My players are so fierce.

Chapter 684 683. You still have to ask the old man to take action at the critical moment

On the third day after Murphy was assassinated and disappeared, the situation at the Black Flame Pass position could not get worse.

The Splitclaw clan did not launch another reckless general attack, but the reconnaissance results of both the players and the elf rangers showed that the gnoll army was already in place.

More than 150,000 jackals and countless kobold cannon fodders have blocked the Black Flame Pass in all directions, isolating it into a real battlefield island. Even the non-frontal battlefield on the Fort Courage side has one. The Gnoll army is executing siege tactics.

Lord Heather and her commanders don't know why the gnolls haven't started attacking yet, but what is certain is that the initiative in the war does not currently lie with the Black Flame Pass.

The lord has been under a lot of pressure these days.

Because while besieging Black Flame Pass, the Splitclaw clan also sent kobolds to perform digging tactics in other passable directions of Black Flame Pass.

It is difficult for them to dig out tunnels that can allow the army to pass through, but they can still dig out some small passages for infiltration. Therefore, small groups of jackals have been appearing in the barren mountain area behind the Black Flame Pass. .

There were already some wandering local jackals here, and they became a new threat as soon as the two sides merged.

Lord Heather is now extremely fortunate that there is still a team of Transians available for mobilization over the Dark Valley, so that she does not have to worry about the dispatched vanguards causing trouble from behind the position.

What is gratifying is that the warriors of Transia are as active as ever on the battlefield.

They still guard the first three positions, and are willing to help soldiers in need of help in other positions solve various problems. This enthusiastic attitude makes many subordinates regard the Transians as reliable allies.

In addition to being a little greedy and restless, these guys are almost perfect battlefield partners. Some of the subordinates have even taken the initiative to request the player team to temporarily join them for daily patrol work.

As the war becomes more and more dangerous, patrols become more dangerous. Who knows whether a group of vicious jackal thugs will suddenly jump out of the originally safe place. In this case, some of the team will go crazy when they see the fighting. , a warrior whose morale is always locked can make everyone feel at ease.

Worst of all, at the most critical moment, these Transians can give the soldiers an opportunity to evacuate and call for reinforcements.

The best thing is that the war spirits of Transia are not afraid of death. As long as they can get a sufficiently generous reward, Transia people are even willing to die on their own initiative.

But as their strength continues to increase, the rewards for hiring Transians to die on their own initiative are also rising. Fortunately, there is a steady stream of new warriors coming from behind who have just passed the Black Iron Trial, and the price these guys ask for is much "cheaper" .

In short, everyone on the battlefield knew that the war was coming, but before the boots hit the ground, they actually had nothing to do except endless daily military preparations and reinforcement of positions.

You can't just abandon your defensive position and follow the Transians, strap them full of explosives and charge directly into the enemy's formation, right?

Damn it, what's the difference between that and dying?

It was under this depressing and serious situation that Chen Tou, the elder of the Honorary Society of the Transian Masonic Brotherhood, and his two students were invited to the Black Flame Pass. Accompanying them was the Silver Dwarf's master architect Ilyich. Lord Umm Warheart.

They arrived very quietly, but their mission at this time was very important.

Lord Murphy, who was recuperating in a mysterious place, felt that there might be some undiscovered hidden dangers in the defense system of Black Flame Pass, so he asked professionals like them to conduct a final inspection of the Pass position.

To be honest, Old Chen thought this mission issued by Mrs. Adele was somewhat strange.

"I heard that Black Flame Pass began to be rebuilt after the Fourth Black Disaster. The Blood Alliance clan commissioned brass dwarves who were good at digging to spend almost fifty years building it into what it is today. After that, people will come every few years. Repair and strengthen it.

