——Run rampant in the countryside.

Not weak, but not strong either.

Simply put, it is a problem that can be handled by an ordinary team of adventurers with some experience.

In order to cause a big disturbance in the countryside, if the village priest is not strong enough, you will need to seek external help.

But that's where it ends: abhorrent, but not terribly terrifying. If anything, while the burrowing worms aren't wild beasts, their threat is comparable to that of specialized beasts much larger than their peers, such as giant pythons and giant crocodiles.

It's a problem, but not a big one.

The premise is that their number is not too large.

When the number of digging worms rises to the outrageous level of several thousand, the problem becomes serious.

Diggerworms are known for their exaggerated appetites, and they are carnivorous.

If left unchecked, the eastern side of Elturgard might be completely eaten away before the burrowers starved themselves to death.

What’s even more terrible is that behind this crisis is the bizarrely rapid increase in the reproductive capacity of the digging worms.

Even if a creature is not strong enough, it will become a disaster if it starts to reproduce in large numbers, let alone a giant beast like the digging worm.

No matter what, we must first eliminate the crisis of the diggers, and then settle accounts with the druids in the River Forest.

Emiya leaped onto her horse and shouted to the druid in the sky, "It's come to this. Even if you object, I'm going to start setting fires! No spell cast by a mage that's powerful and covers a large enough area will cause less damage!"

He had expected the druid to at least retort, but he didn't expect the druid to simply sneer, unsure why. "—If you can do it, then so be it."

?

Emiya frowned, and while letting the other Hell Knights leave in the original direction, he drove his horse forward.

There was one problem that hadn't been solved—the area was now riddled with burrows left by burrowing worms. Witt's tragedy could easily happen again anywhere.

The Hell Knights were skilled cavalry, but they had come to an environment where it was difficult to gallop. Rather than forcing them to dismount and fight, it would be better to have them leave the battlefield first.

If a few more riders fall, their group's spellcasting resources will be stretched to the limit. Lulu is a very powerful celestial being, so she can cast powerful divine spells such as healing. However, she is not that strong, so she can only cast it once a day.

Emiya shouted to the sky: "Druid! Point out the safe direction!"

Asul also said at the right time: "Right now, your situation is rather delicate and threatening... You'd better not do anything tricky."

The giant eagle shook his head and said, "Run southeast. This direction should be relatively safe. I don't know how many burrows the earthworms have dug underground during this period of time!"

That was enough. Emiya shouted, "Hell Knights, please retreat. Leave this to us. Our Phantom Pony is not afraid of falling, and is much faster than the Digger Worms! Lord Asur, please take this druid to the meeting place. We will deal with the Digger Worms here for a while and then catch up!"

Asul hesitated for a moment, thinking about the Phantom Pony's speed, which was several times faster than that of the Digger Worm, before agreeing: "Be careful, don't get entangled with them for too long—"

Then, he hesitated, and shouted again, "These diggers are not your responsibility, and they can't be completely eliminated by a single team!"

"I just want to test how strong these digging worms are!"

Emilia turned her horse's head.

While they were discussing, some of the burrowing worms burrowed into the ground again, while others bent down and meandered towards Emia.

Next, eliminating the threat of the burrowing worms was clearly the top priority. They would have to face them sooner or later, so it was better to get their information as soon as possible.

Emiya narrowed her eyes slightly.

These burrowing worms didn't look large enough, like they were still nymphs that hadn't fully grown. If we were to judge their individual strength, they would be weaker than ordinary burrowing worms.

In short, these burrowing worms were a poor product, the result of over-exerting. Their thick carapaces hadn't even fully grown, and Emiya could even vaguely see the red lines on them.

But... the number is too staggering.

Creatures with such a large appetite as diggers should find it difficult to live in groups. The total number of creatures in their activity area is limited, and the same is true for the number of diggers that can be fed.

And now, there were at least a dozen digging worms rushing towards them aggressively.

The formation is dense, and at this time, the choice is usually the only one.

"Fireball!"

A tiny ball of fire flew out from the tip of the sword like a bullet, and in an instant it hit the tentacles of a digging worm heavily.

