Chapter 1787: Going All Out

Before coming to Asikeer, Badijiaer had already steeled himself for what might come next; now, it was merely happening a little earlier, and the consequences might be a bit more severe, but it was not something he couldn't accept.

"Ms. Xierdalanna, I have no problem on my end, but must we do this here? Will there be any variables regarding the Hero Arena?"

"I am not sure if that person will leave immediately after the duel here ends. It is best to take them down in one fell swoop before they reunite with their Guardian. As for the Hero Arena, do not worry; they only have one Holy Hammer Warrior. As long as we are fast enough, they won't have time to react."

Xierdalanna appeared full of confidence, and Badijiaer did not say anything more, only privately Sending to Xia Duo, asking Xia Duo to leave early—

"The impact of what we are doing now has already exceeded the Nether Scroll itself. Lord Xia Duo, there is no need for you to get involved. Leaving early can minimize the attention you receive from Cormanthor."

Xia Duo expressed his gratitude for Badijiaer's good intentions but did not agree to leave immediately; he did not believe that if he left now, Cormanthor would completely act as if he did not exist.

The origin of this matter was closely tied to him; if the Cormanthor Elf carrying the Nether Scroll at the arena truly possessed some special status, it would be inevitable that he would eventually be implicated.

Long before deciding to participate in this, he had already prepared himself mentally; the result of seizing the Nether Scroll this time was critical.

If they failed to succeed, then Netheril would have suffered a pure and utter defeat.

Only by succeeding today could Netheril firmly hold the moral high ground when facing questioning or even retaliation from Cormanthor, and afterwards, whether it came to bickering or war, they would not give the other side any handle to use against them.

Xia Duo could see that Badijiaer had come to Asikeer this time more to negotiate with Xierdalanna and had never expected that someone would bring a Nether Scroll here; it was inevitable that they would be underprepared for such a temporary operation.

Under these circumstances, how could he possibly disregard the big picture for the sake of a little personal interest!

Speaking purely in terms of gains and losses, only by finding the Nether Scroll on this Cormanthor Elf today could this operation be rationalized; even if Xia Duo were involved, he had the Seven Towers to stand in front as the tall one.

And if the operation failed, Cormanthor might not be able to do much to the Seven Towers, but Xia Duo, as an individual who could never untangle himself from this matter, might not be able to withstand the other side's fury.

"Your Excellency Badijiaer, I do not believe I can truly detach myself from this matter. The most critical thing now is to seize the target and find the Nether Scroll; a little more help means a little more certainty."

Badijiaer knew that Xia Duo's mind was made up, so he stopped trying to persuade him and instead looked at Xierdalanna, "The battle below is about to end; let's move."

"Hmm, let's treat this operation as a rehearsal for the subsequent raid on the mysterious organization's base!"

Xierdalanna's expression was also grave at this moment; it was precisely because she knew the identity of the target for the upcoming raid that she felt the pressure even more deeply.

"Later, I will first break the arena's Protection. I will trouble Your Excellency Badijiaer to set up a Forbidden Restriction in the surrounding area to prevent the target from teleporting instantly. Lord Xia Duo, you counter the target's spells."

"We only have one chance to strike; I hope neither of you will hold back! If everything goes smoothly, we will be able to take that person away before the arena's Holy Hammer Warrior appears."

"We shall certainly give it our all!"

Although Xia Duo had never actually fought a Holy Hammer Warrior, he was no stranger to the various abilities they possessed; for a Spellcaster, the greatest threat was—mid-range teleportation restriction.

Think of the scene where the Dwarf Kunting fought the giant Kaxiu just now; with more power and more precise control, that was roughly what a Holy Hammer Warrior's combat scene looked like.

It was basically an electrified meteorite capable of high-speed flight and collision, which, while immune to most targeted spells, could also restrict teleportation.

Of course, this is not to say that a Great Arcanist has no chance of winning against a Holy Hammer Warrior; one must know that although Holy Hammer Warriors are called "Warriors," they are essentially Spellcasters.

Even if they get into close quarters, one can gradually dispel the opponent's special attack status through a Spell Duel, though this requires time and also requires one's own reaction to be fast enough.

Otherwise, being chased by a high-speed flying electrified meteorite, how much energy could one have left to analyze and conduct a Spell Duel?

Of course, if the two sides are far apart, a pure Spellcaster will occupy the absolute initiative, but it is also difficult to do much to the other side.

After all, it is a relatively mature Magic system; there won't be any overly obvious shortcomings, and if they want to run, they can still run, though their ability to run is much worse compared to Elven or human Mages.

The true shortcoming of Dwarf Mages does not lie in Magic itself, but in the Dwarves themselves; it is not that they lack the ability to study the essence of Magic, but that their energy is more often diverted by other things.

Things like forging, sculpting, and even martial arts and combat consume a large amount of their energy, which makes them inferior in the field of spells to equivalent Elven Mages, let alone compared to equivalent human Mages.

Xia Duo was not worried about how strong the Hero Arena's Holy Hammer Warrior was; he only worried about being pinned down by the opponent, drawing out that Cormanthor Elf's Guardian, or even more reinforcements; that would be bad.

……

After briefly exchanging some details on how the three parties would cast spells and even how to coordinate, Badijiaer and Xia Duo began to prepare their spells, but Xierdalanna stopped them both:

"Are you two really planning to show yourselves in your current appearances? Although it will be difficult to hide what we are about to do from Cormanthor, an extra layer of disguise can delay the time it takes for them to discover us."

Although Xierdalanna wished that the operation would be exposed the very day it happened, and it would be best if Cormanthor and Netheril started fighting today, she could not be included in that.

Hiding one's identity is a must; even if it is exposed after a while, it is better than being exposed immediately.

In fact, what Xierdalanna thought was that even if her identity were exposed, it would be of no consequence; by then, the relationship between Cormanthor and Netheril would have reached a freezing point, and what they would need most would be an ally like Yierlan.

By the same token, Yierlan would also need a powerful yet enemy-making shallow ally like Cormanthor at that time; only such an ally could buy time for Yierlan's development, and the most critical thing was that they could be kicked away at any time.

……

Regarding Xierdalanna's suggestion, Badijiaer did not really care; since it was already done, was he afraid of others knowing?

Not only was he not afraid, but the Seven Towers hoped that Cormanthor could deeply witness the fury of the Seven Towers; only in this way would they not dare to infringe wantonly next time.

But since Xierdalanna had brought it up, it wouldn't hurt to disguise themselves; after all, he wasn't the only one here.