Chapter 620.5: Tunnel Warfare
Watching these emaciated half-elf slaves building defenses and excavating new hidden spaces within the mines, Alice glanced at the burly kobolds and suddenly had an absurd thought:
"Have these poor half-elf slaves never had a full meal in their lives?"
Trist noticed her emotion, looking out over the vast underground space that had been dug out.
He watched as huge blocks of ore were piled up together, a look of indescribable excitement and anticipation in his eyes. He asked, awestruck:
"Are we really going to build castles and fortresses down here?"
Pointing at the engineering golems being transported by rail from the other end of the tunnel, Alice answered without hesitation:
"That's right—no matter how sturdy the outer walls are, they can't withstand the bombardment of Cole Elf magic and the onslaught of their armies."
"If these half-elf slaves want to survive, they'll have to rely on these vast, interconnecting spaces."
Soon, one excavation golem after another, to the disbelief of the half-elf slaves, easily bored huge new tunnels.
Metal ore that tens of thousands of half-elf slaves couldn't dig out in days with their picks was piled into a hill before their eyes.
The entire process took less than two hours.
When the half-elf slaves entered deeper into the mines through the golem-dug tunnels,
An enormous space appeared before all of them.
Tens of thousands of kobolds were busy working here.
An elemental furnace, radiating endless firelight, was devouring more and more ore.
Streams of molten red metal poured from the furnace's outlet.
The metal flowed into molds, forming one standard ingot after another.
Goblins clad in exoskeletal armor stacked these ingots, loaded them into nearby containers, which were then hauled away by golem trains.
The half-elf slaves could hardly believe that beneath their feet there was such a vast space—and a huge metal refinery.
Watching the golem trains disappear into the distance, Sparta turned to the equally astonished Alice and asked without thinking:
"When did Bay Territory set all this up?"
Even though she'd received some information and reports, Alice had never imagined—
That the territory had dug out such a huge underground space, all in total secrecy.
She looked at Sparta, noticed his excitement, and answered straightforwardly:
"About three months ago. And besides this place, there should be two more!"
Three months?
Two more sites?
Sparta looked at the kobolds everywhere, his breathing grew heavier, and he said without thinking:
"Tell me about the rest areas—we need to start organizing immediately."
Alice blinked, beckoned over Silver-Fang and Gold-Fang, and introduced them to Sparta without hesitation:
"These two are Gold-Fang and Silver-Fang. They're in charge of everything in this area, including building the cities and fortresses."
The tall Gold-Fang looked Sparta up and down and greeted him in a hearty, booming voice:
"Welcome to the Undercity! In Bay Territory, we have a saying: every city must be built with everyone's participation."
"We'll register and check everyone, treat your injuries, restore your strength, and build Undercity No.1 together."
Feeling Gold-Fang's physical power, no weaker than his own, and sensing the subtle intimidation, Sparta's mind was buzzing.
He couldn't figure it out—
Why would Bay Territory pay such a price and spend so many resources to build a city out of nothing inside a mountain of stone?
"Why? Of course, it's to give the Cole Elves something to do!"
Matthew didn't hide his intentions at all. Seeing Sparta's disbelief, he smiled and gestured for him to look:
"I'm sure you noticed in the last battle."
"Even with an overwhelming advantage in numbers, the Cole Elf army couldn't break through the bottleneck of narrow terrain."
"If they press the attack, their casualties will be enormous…"
Remembering the last fight, noting how the adventurers took out hundreds of Cole Elf soldiers with almost no losses,
Sparta, deeply impressed, nodded in agreement.
Sparta had fought Cole Elf armies many times and collected plenty of information—he knew their combat power well.
Personally, Sparta could easily kill dozens, even hundreds, of Cole Elf warriors.
His fighting strength was truly formidable.
But individual strength always had its limits—stamina, lifeforce, fighting spirit, terrain.
He could never defeat a force of more than 300.
And the half-elf slaves he led—because of their inferior weapons, equipment, skill, and training—
Usually needed at least five times the numbers to go toe-to-toe with trained Cole Elf warriors.
Even then, the half-elf slaves were usually on the losing side.
If he led a fighting force, to kill 400+ Cole Elf warriors would cost at least 2,000 half-elf slave deaths.
Sparta lacked this particular experience, but not the insight.
He immediately understood Matthew's plan and tentatively asked:
"You mean we use these mines as the battlefield to lure the Cole Elves to attack us?"
Matthew, pleased with Sparta's perceptiveness, nodded and answered directly:
"That's right! With narrow, complex terrain, proper tactics, and good weapons, you can make up for a lack of strength and numbers."
Deep in thought, Sparta was already imagining his half-elf slave-warriors hiding in the dark, ambushing the Cole Elves.
But he quickly thought of a flaw and asked without hesitation:
"But why would they follow us inside to fight?"
Matthew glanced at the piles of stone, gestured to Gold-Fang and Silver-Fang.
The two started barking orders at the hulking kobolds.
