The news from Kohor had evidently not yet reached the mines here. Lynd and Marwyn's visit did not attract special attention from the mine owners and overseers; they simply assumed Lynd and his companion were two ordinary buyers.
After so many years, a small town had formed around the mines. The vast majority of people living in this town were guards, overseers, and supervisors of the various mines. In addition, some slave miner leaders were also specially permitted to reside here.
Furthermore, outside the town, there was a slave-catching team composed of over a hundred warriors, specifically for capturing runaway slaves.
Adding in the boatmen and merchants who traveled here, as well as other vendors and brothels, a rough estimate put the town's population at several thousand people, which would be considered a prosperous town in Westeros.
Lynd and Marwyn walked directly through the town towards the mines. Since Lynd could clearly sense the location of the fallen knight armor, he didn't need to ask the local supervisor for the location of House Soyid's mines.
"Who are you? If you want to do business, go to the town. Outsiders are forbidden here…" When Lynd arrived outside a mine surrounded by a stone wall, the guard at the entrance of the wall shouted loudly at Lynd.
However, before the guard could finish speaking, he felt an irresistible wave of sleepiness and then directly fell to the ground, asleep.
It wasn't just the guard at the entrance; all the guards and supervisors in the guard camp near the entire wall felt an extreme drowsiness and simply fell to the ground and slept.
The slaves working around the camp were all stunned by the sight, unsure of what had happened.
On the other side, Lynd and Marwyn walked into the mine without any obstruction and descended to the bottom of the mine along the constructed steps.
At the bottom of the mine, in addition to the working slaves, there were also some overseers and guards. They were somewhat puzzled by Lynd and Marwyn's arrival but did not step forward to ask what the two were doing.
In their opinion, since the two had already passed the guards above and were allowed to descend into the mine, their identities must be unusual, and there was no need to ask further questions.
Lynd looked at the five mine tunnels of different sizes around him, frowning. Just as he was about to speak, Marwyn, beside him, preemptively used a special accent common among Warlocks and necromancers in Kohor, asking the best-dressed and fattest overseer among them, "Which mine tunnel was the secret cargo sent by the family delivered to that day?"
Upon hearing Marwyn's question, the overseer's face changed drastically. He quickly lowered his body, walked forward, and asked, "Sir, the item has been sent to the abandoned mine at the very end of the Long Serpent Mine Tunnel, and the entire mine tunnel has been sealed off according to Lord Mezo's instructions."
"Take us there," Marwyn commanded directly after hearing this.
The fat overseer asked with a puzzled expression, "Sir, has something happened? Why…"
Marwyn said with displeasure, "Has no one told you not to ask questions you shouldn't ask?"
Marwyn's appearance was already somewhat fierce, and now that he had a cold face, coupled with his cold tone of voice, he looked even more intimidating, as if he would strike the other party down if they didn't answer correctly.
The fat overseer didn't dare to ask anything more. He then waved to several slave guards, took a few oil lamps, gave one to Lynd and Marwyn respectively, and then led Lynd and Marwyn into a mine tunnel entrance on the north side.
At this moment, Lynd and Marwyn both felt something was amiss, because everything was too simple. They didn't even carefully verify Lynd's identity. Logically, for something as important as guarding the fallen knight armor, shouldn't many people be dispatched to guard it, and every visitor be strictly inspected?
Although they had doubts in their hearts, they did not ask, but silently followed behind the overseer and guards, wary of possible attacks.
Perhaps because the fallen knight armor was stored there, or because the ore veins in this mine tunnel had all been exploited, there were no slave miners in the tunnel, nor any sounds of mining, making it eerily silent.
Although the overseer and slave guards had lit the oil lamps hanging from their waists, and the fat overseer even carried a larger oil lamp, the brightness of these lights was not enough to illuminate the darkness of the mine tunnel. The further they walked in, the more they felt the illumination range of the oil lamps gradually shrink, as if the surrounding darkness was expanding.
