A sneeze destroys a magical civilization

"Eighty thousand... What if we add you and your mercenaries?" the drow woman asked condescendingly with a slightly playful tone.

Obviously, although she was very interested in goods and gray dwarf slaves, her real purpose was to focus on Zuo Si and his dark elf warriors from the beginning.

Because although there are about 20,000 dark elf warriors in Menzoberranzan, most of them have been divided up and controlled by noble families of all sizes. Even the mercenaries often sign long-term employment contracts.

Therefore, in this city, foreign mercenary groups like Zuo Si without any background are exactly those who are ambitious and want to continue to climb up in the eyes of the family.

What's more, being able to capture such a large gray dwarf caravan with more than a dozen people has already proven its considerable strength.

Facing the solicitation of the mistress of an unknown family, Zuo Si immediately refused without hesitation: "I'm very sorry, your distinguished mistress, I am deeply honored by your solicitation, but my people and I will not do it for the time being. Accept employment from any family."

"Oh why?"

The drow woman narrowed her eyes and showed a very dangerous expression.

As a high-ranking priestess and mistress, she is obviously used to others' obedience and hates anyone who dares to disobey her own will, especially this kind of "unconscious" guy.

But Zuo Si didn't take it seriously. Instead, he kept smiling and replied: "Because my people and I have just arrived in Menzoberranzan and have not yet proven our worth to the matrons. In this case, I I don’t think anyone could come up with a price I’d be happy with.”

Hearing these words, the drow woman couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Hahahaha! You are very confident, more confident and bold than any man I have ever seen. In that case, why don't you go to the tavern competition? How about proving yourself in the arena? I will pay you 100,000 gold coins to buy all the goods and slaves you have, but the condition is that you must win at least five consecutive games in the arena."

"Are you planning to let me use blood, killing and death to please you?" Zuo Si raised his head and asked meaningfully.

"What, are you scared?" The drow woman pursed her lips and revealed a cold and cruel look.

Because if the answer from Zuo Si's mouth at this moment is no, then she will not hesitate to let her family soldiers swarm up and make these foreign "refugees" who don't know the heights of the sky understand who is the real ruler of Menzoberranzan. By.

You must know that being a "lowly male" and refusing the request of the high-level priestess is itself an extremely disrespectful behavior in the dark elf society and needs to be punished and educated.

Drizzt had been whipped by his sisters for such things when he was little.

Since then, he has learned to lower his head as much as possible when facing a high-level priestess, and never look into the other person's eyes, otherwise he will suffer.

But for this group of female priests of the Spider Goddess Rose, Zuo Si obviously didn't have even the slightest sense of awe. Not only did he raise his head and look directly into their eyes, but he also responded unceremoniously: "No, I'm just worried about this." Does this city have enough warriors who dare to walk into the arena with me?"

"Arrogant! Mistress, please allow me to teach this ignorant outsider a lesson."

A dark elf warrior wearing a noble badge took the initiative to stand up.

He looks stronger than the average dark elf male, and he carries a magic sword with a red light on his back. At a glance, he can tell that he is a pretty good warrior.

If nothing else, he should be the martial arts master of this family, a role similar to a warrior instructor.

This is a very important position among dark elf noble families, and generally only the warriors with the most outstanding combat skills are qualified to hold it.

In the past, the strongest martial arts master in Menzoberranzan was Drizzt's father, Zaknavan.

Later, Zaknavan was sacrificed to the spider goddess Lolth by his mother Malice, which triggered a series of events such as Drizzt's defection from the family. After that, the title of the strongest martial arts master was obtained by Dandra of the Baenre family.

However, the martial arts master of the Baenre family could not maintain the title of the strongest for long, and died at the hands of Drizzt in a one-on-one duel.

In other words, Drizzt Do'Urden is the true number one warrior of Menzoberranzan.

Unfortunately, his two scimitars and artistic dance of death are so identifiable that he will be recognized by interested people as long as he takes action.

So Zuo Si raised his hand to stop the ranger's intention to fight on his behalf, stared at the martial arts master who was eager to show off in front of his mistress with the eyes of a dead man, and said with a smile: "If you are ready, I can accompany you at any time. But please remember, once you enter the arena, only one person can come out alive, and that person will definitely not be you."

"Hmph! Boy! I hope you can still be as arrogant as you are now when my sword pierces your heart and cuts your throat."

The unknown dark elf warrior grinned with a bloodthirsty expression.

