Chapter 423

The surviving elite duergar had scattered in every direction, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

The battlefield, littered with burning wreckage, was eerily quiet. Only the crackling of flames and the howling night wind broke the silence.

Anser surveyed his surroundings, then leaped into the air.

He pursued the fleeing enemies for several kilometers, killing dozens of Underdark creatures before deciding to give up the chase.

These creatures were certainly desperate to escape. Each used whatever means they had: some were fast runners, others were experts at hiding, and still others fled in unpredictable directions. They were far harder to kill when scattered than when gathered together.

He stopped in midair and quickly checked his Character Sheet and combat log.

He was just a little short of gaining two levels in succession and reaching the pinnacle of mortal professionals: level 20!

This was only possible because he had resisted spending the nearly 40,000 experience points he had accumulated previously. Now he had the chance to enjoy the satisfaction of leveling up twice in one go.

‘Just a little more!’

The Red Dragon Spirit, Wildfire Spirit, and Divine Fire Elemental lacked large-scale destructive spells. With enemies fleeing in every direction, hunting them down wasn’t particularly efficient.

The Wildfire Spirit was especially limited. Its foundations were too weak, and its individual combat capabilities were mediocre. Against counterattacks from High-level Professionals, it could only rely on its mobility and ability to fly to keep its opponents at bay.

Anser had instructed it to pick on weaker enemies and cause as much chaos as possible.

By this point in the battle, more than a thousand Underdark creatures had been killed.

The entire duergar army had numbered only a little over three thousand, including approximately a thousand human slaves.

‘More than half of them are dead.’

Anser was thoroughly satisfied.

If he hadn’t needed to worry about those humans, he would have unleashed his full power and bombarded the battlefield without restraint long ago.

Still, fighting in dragon form was incredibly satisfying. The experience was completely different from anything he’d felt before.

‘First, let’s finish off that duergar commander.’

To avoid any unexpected complications, he decided not to wait any longer.

He slipped into the Ethereal Plane, returned to his humanoid form, drew his Arcanefire Longbow, and concentrated on casting a spell.

Innate Spellcasting + Metamagic: Enhanced Quickened Spell, Enhanced Subtle Spell + Gate!

Reverse passage. Target coordinates: Duergar Commander “Gildrak Ugart”!

To avoid any mistakes, he spoke in Dwarvish. Although he wasn’t fluent in the language, he could imitate its pronunciation with remarkable accuracy.

The magical glow disappeared into the void, quickly locating the target.

A tiny point of light blossomed in the gray expanse of the Ethereal Plane, expanding into a circular, glowing portal.

The next instant, a figure was hurled through it, tumbling sideways through the air as the portal snapped shut behind him.

‘Success!’

A smile reached Anser’s eyes as his fingertips lightly touched the bowstring.

Innate Spellcasting + Metamagic: Enhanced Quickened Spell, Enhanced Subtle Spell + Forcecage!

Before the duergar commander could even understand where he was, bars of magical force sprang up around him, forming an invisible, square-shaped prison.

His head slammed into the bars, bringing his floating body to an abrupt halt.

“Anser!” He glared at Anser through gritted teeth, his eyes bulging like those of a dead fish.

“Looks like I can skip the introductions,” Anser said with a chuckle.

The commander spoke Common with a slight accent, but Anser could understand him.

“That red dragon just now was you?!” the duergar commander exclaimed in disbelief.

Everyone knew Anser was a genius Sorcerer who had multiclassed into Paladin and possessed metallic dragon blood. That was why the commander hadn’t made the connection when he first encountered the red dragon.

But thinking about it now, how could a Paladin of the Platinum Dragon God possibly be working with a red dragon? The red dragon must have been Anser transformed by the ninth-level spell True Polymorph or something similar.

“Took you long enough to figure it out.” Anser approached the Forcecage and raised his longbow. “Where were you heading tonight? What are you planning?”

