Ember Dragon

"Woo——"

On top of the Dwarf Palace, the horn made from the tibia of a giant beast was blown again, emitting a long and majestic roar.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The dwarf messengers rode goats between the cliffs and conveyed the news to the dwarf warriors scattered everywhere.

Suddenly, all the dwarves who heard the sound of the horn were startled and set off for the Dwarf Palace.

——Finally here, the army of the Burning Empire.

The dwarf warrior who was sleeping with a hammer in his arms suddenly woke up, spat fiercely, and then skillfully put on his carefully crafted armor.

The dwarf who was mining for gold in the mine wiped the sweat from his head and resolutely returned the same way.

The dwarf craftsman who was constantly hammering metal in the blacksmith shop also dipped the red-hot knife into the water, and the cold water instantly boiled, making a crackling sound.
"The Burning Embers Empire is so powerful, no wonder it was able to conquer North Ethel."

Looking at the overwhelming imperial army advancing in the distance like a natural disaster, Ed couldn't help but sigh from the bottom of his heart.

Thinking of this, he lowered his head and smiled bitterly: "I was still worried that letting Zane evacuate was a wrong choice. Now it seems that our chances of winning are indeed very slim."

In his hundreds of years of life, Ed had never seen such an army.

Behind him, the old dwarf minister Bjorn walked out slowly and said, "Your Majesty, why should you worry?
We have made all the necessary preparations. Now all we can do is to do our best. As for how things will develop, we will leave it to our descendants."

Ed smiled and said, "However, I want to see how far we can go. At least we want to let these evil dragon followers know that dwarves are a tough nut to crack!
He thought for a moment and then asked, "Has the dwarf altar contacted the Father God?"

Bjorn shook his head and sighed, "Still no news. It is said that because of the last Battle of Blackrock Mountain, the Orc Pantheon launched an attack on our Dwarf Pantheon and cut off all channels from the Kingdom of God to the Material Plane."

Ed raised his head and looked towards the sky, his face suddenly showing helplessness: "It seems that this time, we can only rely on ourselves completely."

The famous "Lord of the Mountain" clenched the hammer in his hand, feeling the power surging in his body, with a determined light in his eyes.

Unknowingly, the dwarf warriors had followed the sound of the horn and hurried from all directions of Avendeldan and even the Mountain Kingdom, gathering in the square with the tall stone statue of Morading.

Most of the old, weak, women and children were evacuated from Avundaldan under the leadership of Prince Zen. The dwarves who were still able to stay were the elite of the Mountain Kingdom and the most brave and fearless dwarf warriors.

"The dragon's army is coming?"

"Where are they? I'm going to beat them all to a pulp! What the hell, these orcs are disturbing my sweet dreams at this time."

"That's right, it's just endless. I was just forging a long sword, and I was startled by the sound of the horn, and the embryo in my hand was directly destroyed!"

The square was filled with noisy sounds. The dwarves were whispering and talking to each other. There was no tension before the war at all. They even started talking about family matters.

Ed lowered his head and scanned the rough bearded faces with different expressions. As the Lord of the Mountains, he was very familiar with these dwarves - he could even call out each one's name accurately.

These were his people, his warriors, the ones who would die with him.

Like most dwarves, they are rude, barbaric, and unrestrained, but they also have hearts that are more stubborn than rocks and more crystal clear and pure than gems.

For more than a hundred years, he has always fulfilled his responsibilities as a king, and together with his people, he has resisted the invasion of foreign enemies. No matter whether it was the Holy Fadlan, the Hill Giant Tribe or the Orc Legion, the dwarves were not subdued.

And now, Eddard is about to lead his people into a battle that is almost impossible to win.

Looking at the dwarf warriors below, Ed was silent for a long time before he said solemnly: "Children of mountains and rocks, people of the mountain kingdom, the war has arrived!"

The dwarf king raised the hammer in his hand and pointed it at the distant horizon - where a dark cloud-like shadow had already appeared.