The leading fat overseer quickened his pace, passing through several Crossroads forks, and finally arrived at the end of a mine tunnel. The end of this tunnel was blocked by a large number of stones, and a layer of silver-blue frost could be seen on the surface of the stone wall and the surrounding rock walls.
In front of the stone wall, there were a dozen unfortunate individuals frozen into ice sculptures by the power of the Ice Dragon Rune. Among these people, some were dressed like ordinary guards, there were also slave workers, and several Warlocks and Pyromancers.
The slave workers and guards closest to the wall all had calm expressions, completely unaware of the arrival of death, while the several slaves behind them looked terrified, and from their movements, they seemed to have been forced closer to the stone wall.
And the last few people who looked like Warlocks or Pyromancers were watching the show, never expecting death to fall upon them.
Seeing this scene, some images had already emerged in Lynd's mind: the slave workers and guards who initially blocked the wall were suddenly killed by the power of the Dragon Rune.
Afterward, several Warlocks or Pyromancers came, wanting to study the power of the Dragon Rune, even bringing slaves as experimental subjects, and ended up dying here.
Perhaps this was also why House Soyid did not send people to strictly protect the fallen knight armor. They probably believed that even if someone infiltrated the mine tunnel, it would be absolutely impossible to take the item away; they would only become the next human ice sculpture.
"What's going on?" A slave guard who looked like a newcomer couldn't help but feel curious at the strange scene before him, and as if by some ghostly impulse, he reached out and touched the nearest ice sculpture.
Because of the dark surroundings and everyone's attention being on the ice sculptures, no one noticed his movement, nor did anyone stop him.
As a result, the moment he touched the ice sculpture, starting from his fingers, his entire body was frozen into an ice sculpture in the blink of an eye, and the curious expression he had before death remained on his face.
"Ah!" Watching a living person being frozen into an ice sculpture before their eyes, the fat overseer and the slave guards couldn't help but feel fear, all retreating in fright and letting out screams of terror.
Lynd, annoyed by the noise, frowned, turned and glanced at them. Then, under their terrified gazes, he also reached out and touched the ice sculpture in front of him.
The moment he touched the stone wall, a surge of Dragon Rune power flowed from his fingers, merging with the Nameless King Rune in his heart, and creating a strong resonance effect with the Dragon Rune power on the fallen knight armor.
Immediately after, the surrounding icy cold air collapsed, and then not only the frozen corpse Lynd touched, but all the other frozen corpses also shattered into fingernail-sized fragments. At the same time, the ice-sealed stone wall also cracked open, revealing the mine tunnel behind the wall.
The moment the stone wall disappeared, the Dragon Rune power blocking it immediately surged out like a breached river. In this Dragon Rune power, there was not only the cold air of the Ice Dragon Rune but also the strong winds created by the Storm Dragon Rune, and lightning bolts were mixed in with the strong winds.
Lynd seemed to have anticipated what would happen after the stone wall shattered. The moment the stone wall broke, he reached out and pulled Marwyn behind him. All the surging Dragon Rune power was poured into his body, forming a vacuum safe zone behind him.
Marwyn, protected by Lynd, was naturally unharmed, while the overseers and slave guards were directly swept by the Dragon Rune power. Their entire bodies instantly turned into ice sculptures, then were struck by lightning, shattering into pieces of ice crystals, and swept out of the mine tunnel by a strong wind.
The ice storm generated by this Dragon Rune power was very powerful, and showed no signs of weakening, but rather a tendency to strengthen. Lynd felt that the ice storm would not stop in a short time, so he shouted loudly to Marwyn behind him, "Stay close behind me, do not leave my protection range."
After speaking, he stepped forward into the depths of the mine tunnel. Marwyn hunched his body, completely hiding in the shadow of Lynd's back, and followed closely.
The subsequent mine tunnel was not very long, about twenty meters or so, and was quickly traversed. The end of the tunnel was an irregularly shaped mine pit. Judging from the remaining ore on the surrounding rock walls, this mine pit should have been a copper mine.
