Chapter 11: I’m Not The Sixth
The Duergar originally thought the human spellcaster would exhaust after casting a few spells, but unexpectedly the spells kept coming endlessly. Their psionics spell range was relatively short, unable to reach him at all, and they secretly hated it.
Seeing that Anse and the archer’s threats were too great, they wanted to shift the battlefield back, but everyone was entangled together, and rashly withdrawing might trigger defeat.
But as the slaves on the Duergar side were largely cleared out, the human side gained the initiative, and the battlefield gradually shifted.
Anse overlooked the battlefield; the nearest enemy was already more than forty meters away from him, exceeding the theoretical spell range, but he could still hit, just with reduced accuracy.
‘It should be related to my casting attribute.’
His casting attribute was charisma, 16 points, far higher than ordinary people. As charisma increased, his casting speed, spell range, and control over mana all improved slightly.
“Hoo—”
He paused spellcasting, leaning on his staff to steady his breathing and relieve the throbbing pain in his head.
Continuous spellcasting made him mentally fatigued, mana consumed nearly half, with a faint sense of emptiness rising in his body.
It seemed that even with magic control, his mind and body couldn’t support him dumping all his spells in one go.
“Roar—”
Suddenly, a massive roar shook the mountainsides on both sides, causing rocks to tumble.
Anse was startled and looked toward the sound; a bald giant over three meters tall had suddenly appeared on the battlefield, charging at Land.
‘Enlarge!’
The Duergar Warlord had entered the fray.
Anse quickly jumped down the hillside, trotting toward the battlefield in small steps.
Helping was secondary; mainly, standing on the slope was too conspicuous, and attracting the bald giant’s hatred would be trouble.
He ran a few quick steps and hid behind the crowd, quietly observing.
On the battlefield, the bald giant swung his warhammer with astonishing momentum; Land mainly dodged, with occasional counterattacks.
Their fight was too intense, and people around them scattered to avoid being affected.
Anse noticed Land rarely cast second ring divine spells, probably affected by the magic net, while the Duergar’s psionics didn’t rely on the magic net.
Fortunately, it was daytime now; the Duergar had sunlight sensitivity, and with the paladin mainly using radiant attacks, it countered them well, so Land could barely hold his own.
At this time, Zahir finished his opponent and rushed up to team up with Land against the bald giant.
Even so, the bald giant remained mighty; with one hammer strike, Land couldn’t dodge in time and was smashed to the ground, blood trickling from his mouth, his shield visibly dented.
‘Too bad I don’t know support spells.’ Anse sighed inwardly.
He didn’t dare attack now; if the bald giant really came for him, Land might not be able to stop it.
He inadvertently saw the sun above the giant’s head and had a thought: ‘Sunlight sensitivity!’
From what he knew, Duergar had resistance to poison, illusion, and charm, but had a perception disadvantage in sunlight.
And his dragon sorcery Command would force the target to make a perception saving throw; failure meant they had to obey one command.
‘His perception shouldn’t be high.’
Thinking of this, he hesitated no longer, quickly approaching the battlefield while fully mobilizing his own mana.
He stepped out from the crowd, left hand leaning on his staff, right hand pointing at the Duergar Warlord as he shouted angrily:
“Drop it!”
An invisible magic effect enveloped the bald giant; he clearly froze for a moment, a flash of confusion in his eyes, and subconsciously released the warhammer from his hand.
Land’s spirits lifted; before the warhammer hit the ground, he stepped forward and kicked it toward Zahir, who caught it and flung it forcefully onto the hillside.
The bald giant hadn’t expected his weapon to be gone in a daze; furious beyond measure, he turned to find Anse the sly one, but saw he had already hidden behind the crowd, with Brat and others surging forward to block his view.
“Roar… Awo—”
Land slashed a bloody gash on his thigh, interrupting his roar.
The bald giant didn’t dare get distracted, retreating two steps hurriedly, grabbing a spear from the ground at random to force back Land and the other.
Then, with a wave of his hand, he ran off!
The other Duergar and slaves, seeing this, bolted without hesitation, showing no attachment.
“Roar roar roar…”
The humans waved their weapons, putting on a show of intimidation a few times, but didn’t pursue, and had no strength to pursue.
‘Too bad about all this experience.’ Anse sighed inwardly, but knew this was the best outcome.
With the paladin big brother on the human side, they could probably win in a hard fight, but how many would survive was questionable.
Anse scanned around; only about ten people were still standing, most injured.
The ground was full of corpses, limbs, entrails, and bloodstains everywhere; his boots had already been splattered with bloody mud from those few steps he ran, the sticky feeling making his hair stand on end.
