Path of Light.

Chapter 977, Section 972: The Gray Dwarfs' Predicament
Roy and his group descended from the city wall and entered the main city of Presidius. The streets here were in a state of disrepair, with the original stone slabs piled with all sorts of debris, and many buildings had collapsed, with ruins extending onto the streets.

After the large stones were removed from some areas, deep pits were left behind. The meteor shower had set many parts of the city ablaze. Although the gray dwarves were responsible for putting out the fires, they ignored the unimportant buildings. As long as the fire did not spread to other buildings, that was fine.

The situation in the city was worse than Roy had anticipated; nearly 70% of the buildings were destroyed and turned into ruins. Reconstruction would require clearing away these ruins first.

Everywhere there were ruins and rubble. The gray dwarf residents had mostly left, with only scattered residential areas remaining in the west of the city.

Several relatively flat main roads in the city lead to this side of the city wall, which is obviously kept clear and maintained by the gray dwarf warriors to ensure that these main roads are unobstructed.

Flatbed trucks loaded with huge stones lined up in long queues on the road, continuously transporting them towards the city walls.

There were still many grey dwarf garrisons in the city of Pristis; Roy could see some tents set up behind low walls.

He didn't know that most of the gray dwarf warriors came out of burrows...

The cities built by dwarves are different from those built by elves. Dwarf cities typically have only a small portion of their buildings above ground, with most of the structures buried underground. Elves, on the other hand, prefer to build their cities in forests...

Most of the buildings on the surface of the city of Presidius have been destroyed and turned into ruins.

The grey dwarf official led Roy and his party to the ruins of the city hall in the center of the city. Roy saw a group of grey dwarf warriors using crowbars to pry some rectangular foundation stones out of the ruins not far away.

The grey dwarf official led the way, and after passing several ruins, they finally arrived at a collapsed building, where a stone staircase led downwards...

A row of wounded gray dwarf warriors were resting with their eyes closed against the stone foundation of the building, the dried bloodstains on their bodies and faces still unwashed.

Several dwarf women were carrying buckets of water and feeding the gray dwarf warriors water.

The grey dwarf official introduced Roy to the following:
"These gray dwarf warriors have just been withdrawn from the city walls, and there is no place to settle them yet."

“How do you usually deal with these wounded soldiers?” Roy asked the officer.

"Those lightly wounded gray dwarf warriors, who are unable to fight for a short time, will evacuate to the west coast city of Boles along with the people of Presites. Our medicine supply is exhausted, and the seriously wounded warriors can only be temporarily housed in the city. We hope that the giant ships of the Northern Fleet can pick them up as soon as possible!" the gray dwarf official said.

Roy nodded and followed the gray dwarf official down the stone steps.

The stone steps are very long, extending downwards. After walking about fifty meters, the outside light can no longer penetrate.

Torches were stuck in the stone wall. These torches were made of hemp rope soaked in oil and wrapped together. There was one every ten meters or so, which was just enough to illuminate the entire stone steps.

After walking nearly a hundred meters along the stone steps, Roy was greeted by a ten-meter-tall statue of a gray dwarf warrior. The road extended to the left and right from here. Only after passing the gray dwarf statue did Roy finally enter the underground city of Pristis.

The underground city here is not a complex of buildings built in a huge underground cave.

Before Roy lay a straight underground tunnel, eight meters high and ten meters wide, its exact length unknown, with no end in sight.

The tunnels have arched ceilings and ventilation openings at intervals.

There is only a row of gates on both sides of the tunnel, and no buildings of any kind can be seen at all.

According to the grey dwarf official, the underground structure of Presites City consists of ten horizontal and ten vertical underground tunnels. All the underground buildings rely on these twenty tunnels, and each door leads to an independent underground structure. These underground structures are also connected to the buildings on the surface, but most of the surface buildings are now in ruins...

However, the underground part of the building was completely unaffected.

