Chapter 22: When Dwarves Encounter Objects Sent from Heaven

  Dwarves were once a thriving race, with their footprints covering the whole world thousands of years ago. The western continent, eastern continent and what is now Despair Land often saw dwarves appearing in human cities. Their forging techniques, fragrant wines and generous personalities made them the most welcome friends and allies to humans.

  Later, a great dwarf king named Muradin united several large clans and established a dwarven kingdom in the richest mineral deposits of Khaz Modan, funded by selling ironwork and with financial aid from some human friends. The dwarves had apparently reached their zenith.

  Until that day arrives.

  Perhaps it was a natural disaster, perhaps it was divine punishment, or perhaps it was the creator god's trial for all living beings. When a dwarf mining expedition discovered a massive naturally formed portal gateway in the deepest part of the Desolate Lands, the invasion began.

  As the portal's light faded, countless terrifying creatures that had never appeared in anyone's worst nightmares emerged from the portal, roaring and howling as they surged out like a tidal wave in all directions. After the fleeing mining team reported back, the dwarves and humans of Despair immediately formed an alliance to counterattack, sending messengers to the eastern and western continents to request reinforcements. It could be said that their response was nearly perfect - even if the enemy were the powerful and ferocious beastmen army, they would have been powerless against it. Moreover, although the beastmen had a rather unpleasant relationship with humans, it wasn't to the point of being irreconcilable; in fact, they might even send reinforcements out of respect for the dwarves.

  But the enemy was not an orc, they were far more terrifying than orcs.

  Countless low-level demons, driven by higher-intelligent devils, charged towards the allied army's position with reckless abandon. They were ferocious in nature, with sharp claws and thick skin, but lacked self-awareness. To the demon tribe, these lower demons were nothing more than consumables, and they never bothered to consider their casualties. Under the impact of these demons who would cling to you even in death, the allied army's offensive momentum quickly came to a halt and turned into defense. Fortunately, with the city's high walls and the warriors' blockade, countless demons were crushed by human mages' magic spells.

  During this period, the high-ranking demons had personally taken action to attack, and each time the coalition forces repelled these magic warriors with black bat wings, they paid a heavy price. However, the number of demons was too small, and this consumption played into the hands of the demons but not the coalition. As a result, the front line stabilized near the border of the Dwarf Kingdom in the Despair Lands, and both sides began to nurture their strength.

  The balance was soon broken after reinforcements from the eastern and western continents of Zhōu Lì Wén arrived.

  The clarion call to arms has sounded, the war drums are shaking the earth and oceans, many races from all corners have put aside their differences and formed an unprecedentedly powerful coalition. The elven archers' hail of arrows made the monsters' relentless charge intermittent; the human iron cavalry's charge crushed their formations; the sturdy dwarf warriors and brave beastman heroes formed an impenetrable wall that shattered everything that tried to break through it; the wizards and clerics at the rear became an existence that made demons gnash their teeth in hatred.

  The demon tribe's invincible Dog Sea tactics were defeated by the coalition forces of Chorley and Liven in a high-tech battle - sorry, maybe some things got mixed in, but please don't mind - they were almost crushed all the way to the teleportation gate, and their counterattack was also getting weaker and weaker, as if they had run out of energy.

  At this point, every member of the Allied Forces was convinced that they would emerge victorious in the end. Their faces were filled with excitement and pride at the prospect of becoming part of an epic tale to be passed down through history. Even the high-ranking officials of the Allied Forces were discussing whether to push on to the other side of the transmission gate to thoroughly eliminate any potential threats, as if victory was within their grasp. After making the final decision to launch a full-scale attack across the transmission gate to annihilate the Demon Clan, the Allied Forces launched a general offensive. The Allied Forces advanced with ease, like a hot knife through butter, and the troops at the forefront could even see the massive silhouette of the transmission gate in the distance. However, their gaze was immediately drawn to an even more enormous object.

