End of the Magic Era

Six lizard tribes, including more than 70,000 members, had pledged loyalty to Lin Yun. A minotaur tribe voluntarily pledged loyalty to him for food. There was also a tribe of dark dwarves, who had pissed off the Blood Elves, and had to escape here. There were altogether five underground races that served him. But the Cave Gnomes and the Red-Skinned Spirit Suckers had the privilege of being sent to the Natural Demiplane.

The lizards, minotaurs, and dark dwarves were all left in the underground world for exploration, investigation, and collection of resources. That was the work which required natives of the underground world.

Lin Yun set up a base in the Tungus Mountain, where he'd found the Cave Gnomes at the beginning. It was nobody's territory anyway, but rather a buffer zone of multiple races. Also, the place was not rich in resources at all, at least not in the eyes of underground creatures…

There were no updates on the 73rd God yet, but the progress on collecting underground resources astounded Lin Yun…

A bag of level-30 mana crystals could be exchanged for food three times its weight. Even so, Darri had complained about the luck of those idiots many times…

Metals that had been preliminarily refined could be exchanged for food of the same weight. As for the unrefined raw ores, it would be lucky if they could exchange 1,000 kilograms of materials for 50 kilograms of food.

Lin Yun knew that food was necessary and high in demand in the underground world. However, he didn't expect it to be in such a shortage.

The special environment of the underground world made it difficult to grow plants, especially edible ones, in this place. There were a lot of plants that contained mana, but most only contained various poisons. Who except the pure dark creatures would eat plants that grew where dark power permeated?

Even the minotaurs, who were famous for their silliness, knew not to put plants that contained dark power into their mouths, or they would die a novel death. Even the dark races knew that they could only eat the dark plants they could name, or else they might be poisoned too.

In such an environment, ordinary food, which contained little mana, and was only for the poor folks in Noscent, was the purest and most uncontaminated food in this place. It was rare in the underground world.

Lin Yun even felt sorry for the exchange rate. A piece of Eternal Dark Gold that weighed 50 kilograms was exchanged for 500 kilograms of food. Well, the minotaur guards who looked out for the exchange thought it was a bargain…

The 50 kilograms of Eternal Dark Gold, after being refined, could yield at least 30 kilograms of pure Eternal Dark Gold, which could be paid to a top Artisan for a tailor-made True Spirit Magic Tool, and no extra materials needed to be offered…

It could be sold for a billion purple gold, or an astronomical amount of food that was enough for a tribe of 10,000 members that had four stomachs like minotaurs to eat for 1,000 years…

Yet, it was only exchanged for 500 kilograms of food, and his subordinates thought that he suffered a loss. Even Lin Yun felt ashamed. Enderfa, who was always fond of taking advantage of others, couldn't bear it any longer after watching for half an hour. It was no different from blatant robbery…

A small city had been established at the edge of the Tungus Mountain for the exchange of food. The wall of the city was only a dozen meters tall, and it was only two kilometers in diameter. It was more of a shabby castle than a city.

Yet, members of many races were entering and exiting the city every day. The minotaurs who had been armed to the teeth patrolled the city with their eyes wide open. 3,000 of them were constantly patrolling the small city. Only those who had brain problems would cause trouble here.

Next to the city was a massive lizard tribe of tens of thousands of members, a dark dwarf tribe of several thousand members, and a minotaur tribe of almost 10,000 members. Everybody knew that causing trouble here would mean a painful death.

Dozens of bodies were hanging in the woods outside of the city. Some were troublemakers, and some were thieves. They were all killed and hung in the woods. The bodies of a dozen Blood Elves were hung in the most obvious spot…

They were all the Blood Elves that had been hunting the dark dwarves. They had been dead for days, but no other Blood Elves came for revenge. Everybody knew that the masters of this place were three dragons, and two of them were pure-blood ones. The last one was a hybrid, but was even more terrifying than the other two…

When Levis, Danason, and Dalton arrived at the city with their men, this was exactly the lively scene they saw.

Bizarre-looking intelligent creatures were entering and exiting the shabby city. Teams of minotaurs that had been armed to the teeth were patrolling nonstop.

"I just exchanged half a bag of mana crystals for 300 kilograms of food. It's called rice, right? How pure and uncontaminated it is. It's also so cheap."

