Why can't humans do it too?

After glancing at the forest elf who was closing its eyes and seemingly sensing the outside world, Suer pondered for a moment and then simply took off its robe and threw it at the forest elf.

"?"

She used magic as a reflex to freeze the unassuming dark gray robe in mid-air. Although she didn't speak, the look Xin Ke gave Su Er clearly expressed her question.

“Although I think it’s quite meaningless, I still feel that you’re not the kind of person who just sits and waits to die, right? I guess,” Suer raised his hand and made a gesture of putting on clothes, and continued, “Even if I’ve never been to a goblin country, just judging from the style of their airships and submarines, it should be a place where dark colors like gray are the main colors—you’d be too conspicuous if you didn’t wear something.”

The long-haired forest elf was incredibly fair-skinned. Not only was her pale golden hair beautifully highlighted by even the slightest light, but her clothes—well, at least they used to be white—were now torn and stained, which only made her fair skin appear even whiter. To be honest, if she didn't wear anything, Suer suspected that the forest elf would attract the attention of goblins just by standing in the outside world, let alone stealthily conceal her presence.

While there is an option to use magic to conceal one's whereabouts, it's best not to use magic rashly in places like the enemy's lair, where it's hard to say whether there are any detection devices.

“I see, Mr. Monkey can be clever too,” Xin Ke said, easily understanding what Su Er meant. She draped Su Er’s robe over her shoulders, implicitly acknowledging Su Er’s words that she did not intend to sit idly by and wait for death… even if she was alone in the goblin’s lair.

The submarine slowed down even further. Although the terrifying inertia could not be felt due to Xinke's magic, Suer could clearly observe that the submarine had been positioned almost at a parallel angle.

The goblin capital is located in the outside world.

Suer couldn't help but swallow hard. He kept sorting through his thoughts, then couldn't help touching the items in his arms. Finally, he turned to Xin Ke and asked, "Let me confirm again, the great Miss Nirbalian doesn't seem to be planning to rush out and start a massacre the moment the submarine stops and opens the hatch, does she?"

You should be a mage, not a berserker?

“Mr. Monkey, you don’t need to use your shallow and ridiculous thinking to speculate, do you?” Suer couldn’t see Xin Ke’s expression, who was wearing a hood, but could hear the woman’s unique voice mocking him, “My life will not perish in such a lowly place as the gophers.”

"That's good." Automatically extracting useful information from the goblin's words, Suer walked to the spot right next to the submarine's hatch and waited. The angle was now no different from flat ground. "By the way, although I don't quite understand some of the unfamiliar words, my knowledge of the goblin language is still somewhat useful. So if we encounter any emergencies later, please ask the great Miss Nielbaren to lend me a hand?"

Without any hesitation, he sent a request for help to the enemy who had been chasing him not long ago, wanting to take his head. Even Suer himself was amazed at his own shamelessness at this moment.

Now living alone, separated from the settlement, and even more so at a depth of 10,000 meters, Suer feels himself becoming bolder and more uninhibited.

He has not yet reached the limit of his life.

Chapter Forty-Eight: The Forest of Steel

The forest elf sneered without any politeness, his disdain evident in his laughter.

"You haven't forgotten what I said, have you?" Xin Ke made no attempt to hide her mockery. "Or do you think a tattered piece of cloth is enough to be considered a gesture of goodwill to a monkey? You should know that even if I kill you, I can still take everything from you."

"Does Mr. Monkey think I was joking about the Nielbaren family's revenge?" With elegant steps, Xin Ke walked to the other side of the merged ship's door. "Oh, right, perhaps we should also consider your nonsensical reminder from a few hours ago? I'm sorry, but how could a monkey possibly imagine a power as vast as the sky? As the Flower Crown Lord of the Forest Elf race, and the only Eightfold Mage of this era, how could the explosion of a mere flying ship possibly harm a genius like me?"

Forest elves do not need the presumptuous kindness of wild beasts.

Suer remained silent.

The reason wasn't because he heard the series of inexplicable titles from the light golden-haired forest elf, which sounded very impressive but he had no idea how impressive they were, even though he had always thought that the forest elf chasing him was just an ordinary forest elf. Nor was it because of his wasted kindness—what Suer couldn't face was simply Xin Ke's so-called reminder.

Those were the words he uttered in his most instinctive desire when he had not had enough rest for a long time, and after experiencing a series of falls and collisions from a great height, and was even in a state of confusion and disorientation.

He just didn't want to die.

Even subconsciously, the option of keeping one's mouth shut and being buried with the forest elves in the exploding airship never came to mind.

Along with everything before that.

The fact that he has been deliberately avoiding.

If Riku knew, he'd probably be furious by now.

Finally realizing this, Suer laughed self-deprecatingly—at himself who had even betrayed himself.

