The entrance of the cave retty dark, but soon I found some lights ahead. After crossing a few dozeers, I saair of giant golems defending the entrance of the hideout. They weren’t like the golems that I found in the dungeons until now… they were metallis created by the dwarves.

  They were metallistructs, their bodies fed from gleaming steel and reinforced with thick ptes of bronze. Every seam and joint of their stru showed the masterful dwarven craftsmanship, the metal polished to a dull shihat caught and reflected the sparse light in eerie, angur patterns.

  Their proportions were imposing, massive arms like battering rams, legs thick as tree trunks, and broad torsos etched with ruhat pulsed faintly with an internal energy source. Their heads were featureless save for a pair of glowing, crimsohat tracked even the slightest movement, casting a menag red hue across the cavern floor.

  Steam hissed softly from vents in their shoulders, a stant reminder of the raw power that fueled them. They stood in perfect silence, unmovi brimming with energy, like coiled springs ready to unleash devastating force at the slightest provocation. These golems were no mindless structs; they were designed with precision, built to guard the secrets of the dwarves and to crush anyone who dared trespass.

  ‘I don’t think that they sense my movement, unless I get too close to them… in any case, I get experience by destroying this?’

  I khat the dwarves liked to make a lot of things, but I didn’t hear anything about golems… they seemed like automatic defenses as well, so they didn’t o be trolled. I wahat kind of knowledge. Perhaps I could use something simir to clear byrinths.

  In any case, I passed above them and the golems didn’t notice me or move even a bit… Thanks to that, I was able to climb the ceiling when it expanded upward and then I had the ce to see the dwarven base.

  It was massive… it looked like they had carved out the interior of the entire mountain. To make sure that their digging wouldn’t make the whole pce fall apart, the dwarves created giant pilrs to support the ceiling and also reinforced it with earth magid runes.

  The base itself retty simple. Aside from that, the buildings were all the same, aside the ones where things were being doside like processing ores, or meltials to refe them into something else. I couldn’t hear much of the sound of hammers, but there was a lot of steam and smoke ing from some pces.

  The dwarves that I could see moving around weren’t ready fhting. Some of them had thick hammers or axes, some of them had rge crossbows as well, but her of them had any defensive gear. It looked like the idea of the elves reag this far never crossed their minds.

  ‘I guess the elves must be there…’

  The ter of the base had a rge building that seemed like the perfect peetings to take pce… a lot of tents were around as well. Even if they had free houses, they wouldn’t work for the elves, sihe dwarven houses were quite short, plenty rge, but very short.

  I decided to approae of the pilrs and slowly climb down to the closest part of that area… I had to get doh this and then resume my goal of expl byrinths. They should be pretty defenseless now, sihe dwarves were getting ready for war.

  Getting a lot of magic ores should also be possible and I would hem to test a bunch of ideas. In any case, I approached the pilr and then began to climb down to the area… I was still camoufged, but I had to be cautious and not let even a bit of dust fall from it. Thanks to that, I stopped using the y gloves and then slid down the pilr. My hands were getting hot thanks to the fri, but I e.

  While I was doing that, I noticed a bit of noise ing from below, and soon I saw the elves leaving their tents and heading to the rgest building that I assumed was where the dwarves talked about their pns.

  ‘Things ever be easy for me, huh?’

  This was the closest dwarven base to the towhat elf was supposed to be w until retly. That was already me being lucky enough. In any case, I focused my eyes to find him, but it was hard to see their faces from above… approag right now had been a bad move in that regard.

  “It is time to put the part of the pn in motion. The empire sent reinforts to help those who alighemselves with the silver bows and those on the uppercase of the Elven society are following the lead of the new leader of the Silver Bows.”

  ‘That voice…’

  I didn’t fet that voice… that guy was truly here. I couldn’t help but grin since I finally would be able to put ao my journey of reveill, he sure was well-informed, given that he stayed here for the st few days.

  Then again, Renna was able to send a message to that dark elf and ask him to help me in the byrinth, so perhaps this guy here also has some magic implement that helps him receive information fre distances. It also raised a question: who was sending those messages?

  ‘Maybe they have some people infiltrated among Arsn’s inner circle… Crice said that the guy is a good archer, but being a good archer doesn’t help when it es to avoiding being stabbed from behind.’

  Of course something like that ossible… The older and society bees, the more its people tend to rely on subtlety, deception, and backstabbing tactics rather than direct flict to achieve their goals.

  In an older society, yers of traditions, hierarchies, and norms accumute eions. These social structures make ht warfare less practical or acceptable, especially among the elite. Open flicts risk destabilizing the intricate bahat keeps the society funing.

  Instead, individuals and fas ofte to manipution, sabotage, or covert alliao outmaheir rivals within these systems. This made me worry a bit about Crice. She was skilled too, but o a fault… to the point that she never noticed that her allies worked for Cellica all along.

  “We won’t be able to iate with them, given that the empire already sent so many troops to help the upper csses. They are pnning to weaken our resolve by showing their might. Our only option is to fight and show them what we are made of.”

  It looked like this guy was entig them for the war in order to make them think that they didn’t have any other option. That would be a good way to make them fight better… if they think that they don’t have any other options, then their only path would be more clear to their goal.

  “While our dwarf allies will lead the charge, we will focus on seg key points and making others join our cause. They will soon realize that the upper cast ’t be trusted when the empire starts to show their true colors. They fooled the Aquarians, but we ’t allow them to fool us!”

  After that well practiced speech, the elves in the area began to shout in agreement. I was able to notice that it took a while for the others to feel the same way… elves were naturally more calm and not that hot-blooded, but that could be ged by putting some actors in the middle of their ranks to trol the mood of the group.

  “We won’t allow the empire to take over the world or over our lives! It is time to take back what is rightfully ours!”

  The elves began to shout excitement again and soon they began to march to the exit of the base… that was bad. I had to make my move, but if I do it now, I will be targeted by hundreds of skilled elves. Avoiding so many arrows at the same time would be virtually impossible.

  I wao take my ces ahis over with… just killing the guy should be easy, while esg would be a bit difficult. It would be a better idea to capture him and then force him to spill all the beans. I was certain that he gave the empire the sleeping potion that caused the i for three years, but to who? And who gave him that order on both sides? I also o knoas w for them pretending to be w for Arsn as well… I couldn’t give two shits if he lives or dies, but I didn’t think that Crice would be safe with someohat could backstab her brother so close.

  ‘I still make their pns e to a halt just by killing him here, but…’

  The elves began to head to the exit, and when I approached a bit more, I saw that guy leading a small group of elves in the same dire… Those were the guys who trolled the mood of the rger group with their fake excitement. They were even willing to fool their own people to achieve their goal.

  I stopped moving in the pilr and then sidered using my bow… I could snipe him and thehe Magic Smoke Bomb amulet to make myself disappear and avoid the arrows. The smoke would take some time to dissipate here, after all.

  ‘Damn it…’

  I couldn’t kill him yet… I had to get some answers first. Fortunately, following him now that I found him wouldn’t be hard. I just had to be patient, but I was terrible at that.

  I climbed the pilr and theuro the ceiling… while following that guy, I also retraced my steps. I had enough time to see some of the dwarves in the base getting ready to move as well. They would follow the elves from the ba order to avoid double-crossing. Now I had to remain close to both forces to achieve my goals and avoid being found out…

  You received 05 experience points.

  You received 05 experience points.

  You received 05 experience points.

  ‘At least Silent Observation will grant me a shit ton of experience sih sides are being wary of me and they want to kill me on sight as well.’

  WritingMaeGun