Stormbeard, the chief patriarch of the mountains, the city lord of Ironheart, had been the undisputed strongest overlord in the region for decades.
He had posed a threat to the Silver Spring City for many years.
And he had come close to breaching the city with his powerful warriors several times.
But, now, he died. Just like that.
Taken down by the Demon King within just a few rounds of battle.
The elves of the Silver Spring tribe were bewildered.
Even a blind could see the fact that the Demon King had yet to unleash his full strength.
And yet, he still managed to effortlessly destroy the dwarven patriarch in his mightiest form with just a flick of his finger.
What magnitude of power was this? What terrifying might!
Truly unbelievable.
Before the elves could recover from their shock and the dwarves from their fear.
The royal guards of the Demon King had already begun to carry out their given orders.
The spear of a Warmonger Guard burned brightly with the hellish fury of the flame daemon, increasing its power exponentially.
With an astonishing lightning speed, the guard charged forth, and with a single blow, his Raging Dragon Qi pierced through three targets.
On the other hand, a Mystic Guard hurled out several Lightning Hammer, before transforming into a blazing wyvern, enveloped in immense heat, and diving into the crowd of dwarves.
[You've slain a Corrupted Dwarven Warrior. Gold +85!]
[You've slain a Corrupted Dwarven Warrior. Gold +85!]
[You've slain a Corrupted High Dwarven Warrior. Gold +900!]
[You've slain a Corrupted Dwarven Tribal Chief. Gold +50,000!]
[...]
The Demon King and his guards, numbering only a few dozen, forced thousands of elite dwarven warriors to retreat and scatter in defeat, unable to muster up any resistance.
Even more frightening was the fact that they were trapped within the King's Domain.
Their attributes were greatly weakened.
And many of their skills were sealed off.
The dwarves could not even attempt to escape.
In this situation, other than having the monarch deactivate the domain themselves, there were only two ways to dispel the king's domain.
The first was to defeat the monarch who casted the domain, and the second was to overwrite the domain with an even stronger one.
Slaying a monarch within its own domain?
Easier said than done.
The latter was even more difficult.
For hundreds of years, there had been no second monarch level existence in the entire Chaos Forest.
This dreadful existence was beyond the dwarves' understanding.
In less than 15 minutes.
When Zhang Nu canceled his domain.
The ground was littered with dwarven corpses.
More than three thousand corrupted dwarves were slaughtered.
Among them, even the most common dwarven warriors were all Level 1 elite, and the proportion of Level 2 and 3 elites was not low either, even the lord units and Level 4 elites were not few in number.
The total yield was 550,000 gold.
Plus the 750,000 gold from Stormbeard.
This battle earned Zhang Nu a total of 1.3 million gold.
He was very pleased.
This trip was worth it.
Marilyn's injuries have been partially recovered under the treatment of the elves.
Facing the dwarven corpses all over the place, the elves finally understood their chieftain.
The Demon King was horrifyingly powerful.
He definitely had the strength to advance and unify the Chaos Forest. If they resisted and opposed his will, the elves would not end up better than these dwarves.
And now.
The Demon King has saved Silver Spring City.
The young Elven King was also his subordinate.
What reason did they have to go against their chieftain?
Seeing the ground piled up with dwarven corpses.
The young Elven King could not help but frown.
It was not because she was a saint and had a sudden conscience of feeling sorry for them.
It was because she knew how united the dwarven clan was.
Now with their chief patriarch and numerous clan members murdered, would the dwarves leave this grudge unsolved?
She was afraid that from now on, it would be difficult for the dwarven forces and the Darkness City to reconcile.
After all, although the dwarves were stubborn and possessed a tough temperament, they were not an evil race at their core. It was unexpected that for the sake of the elven tribe, the Demon King had made himself a mortal enemy of the dwarves.
It was not difficult to read her simple mind.
Zhang Nu comforted her, "There's no need to worry."
"These dwarves absorbed the power of daemon, they had been long corrupted. There is no cure for them."
"Even if the remaining uncorrupted dwarves find out that we've eliminated these fallen dwarves, they would not blame us. After all, we're helping them get rid of a menace."
Hearing this.
The young city lord nodded in agreement.
She had acute perception and senses.
Hence, she too noticed the daemon energy in the dwarves' bodies.
"How strange. How could these dwarves have such power?" she wondered.
"It's the Underground God!"
The chieftain Marilyn came over, bringing along the elven elders and the high executives.
She explained, "Two hundred years ago, a serious mining accident occurred in the dwarven mines, which caused serious injuries and deaths among the dwarves who had lived in the mines for generations. The dwarves have always suspected that this disaster was caused by the elves."
So that happened.
No wonder the relationship between the elves and the dwarves was so bad.
Nancilia pushed the topic, "But what about the Underground God?"
Marilyn replied, "This is a mysterious presence that the dwarves discovered deep in the collapsed mine decades after the great mining disaster. Since then, the dwarves have been plagued by madness. We suspect that this so-called Underground God is the culprit behind the mining disaster and the corruption of these dwarves!"
"But the dwarves simply don't trust the elves at all and won't listen to any well-intentioned advice."
"Now not only have they completely succumbed to it."
"They are even worshiping this false god!"
The young city lord was incredibly furious.
Without a doubt, this false god was the culprit of every tragedy that happened here.
At this moment, Marilyn and the elven executives got down on one knee.
"Oh great Demon King, we sincerely thank you for saving us. All the elves of the Silver Spring tribe are willing to follow the Elven King and serve under you!"
