This underworld is far from peaceful.
The war between the drow and the undead intensifies.
The flames of war spread to the surrounding areas, affecting even Alan's region.
Bad news arrives one after another.
First, the water source around Orlando Castle becomes contaminated by negative energy, causing those who drink it to fall ill and die within three days.
The souls of the deceased, unable to rest in peace, transform into zombies.
Then, the magic stone mines are seized by drow forces, depriving Orlando Castle of its most important source of income. If this continues, even survival becomes impossible.
To make matters worse, the mistress of the underworld and the lord of the undead both send letters to Alan with ultimatums, forcing him to choose sides.
In truth, Alan doesn't want to side with either.
However, born in troubled times and lacking sufficient strength, how can he still hope to remain neutral?
What a pipe dream!
On the Undead side, their leaders are two necromancers from the same school.
William and Spencer are both in the early fifth stage of cultivation.
The Dark Elves are led by Matron Elina, a priestess of the Night Queen (Goddess of Night), who is in the late fifth stage of cultivation.
Comparing the strength of both sides, the Undead have a stronger force and can transform corpses into undead, increasing their numbers with each battle.
On the Underdungeon side, their total forces may not match the Undead, but they are more elite and skilled, with greater high-end combat power.
Matron Elina alone is as powerful as both William and Spencer!
Orlando, Alan's nominal boss, is from the Underdungeon and should naturally side with Matron Elina.
However, if Orlando were still alive, he would definitely not want to return to the Underdungeon!
Don't forget, this guy is a fugitive convicted of assassinating my cousin, and the reward is posted on the city wall!
Madam Elina, if you apprehend this murderer who dared to murder the priestess, he will definitely suffer.
Considering this, joining the undead seems like a better option.
Alan wrote back to the necromancer brothers in Orlando's name, offering to pledge his loyalty in exchange for relative independence.
However, his offer was met with ruthless ridicule!
William and Spencer ignored his small force.
In their letter, they arrogantly distrusted his verbal pledge of allegiance.
If Alan truly surrendered, he would have to prove his sincerity.
The method of proof was brutal.
Alan must lead all of Orlando Castle's subordinates to the undead dungeon, ascend the "sacrificial altar," and collectively transform into undead.
Only in this way could he gain William and Spencer's trust.
Alan hadn't lived long enough, so of course he couldn't accept the necromancers' terms!
He had no choice but to surrender to the dark elves.
At least he could maintain his human identity.
After a series of correspondence, Alan finally gained an audience with Matron Elina.
He journeyed alone to the Underdungeon and, before the radiantly tanned and stunningly beautiful Matron Elina, he pledged his allegiance.
To prove his sincerity, Alan offered to offer Orlando's head as atonement for the priestess he murdered, if Matron Elina accepted his surrender and allowed him to continue managing Orlando Castle.
After all, Orlando had long since died, transformed into a fungus beast.
Borrowing his head and utilizing its surplus value wouldn't be bad.
Mistress Elina initially expressed satisfaction with his proposal and enthusiastically invited him to the banquet.
Alan specially changed into a respectable formal suit to attend the banquet.
On arrival at the banquet hall, he discovered that the party was nothing like he had imagined.
The dark elves attending, including the hostess, Elina, were all naked.
So when Alan appeared at the silver party in a tuxedo, white shirt, and a neat bow tie...
He looked incredibly funny, immediately drawing laughter from the room.
To protect his own territory, Alan could tolerate being teased.
He could also bravely attend the dark elves' licentious gatherings.
Mistress Elina was the organizer of the party and enjoyed whipping her companions to liven things up.
Alan, the outsider, was a refreshing addition, perfectly suited to her quirks.
A guest must follow the host's wishes. Allen could only obey Mistress Elina's wishes and serve as her playmate.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Allen couldn't assassinate Elina, so he could only endure her whipping and rape.
This wasn't the first time Allen had experienced this in the Meditation World.
Based on past experience, he knew he couldn't be too conspicuous.
Otherwise, Mistress Elina might get addicted and decide to keep him by her side as a male concubine, which would backfire.
However, he couldn't be too lame and spoil Mistress Elina's fun, which could lead to his own death!
