You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

He understood—the true trump card of the Sand Valley was not the formation, but the "Sand Vein Dragon" that they had suppressed at the bottom of the valley.

The dragon's breathing grew more and more rapid, the chains trembled, and the sand pillars emitted a low hum, as if they might break at any moment.

Claudia glanced at the edge of the slope and lowered her voice: "Either kill it completely, or let it go."

Ron paused for a moment, then ordered, "Prepare two plans. Dark Abyss will cut the rune nails, Abyss Throat will set up a locking array at the dragon's head, and the main array will be set up with heavy crossbow towers at the valley entrance—once it goes berserk, take out its brain first."

The black current churned faster and faster within the veins, the sound of water mingling with the friction of sand, making the entire underground seem to boil.

The lurking monster from the Dark Abyss had already attached itself to the dragon's back, its bone knife piercing the gaps in the rune nails. Sandy blood gushed out from the blade, spraying onto their armor with a sizzling sound, accompanied by a wave of heat.

The throat of the abyss advanced along the veins toward the dragon's head, the forelimbs of the wall-climbing beast firmly gripping the stone wall, and the shadow-scaled puppet had laid out a barbed chain array at the corner in advance.

Ron stood on the hillside, watching this thing that had been suppressed for who knows how many years slowly raise its back.

He knew very well that once the chain broke, the entire underground of the Sand Valley would be turned upside down.

The first crisp sound of the chain breaking was particularly clear amidst the roar of the black current.

When the first chain broke, the entire vein jolted violently, as if someone had whipped the ground. Cracks appeared in the stone walls on both sides of the slope, and fine sand flowed down from the cracks, carrying heat.

When the second chain was pried open by the bone blade of the Dark Sea Abyss, the section on the dragon's back bulged even higher, and the sound of the black current crashing against the stone wall turned into muffled thunder. The rune nails were torn off one by one, and the sandy blood splattered into a mist, sticking to the armor and immediately solidifying into a hard shell.

The Abyss's Maw had reached the dragon's head. It was a protruding bone platform, shaped like a smoothed boulder, but in the very center, one could vaguely see closed eye slits—the sensory organs of the Sand Vein Dragon. It had no pupils; it sensed everything through vibrations and the direction of the sand currents.

The captain set up three locking formations in front of the bone platform, with barbed chains forming a semi-circle and runes pressed at the joints of the chains, ready to be closed at a signal.

The third chain broke, and the veins emitted a low, mournful sound, causing the sand grains to vibrate and suspend in the air.

Ron lowered his voice: "Get ready."

As the fourth chain snapped, the dragon's back arched violently, and the black torrent, like a bursting sac, gushed out from the crack above the ridge, carrying hot sand and gravel, scalding half the slope.

The people of the Dark Sea Abyss were swept away and pressed against the stone wall, only managing to hold on tightly with their claws to avoid being swept away.

From the direction of the dragon's head, the throat of the abyss immediately triggered the locking array, the barbed chains closed, and the runestone lit up into a white ring, forcibly locking onto the base of the bone platform.

The Sand Dragon moved. Its writhing was no longer slow breathing, but a series of struggles to break free of its restraints. The black current crashed against the stone walls, the entire underground passage shook, and the ground at the valley entrance began to collapse, dust billowing into the sky like smoke.

Ron's orders were crisp: "Black Language Main Formation, Heavy Crossbow Towers in position, target three feet above the dragon's head—if the defensive formation can't hold, just attack!"

The main force's heavy crossbow towers fired diagonally in from the valley entrance. The crossbow bolts were specially made with rock-breaking tips and were inlaid with runes. Once they hit, they would explode with a shockwave, shattering the target's interior.

Claudia stood beneath the tower, holding a lit talisman in her hand, ready to detonate the arrow barrage herself once Ron gave the order.

The dragon's back arched higher and higher, all the rune nails were pulled out, and fragments of the sand pillars fell into the black current, disappearing without a trace. The locking array gripped the dragon's head tightly, but the chains had been stretched to their limit, and cracks began to appear on the surface of the rune stones.

The captain of the Abyss's Maw gritted his teeth and shouted, "If we hold on for even one more breath, we'll be finished!"

Ron's gaze swept across the battle map; the red dots on the board were erratic, the lines of the battle lines twitching. He pressed down, sending out a signal—

The heavy crossbow towers fired in unison, three rock-piercing spikes streaked with the light of runic fire, plunging deep into the bone platform three feet above it. The runic fire exploded instantly, the shockwave penetrating the bones and entering the dragon's head.

The Sand Dragon paused for a moment, then let out a muffled roar. The entire black current surged back, receding from both ends of its body like a receding tide. The runestone shattered into fragments in the shockwave, and the barbed chain was pulled into the air before snapping with a crack.

The dragon lowered its head, not in submission, but to gather strength. Every segment of its spine trembled, and hot sand spewed from the gaps in its scales, so hot that even the iron chains were smoking.

Ron didn't give it a second chance: "Shoot with all your might, crush it!"

