Chapter 109: Trap (Part 1)

Another dozen days passed.

Still on that floating island, in the magnificent palace, leaders of all races gathered again.

Light and shadow flowed in the hall, but the atmosphere was even heavier than last time.

The offensive of the main wizard force became more and more aggressive, and the frontline battle reports piled up like a mountain, each one shocking.

"The rune fortress in the North has pushed to the 'Shoulder of the Giant'! If this continues, the barrier leading to the Central Plains will be completely opened!" The human king's voice carried obvious anxiety.

The Elf Queen also looked worried: "Those shadow creatures they summoned are corroding our ancient tree forest, and the natural energy has been seriously polluted."

After a long and fierce discussion on the response plan to the main wizard force's offensive, the topic naturally turned to the "Adventurer Strategy" proposed last time.

"However, the strategy of 'rewarding foreign demons' proposed by everyone last time has indeed been quite effective." The Orc chieftain spoke in a muffled voice, his tone carrying a trace of satisfaction.

"Those greedy adventurers, for the sake of the bounty, have indeed emerged with many hidden powerhouses, hunting down many invaders. Even if some wizards were not completely solved at first, they were dragged down by the adventurers and finally harvested by our powerhouses who arrived."

A burst of whispers sounded in the hall. Clearly, the actual benefits brought by this policy made them temporarily put down their differences. However, soon nobles raised dissatisfaction.

"Your Majesty!" A lord in gorgeous robes stood up abruptly, his voice impassioned, "I must point out that this policy has also brought serious negative effects! Those adventurers are simply a group of jackals without any bottom line! For the sake of illusory rewards, they actually killed the innocent to claim credit, treating our loyal people as those 'foreign demons' to claim rewards!"

He continued indignantly: "This is simply an unheard-of atrocity! Several tragedies of innocent civilians being killed have already occurred near my manor! They have seriously disrupted the peaceful life of the civilians!"

The dwarf elder next to him also complained: "Several of my mining areas have also had similar things happen. Those adventurers rushed in, grabbed resources at will, and even treated my clansmen miners as those visitors from other worlds, trying to muddle through!"

These leaders were impassioned on the surface, speaking up for "innocent civilians" and "miners", as if they were concerned about the suffering of the people.

But in reality, what they were truly angry about was that those adventurers seriously infringed on the interests of local lords!

The lives of innocent civilians are certainly important, but the manors and taxes they lost were the real reasons that made them feel pain.

Most of the "wizards" who were killed to claim credit were identified on the spot—because the humans of the wizard civilization actually don't look like the humans of the Elosia plane.

After hundreds of years of human intervention and aptitude transformation, humans in the wizarding world are generally more handsome and have taller bodies,

and their temperament also tends to be a kind of supernatural beauty.

It can be said that except for not having pointed ears, humans in the wizarding world actually tend to be a beautiful race similar to elves.

While ordinary humans in Elosia are more rough and simple.

So, although there were one or two unlucky ones who were falsely claimed, most of the time, those greedy adventurers were just wasting their efforts.

But even so, their behavior also disrupted the order in various places to a great extent.

"These adventurers are indeed too inferior, it's really shameful!"

A priest in gorgeous red robes stood up, his face full of compassion: "I suggest that the temple draw power to form a Holy Knight patrol team to patrol major cities to prevent such things from happening."

"Heh! Bah! Sounds good, you want to sell indulgences again, right?!" Someone sneered.

"What are you talking about? I'm doing this to punish evil and promote good!"

"Then you go deal with those wizards!"

"That won't do, those wizards are indeed too strong—"

After a round of meaningless arguments, finally, the leaders reached a consensus: since hiring adventurers has indeed achieved results, this policy will continue.

But in order to curb "killing the innocent to claim credit" and stabilize the rear, they decided to find ways to draw more troops and set traps in areas where wizard apprentices are active, luring wizards deep and then concentrating power to encircle and suppress them.

On the other side, the three-person team of Jie Ming, Amy, and Victor was active in this plane relying on the latest intelligence provided by Viola.

The value of this intelligence network was fully reflected in the past dozen days.

They no longer bumped around like headless flies, but could precisely avoid dangerous areas and specifically pick valuable targets to attack.

Every action was efficient and fruitful.

This time, according to the intelligence provided by Viola, they came to a mine located deep in the forest.

The intelligence showed that there might be some minerals with special characteristics here, which are of great use for alchemy and magic potion research.

However, this vein is in the rear of the battle line, and the main force cannot push over for the time being, so now they can only rely on the wizard team's infiltration method to obtain samples.

The entrance to the mine was crudely arranged with some rough wooden stakes and simple burlap, clearly the property of some indigenous lord.

Jie Ming used the glimmer eye to confirm that there were no large guards around, and the three quickly infiltrated the interior of the mine.

The mine tunnel was winding, and the air was filled with the fishy smell of damp soil and ore.

The deeper they went, the more obvious a dry and hot aura became.

"It's a bit hot in here." Amy couldn't help but wipe the sweat from her forehead.

"Be careful, the minerals have associated energy, and the aura of earth fire elements is very strong." Victor reminded.

As the three went deeper, the mine tunnel became wider and wider, and in the end, it even became a scene like a karst cave.

"Is this really a mine?" Amy looked at the stalactites on the top of her head and couldn't help but marvel.

"The Elosia plane has a very vast underground world, and most of the veins are also located here. So the so-called mine tunnel should be a channel directly connected to the underground world—"

Jie Ming paused here, his brows furrowed.

"What's wrong?"

"Enemies are coming, pay attention to vigilance!"

Continuing to go deep cautiously, just as the three were about to arrive at the core area of the vein shown in the intelligence, a violent energy fluctuation suddenly erupted from the depths of the mine tunnel.

Accompanied by a rough and angry roar, the ground under their feet also shook violently:

"Intruders! This is the territory of the Lava Clan!"

A tall figure stepped out of the shadows.

It was an underground demon elder, more than three meters tall, with rough skin like solidified lava, covered with crimson patterns.

(There is one more chapter.) ===== CHAPTER 110 =====