"Indeed. It's said that a merciful and powerful dragon is hoping to build a nest, and those mana crystals will serve as his bed. We're truly lucky to exchange the useless crystals for precious food…"

Before they entered the city, they had heard the underground races remarking. They almost vomited blood.

They all gazed at the locals of the underground world, dumbfounded.

"Damn it, that guy is obviously a robber. He's taking those people for fools. No, those people are truly fools. They're giving precious items away while expressing their gratitude for the greedy man…" Levis finally said after a long time, looking as if he was suffering from constipation.

Dalton blushed, and couldn't help but close his eyes.

Those heretics are truly unimaginably stupid. That fist-sized Halo Gem was only exchanged for one bag of food… Goddamn it!

A fist-sized Halo Gem is good enough to be embedded on the top of my mage tower. What a bunch of wretched idiots…

Danason didn't look very well, either. The underground creatures nearby seemed to have no idea how precious their materials were. They simply held the materials in their hands, not worrying that they might get mugged. They would only get vigilant after they exchanged the materials for food.

In only a couple of minutes, they saw that a huge number of precious materials had been delivered into the city.

They were grimly walking to the city when some patrolling minotaurs stopped them with wide eyes.

The patrolling minotaurs stopped the strangers, and one mumbled, "Who are you? Captain Hans has been observing you for a long time. You're here for trouble, aren't you? See the woods over there? That's the result of causing trouble. You are truly a bizarre-looking race. You don't look very reliable—"

Before he finished, Dalton had already been done waiting.

"Stupid heretics…"

The power of holy light was invoked, and a ball of light hit the minotaur captain in the chest. Immediately, the captain, who was more than three meters tall and weighed 500 kilograms with his armor, was knocked away like a baseball.

Everybody fell quiet. The underground creatures who were waiting in line for the exchange all cleared the space in only three seconds. The patrolling minotaurs all stopped.

Dalton coldly looked at the underground creatures around him. The halo on his skin was rising and falling. As the most famous rabid dog of the Holy Light Alliance, he had been holding back the urge of killing all the heretics in the underground world. However, he couldn't hold any longer when one of them questioned him.

He unleashed the aura of a level-5 Heaven Rank expert, and sprayed the power of holy light without restraint. Immediately, many of the dark creatures felt uncomfortable. Black smoke appeared on their skin, and screams burst out.

The minotaur who had been knocked away rose from the ground and spat a mouthful of blood. Then, he roared loudly, "Damn it, someone is here for trouble! Take them down! Extraordinary creatures are here for trouble!"

After his roar, 3,000 armed minotaurs charged with thick totem poles on their shoulders, even more intimidating than a group of Heaven Rank experts would've been. The earth was trembling. There seemed to be a strange power in the tremors. When they were a kilometer away, some underground creatures were already unable to keep standing. They could only sit on the ground, and watch the minotaurs charge.

Even the creatures that had flown to the sky screamed and fell down. As the minotaurs approached, Dalton's expression changed too. His shield was already shivering when the enemies were a kilometer away, as if some strange power was shaking it. As more and more minotaurs joined the charge, the trembling became more and more violent.

There was a reason why minotaurs were considered as the best vanguard legion in the underground world. If enough minotaurs were charging, even a dragon in their way might be reduced to a pulp of meat. Those ferocious guys could activate a collective ability during the charge, unleashing a power that could break a mountain during the charge!

Dalton gradually turned solemn. He took out his staff and chanted brief spells, launching a rain of light arrows that fell upon the minotaurs.

Unfortunately, the minotaurs simply ignored the light arrows, and kept roaring and charging. When the arrows of light hit the centaurs, they were all shattered into pieces as if they had been smashed brutally.

Seeing that, Dalton's expression completely changed. Danason and Levis, on the other hand, quietly backed off, as if they were drawing a line between them and Dalton.

Levis gloated at Dalton. He had learned a good lesson about the minotaurs, but he didn't say anything…

Have the idiots of the Holy Light Alliance not learned anything? They think they're still in Noscent. The underground world is dominated by the dark power. There's no place for the power of light here.

These minotaurs are even stronger than those I encountered before. They're also equipped with powerful totem poles that are clearly designed for them to fully carry out their abilities.

