Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

"Daylight Spell—get lost, or it'll blind your dog eyes!"

A dazzling pink light suddenly radiated from the Blade of the Sea Song. In places unseen by those who had closed their eyes beforehand, semi-transparent ghostly figures vanished into thin air as if they had seen a ghost. Creatures emerging from the surrounding rock walls and underground soil also cried out in alarm and fled back the path they had come from.

It took the group two or three minutes before they opened their eyes and reassessed their surroundings. Daisy's Daylight spell illuminated a spherical area with a radius of nearly twenty meters, and also spread a relatively faint light over a greater equidistant range. At this distance, most attacks could be detected and dealt with in advance.

"Curse those brainless fungi!" Sylvia's face turned ashen (dark elves are generally this color), "If it weren't for their interference, we wouldn't have needed—"

Her voice suddenly stopped, and everyone looked in the direction she had turned her head. There, a pair of eyes reflecting a scarlet light vanished behind a stone pillar and disappeared into the darkness.

“I don’t think it’s anyone from the Evans family…” Sophia murmured, her hand already in the pocket at her waist, ready to take out spell materials at any time.

"Of course not!" Sylvia drew her dagger and was the first to dart out. "Change course, give chase!"

That must be a patrol squad from Alagi'Belbol. We can't let him go back alive to report!

Catch him, surround him, capture him, torture him, kill him!

In the dark underground world, a ball of light brighter than the surface of the earth carried everyone away, chasing after the direction in which the dark elf had disappeared. No matter what, the other party could not go back!

The armored soldiers and miners lagged behind in the pursuit. Protected by the Daylight spell, the four dark elves ignored them and focused solely on accelerating to capture the fleeing man.

The intense light around them quickly turned into a dim glow, and then the dim glow disappeared again. Dark vision was activated once more, but the silhouette of the dark elf, who did not belong to the Evans family, was already not far ahead.

Rizon, take him down!

Sylvia didn't speak, but communicated with the man behind her using sign language. The man didn't dare to delay, immediately cocked the crossbow strapped to his arm, aimed at the constantly changing figure in front of him, and quickly fired an arrow.

This arrow was incredibly accurate. With a twang of the bowstring, the dark elf male named Rizon struck his enemy's Achilles tendon as he ran. The dark elf immediately rolled to the ground, crashing into the rock wall beside him before rolling into the muddy ground.

The dark elves' arrows were coated with various kinds of venom, and the dark elf who was hit immediately felt his lower body rapidly losing sensation. He instinctively reached into his robes, where he found an antidote tincture that should help...

He swallowed the cold, bitter tincture, but to his surprise, this antidote, which was effective against most dark elf poisons, did not work immediately! The numbness in his legs and the dizziness in his head did begin to subside, but this was not enough to restore his mobility in a short time!

Could it be a poison made from the venom of a flying dragon or purple worms? Or perhaps carrion worms...? Carrion worm slime wouldn't have this effect...

But that's impossible! He saw clearly that the one who shot him was a man! What kind of dark elf family would equip a man with such poison? Unless it was an important assassination mission, and this was clearly an encounter!

Most importantly, according to the mistress's instructions, these enemies from the Evans family have completely lost their base underground. Where are they going to get the venom of the purple worms?

“Ha, Val (idiot),” Sylvia scoffed, making a few gestures to signal the other three to scatter and surround their prey from all sides. “Standard antidotes are ineffective against the venom of surface creatures.”

Not only were they ineffective, but like the drow poison which needed to be kept away from light, these antidotes would decompose on their own when exposed to sunlight, eventually turning into a disgusting substance indistinguishable from sludge. Because of this, and other underground equipment that would also crumble and disintegrate under light, the Evans family suffered immensely after slaughtering the original elven remnants of the Rihar Forest. Until they found a way to recreate their equipment, they were almost forced to live like wild animals in the forest—a vile curse inflicted upon them by the wicked Corellon.