  That was a towering, twisted tree branch-like black magic tower, its surface covered with crooked and slanted magic arrays that seemed to be scribbled by a Titan giant suffering from mental illness. It was extremely absurd yet filled with eeriness at the same time. Especially the base of the tower, where there were huge, hair-raising things that resembled sharp insect mouthparts, which were currently opening and closing, chewing on countless low-level magic creatures, slowly grinding them into pulp before swallowing them down. Nearby, a large group of magic creatures gathered quietly, waiting to be devoured by the tower, just like patients waiting for their turn in a hospital corridor. The entire scene was abnormally bloody, orderly, silent, and oppressive, enough to drive any calm and wise sage mad on the spot.

  Most of the coalition forces then became epic and legend - as the fallen in the failed side of this invasion war.

  This magic tower is called the Sacrifice Tower, it can use the blood and flesh of sacrifices to provide a 10-fold super BUFF that enhances life and strength for a certain number of targets, then the target will explode and die after a certain period of time due to being unable to withstand the power. Although the amount of sacrifice required is almost enough to make a race nearly extinct, the consequences are also terrible, but it cannot be denied that the effect is quite significant. Because this BUFF, which can be completely described as a BUG, has a group effect.

  This ritual, which exchanges flesh and soul for immense power, is not magic, but one of the distorted creation codes. It was originally intended as a means to preserve the bloodline for numerous intelligent species with weak individual strength, but it was exploited by demons who grasped this world's strategic-level power.

  The demon tribe's ritual of sacrificing lower demons brought over through teleportation resulted in a severe shortage of frontline troops, giving the allied forces an illusion of impending victory. Then, when the allied forces launched a massive general offensive, the demons activated the Demon Tower.

  Can you imagine the scene where a group of small dogs with 350 HP and 50 attack, more heroic than heroes, are walking horizontally across the map during online battles? Although their defense is a bit fragile, they are much cooler than mammoths. Even if they encounter tank seas and giant image groups, there is still something called cannon fodder...

  Alright, just ignore this part then.

  In this world where the air force riding flying creatures can only be used for reconnaissance and airdrops, these close-range attack demons are quite terrifying, especially when they mix into the large group of cannon fodder demons and become difficult to distinguish. If it were just that, the mages in the coalition could still cope - although after those buffed demons died, the buffs would transfer to other demons, but at least they could be killed. However, after the demon tribe brought out another terrifying killer move, the coalition finally collapsed.

  Soul magic.

  No one can bear to kill the same enemy twice, and no one can bear to see a fallen comrade get up again and charge at them with their weapon, not even the most thick-skinned Minotaur.

  The coalition forces had no choice but to abandon the vast territories they had exchanged for countless brave and young lives, and began to contract their defenses. Their initial plan was only to hold on until the damned BUFF's effect passed, but that law-powered BUFF had no time limit, only a distance restriction based on the magic tower - however, in order to form combat effectiveness, the number of creatures being buffed must exceed a certain number, and after several days, these buffed creatures would lead to exhaustion and transfer the BUFF to other members of the same tribe. No race could withstand such consumption - the coalition was very lucky, they inadvertently avoided the effective range of the law, and dragged the demon clan into a war of attrition. The demons soon stopped the magic tower, after all, low-level demons were not infinitely spawned.

  However, at this time, the disadvantage of the Allied forces could no longer be recovered, and they had spent too much time.

  Demons may not have much talent for crafting weapons, armor and tools - or rather, they simply don't have any - but it's undeniable that these black-winged creatures grasp magic and martial arts at an astonishing speed.

  In this era where priests can only heal and buff, but are powerless against curses, corrosion, and weakening dark magic, demons as the inventors of dark magic are undoubtedly great. Great enough to turn the originally stable frontline of the Allied Army into tofu dregs overnight. As for the current Holy Knights who claim to be the arch-enemies of dark magic and undead creatures, they only emerged after falling into despair.

  As the Allied forces retreated, the demons mastered more and more dark magic. Not only that, but even the undead creatures added many powerful new species to the ever-changing skull sea, such as ghouls and ghasts. Well, their research was also a waste of energy, and naturally, the necromancy was neglected. It's ideal to have both hands hard, but not everyone can do it. With curses flying around, corruption spreading, fear lurking, and a group of hateful creatures running amok in the streets, are you still going to let people live?

