Simon Xia agreed to go with them without a second thought, and LAN, relying on her connections, brought in six sixteen-level warriors and four fourteen-level mages from the Moon Dance Mercenary Corps. Although there were only ten of them, they were completely free of charge and the high rank of the mercenaries themselves left everyone speechless.
Eighteen people can't be said to be large, but as an adventure team, it can be called a mighty force. After three days, the little Black Cat Adventure team appeared at the edge of the deep water swamp.
The entire marsh was covered with a layer of water that made it impossible to see the path beneath, and the thickness of the water was so uneven that boats could not pass through it at all. What seemed to be dry land, if not careful, turned into a deep mud marsh that could not be lowered. This is where the deep marsh comes from.
The mercenaries of the Moon Dance Mercenary Group began to build rafts without saying a word. The rafts they made were a little different from those that were simply tied together with wood. Very wide, with a slightly upturned front, it looks somewhat like a sled, with all the wood split in half, the smooth side down. Three such rafts were made, and it took most of the day.
"If there are no unexpected circumstances, it will take five days to cross the marsh. During these five days, we will solve all problems on the raft, so everyone should be mentally prepared." " A relatively older mercenary said this so-called mental preparation was actually addressed to the two girls, after all, girls have some private matters that are not very convenient.
"It's just five days!" Emilia didn't find it difficult at all.
"I brought two small tents where I could deal with any inconvenience." "It was Spassi who reminded me," said Osirena. When it came to luggage, Ossirena and Spassi had the most, from tents and sleeping bags to cups for drinking water.
On the contrary, Gasiah and LAN had the fewest things. Gasiah had nothing but weapons and essential food and water, while LAN was even better, empty-handed, not even having the staff that a mage must have.
All the people and luggage were on the raft, and it was then that they discovered the peculiousness of the raft, that it had a very shallow draw, and after carrying six people and the corresponding luggage, only a few centimeters were submerged.
When the light of dawn shone upon the land, the adventure team, which had an absolute numerical advantage, set off. The deep water swamp was like a dark monster, waiting for the adventurer to fall into its mouth.
The sled-like raft, propelled by the seasoned mercenaries, moved very fast. The marsh was filled with pale purple mist during the day, and the mercenaries were able to keep a rough direction even when the view was completely unclear.
LAN was chatting idly with the mercenaries on board. The marsh in the daytime would only make one lose one's way, but the night was truly terrifying.
"I've heard that there are terrifying monsters lurking in deep water marshes." Even LAN himself felt bored when it was brought up as a topic of conversation, but there was nothing that could be done. The raft was full of mercenaries except him, four warriors, one mage, and Osirena and the others had to listen to Simon. Xia told his adventure story, refusing to part, all gathered on the second raft, the last one carrying three mages, two warriors, and Garcia. He could have been on the same raft as LAN, but he thought it would be better to have companions on each raft, so he got on the last one.
"You're talking about the two-headed serpent, right?" Raft rowing is not the mage's specialty, so the mage on the raft just said to him in a casual way, "That's a beast of three attributes. The two heads have dark and water attributes respectively, and the snake body has earth attributes, but it's not a very difficult beast to deal with."
"The two-headed serpent is nothing, but the three-headed lizards are annoying. Although they only have water-type attacks, their saliva has paralyzing and slowing effects, and their skin is thick. Neither physical nor magical attacks can deal much damage to them," Another mercenary interjected, "The only weakness is the sarcoma on the forehead of the middle head, but the most annoying thing is that it comes in a swarm."
"It's annoying to be in groups, but that's when a mage is needed. Even a dragon needs time to catch its breath after a large number of spells." The mage doesn't seem to think so.
"Not these two monsters." LAN interrupted what could have turned into an argument, "I've heard it sounds like... Kelpi, it sounds like that."
"You can't be saying 'Kelby'..." The mage's face suddenly changed. "It is said that the original form is a blue horse, but it has the ability to transform into human form and induce people to drown."
The ability to transform into human form, which is only possessed by high-level monsters, even the warrior's face was not very pleasant.
"Well, it's 'Kelby'." LAN's affirmation made the mercenaries on the raft feel heavy. "But don't worry. All of you have crossed deep swamps and haven't encountered them so many times. We won't really encounter them this time either."
The mage gave a dry laugh twice and reluctantly replied, "Yes," then ignored him.
"Really boring," he said. LAN muttered in a low voice, "It would be nice to run into one. There would be a chance to see the legendary water fairy."
The mage looked somewhat discontentedly at the boy who was muttering to himself. If it weren't for the commander's order, why would they be working for this little magic apprentice without any payment?
LAN suddenly raised his head, forcing the mage to turn his head somewhat awkwardness to the other side, though somewhat dissatisfied, it did not mean that he was stingy enough to show all this in front of a child.
"There's a sour smell, do you smell it?" LAN suddenly asked, though he didn't know much about the world's monsters, otherwise he would surely have discovered that it was the smell of a two-headed snake and corrosive venom.
"Is there?" The mage sniffed hard. "No, don't scare people there."
"There really is!" LAN frowned. "And the smell is very strong. Can't you smell it?"
In the conversation, the raft had already moved a considerable distance.
"It's a problem with your nose... Well..." Before the mage could finish his words, he had already identified the problem.
"It seems that our sense of smell is rather dull." The mercenary at the head of the raft said heavily, "I think we're surrounded." The mercenaries were already on guard, on the middle raft, Simon. Xia also cast a defensive magic.
"Don't tell me we broke into the lair of the two-headed snake." Simon Xia's face was ugly, but as the only one in the group to be rated as a sixth-level mage by the Magic Society, his guess was absolutely correct.
LAN had imposed "blessing", "defense" and "acceleration" on everyone long before the mercenary spoke. Immediately after that, a wide range of "weakness" and "slowness" fell upon the two-headed serpent.
