Free Web NovelChapter 578: Chapter 568: Molten Fire Dungeon
The misunderstanding was quickly resolved, and the envoy’s group of over a hundred people mingled among the fire elements, making them quite conspicuous.
"The rumors of Alama’s daughter commanding the elemental army... are not exaggerated!"
Duvalin Blacksteel, entrusted with the heavy responsibility of recapturing the Underground City, held a significant position in the Mountain Kingdom, naturally possessing detailed and comprehensive intelligence.
However, the records regarding the "Battle of Dragon Howl Valley" were astonishingly incredulous, similar to the reaction that most dukes within the Empire exhibited upon reading them, leading one to instinctively regard them as mere misinformation or exaggeration.
Especially the account of "Alama’s daughter Inanna commanding the elemental army," which was initially dismissed as it seemed too contrary to common sense.
When reviewing the tactics, the preferred explanation often leaned towards the "elemental army attacking the Demon Race" as the humans utilizing some devices and strategies to divert the threat, rather than being attributed to an individual’s pure capabilities.
Not until Duvalin witnessed with his own eyes the unusually docile fire elements gathered behind Inanna did he realize that the intelligence was indeed one hundred percent accurate?!
And in that moment of realization, Duvalin understood the immense aid Inanna could offer the dwarves in reclaiming the Underground City!
However, Duvalin did not immediately request Inanna to cooperate with any operation.
After all, she was a representative of the envoy, the Duke Alama’s daughter, and a war hero on the human side, not someone he could command at will.
Should he seek her assistance, it might require formal negotiations at a later stage.
Since collaborative possibilities might exist subsequently, Duvalin naturally would not inconvenience the envoy over passage issues.
However, there was a disagreement concerning the handling of these fire elements.
Duvalin’s straightforward thought was to eradicate them on the spot to prevent future troubles.
But Inanna firmly disagreed.
These fire elements approached her of their own volition due to their affinity for her. To betray them immediately would unsettle both her conscience and logic.
Previously, having led the storm elements to attack the Demon Race to save the old man, she had felt downcast for quite some time.
Ultimately, Duvalin compromised, allowing Inanna to lead this group of fire elements back into the Molten Fire Dungeon.
As Inanna approached the dungeon entrance, the fire elements, formerly engaged in fierce battle with the dwarf guards, seemingly sensed something and gradually ceased their assault.
Inanna released an illumination ball deep into the dungeon, and the nearby fire elements shifted direction en masse, following the light.
The dwarves wasted no time in seizing this rare reprieve, quickly regaining and reinforcing several key defensive strongholds. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
After Inanna withdrew, the dull sounds of collision and the explosive blasts of magic soon echoed back from the entrance; the battle was far from over.
There was little Inanna could do about this, as the conflict between the two sides was not something she could mediate at present.
In the end, Duvalin dispatched two small teams to escort the envoy along a logistics route they had previously cleared multiple times.
However, as they departed, Inanna puzzledly inquired within the Fungal Network, "Where is the knight?"
The knight still sat atop the carriage, yet according to the Fungal Network’s perception, Puki was not there.
Edin’s reply came through the Fungal Network, "Miss Inanna, the knight has other urgent matters. This is an illusion of mine; please do not expose it."
Inanna glanced at Edin, who had been blending in with the accompanying warrior team as an ordinary soldier since their departure, nodding imperceptibly.
To be honest, if it weren’t for the Fungal Network’s presence, Inanna might suspect this could also be a fake person.
Edin’s illusion technique was undetectable by Inanna’s own abilities alone.
Meanwhile, the real Knight Puki, after taking a tour of the Golden Flame City ruined by the elements, quietly entered the Molten Fire Dungeon. freeweɓnovel.cøm
There existed a rift between the Stone Castle Dungeon and this side. Unfortunately, not only was the exit covered by debris, but the rift itself was also highly unstable, expanding slightly before constantly shrinking, now reduced to half its original size.