[195,321 elves of the Silver Spring tribe have surrendered to you. Accept?]
[You've conquered Silver Spring City!]
[You gained "Exquisite Mithminite Chest" x1!]
The very moment the elves officially submitted, something unexpected happened.
Every single Silver Spring elf was enveloped by divine powers.
"What is going on?"
"I feel the blessings of the gods!"
"This seems to be the power of two deities, the Goddess of Nature and the Goddess of War?"
"We swore allegiance to the Demon King but received the blessings of two goddesses. Does this mean... the Demon King is an existence recognized and approved by the goddesses?!"
This was no different than a divine revelation!
In that instant.
The entire elven tribe fell on their knees in worship.
Even the elven elders were deeply appalled.
The elves prayed to the Goddess of Nature every day, and wherever there were elves, there were temples of the goddess. And yet, they rarely received a response from their goddess.
And now.
Just after announcing their allegiance to the Demon King.
They were immediately bestowed with blessings from two goddesses.
This was a clear indication that the Goddess of Nature recognized the Demon King and approved of the actions of the Silver Spring tribe.
Even the Goddess of War.
Whom the elves never worshiped, was now bestowing blessings upon them.
This could only be described as a divine miracle.
Zhang Nu saw that the loyalty of the elves had skyrocketed just as they had joined.
It appeared that not only could temple structures enhance all units indiscriminately, but they could also effectively win over people's hearts.
Not bad.
Not bad.
This saved him a lot of effort.
Zhang Nu was very satisfied with the result.
Silver Spring was such a huge elven tribe.
With nearly two hundred thousand elves.
The population was more than Giantree City.
The Silver Spring City was actually quite easily conquered without much trouble or effort.
This not only expanded the scope of influence.
It could also create amazing value for him in the future.
Zhang Nu then opened up the reward chest.
[You opened the Mithmimite Treasure Chest. You've gained "Gold" x3,000,000, "Blueprint: Ancient Elven Sanctuary" x1, "Level 3 Special Building Upgrade Scroll" x1, "Life Gem" x1000, "Water Gem" x800, "Earth Gem" x800!]
Silver Spring City was a Level 4 overlord area.
The rewards obtained were higher than those of Thousand Fangs City.
Not only did Zhang Nu receive up to three million gold coins, but also a Level 4 building blueprint and a Level 3 special building upgrade scroll.
Level 4 buildings were generally of extremely high value.
The Ancient Elven Sanctuary should be an auxiliary building that greatly enhances the power of the elves.
To Zhang Nu, it would be immensely useful.
Among all the subjects of the Demon King, the elves had the largest population. If their overall strength could be generally improved, then the entire Demon King's forces would also greatly strengthen.
This should be a very good blueprint!
In addition to the Level 4 blueprint, the most valuable item in the loot this time was the Level 3 special building upgrade scroll.
Level 3 normal upgrade scrolls were already of extreme value.
It would cost at least several hundred thousand gold coins to buy them in the Demon King market, and due to their extreme rarity, even if one has the coins, they still might not be able to acquire them.
Now.
This type of special upgrade scroll was ten times rarer than the former and was a valuable commodity that was exceedingly difficult to come by.
Two hours later.
Nancilia and Marilyn came to him to report the situation.
Due to the death of the dwarven patriarch, the other attacking dwarven troops had scattered.
However, they would definitely report back to Ironheart City of what happened here.
Marilyn was worried.
"Those insane dwarves will never take this lying down!"
"Their revenge will be even crazier, and they might be mad enough to mobilize the entire tribe!"
"The defense barriers and formations of Silver Spring City have already been destroyed! Under these circumstances, it would be impossible for us to hold them back!"
Nancilia immediately suggested, "Your Majesty, I think all the elves of the Silver Spring tribe should be moved to Giantree City to avoid further conflict with the dwarves."
Zhang Nu, however, replied, "The relocation is not urgent, and you don't have to worry about the threat of the dwarves anymore."
Nancilia asked in confusion, "Why?"
"I came here specifically to solve the problem with the dwarves. It won't take too much effort anyway," Zhang Nu uttered.
Upon hearing the Demon King's words.
The two elves were deeply shocked.
They could not believe that the Demon King was so nonchalant about such a big matter.
What did he mean by "it won't take too much effort"?
"The tribes of the mountains aren't easy to deal with!"
Marilyn urgently spoke up, "This large tribe is composed of dozens of dwarf tribes with tens of thousands of dwarf warriors. Furthermore, Ironheart City's defenses are immensely robust, it would be very difficult to break through from the outside."
Marilyn did not doubt the Demon King's might.
But she knew that dealing with dwarves with just brute strength alone was far from enough.
Even with the help of the elves.
The best outcome would only be a pyrrhic victory where both sides suffer heavy losses.
However.
These words did not reach him.
The Demon King was resolute.
Whether it was Ironheart City or the dwarven mountain tribe, they had to be conquered.
This was a massive Level 4 overlord settlement area with the scale of at least a population of three to four hundred thousand.
If he could take this place down, he could not only eliminate a hidden danger but also gain astonishing rewards.
"Don't worry."
"We don't have to fight the tens of thousands of dwarven warriors head-on."
Zhang Nu explained, "As long as we eliminate the source of the daemon power, the daemonic power in the bodies of these frenzied dwarves will go out of control!"
Upon hearing this, Nancilia immediately understood.
"Your Majesty wants to challenge the Underground God!"