Seeing that the smell of gunpowder between the two was so strong that it was about to overflow, the high-level priestess as the mistress immediately clapped her hands happily: "Very good! Very good! Since you two are so confident in your skills, let's The great god Lolth later made the final decision, and only the victors were worthy of survival."

As these words blurted out, the surrounding dark elves who were still watching the excitement suddenly burst into deafening cheers.

Because for them, there is nothing more exciting, exciting and pleasurable than watching two compatriots fight each other.

Especially this kind of "life and death situation" where one is destined to survive.

Soon, surrounded by these people, everyone, including the matron, quickly poured into the largest tavern in Menzoberranzan.

Of course, the main reason why this place is called a tavern is for ease of understanding.

In fact, this building is a comprehensive entertainment venue that provides a variety of services, specifically for dark elves to vent the various desires accumulated in their hearts.

On the upper floor, massage and erotic services are mainly provided, and at first glance, there are almost naked or semi-naked men and women.

Among them were dark elves, humans, tieflings, and hybrids of other races. There were even many succubi walking swaggering among the guests, enjoying flirting with this group of equally chaotic and evil dark elves.

Living in harmony with demons, apart from the dark elves, there is probably no other race in this world that can do it.

As for the middle floor, it is a special room designed to satisfy bloodthirsty and killing desires.

Here, as long as you spend dozens of gold coins, you can buy a living slave, and then do whatever you want to it according to your own wishes.

This includes but is not limited to peeling off the skin from all over the body, gouging out the opponent's eyes, cutting off the opponent's hands and feet, and then forcing the opponent to eat it.

Since there are a large number of torture instruments placed in each room, you can often hear the screams and wails coming from inside.

Compared with the upper two floors, the services provided by the lobby on the lower floor are much more ordinary, which are simple alcoholic beverages and food.

However, there is one thing that is unique in the lower area, and that is the arena, which can also be called the Colosseum.

This is a cylindrical cage with a radius of more than twenty meters.

Any dark elf who is confident in his own strength can enter the cage and wait for others to challenge him.

By winning by killing their opponents, they can make a name for themselves and attract the attention of noble families.

If you are lucky enough to be noticed by a certain mistress, you can get rid of your status as a commoner and become a "servant father" in a matter of minutes.

This is a very special position, which can be simply understood as the nominal husband and male favorite of the mistresses.

In principle, there can only be one serving father, just like in feudal society, men can only have one legal wife.

But the problem is that the serving father is not protected by any rules and laws.

If they want to maintain their status and not be deprived of it, they must first satisfy their mistress's physiological needs anytime and anywhere in bed.

Secondly, you must have a certain level of strength.

Otherwise, there is no way a loser can be a stable servant.

Not to mention the problem that the mistress will gradually like the new and dislike the old as time goes by. Many dark elves who are ambitious to spy on this position will use poisoning, assassination and other means to eliminate the current serving father.

Only those who are powerful enough can make the mistress think twice when she wants to change her servant.

But even so, becoming a servant is the only way for many dark elf civilian men to change their class.

Therefore, the arena in the tavern will never lack adventurers and challengers.

In order to prove their strength, some people even ask to challenge some of the most terrifying monsters in the Underdark, such as beholder demons, mind flayers, Kuo-Toa murloc priests or princes, demons summoned from the bottomless abyss, etc.

Of course, such people usually end up being torn to pieces mercilessly by monsters.

After all, although the dark elves are considered overlords in the Underdark, that refers to their overall strength, not the combat effectiveness of an individual.

More often than not, the arena is a place used to settle personal grievances, a place of execution where "legal" killings can be carried out.

When Zuo Si and the dark elf warrior walked into the huge iron cage, all the eyes in the tavern were quickly attracted.

Even the guests on the upper floors temporarily stopped their intense exercise, put on their coats and stood beside the hollow railings to look down, intending to enjoy this rare show.

Because unlike Zuo Si, who had just arrived and didn't understand the situation, these locals had already recognized the dark elf warrior standing in the arena. It was Jodi who had been trying to become the strongest martial artist in Menzoberranzan in recent years. Loyal to the third-ranked Obloza family.

As for the high-ranking priestess, I knew without asking that she must be the leader of the Obloza family - Keyo Obloza.

"Have you thought about your last words?"

When the door of the iron cage was slammed shut, Jodi immediately drew his weapon and assumed an offensive stance.

He was obviously very confident in his strength and did not think that the young boy in front of him would be his opponent at all.

After all, even if he transforms into a dark elf form, Zuo Si does not look more than forty years old, which is equivalent to a human being around sixteen or seventeen years old.

"Last words? Haha, that should be something you need to prepare, not me. In fact, you are already dead from the moment you step into the arena."

