Chapter 30

While inspecting the luminescent moss field, Philin saw Ang, with a skull emitting a pale blue flame, holding a scythe, and exuding a fierce aura. Perhaps sensing Ang's emotions, the small zombies and angel skeletons following him also exuded a fierce aura.

Philin had seen Ang's scythe several times before. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but the blade and handle seemed to have grown slightly.

He was about to go up to report the situation, but seeing Ang's appearance, he hesitated.

Esque arrived, and Philin quickly approached and asked, "What's going on? Did you anger the Lord?"

Esque was also a bit confused and quickly denied, "No, no, don't make things up. I just told him the farmland was burned, and the Lord became like this."

Philin showed a moved expression: "It seems this field is highly valued by the Lord. He doesn't need to eat, yet he values the cultivation techniques of luminescent moss so much. He wants to solve our underground city's farming problems once and for all. The Lord is truly considerate."

Esque suddenly realized: "So that's it. Yes, the Lord doesn't need to eat, yet he values this place so much. The luminescent moss field can only be used in our underground city, nowhere else. So, the Lord is doing research for us? He is so considerate, so touching."

The two were lost in their own thoughts, deeply moved, when Ang, who was inspecting the situation, suddenly looked up, as if he had discovered something, and rushed out through another entrance.

The luminescent moss field was located in the middle of a cave, an expanded space due to erosion. There were two entrances to reach here: one from the main area of the underground city, and the other leading to a vast underground cave system.

The underground caves, carved by flowing water, were extensive and interconnected, often stretching for hundreds or even thousands of kilometers. The area where the main part of the underground city was located was just a small section near the surface of the underground cave system.

No one dared to venture deep into the underground cave system. The complex routes could easily lead to getting lost forever unless one had a teleportation scroll or was a spatial mage.

However, the underground city did not have such rare spatial mages, so the exploration of the underground cave system was done in the most primitive way: using ropes, marking, and placing skeletons.

But no matter which method was used, losses often occurred. Once the underground city had enough usable space, Philin stopped exploring. Exploring more space was meaningless; the underground city had only about 5,000 inhabitants.

The luminescent moss field was on the edge of the area. The passage from the main area had already been sealed by Philin, but theoretically, if someone entered from the direction of the underground cave system, Philin wouldn't be able to detect them.

The underground cave system was too vast, and Philin couldn't be sure if anyone could come from that direction.

He had also investigated the scene of the incident. Apart from seeing a row of melted large footprints and deducing that the arsonist was a lava demon, Philin found no other clues and didn't know which direction the demon had fled.

Seeing Ang's appearance now, had he discovered something?

Philin quickly followed, and Esque hurriedly followed, asking while running, "What's wrong? Lord, did you find something?"

"It was a lava demon," Philin said solemnly.

"From the Demon Valley? A lava demon? Why did he come to burn the Lord's field?" Esque asked in shock.

Philin shook his head: "He might not have just burned the Lord's field. Lisa told me when she returned that the Ice City's planting area had been burned in several places by a lava demon. The Ice City is now fully mobilized to contain that demon. This lava demon is either a new one sent by the Demon Valley or one that escaped from the Ice City. In either case, he won't stop after burning just one field."

"Are they crazy? Why burn our fields? Do they want to starve us to death? Even if they starve us to death, what's the point? To dominate the world? We're not stopping them. This world has plenty of areas to develop. Even if they want to build a city on the surface, we won't stop them. See if they can withstand the Resting Wind. Why burn our fields?"

Esque stomped his feet in anger. The Resting Wind was what limited the development of this world. If they could cultivate fields on the surface, feeding hundreds of millions of people would be no problem. Even if the surface couldn't grow anything, there were plenty of underground caves, valleys, and canyons to develop. No one was stopping them from developing and occupying these areas. Why burn the fields?

Philin smiled and shook his head: "Child, you're still too naive. If our fields and food are burned, and the Demon Valley has food, what do you think the starving people would be willing to pay for it?"

Esque, who was in his fifties but was called a child, felt a surge of anger, but when he thought about Philin's age, he swallowed it. Compared to the over a thousand-year-old Philin, he was indeed a child, but his intelligence was fine, and he could understand what Philin meant.

"If that's the case, I would be willing to give my life, my soul, anything. It's too evil."

"Yes, it's too evil. Otherwise, why would they be called demons? Manipulating hearts and buying souls is their specialty," Philin sighed.

As they spoke, Ang suddenly turned a corner and entered one of the caves above.

The underground caves, carved by water, were sometimes straight through, but in other places, they were riddled with holes. Each hole could lead to a different place, making the system complex. Once inside, one might not know where it led.

Seeing Ang enter the cave above, the small zombies and angel skeletons followed without hesitation, but Philin and Esque hesitated. Without any preparation, if Ang didn't find the right direction, they might get lost.

What to do? After a moment of hesitation, Philin gritted his teeth: "The cave leading up, at worst, will lead to the surface. Follow."

Going up in the cave was safer because most of them led to the surface. If one got lost in the underground cave, the best way out was to go up, with a high chance of escaping.

They twisted and turned through the cave, encountering countless forks, but Ang seemed to see something and didn't hesitate. After walking for a long time, they suddenly entered a familiar passage.

"Hey, this place is familiar. Have I been here before?" Before Esque could recognize it, he felt a wave of heat coming from ahead, as if something was burning.

Ang was chasing in the direction of the heat. Esque quickly followed, and the more he approached, the more familiar the environment became. When they turned into a space, Esque finally recognized it: "Pit No. 3, this is Pit No. 3. Oh my God, Pit No. 3 is on fire?"

Rushing into Pit No. 3, indeed, all the fields and crops in the pit were burning fiercely. On the lighting magic array on the rock wall, there were two large footprints, identical to those found in the luminescent moss field.

"Damn you, all of you in the Demon Valley!" Esque couldn't help but curse, and Philin's face turned dark.

Ang looked around and entered one of the passages. Philin and Esque followed without hesitation, as the situation in Pit No. 3 indicated that Ang was truly tracking the culprit.

Pit No. 3 was connected to Pit No. 2. Entering the passage, they immediately felt the heat coming from the other end. Indeed, Pit No. 2 was also on fire.

Losing two pits' worth of fields and crops at once, Philin and Esque were burning with anger, wanting to tear their enemies apart.

After circling around, Ang actually climbed up the rock wall.

"How did the Lord know the demon climbed up?" Philin and Esque followed half-believing, half-doubting. Following Ang for several kilometers, they really saw a lava demon flapping its wings and skimming the ground.