Chapter 370

Chapter 370: New Objective

Dark Dragon City!

Midi’s heart stirred.

In his past life, he’d never entered the Shaded Realm, yet he’d heard many legends about Dark Dragon City.

The tales came from pure dark elves, gray dwarves, black dwarves, and powerful beings of various races.

The legends spread by these experts, and its fame reaching even distant Arad, proved Dark Dragon City’s extraordinary nature.

Legends claimed King Bacal of the Tyrant Dragon left Dark Dragon City behind, holding countless treasures and supreme heritage waiting to be claimed.

It was also said an ancient dragon guarded its deepest reaches, barring all passage.

Now that fate’s choices had brought him to the Shaded Realm, he knew he must seek its mightiest place.

Only by reaching such heights could he break Death’s Pursuit Order.

Only then could he defeat the demon counts, marquises, dukes – even demon princes – that would soon appear before him.

Or face Second Apostle “Tearful” Helder herself.

Since Eighth Apostle Rot spoke of Dark Dragon City, Midi resolved to seize this chance.

With his goal clear, the next question was simple –

Where was Dark Dragon City?

“Where is Dark Dragon City?” Rot chuckled at the question. “No easy answer. You know the Shaded Realm… yet only through rumors. Dark Dragon City exists here, yet nowhere.”

“Another small realm?” Midi grasped immediately.

Small realms were separate dimensions within larger regions.

Sky City, for example, was a sealed small realm between Arad and the Sea of Clouds.

Once unsealed, it manifested over Arad for conquest.

But Dark Dragon City differed.

Rot explained this small realm operated by its own cyclical rules, defying normal physics.

Normally, one could scour the entire Shaded Realm and rip open countless space rifts without finding it.

Only during the five-year Black Dragon Conference would it open, admitting the event’s victors.

This conference belonged to the Shaded Realm’s strongest race – pure dark elves.

Thus, Dark Dragon City’s access lay entirely with pure dark elves.

For Midi to enter and claim its heritage, he must infiltrate dark elf society and win the Black Dragon Conference.

Search alone? Impossible.

Crash the conference? Useless – Dark Dragon City only welcomes chosen victors. Uninvited intruders get barred.

To force the pure dark elves into summoning Dark Dragon City?

Even a supreme expert might struggle against an entire race alone, let alone Midi who held no power here.

Midi had no choices but to first blend into dark elf society before approaching his goal step by step.

Truthfully, this suited Midi just fine.

Humans are social creatures after all. Joining the dark elves’ civilization seemed far better than surviving alone in the Shaded Realm’s wilderness like a primitive beast.

But blending in wouldn’t be simple.

Humans shouldn’t exist in the Shaded Realm at all. Even without hostility, his mere rarity would draw unwanted attention.

Casually revealing himself could lead to unpredictable consequences.

This wasn’t Arad where travelers could stroll into villages for food and rumor.

The Shaded Realm was a cursed land of danger and powerful races – no place for humans.

First, he needed to find dark elves before making plans.

Midi thought this, then asked: "Rot, any suggestions?"

As the knowledgeable Eighth Apostle, maybe Rot could offer wisdom like his earlier explanation of Dark Magic.

But this time, Midi was disappointed.

"Don’t expect much. Dark elves are ants to me." Rot declared. "Why would the Eighth Apostle study ants’ societies?"

Midi couldn’t argue.

What use would the Demon Realm’s ocean ruler have studying dark elves?

Left with no options, Midi resorted to basic adventurer exploration – a carpet search.

He even risked using a light source, battling magical creatures to examine the maze’s clues.

His efforts bore fruit days later when he found something unusual – a winding passageway through rocks and stone pillars.

It passed multiple water sources and showed artificial carving where paths should end.

This suggested it was likely a "road" built by a civilized race.

Midi camped at one water source. Soon luck brought a dark elf team down the shadowed path.

These pure dark elves differed sharply from their surface cousins.

The dark elf sisters Avril and Emil had silver-white hair like noble moonlight.

The pure dark elves’ hair resembled pale dried grass.

Not only that, perhaps to adapt to the underground environment, their bodies were shorter. They weren’t just smaller than surface dark elves and those from the Sea of Clouds, but even slightly shorter than average humans.

But it’d be wrong to think their small size meant weakness.

The pure dark elves’ smooth movements and agile skills showed their seemingly delicate bodies held explosive power beyond imagination. Their exposed arms with coiled muscles and developed nerves proved this.

Yet these were minor details.

What really troubled Midi was the killing intent surrounding these dark elves.

As a battlefield commander, Midi knew this killing intent well – the mental state of being fully engaged in combat.

But these dark elves kept this state even while eating and drinking.

How alert were they? How deep was their hostility toward unknowns?

Midi didn’t know, but understood if he appeared now, he’d be attacked before explaining himself.

Though Midi’s power meant he didn’t fear them.

Such fighting would be meaningless anyway.

Facing dark elves who saw all moving things of other races as enemies and Prey, Midi couldn’t see how to join them.

The dark elf team left with their Cargo and cave lizards, Midi watching helplessly.

Learning from this, Midi tried new strategies.

Like the common "hero’s entrance" from Arad.

If dark elves faced disaster and Midi helped then, he might get to speak!

With this idea, Midi mapped magical creatures around the path – shadow spiders, goblin groups, blood-sucking bats, clawed terrors.

When the next dark elf team came, Midi deliberately disturbed monster groups, skillfully leading them to the team.

With careful planning and Rot’s knowledge of these creatures, the Plan started smoothly.

Soon dark elves fought wave after wave of monsters.

But only the start went well.

Hiding nearby, Midi grimaced – their battle strength far exceeded expectations!

They used Shaded Realm-specific tactics perfectly. With flawless teamwork, the instinct-driven magical creatures were eliminated completely, corpses processed into food and materials.

From beginning to end, Midi couldn’t intervene.

If he’d appeared during the slaughter, Midi knew he’d be treated as another Monster facing arrow feathers and Spinning Blades.

"Seems I need riskier methods," Midi sighed.

Under Death’s Pursuit Order’s pressure, he had no time for tests – now he had to gamble.

"What’s your plan?" Rot’s curious voice came from the Golden Forgiveness dagger.

"All intelligent races have curiosity. If I trigger that, they’ll at least let me speak a few words," Midi answered smiling.