Chapter 101: The Twin Dragons Meet

The journey underground had never been smooth since entering this region.

The "seal" had clearly failed—now, every corner of this underground world teemed with monstrous creatures, starving and attacking anything in sight.

"Outside the underground ruins, these things are piled up everywhere—there's no way anything's left inside."

The monsters wouldn't spare each other; the strong fed on the weak.

Whatever was inside the underground ruins had driven the Winter Wolves into such a remote corner that Li En dared not imagine it.

"Not necessarily—it could just be that the Winter Wolves' territory is vast." Somehow, this explanation did bring a little comfort.

The crushing pressure left the travelers no appetite for idle chatter.

The sudden attacks that came at intervals kept the warriors perpetually on high alert.

"Oh oh, this card game is kind of interesting—can you teach me how to play?" Li En was likely the only exception; he was genuinely intrigued by the delicate card game that Zi Qiangwei had pulled out.

"Of course, I'll teach you step by step!" The magic girl leader, Zi Qiangwei, appeared relaxed on the surface, though her "good-luck charm" had been dozing in the carriage the whole time.

Li En's calmness had its reason—he was the only person in the party with no connection to this mission at all!

Even a Holy Knight didn't need to go out of his way to find trouble or constantly save the world.

He came only because Miss Zi Qiangwei had invited him, saying she could take him and Sallyman to hunt some monsters and gain some training experience.

And the so-called training was all about gathering monster materials.

At the time, Zi Qiangwei had noticed Li En was on the verge of evolution and kindly extended the training invitation.

So now that Li En was here, he made his request without hesitation.

"Dragons—the stronger the better. Preferably five-colored evil dragons, but not red dragons."

Zi Qiangwei smiled in agreement—it was exactly what she'd expected.

Had the journey not been unexpectedly prolonged, they might already have finished hunting and begun the return trip—but from her perspective, this didn't seem like a bad thing.

She raised her estimation of Li En slightly; even without direct responsibility, being able to relax and adjust his state at such a time proved he was battle-hardened.

But Li En's words had inadvertently revealed something.

"Any dragon will do? You've got a very powerful alchemist behind you, don't you?" Zi Qiangwei always felt Li En was contradictory—he carried the scent of gunpowder, yet sometimes acted extremely immature.

Zi Qiangwei's remark stunned Li En.

When had he leaked information about Kuku?

He had no idea that a normal alchemist configuring an evolution potion started with specific, designated materials.

Those formulas were relatively fixed—not just across species, but even within the same monster, requirements were precise: subspecies, gender, mutation level, age.

To use whatever materials were available—that was the hallmark of a master's self-perception. Or perhaps the fearless courage of a goblin, capable of fixing any chaos.

Watching Li En's bewildered face, Zi Qiangwei smiled faintly behind her hand and didn't press further.

She was merely reminding him: out here, some things shouldn't be spoken lightly.

Generally, a species' evolution wasn't something achieved overnight; relying purely on potions was unrealistic—it usually required multiple surgical implantations of special potions and materials.

Afterwards, adjustments might be needed dozens of times, depending on the subject's physical condition.

The duration of evolution depended on the subject's quality and the alchemist's (adjuster's) skill, but it was rarely short.

Of course, there were high-end options and cheap ones—the "mass-produced" versions were not only technically mature but also low-cost, with materials far cheaper.

Many major powers, especially true divine churches, had their own complete evolution systems and formulas, even accompanying supernatural careers—they could literally handle everything from recruitment to burial.

But mass-produced options had their flaws—not because they were weak or useless (otherwise they wouldn't be used so widely), but because their cost-to-benefit ratio might not suit you.

Many Qiangzhe started with mass-produced paths, then switched to their own evolution routes midway.

But once you took a wrong path, you wasted part of your life and potential, lowering your ceiling—and avoiding that was always better.

Li En knew Larry and Talya—they both followed unique evolution paths perfectly suited to their species and traits.

The former was Labol's family tradition; the latter came from a killing organization's premium pre-conditioning. Their commonality? Extremely expensive—precious materials weren't necessarily the strongest, but they were never weak.

"You trust him that much?" Zi Qiangwei couldn't help but be curious.

Letting someone else design your evolution path wasn't just about trusting their ability—it meant handing over your fate to them.

"Uh…" Li En couldn't respond, turning his gaze to the pitch-black outside—but his silence was answer enough.

For some reason, Zi Qiangwei felt annoyed. She didn't want to play anymore.

"Ah, there's an attacker." Indeed, she spotted something.

"Hah—there. Oh, already dead."

Though playing cards on the carriage, Li En had still been contributing.

His Holy Flame Aura occasionally burned a Daomeidan —this low-cost ability was genuinely effective for catching thieves and maintaining vigilance.

No wonder Holy Knights inside the order called it the "anti-thief aura."

Once the assassin was exposed, his death sentence was sealed—the archers and hunters in the caravan would dispatch him immediately.

Along this journey, Li En had seen too many stealthers—Shadow Stalkers, Shadow Cats, Gray Dwarves—each better at hide-and-seek than the last.

After constant ambushes, it felt as if, in the underground world, if you couldn't hide or stalk, you didn't deserve to live.