These dragon-blood-modified draconic kobolds quickly got the well-fed workers moving again.
The kobolds went back to work, but Sparta's doubts only grew—though he didn't press Matthew, instead following him to the edge of the vast cavern.
Watching Matthew touch the stone wall, noticing the faint red stains, Sparta immediately said:
"This is high-quality iron ore—huge reserves. All this mined rock is less than 1% of the whole deposit."
Feeling the roughness of the iron ore, Matthew pointed at the digging golems and said to Sparta:
"Now that the Cole Elves have ordered even more ore to be mined—what do you think they need most?"
What do you need to mine ore?
That's obvious, isn't it?
A mine, tools, and miners.
There's plenty of the second for the Cole Elves—they can make as many as they want.
But the first and third are different.
Sparta, thinking quickly, widened his eyes and turned to Matthew:
"You mean, we just keep dragging this out? They can't leave the mines—and they can't do without us?"
Matthew smiled, watching the busy kobolds, and, noticing some half-elf slaves starting to help, said with feeling:
"Of course. Without slaves, they have no workers to mine for them."
"Do you really think the noble Cole Elves would pick up pickaxes and crawl into dark, cramped tunnels themselves?"
Sparta was a bit taken aback, giving Matthew a strange look, suddenly realizing that what he was saying might really happen.
He used to think the Cole Elves imprisoned and enslaved all the half-elves
Just to kill them off, generation after generation, in this vast Cantrell ruin.
Using the ruined mountains as a garbage dump.
But as more mines opened, the more the half-elves had to work.
Their burdens only grew.
It looked like a new form of punishment.
But if you thought about it another way—it was simply because the Cole Elves didn't have enough labor for mining, so they had to rely on half-elf slaves.
For the slaves, though, this was a torture no less than slow death.
The more Sparta thought about it, the more excited he became. He nodded and said:
"I'll head to the other mines right now and tell them to get ready for tunnel fighting."
He turned, met Matthew's gaze, and promised firmly:
"As long as Bay Territory is willing to accept the half-elves and give us food to survive, we're willing to become your pieces and cannon fodder in the fight against the Cole Elves."
Pieces and cannon fodder?
That's a lot of resolve!
Matthew shrugged, not arguing with Sparta, and signaled him to go.
No amount of talk would help—only by taking action would Sparta truly understand Bay Territory's ways.
The Undercity's construction was in full swing.
The mining area above was as busy as ever.
The adventurers dug out tunnel after tunnel for hiding and fighting.
Interestingly, the tools in their hands were magical items they called "golden hoes."
The reason for the name? The hoe-shaped magic tool was actually all gold in color.
Its functions for digging earth and mining were just like a regular hoe.
They liked to joke, but every adventurer was a bit attached to their golden hoe.
The reason was simple: it was sharp and sturdy beyond belief.
Hard ore and rock were softer than ordinary clay before it.
A few swings could dig out a huge chunk.
The ore was their labor's fruit, and when they struck rare metals, they could pocket a little extra.
Chris carried the plans and carefully inspected the tunnels and hideouts dug by the adventurers.
He was meticulous—in the coming battle, they'd face powerful Cole Elf forces.
The Cole Elves were formidable and could use many tactics:
Deadly archery, brutal close combat, sharp magic—all formidable weapons.
Chris still had doubts about Lord Matthew's tunnel warfare tactics.
After all, tunnel warfare had only ever been tested in Bay Territory's army camps—never in real combat.
Still, out of faith in the lord and trust in Bay Territory,
Chris and all the adventurers followed the plan and blueprints precisely.
For three days straight,
The once-twisting, shadowy mining tunnels became, under the work of adventurers and kobolds, a labyrinthine honeycomb.
Within were countless tunnels and spaces, hiding a host of bored adventurers.
Quite a few were looking forward to the Cole Elves' attack.
Whether the Cole Elves heard their prayers or were just ready for action—
The Cole Elves mustered about 15,000 soldiers and launched a probing attack on Sparta's mine.
The adventurers captured a batch of scouts—slaves, overseers, even Cole Elf spies.
Any who resisted were killed.
Captured ones were sent to another hidden chamber for holding.
Only after the fighting would their identities be checked.
This probing lasted half a day, but gained no useful intel.
The Cole Elf commander suppressed the urge for an all-out assault, sending in wave after wave to scout.
But as soon as they entered, they ran into trouble.
The old tunnels had been destroyed—they couldn't find their way.
The ground was riddled with hidden dangers and traps.
Pits full of spikes, traps with hidden Fireball scrolls, arrows from all directions, sudden attacks everywhere—
Even with their quick reflexes, the Cole Elves couldn't withstand the variety of attacks, and fell one after another.
In just half an hour, over 300 Cole Elf warriors lay dead in the unremarkable tunnels.
Watching the Cole Elf commander, red-faced, order the assault, Matthew smiled faintly:
"Time to let you taste the true power of tunnel warfare."