Chapter 270: The Stalemate Battle

As the former stronghold supported by the Elf clan, the defensive capabilities of this last camp were clearly higher than the other two. So, the battle situation was deadlocked for a time. And the two Shadow Dragons from before seemed to have completed their predetermined tasks and never appeared again.

More importantly, because this was a surprise attack similar to a raid, the Dark Elves did not bring their slow-moving servant troops—Minotaurs, Ogres, and Trolls. This meant they severely lacked the power to breach defenses, while the Adventurers could rely on the facilities within the camp for flexible defense.

“Praise Lolth! All for the Spider Queen’s glory!” a Dark Elf Priest roared fanatically. With a figure as hot as a female leopard, the Snake-headed Whip in her hand lashed out rapidly, like an overseer in a labor camp.

Suddenly, ripples like water waves appeared in the air behind her, and a silver light emerged out of nowhere. The Dark Elf Priest, seemingly sensing something, tried her best to twist her body. However, it was too late; that silver light ultimately slashed across the opponent’s waist, slender as a water snake—after a “Hiss! Rattle!” sound, the blood-splattered metal rings flying out from under her robe indicated that this attack had succeeded.

At the same time, the green smoke rising from the wound and the somewhat distorted face of the female Dark Elf showed that she had definitely suffered heavy damage. Otherwise, a clergy member among the Dark Elves who had undergone cruel trials would not reveal such an expression. However, the opponent, who clearly still had some fight left in her, did not give up the hope of survival.

She seemed to raise her Snake-headed Whip as if wanting to block, but that silver light was like a long snake drawing an arc—this soft sword bypassed the opponent’s defense and turned into a long rainbow. A bloodstain appeared from her face to her chest, accompanied by green smoke from acid corrosion.

From the launch of this attack to the Dark Elf Priest falling to the ground dead. After all, Dark Elves were still Elves. Neither males nor females would grow beards, and they also liked to keep long hair.

But that raised chest seemed to be showing people her former elegance. The previous attack had torn open her robe and inner armor, and the acid attached to the weapon had long been exhausted before reaching this area. That skin like beeswax, the hills like pudding, and the perked-up coffee beans, along with the bloodstain in the middle, had a different kind of attraction.

The robe she was wearing, and her silver shiny hair were scattered messily on the ground. A scar slanting from her forehead to her chin, accompanied by severe corrosion, ruined half of her originally fine face. Her only remaining red eye stared blankly at the sky.

On the half of the Dark Elf’s face that wasn’t disfigured, the intact side had skin color ranging from pitch black to dark purple, possessing a strange kind of beauty. With almond-shaped eyes like an Elf and a pointed chin, she still looked more beautiful than ordinary Human females. But now she was like a exquisite work of art accidentally broken.

The attacker who launched those two attacks had never directly shown their face. It was very clearly the effect of the Greater Invisibility spell.

The Arcane Invisibility of a 2nd Level Longsword could make a person disappear from sight, and even Darkvision could not discover them. If the recipient had equipment, it would disappear too. Even former allies could not see him, unless they could see invisible items or use magic to do so.

Of course, items dropped or put down by the invisible person would become visible; items picked up by them would disappear if placed inside their clothes or pockets. Light would not be invisible, although the light source could be invisible—therefore the effect was light emitted from an invisible source. Parts of carried items extending beyond 10 feet would not be invisible.

However, such a spell with a decent duration was not without its flaws. Because the user was not magically silenced, they needed specialized training in moving silently to be useful for sneak attacks in actual combat. Otherwise, for elite soldiers who had experienced many battles, a little movement would arouse their vigilance and suspicion.

Moreover, this spell was merely a visual deception, not making someone disappear, so in some cases they could still be noticed, such as footprints left when walking in mud.

If the recipient attacked any creature, the spell would end—a certain unlucky guy hit by a stray arrow was included in this. That Dark Elf was subjected to concentrated ranged fire from the Adventurer side, and in the blink of an eye turned into a hedgehog. No one wanted those elusive things in the enemy camp.

Even more unlucky was the guy who was revealed after his state was dispelled by a companion’s Area Dispel Magic. However, although they were both Dark Elves, the status of the Spellcaster was much higher than ordinary warriors. The opponent could only down another bottle of treasured spell potion and disappear into thin air in front of everyone.

From this, it could be seen that after choosing invisibility for sneak attacks in the melee, it wasn’t just the Adventurer side; the Dark Elf side also had similar plans. However, until now, it seemed only the Adventurer who just sneak attacked the Dark Elf Priest had succeeded.

Because the biggest trouble with this spell was that although the invisible person could open doors, talk, eat, climb stairs, summon monsters and direct them to attack, cut the ropes holding a bridge when enemies crossed, or remotely trigger traps, open doors to release dogs, etc. But if they attacked directly, the invisible person would immediately reveal themselves along with their equipment, meaning it was a one-time effect.

