Chapter 182: Dwarves Underground

Scouting Magic, a Level 2 divine spell, allows one to monitor the status and location of an ally. However, its effect cannot extend to other spaces or planes.
Through the images transmitted by the divine spell, Donald and the others could see what was happening on the other side.
After entering another passage, it was Silver Knight Wood who led the way. Though this Knight of Abundance from the Agricultural Goddess Church seemed to love showing off, his experience and strength were outstanding, far surpassing those of his peers in terms of power and maturity.
Without being ordered by the archmage, he took the lead to handle any potential emergencies. Archmage Messehl walked silently in second place, his expression somewhat serious. He still had some doubts about this mission assigned by the Agricultural Goddess Church, but it wasn’t yet the time to voice them.
As for the young knight Ely, she walked carefree as if nothing mattered, as if they weren’t in a dark underground world but on a sunny spring outing in the countryside.
“Hey!”
Wood, who was at the front, suddenly shouted and thrust his sword like lightning. A dark shadow in front of him was instantly repelled, leaving a small pool of blood before fleeing frantically into the depths of the passage.
“That monster has such thick armor. Although I didn’t use my full strength in a hurry, I still managed to cut a shallow wound. Such defense is already quite strong among bronze-tier magical beasts! I guess I’d need to use divine magic to pierce through that monster’s body!”
Like the holy warriors of other churches, Knights of Abundance also mastered some auxiliary divine spells in addition to combat skills and sword energy. Though they weren’t as proficient as priests and clerics who specialized in divine magic, their combat power still increased significantly when combined.
The monster retreated after just one attack. Even with Wood’s keen eyes, he couldn’t see its appearance clearly—only that it was covered in thick armor.
At that moment, Messehl stepped forward and said, “I sense there are many such monsters ahead. It would be troublesome to deal with them one by one. Leave them to me!”
Wood thought for a moment before stepping aside and handing over the lead to Messehl.
The archmage didn’t cast any defensive spells but simply walked forward.
When the first monster launched a sudden attack, Messehl continued walking without even blinking. Just as the monster was about to pounce five feet in front of him, a barrier made of countless purple spheres appeared in front of him.

Each of these spheres was the size of a football, appearing eerily like eyeballs. When the monster attacked this seemingly fragile barrier, it became stiff and unable to move, stuck to the barrier. After a few seconds, it seemed to be swallowed by the spheres and disappeared.

This was the Level 7 spell “Wall of Magic Eyes” cast by Meisel, which created a barrier made of magic eyes. Any creature that came into contact with it would be affected by the monster’s paralyzing effect, and over time, the barrier would cause disintegration, turning the creature into energy and consuming it. An additional effect was that the caster could observe the surroundings through this barrier from anywhere.

This spell combined the effects of three powerful spells, the most formidable of which was “Disintegration,” one of the two ultimate death spells. Also known as “Disintegration Ray,” it emitted a green energy beam that could inflict fatal damage on creatures, completely destroy inanimate objects hit by it, and also had a force-field effect. If a creature was hit by Disintegration in a vital area, even a being at the legendary level would die, demonstrating its immense power.

Of course, though powerful, Disintegration was still only a Level 6 spell, with obvious drawbacks. A thick shield or other objects could block it, allowing the target to counterattack. The second spell was “Monster Paralysis,” a Level 5 spell. Once cast, it affected any non-human creature that was not one rank lower than the caster, causing them to stop moving. Although some powerful creatures or those with psychic abilities might break free quickly from paralysis, just a few seconds were enough for those prepared to launch a counterattack.

The third spell was “Secret Eye,” a Level 4 spell that created movable magic eyes within the caster’s line of sight to monitor distant areas and transmit visual information back to the caster. Such advanced composite spells, formed by combining lower-level spells, were quite difficult to master. Especially since this spell was at Level 7, and the first two spells already involved some basic rules of power.

Although mages couldn’t understand or comprehend such high-level powers at lower levels, they could still cast them using incantations and gestures—this was the advantage of mages over warriors. In fact, with his experience as an elder mage, he had many ways to easily deal with these claw monsters. His choice of this powerful Level 7 spell seemed like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

However, Messer’s goal was precisely to familiarize himself with some of the advanced spells he had recently learned through combat. Unlike those mages who only knew how to cast spells without understanding their underlying principles, he, on the verge of breaking through to the Golden Tier, had already begun to grasp the power of the rules embedded in these spells. Once he accumulated enough knowledge, he could effortlessly cross the threshold of the Golden Tier without any obstacles.