The duergar commander fell silent. He swung his enormous hammer against the bars with all his strength, but all he accomplished was making his own hands go numb.

“Stubborn blockhead!” Anser sneered.

Duergar were hideously ugly and weren’t particularly bright either. They really ought to thank the Mind Flayers for awakening their psionic abilities.

Anser couldn’t be bothered wasting his breath. Legendary Professionals were notoriously difficult to interrogate, and even turning one into a corpse wouldn’t make him talk.

He positioned the tip of his arrow between the bars and gently drew back the bowstring.

Signature Spells: Prismatic Spray!

Eight rays of different colors flashed into existence, repeatedly changing direction in midair as they converged on the duergar.

The commander didn’t possess the evasive abilities of a Legendary Rogue. All he could do was withstand the attack with his armor, body, and psionic shield.

Three rays—red, blue, and yellow—struck him almost simultaneously. Fire, lightning, and frost erupted across his body, leaving his pale skin covered in scorch marks.

[You cast Prismatic Spray on the Duergar Commander. Target hit. Dealt 35 fire damage, 32 lightning damage, and 40 cold damage. Current Hit Points: 158/265.]

‘His resistances are pretty high.’

Even when two creatures possessed fire resistance, the strength of that resistance could vary considerably.

With his extraordinary Charisma and the bonuses from his equipment and traits, the maximized damage of his fire ray was around 100 points. It even possessed resistance penetration. Yet a single fire ray had dealt only 35 damage to the duergar commander.

That was the strength of martial professionals. They were incredibly tough.

If Anser had been nothing more than an ordinary adult red dragon, the duergar commander and his elite troops might genuinely have succeeded in slaying him.

Of course, the odds of that happening were low. Driving the dragon away would have been far more likely.

Throughout Faerûn’s history, countless cities and kingdoms had been destroyed by dragons. Dragons were cunning creatures, after all, and had no intention of fighting humans on the ground.

Against extraordinary creatures that excelled at flight, overwhelming them with sheer numbers wasn’t particularly effective.

More often than not, dragon slayers were simply overestimating themselves.

Stoll had been powerful enough. He had potions, equipment, and even a magic item that allowed him to fly, yet he still couldn’t defeat a green dragon that had only recently reached adulthood.

‘Being tough isn’t nearly as useful as being fast.’

Anser shook his head slightly, completely unconcerned about the commander’s resistances.

He changed all eight rays to cold rays and fired two consecutive Prismatic Sprays, freezing the duergar commander into a solid block of ice.

[Target killed. Gained 21,100 experience points. Level up!]

‘Phew, that was easy!’

He looked around. The Ethereal Plane was nothing but a vast gray expanse. No one had followed him, and nothing unexpected had happened.

‘I’ve learned so many spells, yet Forcecage turns out to be the most useful of them all.’

He sighed softly, dismissed the Forcecage, tossed the corpse into the Black Tower’s prison, and returned to the Material Plane.

The Wildfire Spirit had already returned, while the Red Dragon Spirit and Fire Elemental were still pursuing the fleeing enemies.

He dismissed his summons, sending the summoned creatures back to their respective planes, then quickly began collecting the spoils of battle.

These Underdark creatures carried little of value. Only the armor and weapons belonging to the elite duergar were worth any money, and even those had been largely ruined by the scorching dragon breath.

He gathered what he could, took several dozen photographs along the way, and promptly teleported away.

Baldur’s Gate wasn’t far from here, and the expeditionary armies of the drow and duergar couldn’t have gotten very far. If he lingered, he risked being surrounded and beaten down by a group of Chosen.

After returning to Holrewen, Anser quickly drafted a news report and handed it to Sakkors.

“Underdark Creatures Launch Expedition from Baldur’s Gate, Suspected of Joining the Orcs’ Racial War.”

Sakkors published it through the official Holrewen News Office account, pinned it to the top, and pushed it to every user on the Spirit Net, making it available to read for free.