Arcane Journey

Chapter 95 Gray Ghost
During the period of the Austrian catastrophe, an earthquake left a [-]-foot-deep and [-]-foot-wide rift valley in the city of Aldus, named: Laduge Deep Ditch.

The bottom of the rift valley is rocky, and the rugged boulders extend up a quarter of a mile along the cliffs.

To take advantage of this valley, the duergar carved a series of pedestrian steps and wide ramps for vehicles into the cliffs on either side.

Above the cliff is the metalworking factory of the Sadwar clan, which forges special products such as the magic flame lance used by Saronite spearmen.

Its forging process produced a large amount of strong gas, and the discharged gas poured down along the cliff, and finally lingered at the bottom of the valley and could not dissipate.

The Rift itself is the main residential area of ​​the city, with duergar dwellings of various kinds built atop the north and south cliffs, areas generally off-limits to outsiders.

Outside the gates at the east and west ends of the rift, there lived the exiled Dilro dwarves.

West Rift, where the dylo dwarves lived as slaves, is still a dark and dangerous slum.

The East Rift area is a newly developed settlement after the liberation of the Dilo dwarves, but it is only a little better than the West Rift area.

Wearing a black cloak that blended with the shadows, Brian led Hesaiah through the settlement of the gray dwarves silently, to the west gate of the Radug Ravine.

He saw a row of guardhouses built on the edge of the rift valley that could not be seen at a glance. Looking down from the heights, it looked more like a building monitoring the living conditions of the Dilro dwarves.

Since 500 years ago, the Dilo dwarves launched a "joint war" against the King of the Deep, the final result was naturally quickly suppressed.

Those Dilo dwarves who survived were reduced to second-class citizens and slaves in the city of Aldus, and could only live in the poor areas at the east and west ends of the Rift Valley.

The bottom layer of the city of Aldus is almost all the lower class dylo dwarves.

Although they have been freed from duergar slavery for centuries, they still cannot get decent jobs, human rights are not recognized by duergars, and sometimes their status is even worse than that of slaves.

The Dilro dwarves were driven away like vermin, eventually populating the East and West Rifts at either end of the Radug Deep.

The purpose of building these guard rooms is to quietly observe the activities of the Dillo dwarves, so as to prevent them from doing outrageous things.

After all, dylo dwarves are degenerate humanoids in the Underdark, looking like dwarves one size smaller.

Because they are the product of mind flayers' cruel experiments on the dwarven race, the Dilro dwarves are crazy and cruel, and they like to find pleasure in torturing others, especially humans, and sometimes even torture their own people.

The most important thing is that the lifespan of Dilo dwarves is about 150 years old. Their 10-year-old is equivalent to the developmental age of 20-year-old human beings, and they can give birth in about 5 months at most during the gestation period.

As a result, its population is always growing rapidly.

When the leader of the dylo dwarves senses that the numbers of the group are getting out of control, he will lead all dylo dwarves to wage war against other races.

They quickly formed a chaotic horde and went to the front, fighting until the population fell back to acceptable levels.

This terrible cleansing, in addition to controlling the population, also eliminated the weak among the Dillo dwarves, and was even dubbed 'United War'.

The gray dwarves in the city of Aldus regard the dwarves as parasites and slaves to suppress them. By fostering the obedient leader of the dwarves, they carry out internal cruel rule and suppress any sense of resistance they may have.

Therefore, when the commoners of the Dilro dwarves can only live by begging in dirty neighborhoods, their leaders can only live a wealthy life secretly.

The cave where the city of Aldus is located is crossed by the Ladugu deep ditch, and a gap leading to the distance is torn on the cave wall.

The gray dwarves made a lot of construction on the rift passage, and built a strong city gate with various fences and platforms to prevent the riots of the gray dwarves living in the east and west rift valleys.

Brian led Hesaiah to the city gate. After a brief check by the gray dwarves guards, they passed through the gate and came to the poor area where the Dilro dwarves lived.

The moment they stepped into this area, the two of them clearly felt that the smell in the air had changed.

