A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 625 The End of the Rescue

Five hours after the first earthquake.

A giant ring hovered in the sky. It was already late, and what people saw were circular points of light distributed under the aurora.

Later, the portals of the Sky Ladder system flickered twice, and the remaining two starships of the dwarves returned to their shattered homeland to begin searching for and transferring their surviving brethren.

Fortunately, in recent years, the monsters catalyzed by Mother Earth's pollution have become increasingly active in underground caves and mines, and the dwarves' mining has slowed down. Most of the residents of other "resource-based cities" that are not administrative or economic centers have migrated.

They either went to port cities along the Confederate coast, where most of the buildings were on the ground and far from the epicenter, thus being less affected; or they went to other planes to participate in mining activities.

The environment of the Fire Elemental Plane is harsh, but they still managed to establish a small, semi-permanent outpost and smelter, where many metallurgists worked and survived the earthquake.

Another group was carrying out the Confederation's grand plan—to attempt to build shipyards in the Astral Plane. Because the dwarves' shield technology was inferior, this was a collaborative project with humans, and in any case, these mechanics escaped unscathed.

In short, the Confederacy's capital city suffered the most damage, the most casualties, and also had the most survivors. In addition to the four enormous ships that could only glide close to the ground, countless airships shuttled between the city's ruins and the border Count of Dahlberg, transferring people and important goods.

Most of these airships did not belong to the dwarves, but rather flew all the way from Istani to resupply in the northern border of the Empire. The reward they were looking for was four starships fully loaded with precious minerals, which are now scattered in the snow near the main city.

Singhlev donned his miner's hat for the first time in a long while—not to mine, but to dig for people. He discovered something magical about the dense, woody root systems growing among the ruins; wherever they grew profusely, there were often fellow miners trapped nearby, waiting for him to dig them out.

"Oh, Mr. White Dragon, you are such a kind dragon, willing to help me rescue you." Singlev did not forget to thank his rescue partner. The White Dragon still moves in the form of an elf, but he can cast spells and has extraordinary strength. He can see things in the dark without the light of a miner's hat.

"It's nothing, we're friends, after all. But I'm quite interested in your other friends, when are you going to introduce me to them?" Like that young man who can make other archmages obey him.

White Dragon sadly discovered that the perverted Istani had his eye on him and probably planned to turn him into a collectible. The only reason he was still free to move around was because of his friendship with Sweet Potato Egg. The mighty dragon race, reduced to this state!

"Great. Today you met Uncle Rorschach. A few years ago, he and I traveled from the capital to Valuwana together. Back then, he was just a novice mage."

"A few years ago? A novice mage?" This idiot must have misremembered or misspoke, or perhaps the spellcaster at the time didn't reveal their true strength. As for appearance... he's not a dragon now, and in the magical world, you can't judge a book by its cover.

"Yes." Singhlev, unaware of the white dragon's inner thoughts, continued rummaging through the broken bricks and stones as he recalled, "When I saw him again in Istani, Master Rorschach was about as powerful as he is now. Right, shortly after we met."

Singrev recalled the events of the Shadowlands, and the White Dragon grew increasingly astonished. From this simpleton's account, he was certain that at least four gods and their chosen ones had entered the scene. Chronologically, this also led to the fall of the Istani royal family.

Before being made into a specimen, Bai Long's elders speculated that the Queen of Istani had been around for hundreds of years, and that a powerful ritual had distorted the nation's perceptions and kept it a secret from other countries on the continent.

Dragons can sense the presence of ritual magic, but they cannot verify it, nor do they have the time to do so—they either hide away or become collectibles, spellcasting materials, and raw materials for luxury goods.

The dwarf and that old man Rorschach must have intentionally or unintentionally damaged the foundation of the ritual, after all, the entire Storm City and Shadow City were thoroughly ransacked.

No wonder the kingdom was blown up, and you even contributed a lot to it!

The dwarf's mouth was dry from talking, but he didn't stop digging and kept talking: "Oh dear, I often see Grandpa Rorschach, but I haven't heard from the little elf girl who joined me in the guard duty back then."

Singhlev turned to stare at the white dragon: "He's even more handsome than you are now."

"You're talking nonsense, my friend." The pride of the dragon race made the white dragon disdain to compare beauty with the elves, yet it was also unwilling to be told that it was inferior.

Singerev was a little annoyed: "When did I ever say anything nonsense? You can ask Mr. Rorschach later, isn't Miss Hill very pretty!"

"Hill?" The white dragon's expression changed again. "Very fair skin, and light blonde hair?"

Now it was Singhlev's turn to be confused: "You've seen it before?"

No, but the White Dragon is 90% certain that it's a descendant of Sylvanas! What kind of breed are you, you sweet potato? How come your friends have such a diverse range of races and backgrounds!

He suddenly felt that he had not lost the dignity of the dragon race as Singrev's friend, and he worked even harder when helping to dig through the ruins.

Ho-ho-ho

As they lifted a steel plate, panting sounds came from the gaps in the debris beneath.

Singhlev immediately focused his attention and held his breath, ceasing to speak and becoming more cautious in his movements.

The gaps they created grew wider and wider, from which a thick, pungent smell of blood gushed forth.

"Are you alright, sir?" Singhlev asked anxiously. He tried to widen the gap to check what was inside, but was met with a rustling sound.

Bai Long frowned, quietly put down his shovel, and condensed a tiny current of electricity in his hand.

ha--!

Its eyes were cloudy and bloodshot, its grayish-white skin was covered with sores and blue veins, and its mouth opened and closed, tearing wildly. The headlamp on Singhlev's miner's hat illuminated the horrible, filthy thing trapped inside, or it would have bitten him.

A thunderclap struck, and a white-blue lightning bolt struck, rendering the monsters motionless. However, they could be heard panting and hissing all around them.

"Let's go, let's go." Bai Long grabbed Singrev and pulled him back. "They're all living corpses."

The white dragon wasn't afraid of these lowly undead creatures; what worried him was the speed of transformation—the longest these dwarves had been dead was no more than half a day, and such rapid transformation was a testament to the danger and eeriness of the ruins.

Not only them, but other teams also abandoned the subsequent rescue efforts, because the tunnel ruins had been completely occupied by the transformed zombies.

Rorschach was unaware of this situation; he had already approached the Arctic, where the most powerful undead awaited him.

Using the Tree of Law, he issued a command to the Star Gate: "Deploy three 'Rudaro's. No, deploy one."

(End of this chapter)