Pillar of Yita

Fortunately, the outcome didn’t change much.

This time the opponents were a four-member team, with a total of seventeen glands dropped, slightly fewer than before. The spoils of war included a magic self-drawn map, a rather interesting little item that could automatically chart the surrounding underground passages, caves, and labyrinth structures, greatly aiding pathfinders in their efforts.

The only drawback is it consumes a lot of magic power, and can only be used when the environment isn’t too harsh.

Fang Hong handed the map to Elisa, further confirming in his mind that the other party should not be able to revive at the Holy Sanctuary of the Oulin Saints. If they had the protection of Roman, such a high equipment drop rate would be unlikely.

However, after two battles, the team had suffered some losses. Parker and Elisa were injured in the second battle, and although Life Potions were used to restore lost life points, a reduction in combat effectiveness was inevitable.

Moreover, both Gita and Xiangzi had consumed a considerable amount of magic power.

Miss Natural Historian actually had a pale face, the power of the Natural Historian’s spells was strong, but the Magic Guided Book was also the largest consumer of magic power.

Hilveld reached out to touch her icy forehead, then shook her head at Fang Hong, indicating that Gita would not be able to participate in combat again anytime soon.

”I, I can hold on for a little longer,” Gita weakly protested, knowing that the two battles were not the end, but just the beginning: ”I can arrange the illusion scenery to be slightly smaller, it doesn’t have to be that realistic.”

Fang Hong comforted her: ”It’s okay, you and Xiangzi rest for now, there will be opportunities for you to act.”

Gita looked at him and then calmed down.

On the other side, the Dragonfire Guild’s team had almost escaped out of the canyon, and Fang Hong didn’t plan to pursue them, instead letting his Clockwork Fairy rise to the canopy level to observe the battle in the valley.

The Hill Giants had already arrived in the basin—and by some unknown method, engaged in combat with the giant spiders.

The battle in the valley was extremely fierce, the Hill Giants were among the lower classes of the Giant Clans, not very intelligent but physically strong, about six to seven meters tall, short and thickset, resembling a moving small mountain, hence their name.

But it’s said they mostly live in hilly regions, thus the name Hill Giants. Their appearance is somewhat like a greatly magnified Dwarf, though they share no kinship with Dwarves, and the two were actually ancestral enemies in the Giant War.

Hill Giants fight using enormous tree trunks, or by lifting giant rocks to attack—in terms of individual strength, the giant spiders were no match for them. With a sweep of its giant club, the giant spider guards were instantly flattened, or a throw of a giant rock would roll through the spider swarm like an avalanche, creating a garish path.

However, the giant spiders relied on their numerical advantage to swarm the Hill Giants, who found it equally difficult to fend off. Their fangs were venomous, requiring only three to five to effectively hinder the actions of a Hill Giant.

Once a Hill Giant was isolated, it would quickly be torn to pieces by the spider swarm.

In the Hill Giant’s horde, there were also quite a few Ogre followers, these wild mountain monstrosities had individual strength similar to the giant spiders, but were more numerous than the Hill Giants. Thus, with the assistance of Ogres, the Hill Giants, though outnumbered, managed to hold their ground in the valley.

The real combat, in fact, was between the Silvermane ’Spider Queen’ and a few of the larger Hill Giants. Fang Hong was not very familiar with Hill Giants, only figuring that these few should be leaders or clan heads of different clans.

Ordinary Hill Giants had a huge advantage in size over the giant spiders. But these Hill Giant clan leaders had no such advantage before the Silvermane ’Spider Queen’, and even seemed slightly inferior.

Among the Hill Giants, there were about seven more imposing ’Giants’, but it took all of them together to reluctantly oppose the Silvermane ’Spider Queen’. The battle was fierce and unresolved, with several Hill Giants battered and bloody, and the Silvermane ’Spider Queen’ clearly not faring much better—covered in wounds.

However, there was a third party in this battle.

That was the Dragonfire Guild—

But the Dragonfire Guild was evidently not in an extraordinary position. Though they managed to embroil the Silvermane ’Spider Queen’ and the Hill Giants into a melee, they themselves were also caught in the conflict, simultaneously enduring assaults from both the giant spiders and Hill Giants.

They originally occupied one side of the riverbank, but under attack from both sides, their defense line had now retreated to a corner of the basin.

Even so, the Dragonfire Guild was still retreating continually.

From an aerial view, the battle in the basin was fully frenetic, forming a huge vortex that drew all three warring parties into its center, none able to extricate themselves easily. Yet, through the vision of the Clockwork Fairy, Fang Hong could easily see that the Dragonfire Guild still held back some strength.

Evidently, they deliberately included the Hill Giants and the Silvermane ’Spider Queen’ in this battle, not to make themselves cannon fodder in the three-way war. Although the Giants and giant spiders continually impacted the Dragonfire Guild’s lines, their primary enemies remained each other after all.

This was totally understandable, after all, with a deadly enemy on the side, who would care about a harmless mouse?