From a pervasive metallic smell to a disgusting stench, the urban landscape has also changed from a fiery industrial area to a poor slum.

Brian looked around warily.

As the population of the Dilro dwarves grew, they continued to dig tunnels into the distance, and the scale even exceeded the expectations of the duergar.

And he also knew that the Dilro dwarves often caused disturbances and even small-scale riots. Fortunately, due to their inherent lack of organizational discipline, they did not cause too many major problems.

The houses here are usually just caves dug on the stone walls, or simple buildings built together at random, mainly rough carved rock piles or dilapidated stone caves.

The streets in the city are dirty, the houses are disorganized, and there is no urban planning at all.

"Bryan, did you hear any strange noises?" Sisaiah approached him, deliberately lowered his voice and said to him.

Walking on this unplanned street, she seemed to hear hundreds of Dillo dwarves whispering, or screaming, which made her a little restless.

Fortunately, she had already experienced a more terrifying environment than this in the Mushroom Palace of the Fungal Queen, so she quickly regained her composure.

Brian knew that, as a fourth-level sword mage, Hesaiah's perception was naturally sharper than his.

Although he could only vaguely hear this voice, but as he walked and felt the atmosphere of the slums, he drew a conclusion from the inexplicable hatred burning in the eyes of the occasional two passing Dilo dwarf civilians.

The dylo dwarves here are basically in their own madness.

"Be vigilant and don't worry about these." He didn't explain too much, but just reminded Hesaiah not to be affected by these noises.

The purpose of their coming here, in addition to eradicating hidden demon cultists and finding red dragon eggs, must also destroy the broken spire that emits evil energy.

Only in this way, the entire Odus City will be temporarily freed from the influence of demons.

"There's something hidden here, you need to come here to find it." Hesaiah followed Brian's footsteps, did not choose to speak, and communicated with him through magic voice transmission.

"The vortex tunnel, which hides the temple 'Sacred Law Auditorium' built by the Dilro dwarves for their patron saint."

Brian replied via telepathy: "The location has been found by the copper block, let's meet him immediately."

In fact, the 'Sacred Law Hall' is just a cover for the demon altar, because the dylo dwarves here have never believed in their patron saint.

Of course, there is one exception.

That is the Dillo dwarf priest Jeep who came to the city of Aldus with them.

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon." Looking at the luminous fungi gradually appearing in front of him, he added.

"I'm afraid it's too late." Hesaiah unconsciously touched the hilt of the sword hanging on her slender waist, and signaled Brian to look forward with a magic voice transmission.

When the sword mage reminded, Brian had already noticed the abnormality ahead.

He saw four Dillo dwarves in gray clothes and furs walking out of an alley, walking straight towards the two of them.

Then, four more Dillo dwarves came out from the same alley, but they did not approach, but lined up to guard the entrance of the alley.

They all held poisoned light crossbows in their hands, and daggers and short swords hung from their waists.

Brian looked around, moved his shoulders, and took out the rune staff obtained in the red dragon's lair from the dimension bag.

In the silent confrontation, a short and thin Dillo dwarf walked out from behind the man in gray.

He was wearing a black tunic and a fancy coat, and the gold chain around his neck dangled with his steps and shone with a faint magical aura.

"The thieves of the gray ghost." Brian squinted his eyes, looking at the group of unkind thieves.

The Gray Ghosts are the only true thieves' guild in Aldus City.

Its members are mainly exiled duergar and derro dwarves, plus some scattered slaves who escaped.

The former leader of the Gray Specters was captured by the Wardens of the Flame and executed for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of the stolen red dragon eggs.

The relentless vengeance of the Guardians of the Flame forced the Gray Ghost thieves into hiding and restricted guild activities.

Now that so many thieves appeared all at once, Brian realized that things might not be as simple as imagined.

He saw eight thieves slowly and silently approaching him and Hesaiah following the appearance of the leader.

The leader of this group of thieves walked towards the two with firm steps, and the eight men in black spread out behind him, blocking every possible escape direction.

