Rescue 2

The Half-Elf miner leaned against the rock wall, his sunken cheeks adorned with a pair of large, protruding eyes, making him look like a giant goblin.

The Half-Elf miners here are completely different from the Half-Elf miners in the First Mine.

Although Walker was also mining Gemstone Mine underground, these Half-Elf at least controlled the mine's exit. As long as they submitted their Gemstone Mine according to regulations, they could receive their daily rations.

Looking at this Half-Elf miner, Walker finally understood how lucky the Half-Elf of the First Mine were.

The pickaxe wasn't very big; it could be swung with one hand. The Half-Elf miner held the pickaxe horizontally across his chest.

As a female elf clad in silver armor gracefully approached him, radiating a mysterious moonlight, he stared intently at her full breasts, his throat bobbing involuntarily.

The Half-Elf miner took a half-step back, feeling somewhat ashamed, and even dared not look Mulin in the eye.

Mulin, holding the helmet in one hand, looked at the Half-Elf who had been tortured to the point of being almost unrecognizable, and said softly:

"I am Mulin, Half-Elf living on the Pagisto Plateau. We have driven away the Mine Owners above, and now we want to rescue our elven brethren from the mines below. Would you be willing to help us?"

"Of course! You are Half-Elf from the Pagisto Plateau?"

The Half-Elf miner was somewhat excited, and his voice trembled as he spoke.

"Yes, we plan to rescue you from the mine!" Mulin said, then looked around the mine and asked doubtfully, "Are you the only one here? Where are the other Half-Elf?"

"They're all in this area too. We're scattered when we're mining. This is my work area. This area is quite large..." the Half-Elf miner explained, pointing to the mine ahead.

"Each Half-Elf miner has their own mine. We need to dig out more than five Gemstone Mine every day in order to exchange them for a bite to eat."

After the Half-Elf miner finished speaking, he reached out and pried the Gemstone Mine off the stone wall, skillfully stuffing it into the burlap sack at his waist.

Aside from a loincloth, he only had a cloth bag slung across his chest, which he had just hidden behind his back, probably because he was worried that Mulin would steal the fruits of his hard work all day.

Now that they knew Mulin and the others were there to help them, they lowered their guard. Seeing the Half-Elf miners relax their vigilance, Roy stepped out from behind Mulin and asked him, "Where do you usually go to exchange for food?"

The Half-Elf miner stared at Roy's face, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Usually we go to the Dark Moon Elf to trade for food. If we're lucky, we can even get fresh fruit. Occasionally, we also use the linen cloth, pickaxes, and chisels we've saved up to trade for food with the Gray Dwarf. They only have dried mushrooms and Moss Cake there. Those things don't taste good, and you might even get poisoned."

As he spoke, the Half-Elf miner pulled out half a flatbread from his cloth bag, which was only about half the size of his palm.

Roy leaned over for a look and saw that it was made by pressing moss into a cake shape and then drying it.

Surprisingly, these Half-Elf, when starving, even ate the moss in their burrows...

Roy pulled a square-printed Elf Biscuit from his Magic Pouch and handed it to the poor Half-Elf miner.

The Half-Elf miner was a little shy, hesitating whether to reach out. He rubbed his dirty hands on his dark legs a couple of times before taking the exquisite Elf Biscuit. He then eagerly stuffed it into his mouth, chewing vigorously while mumbling, "I can't even remember how many years it's been since I've had such a good Elf Biscuit."

After swallowing the Elf Biscuit, he took out a small water jug from a recess in the rock wall and took a sip of water.

Roy asked him, "Could you come with us to find the other Half-Elf? I'm not very familiar with this mine!"

The Half-Elf miner readily agreed, "Of course! I'd love to go back and tell everyone this good news. Come with me."

"Are you really going to rescue us?"

The Half-Elf miner, carrying a pickaxe in one hand and a dimly lit Carbide Lamp in the other, walked at the head of the group and asked Roy.

Roy nodded and asked him, "How did you get caught and brought here?"