“Clean the battlefield, quick—” Zahir called out to everyone and began using lay on hands and healing potions to treat the wounded.
Anse scanned around and spotted a goblin not quite dead yet; his eyes lit up, and he strode forward to bash its head in with his staff.
【Target Death, gain 3 combat experience…】
The experience was little, but there was no danger. He grinned, revealing a mouth of stark white teeth.
Brat, seeing this, couldn’t help shuddering: ‘Such heavy killing intent.’
“Let someone else do this; you rest.”
He hurriedly stepped forward to pull Anse back, thinking Anse was worried about his parents and venting on underground creatures.
“Uh, alright.” Anse didn’t insist; maintaining the normal persona was important.
“You’re injured?”
Brat was covered in bloodstains, his clothes torn, looking a bit scary.
“It’s nothing, minor wound; thanks to you looking out for me.” Brat shook his head slightly, but tugged at the wound on his neck, wincing in pain.
Footsteps approached; the two turned to look, and Land was striding over quickly, left hand holding his helmet, bloodstains at his mouth and ears, a clear dent in his breastplate.
“Thanks for your help, both of you.” Saying this, Land handed a half bottle of red potion to Brat, “This is for you.”
“Then I won’t stand on ceremony.” Brat smiled and took it, but didn’t use it right away.
This was a healing potion, worth 50 gold coins a bottle; even half was valuable.
“Your heroic deed deserves more, but sadly my potions are almost gone.” Land praised, then looked at Anse, “Sir, have we met somewhere?”
“Uncle Land, I’m Anse Hollewen; do you remember the sow’s trotter bakery?” Anse reminded him.
Dragon race bloodline had subtly adjusted his appearance and build; his aura was worlds apart from before, hard for non-acquaintances to recognize.
“You’re… little Anse?” Land stared closely at the fine dragon scales on Anse’s face, somewhat incredulous.
Years without seeing each other, he couldn’t connect this confident, mysterious spellcaster with the skinny boy in his memory.
“It’s me; I unexpectedly awakened my bloodline and became a sorcerer.” Anse said with a smile.
“Good, that’s good.” Land patted his arm, head slightly lowered, expression complex, a hint of hesitation in his eyes.
Land wasn’t tall, about 1.7 meters. Anse was half a head taller, couldn’t see his face, but felt his hesitation.
“What’s wrong?”
“You… don’t go back to the bakery.” Land was silent for a moment, then decided to tell him.
Anse’s heart skipped: “Something happened to my parents?”
“Yeah, we were evacuating people yesterday; your parents wouldn’t leave, wanted to find you, but were persuaded by the priest. Later, rioters burst into the bakery to loot… By the time we found out, it was too late; we could only hastily bury the bodies…”
Land gripped Anse’s arm tightly, as if afraid he’d lose control suddenly.
Anse’s breathing grew heavy, emotions surging complexly, but not much grief or regret—instead, a sense of relief like a weight lifted.
Though a bit heartless, this was indeed his true feeling.
After all… he wasn’t the original owner.
Supplement:
1. In DND, attributes usually work based on “adjustment value,” and strength and load are also related to size; the concept is abstract and hard to understand without tabletop role-playing （this is directly related to the dice system）.
For easier reading, forget the above concepts; remember:
Attribute growth provides non-linear enhancement; every point increase boosts corresponding abilities by over 35%.
2. DND5R rules state that casting attributes （like intelligence, charisma, etc.） do not affect casting speed, spell range, or accuracy.
To better fit reality, this book sets that improvements in casting attribute positively affect all aspects of the spellcaster.
After casting attribute exceeds 10 points, every additional point boosts control, casting speed, and spell range by 5%, e.g., protagonist’s 17 charisma boosts 35% （AI calculation based on legendary creature attribute performance）.
3. Duergar Warlord attributes
Medium humanoid （dwarf）, any alignment
Armor Class: 20 （plate armor, shield）
Life: 75 （10d8+30）
Speed: 25 feet
Strength 18 （+4） Dexterity 11 （+0） Constitution 17 （+3）
Intelligence 12 （+1） Perception 12 （+1） Charisma 14 （+2）
Damage Resistance: poison
Senses: darkvision 120 feet, passive perception 11
Languages: Dwarvish, Undercommon
Challenge Rating: 6 （2,300 XP）
Duergar Resilience: The warlord has advantage on saving throws against charm, paralysis, and poisoning.
Sunlight Sensitivity: While in sunlight, the warlord has disadvantage on attack rolls and on perception checks that rely on sight.