  The Allied forces collapsed, and except for the dwarves who vowed to defend their kingdom to the death, everyone else fled. However, it was clear that only the dwarves could not withstand the tsunami-like onslaught of the demon army. The dwarven tribe also declined at that time, accompanied by the destruction of the kingdom and heavy casualties.

  The Allied Forces retreated into the territory of the human empire near the sea and rebuilt their defenses with city walls, although it seemed that they would not be able to hold out for much longer before being breached again.

  However, this time the Allied forces held their ground.

  Because of the unknown gentleman who discovered a loli - well, she just looks like a loli - Hertshiti, a human female with a recorded history of several thousand years of life, she is a powerful existence that transcends sages and reaches semi-divine level, mastering certain law powers, and is cultivating in seclusion to advance to true godhood. After receiving the letter of request for help from the Allied Forces, she gave up her thousands of years of closed-door cultivation and appeared on the desperate battlefield.

  Hercule Poirot is the Allies' and indeed the world's last hope - a small hope, barely over five feet four.

  A faint breeze carrying a foul odor blew from the direction of the demonic army, rustling her luxuriant purple hair. A pair of blood-red eyes, cold and indifferent as if nothing in the world mattered to her, gazed steadily at the enemy forces lined up all the way to the horizon, without a hint of change in expression, as if those terrifying creatures were already corpses. Behind that petite figure, all the allied soldiers cowered on the city walls, trembling with fear.

  In the earth's tremors and the thunderous roars, the demons launched their attack. When she stood alone against those endless ferocious monsters, no one thought she could stop them. Until she started to move.

  She danced with elegant posture, her arms waving in accompaniment to a soft hum that somehow carried across the entire battlefield, as torrential magical energy wildly gathered here, and gigantic multicolored magic arrays appeared in the sky and on the ground.

  Then, it's divine retribution.

  The sky shattered like a broken mirror, the earth cracked open like thin ice. The howling spatial fissures and surging scorching magma swallowed up the originally unstoppable monsters in an instant, leaving behind only the scorching earth and dark sky after the catastrophe, as if it were the end of the world.

  At this moment, she is God.

  The above is the description of Hertzsprung's participation in the first campaign of the invasion war by Da Lu Tong Shi, and it was also her last recorded campaign.

  The high-ranking demons had no reason to ignore this pseudo-loli with extraordinary strength, they stopped their suicidal attacks and soon began rebuilding materials on the ruins of the original dwarf kingdom, planning to rebuild a tower - not handmade, but rather like the undead architecture in magic beasts, using arrays to automatically combine materials.

  The desperate Japanese would not wait for the B-52s to drop "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" on their heads - okay, that's a bit of an inapt metaphor - anyway, the Allies formed a strike team to destroy it before its completion and collect some samples for analysis. The strike team included Hertel Schwitters.

  But this small detachment full of the Allies' eager hopes did not return.

  The Demon Clan's tower was just a facade, they had previously drawn an array of techniques underground that restricted all other laws within the effective range. In this way, Hertshitiel, who entered the Demon Clan's ambush circle, could not cast laws and at most was equivalent to a Grand Sage-level forbidden spellcaster...

  Even a saint would be worn down by the constant bombardment. Uncle Uther was killed in just such a way, and Hertystir was no exception.

  Then, the demon clan no longer had any obstacles.

  The Allied Forces, faced with the massive army of monsters that filled their field of vision, could only abandon this continent. They transported civilians by ship, burned down cities, and called this land soaked in the blood of various tribes "Despair Land".

  I am a divider line

  The surviving dwarves, young and old, were taken in by several dwarf clans on the eastern and western continents. After their country was destroyed, the dwarf clans only had loose alliances with each other, they would not use force to annex each other, but they could no longer regain their former glory.

  The young Mo Le led was one of the branches that inherited thousands of years of tribal tradition.

  In the bright torchlight and the dim glow of the underground plants, Morler's face was distorted with rage, his beard bristling. He let out a roar and brought down his massive warhammer on the skull of a lowly demon with blue-black skin, long fangs and razor-sharp claws. The creature didn't even have time to scream before it crashed to the hard ground. As for its terrifying visage, it was already beyond recognition.