"Uh, your thinking isn't wrong—being able to stealth here greatly increases your survival odds. The most dangerous stalker in the underground world is the Shadow Dragon. You wouldn't want a giant dragon hanging upside-down from a cave ceiling, waiting to ambush you." Li En felt she was hinting at something, but had no proof.

"Black Dragons like to do the same thing—but their stench is heavier, especially near their nests, and many places bear traces of their corrosion. Clumsy as they are, they always charge halfway through their ambush—no big deal. What's truly annoying about Black Dragons is their tendency to group up and frequent ties with the Lower Planes (devils/demons)—you must prepare for prolonged battles against them." While explaining to Li En the most likely dragon types he'd encounter underground, she seemed to be hinting again.

"As a first-rank Holy Knight, your Holy Power is too abundant, your flames too strong. Dragonfire is useful, but here it's counterproductive—stick to a normal aura. Red Dragon flames will provoke other dragons." Zi Qiangwei spoke with the demeanor of a senior—not only teaching Li En and Sallyman survival tactics, but also instructing them to conceal their information and specialties.

Li En's mood remained calm; he was genuinely interested in this knowledge and spent the journey listening to the elder's stories.

But Sallyman was different. Even after waking, she remained under immense pressure—in a sense, her unique status made her the diplomatic envoy of this mission.

The merchant caravans' goal was clear: reconnect with past trading partners, gather intelligence for Huicheng, and see if they could buy grain.

But the news Sallyman brought back would determine whether a deadly war erupted between the two cities—if war became unavoidable, this would be the worst possible outcome.

What surprised Li En was that Zi Qiangwei had not offered Sallyman an evolution path, nor let her keep any of the materials they'd gathered.

"Uh… Magic Girls don't have evolution paths, and don't need to evolve." Well, clearly two entirely different systems—no potions, no surgery, yet absurdly powerful physical attributes.

But thinking about it, Magic Girls were truly cheating—others had to constantly upgrade their hardware, even facing deadly degeneration diseases.

Yet they grew infinitely without doing anything.

Of course, Li En didn't think they paid no price—"Beast" power looked far too dangerous.

"Your Excellency." At this moment, someone knocked.

"We've reached the transit station—but no one's there."

Li En also got off the carriage and saw nothing but chaos—this had once been a village, now only broken bricks and rubble remained.

"No blood or bones. Though there are beast tracks, no signs of battle—they must have evacuated early."

This transit station was a subterranean gnome village—one of the few slightly friendly races in the underground world.

They lived here likely to avoid enslavement by the Dark Elves—a true slave-holding race.

This hidden village behind the underground waterfall had been relatively concealed, but now it was utterly abandoned.

"At least they've been gone over a month. Have you come here recently?" As the leader, Sallyman had confirmed no life remained nearby.

Snake-like heat vision was highly useful in this underground world.

"No. Our last visit was over two months ago. Now I recall—there were already fewer people then; they probably started moving then."

Sallyman nodded—it was exactly what she'd expected.

With one trading partner lost, the caravan could only head to the next.

But now, no one held any hope—these once-thriving trade routes had all been destroyed.

Tribes gone. Villages ruined. Not a single living soul seen.

Faced with the exploding monster population, they must have fled—or died here.

As for where they might have fled, the options were clear: either risk the surface and head to Huicheng, or move to the Dark Elf city—the very destination of this party.

But now the caravan hesitated—charging into enemy territory without any intelligence support looked like suicide.

It seemed they'd have to press forward anyway—until a turn of fortune arrived.

"Your Excellency, it seems some Spiderfolk didn't migrate—we've found their traces, but it'll require a longer detour." Indeed, Spiderfolk were species capable of living on cliffs and precipices, and in the underground world, they especially favored hanging stone pillars.

Some hollowed out those pillars, transforming them into hollow, inverted tower-like structures.

They could weave webs between the towers, even building atop the webs.

If it were them, they wouldn't worry much about surface monsters. Considering the delicate relationship between Beastfolk and Dark Elves, they likely wouldn't want to relocate there either.

In a sense, Labol had his own agenda.

This time, they probably intended to exploit this crisis to force the Spiderfolk to relocate into Huicheng.

Why did Li En know? Larry had never hidden anything from him.

The underground Spiderfolk might be a valuable intelligence source—there was no reason not to investigate—but at this moment, Zi Qiangwei seemed to have another idea.

"Everyone, I actually have some good news. Earlier, I spotted signs of some local residents—we might be able to ask them. They probably won't have moved, and they shouldn't be far."

As she spoke, Zi Qiangwei glanced at Li En.

Instantly, Li En felt something was wrong.

"It's dragons—yes, more than one. The good news is, I've found traces of both Shadow Dragon and Black Dragon."

Good news?! Two evil dragons clustered together!

Could they communicate? Wouldn't they just breathe fire at each other on sight?

"Only one thing is bad news—if they're together, hah, they've learned to communicate and trade." Zi Qiangwei smiled behind her hand; she had extensive experience with dragons.

Dragons were creatures with fierce territorial instincts. For Shadow Dragon and Black Dragon to be near each other without fighting was unlikely—they were natural enemies.

"Li En, come with me to meet the Shadow Dragon—it's probably injured, so it'll be easier to deal with."

(End of Chapter)