A dozen or so sharp, shattered rocks struck in succession, and the talismanic fire exploded into a series of white mushroom clouds on the dragon's back and head. The shockwave churned the sand within the veins, causing the dragon to move slower and slower until it finally collapsed completely into the ground.

The black current stopped, the hot sand in the air slowly settled, and the underground veins returned to silence.

The people of the Dark Abyss were the first to slide off the dragon's back, their entire bodies covered in a layer of grayish-white sand. After confirming that the dragon's head was no longer trembling, the captain of the Abyss's Maw waved his hand to remove the remaining chains.

Ron retracted the Vein layer on the terrain panel, and the red dots on the panel went out one by one.

"Clean up the site, mark the bone segments of this thing, and we'll process them when we get back."

With the Sand Dragon dead, Sand Nether Valley's last trump card was buried deep underground, hollowed out by its own actions.

The flames on the ground were still flickering, but those were merely the aftershocks of the monster army's clearing operation. The real threat had already been cut off deep within this layer of sand.

After the underground veins subsided, steam still rose from the collapsed pit in the valley center. People from the Dark Sea Abyss and the Throat of the Abyss took turns going down, cutting up everything they could carry. Segments of the Sand Dragon's bones were hoisted from the ground, the runes on their surfaces long since removed, leaving smooth grooves like natural tenons. Ron had these bone segments strung together with iron chains and arranged outside the valley entrance as a defensive line—the bone was so hard it was more resistant to impact than ordinary city walls.

Claudia led her men to clear the inner sanctum, collecting the remnants of the sand jade core and sealing them in an iron box. She searched through the hidden compartments of the sanctum and found several scrolls of array diagrams wrapped in animal hides. Most of them were blurred and illegible, but the sections marking the underground river's veins were still relatively intact. Ron glanced at them and immediately had them wrapped in oilcloth; these were crucial for the future transformation of the dungeon.

In the neighborhood, the main force of monsters was still mopping up. Slime hordes blocked the alley entrances, forcing the scattered remnants of Sandgaze Valley to converge in a few designated open areas.

Heavy armored beasts brought up the rear, escorting the prisoners in batches to the foot of the stone platform. Ironback beasts guarded the area while digging the ground with their hooves, turning it into a landslide – so that anyone who tried to escape could slide straight back to the bottom of the valley.

Ron didn't rush to deal with the prisoners; he went to the granary first. Half of the grain had been burned in the early stages of the battle, but what remained was enough to last for several months.

More importantly, the several large jars of sealed water at the bottom of the granary, after being heated by the fire, were at the perfect temperature and remained uncontaminated. Ron ordered his men to move all the water jars and the unburnt grain sacks to the mouth of the valley, prioritizing their distribution to his own legion's attrition troops.

The Abyss's Maw discovered a narrow but well-hidden path leading to the Outer Realms on the side of the cliff. Ron immediately sent twenty Shadowscale Golems to ambush them.

The terrain of Shaming Valley is shaped like a bowl. This path is the only way to leave without passing through the valley entrance. If it is not blocked, someone will eventually sneak out.

By evening, the red dots on the battle map had completely disappeared.

The valley was completely crushed by the monster army, and the firelight cast a bright orange ring in the air.

Ron stood by the stone platform, watching the sandy plains outside the valley gradually lose the heat of the day, and the wind carried a dry coolness.

Chapter 151

Claudia approached and reported on the spoils: seven scrolls of array diagrams, sixty-three rune stones, a box of sand jade core residue, seventeen sections of sand vein dragon bone, and a pile of unusable bone spurs, broken chains, and rune nails. Two hundred and thirty-seven prisoners, mostly from the inner guard and assassination squads.

Ron didn't say much, only leaving out the words: "Lock him up first, we'll question him in a few days."

The temporary command post on the stone platform was quickly erected, with the terrain map placed in the center.

Ron used a wooden needle to mark the key points of Sand Valley on the board, and then connected them into a circle.

This area will be the new dungeon defense zone, where bone fragments, runes, and sand dragon remains will be used.

"We'll keep this place."

At night, the bone walls erected outside the valley entrance cast a row of uneven shadows in the firelight, like a line of motionless animal spines.

The wind blew in from the other side of the cliff, carrying a hint of dampness, which suppressed the bloody smell of the daytime.

Ron closed the topographical compass, his gaze already shifting to the map further north.

That's the direction for the next step.

Before dawn, the sentries at the valley entrance had already cleared the outer ring road thoroughly.

The slime horde retreated into the bone wall, while bone throwers and heavy crossbow towers took turns guarding the high ground. The Dark Sea Abyss squad patrolled back and forth along the cliff path to ensure no slimes escaped.

Ron didn't linger in Sandgaze Valley. The smell of blood at the bottom of the valley would attract the roaming beasts on the sand plains, and staying too long would only cause more trouble.

He placed the command panel on the new map outside the Bone Wall. Sand Valley was just the starting point; there were two larger nodes to the north—Blood Valley City and Rift Rock Fortress.

