The contents of the parchment brought exciting news, along with a detailed plan for rescue by Dwarf Captain Grov.
The little pangolin was quite intelligent. After seeing Elliris take the parchment and read it for a long time, it slipped away on its own.
The dwarves actually used this little creature as a tunnel scout—how amusing. It made her want to raise such a smart little pet herself.
Excited, Elliris hurried to the bedside, shook the sleeping Nino awake, and wanted to hand the scroll to Nino to examine.
“Sister Ell… Are they preparing the execution early?…”
Although Nino had seen her tapping the walls and floor all night, she didn’t know Elliris’s intentions. Unable to sleep anyway, Nino chose to lie on her side in defeat. She had thought Elliris must have gone crazy, taking out her frustration on the walls and floor all night…
“Sister Ell, come lie down for a bit. Stop messing around. Save your strength for tomorrow’s dessert, and at least die with a full stomach…”
Cough, cough. “Nino, someone has come to rescue us. Hmm… we won’t have to die. Take a look at this.”
Seeing Elliris’s beaming smile, Nino’s cat-like body shook. She quickly turned over and read the parchment seriously.
Watching Nino’s expression as she began to understand, the corners of Elliris’s mouth lifted. She then explained further: “Dwarf Captain Grov has been preparing this rescue plan for a long time. You’ve seen the details. From now on, we just need to cooperate with them. We’ll save as many of our people as we can. The little pangolin has returned with a message. We’ll start the prison break soon!”
Dwarf Captain Grov’s team uses tools all driven by self-created runes, which are silent, anti-magic detection, and highly efficient at digging. They can even remain completely hidden without triggering underground barrier alarms.
Elliris had seen preliminary information about the dwarves during the game’s beta test, but after actually living here for six years, she increasingly admired the dwarven craftsmanship.
Dwarf magic-science technology is the best in the world! It felt like most of the black technology in this world was created by dwarves.
“Wuwu, Sister Ell, it seems your daily devout prayers from a while ago have paid off. The Goddess hasn’t abandoned us after all!”
Whether abandoned or not wasn’t very clear, but Elliris had also been praying to the gods to reveal themselves soon. After all, she had used every possible method to escape.
‘Nino, I can’t feel any response from the Goddess anymore. More than anyone, I hope the Goddess can save me quickly!…’
It wasn’t that she wanted to badmouth the two Goddesses behind their backs, but Elliris could vaguely sense that the Pope’s special item was imbued with Morvana’s authority, and her connection with the two Goddesses was completely blocked.
Now, she had to firmly hold onto the bonds with others in her faction and not always rely on the Goddess for everything.
After Nino also understood the prison break plan, all they had to do was wait quietly for the signal to meet up with the Dwarf Captain in an hour.
—
The moonlight grew even deeper, but Elliris and Nino dared not rest. They had to seize this last chance for survival.
Finally, as the dwarf lightly tapped the cell floor three times with a thin rock chisel, Elliris pressed her ear to the ground and became alert.
It was starting!
Elliris immediately knocked on the floor three times using the bent knuckles of her fingers in response.
Dwarf Captain Grov then used chisel wall communication—a steady, muffled voice imbued with dwarven runes. “Saintess lass, we dwarves have come to rescue you. Boss Black greatly trusts you sisters and is especially fond of your swordsman sister. Since the boss has spoken, I certainly won’t let you die in this dungeon today!”
Grov added, “Listen well. In a moment, we’ll open a hole in the floor. Close your eyes and lower your heads so you don’t inhale dust. I’ll remember to help find your equipment and items.”
Elliris’s throat tightened. Somewhat worried, she replied using the dwarven runes: “There are many patrols outside. Won’t your tools…”
“Don’t worry! Our dwarven rune drills are silent. The barrier has already been blocked by our obsidian disruptor. Just follow along!” Grov said quite confidently.
With continuous light tapping sounds from the dwarven team, the thin rock chisel silently broke open a small opening. A faintly glowing rune bead was handed over, and the bald-headed Grov poked out half his head, as if a large dinosaur egg had suddenly appeared on the ground.
Grov urgently whispered, “Quick, crawl in! This rock layer won’t hold long. The barrier magic lock has been jammed!”
