After hearing the mysterious man's words, the forest dragon sank into the water again without a word. Then, a deafening roar resounded, as if the entire secret realm was trembling.

The water in the lake seemed to be drawn in by a huge invisible suction force, disappearing at an astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, the bottom of the vast lake was revealed, and a deep underground entrance suddenly appeared at the bottom of the lake.

Around the entrance, dense magical patterns emanated a mysterious light, winding downward like dynamic veins until they disappeared from everyone's sight.

The elven swordsmen exchanged a glance, and without hesitation, resolutely walked towards the underground entrance. Once inside, they found themselves in an extremely large magic circle.

This magic circle is ingeniously constructed, with one ring closely linked to another, like a sophisticated mechanical device, running non-stop, and the magical fluctuations it emits are heart-pounding.

A figure could be vaguely seen beneath the magic circle. With their keen perception, the elven swordsmen instantly realized that it was the dragon guardian from before.

After sensing the elves descending, the woman slowly spoke, "This is the core of this secret realm. If you truly wish to rescue your companions, you must unleash the energy contained within to wash away the curse of petrification."

"However, this energy is extremely powerful and cannot be controlled by human power. Once released, the entire secret realm will face collapse."

After she finished speaking, she stood aside quietly.

When the elven swordsmen heard this, although they knew the consequences of this action, when they thought of the pain suffered by their trapped companions and the mission they were carrying out, they still resolutely chose to release the energy.

As the energy was released, brilliant and majestic energy ripples appeared, like ripples caused by a huge rock dropped into a calm lake, spreading rapidly in all directions with the magic circle as the center.

While the elven swordsmen were trying their best to rescue their cursed companions, Eric and Shuang Ning had already shuttled between several halls, collecting all the stone statues with strong energy fluctuations and various items into the space ring.

After they confirmed that there was nothing valuable in the hall, they walked out calmly.

As soon as he came out, Eric keenly sensed an extremely huge energy emerging in the distance.

In his perception that was far superior to that of ordinary people, this energy was spreading around at an astonishing speed.

At this time, the representative of the Charlemagne royal family had already filled several high-level space rings according to the instructions presented by the future fragments.

After that, he rushed towards the exit without stopping. It wasn't that he didn't want to take more, but the royal ancestor had repeatedly warned him that he could only take so much. If he became greedy, he would never be able to leave the secret realm again.

The representative of the Charlemagne royal family was obedient. After filling up the required amount, he immediately set off on his journey home.

As he hurried on his way, the energy ripples also spread out in all directions.

He thought to himself that something was wrong and quickened his pace, rushing towards the exit like a gust of wind. The moment he saw the exit, he flew out without hesitation.

At this time, the people guarding the exit saw someone coming out and asked curiously about the harvest.

However, the representative of Charlemagne's family had no time to respond. He just eagerly greeted the rest of the royal family and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The rest of the people looked at each other in bewilderment. At this moment, a strange spatial fluctuation suddenly appeared behind several people.

In the blink of an eye, three dark cracks suddenly appeared before everyone's eyes. Then, an elf, a human, and an old Behemoth emerged from the cracks one after another.

The three of them seemed to have known each other for a long time. After looking at each other, they each found a place, sat cross-legged, and closed their eyes to rest.

Deep in the secret realm, several elven swordsmen hoped that the energy would be released smoothly and their companions would be rescued. However, things did not go as they wished.

Although the energy had been released, it was not completely released. A mysterious person held eight-tenths of the energy crystal. Seeing this, the elven swordsmen immediately became alert and prepared to take back the energy crystal.

But at this moment, they discovered to their horror that the magic circle no longer released energy, but began to frantically drain their vitality.

The leading elven swordsman was extremely anxious. He turned around and glared at the dragon guardian, demanding in a stern voice, "Why is this happening?"

The dragon guardian simply looked at the elves whose vitality was being drained and said slowly, "Look carefully at the person above."

The elves endured the severe pain in their bodies and raised their heads with difficulty. When they saw what was happening, they were immediately horrified.

The mysterious man turned out to be a dark elf! "How is that possible?"

The elves were filled with disbelief.

In their minds, weren't the Dark Elves sealed away in another dimension along with the Demons by the Elven Empire? How could they appear here now?

However, as their life force drained away like running water, the elves became too weak to speak.

The leading elven swordsman knew that the situation was hopeless, but he still felt unwilling to give up.

She no longer hesitated and resolutely crushed the crystal pendant on her chest. Then, her body fell heavily to the ground and she was no longer breathing.

Outside the secret realm, the resting elf seemed to sense something, suddenly opened his eyes, and rushed directly into the secret realm.

The other two saw that the elf seemed to have encountered some emergency and rushed into the secret realm regardless of everything. After a slight hesitation, they hurriedly followed in.

The people who stayed could only look at each other again, their faces full of confusion.

The elf who rushed into the secret realm quickly opened a crack in space and slipped in in a flash.

The next second, she appeared at the core of the lake bottom. At this moment, the dark elf was about to leave, followed by the dragon guardian.

However, the two of them froze at the same time, because a space crack suddenly appeared in front of them, and an elf slowly walked out of it.

After the elf appeared, he immediately saw the bodies of the elven swordsmen on the ground whose vitality had been drained away. A trace of unconcealable grief flashed in his eyes.

Then, she cast her icy gaze towards the dark elves and the dragon guardian and asked coldly, "Did you do this?"

At this moment, the dragon guardian instantly transformed back into the form of a forest dragon and anxiously shouted to the dark elf: "Master, run!"

After shouting, he rushed towards the elf behind him without hesitation. But the elf just raised his hand lightly, clenched his five fingers, and the rushing forest dragon was like a fragile balloon, bursting directly, turning into a cloud of blood mist and drifting away.