The days of being cursed were so difficult. Without the blessing of the goddess Rose, they would have been deprived of even the most basic sight. Every day they had to live under the scorching sun. However, power favors the brave. After overcoming all obstacles, they now possess a strength that their underground brethren could not even imagine!

Their bodies can withstand the baptism of intense light, their protective gear and weapons will not be rendered ineffective by the toxic sun, and more importantly, the poison they are now carrying will bring irreparable suffering to their compatriots underground!

However, Sylvia couldn't see a trace of fear on this lowly man's face; on that twisted face, there was only a smile born of hatred.

"Ha...you think you can win...?"

A blood-filled gasp escaped Riz's throat as a dagger pierced his neck from behind without warning!

Chapter 492 The Dark Elf's Trap

This is a trap!

Sylvia's mind went blank for a moment, and she heard the sound of the snake-headed whip in her ears. She instinctively ducked to avoid it, but a chain hammer followed closely behind and struck her solidly on the back, knocking her to the ground instantly.

The remaining two dark elves were not so lucky. With two heavy thuds, they collapsed, warm liquid gushing from the wounds in their backs and abdomens, taking away the last glimmer of life from their eyes.

Two graceful figures walked up to Sylvia with the leisurely air of victors, placing one leg on the back of her head so she couldn't even lift her head: "Sylvia, long time no see, hmm?"

The laughter was laced with sarcasm: "The mistress already anticipated that you had allies and would join forces with them first. We have been waiting for you here for a full forty 'fungi days'."

Mushroom days are the timekeeping method in Chou Li City. Giant fungi, bound and driven by magic, emit fluorescence in the center of Chou Li City. Each change from blue to red and back to blue is a mushroom day, which takes about one and a half days on the Earth's surface.

“Marias, it’s you,” Sylvia recognized the other person’s background and couldn’t help but sneer. “The other one is your sister? That’s great. It’s worth it to have you two eating dirt in this godforsaken place for so long. Even if I die, it’s worth it! It’s just a pity that I couldn’t bring your slutty mother along. Otherwise, I would be laughing my head off even in Rose’s divine kingdom!”

"Shut up! How dare you slander the matriarch of the Larembas family!" The serpent-headed whip with fangs lashed out at Sylvia's back, stinging as if the leather armor on her back had been easily torn. "It seems that life on the surface has driven you all completely mad! Even if Madam Lilindra were here, she wouldn't dare to insult another matriarch like this!"

"Are you insane? Is it you, or all of you?" Sylvia sneered. "We are acting on Rose's will! We have the favor of the goddess! Yet you dare to obstruct our grand plan for your own selfish interests, wanting to become spiders?!"

Marise Larembass scoffed at this, angrily rebuking her, "Nonsense! After you were banished to the surface, did anyone do anything to you? Doesn't Madam Lilindra regularly come to Chou Li City to meet with the other Madams and trade for necessities?"

"Don't you come down here from time to time to tell me about the hardships of life under the scorching sun? Do I have any prejudice or contempt for you because of that? You ungrateful thing!"

"Did the divine pronouncements instruct you to trade with those on earth? Did they instruct you to drain the purses and slaves of your fellow countrymen? You are too far from Rose's divine kingdom, too far to hear her teachings! Only by offering everything you have to Rose can you cleanse your sins!"

Sylvia Lan just sneered. Both sides knew perfectly well how much of her words were true or false. If it weren't for the fact that this trade route connecting the surface and the underground was so incredibly profitable, perhaps these two women who had trampled her underfoot would still be drinking and laughing with her as before.

But what could she say? The enemy had laid an ambush long ago, killing her three clansmen on the spot, but she wasn't alone behind them.

"...What's over there?"

Sylvia heard the question posed by Maris's sister. A faint light illuminated her vision from behind, and the dark elf couldn't help but laugh: "You'd never guess what you've been waiting for forty mushroom days!"

"Lord Raslaufer! It's time to unleash a bloodbath!"