Zuo Si gently fiddled with the inconspicuous two-handed sword in his hand.

You don't need to ask to know that he doesn't intend to reveal himself as a spell caster too early, but intends to use the swordsmanship and melee combat skills he learned not long ago from the ancient planeswalker Sorin Markov to solve this little trouble at hand.

Although while receiving melee combat training, Zuo Si complained and complained more than once that it was a complete waste of time and energy for planeswalkers to learn such cold weapon combat skills.

But after several days of high-intensity battles, he was able to endure Sorin Markov's merciless onslaught for at least five minutes without losing.

Converted to Faerun's warrior level, it should be at least LV12~14.

Coupled with the bonus of their own strength, agility and physical attributes, warriors of the same level may not even have a chance to take action when encountering Zuo Si, and will be suppressed by the violent blows. In the end, they will be unable to withstand the fierce blow. The impact caused him to drop his weapon.

Especially the strength attribute of up to thirty-one points, which is simply not something ordinary people can possess.

Unless there is absolutely no collision of weapons, the hands of a person facing the opponent will be numb or even lose consciousness.

But Jodi obviously didn't know this. When the bell rang for the start of the duel, he immediately rushed forward with a giant sword glowing with red light, and took the lead in launching the first round of attacks at lightning speed. .

clang!

With the golden sparks bursting out when the two weapons collided together, this one-on-one duel finally began.

As a person who is qualified to aspire to the throne of the strongest martial artist in Menzoberranzan, Jody's swordsmanship skills are undoubtedly very superb. Even in the eyes of the legendary ranger Drizzt, he is also a very difficult and powerful person. opponent.

In particular, he always likes to seize the opportunity and fights with his ultra-fast reaction speed. This is a typical Justust Siren style of dark elf martial arts, also known as "Dangerous Edge".

When facing an enemy who uses this style of martial arts, he will often be suppressed by the opponent if he is not careful, and will eventually be defeated in the high-speed transition between attack and defense.

By the way, the martial arts style used by Drizzt is Della Villefort, also known as double blades. They belong to a very small number of dark elf nobles who have the talent of double hands and luxurious educational resources, and are qualified to learn and master it. of superb skills.

In fact, the martial arts of the dark elves have slowly evolved into twelve main schools over tens of thousands of years.

Including Baosa Zixin (Flash), Della Villefort (Double Blade), Given Gorgir (Scheme), Cain Videlin (Shadow Shen), Keorlin Prien ( Seize), Russ Alul (Strong Throw), Orb Alul (Spinning Spider), Fidar Straka (Beast Reckless), Salg Elgar (Retribution), Yos Te Sirian (dangerous front), Zal Salak (cavalry attack), Zrys Asalak (military power).

Almost every genre has its own unique characteristics.

As long as any dark elf can master one of these techniques, he can basically be regarded as an elite of his own race.

Generally speaking, only nobles have enough time and energy to learn these advanced martial arts that are beyond the reach of common people in their lifetime.

Seeing the high-speed transition between offense and defense and the collision of weapons between the two in the arena, Vinal finally couldn't help but ask the ranger next to her with a slightly worried tone: "Who do you think can win?"

"Do you still need to ask? Of course it's Soth! Pay attention to the hand he holds the sword. It has been very steady since just now, without any shaking at all. Do you know what this means?" Drizzt asked in a low voice. road.

"What does it mean?" Vinal blinked in confusion.

She is obviously not a warrior, but an excellent assassin. She rarely confronts the enemy head-on, so she doesn't know much about it.

Drizzt explained patiently: "This means an absolute gap in strength attributes! The fierce attack launched by this dark elf warrior named Jodi could not even make Soth feel any pressure. As Juste Si A martial arts user of the Ryan (Jianfeng) style, he has fallen into a predicament where he will be instantly defeated once he stops."

"You mean... the master is being pressed down and beaten, is he actually deliberately waiting for his opponent to run out of strength?" Vinal raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

You must know that in her knowledge, Zuo Si has always been a powerful spell caster, with extremely high levels of arcane and divine spells.

This can be seen from the terrifying group strengthening magic in the previous battle.

But now, it is a bit hard to accept that such a powerful spellcaster has shown martial arts skills that are not inferior to those of high-level warriors.

After all, even among dark elves with hundreds of years of life, few have the extra energy to learn martial arts after choosing "Double Cultivation of Sinnoh".

"That's why I say that Soth is a real monster, and the power he possesses cannot be measured according to common sense. The most important thing is that he is the chosen one jointly appointed by the two goddesses, and he has powerful chosen ability. But so far, He hasn't used any of these abilities yet."