Laws and rules are essentially the same thing—the laws are the foundation upon which the world exists. Rules are the manifestations of the power of those laws. Thus, some believe that laws come first and rules second. Yet, mages consider them to be one exterior and the other interior—just as the upper planes of the world are filled with positive energy while the lower planes are brimming with negative energy. These two forces oppose each other yet attract and merge with one another. According to the theories of the Ancient Arcane Empire Academy, the main world likely originated from the collision and integration of these two planes, resulting in the neutralization of positive and negative energies.

As the old mage advanced toward the passage amid the Wall of Magic Eyes, more than a dozen monsters prepared to attack were frozen in place by the Wall of Magic Eyes before being disintegrated by that spell. Despite knowing full well that they were going to die, these monsters still attacked without hesitation.

Soon, all the monsters in that group were eliminated. Compared to Donald’s side, things here were even cleaner and more orderly—there wasn’t a trace of blood or debris left after the battle.

While Sord was using his Insight spell, the old mage was at his most powerful. Seeing that the second group had also wiped out the Claw Monsters, Donald summoned another owl and several golems, ordering them to join the creatures summoned on the other side and continue exploring deeper into the underground.

Without that girl knight who could see through him around, Donald wasn’t afraid to cast spells in front of the middle-aged priest. Among the three, Miss Eli, who seemed the weakest, made him instinctively feel wary.

The reason more golems were lost than the weaker owls was that golems were larger targets, while the small owls were more agile in the caves. Thus, golems were usually the primary target, giving the owls time to evade. As long as they flew to a position near the center of the tunnel ceiling, those claw monsters could jump by gripping the cave walls, but they couldn’t walk upside down on the ceiling like spiders. So, there was little they could do against owls hiding in clever, well-placed spots. As long as the owls moved before the monsters pounced, those attacks would surely miss.

This exploration using summoned creatures went smoothly, and Donald soon received his reward—the correct path was on the other side of the second group.

On Donald’s side, the tunnel gradually narrowed as it went deeper, with countless branching paths resembling ant holes. It looked more like tunnels dug by small subterranean creatures rather than intelligent beings.

Donald and his companion quickly returned the way they came to reunite with the other three in that tunnel.

“Is this the right path?” Ellie asked first upon seeing Donald.

Seeing her curious expression, Donald explained, “Yes. Although we haven’t determined where this tunnel leads, my summoned creatures have already detected traces of intelligent subterranean beings about thirty miles ahead!”

“That’s great! That basically confirms this is the right direction!” Soder, usually calm, also spoke cheerfully.

The old mage, however, wasn’t so excited. Instead, he asked his disciple, “By the way, Donald, did you see what race those creatures were?”

“They must be members of the subterranean dwarf race!” Donald replied, somewhat uncertainly.

The underground dwarves are a group of dwarves corrupted by the essence of the abyss. They are evil and cunning, lacking entirely the simplicity and stubbornness of their cousins in the surface world. Like the surface dwarves, the underground dwarves are also divided into several factions, including the gray dwarves, the Dilo dwarves, and the demonized dwarves. Gray dwarves are the most common dwarf race in the Dark Lands. This faction of order-evil-aligned dwarves has a very thin appearance, with gray hair and skin, giving them a despicable and petty look. They generally serve as the most powerful race in the Dark Lands, acting as secondary inhabitants under the dark elves, essentially being slaves to them. However, the gray dwarves, who are skilled in blacksmithing, enjoy a status and treatment far better than true slaves, at least allowing them to move freely within their master’s territory.

Owing to their greedy and evil nature, they enjoy helping their masters oppress other slaves.

Dilo dwarves are rare and not commonly seen, but they are the most evil branch of dwarves. Also residing in the Dark Lands, they are hybrids of humans and dwarves, extremely cruel by nature. They like to capture inhabitants from the surface, especially humans, and torture them to death. They are the most demon-like chaotic and evil creatures.

As for the demonized dwarves, also known as half-demon dwarves, those with demonic blood in their veins are even rarer than Dilo dwarves. They are generally extremely powerful, reaching the silver tier by adulthood, and are typical half-abyssal creatures.

However, for unknown reasons, these powerful demonized dwarf warriors do not fully belong to the evil faction like other half-abyssal creatures. Strangely enough, demonized dwarves usually belong to the order-evil or chaotic-neutral factions. They do not deceive or kill indiscriminately, and sometimes even switch to the good faction due to their beliefs.

It is said that this phenomenon has surprised even some kind and neutral deities, but since the great gods have not uncovered the reason behind it, ordinary mortals remain unaware.