Elven cultivators

Chapter 94 Digger

The Thousand Rocky Hills are the Frosty Silver Mining Area.

As dusk falls, the last rays of the setting sun cut diagonally into the valley from the western ridgeline, turning the entire mining area into a somber orange-red.

In a stone house not far from the mine entrance, Thorvin sank into the back of a chair, his leather boots casually propped up on the table, a flask in his hand, gulping down fiery liquor, looking utterly content.

Since the Silvermoon Clan began its large-scale hunting of dragon beasts, the number of Scaled Lizards and Ridge Dragon Beasts in the Thousand Rock Hills has decreased year by year.

The frequency of dragon attacks on the mining area has decreased significantly, greatly reducing the pressure on the guards.

Besides cultivating his skills, he spends his days drinking and occasionally takes some time to inspect the mining area. He's living a very leisurely life.

Occasionally, when his hands felt itchy, he would go to the alchemy workshop to hammer a few pieces of artifacts to satisfy his craving, living a more carefree life than in Grayrock Fortress.

So much so that he almost didn't want to go back.

Unfortunately, the mine will eventually run out, and he will have to leave this place sooner or later.

Tolvin tilted his head back and took another gulp of wine, his thoughts drifting away.

When he first heard the Silvermoon Clan talk about taming dragon beasts, he thought it was a fantasy.

Dragon beasts are wild and untamed, with terrible tempers. Even the dwarves couldn't tame them, let alone the elves.

Unexpectedly, the Silvermoon Clan actually managed to accomplish this.

Nowadays, even the elite members of the Forest Guard are starting to be equipped with Scaled Rock Lizards as war mounts.

A few days ago, when a group of elven guards rode through the camp on Scaled Rock Lizards, his young dwarves were so envious that their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

Thorvin wasn't particularly obsessed with the Scaled Rock Lizard, but he had deeper thoughts about it.

The successful taming of the dragon beast carries immense strategic significance.

Once all members of the Forest Guard are equipped with Scaled Rock Lizard mounts, their mobility and combat power will experience a qualitative leap.

Not to mention, the Silvermoon Clan seems to be trying to tame even more powerful Riftdragons.

That thing is a Silver-tier dragon beast!

Recalling the changes he had witnessed in the Silvermoon Clan over the years, Thorvin's expression became complicated.

Although the Silvermoon Clan keeps many core matters secret from outsiders, the clan's rise is undeniable.

The Silvermoon Clan's overall strength is now perhaps not much inferior to that of Grayrock Fortress.

And all these earth-shattering changes are almost all related to that young elf.

"If only we had a genius like Anton in Grayrock Fortress..."

Tolvin muttered to himself, then shook his head with a wry smile and downed the rest of the fiery liquor.

The burning sensation of the strong liquor down my throat suppressed the complex emotions in my heart.

He slammed the wine glass down on the table, and was about to pour another pot of wine when the wooden door of the stone house was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Bang!

The door slammed heavily against the stone wall, causing the mineral specimens in the niche to scatter dust, and the iron fittings at the door hinges made a teeth-grinding creaking sound.

Thorvin's wrist twitched, and he almost spilled the wine.

He frowned and turned his head, about to curse, but seeing Grimm's grave expression, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and instead asked, "What's all the fuss about? What happened?"

Grimm didn't dare delay and said quickly, "Monsters have appeared in the mine and injured several of our brothers."

monster?

Tolvin was taken aback. How could there be monsters in the mine?

Coming to his senses, he immediately grabbed the warhammer leaning against the table and strode toward the door.

"Let's go take a look."

The two crossed the gravel path of the camp and ran wildly toward the entrance of the mine.

The entrance to the mine is a wide opening supported by thick pine beams. A lantern hangs on the pine beams, emitting a dim yellow light that illuminates the entrance in a half-light and half-dark manner.

The two rushed into the mine and went deep into the main tunnel, quickly arriving at the location of the accident.

This place should have been a flat mine wall, but now there is a dark opening about two meters high in the rock wall, big enough for one person to pass through.

The edges of the cave entrance were jagged, as if it had been forcibly broken open from the inside by something, with rubble scattered all over the ground.

Several dwarf warriors, wielding battle axes, stood guard around the cave entrance, watching the dark hole warily.

A huge corpse lay on the mine cart tracks not far away.

Thorvin paused slightly, his gaze falling on the corpse.

It was an enormous creature.

It is over five meters long and looks like an earthworm magnified countless times. Its body is segmented, dark brown, and covered with a thick chitinous shell.

The most terrifying thing is its mouthparts, which unfold like withered flower petals, with several spirals of sharp teeth inside, each with a yellowish, turbid glaze that makes one's scalp tingle.

The viscous liquid that had not yet dried remained below the mouthparts, dripping down the gaps in the carapace and making a hissing sound as it dripped onto the sleepers. Wisps of blue smoke rose up, and the sleepers corroded into tiny holes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Did that monster emerge from that cave?"

Thorvin asked the dwarves.