When he said these words, Drizzt's tone and eyes became unprecedentedly serious.

As a friend of Alustriel, the supreme ruler of Silvermoon City, he obviously knows some secrets about the Silver Fire. He also knows how terrifying and astonishing destructive power Zuo Si can unleash if he is angered. The city of Lae will be reduced to ruins and dead cities under its wrath.

However, Vinal obviously didn't care about the life and death of Menzoberranzan. Instead, he smiled heartlessly and said while laughing: "Isn't this better? With such a strong person as my backer, I and I My people will definitely have a very fulfilling life on the surface. Maybe I should take advantage of this trip to the Underdark to recruit more talented dark elves, and maybe we can build our own on the surface by then. The village."

"I don't object to this. But you'd better be careful with your actions, otherwise once the high-ranking priestess notices it, the results will be disastrous." Drizzt warned with a serious look.

He was actually quite happy to see more of his fellow Dark Elves leaving the Underdark to start a new life on the surface.

But the premise is to abandon the chaotic and evil nature of the past.

"Don't worry, I'm not a fool, I know what target to choose." Vinal rolled her eyes angrily.

While the two were talking, the fierce battle rhythm in the arena finally began to slow down.

After all, most dark elves are not good at physical strength.

Coupled with Jody's fierce attack from the beginning, his physical strength was lost very quickly. In less than ten minutes, he was already dripping with sweat.

The hand holding the sword was trembling slightly uncontrollably.

You don't need to ask to know that he has personally experienced the terrifying impact of Zuo Si's thirty-one strength attribute.

With almost every weapon collision, arms, hands, and wrists endure unimaginable shockwaves.

That's it, it's still the result of not putting in much effort.

Obviously, Zuo Si was learning and absorbing the advantages of the opponent's martial arts school through this battle, so he chose to only defend rather than attack.

"Is it over? If you end it, it will be me!"

Zuo Si asked with a half-smile as he looked at the ordinary two-handed sword that had been cut with numerous notches and dents by the opponent.

"You...what kind of monster are you?"

Jody was breathing heavily, panic and fear in his eyes.

At this moment, his lungs had begun to produce strong burning and stinging sensations from the strenuous exercise.

But what about the opponent?

The opponent's breathing didn't even change at all, as if he hadn't just been engaged in a high-speed attack and defense transition in a battle, but was just warming up.

This also means that the young dark elf in front of him not only crushes himself in terms of strength attributes, but also crushes himself in terms of physical attributes.

If it weren't for his slightly superior agility attribute, he might have been seized of the opportunity to counterattack just now.

"Monster? Is this how you call someone stronger than yourself? Or are you unable to accept your own failure and death, so you are trying every possible means to find excuses?" Zuo Si asked with contempt.

There is no doubt that the dark elf warrior in front of him has not posed any threat to him from beginning to end.

Similarly, he also realized the level of the melee combat and swordsmanship skills taught by Sorin Markov in Faerûn.

Perhaps except for those high-ranking gods, all mortal warriors are younger brothers in front of this powerful King of Innistrad.

After all, the latter's martial arts took thousands of years to absorb knowledge and power from other worlds bit by bit, and were improved in countless battles.

Based on this alone, it is not comparable to the mortal warriors on the continent of Faerûn.

"No! This is not an excuse! You are not a dark elf at all! It must be some other kind of monster!" Jody accused him like crazy.

Because he had realized that he was no match for the young man in front of him, he wanted to use some other methods to escape the fate of failure and death.

But it was a pity that the other black elves who were watching immediately booed loudly at this unworthy behavior.

Guests standing on the upper floor even threw their food and drinks down and used the most vicious words in the dark elf language to insult them.

"Go to hell, you lowly maggot!"

"Don't make excuses for your weakness and failure!"

"When you were slaughtering those young dark elf warriors here, why didn't you say that you were also a monster?"

"Stranger! Kill him!"

"We want to see him bleed like a river! See his heart dug out and sacrificed to the great Queen Lolth!"

…

Suddenly, the entire tavern seemed like a riot was about to break out, with hoarse roars and roars everywhere.

The dark elves who were killing slaves in the middle level for fun even threw the slaves' arms, internal organs and intestines from a height to vent their inner dissatisfaction.

Jodi was obviously frightened by this atmosphere of public enemy, and he quickly cast a look of help at his mistress, hoping that she could save him for the sake of serving the family in the past.

