Chapter 560: The Underground Invasion He Personally Unleashed
A flicker of fear passed through his eyes as the Cole Elf Commander stared blankly at the approaching Matthew.
Noticing his burly and towering figure, absurd thoughts surged into his mind.
"He's not a gray dwarf! But the gray dwarves follow his orders—who exactly is he?"
"What is this power? Is he a Legendary Spellcaster?"
"No matter what, Black Crow Fortress must not fall, and we must find a way to get the message out!"
"..."
The chaotic thoughts surged all at once, eventually transforming into a wave of force, condensing into the battle aura that burst out from the Cole Elf Commander.
Emerald green light spread outward, bringing some pressure to Matthew.
The originally high mana consumption suddenly became even faster.
Unfortunately, when facing high-level temporal power, no matter how hard he struggled, he was completely suppressed.
The Cole Elf Commander could only watch helplessly as Sera slashed down more than ten elf warriors and charged at him with an unstoppable stance.
Then, under his gaze, she coldly aimed at his neck.
Swing the blade!
Crack!
His spinning head, accompanied by gushing blood, rolled twice before falling onto the city wall.
Such a shocking scene instantly shattered the morale of the elf warriors on the verge of collapse.
Fear and dread suddenly invaded their minds, and whispers urging them to flee echoed around their ears.
However, most of the Cole Elf warriors only felt their blood surge and madly launched an assault on Matthew and Sera, as if preparing to avenge their commander.
Looking at the hatred and rage in their eyes, Matthew said calmly:
"They've done this to others many times before."
"Now that it's happening to them, they can't take it—how laughable."
Hearing this, Sera naturally understood the Lord's meaning and rushed forward without hesitation.
A brutal massacre ensued!
Dozens of panicked Cole Elf warriors watched the gray dwarf warriors jump down from the siege tower, and their companions fall into bitter combat.
They could no longer suppress their fear and worry, fleeing without hesitation.
Unfortunately, they were too late—gray elf modified warriors in the shadows had been waiting for a long time.
As a steady stream of gray dwarf warriors surged onto the walls, the agile Cole Elf warriors were quickly encircled.
They were struck down and killed at incredible speed.
In no time at all, every Cole Elf warrior had been dealt with.
Black Crow Fortress, which had guarded the passageway for nearly five thousand years, fell for the first time.
When the battle ended, countless gray dwarves, eyes bloodshot, stared fiercely at the trembling Cole Elves inside the stronghold.
In the end, they didn't strike but obediently followed orders and rushed to the fortress's warehouses and hidden chambers.
They needed to acquire more wealth and resources as quickly as possible to cover the costs of this battle and prepare for the great escape ahead.
Prince Kreiser nodded in satisfaction. The disciplined behavior of the gray dwarf warriors showed they were getting closer to becoming true soldiers.
Of course, Prince Kreiser still felt heartache for the nearly 3,000 casualties.
Thankfully, the Vitality Potions and healing scrolls provided by Bay Territory had saved the lives of most of the wounded.
The final estimated losses in battle were around 1,300.
The gray dwarf warriors had slain 3,000 elite Cole Elf warriors while suffering much lighter losses themselves.
This was undoubtedly a great victory!
Prince Kreiser believed that after such a grueling battle, although the soldiers had suffered losses, their combat power would definitely be stronger than before.
In the past, the same number of gray dwarf warriors wouldn't have even been able to break through the gates of Black Crow Fortress—they would have faced another crushing defeat.
But precisely because of this, he became even more "wary" of Bay Territory.
In just over half a month of training, the progress of the gray dwarf warriors was visible to the naked eye.
What about the Bay Territory army that had been training and fighting continuously?
What level of strength did they possess?
This was also why Prince Kreiser chose to continue trusting Sera.
As he watched Sera command the gray dwarf soldiers to capture all the Cole Elves, he couldn't help but observe the gray elf standing beside her, waves of thought rising in his heart.
He had clearly seen earlier that these gray elves, when facing high-level Cole Elf warriors, had absolute advantages in both speed and strength.
Each one easily killed more than ten Cole Elf warriors without suffering any casualties themselves.
More precisely, their injuries had healed shortly after they appeared.
Such exaggerated regeneration made Prince Kreiser involuntarily think of trolls.
Even if not every Bay Territory warrior possessed this special ability, if only a few did, it was enough to change the battlefield situation and form a terrifying unit.
Prince Kreiser even suspected that Sera and these gray elves were part of this special unit!
He was right, but there was no reward for guessing correctly—on the contrary, he had to quickly clean up the battlefield and begin contacting other gray dwarf forces.
When news spread that Prince Kreiser had taken Black Crow Fortress—
The first reaction from the other gray dwarf forces was disbelief.
"Are you kidding? With just those lunkheads under Kreiser, they took Black Crow Fortress from the Cole Elves?"
"That's definitely a lie! It might be a trap set up to target us."
"That actually makes sense—with his strength, there's no way he beat the Cole Elf Kingdom."
"Though I've heard the Cole Elf Kingdom isn't doing too well—they're currently fighting the eastern Ail Elves..."
"So that punk Kreiser just happened to pick up a bargain?"
"Seems like it's true. I just received word from my men—Kreiser's group captured many elf slaves..."
"Elf slaves? Looks like they really won. That's incredible..."
"That guy's struck gold. The surface world is insanely rich..."
"What should we do? Try again?"
"I'd like to, but I doubt you've got the guts. Last time you ran off faster than anyone..."
"Ahem... Let's not put it that way. Last time, there clearly wasn't a chance of winning!"
"And this time, there is?"
"..."
Just as they were getting restless, Wog sent envoys to deliver news of a joint operation.
This caused a stir across the entire underground world.
Most of the gray dwarf forces regarded the joint proposal with both suspicion and greed.
They feared the strength shown by Prince Kreiser's troops but were also eager to claim a share of the surface world's riches.
The longing for the warm sun had been a dream pursued by the gray dwarves for thousands of years.
Yet they still harbored serious doubts as to whether this was a trap.
However, the situation quickly changed.
With various intentions, the gray dwarf forces began sending envoys to Prince Kreiser.
Soon, they received news that was both infuriating and tantalizing.
"If you're willing, join us in plundering the surface world."
"Each force must provide 30,000 gray dwarf slaves, and we take 50% of all captured elf slaves and other gains!"
It was an outrageous demand.
It was basically working for Prince Kreiser.
However, the leaders of the gray dwarf forces quickly learned—
Prince Kreiser had not only captured forty to fifty thousand elf slaves, but had also seized massive amounts of food, weapons, and gear.