If there is really a problem on the battlefield, there is no reason why no one has noticed it for so many years, right? "

Old Chen, who was wearing an architect's robe and the Blade of Cold Fang, was leaning on a cane specially used for measurement. He said to his silver dwarf friend who was secretly drinking from a small bottle next to him:

"The design drawing of the position was produced by your Gaia Temple, and subsequent inspections were also conducted by Gaia's priests. With the dwarves' keen perception of the power of the earth and your high requirements for the quality of buildings, it will not always fail every time. Is it just a formality to neglect your duties?"

"I've never been here."

Master Ilyich took a breath of alcohol. This old guy who started drinking early in the morning said carelessly:

"But I have heard about the Black Flame Pass. Several of my students regarded this place as the masterpiece of their architect careers. When the twelve positions and various permanent fortifications at the Black Flame Pass were completed, the temple over there Indeed, someone was sent to inspect and accept it.

The result is perfect.

My colleagues believe that on the terrain of this mountain pass position, this defense line has utilized various functions to the extreme. I also think that it cannot have quality problems, because the Earth Priest has spiritually reinforced the position several times.

More than two-thirds of the fortresses here cannot be destroyed by the Fossil to Mud spell.

Because the Jackals used the meteorite technique to attack here during the Fourth Black Disaster, the construction requirement given to us by the Blood Alliance Knights is that the defense system at important nodes must be able to withstand the bombardment of the meteorite technique.

So our architects connected those important fortresses to the mountain, which is what we did when we originally designed the Brass Fortress.

But we’re all here, right?

Just take a look at it, just to give reassurance to the brave soldiers on the battlefield. "

"Well, let's go then."

Old Chen glanced at his dwarf friend.

He must admit that the construction system built by the Silver Dwarves on the continent for nearly a thousand years shocked him, an outsider.

Although most fantasy-style buildings are difficult to replicate in the real world, certain rules in architecture are completely universal in both worlds.

For Mr. Chen, who has been doing this all his life, it is really valuable to get an opportunity to look at architecture from another perspective. Therefore, he and Master Ilyich have become true friends. This friendship is built on the relationship between the masters. On the basis of mutual sympathy.

In addition to drinking heavily, Ilyich was also very fond of foreign architectural theories.

Especially those high-rise buildings that often have hundreds of floors, those imaginative buildings, those man-made wonders that are nearly a thousand meters tall like the Tower of Babel, and cross-sea bridges made entirely of steel.

It has to be said that in the eyes of the dwarves from another world, these are all things that exist in fantasy. It’s not that they can’t do it. It’s mainly because the mainland’s technological level prevents them from building similar buildings. Even a cement problem is difficult to solve. , you can’t build a Burj Khalifa with stones, right?

The four architects quickly arrived at Lord Heather's command post.

According to the agreement between Heather and Murphy, the architectural drawings of the entire Black Flame Pass were taken out. The stack of drawings alone was half a person tall.

The functions of the twelve positions are different, especially the six positions at the rear, which have complex underground structures. There are basically no duplicate designs. The four architects must browse the design drawings of each position to find the problem.

“It’s just the four of us who can’t wait to see these pictures until next year!”

The chosen one complained:

"Perhaps we should bring the apprentices?"

"You're making trouble! This is a military secret. It's already a big deal for Mr. Murphy to allow us to see it."

The brick mover next to him was not annoyed. The fat architect analyzed rationally:

"The first eight levels of defense do not have any underground structures. They are just pure ground positions and various fortresses connected to the mountains. There is no way to make small moves in these places, especially the first five levels of defense that faced the Jackal attack before.

The jackals couldn't defeat them even though they used the meteorite technique, which shows that the quality of the position there is excellent.

Therefore, I think that if we want to find the problem, we only need to search in the underground structure of the rear sixth level position.

Teacher, what do you say? "

"Well, that makes sense."

Old Chen nodded and said:

“Just do this and get this done as soon as possible.

The project on the Midnight Tower is about to proceed to the core construction of a main tower and three auxiliary towers. It is the first time we have dealt with issues related to the Mage Tower. We must rush back as soon as possible to learn this special construction technique.

