This huge "cage" is arranged along the wall of the hall. The metal cages have been baptized by the long years. Although the thick metal pillars that make up the cages have become pitch black, they are still intact without any signs of decay and rust.
Inside the hall, there are layers of metal cages arranged in the shape of a "Hui".
The cages, which are three meters long, two meters wide, and three meters high, are not designed to imprison humans, but more like those three-meter-long dark magic rats.
Most of the cages are closed, and the scattered bones inside verify Jia Lan's conjecture that these cages made of iron pillars as thick as thighs are indeed used to imprison dark magic rats.
In the center of the circles of circling cages, on a relatively spacious square, stands an extremely magnificent metal cage, which imprisoned the amazing giant beast.
Countless dark demon rats gathered around the giant cage because of the intrusion of outsiders like Jia Lan, screaming wildly, as if they were guarding the giant beast.
The so-called "giant beast" was just a giant rat, but this rat was too big.
The giant cage was filled with various broken corpses, piles of bones, a large amount of tangled fur and piles of feces, which even overflowed from the gaps in the iron pillars of the giant cage and piled up into a "small mountain".
Compared with its fat body, the slender limbs of this super giant rat, which was like a meat mountain, were unable to support its bloated body.
It collapsed on the top of the garbage mountain, and as it squirmed, the rotten corpses and feces would squeeze out pus-like black water and flow everywhere.
The air was filled with a suffocating and heavy stench. Even if you hold your breath, the stench will linger at the tip of your nose, making it difficult to breathe and causing a strong sense of suffocation.
The mercenaries felt dizzy just by approaching the secret door leading to the "Rat Cage Hall".
"Poisonous!?" Captain Kenmet screamed, while struggling to resist the dark demon rats rushing out of the Rat Cage Hall, and shook his head vigorously, trying to make himself more awake.
But he couldn't suppress the strong nausea in his chest and abdomen. After swinging a few swords, he couldn't help vomiting.
Even his strong physique as a gold-level great swordsman couldn't resist the invasion of this stench, not to mention other mercenaries of lower levels, almost all of them lost their combat effectiveness.
Compared with those warriors who are used to "bravely moving forward" when encountering a battle, magicians cherish their bodies more.
After smelling this unbearable smell from a long distance, they immediately cast a bubble spell that can isolate the smell and toxins for themselves.
In addition, the distance is far, so they are not affected much.
As soon as the junior water magician in the team noticed something unusual, he immediately began to cast the Water Bubble Spell for his fellow mercenaries.
The intermediate water magician waved his wand and chanted to cast a "Water Curtain Spell" on the secret door, isolating the spread of the terrible smell in the Rat Cage Hall.
With the breathing barrier of the Water Bubble Spell, the mercenaries who gathered in formation and relied on each other gradually recovered their spirits and began to organize a counterattack, gradually gained a foothold, blocked the secret door, and began to encircle and suppress the dark magic rats that rushed out.
Jia Lan, who was standing near the group of magicians in the back, secretly cast a "Detect Toxicity" and found that although the dirty air in the Rat Cage Hall was not fatally toxic, it carried a weak plague!
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
Long-term fierce fighting in this environment and rapid breathing will allow the plague to invade the body.
Although there is a certain degree of protection from the water-based bubble technique, the people who have just been infected with the plague may still be infected with the plague!
Fortunately, the plague will not break out immediately, and the mercenaries will not lose their combat effectiveness for the time being.
Behind the narrow secret door, the dark magic rats surged out like a tide. They seemed to be driven by an invisible force and trampled on each other frantically, as if the secret door had become a huge crater, constantly spewing out these silver-level monsters.
Although the sixty or seventy silver-level mercenaries led by Kenmet were extremely brave, they still seemed a little powerless in the face of such a huge enemy.
The encirclement continued to expand, the number of dark magic rats accumulated, and the situation became more and more serious.
These dark magic rats have the strong physique of silver-level monsters, with strong muscles and tough fur. It is not easy to kill them easily.
So, the magicians who had been hiding behind the mercenaries finally took action!
More than a dozen junior magicians chanted something and waved their wands, and fireballs, wind blades, and earth spikes shot out like arrows.
The earth magician among the five intermediate magicians showed his power. As the obscure spells rang out, several towering earth walls rose!
However, these earth walls were not used to block the dark magic rats, but cleverly squeezed the exit of the secret door, making the passage of the dark magic rats narrower and narrower.
Then, the earth walls were arranged in the shape of a "chuan", diverting the surging dark magic rats, greatly reducing the pressure on the mercenaries.
At this time, the mercenaries only needed to guard the exit of the "chuan"-shaped passage and break them one by one.
The wood intermediate magician sprinkled a seed, and as he chanted the spell, pieces of twisted vines broke out of the ground.
These thick and tough vines can not only help the mercenaries bind the dark rats in battle but also drag away the bodies of the dead dark rats to prevent blocking the passage.
Several other intermediate magicians and the senior fire magician stood calmly at the back of the team and watched the battle. Jia Lan secretly admired that the fighting power of the magicians of this era should not be underestimated!
They did not bomb the dark rats blindly but formed a battle echelon in an orderly manner.
After all, the magicians have limited magic power and recover slowly after consumption, so they pay great attention to saving magic power.
Even those junior magicians will only use magic to suppress the dark rats when the number of dark rats increases and the mercenaries can't resist them.
Once the mercenaries were able to stabilize their positions, they would stop and quietly recover their magic power, leaving the main combat tasks to the mercenaries.
The reason why those intermediate and senior magicians did not take action was not because they relied on their status to be lazy but to preserve their magic power so that they could suppress it at the critical moment.
What's more, there were a large number of dark magic rats in the Rat Cage Hall, and there was also a super rat that was so huge that it was terrifying. This size could not be solved by close combat at all, and then it would be the time for them to take action.
Jia Lan knew that this would be a protracted war of attrition, and maintaining the rhythm of the battle was the wisest choice.
He once thought that the elemental magicians' spellcasting ability was simple and crude, but now it seems that they also have their advantages.
In battle, their magic release speed is fast, the killing power is great, and the magic power recovery is fast.
Moreover, from their battles, it can be seen that they are not just blindly carrying out magic bombing, but also have unique spellcasting skills.
In addition, the cooperation between mercenaries and magicians is also quite tacit.
Although there was no verbal communication between them, they always assisted each other in the battle.
The water and wood magicians took on the treatment and logistics work, providing timely medical treatment and recovery for the mercenaries.
As the wood magicians scattered seeds around the battlefield and gave birth to various plants, the filthy and smelly air was gradually purified and became fresh and pleasant.
The drizzle sprinkled by the "Ganlin Magic" released by the water magicians not only moistened the earth but also penetrated the mercenaries' bodies, helping them to expel the epidemic virus in their bodies.
This is the power of the team! Although they have less than a hundred people, facing dozens of times more enemies, they can still gain an advantage with their own combat experience and cooperation skills.
After watching the battle with great interest for a while, Jia Lan also took out the captured primary magic wand eagerly.
However, Jia Lan's actions frightened Old Jimmy, who was guarding him, and he retreated repeatedly, staring at him nervously, fearing that he would cast another small forbidden spell and wipe them all out.
After noticing Old Jimmy's nervousness, Jia Lan could only touch his nose awkwardly, after all, he seemed to make some mistakes every time he made a move.
Jia Lan muttered to defend himself, "I don't make mistakes every time, don't be so nervous!" As he said that, he carefully injected a trace of wind elemental substance into the magic wand.
With a sharp whistle...