Yin controlled the Phantom Pony to maintain distance, and suddenly couldn't help but utter a question: "...It seems, something is wrong."

Emiya was stunned: "What's wrong?"

The crimson flames exploded, enveloping three or four digging worms.

From this point on, everything was normal.

Then, the digging worm that was completely swallowed by the fireball left the range of the fireball safely, without even the slightest decrease in its movement speed, as if Emiya's fireball was just a breeze.

The fireball had already ignited the weeds in the wilderness, and the burrowing worms crushed the newly ignited blaze under them without any hesitation, as if the flames were just an illusion.

——Even the scarlet lines on the shell have become more vivid.

"...?"

Emilia was shocked and turned her horse around, retreating with the other two girls to maintain a safe distance from the digging worms.

As Xige retreated, he shouted, "Am I blind?! Was that a fireball you just cast?"

"Of course," Emiya replied coldly. "This group of burrowing worms is immune to fire... Creatures immune to fire are countless, but burrowing worms? Why would a group of burrowing worms living in the soil develop such a trait on such a large scale?"

The burrowing worms were originally just a kind of monster very close to wild beasts. Suddenly, such a large group of them became immune to fire?

"Just immunity to fire?" Yin curled his lips, turned around awkwardly, and pointed a finger at the swarm of burrowing insects: "-Death Cloud!"

The yellow-green gas floated up in the wind and fell towards the swarm of digging insects.

This strange gas caused some agitation among the burrowing worms. Their bodies were not designed for group movement, so their formation began to squeeze against each other, eventually becoming extremely crowded.

In this situation, Death Cloud could move unimpeded through the insect swarm. At the same time, their lack of command and spreading anxiety caused these strange insects to inhale large gulps of deadly yellow-green poisonous gas.

If they were truly wild beasts, the poison gas would have been enough to make them scream in pain.

However, after a brief period of confusion, the burrowing worms began to advance again.

——In fact, not a single digging worm was left behind.

Fire immunity, poison immunity.

Emiya took a deep breath. "...Yin, how similar are these diggers to the blasphemous tree man in the Sharptooth Forest?"

The silver-haired girl stared intently at the red cracks on the burrowing worm's shell and replied, "The technology is almost identical. It's like the same technology, but variations are created when used on different individuals."

In this world, there are only a handful of races that are immune to both fire and poison.

Among those tribes, only the Iron Golem can barely be considered as a native creature of the material plane.

The remaining major groups are fire elementals and demons.

Fire elementals are not known for their intelligence or skills. However, Yin said with certainty that these diggers were very similar to the blasphemous treemen from the Sharptooth Forest.

Then, Emilia dared to say that this wave of digging worms was also caused by the devil.

But...it's amazing.

In the city of Eltoril, there are surprisingly few traces of demons.

If the demons of Eltoril had not been exposed to cooperate with Raphael's work in Baldur's Gate, perhaps they could have hidden in Eltoril forever. If Emya had not uncovered their secrets with the new magic that had just been introduced to Faerun, perhaps the demons' activities would have remained completely shrouded in shadows.

Yet, outside of Eltoril, and even within the same kingdom, the demons had actually begun such large-scale activities. This was clearly contrary to the purpose of the demons of Eltoril.

...The devils of Eltoril once said that the burrowers of Trier were affected by the activities of the liches.

The towns of Trill and Berdusk happen to be located around the riverside forest.

...Are druids really so insensitive to the massive activity of burrowworms? Is there any connection?

No matter what, suppressing the digging worms in front of him was the most urgent task! Imparting elemental immunity to a group of creatures was not such a simple matter. He did not believe that the digging worms in front of him had more resistance and immunity!

Emiya shook her head and stretched out her sword again: "...Ice Cone!"

This time, the shell, which had not yet completely cooled down, was hit by the severe cold of the polar regions.

Starting from the tip of the sword, the droplets in the air instantly froze into pure white ice mist. The digging worms at the front were crowded and had no time to dodge.

Amid the crackling sound of freezing, the movements of seven or eight digging worms became slower and slower, and finally they slowly froze in place, rolling over and blocking the way forward.

——Is this victory considered outstanding?