  Moller's side, a large number of dwarf warriors were wielding their weapons and fighting against the monsters that far outnumbered them. Fortunately, the battlefield was a stone bridge, so the monsters could not surround them from behind and had to break through the front line. However, breaking through the front line of the dwarf warriors was not an easy task, especially with the priest supporting them from behind.

  This is a large platform similar to an isolated island, surrounded by deep and bottomless ground faults, with the only connection road to the outside world being that stone bridge. The dwarves are currently defending or rather besieged on this. The other end of the stone bridge connects to the highway in the underground world, where all sorts of ugly and ferocious low-level demons are crowded at this moment.

  The dwarves were fighting fiercely with them on the stone bridge.

  On this chaotic battlefield, a thunderous roar suddenly rang out, and a large and sturdy inferior demon appeared at the other end of the stone bridge, dragging a huge wooden wolf-toothed club. Although it was missing one word, its movement experience was nothing like that of a certain game where a large group of players couldn't surround and kill one player. This guy had a hard keratinized layer on his surface, making ordinary weapons difficult to harm him, and his body was strong and powerful, even able to collide with human heavy cavalry without falling over.

  The inferior demon can be said to be a leader-level monster among low-ranking demons.

  A few dwarf warriors came forward to try and block it, but these iron forge guards, who were not much taller than the main character of this book, could only reach the monster's calf - so how did those gigantic monsters get pulled into hatred by MTs who were much smaller in stature? Was it by stepping on their toes? - They scattered and flew out under the devil's swinging club.

  Moller's eyes widened in rage, he let out a loud roar, and his body burst forth with a bright red fifth-level Dou Qi. His right foot stomped heavily on the stone ground, accompanied by the sound of shattering stone slabs, as he shot towards the inferior demon arrow-like. However, the inferior demon was not to be underestimated, it let out a strange howl and swung its wolf-toothed club downwards with great force, striking Moller's fiery red figure.

  In the midst of intense noise and scattered debris, the wolf-toothed club shattered. Mo Lei, who was only one step away from becoming a Sixth-Order Saint and had unleashed his full strength, was not someone that this brutish monster could match? The inferior demon was sent flying like it had been hit by an express train, landing amidst a large group of lower-level demons in the back, turning them into a mess on the ground, instantly killing them.

  The monsters retreated in disarray, then withdrew amidst the triumphant roar of the dwarf warriors.

  The dwarves got a precious chance to rest.

  Moller sat down wearily at the bridgehead and asked a pastor who had walked up to him, "Master, how much more time do we have?"

  "Food and water can be solved with the wild subterranean giant spore plants on the platform, as long as we distribute them reasonably, it's enough for our entire tribe to eat for a year. But the problem is that our mineral reserves are not enough, when we were trying to get rid of those demons, we had to abandon our heavy equipment and move forward lightly, so now most of our tools are incomplete. Tribe leader, I estimate that in three months, our warriors will no longer be able to repair their damaged weapons and armor."

  "Can I try to find ore veins on the platform?"

  "That's impossible. There are only rocks, soil and spore plants here, nothing else."

  Moller sighed: "Now we can only wait for the news of Randel and Niest. I hope they can break through to the ground, tell the humans about the situation here, and then send troops to support us. I'm sure humans won't ignore the appearance of a demon transmission gate at the bottom of the earth. By the way, why was it that this time the demon's transmission gate was discovered by our dwarves again?"

  "Perhaps it is God's will." The old pastor said with his palms together, "However, tribal leader. Are you sure those two people can pass through the Gestrik mine and reach the surface?"

  "Of course, they were the best warriors in our tribe."

  "No, I mean they grew up in the underground world and don't even know the way to the surface."

  "Oh, don't worry, I've handed over the map to them."

  The old pastor's expression suddenly became very colorful, and he pulled out a roll of sheepskin paper from his bosom: "This was discovered by the person I ordered to clean their room this morning..."

  Staring at the sheepskin parchment depicting detailed directions on land routes, Moller's beard was trembling non-stop, and he was instantly knotted up in a headache.