Why can't humans do it too?

The time was almost up. Suer could faintly hear the sound of an airship flying. The sound of metal clashing could be heard overhead. The next moment, the tightly sealed ceiling suddenly split into four pieces and hid from the surroundings. An airship was slowly descending.

It didn't take long; they only descended to a certain height before the goblin piloting the airship noticed something amiss. The forest elves, who had been kept in cages, were now standing casually in the center of the hall!

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Burning

Although it's impossible to see how the goblins inside the airship will react, anyone who completes a normal transport cycle as usual and then suddenly discovers that their imprisoned prisoners have escaped would certainly not be in a good mood.

Suddenly, it reared up and the airship climbed rapidly, trying to escape the prison as quickly as possible, but it was too late.

boom!!!

Led by that Baltiru, several forest elves raised their arms in unison and summoned a huge energy arrow that pierced directly through the airship. The force was so great that the airship did not fall back into the hall due to gravity, but was instead blasted away.

Good guy.

Su Er grinned. He finally understood why Xin Ke wasn't worried about things going wrong. It turned out that from the very beginning, she hadn't planned to sneak over to the submarine with so many people. Naturally, she wasn't afraid of anyone with grudges trying to sabotage her.

When the attack was launched, Sull seemed to hear the deafening alarms coming from the goblin command center—if the goblins had established such a department.

"Come on, everyone! It's not far from here to the port. After we get there, we'll use the mole's submarine to return to the surface. Let's go!" Xin Ke shouted, raising her arms.

"Yes!"

Following closely behind the people in front, they ran out. Apart from the elves who had been locked up for too long and had given up on themselves, the prison quickly became quiet. The goblins who had been knocked unconscious to the ground for the sake of secrecy were also swiftly killed when the elves withdrew. Although their deaths triggered some device, causing the prison to make a huge noise and layers of iron walls to appear and enclose the entire prison, it didn't really matter anymore.

Even this small defense was merely a formality, since the goblins never thought those long-eared creatures would be so noble as to venture so deep to rescue their people.

The location is absolutely fantastic.

Honestly, if this happened anywhere else or on the surface, the goblins probably wouldn't even bother approaching these fleeing forest elves. Instead, they would have simply fired a cannonball to send these runaway trash on their way. But unfortunately, they are currently in their own homes, even in the lowest level of the entire city. Besides the goblins who have gone home to rest, there are also a large number of goblin children here.

To say something like "sending Long Ears to his death with a cannonball" in such a place would be an apology to the entire ethnic group.

Within Sul's field of vision, he saw many escaped forest elf soldiers, under the command of the Baltiru Lord, controlling some lesser goblins who couldn't escape in time. Flames erupted and steel houses exploded; chaos descended upon this city, which had never been invaded by foreign races before.

The cries of children, the screams of those dying, whether they were goblins or forest elves, filled the air. The towering steel walls receded rapidly in all directions, and the entire city was distorting. Sull saw large numbers of goblins pouring down from the uppermost industrial area like worker bees returning to their hive. Both sides occasionally unleashed magical beams, but the goblins still had the upper hand. Even though they occasionally killed some forest elves who couldn't escape in time, they dared not get too close. The goblin children were then held up at the front.

For some reason, Suer recalled the settlement that had been destroyed by the orcs three years ago, but this was completely different.

Without commenting on such behavior, Suer simply turned to Xinke beside him and said, "Aren't you leaving?"

"Hey? Mr. Monkey, are you in a hurry? But the passage to the mole's port isn't open yet~ We need to wait until those moles calm down a bit before we go—"

"Have all the goblins in the industrial zone come down yet? Now is the best opportunity to see that divine marrow."

Suer calmly interrupted Xinke's words and spoke directly.

"..."

A strange silence enveloped the two of them. Xin Ke stared at Su Er, and Su Er returned her gaze without fear.

"Hmm~, why do you say that?" Xin Ke chuckled strangely, neither confirming nor denying.

"Just think about it for a moment and you'll understand. If it were you, you certainly wouldn't just slink away like that, would you?" Su Er replied casually, already heading towards the path the two of them had just come down from.

After all, with your incredibly arrogant personality, it would be strange if you were to flee in a sorry state alongside those ordinary forest elves while being chased by goblins.

Even if he were to run away, Suer was absolutely certain that Shinko would only playfully toy with the moles before shouting at them with disdain—"Today, you almost caught the great Nirbalian!"

Then they ran away.

That's just the kind of person she is.

"...Pfft, hahahaha," the unrestrained laughter grew louder and louder, as if Xin Ke had heard the funniest joke ever, to the point that she was doubled over laughing while clutching her stomach.

Without saying anything or expressing any sentiments, Xin Ke simply took a few steps forward and extended her hand to Su Er.