So, Allen deliberately acted moderately.
Just enough to satisfy Mistress Elina, but not enough to surprise her.
He thought this would get him by.
But he still underestimated the drow tradition of female superiority over male inferiority, and underestimated Mistress Elina's perversion and viciousness!
"Handsome boy, you did quite well tonight."
"Drink this, and have a sweet dream!"
After the flirtation, Mistress Elina smiled and handed him a glass of wine.
Alan took the goblet, and the system immediately issued a warning.
The wine was drugged!
To be more precise, it was a tiny parasite called a "Demon Devourer Ant."
It infested the human body, madly devouring its host's magic power.
If the host was a spellcaster, every morning when they opened their eyes, their magic power had been drained by the parasite, leaving them useless.
Alan saw Elina's sinister intentions, but remained calm and drank the poisoned wine in front of her.
His virus resistance was enough to kill the Demon Devourer Ant once it entered his body.
But Elina would not allow him to leave the Underdungeon alive.
Through telepathy, Allen saw through Madam Elina's sinister intentions.
The terms of cooperation she had verbally agreed to him were nothing but lies.
Madam Elina intended to use demon-devouring ants to disable Allen's spellcasting ability and imprison him in the dungeon to serve as food for the spider elves.
As for Orlando Castle, she would send a trusted confidant to take over, without needing an outsider like Allen as an agent.
Alan saw through Madam Elina's intentions and, disillusioned, feigned a loss of magic power and was imprisoned by two guards in a cell.
Tomorrow at this time, he would be transported to the Spider's Lair.
The cell was enclosed under a barrier, restricting any teleportation magic.
Thankfully, Allen was able to cast "Vapor Form," transforming into a cloud of vapor, passing through the cell's vents and escaping overnight.
Back at Orlando Castle, Allen felt a chill in his heart.
Neither the drow nor the undead wanted to see him.
Now he was being bullied by both sides, with nowhere else to turn. He couldn't even kneel down and act like a dog.
"In this treacherous world, upright people don't deserve to live!"
"Apart from hardening my heart and joining the demons, fighting violence with violence, evil with evil, what other choice do I have?!"
Alan questioned the ancestral spirit he had merged with.
The ancestral spirit was speechless.
The young ogre wizard finally faced the harsh reality.
Giving up his last ditch effort, he left his fate to Alan.
And so, Alan returned to the underground chamber and opened the Abyss Mirror.
"Handsome boy, it's nice to see you again. It seems you've figured things out."
The Fire Demon General in the mirror smiled with a wise and confident smile.
"Next, I'll teach you two sets of spells."
"The first set of spells will shrink the magic mirror so you can carry it with you."
"The second set of spells, recited while shining the magic mirror on a recently deceased person, will expend a small amount of magic power to bind their soul within the mirror and use it as a sacrifice."
"Once you've memorized these two sets of spells, you can use the Abyss Magic Mirror to exchange for any Tanar'ri warrior you desire at any time."
"Trust me, young man, this will be the best deal you'll ever make!"
...
Half an hour later.
Alan, carrying the magic mirror, now palm-sized, left the underground chamber.
Next, he wanted to conduct an experiment.
Test whether the rules of soul trading were truly as fair as Anzus claimed.
Alan chose the ten deserters he had captured yesterday as his first sacrifices.
These cowardly kobolds must have heard these rumors from somewhere.
Believing Orlando Castle to be under a joint siege by the drow and undead, they planned to flee.
Alan dispatched his loyal minotaur guards to capture the kobolds and imprison them in the dungeon.
Now, it was time to put these deserters to good use.
After killing ten kobolds, Alan held the magic mirror, facing the corpses, and chanted a spell.
At the same time, the magic mirror drained 10 points of magic power from Alan's body.
Immediately, a pale halo shone on the mirror, sucking the kobold souls into it and sealing them away.
Following Anzus's instructions, Alan sacrificed these souls.
A table appeared on the magic mirror, listing the demonic mercenaries available for exchange.
A kobold is one of the weakest creatures in the Underdark, barely a first-class soldier.