These two places are separated by a vast wasteland, which is full of wind-eroded pits and half-collapsed stone hills, with no fixed roads.

During the day, the wind is light and the temperature is so high it burns your feet; at night, the wind is like a knife, cutting you painfully.

This is not an obstacle for the monster army, but logistics must be established.

Claudia led the work team ahead, using the sand vein dragon bone sections to pave a bone road, increasing the marching speed of the armored beasts and ironback beasts.

The Abyss's Throat was in charge of reconnaissance, splitting into three groups that drew forward lines across the wasteland, while the Dark Sea Abyss advanced along a dried-up ancient riverbed that led directly east of Blood Valley City.

Less than thirty miles from the valley entrance, the vanguard encountered Blood Valley City's scouts amidst a cluster of wind-eroded pits.

The group of people riding sand lizards turned around and ran back as soon as they saw the monster horde.

The wall-climbing beast from the Abyss's Maw climbed over the side wall and bit off two of the lizards, pulling the rest to the ground.

Ron ordered his men to be captured alive, put in bone chains, and taken back to be locked in the temporary prison in Sand Valley—these kinds of people are fast runners, and keeping them alive would allow them to scout out more routes.

The further north you go, the more open the terrain becomes, and the stronger the wind gets. When the bone road was halfway paved, Claudia filled the gaps in the bones with molten stone and poured a layer of hot sand into them. When the wind blew, the hot sand solidified into a hard shell, and the whole road was like being covered with a layer of stone skin, which could withstand the wind erosion of the wasteland.

Ron constantly adjusted the route during the march, avoiding hills and ravines where ambushes might be hidden, and brought the three advancing lines together, concentrating them in the southeast of Blood Valley.

By evening, the vanguard could already see the outer walls of Blood Valley City. The walls were not high, but there were deep valleys on both sides, and the only entrance was a valley path less than twenty paces wide.

Several rows of suspension bridges hang above the valley, with strings of iron caltrops hanging from the bottom of the bridges. If anyone tries to cross the road, all the caltrops will be lowered.

Ron did not rush to attack. He stood on the high platform of bone in the distance and put the terrain of Blood Valley City into his command panel.

On the board, the locations of the underground canals behind the city walls, the stone piles in the valley, and the winches of the suspension bridge are all marked.

“We’ll make our move tomorrow,” he said, closing the plate. “Tonight, let them feel safe first.”

As night fell, the wind across the wasteland, like a thick cloth, enveloped the aura of the monster army, leaving only a deep silence outside Blood Valley City.

As the sky turned gray, the wind in the wilderness stopped, as if to leave a period of quiet for what was to come.

The heavy crossbow tower on the bone platform had been adjusted to the correct angle, and its quiver was filled with barbed chain bolts.

Ron stood in front of the board, and the red lights on the three advance lines lit up simultaneously.

The main force of the Black Language Grottoes is on the front, which is pushed straight to the valley entrance along the bone path; the left flank is the Throat of the Abyss, which is bypassed from the southeast and climbed onto the suspension bridge above the valley; the right flank is the Abyss of the Dark Sea, which is infiltrated along the ancient riverbed, with the target being the underground channel at the base of the city wall.

The sand at the valley entrance was flattened by the wind overnight, and the watchtowers on the city walls were as quiet as if they were empty.

Ron knew that this silence was usually a buffer before a deadly attack.

With a wave of his hand, the heavy armored beasts in the front row raised their bone shields, and the slimes spread out in strips on the ground, completely covering the surface of the valley.

Immediately afterwards, the bone-throwing soldiers in the main formation raised their hands and unleashed the first round of exploding bottles. The bottles landed below the city wall and exploded into a cloud of gray mist, forcing out the location of the noose hidden in the shadows.

Sure enough, as soon as the gray fog rose, the winch tightened immediately, and half of the barbed wire under the suspension bridge was lowered.

Before they could even put their heads down, the wall-climbing beast from the Abyss's Throat had already climbed up the cliff face on one side of the valley and bit through the two nooses.

The suspension bridge tilted, and half a row of caltrops crashed back into the city gate, knocking down several guards on the spot.

The Dark Abyss was even faster. The bottom of the ancient riverbed was mostly sealed by silt, and their stealthy monsters burrowed directly through the silt. When they emerged from the culvert, they knocked over two soldiers who were clearing the ditch.

The culvert connected to a well inside the city gate, and the wellhead was located right next to the inner guard's supply point—three giant crocodiles carrying slime membranes leaped out, turning the supply point into a muddy mess.

Ron stared at the screen; the three red dots converged at the city gate.

He raised his hand, and the heavy crossbow towers fired simultaneously. The chain bolts pierced the hinges on both sides of the city gate, and the rune wires tightened instantly, tearing the wooden hinges apart.

The city gate made a muffled thud, and half of it collapsed, tilted to one side.

"rush."

The monstrous torrent of the main force immediately pressed forward, and the Ironback Beast used its hooves to kick the fallen door panels into the valley, turning the valley entrance into a gentle slope.

The slime swarm rolls down the slope, trapping any enemy that tries to break free.