It was a pity that the matron, who was a high-level priestess, ignored him at all. Instead, she cast her gaze on Zuo Si, with naked and undisguised greed and desire in her eyes.

"Mother, are you sure you want to give up Jodi?" the eldest daughter of the Obloza family cautiously asked.

"Why not? After all, now we have a better and more perfect replacement, right?" Mistress Keyo pursed her lips and revealed a cold and cruel smile.

You must know that just a few hours ago, she and Jody had done some physical and mental health exercises in the room on the second floor of their house, and promised to give him a higher status and power within the family.

But now, when a better target appeared, the poor guy was immediately abandoned.

As many scholars have described, the matron of every dark elf family is basically a black widow who eats people without spitting out bones.

For them, men are just objects to be played with and tools to be used. When they lose their value, they will be thrown away like garbage immediately.

More tragically, they are even taken to the Great Hall and sacrificed to Lolth, the Spider Goddess, with gruesome ritual daggers.

Zuo Si undoubtedly noticed this, slowly raised the sword in his hand, and said in a compassionate tone: "It seems that you have been given up. In this case, let me end your miserable life. Do you know ?In fact, in my opinion, the so-called martial arts are ultimately just two things, namely speed and strength. As long as these two are brought to the extreme, even the most ordinary attacks can produce unimaginable power. Just like this..."

As the last words blurted out, Zuo Si suddenly took a step at lightning speed, raised the sword in his hand high above his head, and slashed it down with an unrivaled gesture.

The next second...

clang! ! ! ! ! ! !

The sound of the collision of weapons instantly echoed over the entire tavern, and countless golden sparks scattered in all directions.

Before anyone else could react to what had happened, they saw that the ordinary two-handed sword in Zuo Si's hand had been broken into two pieces at some point. One half was in his hand, while the other half had been cut across Jodi's neck. The side cut into the chest.

Almost half of the body was split in half from the middle, a large amount of blood spurted out from the wound, and the ground was dyed red in a short time.

Just one blow!

The martial arts master of House Obloza, who was only one step away from becoming the strongest warrior in Menzoberranzan, turned into a warm corpse.

Especially the terrifying impact of the half sword blade, which almost crushed all the internal organs, and even the ribs responsible for protecting the chest were almost completely broken.

Anyone who knows something about fighting understands that if the quality of the weapon in Zuo Si's hand was not too poor, and the quality of the weapon in the opponent's hand was too good, Jodi's body would have definitely been divided into two halves by now.

There is no skill at all in this attack!

It is the most primitive, pure and brutal power from beginning to end!

After a brief silence, loud cheers erupted in the tavern.

Because this extremely brutal, bloody and merciless killing method greatly satisfies the bloodthirsty appetite of the dark elves.

Similarly, many interested people have begun to notice the potential of Zuo Si, a "newcomer" who has just arrived in Menzoberranzan.

Mistress Keyue even stood up and applauded, and stretched out four fingers and said: "There are still four games left! As long as you win four more games, I will buy everything you have with 100,000 gold coins. goods and slaves.”

"As you wish! Noble Mistress. But I'm not sure if anyone is willing to walk into the arena with me now."

As he spoke, Zuo Si looked around with aggressive eyes.

Many dark elf warriors chose to lower their heads to show weakness after looking at each other.

They are not fools, and they would not join forces to seek death at this time.

Just when the atmosphere became a little awkward, the tavern owner immediately came up and suggested in a very flattering tone: "Honorable Matron Kyo, we happen to have a batch of newly captured powerful monsters here, which should be able to satisfy this brave and bloodthirsty monster." warrior. Since no one dares to stand up and challenge him, why not let him deal with these monsters."

"Tell me, what kind of monsters are there?" Mistress Keyue touched her chin with an interested expression.

Not only her, but other guests in the tavern also became a little eager to try.

After all, the battle just now has completely aroused their bloodthirsty desire, so they can't wait to see more blood and death scenes.

The tavern owner quickly took out a list from his arms and replied excitedly: "We have six Terrorclaws, a beholder, four trolls, a two-headed giant, and a Kuo-Toa prince. A berserker. I recommend starting with a troll, giant, or direclaw, and gradually increase the difficulty of the challenge."

You don't need to ask to know that his plan is to use Zuo Si and these monsters to set up a gambling game to make a lot of money.

You must know that on weekdays, although there are occasionally dark elves who stand up to challenge monsters, most of them only try it lightly and will not joke with their own lives at all.

So the bet has always been tepid.

But now, hearing that Zuo Si was going to play at least four consecutive games, the tavern owner immediately sensed an opportunity to make a lot of money.