Chapter 941: Underground City

There were likely no demihuman kings residing near or in the area assigned to the Divine Tower of Dark Flame.

The emergence of such a king would have inevitably given rise to a demihuman kingdom in the region.

It would have also prompted his subjects to formally report their existence to the divine towers and knightly orders investigating the area.

Nevertheless, the Ylli Knight Alliance’s vast territory made it almost certain that Rank Four or higher demihumans existed within the underground space under its jurisdiction.

Much like the sea races, demihuman kingdoms occasionally agreed to participate in interplanar wars when invited by nearby divine towers and knightly orders.

That said, such collaborations were extremely rare.

As humans—especially those raised on the surface of the Magus World—the mages and knights of the divine towers and knightly orders often harbored deep-seated prejudice against sea races and demihumans alike.

“If they are not of our kind, they cannot be trusted”

—this sentiment persisted even though both sea races and demihumans were native to the Magus World.

Even Sein himself harbored a poor impression of demihumans, likely due to the numerous near-death encounters he had experienced at the hands of these underground creatures during his initiate days.

As he descended into the underground world through the Malthor Trench, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, briefly considering the prospect of collecting demihuman specimens along the way.

To Sein, demihumans were no different from the Magus World’s magic beasts or sea races.

***

Not many mages possessed survival experience in the underground world as extensive as Sein’s.

Among the group of elite mages from the Divine Tower that Sein had brought along, many were exploring the depths of the Underworld for the very first time in their lives.

Glowing lumenstone veins, peculiar underground plants, and mutated species of magic beasts—though not particularly magnificent—still captivated the mages unfamiliar with such sights, leaving them staring in quiet awe.

“I heard that Dean Sein had impressed the tower master because he ventured into the underground world during the Gumo Plane War and made significant contributions to the war’s resolution.”

A few mages gossiped with each other via mental focus.

The sheer vastness of the Underworld made it impossible for any individual mage to fully explore, even with the assistance of focus-radiation techniques and specialized detection magic.

Shortly after entering the underground space, Sein organized his mages into groups.

Rank Two mages served as the core of each group, leading several Rank One mages. They were then dispatched to explore different branches of the sprawling passages.

Like the magic beast forests of the surface, the Underworld also followed the law of the jungle.

Underground creatures that had reached Rank One or higher generally possessed enough intelligence to recognize the authority wielded by the divine towers and knightly orders.

Unless they had a screw loose, most creatures would think twice before provoking divine tower mages from the surface.

In Sein’s estimation, the mission was not particularly dangerous—just tedious.

Considering the scale of the northern Ylli Knight Alliance’s efforts, with dozens of divine towers and knightly orders mobilized, the collective forces involved in the investigation numbered in the tens of thousands.

Sein had little expectation that his team would be the ones to stumble upon the rumored spatial fluctuation, let alone a space-time rift.

***

Since Sein was the strongest in his group and had a personality that leaned toward keeping his distance from unfamiliar low-ranking mages, he divided all the Divine Tower of Dark Flame mages under his command into smaller groups and sent them out.

As usual, he chose to work alone.

That said, he was not truly alone. Yuri, along with her upgraded mecha, was stored within the space necklace hanging around Sein’s neck.

The cramped and dark conditions of the underground world—compounded by jagged stalactites jutting at odd angles—made it unsuitable for her mecha to operate effectively.

For this reason, Sein refrained from letting her out.

Ever since Azelia somehow discovered what had happened between Yuri and Sein, the fox maiden had become visibly envious.

Like Yuri, Azelia eventually came to realize her feelings for Sein as she matured, and perhaps even harbored a quiet yearning for him.

Unfortunately, her relatively low strength meant she was rarely included in Sein’s missions.

Instead, the fox maiden was placed in charge of managing Sein’s household and laboratories.

Sein had to admit that among his three female servants, Azelia was the most meticulous and reliable in domestic duties.

The dark environment of the Underworld did not affect Sein’s vision much.

After three months of exploration, Sein had yet to detect any unusual spatial fluctuations, just as he had expected.

However, he managed to collect numerous unique specimens of flora and fauna from the Underworld.

The environment of the area assigned to the Divine Tower of Dark Flame was starkly different from that of the Darwell Region.

The native demihuman species in this area also differed greatly. Among them, the most distinctive were the peculiar green-haired dwarves that inhabited the dark valleys and underground caves.

Even with his extensive knowledge, Sein had never encountered any mention of these green-haired dwarves in the divine tower library, which only heightened his curiosity.

Hence, he decided to collect more specimens of this rare species and gave them the name “Green Hairy Dwarves”.

Physically, the Green Hairy Dwarves were remarkably strong. An adult dwarf’s strength was nearly three times that of an average human adult in the Magus World.

Unfortunately, their intelligence and elemental sensitivity were severely lacking, and they continued to live in primitive tribal structures.

Sein examined the crude farming tools they had crafted and concluded that even an average child on the surface world would show more ingenuity.

Their poor creativity and inability to sense elemental energy effectively rendered them incapable of becoming mages.

A sudden idea struck Sein: what if he taught these demihumans to harness battle qi?

Given their innate physical strength, the cultivation path of knights might actually be well-suited for them.

He could not help but wonder about the power system developed by the demihuman kingdoms ruled by Rank Four or higher kings in the Magus World.

The vast and magnificent Magus World harbored far too many secrets and unknowns, all waiting to be unraveled by Sein.

Beyond collecting demihuman specimens, Sein employed mental focus interrogation techniques on the more intelligent underground creatures he encountered, extracting every piece of information they could provide.

As his mission progressed, Sein made his way toward an underground city known as Baras.

According to the information he had gathered, Baras was the largest settlement in the region he was currently exploring.

It was home to a diverse array of demihuman races and many dark creatures of considerable intelligence.

This place reminded him of Mystralora City, where he had spent his youth. However, he was not particularly concerned about encountering black mages in Baras.

He planned to gather valuable information from the city’s civilized inhabitants, rather than aimlessly wandering the Underworld.

Of course, there was another reason—one that Sein was reluctant to admit.

Baras would provide access to a far richer variety of underground creature specimens all in one place, saving him the time and effort of collecting them from scattered settlements.