The only troops that could be exchanged were the Burning Legion's first-tier units. There were two candidates: the Demon Child and the Suicide Demon.
The Demon Child was a mutant imp with poor combat capabilities, but it could become invisible and remotely absorb the enemy's magic power.
Alan had seen the Suicide Demon in Sonia's meditation world.
A true "self-propelled bomb," a literal cannon fodder!
Having already seen the Suicide Demon, there was no need to summon it.
Ten Kobold souls, all exchanged for the Demon Child.
After Alan sacrificed his soul, the magic mirror emitted a red beam.
It projected onto the ground, automatically generating a summoning circle that communicated with the Abyss.
Accompanied by a burst of laughter, ten red-skinned monsters teleported in front of Alan.
The Demon Child looked like a group of mischievous six or seven-year-old children, with a dark red complexion.
Naked, with tiny arms and legs.
A large, round head perched on its neck.
When they laughed, their mouths full of sharp teeth revealed their ferocious nature.
On the backs of the demon children, a pair of short wings emerged. They couldn't support long-distance flight, but they could assist with leaps and short-distance gliding.
Ten demon children stood in a row in front of Alan, standing at attention.
If you ignored their playful nature, they were quite well-behaved.
Alan walked forward and placed his hand on the forehead of a demon child, pretending to cast a spell.
In reality, he was secretly activating his "telepathy" to detect the demon child's thoughts and, incidentally, using the system, to check its physical attributes.
The demon children's minds were filled with mischievous thoughts.
Their evil was reflected in their lack of empathy, finding joy in the mischief of others. They were purely self-defeating!
But to say they're too bad... not really.
‐‐ It's mainly because the demon boy is too weak, not qualified to be a villain.
‐‐ The demon boy's attributes are seriously biased!
‐‐Const 7, Agility 16, Spirit 16
Both Agility and Spirit are good, but their physique is woefully weak!
The "child" in the name "demon boy" means they only have the physique of a child.
‐‐With such a small body, they can't even be competent cannon fodder.
‐‐The demon boy's strengths lie in two supernatural talents.
‐‐"I heard you can steal magic power? Let's test it now."
Alan hooked his finger at the demon boy at the head of the group, asking him to use the same trick on him.
‐‐The demon boy is truly heartless and disrespectful.
‐‐He has no respect for his boss at all.
‐‐Alan told him to steal, and he just went about it with a laugh!
With a wave of his hand, a ball of light rose from his palm, locking onto Allen and forming an invisible magic siphon.
Alan felt a slight dizziness, which quickly subsided.
He opened the system page to check his magic power level.
Sure enough, one point of magic power was missing!
Across from the demon child, a red spot of light appeared within the white ball of light in his hand.
This indicated that he had successfully absorbed one point of magic power.
"Only one point of magic power?" Allen frowned and complained. "That's too wasteful!"
After some in-depth testing, coupled with mental communication with the demon child, Allen finally figured it out.
The demon child's special ability, "Magic Siphon," can be used three times a day.
Any magical creature within the demon child's field of vision, including sorcerers, can be targeted.
How much magic power can be stolen at once?
There's no set limit.
It mainly depends on the target's mental resistance.
If the target's mental attributes are significantly higher than the demon child's, at least one point of magic power can be stolen, so there's always a chance of not returning empty-handed.
Alan's own test falls into this category.
Additionally, when the demon child successfully steals magic power, it can use it to activate the invisibility skill.
Each magic point consumed grants one minute of invisibility.
When the cumulative amount of stolen magic power reaches 5, the demon child can use the genuine second-level "Invisibility" skill—which lasts longer and can even bless others!
All in all, the demon child's special skills are quite good.
Especially when there are enough demon children, hundreds of them stealing magic power at the same time, even Alan can't handle it and be drained dry in a few strokes!
"It seems I need to exchange for more demon children."
Alan turned his head and looked out the window at the kobold camp.
A hint of coldness flashed in his eyes.
The individual combat effectiveness of the kobolds was slightly stronger than that of the demon boy.
When you factor in the demon boy's "magic absorption" and "invisibility" abilities, the kobolds were far behind.
However, in addition to fighting, the kobolds could also mine and perform hard labor, while the demon boy was incapable of such rough labor.