"You can stay in the underground city for now and check out the surrounding area of ​​Presites City. If you decide to take over, I will arrange for you to meet with Presites City's military and political officer, Commander Imster. If you change your mind, I will send you to Boles City."

The grey dwarf official led Roy and his party to a large gate.
He had a gray dwarf officer open the iron gate, which led to a brick and stone room. The room was only about thirty square meters and contained several sets of tables and chairs, making it look like a lounge.

A staircase leads upwards from the side, but the layout of the rooms at the top is not yet visible...

The room was neither smelly nor damp. The light came from the magic wall lamps on the walls. Although the light was a little dim, it was enough for everyone to see the furnishings in the room.

Roy went into the room first and walked up the steps. There was a corridor at the top. There was a window on one side of the corridor, which showed a large hall inside. There was a door every five meters on the other side, which looked like a living room.

"These are all guest rooms. If you need anything, please feel free to come and find me," the gray dwarf official said very politely.

Roy said, "Then please arrange for me to meet with Commander Imster as soon as possible. I have made my decision and am ready to take over the city of Presidius!"

“I will report to the Legion Commander immediately, Boss Roy.”

The gray dwarf official was surprised that Roy agreed so readily, and his expression was somewhat complicated.

He turned to a gray dwarf officer and asked:

"Where is Commander Imster now?"

"The Legion Commander is currently inspecting the wounded in the wounded camp. This meteor shower injured many logistics personnel," the gray dwarf officer replied.

The grey dwarf official turned to Roy and said:
"Boss Roy, please rest here for a while. I'll go see the Legion Commander right away..."

After saying that, he and several gray dwarf officers hurriedly left the basement.

Roy didn't rush to choose a room to rest. He pushed open the door across the corridor and found himself in a conference room. The windows around the conference room were connected to the corridor, and the light from the corridor shone into the conference room through the windows.

The conference room was spacious, with a large empty area that looked like a dance floor. In the corner was a long conference table with at least fifty chairs on either side. There were also some papers scattered on the table, including some maps.

There was a wine cabinet in the corner, but unfortunately there were only a few bottles of fruit wine, and a map of the city of Precitus was hanging on the wall.

High Chief Grop huddled around the conference table, studying a map with several other orc chieftains. He then slapped his forehead, looked up at Roy, and said:

“As the chieftain of the Aries tribe in Kangamor, I can now promise you that I will send an army of Aries orcs to the city of Presidius.”

"But I also have a small request. I want all the dwarven weapons and armor left behind by the Grey Dwarves, both intact and broken!" After Chief Grop finished speaking, the other Aries orc chiefs also turned their gazes to Roy.

"Yes, not only Presites City, but also Boles City. All weapons and armor left behind by the Grey Dwarves will be under the control of the White Sheep Tribe."

Roy paused for a moment, then continued:
"In addition, I promised to equip the orc warriors stationed here with weapons and armor from the Elven Kingdom. These weapons and equipment will be delivered to Boles City in batches, and your Aries Orc Legion will undergo a round of deployment in Boles City."

There happened to be a city defense map hanging on the wall of the conference room. Roy pointed to this side of the city wall and said to Chief Grop:

“I plan to transfer 50,000 highland headhunters from the Partington plane. These natives of the Partington plane should be well adapted to the harsh weather here. They are a group of excellent throwers and should be able to handle the task of defending the city.”

"As for the Aries orc warriors, I hope to form some combat squads to cooperate with the half-elf combat squads. They will only be deployed to eliminate the enemies on the city walls when the demon servant army breaches them..."

Roy arrived in the city of Presidius, and after just a brief stroll around the city walls, he had some ideas.

……

In fact, only Roy and a group of orc leaders who didn't care where they slept went to the meeting room to discuss city defense matters using the city defense map left behind by the gray dwarves.

The other elves had already assigned rooms in the corridor, and the gray dwarf officials had provided Roy and his companions with rooms that were large enough and plentiful.

These dwarf rooms are all basements. Although the surrounding walls are brick, you can see the differences between these underground buildings and the above-ground buildings in many ways. The most obvious difference is that the rooms in the underground buildings are completely irregular. They can be dug down or expanded outward along the walls whenever needed.