"Yes, elder." A dwarf nodded quickly. "We were mining when this beast suddenly rushed out. We were caught off guard and several of us were injured by it."

Hearing that no one had died, Tolvin breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Dwarves are thick-skinned and tough, so a few injuries are nothing to them.

At worst, they can be sent to the healing center in Silvermoon Forest for treatment.

The tissue-regenerating medicine and the spring water there are still very effective.

Once he felt relieved, he had the leisure to examine the corpse closely, and the more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed.

I feel like I've seen this somewhere before?

After a long period of focused thought, Tolvin suddenly had a flash of inspiration and finally retrieved the corresponding image from the depths of his memory.

"A burrowing worm..."

Thorvin murmured to himself, his expression instantly turning serious.

He had seen images of this monster in an ancient book in Grayrock Fortress.

Burrowing worms are giant insect-like creatures that live deep underground.

They lack visual organs and rely on vibration perception, heat source tracking, and scent to locate prey. They can move silently through rock strata, are adept at attacking prey from directly below, and can spray highly corrosive acid through their mouthparts.

The combat strength of adult Burrowing Bugs is generally between lower and upper Iron rank.

A small number of individuals who live a long time can reach the pinnacle of the Black Iron realm.

This level of strength was nothing to Thorvin; what truly alarmed him was that the burrowing worms were creatures from the Underdark.

This creature naturally inhabits deep underground, typically living hundreds or even thousands of meters below the surface.

Logically speaking, it shouldn't be here!

Thinking of this, Thorvin's expression turned somewhat grim.

He slowly stood up, his gaze falling on the dark cave that resembled the silent, gaping maw of a giant beast, and he felt a sharp pain in his teeth.

"Could this... lead directly to the Dark Underworld?"

......

"The Underdark?"

Anton stared at Darian in astonishment, almost doubting that he had misheard.

Darian nodded with a wry smile.

In fact, when he first heard the news, he had a similar reaction to Anton, and even doubted whether the dwarves had made a mistake.

He didn't know until he went to the site himself to take a look.

"I've confirmed it. The monster that came out of the ground is indeed a burrowing worm."

Darian composed himself and said in a solemn tone:

"The burrowing worm is an indigenous creature of the Underdark and rarely appears on the surface."

"Although there is a one in ten thousand chance that the burrowing worm was just an isolated case that got lost, and that the hole doesn't actually lead to the Underdark... we can't gamble with that luck."

Anton nodded slightly, his brows furrowed.

He certainly understood Darian's concerns.

The Underdark is not a good place.

It was a vast underground world located beneath the surface, consisting of countless caves, tunnels, and giant crypts.

It is not a single country, but a three-dimensional ecosystem with an extremely harsh environment, full of dangers and unknowns.

It is inhabited by a large number of deformed and ferocious creatures, the most notorious of which are the dark elves, the nemesis of the surface elves.

The Underdark is usually very far from the surface and in most cases is not connected to it.

However, under specific geological conditions, such as violent crustal movements, volcanic eruptions, or underground river erosion, fissures that lead directly to the surface may be torn open.

In addition, there are precedents of large burrowing creatures like burrowing worms accidentally creating passageways by digging through rock strata while foraging or migrating.

In any case, a rift connecting to the Underdark is a catastrophic threat to any surface power.

It was bad enough that those ferocious monsters from underground had come out, but what was truly terrifying was that a certain subterranean race happened to be inhabiting the vicinity of the rift...

The Darklands are desolate and harsh, with extremely scarce fresh water and food.

The subterranean races have been fighting each other for survival resources for countless years.

For them, the land, with its abundant water and food, is nothing short of paradise.

Once they learn of the existence of a direct passage to the surface, they will undoubtedly launch a full-scale attack on it.

At that time, the mining area will become a battlefield for fighting against the subterranean races.

Let alone normal production, it's questionable whether we can even hold onto the mining area.

For a moment, Anton was speechless.

They were mining for no reason, so how did they end up carving out a rift leading to the Dark Underworld?

Now they can only hope that their worries are unnecessary, that the burrowing worm didn't come from the Underdark, and that the hole didn't lead to that desolate and cruel underground world.

Without delay, Anton and Darian left Silvermoon Forest together and headed straight for the Frostweave Silver Mine.

When they arrived, they found that the three elders and Cedric were already there.

Anton glanced at Cedric subconsciously and keenly sensed that the magical energy emanating from the other man had diminished considerably, almost to the point of being nonexistent.

In contrast, he exuded a profound and imposing aura.

Just standing there, it resembles an ancient mountain, giving people a sense of unshakable grandeur.

Anton immediately understood.

Cedric has most likely already broken through to the second level of Strength, and his magic power is probably almost exhausted.

However, he had not fully adapted to the changes in his body, which caused his aura to dissipate.

After some time, I estimate I'll be able to control it more freely.

Noticing Anton's gaze, Cedric nodded slightly to him.

Anton nodded in response, then looked at the monster's corpse on the ground.