Several elite dwarven soldiers quickly climbed out of the ground. Grov, without stopping, led the two young women, calling for them to enter the tunnel.
Elliris bent down and entered the tunnel. Her thin nightgown scraped against the surrounding rock walls, leaving some dirt, but she didn’t care. She said urgently in a low voice, “Our equipment and items are still on the head jailer’s shelf. There is a token given to me by the Goddess—its importance goes without saying. Also, please be sure to rescue our suffering people. Afterward, we will definitely be grateful!”
After walking for a while, Elliris, unfamiliar with the rugged and winding tunnel, tripped over a stone underfoot and was about to fall…
Soon, Grov behind her steadied her, and a team member prepared a portable rune shield for each of them.
“See, little Saintess, I’ve fetched your precious items for you! Here, they’re all back to you! You’re so kind-hearted, worrying about the token ring and others when you can’t even save yourself! I’ll remove the sealing rings from you once we’re out. For now, use the rune shields for protection.”
“I have only five team members including myself here. The remaining twenty or so have all launched a surprise assault to rescue your people. Rest assured, lass!”
Nino gripped the rune shield tightly, her eyes reddening as she said, “Thank you for taking such a risk…”
Grov lightly patted Nino’s shoulder—a bit heavy but very warm. “No need to thank! The dwarves have received too many favors from the God Race. All of us remember how your High Priestess saved the Dwarf Kingdom back then!”
Elliris nodded to Nino, and the two continued to cooperate with Grov, using the rune guiding stones to advance along the correct path ahead in the tunnel.
The perspective shifts to the main dwarven team. They were carrying out the more difficult rescue mission, inevitably facing a direct confrontation with the dungeon jailers.
The quick-handed dwarven soldiers rescued all surviving God Race women on the third underground floor in one go. With swift strokes, they took care of the drunken, foolish guards on the third floor and successfully retrieved Elliris’s equipment and items.
The guards, who had been smugly drinking and feasting moments before, were now dead—their smiles taken to the other world.
The dwarven soldiers dared not slack off. They continued the rescue mission on the first and second floors, exploring upward along the stone staircase.
“Everyone, follow me. Light steps, don’t alert the patrolling guards!”
The group was methodically rescuing Elliris’s people. In no time, nearly seventy to eighty God Race women had also entered the dwarven tunnel on the third underground floor.
But things couldn’t be so smooth. As they advanced to the fork near the stairs between the second and first floors, they unexpectedly encountered patrolling jailers.
The dwarven soldiers reacted quickly, immediately throwing rock-earth smoke bombs, and in an instant the corridor filled with thick smoke.
Several jailers shouted angrily, “Something’s wrong! It’s a prison break! People in the back, hurry to the first floor and activate the barrier to seal the underground!”
“Tch! Looks like we can’t get to the first floor for now. No choice. Don’t get bogged down, everyone. Take the God Race women we’ve rescued and evacuate now!” A leading dwarven scout pulled a God Race woman behind him and shouted to his teammates.
After a fierce clash, the dwarven soldiers’ unusual gadgets kept appearing. Blasting talismans paired with short-handled axes completely dominated the knights’ longswords in this street-fight-like situation.
The jailers swinging their longswords were often restricted by walls and iron bars, far less effective than the dwarves’ specially prepared lightweight short weapons, which were more suitable for close combat in these dungeon corridors.
Before long, many guards lay fallen in disarray. Only a few dwarven soldiers had minor injuries. The God Race people they protected were all successfully evacuated.
But this was, after all, the underground of Pope City, the prison said to have the most guards on the continent.
An endless stream of guards—even knight squads with excellent equipment—poured into the underground all at once.
The situation began to take a sharp turn for the worse.
Despite being injured, the jailers still chose to get up, shouting to their comrades in weak voices: “Hurry, chase after them! Don’t let the witches escape! Follow quickly!”
Some patrol jailers who could still move joined the reinforcing knights and began pursuing them.
“Too many are charging in here! We need to escape as soon as possible!” The leading dwarven scout’s eyes flashed with anger as he looked at the figures rushing down through the smoke not far away, urgently shouting to his teammates behind.
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