Elven cultivators

Deep in the mining area, amidst towering hills and rugged terrain.

A streak of silver-white sword light suddenly rushed into the alleyway and plunged into the crevice without stopping.

Anton's divine sense expanded to its maximum, spreading in all directions like an invisible tide, rapidly penetrating every corner deep within the rift.

The warning from the warning array lasted for a long time, which basically ruled out the possibility that the underground creatures accidentally triggered it.

Nine times out of ten, a crack has been discovered.

So Anton rushed over immediately.

If some underground creature accidentally discovers the crack, that's fine; just kill it.

But if it's a mind-stealing demon, then that would be troublesome.

Before long, Anton's divine sense spread to the exit of the rift and he quickly saw the situation there.

What he saw made him pause slightly.

Outside the rift exit, seven or eight Mind Flayers and dozens of Stoneblind Barbarians were gathered.

But their condition puzzled Anton.

These psionic creatures, who usually roam freely in the Underdark, were all wounded at this moment.

They sat or lay down, their postures listless, looking terrified and miserable.

Anton was puzzled.

Besides him, are there any other creatures in this area that could threaten the Mind Flayer?

This area has been managed by the Mind Flayers for countless years, and all creatures that could threaten them have been wiped out. Logically, this situation should not have occurred.

Anton suppressed his doubts and sped forward, quickly reaching the other side of the rift. He silently slipped out of the rift and landed on the cave floor.

The Mind Flayers noticed the anomaly almost instantly, their milky-white eyes all turning toward the direction where Anton was hiding.

They clearly recognized Anton; upon seeing him, they were so frightened that they sprang up from the ground, their antennae waving wildly.

It is clear that Anton did not act immediately, and they hesitated and did not take the initiative to attack.

Mind Flayers may be cruel and ruthless, but they are not stupid.

The strongest of the Mind Flayers present was only Silver Rank.

They knew they were no match for the powerful elf who had once killed a high-ranking Mind Flayer, and that if a battle broke out, their only fate would be death.

Therefore, seeing that Anton did not make a move, they couldn't help but feel a bit of wishful thinking and decisively backed down.

"Respected elf, we mean no harm, we just want to rest here for a while."

The leader of the Mind Flayers' head tentacles twitched slightly, transmitting a wave of mental energy.

Anton is not an underground race, so naturally he cannot understand the underground common language.

However, Mind Flayers are one of the few subterranean races that can communicate without using the common subterranean language.

They are adept at using telepathy, and can transmit their thoughts directly into the minds of other creatures without needing language.

Of course, this approach carries risks.

If one is not careful, the mind-stealing demon can take advantage of the situation and invade one's mind.

However, Anton's soul is resilient, and he has true essence and divine sense protecting him, so there is no need to worry about this.

Seeing that Anton remained silent, the leader of the Mind Flayers transmitted another thought.

"We're leaving now."

"etc."

Anton called them to a halt and pointed to his own head.

He doesn't have telepathic abilities and can't actively transmit information through thought. The only way to communicate with the Mind Flayer is to establish a mental connection.

The leader of the mind-stealers immediately understood and cautiously released his mental energy, reaching towards Anton's head.

At the same time, a secret joy welled up inside it, thinking that the elf in front of it was unaware of the risks of establishing a mental connection with the Mind Flayer.

If they can successfully manipulate the other party's mind through this opportunity, they can obtain a slave of the Gold Peak level.

In that way, even if they leave this place, they will have the means to survive.

However, after truly touching Anton's spirit, the Mind Flayer was astonished to discover that the other party's spirit and soul were incredibly powerful and resilient.

It far surpasses the average golden peak.

Let alone manipulating the other party's mind and spirit, they can't even read the other party's surface thoughts; they can only passively accept the information the other party wants to convey.

The Mind Devil was immediately disappointed.

Just then, Anton's message arrived.

"What happened in the Mind Flayer City-State?"

The issue of Anton gets straight to the heart of the matter.

The fact that the Mind Flayer is injured and still here suggests that something major has happened in the Mind Flayer city-state.

As expected, the Mind Flayer's subsequent response confirmed his guess.

"Our city-state was attacked by alien creatures. All the high-level mind flayers were killed by those terrible monsters, and the mastermind is also dead. We couldn't defeat those monsters, so we had to escape."

Anton's expression hardened: "What monster?"

The Mind Flayer shook his head: "We don't recognize those monsters."

"What do they look like?"

The Mind Flayer shook its whiskers, as if gesturing: "They look like giant spherical crystals and shoot out strange rays. Mind Flayers and Stoneblind Barbarians that are hit by them will instantly turn into stone statues. Even high-ranking Mind Flayers have a hard time resisting them."

It sounds like the petrification law.

However, whether it is accurate or not can only be determined by seeing the monster in person.

Anton then asked for some details, including the internal layout and topography of the Mind Flayer city-state.

