The cave entrance curved down, and the stone walls on both sides reflected a faint light

  against the fluorescent moss. Drops of water dripped from the top of the stone walls, making

  a monotonous pattering sound on the cold ground.

  Hardy holds a no-fire handle, a simple magic torch. All you have to do is release the

  "Unextinguished Flame" book on a wooden stick, and that's the torch. It doesn't give off any

  heat, it just lights the way ahead. Vincent was well aware that moving forward in the dark with

  the torch was a beacon for hungry predators, but Hardy, who could not see the road beneath

  him, had to do it -- he said he would rather be eaten than fall in disgrace.

  After generations of living underground, gnomes have gradually developed a certain dark

  vision. Mark walks at the front of the line with a map in his hand. In the Underdark, it is often

  the last person in the line who is attacked first, and Mark is placed in front to protect him.

  Although Vincent does not have natural dark vision, he does not suffer from any visual

  problems in the underworld: his penetrating eyes clearly reflect the complex landscape. He

  carefully guided the lizard around stalagmites rising from the ground, avoiding deep pools

  that appeared to be shallow pools, and walked slowly forward.

  Mark looked at the map again, turned around and said excitedly, "Vincent Hardy, another two

  days' journey should take us to the city of the Grey Dwarves. Then we can have a good rest."

  Vincent smiled slightly and did not take the word "rest" seriously. Although the Grey Dwarves

  are one of the few "good" races in the underworld, their kindness is reserved for two kinds of

  people: themselves and the strong. In the underworld, they are second only to the Dark Elves

  as weapon makers. In particular, the craft of crafting equipment long lost on the surface, but

  still found in the Grey Dwarves of the Underdark, attracts not only dark elves, Minotaurs and

  other creatures to shop for such special equipment, but sometimes even terrestrial human

  caravans who venture here in the hope of making a large fortune on such rare goods.

  High profits are often high risk. The vast majority of these human caravans died on the return

  journey, and the goods they had purchased soon reappeared in the shops of the Grey

  Dwarves. The Grey Dwarves always justified their actions by saying, "We did not deceive them

  in our dealings, but showed them the cruelty of the underworld. They were not killed by the

  Grey Dwarves. The rules of the Underdark killed them."

  Vincent was still thinking about the actions of the Grey Dwarves in his head, but for a moment

  he forgot to look around with insight. It was only after such a short lapse of attention that

  they got into trouble.

  With the help of the permanent darkness here, a lizard comes out from behind the pillar

  beside them, silently but with great speed, and pounced on the lizard led by Vincent.

  A dark shadow flashed out of the corner of the mage's eye. He did not look closely at it. He

  jumped forward and fell. The cargo mounts behind him gave a whine, giving Vincent time to

  turn around.

  A fiery red lizard is gripping its prey by the neck, piercing its sharp teeth into its skin and

  spilling acidic saliva into its veins. He flips his head and, with his powerful jaws, breaks the

  neck bone of his horse.

  Vincent got up from the ground and held out his five fingers to the lizard, muttering a few

  words. The palm of his hand glowed soft white, and a spider web flew out, covering the dead

  lizard and the living lizard.

  As the lizard continued to struggle in the web, Hardy took up his huge stick and leapt high

  from the ground onto the lizard's back. With the force of his leap, Hardy slammed the stick

  into the lizard's hard carapace. With a thud, the lizard's head was hollowed out and some

  broken skin and scales flew away. In the spatter of blood, the giant stick crumbled to pieces

  on its maiden blow.

  "Bastard, Vincent, what weapon have you given me? It's so easy!! Ah ~~ I'll kill you!" Hardy

  glared at Vincent, threw away what was left of the wood, raised his fist the size of a casserole,

  and struck the lizard on the head hard and fast.

  Vincent couldn't help but marvel at Hardy's strength and the lizard's hard skull. He knew

  exactly what kind of hard weapon his magic could make: in terms of strength alone, the giant

  stick was as strong as a regular bar of copper. What a mighty arm it would take to strike it

  once more and shatter it to pieces!

  The scariest thing is that after such a strong impact, the arm does not collapse with countershock force, but again with the frequency of a storm, violently smashes the lizard's head.

  Mark turned, shuddered, pulled a tiny crossbow from his knapsack and shot it at the giant

  lizard. He had only ever seen small cargo lizards in Dwarf City. They were just gentle creatures.

  Though he had heard of giant predatory lizards, it was only when he saw such a huge creature

  standing in front of him that he could feel the horror described in the books. A putrefying

  stench emanating from his bloody mouth made the dwarf cook, who was a superb cook,

  nauseous; And the killing breath of the beast made the dwarf's legs tremble. Mark would have

  turned and run if he hadn't had a shred of resistance behind him.

  So, as you can imagine, the arrow was shot without any aim at all.

  Enraged by the creature on top of it, the lizard writhed and swung its broad shoulders in an

  attempt to drop the creature above its head. Hardy, sensing the lizard's intentions early on,

  clutched the cracks between the beast's scales with both hands and planted himself firmly on

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  its back.