The design style of the Grey Dwarf architects is also very unconventional. They hide the beds in the walls, and many closets and wardrobes are also hidden inside the walls. Moreover, the bedrooms are all on the lowest level.

Because of their limited height, the dwarves designed very short beds, so the elves had to curl up slightly to fit into them...

Moira was petite, and the dwarves' beds didn't bother her much.

But Sabrina would find it rather uncomfortable to sleep in that kind of bed.

In addition, Miss Tiffany needed a larger bathtub; the pools dug out in the dwarves' bathrooms were too small for a Naga sea creature to even fit her lower body, a fish tail.

While the elves were discussing the style of the gray dwarves' living room, the archmage Opeia also chose a room for herself.

Upon entering, you'll find the living room and kitchen, and then you go down the stairs to the bedroom.

Graemus went to Opeia's room, sat on a slightly low-backed chair in the living room, poured himself a glass of mental potion, and then drank it all in one gulp.

While on the Black Pearl, he used an ice wall to block a fireball, which consumed a lot of his magic power. In order to recover as soon as possible, in addition to normal meditation, he also needed to drink some mental potions.

"Don't you have a bit of a crush on Roy? Why don't you talk to him yourself and tell him you helped him get the Rune Magic Orb?"

Graemus couldn't understand Opeia's actions, so he asked her about it.

“I always keep my personal and professional matters separate. I just didn’t want him to know that this matter was related to me, which is why I asked you to step in.”

Opeia sat across from Gramus and poured him a glass of pine nut liqueur as well.

Graemes, holding his glass and staring at the amber liquid, replied:
"understood."

Do you think his mine guards can hold off Pristis?

As a space-type mage, Opeia didn't really understand warfare; Graemus was the expert in that area...

Graemus touched his nose and replied:
"This time, he contacted the Aries tribe orcs of the Mensa Plains and is also planning to move the troops he's accumulated over the area of ​​Partington over here. Now he has the full support of the Magic Guild of the Elven Kingdom. In addition, he plundered so many imperial merchant ships and rescued hundreds of thousands of half-elf immigrants. He has no problem with manpower and financial resources. He also has nearly fifty magic airships in his hands. He can hold out for a while without any problem..."

"After all, what we need to deal with right now is just the cannon fodder demon servants of the Nakma Demon Black Riders."

"If he wants to fight the Black Riders of the Nakma Demons head-on, the current ragtag army may not be enough."

After listening to Archmage Graemus's analysis, Opeia frowned and asked:

"As an elven mage, have you ever thought about how to win a war?"

"Victory in the war?"

Graemes repeated himself before continuing:
"In my opinion, to win a war, you need not only a visionary strategic plan, well-trained combat troops, and inexhaustible war resources, but also a bit of luck!"

"What Roy has in abundance... is actually luck."

"Only after walking with him all this time have I truly realized that he is the one most favored by the gods, walking on a bright and clear road, and wherever he goes, it seems like there is a smooth road ahead."

Hearing Graemes's assessment of Roy, Opeia's eyes brightened even more.

……

As night fell, the siege of Presites was still ongoing. Although the gray dwarf defenders successfully dealt with the initial charge of the demonic insects, the lack of stone supplies allowed the demonic servants to scale the walls several times.

The gray dwarf defenders fought with all their might to force these demon servants to retreat.

A thick layer of demon servant corpses remained on the city wall, and it took considerable effort for the gray dwarf warriors to throw these corpses off the city wall.

The night wind was cold. The gray dwarf warriors finally received their replacements. This was the third batch of gray dwarf warriors to be replaced. If this continued, the gray dwarf guards would soon be in a predicament where they had no soldiers to spare.

The siege continued into the night, with fighting never ceasing on the city walls.

The wounded grey dwarf warrior left his heavy plate armor on the city wall and trudged back into the city wearing only dwarven chainmail.

(End of this chapter)