Chapter 21: Deep into the Mine
Grouse Mountain.

An Ti and Nie Hong came here again. Walking on the winding mountain road, they saw the outline of the town again.

Nie Hong swallowed nervously. He had spoken with great ambition before, but now when he came to this place again, he couldn't help feeling a little timid.

But after all, I came back during the day this time, so there is not as much pressure as at night.

The two approached cautiously, but soon became confused.

Why are there so few people here?

Although they chose to walk around the outskirts of the town this time and did not intend to take the risk of entering the town, it was somewhat strange that there was not a single person in sight.

"It's a bit strange. Are they doing anything else?" Nie Hong guessed with a frown.

An Ti stood up and looked around for a long time with his powerful eyesight, but still found nothing. Without getting too hung up on it, he took Nie Hong and quickly headed up the mountain.

They came to the mine on the mountain. On the open space in front of the cave entrance, there were obvious signs of cleanup on the ground where corpses were left after the battle between the two men.

Especially the human corpses, all showed signs of having been moved.

Nie Hong was a little scared, while Anti squatted beside a corpse. He didn't care about the stench of decay and the maggots on the corpse. He reached out and turned over the corpse and saw its empty eye sockets.

He clapped his hands and stood up: "My eyes have been gouged out."

"Sure enough, the evil cult in this town is planning to do something big." Nie Hong said.

"It's hard to say, let's see how Safin is doing first."

As they spoke, the two entered the mine.

There was no particular change at the pile of corpses. Anti took a wooden stick, lit it, scared away a group of somewhat active cursed bodies, and walked back to Safin's cave.

"Cough cough... cough cough cough!"

Before I got close, I heard a violent coughing sound from inside.

An Ti and Nie Hong stopped subconsciously.

But let alone the footsteps, Anti did not even cover up the firelight.

"Is that Anti?" Safin's voice came from inside.

Anti didn't hesitate any longer and walked straight into the cave. He saw Safin's face, which had suddenly become much more haggard after just a few days' absence.

"Mr. Safin! What happened to you?" Nie Hong followed behind and was shocked when he came in and saw it.

"Little brother, you are back too." Safin smiled and was in a good mood to greet him. Then he looked at Anti, and seeing that Anti had been carefully cleaned and had a new set of clothes, he smiled and said, "It seems that you succeeded."

"No, I failed." Anti said casually, "And unfortunately, in the end, I am still the only one who can help you."

"Don't I count?" Nie Hong pointed at himself in confusion, then shrank back obediently after being glanced at by Anti.

Safin shook his head: "You are really back, thank you."

"No need to thank me. You don't look well. Are you going to be unable to withstand the curse?" An asked.

Safin nodded slightly in silence: "If you come back late, I'm afraid it will be a problem whether I can talk to you properly again."

"Then why did you encourage me to go back first?" Anti was a little helpless. To put it bluntly, he just didn't want to take any risks.

He didn't dwell on this question any further, but said, "Then we'll hurry up and go down to find something. Be careful, something seems to be wrong in this town."

"They have been looking for an opportunity for a long time and have been stationed in this town for many years. Perhaps their ceremony is almost complete." Safin said.

Anti, who had just turned around, turned back again: "You know?"

"Because I am under the curse of the One in the Deep, this feeling is very clear." Safin said with some difficulty.

Anti said, "A patrol team from the sanctuary will pass by soon. I have also told the city below the mountain about the situation in Gross Town. Someone should be here to deal with it by then."

"Let's hope so. The Mixed Dream Realm is huge, and the influence of the Sanctuary itself is limited. Many things cannot be traced back at all. Otherwise, we wouldn't have ended up like this... ahem!"

Nie Hong looked a little uncomfortable, but An Ti still had no expression: "We'll leave first."

This time he didn't look back and just left the cave.

After taking a few glances, Nie Hong could only say take care and turned around to follow An Ti.

The two men went deeper into the mine quickly in silence.

As the torches flickered, their shadows swayed together, and occasionally the sound of some unknown creatures wandering could be heard.

Suddenly, Anti pointed the torch toward a dark tunnel and stopped.

Nie Hong was a little slow, but soon glanced sideways and said, "There's something!"

The perception of believers is not bad, especially those who believe in Qi, who are even more sensitive to living things.

