Lin Gui marvelled, "At this depth, I doubt even a Demigod demon at the center of the Dark Tide could perceive anything."
Barna shook his head heavily.
"It was originally built to avoid the Dark Tide, but it's still far from enough."
He paused, his gaze drifting into the distance as if looking back through time to a sight he couldn't bear to remember.
"The dwarf homeland, Gronim..."
His voice trailed off into a low murmur.
"Thirty years ago, it was swallowed by the Dark Tide."
"The entire city, hundreds of thousands of dwarves, overnight..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
Yet Lin Gui could imagine the scene.
Barna took a deep breath.
"Since then, the dwarves suffered a heavy blow and fell into decline."
"To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, we began searching for a way to evade the Dark Tide."
His voice was calm, like recounting a long-familiar tale.
"Excavating ruins, searching for ancient spell formations."
"Gathering the continent's top scholars to study the Heart of the Towering Mountain."
"Joining the Alliance, seeking help everywhere."
He listed those methods one by one, yet his eyes grew dimmer with each word.
"In the end, all those methods proved useless."
"Later, we turned our eyes underground."
He turned his head to look at Lin Gui.
"The earth is the finest medium for blocking perception."
"An Epic demon whose perception normally covers several kilometers will be severely restricted once deep underground."
"So we thought..."
"If we dug a tunnel underground deep enough to evade the perception of a Demigod demon, perhaps we could hide from the Dark Tide."
Lin Gui nodded as he listened.
The logic was sound.
"However... the process was far too arduous and... terrifying."
Barna's voice came to a halt.
A flicker of profound fear flashed across his eyes.
Though it vanished in an instant, the fear was terrifyingly real.
He seemed unwilling to elaborate on what had occurred during the underground digging.
He simply continued in a faint voice:
"Four kilometers was already our limit."
"And in theory, to evade the perception of a Demigod demon, we would need to dig down at least eight kilometers."
He paused.
"Although the Root Tunnels failed in that goal..."
"...they are still more than enough to hide from those Epic demons."
Lin Gui fell silent for a few seconds.
Then he asked:
"Since there's a way to safely hide from this disaster, why are you still holding your ground?"
"Wouldn't it be better if everyone entered the Root Tunnels and waited until the riot ended?"
As those words fell...
...a deep voice sounded from behind.
"Because the Alliance won't allow us to do that."
Lin Gui turned around.
Balin had walked over at some unremembered moment, carrying a wine keg on his shoulder.
He was covered in injuries, yet standing there, he still resembled a mountain.
The keg was massive, nearly half a person tall, yet on his shoulder, it seemed light as a feather.
He sat down beside Lin Gui and thudded the keg onto the ground with a loud bang.
Reaching for his waist, he pulled out two wooden cups.
"Come, our little hero."
He shoved one cup into Lin Gui's hand and filled the other for himself.
"I haven't had a drink with you yet."
Lin Gui took the cup and looked past Balin toward the rear.
Then he froze.
The dwarves who had been covered in blood and exhaustion just moments ago...
...were now sitting in circles.
Holding cups in their hands, they guzzled down liquor.
Someone had brought out a grill from somewhere, with large slabs of meat sizzling atop it.
The meat had an odd appearance, bearing a sort of twisted curve.
It was demon meat.
One dwarf tore greedily into a golden-roasted demon leg.
Chewing, he shouted indistinctly:
"This stuff has way more kick than rotten fish!"
A few people nearby joined in the clamor, their laughter shaking the air.
If not for the demons still snarling and clinging to the barrier outside...
...Lin Gui would have thought they weren't in the middle of a demon riot at all.
Balin explained with a smile:
"They've done all they can. With the barrier up, the next two days will be safe."
He poured himself another drink.
"After exhausting themselves for so long, the warriors deserve a chance to relax."
What he didn't say was that this might be the last time anyone present could indulge in drinking.
Lin Gui raised his cup and clinked it against Balin's.
"Lord Balin, what did you mean when you said the Alliance wouldn't allow it?"
Balin drained his cup in one gulp and wiped his mouth.
"Because when the Alliance accepted the dwarves, one of the most vital conditions was keeping Shield City intact."
He sighed.
"If something goes wrong with Shield City..."
