Chapter 179: Marching into the Underground World

In front of the three elite members of the Church who had come from above, Martin explained their purpose.
“Lord Baron, this time, Lord Thord and the others’ mission is to enter the Underground World and retrieve a sacred relic lost by our Church for a long time from the hands of evil creatures. Therefore, Bishop Bantrey hopes that you can act as a guide for these three gentlemen, leading them to the Underground World. Of course, Lord Baron, you need not engage in combat—their strength should be sufficient to handle it. Moreover, we will ensure your safety! After all, your ability as a summoner is perfect for exploring the way!” Hearing the purpose of the Agricultural Goddess Church, Donald was greatly surprised. Their goal was nothing less than to venture deep into the Underground World to carry out a mission, and they needed his summoning skills to find the path?
Skeptical, Donald asked, “Hmm? Then why choose us? There must be many known underground passages on the continent, right? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to enter through those?”
At that moment, Priest Thord stepped forward to explain, “Lord Baron, you may not be aware, but the entrances to several underground passages on the continent are under the control of creatures from the Underground World. I needn’t say how difficult it is to pass through their territory to reach another place—Lord Baron, you can surely imagine it. According to the instructions of the Great Goddess Eilien, our target location is deep underground in the north of Celt. That’s why we’ve traveled thousands of miles to Celt, hoping to find new entrances to the Underground World in this area. Fortunately, not long after arriving in the North County, we discovered an underground passage near your territory—and it’s very close to our target! Truly, it’s the goddess’s blessing!” After saying this, the middle-aged priest looked straight at Donald. Donald didn’t reply immediately but remained silent for a while, weighing the pros and cons before saying, “If that’s the case, I think I can agree!”
It wasn’t that Donald feared the power of the Agricultural Goddess Church. After careful consideration, he realized that the exit to the Underground World was very close to his territory. Moreover, there seemed to be forces down there that even the Agricultural Goddess Church took seriously—forces that must be quite powerful, posing a significant threat to Dalaran. If he could use the power of the Agricultural Goddess Church to eliminate this threat, it would be ideal.
After Donald spoke, the people across from him all smiled. Even the most stern of the Fertility Knights appeared much more relaxed.

“Thank you so much, Baron!”
Among them, Martin was the happiest.
It was the bishop himself who had assigned this task to him, and now that it was done, he could finally relax. Neither the high-ranking officials from the church headquarters nor this newly risen noble of North County was someone a mere assistant deacon could afford to offend—everything had to be handled carefully and properly.
So once this matter was settled, he no longer had anything to do with it. How could Martin, relieved of such a heavy burden, not be happy?
Since Donald had agreed, there was no rush. He immediately ordered a feast to entertain the guests, and even Martin got to enjoy the delicious food, including the finest ice fish roe from Dalaran.
The teachings of the Goddess of Agriculture did not require asceticism or fasting like some extreme religions, nor did they limit meals to just water and dry rations. Thus, the feast left the guests highly satisfied.
In particular, Lady Knight Ely was very interested in the novel foods and cooking methods presented at the feast. If not for their mutual unfamiliarity, she might have even asked for the secret recipes.
Three days later, after taking care of matters in his domain, Donald finally set off with the three members of the Goddess of Agriculture Church toward the underground world.
Their goal was to find a sacred artifact that had been lost years ago and bring it back to the church headquarters. Since they were going deep underground, battles were likely, and movement would be difficult, so the Goddess of Agriculture Church sent only these three battle-hardened elite priests—Sod and the others.
However, no matter how Donald looked at it, Lady Knight Ely didn’t seem like a seasoned warrior at all; rather, she appeared to be the daughter of some important figure, traveling under the protection of her guards!
But since it was a decision made within their church, he couldn’t interfere. After all, according to their prior agreement, his role was only to lead the way and use summoned creatures for scouting. He couldn’t get involved in anything else. At worst, if danger arose, he could use teleportation to save them as well—considering that his duty would be fulfilled!
The distance from the domain to the entrance to the underground world was nothing for these four silver-level warriors. Soon, they arrived at the entrance to the passage.