Even the weakest of the 3,000 minotaurs are as strong as Great Swordsmen. Dozens of them compare to Sword Saints. Even I wouldn't dare to stand in the way of so many minotaurs. Dalton is going to suffer…

If all the minotaurs go berserk, hehe, will Dalton be killed under their hooves?

Levis hid in the crowd and watched the drama, and so did Danason. They only wished that Dalton could make the trouble bigger so that the person behind the curtain would show up. Dalton would take the blame anyway, and it wouldn't be their fault.

Anyone from Noscent should know that the rabid dogs of the Holy Light Alliance were unreasonable.

Failing to kill the minotaurs with one attack, Dalton looked rather awful, and couldn't help but make use of extraordinary power. The Heart of Luminosity released its power, and a pillar of light fell from the sky and shrouded him while he chanted a spell solemnly.

Soon, the light gathered into an awe-inspiring deity behind Dalton. The deity extended one of his hands, and smashed at the charging minotaurs.

The moment the hand was extended, it quickly expanded to 100 meters in length. The pressure was so terrifying that many weak dark creatures couldn't resist the power of holy light, and screamed nonstop.

The army of minotaurs had gained all their momentum during the charge. Instantly, they made the same movement by wielding the totem poles that they had been carrying on their shoulder.

Immediately, the aura around the 3,000 minotaurs turned corporeal. The dark red aura gathered into the illusion of a gigantic minotaur 300 meters tall above their head. Around the illusion, all things were shattered. The stones that touched it were instantly reduced to powder. The spells that touched it were neutralized too.

Facing the glowing hand, the illusion of the bloody minotaur wielded the totem pole on his shoulder, and smashed out brutally.

With a boom, the totem pole exploded, and the illusion of the gigantic minotaur disappeared. However, the glowing deity seemed to have been hit by a terrifying power, and exploded after shivering a bit. Dalton couldn't help but take two steps back.

Although it was only two steps, Dalton's eyes turned bloodshot. As a level-5 Heaven Rank expert and one of the leaders of the Holy Light Alliance, he was forced to take two steps back by the minotaurs who were no stronger than Sword Saints. It was a humiliation!

Dalton took two steps back, and the minotaurs' charge was disrupted. The momentum they gathered was gone, but none of them was hurt.

Dalton, infuriated, was about to kill the minotaurs with an extraordinary spell when he was filled by a terrifying feeling of crisis.

In the sky, five magic battleships appeared without a sound, and their main cannons and secondary cannons were all charged. They were all aimed at Dalton.

As more and more energy gathered in the cannons, Dalton's feeling of crisis was more and more ominous. He knew that he would be dead for sure if the magic battleships fired. There was no way he could defend himself.

Seeing that the situation was about to go too far, Levis finally ran out.

"This is all a misunderstanding. We're from the same place as your lord is. We're hoping to visit him."

The beast next to Danason, which looked like a lion but had a tail that was a snake, snarled, and solemnly stared at the magic battleships in the sky.

Danason's expression changed, and he looked at the five magic battleships in shock.

Damn it. What's that? Iron warships? When have Noscent's iron warships become so powerful? My partner said that the five warships that are gathering mana can kill him…

Dalton is truly an idiot. We're here for cooperation, not for trouble. This rabid dog doesn't even know whom he's challenging, yet he's causing trouble so easily. Does he really think he's in the Holy Light Alliance's territory?

"Sir Dalton, please calm down. We're here to cooperate, not to fight. This is not the Holy Light Alliance's territory. Please remember that, or our cooperation will have to end here."

Dalton put on an awful expression. He gloomily looked at the five magic battleships above his head, and finally moved back regretfully.

Dalton stopped fighting, and the five magic battleships in the sky disappeared, as if they had never been there. However, at this moment, everybody from the three forces could feel that something invisible was lurking in the sky.

The confrontation was over, and the exchange of food continued. None of the underground creatures considered the previous conflict a big deal. However, many dark creatures gazed at Dalton when they passed by, as if they were trying to remember his look.

Human beings were not a large group in the underground world. There were human beings in the underground world, but they could only hide in remote places, and were incapable of expanding their territory. The underground world was not suitable for the survival of humankind anyway…