"...No matter what, Miss Nirbalen, you don't want to die here, do you?" Stopping thinking about these questions, Suer just buried her head in checking the few weapons she had left. "We all just want to survive."

Suer said frankly that a gradually increasing sound was coming from outside the submarine. It was no longer the simple, empty, and unchanging rustling sound when sailing underground, but rather like a never-ending steam hammer forging the world, heavy, steady, mechanical, and slow. The depth count on the other side had also gradually stopped.

There was no answer. The elf simply extended a finger from his wide robe and drew a diagonal line in the air. Sul clearly saw a green ring covered with strange patterns overflow from his body, then scatter into invisible tiny points of light and disappear into the air. The magic that Xin Ke had cast on him was canceled.

The inertia he felt again caused Suer to stagger a couple of steps before regaining his balance. The submarine's speed had now slowed to a level that his body could handle.

In silence, the two waited for the submarine to come to a complete stop, wondering what the world outside the ship's doors would look like, and how many goblin soldiers would be waiting outside.

In this anxious wait, the submarine finally came to a stop after a slight tremor.

The journey has come to an end.

“Mr. Monkey?” It was Xin Ke speaking, her voice still very sweet, even though Su Er had clearly realized that the forest elf with the long, light golden hair was not as sweet as she looked. “Please remember this well—the pain I have suffered will be returned to you a hundredfold, and this will never change.”

The words he spoke were still death threats that were not fake at all, but Suer could only sigh.

"Okay, I understand." Although he knew it wouldn't be of much use, Suer still placed his hand on the dagger at his side. "By the way, stop calling me 'monkey'... My name is Suer, let's get to know each other."

"Hmm~ Got it, Mr. Monkey?"

Unwilling to engage in such deliberate arguing, Suer focused his attention on the hatch.

The door opened.

--------------

A perfect city, just like the fantasy of Sur.

To be honest, if he wasn't very clear about his identity as an intruder (even though he posed no threat at all), Sull would have been so excited that he wanted to shout.

So handsome.

The cities the goblins built were so cool—he could even find echoes of his past life in them.

Pipes, huge pipes, narrow pipes, pipes within pipes, iron walls surrounding iron walls, and from the circular openings of furnace-like structures rising like towers, beams of emerald green light shot out, disappearing not far into the air. Even every breath of air was scorching hot.

Interspersed among the dense network of pipes in the sky are many facilities that are probably where the goblins live and work. The irregularly shaped windows emit twinkling lights, and small ships occasionally whiz by in the air. Countless brilliant light sources shine in the darkness. This is a steel forest, exuding the industrial civilization atmosphere that Sull is most familiar with.

Even though there were still many things that were vastly different from what he had seen and heard in his previous life, Suer was so excited that he clenched his hands, as if he had traveled through time once again.

But everything relentlessly tells him—you can never go back.

No matter how similar they are, no matter how many memories they evoke, Sull realizes this when his gaze shifts to the very heart of the city.

A colossal pillar of light pierced through the city, reaching from the rocky sky at the top to the steel foundation at the bottom, like a flame that had burned since the beginning of the world. Just looking at it made people want to kneel down, a sense of awe that is the most instinctive feeling of living beings.

“That is the fire of the divine race,” Xin Ke whispered to Su Er, who was also prostrate in this steel corner. “The sign of the creator of the goblin race—the divine furnace.”

"...That's a divine being?" After struggling with all his might to pull his gaze away from that majestic being, Suer took a deep breath and asked softly, suppressing his restless heart.

"How could that be?" Xin Ke scoffed at Su Er's existence once again, denying it without any politeness: "This is at most just a manifestation used to communicate with mortals. How could a monkey possibly understand the way a divine species exists?"

"Whether it is its existence, the scale of time, or the range or definition of language that constitutes its world, none of these can be imagined by any non-divine species. Even destroying this divine furnace is only equivalent to destroying the essence of the forging god that exists in a higher dimension and manifests in a physical way." Perhaps also shocked by such power, Suer heard Xin Ke unconsciously expand his vocabulary.

Chapter Forty-Nine: Unexpected

'The essence?'

Su Er silently memorized this word he had never heard before, but then felt it wasn't enough, so he took out his pen and paper from his pocket and wrote it down.

"Hmm? Is Mr. Monkey writing something?" Xin Ke, who was lying next to Su Er, noticed his movements.

"No, it's nothing," without offering any explanation, Suer stuffed the paper and pen back into his pocket and asked instead, "Is this how the gods of the forest elves are? You must have seen your gods before, right? After all, what was your title again... Lord Flower Crown?"

His response was a disdainful snort from Xin Ke, the utter disrespect clearly conveyed to Su Er.

"Hmph, although they appear in different forms, they are all just boring and foolish gods," Xin Ke said through her nose, as if speaking a single word would be a waste of her life, completely unlike how she described her creator.