"Reslaufer? What's that name? Sounds like a man!" Sylvie's shout immediately put Maris on alert. She had never heard of a man named Reslaufer Evans, but in dark elf society, there were very few ways for a man to elevate his status and be addressed as "Your Excellency" by a priest, and the most alarming of these was that the other party might be a warlock!

"You don't actually think we were just lying in ambush on the four of you, do you?" Maris swung her snake-headed whip again, knocking Sylvia unconscious, and at the same time made two sharp hand gestures to her back.

Ready to fight!

But it's already too late.

A distance of a few dozen meters is hardly far for a charging army, and long before the soldiers arrived, two fireballs had already struck from the source of the light, igniting the corpses of the three dark elves who hadn't been dragged to the back with Sylvia. The priest's prayers echoed from behind, and the army, bathed in divine light, daylight spells, and flames, seemed to have descended from heaven, charging towards Mares and her followers.

In that dazzling light, the dark elves had no idea how many of their enemies there were! All they knew was that the enemy was approaching, and their own equipment was beginning to burn under the sunlight created by the spell!

"Take care of that glowing woman!" Maris barely opened her eyes and shouted to her sister, who wielded a chain mace with a metal spider hanging from it. In just a few exchanges, she smashed the shield bearer in front of her, smashing his brains out. She then tripped a soldier wielding a two-handed greatsword and charged toward the bard standing at the front of the middle of the group.

Darkness gathered around her, only to be quickly dispelled by the powerful magic of Daybreak. This unsettling phenomenon only strengthened her resolve to eliminate her target, so much so that when another greatsword came hurtling towards her, she charged forward without flinching.

She had heard Sylvia talk about the so-called "double-salary swordsmen" on the surface, but they found it utterly ridiculous—paying a man twice the salary? How absurd!

She swung her hammer as she had dealt with the soldier earlier. The chain connecting the handle to the spider-shaped octagonal hammerhead rattled and made the hammerhead spin continuously, making it impossible to predict its true direction of attack.

The swordsman opposite her didn't seem particularly skilled either. He bent his knees and lowered his waist, his greatsword slashing upwards at an angle, but as she had predicted, it didn't strike her directly, but instead aimed at the chain. Sparks flew as the hammer, propelled by the force of the impact, hurtling straight for her opponent's head. The chains and blade scraped together with a grating, teeth-grinding sound. She giggled and shifted her stance, her hammer always aimed at his face, no matter how her opponent changed his attack.

She could already picture the other person's skull being shattered into pieces like that shield bearer's!

However, just as she thought she was about to succeed, the man suddenly spun around and leaped forward, swinging his greatsword in a full-moon arc.

"Snap!"

Before the dark elf could react, the chain connecting the sword and the hammer hilt snapped, and the spider, forged from cold iron and wrapped in half of its "spider silk," crashed into the mud. In the instant the dark elf staggered backward, Dobler's gauntlets gripped the sharpened blade, the copper ball on the hilt inverted, and slammed into the elf's slender torso like a warhammer!

The leather armor, meant to provide flexibility in confined spaces, was rendered useless by the five-kilogram greatsword. The dull thud of ribs shattering echoed as the steel crushed against her. The dark elf coughed up blood and fell backward, her last sight being the cross-shaped hilt cleaving down on her head—the steel cross meant for parrying had become a bloody instrument of torture, piercing her skull!

Chapter 493 Deep Pit Demon Web

As the blood mist rose, Raslaufer's greatsword swept back, shattering another rapier that was attempting a flank attack. The ambush attacker's hand was instantly split open, but he still tried to draw a dagger from his boot to continue his attack on the bard. However, to his left, Elwin had already raised the spear from his chest. The spearhead leaped out of the ravine like a giant python, the wooden shaft slightly deformed, and its tip pierced the dark elf's abdomen, sending him flying to the side.

"Form ranks!" Erwin shouted. "They are afraid of the light!"

Raslaufer's side used Inathas, while the Dark Elves used their own language. Neither side could understand the other's words, but they could understand each other's intentions. Immediately, a fierce battle broke out between the two sides over Daisy's Daylight spell.