Although spells that only affected allies and not enemies did not count as attacks, few people would expose their existence for such behavior, because most enhancement spells left traces.

And the more powerful 4th Level Greater Invisibility, although looking similar to Invisibility, had fewer restrictions, and most importantly, attacking would not terminate the spell. So, it was not without reason that the previous fellow was able to succeed.

Facing the Dark Elf warriors approaching the Adventurer Mages, those Mages, after a bout of panic, took out square small stones and smashed them towards the Dark Elf warriors.

Just as those warriors looked at the Mages with mockery, clearly looking down on these pebbles that had no strength. Immediately after, they saw the Mages shout, and those small stones in mid-air turned into cubic boulders with a side length of about half a meter, smashing heavily onto the warriors’ chests or heads based on inertia. Some of their chests were smashed into deep depressions. Some had their helmets and the heads underneath flattened together…

This thing similar to the “Flipping Heaven Seal” in the ancient mythological novel “Investiture of the Gods” from before transmigration was one of the many uses of “Shrink Item”. “Shrink Item” could shrink the volume and weight of non-magical items to at most one two-thousandth of the original. Throwing the pre-shrunk items and then restoring them could create the current effect.

It had to be said that the imagination or the ability to be cheap of the Mages was almost infinite. And “Shrink Item”, this spell that modified the laws of physics, catered even more to their bad tastes. After years of development, the book “3000 Uses of Shrink Item” could be bought in most spell associations on the Surface.

Only guys like the Dark Elves, who had been isolated from the Surface for a long time, wouldn’t discover the strangeness of those stones just now. Although they might have heard the news from other channels, what was gained on paper was always shallow! Let alone in such an extremely tense battlefield.

However, fighting was still going on elsewhere: although large-scale damage spells were not used because of the melee, and only some single-target spells could be used, the battle between Spellcasters was still the most brilliant and dangerous.

Invisible shields blocked the Magic Missiles flying between each other. Although most of the Adventurer Mages hid behind cover, for these small things that could locate targets, they could only use spells to counteract them.

Summoned Extraplanar Creatures killed each other: a 9-foot-tall Fiendish Dire Ape roared and waved its arms, but was quickly decapitated with the cooperation of several Hound Archons.

Because although the strength of the former and the latter two was not much different, the former was just a beast. And the latter were truly elite troops in the army, although not from the Prime Material Plane.

Those Hound Archons looked like humanoid creatures, but had a head that looked like a very noble dog or wolf. Obviously, they really liked to use greatswords in battle, although their natural weapons could cause equal damage.

Hound Archons hated killing; if they could, they would try to just disarm evil enemies. But facing Devils or unforgivable depravity, they would become merciless. Whether it was the current form or the identity of the Fiendish Dire Ape, its tragedy was destined.

Moreover, Hound Archons were good at acting as soldiers or sentinels. Occasionally, deities of the Good Alignment would send them to guard some special places or places they liked. Under their humble and kind appearance, these secret keepers and guards guarded these places precisely year after year.

In the Heaven army, some Hound Archon Paladins led their followers to fight together; they usually served as commanders or Knights. They led soldiers against Devil armies, whether holding a fortress or rescuing captives of the Black Witch soul collectors.

Some missions let Hound Archons go down to the lower Planes to do some difficult work. Regardless of orders, Hound Archons always particularly hated Hell Hounds; they discarded all mercy and desperately ended the lives of these evil creatures.

Such a group of brave warriors, after solving the summoned creatures in front of them, immediately pounced on those Dark Elves who were also glowing with red light in their eyes. In this round, the Adventurers won back a point.

However, immediately after, a Mage who was still chanting was burned into charcoal by a white-hot lightning. Bombarding with spells against Dark Elves who naturally had spell resistance was often an extremely stupid practice. Of course, there were not no spells unaffected by this resistance, just like the previous Acid Fog was one of the few. If Fireball was really used, perhaps it would be very effective against most races. But for these Dark Elves, it depended on luck.

However, the reason why most spells with strong acid effects could ignore magic resistance—what appeared most on the Adventurer side’s battlefield was “Melf’s Acid Arrow”.

Although it required crushed rhubarb leaves and the stomach sac of a viper as materials. And the focus for casting: a dart. These were all troublesome things. But amidst its continuous damage, those Dark Elves constantly let out creepy screams.

Of course, like “Khalamgar’s Fireball”, it summoned a small piece of scorching rock. That circle of Arcane energy with a fine cracking sound accompanied the rock rapidly passing through the air; even if it could not penetrate biological spell resistance, the heat and impact force of the rock could still cause certain impact and fire damage.

Similarly, “Khalamgar’s Grave Chill”, the thin cold mist created by it also had a certain effect.