"...and cursed demons from the waters surrounding the Silent Sea surge into the Central City-States..."
"...the dwarves will pay a catastrophic price for dereliction of duty."
He paused.
"That price is something the Dwarven Royal City cannot afford to pay today."
Lin Gui's brow furrowed slightly.
"But this is a demon riot. Even if the Alliance sent people here, they probably couldn't hold out either."
Balin laughed.
A touch of irony laced his smile.
"They don't care about any of that."
He poured himself another drink.
"Besides, those people would love nothing more than for me—one of the only four dwarven Epics—to die here defending Shield City."
His voice was calm, as if speaking of something entirely unrelated to himself.
"That way, the dwarves' voice within the Alliance would be weakened."
Lin Gui looked at him.
"And you're just going to let them get their wish?"
Balin's hand holding the cup paused.
He stared at the golden liquor inside the cup, falling silent for a long moment.
"Kid, you don't understand."
His voice dropped low.
"The Alliance is far too powerful—so powerful that even the dwarven king must bow his head."
"Besides, right now, the Dwarven Royal City is facing a threat of total annihilation."
He raised his head, gazing off into the distance.
"The mist of the Wall of Sighs keeps spreading."
"The Royal City needs the Alliance's support."
"Now is absolutely not the time to pick a fight with the Alliance."
He gulped down the rest of his drink.
"So, if we fail to hold out until the second phase begins..."
He set his cup down.
"...I will defend this city-state with my life."
"And my death will shut down every attempt to shift blame onto the dwarves."
The atmosphere instantly turned heavy.
The laughter and chatter around them continued, but to Lin Gui, those sounds felt distant.
Balin suddenly clapped him on the shoulder.
"Alright, enough of that."
He poured Lin Gui another drink and raised his own cup.
"Come on, drink!"
Lin Gui looked at him and raised his cup as well.
They clinked cups and drained them in one go.
Afterward, the two drank, bragged, and chatted lazily.
The surrounding dwarves grew even rowdier, some singing, others wrestling, a complete chaotic mess.
Balin suddenly asked:
"By the way, where's that elven girl who was with you?"
Lin Gui's hand paused slightly on his cup.
Then, with a faint smile, he replied:
"I've placed her somewhere she belongs, somewhere that can accept her."
Balin gave him a strange look.
"I thought she'd stay by your side forever."
At least, the subtle affection Theia harbored for Lin Gui had been clear to all of them.
Lin Gui smiled bitterly:
"I was the one who asked her to stay there."
He paused.
"The Alliance's half-demon expulsion decree poses a threat to her life."
"I can't gamble with her life."
Even the Fortress Lord couldn't protect Stoneheart, let alone him.
The Shroud of the Gloomy Night couldn't conceal demon energy.
The demon energy inside Lin Gui was unrefined and sparse, unlikely to draw much attention.
But Theia was different.
Her father was a Demon King.
What she inherited was the purest form of demon energy.
So pure that even at Low-tier Transcendent, she could release the combat power of a High-tier.
Balin looked at him and suddenly smiled strangely.
"Ah, let me tell you some good news—it arrived along with the news of the Dark Tide's eruption."
Lin Gui raised his head.
Balin looked at him.
"That resolution the Alliance was supposed to pass at the end of the year to expel all half-demons..."
"...after passing, it was forcibly voted down and canceled."
"Just a few days ago."
Lin Gui froze.
"How... is that possible?"
He stared at Balin, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Balin nodded.
"That's what I thought too."
He poured himself a drink.
"A resolution passed by the one-hundred-and-twenty-six-seat Council, right on the verge of execution, was suddenly backtracked."
He paused.
"That's a first in the history of the Alliance."
Lin Gui's brow furrowed tightly.
"How could..."
"What's most baffling..."
Balin looked at him.
"...is that most of the factions leading the vote against it were the ones holding the greatest malice toward the half-demon race."
"It seems something extraordinary happened..."
"...that drove them to act so completely against their own interests and common sense."
A few days ago?
Something extraordinary...
For some reason, Lin Gui thought of the spreading Wall of Sighs.
He thought of Gusion and Avalon's purpose in heading north to the Voiceless Rift.
Could it be that this was Gusion and the others' ultimate goal?
Rate on N.U.