Since the human forces needed to eliminate the miners, they were at a disadvantage overall. The capture and imprisonment of several dark elf allies also rendered the poison the dark elves had coated their weapons ineffective. If it weren't for the limitation of strong light, the dark elves would have an even greater advantage in combat in their preferred environment.

However, this also makes these surface humans quite troublesome for Maris and her subordinates, especially since her sister was killed on the spot by the double-swordsman, which is a major blow to both their objective combat strength and subjective morale.

"We must extinguish that woman's light immediately!" Maris dodged a sword strike from Leslaufer using the terrain as she moved, and roared at the warlocks hiding nearby, "Hey! What are you all standing there for?!"

Several dark elf warlocks were in a difficult situation. They did not stand idly by, but as one of the warlocks got up again and reached out to try to summon the elements, before his spell could be completed, a piercing shriek that was inaudible to ordinary people rang out from the human battle formation opposite them, abruptly interrupting his spellcasting process!

The only way to cast spells is to hide in the darkness, but the only way to hide in the darkness is to cast a spell to extinguish the Daylight spell! This is a dead end!

The only way is to keep casting spells until the opponent's magic power is exhausted. But what they can't be sure of is whether the backlash from the repeated failed spellcasting will still be forgiving, allowing them to continue casting spells normally, while the opponent's magic power is exhausted!

"What a bunch of useless trash!" Maris cursed in Dark Elf language. "Whoever can extinguish that poisonous light will be recommended by the Larembass family to be the next chief warlock!"

This is the highest honor that male dark elf warlocks can obtain. Apart from the fact that the head of the warlock academy is still undoubtedly Lolth's priestess, they can even be regarded as equals with other non-Matriarch women, without needing to salute, looking directly at each other, and even being exempt from any punishment imposed by the other party for any reason!

Enticed by the generous reward, one warlock finally unleashed his full power. He charged to the front and, under the cover of the other dark elves, began casting another spell. Finally, as two dark elves were killed by spears while protecting him, he completed his incantation.

“(The Pit) O magic net! Your humble servant beckons for your arrival, to glimpse the wonders within…” Before the counterspell could even take effect, a tentacle turned to ashes. At the same time, a different kind of magic, completely different from what was known, filled the underground space. Wriggling, jet-black tentacles sprouted on the ground before the mage, sweeping towards every living thing in front of him!

"What is that?!" "Damn it, it's crawling into my clothes!" "It's tied me up!"

The astonished cries did not come only from humans. The dark elves were not spared because of their allies. They tried to shake off the strange tentacles with their weapons and violent movements, but it was all in vain. The indescribable tentacles would squeeze into any gap they could reach, and if there was no gap, they would coil around anything they could touch. Whether it was metal or bone, it was as fragile as rotten wood in front of them!

"Zhengling! Give me protection!"

Angelita, Mary, and the others hurriedly retreated, leaving the area covered by the dark tentacles, but the bard found that he could not retreat—returning the darkness to the dark elves would be tantamount to handing over the lives of the soldiers in front of him!

However, if she is disturbed by those tentacles, the Daylight Spell will also be difficult to maintain!

Left with no other choice, she had to ask the devil for help, but at this moment, the usually responsive Zheng Ling seemed to have lost contact and did not respond at all. No matter how anxiously Daisy called out to her, she could not get her to utter a single word.

But when she tried to call out to him further through the telepathic link, what surfaced in Daisy's heart was—a contract!

A contract?!

“Zhengling, I (another world's swear word)!” Daisy knew exactly what the devil was thinking, but she couldn’t allow this opportunistic behavior! In a moment of panic, the bard unleashed her potential, and a whistling sound flowed from her lips as a magical force field shield stood in front of her, trying to block the tentacles that surged like a tide.

Unfortunately, such protection was still too weak. Daisy only lasted a few seconds before hearing a series of shattering sounds. A thick, black tentacle slammed down from mid-air, hitting the poet squarely in the face and sending her flying. The Blade of the Sea Song flew out, and the light attached to it vanished like moths without a campfire.