"Look, that's our enemy, the dragon's followers from the north. They defeated North Ethel with great force a few months ago, and now they want to conquer us!
They want to occupy our fortresses, trample our homes, plunder our wealth, and enslave our people. Tell me - can we allow this to happen? "

"cannot!"

"Smash their heads off!"

"You are a bunch of beasts raised by orcs, bastards! How dare you attack our fortress? I will teach them a lesson!"

The dwarves were enraged and let out angry war cries, vying to express their disgust and disdain for the Empire.

"Yes, we can never allow that!"

Ed looked at the angry faces of the dwarves, pointed to the land under his feet, and said in a deep voice: "Blackrock Mountain is the home of us shield dwarves for thousands of years. It is the place where our ancestors have lived.

We mined ore and forged weapons in these mountains. The mountains are our greatest wealth, and now we must give them everything we have. "

Finally, the dwarf king raised his hammer high, his eyes bursting with the rage of the mountains, and he let out a full-throated war cry: "For Ewendeldan!"

"For Avenderdan!"

"Father Moradin, fight for the shield dwarves, fight for Avenderdan!"

The dwarves raised their war hammers and axes and let out deafening shouts, as heavy as the roar of mountains and rivers.

At the same time, the Empire's army was cheering for the Burning Empire and their emperor, and marched rapidly towards Avenderdan.

On one side were the invaded, and on the other side were the invaders. The two sides of the war that was about to begin actually formed a subtle resonance at this moment.

"Quick, set up all the fortifications. We will make those arrogant dragon followers pay the price!"

"Everyone, are the ballistae installed?"

"Who moved the bunker stones here? Who? The bastard raised by the orcs!"

"."

The dwarf warriors gathered in the south of Avender, where they were busy building fortifications and installing defensive equipment.

For thousands of years, the biggest threat to the dwarves has been the orcs in the north, so their city defenses were mostly located in the north. Over time, the defenses of the south wall became much weaker than the north wall, which had been repaired time and time again.

Fortunately, Avondeldan was built on the mountain, and it naturally has the advantage of a dangerous terrain, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The south is the same as the north, where one must first go through a long and narrow valley before reaching the real wall of Avendeldan.

Most invaders were blocked outside the "Road of Glory" and could not even enter the outer perimeter of Avenderdan, let alone capture this well-fortified fortress. The dwarves were busy when they suddenly heard dull roars, roars, and countless noisy sounds coming from the plain outside.

"What's that noise?"

"Quick, look!"

"What are you doing? Don't bother me. I'm just worrying about how to install this catapult on it." The old dwarf Code, who was concentrating on designing the mechanism, was patted on the shoulder and said impatiently.

As a renowned master craftsman, Code had a heavy burden and was responsible for a large area of ​​city defense work.

But the dwarf still did not stop, and his tone became more and more panicked and surprised: "Is that the army of the Burning Empire? Are they the followers of the evil dragon?"

Seeing his companions' reactions, Code finally realized that something was wrong.

The dwarf looked out with some curiosity, and could not help but open his mouth wide as he saw a scene that he would never forget - above the earth, giant steel beasts were roaring forward, raising billowing smoke and dust.

And in the sky, the flying dragons flapped their wings, like a dense cloud, almost covering half of the sky and casting mottled shadows on the earth.

"Father God Moradin, how could there be such an army!" Code couldn't help but exclaimed.

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"Moradin on top!"

"Oh my God, what on earth is this? Is this our enemy?"

The dwarves in the Southern Glory Road looked at the aggressive imperial army in disbelief, shock and fear rarely appearing on their bearded faces.

"No, don't worry, our dwarves' equipment is invincible!" Code pretended to be calm and reluctantly comforted his companions.

"Yes, yes. No matter what they are, as long as they enter this Glory Road, they will be killed by our clever trap!"

"They can't capture Avenderdan!"

These dwarves live deep in the mountains all year round and have little contact with the outside world. They do not yet understand the drastic changes that the empire's military-industrial system has brought to the world in recent years.

But soon, they will understand everything at the cost of blood.

