The Elven Cultivator

On a jutting cliff at the edge of the basin.

Gustus hovered in midair, its dark purple central pupil fixed on the battlefield below, its gaze exceedingly grim.

The elder of the Di Luo Dwarves and the leader of the Rock Beast Ghosts stood on either side of it, their expressions just as terribly grim.

According to their original plan, they were to wait until the entire Elf army had entered the basin before launching a surprise attack to encircle and annihilate them with overwhelming force.

Who would have thought the enemy would be so vigilant? They had only advanced halfway before sensing something was wrong and decisively ordering a retreat.

As a result, they were forced to attack early, and the effectiveness of their ambush was greatly diminished.

What was even more unexpected was the strength of this Elf army.

”All of them are Black Iron Tier…”

The single eye of the Di Luo Dwarves’ elder was filled with disbelief.

He had originally assumed that the Elves they’d encountered before were just an elite unit, and that the regular soldiers would be far weaker.

But now he suddenly realized that every single soldier in this army was at the Black Iron Tier level.

A Black Iron Legion!

The same term flashed through the minds of the three leaders present.

Could that Elf faction called Nine Nether City actually command a Black Iron Legion?

If that were true, it would be the worst possible news for them.

In the few moments they spent observing and hesitating, the tide of battle had already begun to turn against them.

Even with the advantage of a surprise attack, they failed to gain the upper hand. In fact, they were faintly beginning to show signs of being unable to hold their ground.

”Take out their commanders first!” the elder of the Di Luo Dwarves said gravely, a vicious glint in his single eye.

The leader of the Rock Beast Ghosts nodded in wholehearted agreement.

His gaze swept across the battlefield, quickly locking onto three figures.

A silver-haired Elf Maiden wielding a War Axe, a gray-robed Caster brandishing a Magic Staff, and an Elf Warrior in Scale Armor who looked like an officer.

These three Elves were all Golden Tier. They were, most likely, the command structure of this army.

If they could just eliminate these three, the leaderless Elf soldiers would fall into chaos, giving them a chance to turn the tables.

The three leaders exchanged a look, a swift, unspoken agreement passing between them.

In the next instant, Gustus’s central eye flared. A dark purple ray, as thick as an arm, shot out from its pupil and blasted toward Romance.

Simultaneously, the elder of the Di Luo Dwarves leaped from the cliff, his two-handed war hammer whistling through the air as it smashed down toward Darian.

The Rock Beast Ghost leader also leaped, charging like a moving hill to crush the captain of the Dark Banner Team.

Romance, Darian, and the team captain all moved to meet their attackers.

In a flash, the Golden Tier combatants on both sides clashed.

She gripped her axe with both hands, power surging from her core. The Thunderstrike Axe swung upward in a dazzling arc, viciously cleaving the incoming ray.

The lightning-wreathed Thunderstrike Axe collided heavily with the ray in midair. An eye-searing light erupted in that instant, and a visible ripple of energy blasted outward from the point of impact, sending shattered rocks flying in all directions.

The dark purple ray, powerful enough to disintegrate refined gold, was forcefully shattered by the Thunderstrike Axe into countless tiny motes of light that scattered and dissipated.

Gustus’s central pupil contracted violently.

’My disintegration ray… was shattered by an axe?’

Before it could recover from its astonishment, Romance had already closed the distance, her Thunderstrike Axe descending once more.

Elsewhere, Darian cast a spell to force back the Di Luo Dwarves’ elder. He stole a glance up at Gustus, and his brow furrowed.

’An Elder Eye!’

Eye Demons were a race notorious for their numerous mutant strains.

Among them, the Elder Eye was the most common variant. Not only was their lifespan far greater than that of a normal Eye Demon, but their spellcasting abilities also far surpassed them.

Beyond that, there were even rarer and more powerful variants, such as the Hive Mother, the Overlord, the Winged Tyrant, the Death Kiss, the Abyssal Eye, and the Gauss Eye Demon.

Each of these variants possessed unique abilities and combat styles, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

Although the Elder Eye ranked near the bottom among Eye Demon variants, even the weakest of them possessed the power of the Golden Peak tier.

This Elder Eye before them was clearly at the Golden Peak and had most likely awakened a Law such as Disintegration. It would not be an easy opponent.

Fortunately, Romance was no slouch either.

Darian’s gaze fell upon the faint, golden phantom image covering the Elf Maiden’s body.

Indistinct, golden, wheel-like silhouettes flowed slowly around her like reflections in water.

With every rotation of the golden wheel phantoms, fine arcs of electricity shot out and coursed over Romance’s body, emitting a powerful aura that was both sharp and solid.

’The Golden Wheel Thunder Body!’

Darian recalled that this near-divine art focused on defense. A Cultivator could condense a layer of the Power of Thunder and Lightning on their body’s surface to resist external attacks.

Cultivated to its deepest levels, the golden wheels would guard the body, generating lightning with their rotation, creating a ceaseless defensive power. With the physical body alone, one could withstand attacks from the Legendary Tier.

Judging from Romance’s current performance, she clearly hadn’t fully mastered this near-divine art; she was only at a level where she could barely apply it.

But when combined with the Power of Thunder and Lightning from her Six Celestial Thunder Profound Armor, her defensive capabilities had already reached a stunning level.

Even when Gustus’s disintegration rays weren’t directly shattered by her Thunderstrike Axe, the occasional beam that struck Romance would be weakened layer by layer by the golden wheel phantoms and the protective lightning of her Six Celestial Thunder Profound Armor. By the time it finally reached her physical body—already extraordinarily tough from cultivating the Eight Desolates Prison-Suppression Scripture—the damage it caused was negligible.

Gustus, on the other hand, was not faring as well.

Under Romance’s continuous heavy blows, the defensive field enveloping its body warped violently, groaning under the strain like a canvas sail being repeatedly ripped by a gale.