Chapter 239: Chapter 222: The Ambush That Fell Short

"Could it be that the subterranean races had some internal conflict? Maybe they suffered heavy casualties and had to give up?" Romance guessed.

"That’s also a possibility," Darian mused. "But regardless, since we’re here, we can’t just leave empty-handed."

Romance nodded.

Regardless of whether the subterranean races had fought amongst themselves or simply given up, the Blood Soul Crystal cluster was right in front of them. There was no reason not to take it.

"Everyone, advance. Proceed with caution," Romance ordered. "Catman scouts, move out and reconnoiter. Ghost Scale Race, stay alert for vibrations in the rock. Elf soldiers, maintain vigilance."

The party began to enter the basin in an orderly fashion.

However, just as the party was halfway across, a sudden commotion broke out among the Catman scouts.

"What is it?" Romance turned to look.

Soon, Yue Hen, the leader of the Catman Race, walked over, followed by a slender Catman girl.

"Lord Roman, my people have noticed something amiss," Yue Hen said with a slight bow, his tone respectful.

Romance’s gaze fell upon the Catman girl.

The latter seemed a bit nervous, her ears flattened slightly back, her tail swaying uneasily behind her.

Laine, who was standing nearby, recognized the familiar face. He looked slightly surprised and stepped forward to whisper to Romance, "Lord Roman, her name is Ye Tong. Her perception is very keen. Last time, she was the one who discovered that Deep Rock Ratman hiding in the crevice."

Romance nodded in understanding. Her gaze returned to Ye Tong, and her tone softened slightly.

"What did you discover?"

Ye Tong hesitated for a moment, as if choosing her words carefully, before speaking. "Lord Roman, I can’t say exactly what’s wrong. It’s just... a gut feeling."

The surrounding Elf soldiers exchanged strange looks.

A gut feeling?

Can you really rely on a gut feeling for something like this?

But Romance didn’t immediately question it.

She was the type to trust her intuition.

Over her years exploring the Dark Nether Realm, she had relied on her intuition to avoid traps more than once.

Besides, the current situation was undeniably strange in every way.

’More importantly, if it was just a gut feeling, Yue Hen would never have brought this Catman girl to me.’

’With his calm personality, he wouldn’t joke about something like this.’

Sure enough, Ye Tong then raised a hand, pointed at the dome high above the basin, and said, "That, too. It’s not normal."

Everyone followed her finger and looked up.

What met their eyes were dense, purplish-white spider silks, like a gigantic spiderweb, spreading out from the center of the dome, so thick they nearly obscured the entire ceiling.

Because of the bloody light, they hadn’t noticed these silks at first.

The crimson glow dyed everything red, causing the color of the silks to blend almost perfectly with the rock walls. It was impossible to distinguish them without looking closely.

It was only when Ye Tong pointed it out that they suddenly realized the entire basin was covered by the silks, like being under a giant, inverted, purplish-white bowl.

"What’s wrong with the silks?" Mia asked in confusion. "The Dark Nether Realm is full of arachnids. Spider silk is common."

Ye Tong shook her head. "That’s not ordinary spider silk. It’s from a Stealth Spider. I encountered one not long ago, and their silk is this exact color."

The expressions of Darian and the disciples from Taichu City changed.

Romance keenly noted their change in expression and asked, "Is there something special about the silk of a Stealth Spider?"

Darian explained, "The Stealth Spider is a rare magical arachnid. Its silk has a very special property: it can absorb the energy waves of magical detection."

"Any detection-type Magic, magical items, or even perception via the Power of Law will be absorbed and dissipated upon contact with Stealth Spider silk, unable to penetrate it."

Romance understood immediately.

’With a web of Stealth Spider silk covering the dome, all the detection Magic we just cast was naturally unable to probe the situation above the web.’

After that, as if he had thought of something else, Darian scanned his surroundings. His gaze quickly fell on the grayish-blue moss on the ground and rock walls.

Although much of it had been destroyed by the Yellow Turban Warriors’ rampage earlier, a lot of the grayish-blue moss remained, covering almost the entire basin and the surrounding walls.

Darian bent down, pinched a bit of the grayish-blue moss from the ground, and examined it closely. His expression quickly grew solemn.

"This is Ghostly Moss," Darian said in a low voice. "This moss also has the ability to block auras and shield against perception and detection. A large patch of Ghostly Moss will form a natural ’perception dead zone.’ The auras of any creatures within this zone will be absorbed and blocked by the moss, and they will likewise be unable to sense the auras of creatures outside it."

The faces of the Elves present changed. They all looked behind them and extended their senses.

Sure enough, even though there were still Elf soldiers outside the basin, they couldn’t sense any of their auras.

That patch of Ghostly Moss was like an invisible barrier, separating the inside and outside of the cavern into two different worlds.

Even Furlo’s Illusion-Piercing Spirit Eyes were greatly weakened.

By this point, even the slowest Elf realized something was wrong.

The Stealth Spider’s silk, the Ghostly Moss, the perception dead zone... It was obvious that this had all been meticulously arranged.

Romance made a snap decision and gave an order.

"Everyone, use your Light Body Talismans and Vajra Talismans at once! Withdraw from the basin in an orderly fashion, and watch your step and what’s above you!"