Silently turning his head, Suer stared wide-eyed at the forest elf next to him—was it really okay to describe his creator like that?

This is a living, real god, the god who created you... How did you become the Flower Crown Minister with such disrespect?

Are all the other elf species blind?

Your reaction makes those who, despite the absence of a God, conjure up an object of their own imagination to worship with fervent devotion feel utterly inadequate.

"So where does Mr. Monkey, who claims to know a lot of the gophers' language, plan to go now?" Unlike Suer, Xinke had no interest in the city built by the goblins and only glanced at it briefly.

Perhaps because they believed that no race would send just a few people to their base, the goblins' defenses were far smaller than Sur and Xin could have imagined. There were no guards stationed at fixed points, not even a single patrol. But that was understandable; perhaps that was the confidence and assurance that their lair was 10,000 meters underground.

Most importantly, their god is here, and that is the strongest protection.

Thanks to this mindset, Suer and Xinke, who were originally on high alert and ready to fight, were stunned for a moment when they found the submarine's hatch empty after it opened, and then quickly slipped away.

Although no soldiers were assigned to patrol or stand guard, goblins would still come to check when ships returned. Shortly after Sull and Hink hid under a pipe, they saw a gray ball of fur fall from the sky next to the submarine.

Yes, the gray furball—that's a goblin, at least in Sul's eyes. It left him speechless. What kind of underground gooey world scenario is this? Isn't it a little too cute?

Unable to ask the goblin beside them about their curiosity and questions, the two of them, led by Xin Ke, silently avoided all the goblins they encountered along the way until they arrived at this place where they could overlook half the city.

To be honest, the question Xin Ke raised at that moment left Su Er puzzled as well.

"Um, shall we take a look around first?" Suer tentatively suggested slowly, "to see the goblins' military equipment or other important places?"

Suer guessed that Xin Ke beside him probably wanted to gather some information about the enemies of the forest elves.

To be honest, the light golden-haired forest elf's reaction to his creator was really hard for him to understand, but if he really had no feelings for the forest elves, he probably wouldn't have come to the front lines to fight against the goblins, right?

Death is not a game.

"Hmm~, it's not impossible, is it?" Xin Ke did not deny Su Er's suggestion, and then pointed to a direction to the right of the two of them, "Let's go there, I sensed some residual magic unique to the forest elves in that direction, and I'm a little curious."

Suer naturally wouldn't object.

The two of them concealed themselves and crouched low as they moved through the goblin city. Although it had a strong stealth game feel to it, to be honest, it was a bit too easy.

The more stealthy Sull became, the clearer he felt that the goblins had never considered the possibility that an individual could infiltrate their city. To be honest, if someone really wanted to cause trouble here, the chances of them succeeding were far too great.

What a coincidence, right next to him is a guy with both ample motivation and sufficient strength—Sul glanced sideways at the forest elf beside him.

If it were just an ordinary forest elf soldier, it might not be able to cause enough damage, but this guy who calls himself a Flower Crown Lord and an Eightfold Sorcerer is a different story... To be honest, Suer really didn't expect that this forest elf from the Nielbaren family would have such a powerful background, especially after he pressed him to tell him what those two words meant.

The title of "Flower Crown Lord" is the highest-ranking sorcerer among all forest elves, a position second only to the gods. An "eightfold sorcerer" means one who can cast eight spells simultaneously. The forest elves are stratified by the number of spells they can cast at the same time. Currently, only Xin Ke among all forest elves can cast eight spells simultaneously.

This proud and beautiful forest elf could be said to stand at the very pinnacle of the entire race, coldly looking down on everyone below her.

It's a pity I'm going to die here.

Suer grinned silently.

"Mr. Monkey's malice needs to be better concealed. It would be too naive to be discovered like this," Xinke said without turning her head as she walked ahead of Suer, without even stopping her steps. "Well, it's not entirely incomprehensible. After all, he's just a monkey. It's really too difficult for him to learn such advanced thinking."

"There's no other way. After all, it's too difficult to hide anything from a race like yours that can directly observe elves and even changes in flesh and blood... Speaking of which, could you please tell this humble monkey what elves in the air look like? Also, what does it feel like to cast magic?"

He was already quite adept at dealing with the racial attacks of a certain forest elf. Suer found that he adapted very quickly. He even asked questions that he had been curious about for a long time but had never been able to get answers to, as if he were chatting with a friend.

Compared to real harm, the sting of words cannot even pierce the surface.

"...I never expected to feel like I'm being asked questions by a junior here. Well then, let me, the most talented person in the history of the White Tree, kindly give this curious Mr. Monkey a little lesson," Xin Ke said casually as she led Su Er through the twists and turns between the pipes and iron walls.

Chapter 50 Xin Ke's Little Classroom