Furthermore, slaughtering one's own men for no reason would have a significant impact on the morale of the troops. If the subordinates learned of this, they would undoubtedly desert.
Alan shook his head slightly, dismissing the idea of attacking his own men.
So, were there any other ways to quickly and massively acquire souls for sacrifice?
After a moment's thought, Alan came up with a brilliant idea to reap the benefits.
Thirty miles north of Orlando Castle, there was a magicite mine. Originally Alan's property, it was now occupied by the dark elves.
The undead also coveted this rich magicite mine and mobilized a large army. To capture it.
The leaders were none other than the necromancers William and Spencer.
William was a effeminate, feminine man who favored makeup and wore vibrant red robes. At first glance, he resembled a sorceress.
His fellow apprentice and close friend, Spencer, was a completely different character.
A two-meter-tall, burly man with a bald head covered in tattoos, he wore armor and slung a greatsword as wide as a door panel across his back.
Though a necromancer, he dressed like a barbarian.
As you can imagine, Spencer was more adept at close combat than spellcasting.
The two necromancers were determined to seize the magicite mines.
They dispatched troops of levels 1 to 4, totaling 2,000!
The vast majority of them were level 1 soldiers: skeletons and zombies, pure cannon fodder and human shields, expendable on the battlefield.
Occasionally, a nimble figure flashed by among the skeletons and zombies.
These humanoid monsters crawling along the ground were the Undead's second-tier troops, the "Ghouls."
Ghouls possessed high attack power and agility.
The toxins secreted from their sharp claws could paralyze the injured.
Their overall strength was exceptional among the second-tier troops, making them the core combat force of the Undead.
Above the dark mass of the Undead army, pale wraiths floated.
These incorporeal undead were the Undead's third-tier troops.
Wraiths were the souls of those who had died suddenly, transformed by negative energy.
They floated through the air, appearing and disappearing, unpredictable.
Wraiths lacked physical form.
Physical attacks against them had at least a 50% chance of being avoided.
Finally, there's the 4th-tier unit, the Corpse Hag, occupying the back row of the Undead Army!
A Corpse Hag is a variant of the Corpse Demon, transformed from the corpse of a spellcaster.
A Corpse Hag has lost most of its memories from life, including its spellcasting ability, but it still retains its mana pool.
A Corpse Hag's mana pool has been contaminated by negative energy, causing it to mutate.
They can expend mana to cast "Death Cloud."
"Death Cloud" looks very similar to a 3rd-level "Poison Cloud" spell, spreading a large area.
In addition to its decaying toxins, "Death Cloud" also contains a high concentration of negative energy. While harmless to the undead, it inflicts vicious necrotic damage to the living.
The bodies of those killed by "Death Cloud" must be disposed of promptly.
If possible, purify them with holy water; otherwise, simply burn them.
Otherwise, the contaminated corpse will transform into a zombie within a few days! Compared to the mighty Undead army, the Dark Elves guarding the mines were clearly outnumbered by an order of magnitude.
The Dark Elves' Level 1 troops primarily consisted of two types.
Kobolds, needless to say, were ineffective fighters.
Troglodytes, commonly known as "troglodytes," were skilled at digging and burrowing, and were slightly more effective than Kobolds.
Level 2 troops included Bugbears, Giant Spiders, and Dire Bats.
Level 3 troops included Drow Warriors, Drow Assassins, and Phase Spiders.
These troops were considered elite, but unfortunately, their numbers were too few.
Faced with the surging sea of Undead, they would ultimately be overwhelmed!
As the battle continued into the night, the Drow's resistance grew weaker, and the mine's transfer to a new owner was a foregone conclusion.
The drow warlocks guarding the mines had no choice but to fight their way through the bloody trenches with their remaining troops, fleeing towards the dungeon.
William and Spencer left some of their forces behind to clean up the mess.
He led his elite troops in pursuit of the dark elves.
On the bloody and chaotic battlefield, neither the attackers nor the defenders noticed that an invisible figure was secretly observing.
"A good harvest today."
Alan stood in the shadows, magic mirror in hand, the corners of his lips curled slightly.