has it that the fifth layer of the Underdark is where the Dark Lord's kingdom is located. It is said that because the Dark Lord has made too many enemies, his kingdom is not in the astral realm, but on the fifth layer of the underground world. However, the fifth layer of the Underdark is too dangerous. Even legendary adventurers who enter will have a chance of death and find it difficult to come back. Naturally, no one knows whether it is true or not.
As for the sixth layer of the Underdark, it is said that a large number of exiled gods and terrible evil creatures roam there, and it is so dangerous that even true gods dare not go down there.
No one knows about the seventh level of the Underdark, because no one has dared to enter there yet, and no one knows what is inside. Even the true god members of the Greedy Wolf Regiment only reached the sixth level when they explored the Underdark, and did not enter the seventh level.
The passages and spiral stone staircases connecting different places in the Underdark were constantly changing with the movement of the terrain. Not long after they entered the underground passage, they saw that the way ahead was blocked by falling rocks.
Several guards of the caravan stepped forward and shone their torches. They could still see that the other side was not blocked. After some discussion, they decided to set up a temporary camp and send people to dig the passage.
Unlike if you encounter this situation on the surface, you usually take a detour, but this underground world is too complicated and it is easy to get lost if you take a detour, so you usually don't take a detour unless it is absolutely necessary, and you will definitely dig first if you can.
The caravan set up camp, smoke rose from cooking fires. The halfling chef accompanying the caravan was grilling meat by the fire, and the mercenaries sat in a group, drinking beer in big gulps. Many mercenaries sang loudly. They had to find fun and maintain a good attitude during the journey, otherwise they would easily become depressed and be easily affected by some unknown forces under the ground.
Marin picked up a piece of roast meat from the rack, put it on a silver plate, handed it to his nephew beside him and said,
"Send it to Lord Mystery!"
Noel, who was wearing half-body armor, responded, holding a plate, and stopped in front of Lin Xiao's carriage. He knocked on the door nervously and said:
"Mr. Enigma, please taste the craftsmanship of the halfling master in the team."
Lin Xiao opened the car curtain and saw the barbecue on the plate in front of him. He snapped his fingers, and Noel felt his hand lighten. The silver plate of barbecue in his hand automatically flew up and landed in the car. A trace of envy and awe suddenly appeared in his eyes.
I picked up the silver knife on the silver plate and cut the roast meat into small pieces and put them into my mouth. The roast meat was neither burnt nor tender, with just the right amount of salt. It tasted delicious and not as greasy as I had imagined.
"good!"
Lin Xiao made a very pertinent comment that in the alien world, halflings are famous gourmets, and their reputation is indeed well-deserved.
As time went on, the guards continued to chisel stones. The clanging noise was very loud, and even though the carriage was soundproofed, it could not be completely blocked out. So he added a layer of soundproofing to the carriage and went to sleep.
The incarnation of God can actually go without food, water or sleep, but that would be too high-profile, so one should adapt to the local customs.
It took the caravan two days to dig a gap in the passage to accommodate the caravan. The huge caravan slowly passed through and continued on its way.
Next, Lin Xiao saw how complicated the terrain of the Underdark was. This was a more complicated terrain than the underground he had seen in other worlds before. There were rugged rocks everywhere. In the dark underground world, only the fluorescent moss on the stone walls emitted a faint glow, and the torches lit by the caravan. Walking on the spiral stone staircase was like a fire dragon entwined on the stone stairs.
Lin Xiao snapped his fingers, and light balls emitting soft white light flew out and hovered on his left and right, illuminating the surroundings.
The mercenaries around were envious of this scene, not just because it was convenient, but also because in the dangerous Underdark, a high-level wizard's survival ability was much stronger than theirs.
After walking for nearly a week in this complex environment, the angle of the spiral stone staircase began to flatten, which meant that the first level of the Underdark was about to be reached.
The Flame Flower Caravan carries large amounts of salt and beer, as well as various supplies not available in the underground world. They can trade large amounts of minerals and gems that are only found underground, or exotic animals and skins that are unique to the underground world, from any race in the first underground layer.
Based on the total amount of supplies carried by the Flame Flower Caravan, they could earn at least hundreds of thousands of gold coins on this trip.
Passing through the ground and underground, the topography of the first layer of the continent has changed relatively little. Although the ground is still very rugged, it is relatively flat.
Marin led the caravan around a certain area for a while and found a thick stone pillar. He also found the mark left last time. Using this mark as the center, he identified the direction. The caravan walked in one of the directions. The direction they were going to was a gray dwarf castle.