Just when the leader of the thieves was about to touch Brian's spell attack range, he suddenly stopped vigilantly and began to look at them carefully.

The bandit leader's eyes were unusually cold with metallic reflections, his brow was unnaturally sweaty and sickly pale, and his cheeks were mottled with red spots.

"Surface people." The thief leader said coldly with his hands behind his back, "This is not where you should come."

As he spoke, he drew his hands behind his back and made gestures that were familiar to all members of the thieves.

Immediately afterwards, eight Dilo dwarves holding light crossbows protruded strangely from various commanding heights of the tunnel. The Dilo dwarves who were pressing behind the bandit leader also raised poisoned crossbow bolts, all locked on Brian and Hesaiah, the two uninvited guests.

——"Blade of Explosion!"

Hesaiah took the lead in attacking, and the blade suddenly burst out with force field energy condensed by arcane runes.

As she swept the blade in a circle, her rune sword shattered into dozens of force field fragments in the blink of an eye, piercing the thieves in front like a gust of wind and rain.

In an instant, the four thieves who couldn't dodge were pierced by the broken blade and died on the spot.

The leader of the thieves looked startled, drew out his dagger, jumped into the shadows and disappeared.

——"Double Lightning Flash!"

Hesaiah whispered without hesitation, and danced a flash of sword light in a dazzling way. Her graceful figure was surrounded by lightning and turned into an afterimage, rushing in front of the remaining thieves, releasing leaping lightning.

A stream of blood splattered.

Every time the sword mage's rune sword stopped in front of the four thieves, one of them dropped his weapon, clutched his neck and fell to the ground dead.

In the end, only the missing thief leader survived.

——"Blazing Chaser!"

Unaware of the disappearing leader of the thieves, Hesaiah immediately recited a binding spell.

The scorching flames covered her rune blade, and the thief who hid in the shadows and waited for an opportunity, a continuous burning flame immediately appeared under his feet.

The leader of the thieves was taken aback and ran away in a hurry.

But to his disbelief, as he ran so fast, the bright path of flames under his feet clearly revealed his tracks.

Hisaiah's expression turned cold, and he quickly followed the path, raising his sword and chasing after him.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

From the moment the sword mage took the lead in launching the attack, the eight thieves standing on the commanding heights of the tunnel on the other side also pulled the triggers, pouring poisonous crossbow arrows at Brian who was standing alone.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

When the galloping crossbow approached about half a meter away from Brian, it either deflected directly and flew in another direction, or exhausted its kinetic energy and landed at his feet.

The moment the thieves on the commanding height finished shooting the crossbow bolts, they pulled out their weapons one after another without delay, leaped forward, and rushed towards Brian, whose protective force field was dim.

The moment the four Dillo dwarves jumped down, they were hit by two consecutive "Arcane Missiles" from Brian, and they either died tragically, or fell to the ground and howled in pain.

Relying on the "Shadow Raid" to approach him first, the two Dilo dwarves who had reached the second level of strength were enveloped by the "Colorful Jet" he had been waiting for for a long time, and fell to the ground unconscious.

——"One-ring spell: Krugul Flame Arrow!"

After finishing the six thieves, Brian quickly whispered two spells, and the arcane rune of the staff in his hand burst into a fiery red light.

The two short crossbow bolts in his palm, carrying the flame energy of crackling sound, quickly passed through the air, and precisely hit the chests of the last two thieves.

"boom!"

Accompanied by the crackling sound, the flaming arrow exploded in the chest of the Dilo dwarves, blowing their remains to pieces.

Brian released several flaming arrows again, killing the thieves who had lost their combat effectiveness.

After the battle was over, he looked at the explosion damage caused by the flame arrow and nodded with satisfaction.

In fact, this simple and ordinary one-ring spell is not as powerful as imagined.

But he obtained this excellent staff in the Red Dragon Lair, but it can fully increase the damage and release speed of fire attribute spells.

