Elven cultivators

As if sensing Anton's inner thoughts, the sighing sound emitted by the Sighing Crystal Cluster suddenly rose in pitch, and the central crack abruptly opened, shooting a hazy beam of light towards Anton.

Anton had no intention of testing the power of this beam of light with his own body. He decisively released the Fire Shield, and a semi-transparent crimson-gold light curtain instantly enveloped his body.

The moment the hazy light struck the fire shield, Anton felt a strange energy surge like a tide, trying to penetrate the light barrier.

That energy had a cold, solidified quality, as if it wanted to freeze and petrify everything that was flowing.

However, the crimson-gold light barrier trembled slightly, and the flame patterns on its surface suddenly lit up, completely isolating the petrifying energy from entering, not even a trace of it could penetrate.

The Sighing Crystal Cluster was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting its attack to be ineffective.

Once it realized what was happening, its spherical body shrank slightly, the frequency of the crystal clusters opening and closing suddenly increased, and the sighs it emitted became sharper.

A series of hazy, petrifying rays shot out from the central crack, raining down on the fire shield.

The crimson-gold light curtain rippled outwards, yet remained as steady as a rock, completely still.

Anton remained calm as a silver sword light leaped from his chest, splitting into eight beams in mid-air. These beams suddenly erupted, attacking the Sighing Crystal Cluster from all directions simultaneously.

With the Fire Shield protecting him, he doesn't need to worry about defense and can attack with all his might.

With a series of hissing sounds, the grayish-white crystal fragments on the surface of the sighing crystal cluster scattered and flew everywhere like hail.

In a short while, the Sighing Crystal Cluster shrank by one size.

Anton then commanded eight sword beams, striking the same spot repeatedly, tearing a huge gap in the crystal shell.

Deep within the gap, a faint, eerie purple light could be seen.

That is the crystal nucleus of the Sighing Crystal Cluster.

This is also its core weakness.

Anton's gaze sharpened, and eight sword lights surged forward, piercing through the gap in the crystal shell with lightning speed, and accurately striking the ball of dark purple light.

boom!

A muffled explosion resounded in the cave.

The dark purple light flickered violently a few times before fading away.

The spherical body of the Sighing Crystal Cluster suddenly stiffened, the cluster's closing abruptly stopped, and even the continuous sighing stopped abruptly.

The massive sphere swayed in mid-air for a few moments before crashing heavily to the ground with a loud thud.

Anton stepped forward.

The crystal shell of the Sighing Crystal Cluster has lost its luster, turning ashen gray, and cracks on its surface spread outwards from the point of penetration, like a dense spider web.

Whoosh!

The sword light pierced into the body of the Sighing Crystal Cluster through the gap.

The next moment, the shell of the Sighing Crystal Cluster shattered and vanished into ashes.

The crystal core inside also disappeared completely, swallowed up entirely by the sword pellet.

The surface of the sword pellet now features several dragon patterns.

Anton nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this.

The Sighing Crystal Cluster is a sub-dragon species, so it can naturally be devoured by the Sword Pellet and turned into nutrients.

Although the effect was slightly less than that of the Dragonborn Archon, it was still quite good.

After retrieving the sword pellet, Anton stored the corpse of the Mind Flayer's main brain into his dimensional ring. He then checked it again to make sure there was nothing else of value before heading towards the cave entrance opposite the main cave.

After emerging from the cave, Anton became even more cautious.

Sighing Crystal Clusters are social organisms.

A single ethnic group can range from dozens to hundreds of people.

This means that there are now at least several dozen Gold Saints residing in the Mind Flayer City-State.

Although Anton really wanted to hunt for the Sighing Crystal Cluster to enhance the sword pellet, he had to give up for the time being.

If you get entangled in the Sighing Crystal Cluster, you'll probably have to shed a lot of skin to escape.

Fortunately, the Sighing Crystal Cluster's perception isn't as sharp as the Mind Flayer's. With the Mist Concealment Amulet and Shadow Step, as long as they're careful, they shouldn't be detected.

And indeed, that's exactly what Anton thought.

The Sighing Crystal Clusters were all concentrated on the other side of the cave.

Along the way, he encountered many Sighing Crystal Clusters.

These monsters were greedily absorbing the rich elemental energy, oblivious to their surroundings and completely unaware of the uninvited guests passing by in the distance.

It took considerable effort for Anton to completely explore the city-state.

Preliminary estimates suggest that there are approximately fifty to sixty Sighing Crystal Clusters in the city-state at this time.

Including those inside the buildings, the number will only be greater, not less.

Moreover, the vast majority of them are adults.

This lineup is enough to send chills down your spine.

Anton did not disturb the monsters. Instead, based on the information he had obtained from the Mind Flayers, he made his way to the Mind Flayer city-state where resources were stored.

That was a natural rock pillar located on the west side of the city-state.

From the outside, the rock pillar blends seamlessly with the surrounding geological structure, its surface covered with dark gray moss, showing no signs of artificial excavation.

Even if a mind flayer's slave passed by, he wouldn't give it a second glance.

Anton bypassed the rock pillar and came to a crevice on its shady side.

