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However, it must be said that the latent magical talent of the elven lineage is truly unparalleled. Especially for the dark elves, who live in the perilous and battle-frequent underground world, their drive for progress and extraordinary creativity have far surpassed their surface kin in the face of life and death. Over thousands of years, new types of magic such as "Shadow," "Voodoo," "Fungal," "Curse," and "Insect" have emerged one after another. Combined with the dark divine magic bestowed upon female dark elves by the Spider Queen Lolth, these dark-skinned elves have firmly established themselves as the dominant population in the underground world. Even the black dragons that share this realm dare not provoke them lightly.

The dark elves have no nation, nor do they have a queen within their race. This is determined by the rugged terrain and harsh living conditions of the underground. However, the dark elves have still established dozens of elven cities of various sizes as the foundation of their rule.

In these cities, although the dark elves are the rulers, they are not the majority. After all, no elven race can solve the problem of slow population growth. Therefore, the dark elves have followed the policies of the ancient elven empire, recruiting and enlisting various servant races in large numbers, and capturing slaves. The underground cities of the dark elves are filled with subterranean intelligent races such as Goblins, Troglodytes, Lizardfolk, and Minotaurs, forming the basis of the dark elven power circle.

As for their high-end combat power, it mainly relies on the dark elves' own mage groups and several strong psychic creatures such as "Mind Flayers" and "Beholders." At the super-tier level, the black dragon clan is naturally the strongest in the entire underground world. However, regardless of whether these creatures, whose intelligence and lifespan surpass the elves, are willing to become the dark elves' enforcers, the mere consideration of the restrictions imposed by the ancient Four Races Alliance on the black dragons is enough to dispel the dark elves' ambitions towards them. After all, they lack the ability to form a Dragon Knight alliance.

Therefore, in the dark elven army, the main super-tier combat power is nine giant spiders commonly known as "Lolth Spiders," which are human-faced, hundred-eyed black magic mother spiders. Of course, this "giant" is relative to ordinary spiders. These spiders, said to be the pets of the Spider Queen Lolth, are among the smallest in the super-tier magical creatures, standing about two to three meters tall with leg lengths of only seven to eight meters. Their size is comparable to the forepaw of a war Beamon or the head of a sea dragon. However, they are one of the few magical creatures, apart from dragons, capable of chanting magical incantations. The female face on their heads has the same spellcasting ability as the mages of intelligent races, and the hundreds of eyes covering their bodies can unleash innate spells such as toxic magic rays and hypnotic flashes. Thus, their overall strength still ranks among the super-tier magical creatures. Additionally, their ability to summon swarms of giant wolf spiders to join them in battle allows these massive spiders to repeatedly achieve astonishing results in battles with surface races.

The nine "Lolth Spiders" are respectively affiliated with the nine largest families of the dark elves, and these nine families form the ruling core of the entire dark elven race.

In the 1407th year of the War God's Calendar, the month of First Bud.

The winter that had just passed had little impact on the underground world. The plants here mainly rely on fungi and moss that decompose minerals for growth, and the thick strata block the invasion of winter. Therefore, although it cannot be said to be spring all year round, the underground world indeed has no distinct seasons.

The Seven-Eared Star Passage is a rarely used entrance and exit in the underground world because it is adjacent to two high-level magical creature gathering areas, with many mobile carnivorous creatures roaming between them. The worst part is that this passage is too close to a black dragon's lair. Although dragons cannot actively intervene in major disputes of this world, that does not prohibit them from freely hunting and feeding. Therefore, once a black dragon is hungry, whether it be magical creatures, entire teams of adventurers, or smugglers, they all end up as the dragon's meal, contributing all their possessions to decorate the dragon's lair.

However, today, a traveler cloaked in a full-body robe has traversed this passage alone.

"Is this... my homeland? A world without sunlight..."

Although the thick cloak conceals the traveler's appearance, experienced adventurers can discern her identity by her slender and graceful figure, the faintly black skin on her wrists, and the silver hair peeking out from the cloak—this is a female dark elf.

Unlike the typical dark elf, this female elf is not equipped with the commonly used dual blades, crossbow, or rapier, but rather a heavy, cloth-wrapped great sword measuring about one and a half meters in length.

This traveler is none other than Ye Ge, the dark elven maiden driven by Chen Xuanfeng through an elven contract from afar, tasked with a significant mission.

Although the underground world has no stars, moon, or sun, it is not entirely dark. Many fluorescent plants and luminous minerals cast a hazy glow over nearly half of the underground world. As residents of the underground world, "low-light vision" or "darkvision" is an essential ability for survival. Therefore, Ye Ge feels no discomfort here. In fact, to some extent, she senses something instinctive within her beginning to awaken during her journey through the underground world.

The first creature this maiden, who possesses full dark elven bloodline but is stepping into the underground world for the first time, encounters in this dark realm is a group of giant wolf spiders.

Wolf spiders, a ferocious, social black spider magical creature, stand one and a half meters tall with four-meter-long legs. Their strength ranges from level four to level eight magical creatures, and a group typically consists of dozens. They dart swiftly through the tunnels and caves of the underground world, making them formidable underground killers. Apart from black dragons and Lolth Spiders, there is almost no target they dare not attack. Even the dark elves who tame them must tread carefully.

For creatures that have lived in the underground for a long time, they naturally know how to avoid dangerous magical creatures. However, for Ye Ge, who is entering the underground world for the first time, not getting lost is already a feat.

Fortunately, she does not need to avoid them.

"Hiss~~~"

When sixteen giant spiders with glowing eyes emerge from the holes in the walls of the passage, the dark elven maiden immediately senses the threat. However, she quickly realizes that only one of these giant spiders is a level six magical creature, while the rest are level four or five minions. Such a group of wolf spiders might be capable of attacking a human smuggling team, but for Ye Ge, they pose no threat.