Killing several massive monsters with a single spell was supposed to be a significant accomplishment, but Cone of Frost was a fifth-level spell, and Emiya couldn't cast it many times a day.

However, there are still nearly ten digging worms in front of us trying to move forward, and who knows how many more are underground.

Maybe it was an illusion. Even though Emiya's hearing was not particularly sharp, she could still hear the strange and noisy sound made by the limbs of countless digging worms rubbing against the ground, like the singing of thousands of birds.

Not to mention, although the diggers are not smart, they are not stupid either - if they can't win, they know to run away.

Emiya could repel their attacks, but if they fled underground, would she have to go into their extensive underground hives and engage in close combat with them indoors?!

However, before Emiya could feel satisfied with her achievement, Sig shouted from the front: "Hurry up! There are still digging worms digging holes in this direction!"

Emiya hesitated for a moment, then leaned sideways on her horse and pointed the tip of her sword at the ground. "...Otiluk's Frozen Orb."

A tiny drop of ice slowly crystallized on the tip of his sword and finally fell gently into the grass.

This trap made of six-ring magic was his parting gift to the earthworm.

But unfortunately, this is destined to be a drop in the bucket.

"let's go!"

Emilia did not stop and turned her horse around.

……

He thought about it, jumped off the horse, stomped heavily on the ground, and then got back on the Phantom Horse.

At the same time, he issued an order.

The Phantom Horse no longer ran on the ground. Its four hooves stepped into the air and it ran straight towards a tall tree in the distance, completely leaving the ground.

Quickly followed by Sig and Silver.

He had only been gone for a dozen seconds when a rustling sound suddenly came from the ground where he had just stopped. Five or six digging worms broke out of the ground, and several pairs of strong jaws bit towards the place where Emiya had just stepped on with incredible accuracy.

And at that place, there was only a tiny ice ball left.

The tiny ice ball exploded instantly under the impact of the digging worm's jaws.

The finger-sized ice ball instantly burst out with terrifying cold air, turning everything within dozens of meters around it into ice sculptures.

This level of damage finally frightened the burrowers, halting their progress.

Rustling, rustling.

Their tentacles swayed gently in the air, and then they all turned around, burrowed into the ground and disappeared.

The wilderness that had been so dangerous just now suddenly turned into a large area of ​​loose soil. The insect holes on the ground were filled with the excavated soil, as if the sea of ​​insects just now was just an illusion.

Thirty-six Crowded Berdusk

The traces left by dozens of fully armed heavy cavalry on the ground were naturally extremely obvious, and Emilia and his group easily caught up with them without much effort.

At this moment, probably having completed the coordination, Asur had already released the druid captive. At this moment, the giant eagle transformed by the druid was flying around them.

Emiya and his group were moving very fast, making them easy targets for Asur. The paladin turned and swooped down on his Pegasus in front of Emiya and his group. He spun around and passed them, effortlessly walking alongside them.

"How about it, did you make any additional discoveries while you were staying behind?" Asur asked.

"Only bad news."

After Emilia informed him of his discovery, Asul couldn't help but gasp, "...Not afraid of fire or poison? This is going to be a big problem."

In places with abundant vegetation, fire is always the most reliable companion. Without the help of fire, they would be unable to deal with the digging worms.

"... Never mind. We have the druids watching anyway." Asur glanced at the giant eagle and sighed. "There's no way they would agree to use fire in the first place."

"That's right!" the druid shouted. "This is the edge of the Riverside Forest. Thanks to the Companion Sun, the excessive sunlight here has reduced the moisture content of the vegetation, making it extremely flammable! If you set fire here, the entire Riverside Forest could be burned down. This is absolutely unacceptable!"

"I can tell you right now, even if these diggers weren't immune to this fire from an unknown source, we wouldn't agree to set it on fire!"

A Hell Knight muttered, "...Tsk." Immediately he received a glare from the Druid.

But no matter what, Berdusk is already within reach, and there is no need for either side to engage in conflict here.

After Asul arrives, the leaders of all parties will gather together. If the talks fail, it will not be too late to fight.

Verdusk is a so-called "protected" town, although this has long been considered a rhetoric for annexation.

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