If breaking into the lair of the two-headed snakes is the misfortune of the little Black Cat Adventure team, then encountering the little Black Cat adventure team is the misfortune of these two-headed snakes.
The battle looks like a one-sided massacre. On the first two rafts, the mercenaries work in perfect harmony. While the warriors defend, the mages cast spells one after another. Occasionally, if someone gets splashed with venom, LAN's poison relief will follow in time.
The battle was more intense on the middle raft, in order to take care of these half-baked little guys, Simon. Summer can only keep a half-attack defensive magic, and the occasional escaped two-headed snake quickly loses its ability to move under the sword of Spassi and the magic of Osirena, and then the weapons and magic of the others immediately come upon the unlucky two-headed snake. In this way, they can remain undefeated for a longer period of time.
What really surprised the mercenaries was LAN, who had thought an apprentice would be struggling to take care of seventeen people, but after such a long time, his spells were still being cast one after another at an astonishing speed and showed no sign of fatigue.
Just as the magic power of the mages began to wane, the two-headed snake finally started to retreat, but it only moved a little further away and showed no intention of letting it go.
"It's getting dark." The mage, who was on the raft with LAN, said as he hurried to restore his magic.
The mercenaries said that the three rafts were tied side by side, with the weakest one in the middle. "The mage should rest on the middle raft, and the warrior should be on guard." The veteran mercenary commanded, "LAN, you go and rest too."
"I'm not tired." " LAN refused outright, "Your wounds should be treated as soon as possible, too." He had no luggage, but all kinds of antidotes, hemostatic drugs, and bandages kept showing up in his hands, and even Garcia couldn't help asking him where these things came from.
They chewed hard bread, hoping that the group of two-headed snakes wouldn't start a new round of attack at once.
LAN, with a hint of malice, brought two almost dismembered two-headed snakes, removed the venom glands from their heads, skinned and washed them, and then roasted them by the raft.
"Is this kind of thing edible... ?" Osirena looked pale. Not only him, but even the seasoned mercenaries felt that this stuff was really not edible, let alone that it had almost worn them to death.
"It will be known in a moment." Saying this, LAN sprinkled some strange powder on the snake meat, and suddenly a wonderful aroma wafted out, and LAN's cooking skills were fully displayed once again. "Would you like to try it?" LAN turned his head and asked Sparsy, who was the first to get impatient beside him.
The nobleman's face was still a little pale, but he was still attracted by the aroma of the food. Finally, he hesitated and nodded, reached out and took the snake meat, took a bite and immediately threw away the bread in his hand, "delicious!" One of them led the way, and the others, half-believing and half-doubting, came along. In the end, even Osirena, disregarding the disgust of the stuff, ate a whole piece.
"LAN, from now on, we'll eat whatever you do." Simon Xia said, swallowing saliva as if still not satisfied, but the snake meat had already been divided up and LAN was not going to roast it again.
"Well, you can get tired of too much game," he said. LAN jokingly refused and suddenly looked up at the group of snakes perched not far away. "It's about to begin."
The mercenaries began to get nervous because of this, and LAN put the four venom glands he had taken out earlier into a small jar, crushed it and mixed in some powder, then somehow turned into a small brush and smeared the liquid in the jar one by one on the warriors' blades.
"I don't know if it will work on the two-headed snake." Before LAN could finish his words, the attack of the snakes began, Simon. Xia, as usual, opened his defensive magic to relieve the pressure on the warriors, and LAN's auxiliary magic was released one after another.
A two-headed snake that had just charged into the defense wall devoured LAN with a "slow", and Burvigi's two-handed sword struck the black snake's head. Unexpectedly, in less than a second, the entire snake turned green all over, twitched twice and then stopped.
Poisonous.
The mercenaries found a way out. They no longer struggled to kill the snakes; they just wanted their blades to leave some tiny wounds on the snakes, and the poison would immediately kill them. Although the number of snakes was no more than in the previous round, the battle was actually much easier.
The snakes finally receded like a tide, as if they had finally felt the terror, Simon. Xia sat down and wiped the sweat off his face. He was already feeling exhausted by the defensive magic that had lasted so long and over such a large area.
"Snake King." LAN's gaze never left the dark shadow ahead. "Mr. Xia, can you still freeze the marsh ahead?"
"How much?" Simon Xia stood up, struggling a little as he moved.
"Let it freeze as much as you want." " LAN said, and then raised his hand to give the old mage an "amplification".
The freezing process did not go smoothly, the ice kept cracking, and the old mage had to use more magic to thicken the ice.
"Can you feel the starting point of the ice cracking?" As if she had discovered something, LAN frowned. "No, it's already coming close."
"Shelter!" The divine spell, representing the level of a fifth-order Light priest, finally struck, and the huge tail of the two-headed snake crashed hard against the newly forged shield.
LAN stretched out his left hand, his fingers closed, and a fine long bow appeared in his palm, and as he drew the string, a deep blue current appeared at his fingertips.
The first arrow pierced through the mouth of one of the snake heads, which was instantly enveloped by the blue current and then shrank rapidly. The second arrow was already at the tip of the finger, and the black snake head, seeing the situation, kept swallowing and spitting out the letter, angry but no longer opening its mouth.
The second arrow was aimed at the seventh inch, and the speed and frequency of the string were so fast and steady that even the most experienced mercenary would be amazed. Six arrows pierced through the snake's body at the same time, and the blue current appeared again, more densely covering the entire giant snake than before. In a moment, the incapacitated giant snake fell down and struck the wall again, this time LAN's face turned pale.
"Cut off the snake's head and then eat its own movements with interest." LAN commanded, his expression restored to normal, "It's almost dawn. Let's leave here first."