Only after confirming that he couldn't get any information out of them did he kill the Mind Flayer without saying a word.

This guy, how can he not realize his bad intentions?

The other Mind Flayers and Stoneblind Barbarians were subsequently slaughtered by Anton, leaving no survivors.

After finishing, Anton looked towards the Mind Flayer City-State with a thoughtful expression.

They had originally planned to make full preparations before attacking the Mind Flayer city-state.

Before he could even make a move against the clan, the Mind Flayer city-state was utterly destroyed by the invading monsters.

This caught him completely off guard.

The destruction of the Mind Flayer city-state is certainly a good thing, but if it brings an even greater threat, that would be even more troublesome.

The most urgent task is to find out the origin of those monsters.

Judging from the Mind Flayer's description, there shouldn't be any legendary-rank creatures among the monsters that invaded the city-state.

Otherwise, those mind-stealing demons wouldn't have been able to hold out for so long.

Even so, the fact that they were able to conquer a city-state with nearly ten peak-level Gold Mind Flayers shows that the strength of those monsters should not be underestimated.

Anton silently calculated his current trump card.

Because it was several years ahead of schedule, his preparations were not yet perfect.

So far, a total of thirty drops of Netherworld Heavy Water have been condensed, less than half of the original target.

However, the five battalions of elite soldiers numbered just over 1,250.

It can form two Five Elements formations with a total number of 625.

The Heavenly Thunder Banner and Five Thunder Jade Talisman for setting up the Nine Heavens Heavenly Thunder Suppressing Yuan Formation were also prepared well in advance.

Although it wasn't quite at its most fully prepared state, it should be sufficient to handle an unknown battle.

Moreover, he was only going to investigate the situation and might not necessarily have a direct confrontation with those monsters.

Even so, Anton still made thorough preparations.

He set up the Nine Heavens Thunder Suppressing Formation at the entrance of the rift as an escape route.

He then took out a communication talisman and recounted what had happened. He then pointed at it, and the talisman automatically folded into a paper crane.

As Anton infused a wisp of true energy, the originally stiff and rigid paper crane suddenly gained a vibrant spirit, flapping its wings and taking flight.

After circling once in the void, the paper crane wobbled and flew into the crack, disappearing from sight.

It's just a minor technique, but when combined with a sound transmission talisman, it can be used to cleverly transmit information.

The downside is that the distance cannot be too far, and it is easy to be attacked by other creatures in the middle.

However, the recipient of Anton's message was the mine guard outside the fissure, which wasn't far away.

He had already cleared away the subterranean creatures in the rift passage, so there was no need to worry about the paper cranes being attacked en route.

Having done all this, Anton released his sword light, which enveloped his body as he sped towards the Mind Destroyer City-State.

On the rest of the journey, Anton encountered many more fleeing Mind Flayers, Stoneblind Barbarians, Ogres, and Kobolds.

He would capture and interrogate the Mind Flayer to obtain information.

As for the Mind Flayer's servants and slaves, Anton simply disposed of them.

Who told them they don't have telepathic abilities?

"When we get back, we need to find a way to get a magic scroll that can speak an eternal language, otherwise we won't be able to communicate with the subterranean races."

Anton pondered to himself.

As they drew closer to the Mind Flayer city-state, the number of fleeing Mind Flayers and their minions dwindled, and the surroundings grew increasingly quiet.

After traveling for about fifteen minutes, Anton finally arrived near the Mind Flayer city-state.

Looking around, what appeared before me was a scene of tranquility that was almost eerie.

The Mind Flayer city-state still stands in the same place.

The towering, twisted buildings, the sharp arches, the thick stone walls... everything looked exactly the same as when I last visited.

A faint purple halo enveloped the city-state, like a thin veil, covering the entire city and preventing outsiders from prying into its depths.

If Anton hadn't learned the news beforehand from the fleeing Mind Flayers, he might have thought the city-state was still functioning normally.

He tried to extend his divine sense forward, but as soon as his divine sense touched that light purple halo, it was as if he had hit an invisible wall and was firmly blocked, unable to go any further.

Anton was not surprised.

The Mind Flayer City-State has set up a magic array to isolate detection, which is that purple halo.

Last time, he was unable to find out what was inside.

"It seems I'll have to go in and see for myself."

Instead of acting hastily, Anton first took out the Mist Concealment Talisman and infused it with a trace of true essence to activate it.

A thin layer of mist emanated from the amulet, enveloping him entirely.

The fog wasn't thick, but it was extremely eerie, completely absorbing the aura, sound, and energy fluctuations emanating from him.

Immediately afterwards, Anton used Shadow Step, his body perfectly blending into the surrounding shadows.

At this moment, even if a Golden Peak expert were nearby, his presence would be impossible to detect unless one approached him closely.

Having done all this, Anton silently made his way towards the city-state.