“Let’s go, Mr. Monkey,” she said with a wicked smile, though the malice wasn’t directed at Sue. “Let’s burn this city to ashes.”

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

No longer needing to be as careful as before when climbing up, Xin Ke even used magic to speed things up from time to time. The once noisy upper area was now eerily quiet. The only unusual thing was the divine furnace that was radiating endless heat.

Suer was desperately patting Xinke's arm—he really couldn't take it anymore.

To be honest, whenever Xin uses magic to speed up, he feels like his blood has Mentos added to it, and he has his own thoughts... he just wants to rush out of his head, and even his brain, which is perfectly fine inside his skull, is not under his control.

"You're really fragile, Mr. Monkey. This won't do, you know?" Xin Ke said with a sigh, loosening her grip on Su Er a little with some disdain.

"...Huff, huff, I told you not to use the bodies of your outrageous races to judge me," Sul protested helplessly to Xin Ke, panting heavily.

In order to return to the Central Industrial Zone as quickly as possible, Xin Ke simply held Su Er in her arms and sprinted upwards. Something was suffocating Su Er, but this seemingly romantic thing did not cause him any strange reaction—the symptoms after high-speed movement had overshadowed everything else.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Return

“Isn’t there still that magic? The one that saved me when I was on the submarine,” Suer gestured to Xinke.

“Ah, well, it’s probably best not to use magic with a constant effect,” Xin Ke bluntly rejected Su Er’s suggestion. “Although most of the moles have been lured to the lower levels, it’s not time to let our guard down yet. The upper levels are the moles’ weapons factory… Mr. Monkey’s protest means he’s rested enough, right? So, shall we continue on our way?”

"Huh? Ah! No, I—uh-uh!"

With a muffled groan, someone's instinctive scream was forcibly suppressed, and he didn't even dare to open his mouth. Su Er was afraid that he might accidentally bite off his tongue. He felt like he was a sack that Xin Ke was holding onto, and even his bones were about to be shaken apart.

She only asked Suer a token question, and Xin Ke didn't need to hear an answer at all. She didn't even care about the separation between men and women. She simply carried Suer and quickly made her way through the goblin's steel road, ensuring her safety... That's normal, since I've never heard of anyone getting aroused by hugging a rock, except when drunk.

It must be said that the forest elves at the lowest level, who held hostages, dragged things out for a long time, and the goblins were now feeling rather hesitant to act rashly.

Before long, Xin Ke brought Su Er to the giant robot again, much closer than the last time they had been there.

Tumbled and staggered, Suer clung to the edge of the platform, gripping the ground to prevent himself from falling. These goblins in this space generally flew, leaving him virtually no place to land.

"Mr. Monkey, aren't you going to take a closer look at the gophers' spirit armor? You seemed quite excited when you saw it before," Xin Ke's voice came from the side. This highly skilled Lisen spirit was already carefully examining the spell inscribed on the inactive divine marrow.

"...Let's think about our escape route first," Suer said, his eyes still a little dizzy as he kept looking around. "That should be the submarine that has been completed but not yet put into use."

Suer pointed to the steel fleet in the distance, which was clearly only reachable by Xin Ke carrying him by plane. It should be a new airship that had been completed. Apart from a submarine that clearly looked to be still being assembled, there were several submarines fixed next to the airship, seemingly waiting for final loading.

That was their escape route.

Yes, in this city, apart from the port at the lowest level which has submarines that allow people to escape, the only other place where submarines exist is the Central Industrial Zone, which is a place specifically used to manufacture weapons of war.

Barthilhod is right; there were indeed people who were used as cannon fodder.

“I’m not lying, okay?” Seemingly sensing some thoughts in Suer’s mind, Xin Ke turned her head and said, “I did teach him how to activate the submarine using the Forest Elf’s magic.”

There was no answer. Sull wanted to roll his eyes but didn't dare. He also looked up and observed the magnificent creation so close to him. The metallic luster and sharp lines created a majestic aura. The closer he looked, the more he was attracted by the beauty of this steel.

Suer wanted to touch it up close, but since he couldn't fly, he couldn't touch it at all.

Having no knowledge of elves, he couldn't glean anything from the dense array of spells like Xin Ke had. Although it was a giant robot that would excite anyone to look at, it currently only had a shoulder and a head; the rest was just a rough framework, and it became somewhat tedious after a while.

With just a slight turn of the head, one could clearly see the towering, burning pillar of fire. Even as the unrest in the lower areas continued to escalate and the entire goblin city was mobilized, this divine being remained motionless, as if it had discovered nothing and noticed nothing at all.

But this is obviously impossible.

The divine race tacitly approved of all this, as if the turmoil and death that occurred around him did not happen to his closest creations.

"Why didn't the God of Forging stop us?" Su'er asked, curiously.

However, Xin Ke, who was already lost in her own world, did not hear it at all. It wasn't until Su Er called her several times that she finally responded.

