Chapter 183: The Dark Elf City

“Dwarves underground? Hopefully not the Dilo dwarves!”
The middle-aged priest said after hearing Donald’s words. The infamous reputation of the Dilo dwarves was known even to someone like Donald who wasn’t very familiar with the underground world.
The old mage Messehl also said with concern, “Although there aren’t many Dilo dwarves, this place is quite close to the surface, so it’s possible they live here. Of course, it could also be a tribe of gray dwarves!”
Normally, aside from those who served under the dark elves, some gray dwarf tribes would establish their own settlements or even underground towns, just like the Dilo dwarves. After all, among the races in the dark regions, gray dwarves ranked only below powerful races like the dark elves, considered of medium strength—far stronger than cave dwellers or goblins.
“Why worry so much? Just go and take a look!”
The young girl Ely snapped them out of their thoughts. The two silver-ranked warriors felt ashamed at seeing themselves outdone by a little girl.
“Miss Ely is right! Whether they’re gray dwarves or Dilo dwarves, they’re not our target. We can just sneak over invisibly!”
With that, Donald handed out invisibility potions to everyone and then moved forward cautiously without hesitation.
The passage ahead gradually widened, with many oddly shaped underground fungi growing there. There were also some phosphorescent mosses and a few stones that emitted a faint glow, allowing the surroundings to be faintly visible.
Seven or eight short, gray-skinned dwarves wearing earth-yellow clothes stood there, wielding whips and carrying weapons like axes and spears. They watched as dozens of slave-like humanoid creatures crouched on the ground, gathering edible fungi. Even though those creatures were working hard, not daring to slack off, the bald dwarves would occasionally laugh wickedly and whip them for fun.
When Donald and the other four, now invisible, arrived near those underground dwarves, they saw exactly this scene.
“They’re gray dwarves. There aren’t many of them. It should be easy to slip past them unnoticed!”
Hearing Sod’s words, the others felt relieved.
Gray dwarves could be easily distinguished from other dwarf subspecies. Most gray dwarves were bald, even the females. They preferred wearing earth-yellow clothes, a color that allowed them to blend easily into the dark rocky surroundings.

Fortunately for Donald and the others, the group of gray dwarves they encountered did not live here but had come out to collect fungi. Besides the gray dwarves, the creatures gathering food were also recognized—these strange beings were the cave dwellers, the most intelligent creatures in the deepest layers of the underground world. Donald noticed that these cave dwellers all had peculiar facial shapes, grayish-blue skin, long limbs, thin bodies, and listless expressions, resembling the aliens in science fiction movies from his past life. He found it oddly amusing. After a quick observation of the situation ahead, Donald said, “We’re lucky. These gray dwarves aren’t any strong warriors. We should be fine if we proceed carefully!” Even powerful gray dwarf warriors or priests held high status in the Dark Lands and wouldn’t come here to supervise the cave dwellers. As for the cave dwellers, though there were slightly over thirty of them, their combat strength was even weaker than that of goblinoids, so they were largely ignored by Donald and the others. Not far from these underground creatures, several invisible figures passed by. Although they had decided not to disturb the gray dwarves and to move silently, Donald and his group also prepared for emergencies, ready to fight immediately and mercilessly, leaving no survivors to warn the other underground creatures. Thankfully, everything went smoothly. After leaving the gathering area of the gray dwarves and cave dwellers, the exit to the passage ahead came into view. Donald sent a few owls out of the passage to scout. These weak creatures wouldn’t draw attention even if discovered, but it was no longer possible to summon stone goblins. When the owls flew out of the passage and Donald saw what was outside, he was stunned and opened his mouth wide in surprise. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Miesel asked anxiously upon seeing his disciple’s expression. Coming back to his senses, Donald couldn’t explain and simply said, “Come and see for yourselves!” With that, he rushed forward, and the others followed closely, confused. When everyone reached the edge of the passage and looked into the world inside, they were also shocked. “This… this is truly the underground world!”