Can't waste too much time on this matter. Each person is responsible for one position, and Ilyich and I are responsible for two. We strive to complete the inspection before tomorrow night. "

They quickly assigned the task and started looking at the drawings. But two hours later, not to mention Ilyich, even old Chen Tou and his students had to admit that from the drawing level alone, these positions were The design and construction are perfect.

The architects of the Silver Dwarves designed a very simple underground functional structure for the rear position of Black Flame Pass. In order to maximize the time that the position can last during the attack, they not only designed enough caves for hiding soldiers underground, There are also extremely important storage of various warehouses and underground water sources.

Those underground water sources are marked as coming from tributaries of the "Huma River", the largest river in the Barren Mountain area, and each underground water source has been subjected to a filtering ritual of earth purification by the dwarves, which is enough to ensure that the gnolls cannot harm the defenders through poisoning. military.

According to the various parameter requirements on the drawing, if Lord Heather prepares for war in full accordance with the requirements of the drawing, the food, materials and weapons stored in the rear six positions alone will be enough for the Blood Alliance Knights and their retinues to survive the loss of the front eight positions. Continue to persist for more than two years.

Moreover, there are underground passages connecting the six positions to each other, so that when the situation comes to worst, the soldiers can quickly transfer through the underground tunnels extending in all directions.

"I don't see any problem."

The gray man rubbed his sore eyebrows and said to his mentor:

"In addition to the fact that these underground tunnels are crisscrossed like a spider web, which is painful, these positions are already comparable to 'miniature Maginos' in terms of design alone. No wonder it took them fifty years to complete the positions It's completely built. Just because of the complexity of the design, I don't think the brass dwarves responsible for the construction are taking advantage of it.

They almost built a six-layered "underground city" in this area of ​​less than 17 kilometers!

No wonder Lord Heather is so confident in guarding the Black Flame Pass."

"Indeed, the people who designed this defense system are definitely true masters. They have perfected space utilization under limited conditions."

The brick mover also put down the drawings and said to Old Chen:

"In this complicated situation, mentor, we can't see the problem just by looking at the drawings. I think we should go down and take a look on the ground."

"I'll take you there."

Master Ilyich snorted, took out a bottle of Feitian wine that he was obsessed with from his psychic bag, poured half of it into his own small wine bottle, and licked the remaining wine in the bottle with great taste, and then He took out his architect's cane and said:

"Using the Earth Walking Ceremony given by the Mother Goddess of the Earth, I can take you quickly through the underground structures of these positions. But with all due respect, with just the four of us, it would take just one turn to go around all the structures and rooms of these positions. For a long time.

The underground structure includes thousands of rooms. We can't look at every one of them, right? "

"That's what I say, but since I took over the task, I have to work hard."

Old Chentou laughed and said:

"Let's go, let's stop complaining. Not finding the problem is the best result. If there is really a problem, our hard work may be able to save more people. This is a good deed to save people, and we can't complain about it.

Ilyich, please go to Fort Courage first and bring my other student Samoyelia here.

He is different from these two guys who don't have much experience. He has really done big projects. With his experience, it will be much easier for us to investigate. "

"Oh, the famous 'Devil Overseer', I know that boy trained the foremen on the Maginot Line to be like grandsons, making them respect and fear him. That guy is a talent, he can definitely enter Gaia God Of the temple.”

The silver dwarf drunkard laughed, waved his cane and jumped forward. He disappeared into the earth like a descendant of earth, and jumped out five minutes later and successfully brought him back to Samoyelia.

This big brother of civil engineering and construction still had his sleeves rolled up when he jumped out. It looked like he was directing work at the construction site of Fort Courage, but he was pulled over by his own teacher.

"Hurry, hurry!"

Samoyed is a person who respects teachers and cannot swear at the teacher, but he turned to the two younger students and shouted:

"After getting this done, I have to go back to Fort Courage to continue laying dust and building a house. Those gnolls and dogs are absolutely crazy. They have surrounded the position from all directions. If we hadn't already taken care of the main body of the bastion, they would have been able to do it with a single charge. Send us back to the Hall of Valor.