The Half-Elf miner's face immediately showed resentment as he said, "I used to live in Padesto City and made a living by doing some carpentry work. You should know that the most numerous things in Padesto City are those treehouses in the canopy. I made a living by doing odd jobs with these treehouses."

"I remember that day I was repairing windows for a treehouse in an Apple Orchard in the suburbs. I got home a little late and was knocked unconscious outside the Apple Orchard. When I woke up, I was lying in a wooden cage in a horse-drawn carriage. I lay in the cage for many days before I was brought here... My wife probably doesn't know that I was locked up here."

Roy asked, "My name is Roy. I don't know your name yet?"

"Ge Lan, my home is at No. 63 Qingju Street, Second District Padesto City," the Half-Elf miner quickly said, stating his name and address.

He seemed to have lived in the mine for many years and was very familiar with it. At the entrances of the tunnels, he hardly needed to identify them and just casually wandered in and out...

Despite his emaciated appearance, he walked very fast when traversing the mine tunnels...

The mine tunnels are like a spider web, connecting in all directions.

Every road seemed like the throat of a gaping abyss, and Roy was even somewhat relieved that they had met Ge Lan.

If we let them wander around here, they might get lost.

Perhaps because he ate a Elf Biscuit, the paleness on Ge Lan's face lessened a bit, and his striking eyes regained some brightness.

He led everyone through a winding cave, turning several times, and after walking for about 15 minutes, they arrived at a natural cave full of stalactites. Unexpectedly, the mine was connected to a natural cave.

When Roy got here, he also encountered several Half-Elf miners along the way, and exchanged a few words with them, which were almost identical to what Ge Lan had said...

Ge Lan pointed to the mine ahead and introduced it to Roy and Mulin: "This is our underground camp. We can collect clean water from the stalactites here, and some moss grows on some of the surrounding stone platforms, so we used it as our camp."

After passing several stalactites, Roy finally saw some stone platforms with beds made of dried moss, and a tattered cloth was even nailed to one side of the stone wall.

Many of the beds are almost connected together, and there is little privacy in the cave. Occasionally, a small moonstone can be seen embedded in a rock wall, and it is these small moonstones that provide a faint light to this natural cave.

Upon entering the camp, Roy discovered that there were indeed quite a few Half-Elf there. Some of the older Half-Elf were curled up on stone beds. When they heard footsteps, they all opened their eyes and looked in Roy's direction.

Aside from a few elderly Half-Elf, Roy even spotted a Half-Elf child who was cautiously hiding behind an Old Elf, staring at him with wide, curious eyes.

Roy really hadn't expected that these Half-Elf would be able to reproduce under such harsh conditions.

The campsite was full of life. In addition to some stone platforms against the walls, you could see red crystal ore piled up under some stone platforms, and dried mushrooms and Moss Cake hanging on the rock walls next to many stone beds.

Walker, who had just emerged from the First Mine, told Mulin, "This place is completely different from where we are. Although the conditions here are much harsher than ours, there is more life here."

When some Half-Elf miners saw Ge Lan leading a group of fully armed elves, they picked up their pickaxes and surrounded them.

Roy and his companions removed their helmets. Roy let a ' Divine Light ' float above his head, instantly illuminating a large area. Mulin and Walker, who were walking in front, were Half-Elf, Roy was Half-Elf, and Captain Kepler and the two archers were Silver Moon Elf...

They were all bathed in Glimmer Illumination, and the group was clad in exquisite armor and wielding elaborate magical weapons...

The Half-Elf miners were somewhat nervous, but they gritted their teeth and stepped forward, blocking the group's path. Then, one of the Half-Elf miners recognized Ge Lan and immediately approached Ge Lan, asking:

"Ge Lan, who are they?"

Ge Lan quickly introduced them to the group of skinny Half-Elf miners who approached, saying, "They came from the surface, saying they can rescue us?"

A dark-skinned, Half-Elf miner stepped out from the crowd, looking at Roy and his group with some suspicion, and said skeptically:

"Can you defeat those Dark Moon Elf over there?"