With the additional damage and the buff of the Explosive Flame attribute, the spell is strengthened by his Battle Mage attribute. When it is released, it is already comparable to a weakened small fireball.

The most important thing is that the release speed of the spell is very fast, he can release two flaming arrows in succession almost within a second.

If it wasn't for the spell being released for too long, he had to pause to relieve his mental exhaustion.

He only needs to rely on the flame arrow, which is enough for most professionals with similar strength to him to have nothing to do.

As the battle here ended, Hesaiah also rushed over with his rune sword.

From the way she looked at him with a smile on his face, Brian could tell that the escaped thief leader had been killed.

He no longer hesitated, and immediately led the sword mage, ignoring the crazy and hateful eyes of the Dillo dwarf civilians looking at them in the dark, and walked straight ahead.

"This is the Vortex Tunnel, and the Dillo Dwarf's 'Sacred Law Hall' is hidden inside."

Brian glanced at Sisaiah, then pointed to a crack in the stone wall concealed by tattered fabric, faded canvas sheets, and musty boxes.

The crack is just big enough for a medium-sized human to squeeze through.

They no longer hesitated, and entered the tunnel cautiously.

The Vortex Tunnel is a group of interconnected caves at the bottom of the city of Aldus.

It cleverly avoided the mines and streets in the city, because the Dilro dwarves who first discovered it did not announce its existence to the public.

To this day, only a few people in the Council of Scholars formed by the Dilro Dwarves and the gray ghosts really know its existence.

The curvature of the tunnel here is gentle and deep, and the tunnel size is relatively uniform and smooth.

There are also rare rock formations and rich natural fungus in the tunnel, and its depths are also full of leyline radiation.

According to the goblin Copper Nugget's reconnaissance news, he knew that there are currently two independent organizations operating in the tunnel for different purposes.

Gray Wraiths built an alchemy laboratory and a fungal garden here to supplement the organization's supply of poisons.

Another demonic order, formed by the Council of Dwarven Scholars of Dilro, is using the energy radiated by the leylines to spread chaos and madness throughout the city through evil rituals and a broken spire as the medium.

Apparently, the derro are trying to weaken the city by these means, so that they can overthrow the duergar.

When the two walked out of the tunnel and came to a relatively open fungal forest, the figure of the goblin copper block appeared in front of them.

"My God, you are finally here." Copper Nugget jumped down from a mushroom umbrella, and came to them cheerfully on his short legs.

His sudden appearance scared Hesaiah and almost drew his sword.

"Copper Nugget, you continue to follow the trail of Jeep. I suspect that he is trying to summon the soul of a crazy killer through blood sacrifices. Stop it if you can, and leave if you can't." After seeing the figure clearly, Brian didn't Nonsense, immediately say to the goblin:
"Hesaiah and I went to the 'Holy Law Auditorium' to deal with the members of the Scholars Council. The task is completed, you can leave on your own, don't go any further."

"Okay." Copper Nugget was silent for a moment, looked at Brian, shrugged indifferently, and was about to turn around and leave.

"Wait a minute." Brian stopped him, took out two scrolls from the dimensional bag and threw them to him, "One is a fireball scroll, and the other is a protection scroll, keep it for self-defense."

"You are really extravagant, you gave me such a precious thing." Copper Nugget put away the scroll in surprise, "If it is not useful, I don't plan to return it to you."

"It already belongs to you, and you can do whatever you want. In fact, with your strength as a ghost walker, as long as you want, you can achieve financial freedom. There is nothing to envy." Brian laughed and teased him.

"Cut, let's forget it." Copper Nugget curled his lips disdainfully, turned around and left them a back view, waving his hands smartly, and said:

"I am a kind goblin with principles. First, be kind to others; second, neither steal nor rob; I'll tell you again."

Brian looked at the disappearing figure of the goblin, showed a slight smile, and then led Hesaiah towards the 'Sacred Law Auditorium' of the Dillo dwarves.

　Thanks to the boss: Heath Iced Tea for the reward, thank you for your support! ! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)