If the rift opened within the Thirteenth Dungeon, Lin Jun could naturally maintain it through her command of the dungeon.
But in the Northern Territory’s Stone Castle Dungeon, Lin Jun only had usage rights, which was why she never pursued exploration in this direction.
No matter the progress made, once the Fungal Mat was severed, it would all be in vain.
The initial sensation upon entry was the heat.
Of course, the heat posed no problem for Puki.
With the knight’s resistance, wearing a layer of Rock Armor even permitted a duration of activity within magma.
However, such an intense environment would undoubtedly deter most adventurers on the human side from even approaching the dungeon’s gates.
It could only be said that the dwarves, apart from the trolls, indeed had the highest comprehensive resistance among the races.
The invisible Knight Puki moved forward by sticking to the dungeon ceiling using the mucus on his feet.
Below, various fire and earth elemental spirits, influenced by waves of spiritual power, moved in batches toward the dungeon’s gate.
Lin Jun spotted the kind of elemental spirits capable of creating fire seeds among them; these had core types, undoubtedly good news for her.
Yet the current situation with the enemy being numerous, it was not the right time to act.
As Lin Jun’s [Inspiration] level reached LV8, she could perceive abstract entities like spiritual power waves.
Evidently, something was commanding these elemental spirits, likely it was the Elemental Lord.
Lin Jun had a keen interest in this Elemental Lord.
From the information she obtained, this Fire Elemental Lord was surprisingly intelligent and capable of communication!
The two Elemental Lords she’d acquired from the Abyss, powerful though they were, seemed not superior in intellect to ordinary Cold Spirits, incapable of communication, with behavior patterns akin to wild demons acting purely on instinct.
Of course, this might be due to their originating from the Abyss, thus rendering them incomplete.
Regrettably, the Water Elemental Lord serving as an Underground City Elemental Guard in the Tide Sanctuary, she hadn’t even met, disappeared into the mist, leaving her unsure whether it perished or got taken away, otherwise, she’d have a comparison.
The key curiosity was whether this Fire Elemental Lord had a soul!
So far, Lin Jun had yet to observe any true soul residing within an elemental spirit.
In the [Inspiration] vision, they, similar to most demons and plants, consisted of a grayish substance.
This substance occurred similarly with true souls, where Lin Jun’s [Greed] leaves behind the grayish substance while returning the bare soul to the world.
Thus, when Lin Jun dissected plants or demons, what remained really was consumed entirely, leaving nothing.
Lin Jun speculated that this grayish substance might relate to skills.
The scope of the Molten Fire Dungeon was unexpectedly vast, its interior structure layered like a natural maze inside the mountain, cyclically twisting, its style seamless with the exterior mountains.
During exploration, Lin Jun also found several metal ring remnants scattered in corners or embedded in the rock walls; she recognized them as fragments of the "Ring of Enslavement," a cheap yet unreliable control device.
Evidently, the tale of dwarves enslaving elemental spirits for labor wasn’t unfounded.
Lin Jun felt unperturbed by it—after all, elemental spirits lacked souls, yet the dwarves obviously lacked the capability to suppress a full slave rebellion.
After a day and a half of meticulously navigating the scorching maze, Lin Jun finally neared the lowest layer. Here, the temperature had escalated to alarming heights, the air filled with visibly distorted heat waves, even the rocks glowed faintly red.
Even the Knight Puki, with [High Temperature Resistance LV10], began exhibiting adverse effects.
"Who? Who’s nearby?" Even before glimpsing the Elemental Lord, a roar mingled with fury and frenzy echoed throughout the vast space, "A bug has crawled in! Find and tear him apart!"
Terrifying spiritual waves radiated outward, and in an instant, the elemental spirits enjoying the scorching environment collectively revolted; flames surged multiple times over, molten bodies roiling violently.
Unable to precisely locate the hidden Knight Puki, they resorted to the most primal and brutal method—a large-scale indiscriminate attack!
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