This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 421, 420. A Useful Magic Spell
According to Aidin, after the demons breach Earth Peak Fortress, they will probably head straight for Redstone City.

While Redstone City was once a major trading post and could generate a considerable amount of revenue, it was not an important military location; otherwise, Alama would not have entrusted it to the Silverthorn Squad for management.

To put it bluntly, Aidin judged that Redstone City's defenses wouldn't hold for long, and it would likely fall before the Church's reinforcements could change the course of the battle.

As for the "decapitation plan" that Nova and his team had high hopes for, Edin had reservations.

After all, he had never witnessed the true power of that divine artifact firsthand, so the success rate was hard to predict.

In conclusion, the risks of letting things develop naturally are too great.

Once the wood core falls into the hands of the demons, it will be infinitely more difficult to retrieve it.

"Can't we just steal it?" Lin Jun really wanted to complete the mission.

Aidin shook his head helplessly; he was an illusionist, not a thief.

Moreover, the Silver Thorn Squad has a high-level assassin like Night Owl; trying to stealth and thieves in front of him would be like showing off one's skills before an expert.

The fungal carpet is still spreading this way.
However, it was clearly impossible to cover Redstone City in just a few days.

Without the support of fungal mats, neither forcibly seizing the wood core nor assisting in defending the city is possible.

Are we just supposed to sit and wait for Redstone City to fall into chaos, and wait for the Silverthorn Squad to be exhausted before taking advantage of the chaos to retrieve the wood core?

Lin Jun really disliked this plan; there were just too many uncertainties.

wrong……

Lin Jun re-examined her thoughts and suddenly realized a key point.

He doesn't actually need to help defend Redstone City. As long as the demons don't cause trouble for Redstone City before the church's reinforcements arrive in Three Mountains City, that's enough!

Redstone City itself was not a strategic location. The reason the demons attacked was simply to clear out the surrounding human strongholds before the decisive battle at Three Mountain Cities.

In other words, if we can create some other trouble for the demons and delay them for two or three days, we can get the wood core as originally planned.

In that case, there is indeed a way to try. Although Lin Jun herself is not sure about the success rate, there is no loss anyway. If it fails, she can just switch to Plan B!
At Lin's behest, Aidin used illusion magic to change his appearance and began secretly searching for certain materials in the markets and warehouses of Redstone City...

……

The walls of Tufeng Fortress had collapsed, and charred flags were carelessly discarded among the smoky ruins. The air was thick with the stench of blood and the smoke and dust from the magical explosion, mixed with a faint odor of rotting corpses.

A hunched goblin, dragging a bloodstained sack larger than himself, was laboriously collecting the surrounding corpses.

As the lowest-ranking members of the demon army, ordinary goblins receive only the bare minimum of food rations, and in some special circumstances, goblins themselves are even used as food.

The goblins can only eat their fill some time after each major battle.

Even among demons, cannibalism is a disgusting act, but they are goblins, and as long as they are full, that's enough. Anyway, no one will think highly of a goblin just because it doesn't eat corpses.

There are many other goblins on the battlefield, gathering food just like it. If they're lucky, they might even find some equipment that other demons have overlooked, which would be a huge win.

Of course, not every goblin is focused on the future.

Not far away, amidst the ruins, two goblins chose this moment to play, constantly emitting piercing laughter.

They used a round object as a ball, kicking it around among the scorched earth and rubble.

The "ball" was covered in mud and congealed dark red blood, but the outline of what was once a human could still be discerned, and even a few strands of gray hair stuck together with bloodstains could be seen, which was the head of the owner of this fortress.

The two goblins were scrambling and occasionally arguing wildly about who could kick the ball farther, having a great time.

The hunchbacked goblin had no intention of joining them, and in a couple of days, these two would definitely be among the starving bastards.

A moment later, it actually pulled out a gleaming dagger from a pile of minced meat and rags!

It hurriedly wiped the blade with its dirty rag, making the bloodstains look even more colorful, but it still examined it repeatedly with great affection.

Suddenly, it stopped playing with the dagger.

Something seems wrong?
It looked at the other goblins wandering in the distance, unable to figure out where that strange feeling came from.

Oh right! That piercing laughter disappeared sometime ago!
It turned around, trying to find the two goblins from before, but couldn't find them.

It ran off somewhere else? So fast?
It hesitated for a moment, then took two steps forward and immediately saw the head that had been kicked around like a ball, lying all alone among the ruins.

Just then, a very slight "plop" sound came, like some kind of viscous liquid flowing.

The hunchbacked goblin looked in the direction of the sound and was immediately terrified.

A dark shadow, clinging to the ground, was slowly wriggling. It had already devoured most of a goblin's body, leaving only half an arm sticking out.

The goblin was still alive, its five exposed fingers frantically scratching at the air, but it couldn't grasp anything.

goo-dong-

With a soft sound, the last arm disappeared completely into the shadows.

The dark shape seemed to pause for a moment, then moved towards the hunchbacked goblin.

The goblin was so frightened that it immediately dropped the heavy sack in its hand, let out a series of terrified screams, and scrambled away towards the military camp.

Half a day later, a drunken pigman soldier carrying a wine jar returned to the ruins with a trembling goblin.

After giving it a perfunctory look around, he kicked the hunchbacked goblin a long way, breaking one of its legs.

"Damn piece of trash..." the pigman cursed drunkenly, complaining that this hallucinating idiot had caused him to be sent on this mission by the captain.

He had killed two human soldiers during the day's battle, and now it should be time to enjoy the spoils of war, not to come looking for some damn "Shadow".

They walked halfway back.
The pigman looked back; the goblin hadn't followed.

Did he kick himself to death?

The pig-man suddenly felt half-sober; if he really kicked him to death, he would be punished!

He walked back and forth in circles where he had kicked the goblin, but saw nothing. Just as he was wondering what was going on, he suddenly stepped into empty air!
The pig-man's right foot was stuck in a sticky shadow, and his entire body was being dragged downwards by an irresistible force. He struggled desperately, but found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull his pig foot out.

“Help…Help!!!”

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the ruins, quickly alerting the demon army camp not far away.

……

On a cliff some distance from the demon army camp, a scout sat on an abyss magic circle, acting as an information receiver.

At the edge of the magic circle, Aiding Cat carefully maintained the flow of magic power, occasionally drinking a magic potion to replenish its energy.

A moment later, a blurry outline slowly rose from the magic circle.

[Race: Shadow Insect (Scrapped Draft)]

[Level: LV5]

[Skill: Shadow Blend LV2]

Leave you!

Puji lifted its short legs and kicked the newly formed Shadow Insect off the cliff, then severed the connection.

These shadow worms, summoned from the abyss, instinctively approach places where living things gather, dragging their prey into the shadows to devour them.

The place with the most living creatures nearby was naturally the demon army camp.

These discarded cases summoned from the abyss will dissipate on their own after the summoner disconnects and the magic power is exhausted, making them quite useful.

However, the Shadow Bug is still too weak. Although it has a first-time kill mechanism, it can only cause some minor damage due to its size.

Lin Jun planned to continue using this magic circle to thoroughly search the abyss area and see if she could find any more powerful creatures.

(End of this chapter)