The Flame Flower Caravan likes to do business with the Gray Dwarves the most. These close relatives of the Dwarves also possess superb forging skills. The caravan trades with them the salt that is urgently needed underground and the Gray Dwarves' favorite beer. These fine weapons and equipment can be sold for a high price if they are transported to the surface.
Lin Xiao planned to follow the caravan to the gray dwarf city, stay there for a few days to understand the underground situation, and then decide where to go.
Although he already had a suitable target in mind, it wouldn't be bad to know more before that.
There were almost no monster attacks or scary drow raiding parties along the way, so the mercenaries and guards who had been very vigilant began to relax, and some even started joking.
But just as the caravan was passing through a narrow underground valley, suddenly a huge black shadow fell into the caravan from the top of a stone pillar. A scream was heard, and then the black shadow quickly jumped up before the other mercenaries could react, and climbed up to another stone pillar using his hands and feet, and quickly went around to a high platform behind the stone pillar.
The mercenaries who reacted at this time shot arrows with bows or crossbows, and some threw javelins and torches, but the black shadow was extremely agile, jumping back and forth among the stone pillars, and chewing sounds and screams could be heard from time to time. The captured mercenaries were not dead yet.
Lin Xiao frowned slightly. As the incarnation of God, he had a dark vision and could clearly see that the agilely jumping black shadow was a terrifying clawed monster about three meters tall with sharp claws. It was one of the most common predators on the first to third underground layers.
This monster eats everything, from ordinary wild beasts to drow elves. It is extremely cruel and cunning.
The mercenaries were completely helpless against this agile monster, and as the noisy sound came, he vaguely heard the same crawling sound coming from the distance, and estimated that other claw monsters were coming.
He shook his head and pointed his finger. A ball of white light flew into the air and suddenly exploded. In an instant, it was like a light bulb of several hundred watts lighting up. The bright light illuminated the surroundings. The mercenaries below did not react to the sudden brightness and fell to the ground. Several claw monsters on the stone pillars fell directly down.
"Crack!"
A thick chain lightning blasted out, blasting several claw monsters into fireballs in mid-air, which turned into charcoal when they landed on the ground.
The mercenaries who reacted were stunned, and then looked away in awe.
These claw monsters were difficult to deal with even for level 10 warriors. In such a dark environment, it would take at least ten people to kill these claw monsters. But for Lin Xiao, they were all killed in the blink of an eye. The eyes of the mercenaries had changed from envy to awe.
Two days later, the caravan crossed a long underground canyon and came to a plain. From afar, they saw a huge stone castle in the center of the plain.
On the way, they saw a patrol of gray dwarves. They were riding low underground lizards and could walk across the rugged terrain as if it were flat ground. They soon came to them.
The caravan leader Marin was very familiar with the gray dwarves. He walked up to them and had a familiar conversation with them for a while, then took out a heavy bag and handed it over, and they were allowed to pass smoothly.
Soon they arrived at the gate of the castle called Stone Hammer. The gate was made of fine brass and covered with huge copper nails. At the entrance was a huge trade square and four radial streets. On both sides of the street were short stone houses. Going along the street, from time to time they could see weapon shops with Iron Hammer signs hanging on them, and people of all races came in and out from time to time.
From time to time, you can see various shapes of orcs, humans, halflings, gray dwarves, tauren, goblins, etc. on the streets.
Most of these human orcs are explorers and adventurers from the surface, or criminals who can't make it on the surface. No one here cares about their past, and they are allowed to enter the city as long as they don't cause trouble.
After paying a ten-gold entrance fee, the caravan successfully entered the castle. Marin spent twenty gold coins to rent a piece of land in the trade square as a stall fee. He unloaded all the goods and asked the guards to arrange them, then began to shout:
"The most refined salt and the best beer on earth!"
While shouting, he opened the lid of the beer, scooped out a ladle of beer and sprinkled it on the ground. The aroma of beer immediately attracted the surrounding gray dwarves, including some orcs and other races.
Although the gray dwarves are far more treacherous and cunning than their counterparts on the surface, they also have the greatest weakness of their distant relatives and are absolutely unable to resist the attraction of beer.
Marin knew very well that the wheat needed to make beer could not be grown in the Underdark, so the largest amount of cargo carried by the caravan this time was beer.
Soon, bids were heard in the square:
"I'll give you ten sets of steel half-armor in exchange for two barrels of beer!"
"I'll give you twenty fine long arrows for a barrel of beer!"
"I'll give you fifty sets of fine plate armor in exchange for ten barrels of beer!"
As the amount of beer decreased, the gray dwarves who had not yet exchanged for beer became jealous and kept bidding higher and higher, which made Lin Xiao stunned and excited.
(End of this chapter)