“After entering here, there’s another long passage, and then two forks in the road. One of them is a dead end—no need to say more. The other leads to a medium-sized cave, which has three more forks. One of those leads to the surface, with the exit located in a volcano dozens of miles away, while another leads to another uninhabited cave. So I guess if we want to delve deeper into the underground world, it should be this last path!” After Donald said this, he stood at the entrance smiling silently. The stern-looking Fong Wu Wood then said, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go in quickly!”
Donald replied, “Of course, we need to wait for someone!”
The middle-aged priest frowned slightly and said, “My lord baron, we don’t plan to bring any other people. The fewer people involved in this mission, the better, and the requirements for strength are also very high!”
In other words, bringing in those untrustworthy helpers is just a burden—don’t cause trouble for everyone!
Donald didn’t care and looked toward his territory. Less than half a minute later, a figure flew toward the four of them and soon landed in front of them.
“I’m sorry for making you wait. I was in the middle of a crucial experiment, so it took some time to finish it!”
The venerable old mage, who immediately gave off an air of elegance, bowed to the three members of the Agricultural Goddess Church.
“Gentlemen, this is my teacher, Master Mesel!” The three members of the Agricultural Goddess Church quickly bowed in response. They could sense Mesel’s immense power—a mage at the peak of the Silver rank, far stronger than Priest Sod, who was already at a high level in the Silver tier. Of course, as a high-ranking priest who could temporarily draw on the power of a true god, Sod wasn’t afraid of him either.
Donald explained helplessly, “My teacher is still worried about my safety, so he sent me a message before we set off and decided to join us last minute. I hope you don’t object?”
In reality, Mesel had already made this decision. As one of the inheritors of the ancient mage school, he knew far more about the conflicts between mages and the gods than ordinary mages. He understood that the true gods were quite averse to mages who had no faith and pursued truth, seeking to understand the meaning of the world. Even true gods like the Agricultural Goddess, who belonged to a neutral and kind faction, were no exception. This wasn’t something the true gods and mages could decide—it was a matter of choosing a path, because the true gods needed faith, while mages shattered myths. There was an inherent conflict between them.

If true gods were not bound by laws and unable to descend to the main world in person, the weak class of mages would likely have been erased from history long ago by the gods working together. The decline in the overall strength of mages over the past thousand years and the split of the Magic Empire of Bannay a thousand years ago were both the result of true gods manipulating things in the shadows. Knowing this, Messel certainly wouldn’t feel at ease letting his only disciple act together with a few charlatans. These elite clergy members of the church were mostly devout believers who seemed reasonable most of the time, but once their beliefs were challenged, they would become extremely fanatical and paranoid. Especially those zealots—even if ordered in the name of the gods to kill their own parents and children, they would without hesitation abandon family ties and slaughter them as demons or heretics.

“Of course not!” Priest Sord spoke on behalf of the three of them. “With a strong mage like Messel joining us, our chances of completing the mission increase significantly. We’d be honored just to have them join—how could we possibly have any objections?”

“That’s good. Let’s go in!” With that, he leaped first into the cave. The others followed one after another, and soon two bright lights appeared in the dark underground passage—created by Donald and the priest using the Light spell together. This minor spell was used by all classes of arcane and divine spellcasters, along with similar common support spells like Water Creation and Message Transmission. However, the young female knight behind Donald noticed that he cast the spell without reciting any incantations and narrowed her eyes, unsure of what to think.

“The situation is getting more interesting!” Donald, of course, had no idea what Elly, the young knight, was thinking, nor was he aware that he had revealed some subtle differences in his use of the Light spell. It should be noted that although most spells and spell-like techniques have identical effects, there are fundamental differences between them—differences that manifest in the way they are cast. When mages cast spells, even the simplest ones, even if they can cast them without incantations or gestures, there are still subtle fluctuations at the moment the spell takes shape that differ from those of spell-like techniques. Only those with great experience and insight can discern these differences, and this young female knight was one such person.

Donald is clearly a mage—how could he possess innate spell abilities? There is only one explanation: he has a unique bloodline, making him a mage with sorcerer abilities as well.
“How many more secrets do you have? It seems my decision to come out this time was right!”
The girl smiled inwardly but didn’t ask any questions right away. Instead, she followed silently as they continued downward through the underground passage.