“Who knows what those guys are thinking?” she replied impatiently. Xin Ke even felt it was a waste not to give the Divine Furnace on the other side a glance. “Influenced by their own concepts, the way gods think and act is never something that outsiders can understand. They just need to abide by the rules of their own world.”

"They're inexplicably vying for the throne of the One God. I don't understand what they're even talking about..." Seemingly getting a little carried away, Xin Ke clearly projected a certain being who wasn't even here into her rambling curses, "If you want to sit on the throne of the One God so badly, just go sit on it! If you can't sit on it, go sit on the toilet!"

"..."

This time, Suer really didn't dare to respond. Without a doubt, every word Xin Ke uttered from the bottom of her heart was directed at a certain divine being—the chosen one was easy to guess, it could only be the forest god of the forest elves themselves.

Suer glanced nervously at Xinke, then nervously at the Divine Fire Furnace on the other side. He was really afraid that the pillar of fire there would suddenly transform into a burning fire giant, shouting that the flames would purify everything and then smash down with a hammer.

The goblins currently engaged in a fierce battle undoubtedly want their creator to be elevated to the status of a single god, or to put it more bluntly, this is simply an order from the God of Forging.

Xin Ke's outrageous curse directly included the God of Forging as well.

I held my breath and watched, ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds—nothing happened.

'Is the God of Forging really this good-tempered?!' Suer was somewhat stunned.

Perhaps knowing her place... Xin Ke quickly shut her mouth and focused on examining the huge spiritual artifact. She even used magic to send herself over to record the spells that she couldn't see from the angle earlier.

For a moment, only Suer remained on the small platform.

Tense and bored, he could hear the explosions coming from below the city, but after the sound traveled through so many layers, it had become a faint muffled sound like firecrackers going off outside tightly closed doors and windows.

Chapter Seventy But I Refusal

The longer he waited, the more anxious he became. The feeling that he could do nothing fueled his panic, and Suer's heart seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

Constantly wondering when the commotion below would end, and how long the fleeing forest elves could hold out, Suer lay on the edge of the platform, gazing down. He couldn't help but repeatedly turn his head to look at Xinke, hesitating whether to urge the forest elf on.

Does doing bad things require such a long preparation time?

[Perhaps this entire planet will be destroyed? After all, the Forest Elves possess weapons powerful enough to defeat them~]

Xin Ke's words and that nonchalant smile resurfaced in her mind. Neither race intended to control the intensity of the war within an acceptable range. When they discovered that one side possessed a weapon capable of destroying the world, their first thought was not to control this power and deter each other, but rather to try their best to develop even more destructive weapons and destroy the other side before they themselves were destroyed.

Even knowing that this overwhelming power would completely destroy the planet on which they depend for survival.

Suddenly, looking around at the city that was so similar to the industrial civilization of his previous life, and the huge robot that stood tall beside him, Suer suddenly realized that all his previous goodwill toward the goblins had vanished.

How far must this world be destroyed before you're satisfied...?

Xin Ke landed lightly beside Su Er on a magic circle, and kicked him without any malice as he lay on the ground looking down at the city.

"...Is it finished?" Suer asked dejectedly.

"Hmm? They're just checking out the thought process. The moles must have only just started this research. Their ambitions are a bit too big," Xin Ke sneered contemptuously. "I thought they simply wanted to use the inactive divine essence as cannon fodder, but after a closer look, I found that they're heading in the direction of directly utilizing the concepts contained within the divine essence."

Directly utilizing concepts? Wouldn't that be equivalent to directly controlling a god-like being?!

"...Can they do it?" This audacious idea really made Suer quite nervous. Directly manipulating the divine species could be compared to a nuclear weapon among nuclear weapons, right?

"Impossible," Xin Ke said firmly, shaking her head vigorously. "This isn't just a matter of how many years it's been; it's a matter that requires several generations to study. Compared to utilizing the concepts in the Divine Essence, I think it's more realistic for the Gophers to directly study how to detonate the Divine Essence."

The forest elf with long, pale golden hair made no attempt to hide her disdain in her words. As one of the most talented researchers in her race, she held firm to her beliefs on such matters.

"I see," Su Er nodded knowingly. "Then let's hurry up and leave. Have you already taken precautions with the Divine Essence? It won't explode before we've reached a safe distance, will it?"

As he stood up from the ground, Su Er straightened his clothes and spoke to Xin Ke, but Xin Ke's expression was even more surprised than his.

"Detonate the Divine Essence? Who told you to detonate the Divine Essence?" Xin Ke was genuinely baffled this time. "If I set up a long-duration spell, the returning gophers will definitely find it, and a short-duration spell simply can't guarantee that I can reach a safe area at the speed of a submarine before detonating the Divine Essence... I don't want to die with the gophers in a place like this!"