When Mulin saw someone questioning their group, she immediately said to everyone, "We rushed over from that side, I'm Mulin..."

Before Mulin could finish introducing herself, a Half-Elf shouted from the crowd, "Mulin, it really is you!"

As he spoke, a gaunt Half-Elf miner squeezed out from the crowd. He looked younger, and his face had not yet been eroded by the black rocks, so you could still see his delicate features.

This young Half-Elf knew Mulin...

After exchanging pleasantries, Mulin began asking the Half-Elf about the situation in the mine.

As expected, the Half-Elf in the second mine was the weakest. The mine exit had been occupied by the Dark Moon Elves for many years, while the Gray Dwarf hid deep in the caves and rarely showed themselves. They did not need the food distributed from the shaft, and they would not deliver the ore they mined to the Dark Moon Elf Prisoners...

Only the Half-Elf would regularly pay their share of ore in exchange for a small amount of food...

"Mulin, what are you doing here? Were you captured by them? Or did you join them?" the Half-Elf rushed over and asked.

Mulin looked a little embarrassed; it wasn't a pleasant feeling to be looked down upon. She said, "No, we've reclaimed this mine, and now we're preparing to rescue all the mixed-blood elites from underground!"

Looking at Vitas's somewhat dirty face, Mulin said happily, "Vitas, I never expected you to be hiding in this mine!"

That day you went hunting and didn't return on time, so we guessed you must have been captured by the Elf Headhunters!

Mulin found her old friend, and of course, the reunion was exceptionally warm.

"How's things at home? Did those Highland Headhunters capture you too?" Vitas asked anxiously, gripping Mulin's arms tightly.

"Our village has been almost completely wiped out by the Highland Headhunters, and now we can only hide in the mountains," Mulin whispered.

Hearing that a group of elves had arrived to rescue everyone, the Half-Elf in the camp all rushed out.

Roy and his group were surrounded by these Half-Elf and arrived at a more spacious place, where they began to have a detailed conversation.

The Half-Elf were very excited when Roy told them that he could lead them away from here.

Roy then learned about the miserable plight of the Half-Elf miners in the Second Mine. Not only was their food controlled by the Dark Moon Elves, but they were also constantly oppressed by the Gray Dwarf.

These Gray Dwarf Bandit live at the bottom of the mine. They don't need the food brought in from the mine entrance, so they are not limited by food. Occasionally, the Gray Dwarf will rush up from the underground caves to plunder the high-quality Gemstone Mine from the Half-Elf miners.

The oppressed Half-Elf did try to resist, but even if they banded together, these Half-Elf miners were no match for the Dark Moon Elf Prisoners, much less the Gray Dwarf ...

Having been oppressed by the Gray Dwarf and Dark Moon Elf for years, these Half-Elf miners gradually lost the courage to resist.

Unexpectedly, in the underground mines of the Second Mine, neither the Dark Moon Elf nor the Gray Dwarf needed to mine. They could simply obtain the prepared Gemstone Mine from the Half-Elf and exchange it for what each party needed.

"Roy, what do we do?" Mulin turned to Roy and asked.

"Get them out of here first..." Roy was a bit of a headache. Once these Half-Elf miners were rescued, the mine probably wouldn't be able to operate normally...

However, this matter requires the mobilization of all the Half-Elf miners.

During their conversation, some Half-Elf miners ran off to inform their companions, urging everyone to quickly return to the underground camp.

One after another, Half-Elf miners returned to the camp, and they were almost all as thin as sticks.

Roy thought to himself: No wonder we haven't seen a Half-Elf miner climb out of the shaft after waiting for so many days. Nobody expected they would be exploited so badly by the Dark Moon Elf and the Gray Dwarf...

Roy and his group waited at the camp for most of the day, Half-Elf miners who were mining Gemstone Mine in the mines outside were all called back.

To Roy's surprise, there were over five hundred Half-Elf miners in the mine, gathered in a camp, their heads surging in the dark cave...