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Chapter 448: No Way Back
Clang!
The gray dwarf captain Morak took a step back, feeling Jifan's increasing strength but stubbornly held his ground.
If Jifan, struck by lightning, did not retreat, Morak couldn't admit defeat either.
Gray dwarves, being dwarves, were inherently stubborn!
Retreating would mean yielding, and he absolutely didn't want to beg the drow elves.
"They're nothing but the toys of the evil goddess Lolth!"
Despite their numerical advantage, the gray dwarf warriors couldn't do much against the modified warriors.
In terms of strength and physique, they were at an absolute disadvantage!
If not for their incredible defense and shields, they would have been pierced by the mithril spears long ago.
Even so, the shields distributed by the drow elves were riddled with holes.
Many gray dwarf warriors were already injured.
Even they hadn't expected these tall human warriors to be so ferocious.
At that moment, a warm golden light descended, enveloping the gray dwarf warriors.
Level 5 SpellāMass Healing!
The wounded gray dwarf warriors quickly recovered.
A transparent red glow surrounded each of them.
They felt reinvigorated, their desire for battle surging as they roared and charged forward.
Level 6 SpellāMass Strength Surge!
However, even with the boost, the gray dwarves' maximum strength only reached 19 points, and their weakened state didn't improve.
They launched a fierce assault for about a minute. Under Jifan's command, the modified warriors briefly retreated to their initial defensive position, avoiding the attack.
The gray dwarves, who had been momentarily roused, soon reverted to their exhausted state, unable to breach the modified warriors' defenses.
The gray dwarf captain Tieta's expression changed. Gripping his weapon tightly, he growled through gritted teeth:
"Kill!!"
Feeling the raging thunder surging into his body and sensing its impact on his functions, Jifan smiled as he blocked the attack and taunted without hesitation:
"Don't overestimate yourselves. You're just cannon fodder for the drow elves."
"Oh, maybe slightly more valuable cannon fodder, but still fodder."
Bang!
After their clash, gray dwarf captain Tieta couldn't help but stagger back, his hands trembling slightly.
Jifan's massive shield hammered down, transferring all the collision's pressure onto Tieta.
Once again, Jifan felt the sting of resource scarcity.
"Hah, even the last ogre was smarter than you. At least they knew not to fight too hard for the drow elvesā¦"
"Iron needs food, and hunger is unbearable! How long have you been starving?"
"A few more of you have fallen. Those drow elves back there show no intention of supporting you. It won't be long before you all die hereā¦"
Jifan, continuously employing psychological tactics, sensed the growing irritation of gray dwarf captain Tieta and couldn't help but praise his training instructors.
This was truly professional and practical!
Seeing that the gray dwarves couldn't break through, the drow elf commander Lyria pondered the origins of these humans. She raised her staff and pointed at a wall about 30 meters down the passage.
A surge of magic struck the rocky wall above.
The once-sturdy rock began to melt under the spell's influence, turning into loose soil and falling away.
Transmute Rock to Mud!
Witnessing this, the drow elf soldiers, awed by commander Lyria's spellcasting abilities, rushed forward to direct the lazy ogres to dig through the soil.
The half-satiated ogres, seeing they didn't have to fight, happily began digging.
Though clumsy and inexperienced at excavation, their brute strength quickly created a large hole.
When the soil was cleared but solid rock remained behind, the ogres prepared to slack off again.
Commander Lyria didn't hesitate. With a casual wave of her hand, the cave's rocky interior turned to mud once more.
While opening a new path, commander Lyria, now taking the modified warriors seriously, watched the failed "Message" spell. She muttered thoughtfully:
"Has that fool Sera already died? Well, it might not be a bad thing!"
...ā¦
A brilliant blue spell light dimmed just as it was about to shine.
Crushing the "Message" scroll in frustration, drow elf commander Sera exclaimed:
"Another spell failure? How is this possible?"
Before she could complain further, the howls of gnolls drew closer and closer.
The remaining drow elf soldiers held their ground in a shattered stone house filled with corpses.
Just ten minutes earlier, they had been besieging the gnolls.
Now, the tables had turned.
The offensive and defensive roles had reversed!
What terrified the drow elves more was that the gnolls before them represented only a small fraction of the area's forces.
If they couldn't break through soon, more gnolls would inevitably arrive.
At that point, they would likely become the gnolls' slaves or prisoners!
They might be eaten, tortured to death, or worse.
For the prideful drow elves, such an outcome was an immense humiliation.
Commander Sera personally led her guards in a desperate fight.
After a tough struggle, they managed to repel the gnolls.
Gasping for breath and bandaging reopened wounds, Sera felt utterly despondent.
The scouts sent to request reinforcements had yet to return.
Whether intercepted by enemies or ignored by commander Lyria, the result was the same.
Gazing at the 200 remaining drow elf soldiers and listening to the sporadic battle cries outside, commander Sera made up her mind.
Break out!
With this decision, Sera tore open a gray-black scroll and shouted in a grim tone:
"If you don't want to die here, fight your way out!"
As her words fell, a subtle wave spread from the torn scroll.
All the surrounding drow elves gradually entered a state of invisibility.
Ten seconds laterā¦
The drow elves stealthily rushed out.
Amid the intense battle criesā¦
Some wounded drow elves were sniffed out by sharp-nosed gnolls and hacked into pieces.
Others used the distraction to quietly escape the encirclement.
Before they could reach the entranceā¦
They froze in their tracks.
The once-dark cave entrance was now blocked by a camp.
Thousands of kobolds and over a dozen bizarre golems were busily working there.
This wasn't even the worst part. What truly shocked them wasā¦
A human army of over a thousand had completely sealed off the area.
There was no way back!
Behind them, a large group of kobolds rapidly closed in.