At the bottom of the mine pit, a huge bronze box was prominently placed. The surface of the box was already covered with a thick layer of white frost, and this layer of white frost continuously erupted with silver-blue electric light. These electric lights scattered, sweeping across the surrounding stone walls, emitting a strong white light that illuminated the entire mine pit, accompanied by buzzing sounds of electricity.
Lynd motioned for Marwyn to follow. The two walked down the stone steps built by previous miners to the bottom of the pit and arrived next to the bronze box. Lynd also directly placed his hand on the box.
The moment Lynd's hand touched the bronze box, the box immediately shattered like the stone wall, and the complete fallen knight armor was revealed before Lynd's eyes.
However, Lynd had no energy to check if the armor was satisfactory at this moment, because when the last restraint disappeared, the Dragon Rune power within the fallen knight armor instantly erupted, and like finding a vent, it all surged into Lynd's body, flowing into the Nameless King Rune.
Although Lynd was prepared, facing such a massive influx of Dragon Rune power into his body, he still felt somewhat overwhelmed and had to concentrate his energy to transfer it into the Lost Knights Greatsword at his waist, and then, through the resonance of the Dragon Rune between the Greatsword and the armor, pour it back into the fallen knight armor, forming an internal circulation.
Although Marwyn, hidden behind Lynd, did not know Lynd's current situation, he could still infer that Lynd was undergoing some kind of ritual with the magical armor in front of him by observing the weakening and reduction of the surrounding rampant icy cold air and lightning currents. So, he subtly retreated a little, standing quietly behind Lynd, not disturbing him.
After about half an hour, all the cold air and lightning had completely disappeared. The entire mine pit was left with only the light from the lanterns hanging from Lynd and Marwyn's waists, battling against the gathering darkness.
Although Marwyn felt that the danger around them had ended, his cautious nature still kept him behind Lynd.
A few more minutes passed, and Lynd's heart, the Lost Knights Greatsword, and the fallen knight armor all simultaneously shone with bursts of light, re-illuminating the entire mine pit.
"It's all right now! Archmaester Marwyn." Lynd's voice echoed in the cave, releasing Marwyn from his tense emotions.
Marwyn let out a long sigh of relief, stretched his somewhat stiff limbs in place, then walked to Lynd's side, looked at the fallen knight armor in front of him, and said, "Do you need me to help you put it on?"
Lynd shook his head and said, "You cannot touch it. Although the power contained within the armor has been channeled by me, it is still unstable, unless you want to become like those ice sculptures outside."
After speaking, he handed his waist lantern and other superfluous items to Marwyn, told Marwyn to stand back a bit, and then walked to the fallen knight armor, unfastened the Lost Knights Greatsword, placed it aside, and then disassembled the armor piece by piece, putting it on.
Although Lynd was very annoyed with House Soyid for causing him so much trouble, he still had to admit that Zoid's forging techniques were much superior to Tob Mott's. All the armor components were perfectly crafted according to the dimensions he provided in the blueprints, without any sizing errors causing difficulty in wearing.
Especially the fur used for the mantle and cloak, it was made from the fur of some magical creature, because this fur showed no damage after being impacted by the Dragon Rune power of the fallen knight armor, and instead became even softer, tougher, and emitted a faint magical fluctuation on its surface, intermingling and circulating with the Dragon Rune power within the fallen knight armor, which also gave it some unknown power.
Soon, Lynd had finished putting on the fallen knight armor, and also put on the helmet, and wore the Greatsword at his waist. After the entire fallen knight set was put on, the Dragon Runes on the Greatsword and the armor all connected with the Nameless King Rune in Lynd's heart, forming pathways of magic, circulating endlessly, and the efficiency of drawing magic from the outside world increased exponentially. At the same time, all the iridescent light on him faded away, and the magical armor also seemed to turn into ordinary armor.
Feeling the surge of magic power within him, a smile appeared on Lynd's face. He turned to Marwyn and said, "We should return to Kohor. I think the people in Kohor must be getting impatient."
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"