The steam tanks gathered in front of the valley, surrounding the entrance like undulating mountains. The "Road of Glory" in the south of the city was also quite narrow, and could only accommodate two tanks running side by side at most.

But for the Empire's troops - this was enough.

Dror stood on top of the "Emperor's Fury" tank, holding up a loud speaker, and shouted in the direction of Avenderdan: "Dwarves, you'd better be sensible and surrender to the Empire as soon as possible.

If you surrender before the war, the great Burning Emperor Cassius can still let you live and lead you to a bright future."

The hobgoblin general seemed to be very reluctant to persuade the dwarves of the mountain kingdom to surrender. Although he said so, he really didn't want them to surrender in his heart.

After all, conquering the enemy and taking prisoners are two completely different achievements. The former is the pride of the empire, while the latter is a job that even a fool can do.

Although he was reluctant, Dror continued to read the script given by the Imperial Parliament: "The Burning Empire's visit to Avendeldan is mainly to maintain fairness and justice on the continent of Fiansu, to protect the dwarves here, and to completely wipe out the orcs in the north."

Yes, protection.

A few days ago, the Burning Empire issued a formal declaration of war to the Mountain Dwarf Kingdom, believing that they were no longer able to resist the orcs in the north.

At this time, the more powerful Burning Empire needs to be stationed in Avendeldan, so that the continent can usher in true peace and avoid the orcs' southward invasion.

This letter of war was written in a high-sounding manner, which infuriated many dwarf ministers. They angrily accused the dragon of treating them as fools. It was obvious that the damn dragon came for the dwarves' treasure!

But they didn't know that in Cassius's mind, destroying the mountain dwarf kingdom was just a matter of convenience - the main enemy was still the green-skinned orcs.

"shut up!"

A terrifying roar was heard in the valley, and a huge dwarf face slowly emerged on the steep rock wall.

Thousands of meters away, Ed pressed his hands on the rock wall, his whole body emitting an earthy yellow light. He resonated his mind and body with Blackrock Mountain, and used the power of the mountains to make sounds.

But at this moment, the dwarf king's face was full of anger, his hair and beard were standing on end, and he was obviously angered by the naked provocation of the Burning Empire.

"Damn you, evil dragon followers, please stop using these shameless methods! These words are not even hypocritical, they only make me laugh!

I tell you, Avenderdan will never surrender, the High Mountain Dwarf Kingdom will never surrender, and the great Shield Dwarf clan will never surrender!"

Eddard's voice was earth-shaking and boosted the morale of the dwarves, who cheered. This was their king, a true son of the mountains!

"For the Lord of the Mountain!"

"Shield dwarves will never surrender!"

Seeing this scene, Dror smiled grimly, nodded with satisfaction, drew the saber from his waist and pointed it at Avenderdan in the distance.

"In that case, fellow citizens of the empire - destroy them!"

In an instant, accompanied by the spread of steam, those steel behemoths let out dull roars and began to move towards Avondeldan, while brilliant tongues of fire suddenly burst out from the muzzles of those machine guns.

Bullets poured out into the Road of Glory like a rainstorm. The dwarves hiding in the caves with crossbows in their hands were caught off guard and were shot into sieves in an instant.

The dwarves were indeed strong, but they were made of flesh and blood and could not withstand the dense machine gun bullets. They paid a terrible price in just one encounter.

The dwarves don't know much about the Burning Legion, but the Empire has detailed information about Avenderdan and even knows its secret passages, and has a very good understanding of their hiding places.

Code, the master craftsman, was hiding behind the fortifications. He was trembling with fear and had lost all his pride. "How is it possible when we are still hundreds of meters away?"

He could only watch his companions fall one after another, bleeding profusely, riddled with bullet holes, wailing constantly, but he was powerless to do anything.

Moreover, not only the dwarves' bodies, but even the rock walls of the cave were covered with bullet holes, and debris was flying everywhere. Such terrible destructive power was far beyond the crossbow arrows he made.

And such things can be found everywhere in the Empire's legions.

Cod was in despair. (End of this chapter)