The moment she finished speaking, the Elf soldiers immediately pulled Talismans from the leather pouches at their waists, activated them, and slapped them onto their bodies.

The Ghost Scale Race and the Catmen also hurriedly took out the Talismans they had prepared and activated them with Sensing Spirit Stones.

A faint cyan halo and a pale golden barrier of light appeared almost simultaneously, enveloping everyone.

Immediately afterward, the party began to retreat in an orderly manner.

Realizing that their prey had sensed something was wrong, the hidden ambushers could wait no longer and launched their attack.

The next moment, the rock layer and spider silk on the dome’s surface suddenly shattered and tore apart, revealing countless tunnels behind them.

Hundreds of spherical figures shot out from them, like a swarm of bees pouring from a hive, and dove toward the Elves below.

At the same time, the ground exploded violently. Hundreds of burrowing worms burst from the earth, opening their tooth-filled maws to snap at the nearest Elf soldiers.

And from the dark tunnels they left behind, countless more figures swarmed out.

Deep Rock Ratmen, Earth Trolls, Corpse Rot Demons, Mushroom-men, Di Luo Dwarves, Rock Beast Ghosts... countless subterranean creatures charged toward the Elf army.

In that instant, the entire basin had become a giant trap.

Darian’s expression flickered.

Although he had anticipated it, seeing these subterranean races actually working together to set an ambush still sent a chill through his heart.

Fortunately, thanks to Ye Tong’s warning, they had noticed something was wrong in time and taken precautions, narrowly avoiding falling completely into the trap.

’Thinking back on it now, the previous ambush and retreat of the Mushroom-men and Corpse Rot Demons was most likely also a ploy to lure us here. We just didn’t fall for it.’

’Cunning bastards.’

Darian thought grimly.

’In a dog-eat-dog place like the Dark Nether Realm, none of the powers that have survived this long are easy to deal with.’

Meanwhile, the Elf army displayed an astonishing reaction speed in the face of the sudden assault.

The pre-activated Vajra Talismans blocked the majority of the ranged attacks, preventing them from descending into chaos at the first exchange.

The Light Body Talismans made their bodies exceptionally nimble, allowing them to agilely evade the attacks of the burrowing worms erupting from the ground.

The burrowing worms didn’t even have time to snap their maws shut before their targets had vanished from sight.

Immediately after, Rune-inscribed Long Swords, wrapped in a biting, cold light, slashed down.

The moment the blade’s edge bit into the gaps of a burrowing worm’s carapace, the Runes flared brightly. The blade easily tore through the thick chitinous shell, and dark green fluid gushed out.

Piercing shrieks echoed through the basin, only to be quickly drowned out by the clang of metal on metal.

Arrows, Magic, and Long Swords fell like a dense rain.

In just a few moments, the hundred-odd burrowing worms were all slain. Their massive bodies lay strewn across the ground, staining the rubble dark green.

At the same time, a hundred Yellow Turban Warriors stomped on the ground, their cast-iron bodies shooting into the air like cannonballs to brazenly meet the magical rays descending from above.

TCH-TCH-TCH!

The volley of rays the Eye Demons had been charging up for so long failed to hit their targets, instead being blocked by the wall of steel formed by the Yellow Turban Warriors.

Then, to their horror, they discovered that their ray attacks had actually failed to destroy these Alchemy Puppets.

Aside from a few unlucky ones who were focused down by too many rays and disintegrated on the spot, the remaining Alchemy Puppets had only suffered superficial damage.

"What are these things?"

"The magical rays didn’t manage to take them out?"

"Dammit! They’re Silver Tier puppets!"

Before the Eye Demons could react, the still-airborne Yellow Turban Warriors suddenly threw the Golden Melon Hammers in their hands, which smashed into the Eye Demon swarm with a dull, heavy whistle as they cut through the air.

BANG! BANG!

The twenty-odd Eye Demons at the very front were instantly crushed by the heavy Golden Melon Hammers, their bodies collapsing as viscous fluid splattered everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, the Eye Demon side had lost more than twenty of its members.

The spherical corpses fell from the dome, crashing into the chaotic melee below and provoking a wave of shocked cries and angry curses.

The basin had already descended into a full-blown, chaotic battle.

The Elf army was locked in a brutal struggle with the numerous subterranean creatures.

Compared to the subterranean creatures, which were a disorganized mob, the Elves’ formation was much more disciplined and flexible.

They fought in small squads, coordinating with each other seamlessly.

Shield Warriors held the front line, using their Rune-covered shields to block attacks from all directions.

Long Sword wielders followed close behind, delivering fatal strikes from between the gaps in the shield wall.

Archers and Casters provided fire support from the rear, raining arrows and Magic down on the enemy ranks.

The Elves’ overall strength was already far greater than that of these subterranean creatures, not to mention they were bolstered by superior equipment and Talismans.

Weaker subterranean creatures like the Deep Rock Ratmen, Mushroom-men, and Corpse Rot Demons were quickly slaughtered and scattered, fleeing for their lives.

Only the strongest among them—the Di Luo Dwarves, Rock Beast Ghosts, and Eye Demons—were still able to withstand the Elf army’s assault.

The ambushers, who should have had the advantage of a well-rested force attacking a weary one, were now on the defensive.

The scales of the battlefield were tipping at an irreversible rate.

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