  "I told you to wander! Still wiggle! Don't think that makes me helpless!!" Hardy couldn't spare

  his fists for the attack, but he was annoyed by the guy underneath him. He lifts his head and

  smashes his forehead against the wound on the top of the lizard's head.

  'Ah!! "Whoo ~~!!" Hardy and the lizard simultaneously let out a cry of pain. "What a bitch!

  What's with such a hard head!! It hurts!!" The soldier roared angrily on the lizard's back.

  The lizard felt that it had met a very difficult prey today, and that if one were not careful, his

  life might end up here. He held his head up and his throat swelled.

  "Watch out, he's going to spew acid!!" 'Vincent said, flattening his right hand. Just as the lizard

  was about to open its mouth and spray the acid directly upwards, a lightning bolt shot from

  the mage's fingertip and, with a crackling sound, cut a high-speed trail through the air and

  entered the lizard's neck in an instant.

  The lizard's movements stiffened, and the acid never burst out. The force of the lightning

  pierced the weakest part of the skin on the monster's neck and exploded inside. Like a

  punctured balloon, the lizard's neck exploded with a thud of green acid.

  Hardy quickly rolled off the lizard's back, barely escaping the flying acid. Vincent and Mark

  reflexively roll over and hide behind a rock. The acid splashed on the stone made a zizz sound

  and corroded the small holes. Although the acid was strong, it was still a far cry from the black

  dragon seen that day.

  "Damn thing! Finally solved!" Hardy stood up from the ground in distress. "Vincent, how did

  you make it explode? Do you know this acid is very dangerous ah!"

  Vincent was also wondering, when did the lightning bolt have the explosive power of a fireball?

  He was only using the lightning to numb the nerves in the lizard's neck so that Hardy and

  Mark could attack it. Instead, he explodes the lizard to pieces.

  The mage shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know.

  "Ah! This is going to be very bad. ' Mark comes out from behind another rock and says to

  Vincent, "Our food..."

  The acid spillage landed mostly on the lizards they were carrying, eating away at the saddles.

  It contained the rations the three of them had prepared. Then they were all burned to ashes

  in a murmur.

  "That's all right, aren't we almost in Grey Dwarf City? Won't we have new supplies then?"

  Vincent walked over and patted Mark on the shoulder -- Mark was much taller than his peers,

  and he was the only dwarf Vincent could pat on the shoulder instead of the head.

  "But the money and goods from the elders are in that bag too. It seems that they too will be

  corroded, and there must not be much left to use. ' Mark was worried and said, "How are we

  going to get supplies then?"

  "We'll find a way. Let's see what we have left."

  The three men saved what was left, carefully avoiding the acid on the floor.

  "Hardy, how come you are so strong? "This is the first time I've ever seen a man break a

  lizard's shell with his bare hands," Vincent asked.

  "Ha ha, it's nothing! To tell you a secret, I actually have dragon blood in me." Hardy arches

  his arms and shows off his strong biceps to Mark and Vincent. "It is said that in our ancestors,

  there was a dragon. People in my family have always had all kinds of advantages. Some

  people are knowledgeable and quick to learn; Some people are not afraid of all kinds of

  wounds, always can recover quickly; But I have great strength. Although my ability to control

  this force is not very good, but when I slowly adapt to this advantage, I will become a strong

  soldier. Maybe the best in the world."

  'The best in the world? Never number one." Vincent gave up trying to rummage through the

  goods, straightened up and said, "So you can sneak into the dragon's cave, and this blood is

  inseparable? Did the dragon not detect the breath of other creatures and let you fool him?"

  "What is it?" Hardy quickly waved his hand. "That's because I'm brave. Dragons don't dare say

  anything, ha ha. Oh ha ha."

  There is no sun or moon in the Underdark. It is always dark. But, strangely enough, there is a

  distinct and definite division of day and night. All living things follow their own routines, and

  the same species is active for the same hours everywhere.

  From this information, the underground men also plan out "night" and "day." The Times when

  large carnivores are frequent are the nights that other underground races identify with. This

  is the time when no one walks the Underdark except those who are extremely powerful or

  desperate.

  Vincent and his people are no exception. At night they find a relatively peaceful place to camp

  and do not move forward. Having lost all their rations and been starved, they could not resist

  Hardy's insistent demands and began to grill the red acid lizard. Mark had a hard time

  separating the flesh from the skeleton and cleaning it, and Hardy gathered some stalks of

  giant fungus to use as firewood. Vincent uses the object transformation technique of the

  Creation Rule to shape a rock into a barbecue stand. A few men lit a fire under the stone, and

  thinly sliced lizard meat sizzled on the SLATE, emitting golden grease. Mark takes what little

  seasoning he has left from his rucksack and gently sprinkles it over, turning it over with his

  dagger. This side of the meat, constricted by the heat of the SLATE, shivered and pulsated

  with the hot grease of the plate, emitting an attractive aroma.

  Hardy fixed his eyes firmly on the slice and rubbed his hands back and forth. "I told you this

  was going to be good. Hurry up, Mark! When can I eat it?"

  "Yes, when can we eat it? We'd like to join the party." From behind the three of them came a

  strange voice...