All that could be seen was an endless expanse of darkness, with a sky of unknown height above. Countless star-like luminous points gathered together; though each one’s light was faint, the entire sky filled with these dots gave it a sense of profound mystery. Below lay vast lands, and under the dim light from the sky, a river like black crystal wound its way around rocky peaks. It was hard to imagine that such a vast world existed underground, on par with the surface world. On a plain behind the river stood a triangular city, with a giant stone pillar at its center—at least thirty stories tall—on which a bright flame burned, illuminating an area of ten miles around the city. Looking further away, their eyes could only discern a dark mist, with no other features visible. The Dark Regions was the term used by the surface dwellers to refer to the underground world. This world consisted of caves and caverns of various sizes, connected by tunnels. Evil creatures that feared sunlight and races driven out of the surface world lived here to avoid the sun’s rays. Numerous monstrous creatures, different from those on the surface, also thrived here. The Dark Regions were not a barbaric land; instead, they were filled with cities and settlements built by evil intelligent beings such as dark elves, gray dwarves, and heart snatchers. These beings enslaved weaker underground races like cave dwellers and dwarves, as well as intelligent human-like slaves from the surface. The Dark Regions were not just one layer deep; some rarer races hid even deeper, developing strange social structures completely different from those in the upper layers, such as the monsters in the underground caves. Additionally, there were numerous underground water sources and labyrinthine passages. Entering these blindly usually meant either starving to death or becoming food for underground creatures. After traveling underground for so long, even the five individuals with strong mental fortitude felt oppressed. Now, arriving in this vast space almost as large as the surface world, they felt much more relaxed. Ordinary people might have been tempted to shout and sing loudly, but since they were not ordinary, they knew it was better to stay quiet in such a place. The passage was not safe—the gray dwarves might return at any time—so the five of them did not stay there but left immediately, heading deeper into the underground world.

It was not until the five of them found a suitable hidden location that they stopped to rest and plan their next steps.
“That sizable underground city is called Scorpion Tail Flower City, and it belongs to the evil dark elves. That’s where our mission objective lies!”
Donald and his apprentice both looked displeased, clearly not very optimistic about this mission.
If the target had been just a small settlement of underground aliens, their overwhelming strength would have allowed them to quickly take it even with a direct attack. But now the target was a large underground city, controlled by the dark elves—the most powerful race in the Dark Lands. Even the strongest gold-rank warriors wouldn’t dare mess around there, and with their own silver-rank strength, the five of them were likely to perish. Under such circumstances, it was necessary to discuss a battle plan.
Donald spoke first, “Friends from the Agricultural Goddess Church, it’s time you told us your true intentions, right? Are we supposed to go to war with that city? If so, I certainly don’t want to go along with you to face the entire city’s dark elves and their minions for no reason! That would be nothing but suicide!”
By now, Donald had also realized that some so-called sacred relic mission was probably just an excuse. Even if it wasn’t, it was likely just a pretext. Their real goals must be something more, so he openly expressed his thoughts.
The three members of the Agricultural Goddess Church exchanged glances, then Sod stepped forward and said, “It’s not that we want to hide anything from you two. It’s a matter of great importance. If revealed, it could cause serious trouble, which is why we used an excuse to conceal it!”
Seeing that Donald and Master Messel were listening attentively, Sod continued, “We’ve received news that Lady Shadow is about to form an alliance with the evil Spider Queen. Their forces will meet soon to form an alliance, aiming to conquer the entire Dark Lands and use it as a base to invade the surface world!”
Upon hearing this news, Donald and his companion were shocked.
When mortals speak the names of gods, the true gods can sense it, so Sod only used the titles of those two goddesses, not their actual names.

Lady Shadow is the title of the goddess of darkness, Elsa, while the Spider Queen refers to Flora, the goddess of spiders and dark elves. Both of these are ancient deities that existed since the beginning of the world. It is said they were sealed away for many years until the Second Demon Sealing War, before the collapse of the Banai Empire, when they regained their freedom and became one of the most powerful beings among the gods. The other is also a mighty true god, but the Spider Queen is best known not for her strength but for her cruel and twisted nature. How could mere mortals like them possibly get involved with such powerful beings? Donald felt reluctant and his first thought was to teleport back to the surface with his teacher right away! However, seeing the three people across from him who didn’t seem worried at all suggested there might be developments he wasn’t aware of. Perhaps these three had enough strength to handle the situation, so he decided not to leave right away and waited to hear what they had to say.