However, the bastion was built but there were not enough soldiers to guard it. It was really weird.

The position I designed can hold at least 5000 people, but the defenders there are less than . Alas, if I had known better, I wouldn't have made it that big. "

"You are just creating a spectacle. We civil servants all have this problem, so don't worry about it."

The gray man smiled and patted his senior brother on the shoulder. Then, under the leadership of Ilyich, several people used earth magic to enter the underground structure behind the Black Flame Pass.

They did not just take a quick look, but carefully inspected these underground structures that seemed to have no problems. They were fine at first, but as they gradually went deeper into the ground, the expressions of Old Chentou and Samoyed became not so good.

"Stop! There's a problem!"

In the three-story underground granary of the ninth position, Samoyed stopped Master Ilyich, who was about to continue walking. He discussed a few words with Old Chentou in a low voice, and then directed the graylayers and brick movers to start measuring the granary and The height of several other buildings.

The gray man was still a little surprised, but he quickly brought back the data.

"It's about 0.2-0.3 meters lower than the height in the drawing."

The young civil engineering man scratched his head and said:

"Is this error still within the acceptable range for such a complex underground project? After all, the brass dwarves dig from the ground down, and there is no equipment like an excavator. It all depends on the dwarves themselves to control according to their feelings. .

It’s understandable that problems may arise. "

"It is indeed within the acceptable range, but it's okay to have errors in one or two rooms, but haven't you noticed that basically every room we came from just now has errors?

I'm not talking about you!

What a poor field experience you two have!

I have been working in civil engineering for so many years, and I can tell at a glance whether this house meets the standards. All the rooms we just looked at have such errors! "

Samoyed said sharply:

"Even if the error in each room is only 20 centimeters, this seven-story underground building can still have several meters of empty space! If you think about it carefully, if the six-layered positions below have this problem, then someone underground in this position will There will be an irregular giant hollow 7 kilometers long, more than ten kilometers wide, and several meters high in this place!

It stands to reason that such a cavity will directly cause ground subsidence, but there is psychic energy on this continent, which may be able to avoid this extreme result. However, the 'non-existent' underground structure hidden in the drawings is still very dangerous!

It must be found immediately!

Think about it, even if you only fill this cavity with homemade explosives, the power of the explosives once they explode underground will be enough to blow the entire position into the sky in an instant.

Mr. Murphy is right!

There's a problem at Black Flame Pass, and it's a big problem!

How has the Gaia Temple’s engineering supervision been conducted over the years? This is a fucking joke! To be honest, I am beginning to doubt the value of your so-called ‘architectural holy land in mainland China’. "

Old Chentou turned to look at the blushing Master Ilyich with the same serious expression. He said in a deep voice:

"Hurry up and send a message to the Temple of Gaia! Find the architect back then and ask him to come over immediately! The jackals will come at any time. We don't have time to fix this terrible loophole, but we should at least find out where it is and what's inside. Anything, so that the commander can take precautions."

"I'll find someone right away! Wait for me!"

Ilyich also knew that there was a big problem.

He jumped underground to find the earth priests on the battlefield to perform long-distance teleportation spells. Fortunately, they were the most favored branch of dwarves by Gaia. At critical moments, they could summon their tribesmen to a predetermined location regardless of distance.

This is much safer than astral teleportation, but unfortunately only silver dwarves can use it.

"We have to find a way."

As soon as Lao Chen opened his mouth, he heard a loud bang, as if something heavy hit the ground.

"Not good! The jackals are attacking."

Samoyed was so excited that he shouted:

"Let's take action immediately. At least we have to figure out what's hidden under this position. Damn it! Is this the world's undefeated line of defense against the black disaster? Damn it! It's leaking from all directions!"

(End of this chapter)