With the appearance of the mist, the light in the range also dimmed, and the breeze blowing in the mist range made your spine chill. Although the mist was too thin to have any effect on vision, the necromantic energy within would bind all living things in the range.

All living creatures in the thin mist range would fall into a fatigued state, and also suffer cold damage every round. Even if it could not penetrate biological spell resistance, the target would still suffer cold damage, but would not be affected by the fatigue effect.

However, compared to Melf’s Acid Arrow, their effects were obviously somewhat insufficient. It was unknown what judgment Khalamgar and Melf, the two pioneers who invented multiple spells, would have on the contest in front of them.

Since acidic spells had an extraordinary effect on the Dark Elves, that dried pea powder mixed with animal hoof powder permeated the surroundings of the camp. Because this was a necessary material for using many area acidic spells.

Suddenly, a deafening dragon roar sounded again, and violent air currents slashed across the dome…

And at this time in Bolerum Territory, George was receiving a guest—he was a gnome.

“Yes, Lord, according to my experience, there should be a not-small sapphire mine under the small hill in the west of the Territory. If developed, it should be able to bring you an income of 3000-5000 Gold Coins every year, but it’s hard to say exactly how long it can be mined.” That little guy’s pale pink round face made it hard for most people to feel ill will. He was wearing complex embroidery with exquisitely crafted jewelry decorations. He was now gesturing vividly to George, planning a beautiful blueprint.

“That is to say, the final income cannot be determined yet?” George lowered his head and thought. And that gnome looked at George as if waiting for a verdict like a prisoner.

Finally, George spoke and asked: “How much will the preliminary preparation cost? And is it possible that such exploration will connect to the Underdark? I don’t want the Black Skins to have an extra passage here.”

That little guy patted his chest with his fleshy little hands to guarantee: “Please rest assured about the second point. If the Underdark were that easy to connect to. The figures of those Black Skins would have been everywhere on the Continent long ago. And as long as you give us a budget of about 300 Gold Coins, I think the first step of positioning and finding work can begin. But…”

“But what! Master Bastagray.” George signaled the other party to spit out the problem he wanted to say all at once.

“But we don’t have the manpower to organize a prospecting team right now, so I hope you can dispatch a batch of soldiers to protect our safety. The dangers Underground are everywhere!” That craftsman named Bastagray paused for a moment, then immediately started explaining the reason for his proposal.

In the society of gnomes, the work of defending the city was the responsibility of male members, and all adult males were members of the army, and the army was directly responsible to the Parliament in the city. And the female members of the gnomes were responsible for maintaining daily production and life under the management of the elderly females in the clan.

In the harmonious society of gnomes, internal fighting was very rare. Therefore, usually no more than 20 constables were on duty at the same time. Even after joining the Dwarf city, the gnome army maintained its own strict hierarchy and structural division. I don’t know why the Dwarves had no objection to this at all.

Every four soldiers formed a squad, led by a slightly stronger squad leader, and a prospecting captain of at least Red Iron Rank commanded four squads with the assistance of two deputies. Usually, the prospecting captain was responsible to their respective councilors, but had the power to act on their own when performing specific tasks.

Only the prospecting captain had the power to organize expeditions to go outside the city for exploration or mining activities. Large-scale expeditions even required a senior prospecting captain to lead several young prospecting captains to be responsible together.

The army of gnomes also carried Priests and Illusionists, who could serve as soldiers or commanders just like ordinary warriors. Although they would not have a special status in the army, commanders could generally make good use of their skills.

In the wilderness near the city, usually a patrol team led by a prospecting captain was responsible for alert work, and the size of the patrol team would increase appropriately during wartime.

Due to threats from the Underdark, the gnome prospecting teams were also fully equipped combat units. When the prospecting team arrived at the mining site, the first thing was to set up defenses. The prospecting captain had to take full responsibility for the team’s safety, and only after he determined safety measures could mining begin. The gnomes usually allocated at least half of their manpower to stand guard and patrol near the operation site.

It was precisely the ubiquitous threat from the Underdark that made the gnomes believe that during the process of finding and mining ore, they must have the protection of the army to proceed normally. Even if the external environment had changed, they still couldn’t turn that corner easily. At least in a short time, it was so.

George knew that habits in this area were not so easy to change. He nodded and agreed to the other party’s request: “Alright! I will allocate 50 soldiers to guarantee your safety. However, the threats on the Surface are much fewer than in the Underdark. I believe you won’t encounter much big trouble during the prospecting process. And after this mine is successfully mined, your jewelry workshop should be able to open, right!”

“That’s right! Although helping Oscar and the others make accessories can support us now. But having our own workshop is still better!” Bastagray answered without shyness. And Oscar was the Soul Forger Priest with the most prestige among the Dwarves in Bolerum Territory.