The world was plunged into darkness once again.

Raslaufer heard the dark elf woman blocking his path chuckle. He immediately raised his left-hand sword in that direction, but missed. When the gray vision once again replaced the complete darkness, Dopler found that there was no one around.

The groundhogs didn't persist; they retreated!

No, we haven't finished yet...

Leslaufer turned to look at the warlock who was still maintaining those tentacles. The warlock was trying to slip away quietly along the rock wall like his brethren, but when he stiffly turned his head, he found a pair of eyes exactly like those of a dark elf, locking onto him with a malice he had never seen before in his life!

How could there be another one? The dark elf warlock's mind was a little slow to process. The scouts reported that there should only be four dark elves in the enemy's ranks, three men and one woman. How could there be one more man?

Moreover, this two-meter-tall, bipedal, Loss-like creature should not be overlooked. How did he...?

The warlock could no longer breathe. The "dark elf" had already strode up to him. A short blade twisted out of the shadow energy in the warlock's hand, but before it could pierce through, his head was already gripped by those axe-like hands.

In the darkness and chaos, a scream caused by a shattered skull was so... refreshing.

Chapter 494 Where Did Daisy Go?

Light once again enveloped the survivors who had come from the surface, but this time the light did not come from the bard's daylight spell, but from the flames in the druid's hand.

Raslaufer's eyes returned to their icy blue, but when he looked back at the group, he saw Sophia and two other mages staring at him tremblingly, as if they had seen something incomprehensible.

"what happened?"

Dobler put down the deformed dark elf skull, strode over, and looked at the female mage: "Is there something on me?"

“No, it’s not something on you,” the female mage swallowed hard. “Lord Raslaufer, you just… changed.”

"Changed?" Angelita was startled and quickly asked, "Changed to what? What did you see? A demon?"

“A demon?” Sophia hesitated for a moment. “No, it’s not that serious. Although dark elves are often associated with demons, Lord Leslaufer has not directly become that kind of blasphemous being.”

“But if the three of us weren’t seeing things at the same time…” another mage finally managed to get his words straight, but his tone still carried apprehension and doubt, “He must have just transformed into a dark elf?”

"Lord Raslaufer, have you always been a dark elf? Or did Matron Lilindra give you some kind of magical item that caused this change?"

To become a dark elf?

Raslaufer's blood-stained face froze for a moment, a stiffness that was enough to send shivers down everyone's spine, but Dupler himself only thought of the illusion he had just experienced.

Rose, the goddess who supposedly dwells in the abyss, seemed to have left something on him. For a fleeting moment, he also had the illusion of becoming a dark elf.

But now it seems that it wasn't just an illusion.

Are you sure?

“It’s hard to say, because you seem perfectly normal right now,” Sophia said hesitantly. “Miss Bella, could you please extinguish the flames first? We’d like to confirm again.”

Bella nodded, and with a flick of her arm, the blue flames vanished into thin air. Under the dark vision of the three spellcasters, Leslaufer's physique underwent a subtle change—the most obvious change was in his face, while the rest of his body resembled that of a typical slender dark elf.

“I can’t feel any change,” Angelita’s voice rang out in the darkness. The girl held Reslaufer’s hand, which was sticky but she didn’t feel anything else. “Did you really see anything?”

“Um… Miss Angelita, would you please reach out and touch Lord Leslaufer’s face, especially his ears?”

Angelita paused for a moment, then whispered an apology and raised her hand. As her fingertips traced the skin of Leslaufer's cheek and moved to the side, the sharp outline gradually came into view. Angelita gasped and quickly withdrew her hand.

"So, I really do look like a dark elf now?"

This sensation was mutual, and Leslaufer also noticed that his ears seemed to have changed somewhat than usual: "But in the past thirty years, no one has ever mentioned anything like this to me."

"I think it might be after that time when I killed Rose's maid..."