The crevice was so narrow that only one person could pass sideways, and its edges were jagged, like a naturally formed rock fissure.

He squeezed in sideways and walked about twenty steps inside, when the crevice suddenly widened.

Before us was a steep, almost vertical, downward slope.

Anton immediately used the Wind Control Technique, his figure falling like a leaf.

At the end of the slope is a stone gate.

After pushing open the stone door, a naturally formed cave comes into view, covering an area of ​​over a thousand square meters.

The cave walls were cut very smoothly, and the floor was paved with stone slabs, clearly indicating that it had undergone meticulous artificial modification.

Hundreds of metal shelves lined the walls, piled high with wooden crates, crystal boxes, and animal skin bags of all sizes.

Anton's gaze swept across the shelves, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

The Mind Flayer has been operating in this area for countless years, and the resources he has accumulated are indeed astonishing.

He glanced at them briefly, then selected the more valuable resources and placed them into the dimensional ring.

He carried more than a dozen dimensional rings with him, all of which he had obtained from the dragonborn over the years.

Even so, it was still far from enough to fit everything in the cave.

Even after he had filled all the dimensional rings, there were still most of the resources left in the cave.

Anton showed no hesitation and turned to leave.

The rest can only be moved later.

Having left the city-state silently, Anton glanced back and could still faintly hear the sighs coming from inside.

The Sighing Crystal Clusters have clearly made this their new habitat.

Anton withdrew his gaze and disappeared into the shadows outside the city-state.

……

When Anton emerged from the crevice, he found that a considerable number of people had already gathered inside the mine.

The three elders, Cedric, Elena, Darian... even Roman and Eleanor came.

Almost all of the clan's Gold-rank and Silver-rank peak combatants were present.

In addition, the divine sense could also detect that there were thousands of forest guards stationed outside, all of whom were on high alert.

Clearly, upon receiving the message via the paper crane, the elders immediately mobilized all their manpower and sealed off the mining area.

Seeing Anton emerge from the crevice, everyone visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Anton, are you alright?" The elder quickly stepped forward and looked him up and down.

"It's nothing," Anton shook his head.

The Grand Elder nodded slightly and then asked, "How is the situation in the Mind Flayer City-State?"

Anton briefly recounted what he had discovered.

When they heard that the Mind Flayer city-state had been destroyed and even the mastermind was dead, everyone's faces showed surprise.

"Who did this?" the Third Elder asked instinctively.

"Sighing Crystal Cluster," Anton said.

Sighing Crystal Cluster?

The elves looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion.

Clearly, they had never heard of this creature before.

The elder pondered for a moment, then said with a solemn expression, "I have heard of this creature."

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he briefly explained the origin of the Sighing Crystal Cluster.

When they learned that the Sighing Crystal Cluster was actually a sub-dragon species and involved the dragon race's split nearly ten thousand years ago, everyone was filled with awe.

After all, the Elven race had experienced something similar in the past.

The dark elves of the Underdark were also expelled from the elven race, sharing a similar fate with the dragons.

But soon, when the Grand Elder mentioned that the Sighing Crystal Cluster was a rare gregarious sub-dragon species, and that it had the strength of a Golden Peak when it came to adulthood, everyone's expression changed.

"Does that mean... there are dozens of peak-level gold monsters in that city-state?" Elena's eyes widened.

The others were also visibly shocked.

Dozens of Golden Peaks!

Even Kreisor Dragon City doesn't have this many top-tier combatants!

Even if you add up all the Gold Peak members from all the factions in Eldron Plains, you might not be able to gather this many Gold Peak members.

This number has far exceeded their expectations.

For a moment, a shadow fell over everyone's hearts.

Having finally dealt with the Mind Flayer threat, an even more terrifying one has emerged.

"Don't worry." Anton saw what everyone was thinking and comforted them. "The Sighing Crystal Cluster doesn't need to eat. It can survive by absorbing free elemental energy in the air. It has very low appetite and aggression."

"The reason they attacked the Mind Flayer City-State was mainly because they were attracted by the ley lines beneath the city-state."

"Given their habits, once they occupy a ley line node, they will settle down and not leave, much less attack the surface world."

The Grand Elder nodded slightly: "That's right, the Sighing Crystal Clusters rarely attack the territories of other creatures."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

"So, as long as we don't provoke them, they probably won't attack us on their own initiative."

"That's right."

"That's good."

Seeing that everyone's expressions had relaxed, Anton then got down to business: "I have found the Mind Flayer's warehouse where he stored resources and brought back some of them. There are still many left. I plan to infiltrate the city-state a few more times later to bring everything back."

Eleanor hesitated, "Wouldn't that be too dangerous?"

Anton glanced at her and smiled, "Don't worry, I'm confident."

Seeing his composed expression, Eleanor nodded and said no more.

Everyone was immediately overjoyed.

With these resources, the Silvermoon Clan's development speed can be greatly increased.

Whether it's expanding the spirit gathering room, refining rune equipment, or making potions, there's no need to worry about not having materials.

The Grand Elder couldn't hide his joy: "I'll leave this matter to you."