Crack, crack - several pairs of skinny hands and feet quickly climbed up the rock wall. In the light of the fire, a "spider" composed of several hideous faces with empty eye sockets suddenly jumped out from the darkness.

Nie Hong was startled at first sight. The impact of such a thing jumping out directly in the dark mine was quite considerable.

But he did not panic, and quickly stretched out his hands to perform concentration control.

The "spider" climbed very quickly. It took a while to focus and control before it successfully enveloped them. At this time, it had almost rushed to the two of them.

The moment the control took effect, the spider monster stopped moving, and Anti pulled out a stone hammer from his waist and smashed it hard at the spider monster that seemed to be waiting to be hammered.

A muffled sound echoed in the tunnel, and the spider monster flew out backwards, making a chaotic noise.

Unexpectedly, the hammer did not kill the spider monster directly. It was still struggling on the ground. Nie Hong hurried forward and threw a flying knife.

After being pierced back and forth by the flying knives several times, it gradually stopped moving.

Anti walked forward with a torch and saw the black spot in the light of the fire.

[The Cursed Aggregate of Gross Mine: The weak cursed entities have learned the power of gathering together. The curse of gathering together has brought more fierce aggression. They are no longer afraid of light, but it is difficult for them to leave the densely cursed area.]

Having gotten used to those cursed creatures that are timid and not very tall, the contrast brought by this monster, which is as big as a large dog and quite aggressive, is quite a big deal.

"How do these things grow?" Nie Hong felt sick after taking a closer look and couldn't help asking.

"Because of the miracle of the curse." Anti answered casually.

"Is this also a miracle?" Nie Hong was surprised.

"In addition to the systematic miracles summarized by humans, there are also many strange and chaotic miracles. What they need is not a user, but only a carrier to help them operate." Anti said.

"The miracle of activation..." Nie Hong also remembered the knowledge point.

Although the miracle of activation is a required knowledge point, it is just like telling these little bastards to be careful in the dream world and not to waste time just because they have a lot of life. It is still difficult to understand the reality without actually experiencing it.

Not to mention the fact that miracles on Blue Star cannot be activated, which makes it difficult to provide perfect education in this area.

The two moved on.

There were quite a few of these groups, even the common monsters in the deep mines. As long as the two of them got close and were sensed by them, they would rush towards them like mad dogs.

After continuous encounters, Nie Hong, who had been responsible for taking the initiative to use coagulation control to control the target, had already shown signs of fatigue.

After killing another monster, Nie Hong calmed himself down.

Ding~.

It is true that being calm also consumes sensory power, but the consumption is limited, and being calm can speed up the recovery of sensory power to a certain extent. This is the normal way to use being calm in most cases.

Ding~.

There was another calm voice, this time it was naturally Anti.

Anti has become addicted to calmness. He cannot live without it. It seems that only by being calm can he continue to move forward.

If a miracle happens to him and he survives, the first thing he must do is to stay calm. Then he will prostrate himself and express his gratitude.

As they walked, they saw the first exit and walked out of it.

But they found another walkway built on the rock wall. However, what was below was not the usual pile of corpses, but an ancient relic!

"That must be our destination." Nie Hong opened his eyes wide, trying to see clearly, but unfortunately, even with the torch in the darkness, he could only make out the outline.

As soon as he finished speaking, Anti suddenly made a gesture to him to keep quiet.

Nie Hong covered her mouth.

Then they heard heavy footsteps.

From the end of the wooden walkway they were on.

After listening for a while, Anti walked closer along the aisle.

In the light of the torch, a figure standing upright on a wide wooden platform was revealed.

When Nie Hong saw that figure, he held his breath.

Anti tilted his head, somewhat surprised.

Night Chaser Knight!
The knight's armor was the same as the one that the two men had worn during the siege when they left Gros Town. However, this knight's armor looked much more worn out, with an uneven surface and even rusty spots, and half of the helmet was cracked.

The knight himself is not important, the key point is the dense and terrifying straight sword he wears.

Although Anti told Nie Hong about the miraculous effect of the straight sword, it was just that, apart from the special abilities that Anti gained after his hand was severed, they had no suitable means to deal with the "unseen blade".

This kind of knight is undoubtedly a high-risk unit for Anti and Nie Hong, and they need to be cautious when fighting the enemy.

(End of this chapter)