Ember Dragon

Chapter 649: Steel, Flesh, and Fire
The spirit of the dragon vein was in a frenzy. He stepped on the accelerator to the bottom and let out a sharp roar.

"For the Burning Emperor!"

"Crush them—"

The earth shook, smoke and dust flew, the steel giant roared angrily, spewed out billowing steam, and then accelerated towards the dwarf heavy infantry.

The steam tank, which was more than three meters high, grew larger and larger in the dwarves' sight, like a mountain pressing towards them, carrying a terrifying might.

"This is--"

"Moradin above"

Seeing such a scene, even the determined dwarf heavy infantry could not help but open their mouths wide, and their voices trembled slightly.

Faced with such a steel behemoth, even wearing heavy armor cannot bring much sense of security to the dwarves, after all, they are still flesh and blood.

"Don't flinch, don't be afraid! Never take a step back! Hold on to the path of tempering until the end!"

"For Avenderdan!"

The leading dwarf general stood at the forefront of the army, clenched the huge hammer in his hand, and let out a loud roar.

Despite the enemy's fierce attack, not a single dwarf heavy infantryman retreated. They formed a tight formation as usual, blocking the exit of the valley, with rays of determination shining through their heavy visors.

These are the dwarven heavy infantry of the Mountain Kingdom. They are brave and fearless, as stubborn as rocks, and are known as the "Wall of Blackrock Mountain".

In the previous war, the dwarf heavy infantry, with only a hundred people, blocked more than a dozen rounds of fierce charges by the orcs, causing nearly 10,000 casualties to the orcs. It can be said that they had made great military achievements.

But this time, what they are about to face is the iron torrent of the Burning Empire.

The ground was shaking more and more violently, and the giant steel beasts broke through the smoke and dust, getting closer and closer to the dwarves' defense line.

Five hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters, fifty meters
The dwarf general raised the huge shield in his left hand and held it forward, then swung the war hammer in his right hand violently and roared: "For Ewendeldan! Stop them!"

At that moment, all the dwarven heavy infantrymen at the valley exit raised their huge shields, forming an impenetrable steel wall, and shouted in unison: "For Avenderdan!"

The war cry echoed in the valley, majestic and powerful.

But the next moment, the battle cries of the dwarf heavy infantry were drowned out by the huge roar of the engine, and they even felt deafened.

"Boom boom boom——"

The steel behemoth roared and rolled towards the dwarf heavy infantry. For a moment, the mountains were shocked and angry, and smoke and dust rose up!

"Come on, let me see where you get the confidence to stand in front of me!" Bill shouted fanatically.

Under the control of the Dragon Vein Goblins, the hill-like steam tanks charged towards the dwarf heavy infantry formation without hesitation and slammed into the formation.

The sharp horn at the front of the tank carried terrible kinetic energy, instantly shattering the dwarves' heavy shields and tearing a huge gap in the defense line.

"boom!"

With a dull crash, the dwarves in the front row flew backwards, with fragments of shields, armor, and broken body parts flying in the air.

"No!" The dwarf general swung his sledgehammer, trying to break the thick armor of the tank, but was knocked away by the huge force and hit the rock wall behind him hard, and got stuck in it.

The orcs had to pay thousands of casualties to break through the giant shield soldiers, but the imperial army smashed them in just a moment. The tank broke through the first line of defense like a sledgehammer breaking glass.

Soon after, the dwarves in the second and third rows were unable to resist this violent steel beast, and its powerful force penetrated into its tracks.

The steam tank weighing more than a hundred tons kept moving forward. The well-made giant shield and heavy armor squeaked under the rolling of the tracks. In the end, it was squeezed into a discus mixed with flesh and blood like paper.
The Dragon Vein Goblin yelled crazily, “Hahahaha, is this all you are capable of?”

Outside the cockpit, he was a short and weak goblin. It was no exaggeration to say that these dwarves could easily smash him into a meat patty.

But in the cockpit of this tank, he is a tyrant who controls the life and death of others, a beast that can create natural disasters, and a killing machine that can completely destroy the enemy.
Bill was obsessed and intoxicated with this feeling. He believed that being soaked in the blood of the enemies would make the machine soul of this steel giant very happy - he was also a believer of the Mechanicus.

More enemies must be killed so that the tank can release more powerful power, he thought.

So Bill raised his arms and yelled, "Burn them!"

"Burn them!"

"Ahhh, for the Empire!" The goblins in the cockpit cheered one after another.

Violent fire dragons suddenly burst out from the metal barrels on both sides of the tank, instantly igniting the surrounding dwarves. The sticky gasoline mixture caused their entire bodies to burn.

The dwarf general climbed out of a hole in the rock wall, only to see flames and thick smoke all around him. It had become a hell on earth.

"No!"

"Damn it, this fire can't be put out!"

The surrounding dwarf heavy infantry struggled hard and began to roll on the ground, trying to put out the flames burning on their bodies.

However, their heavy armor covered with gasoline mixture was like a steamer, burning hotter and redder, and even gradually melting. The originally indestructible defense now became a hot cage for the dwarves, trapping and scalding them to death.

“It’s so hot! It’s so hot!”

"Is this all you are capable of? Don't be too happy too soon, you damned dragon followers! The dwarves will defeat you!"

"You are a bunch of orc bastards!"

"Long live Avenderdan, long live the Mountain Kingdom! Long live the shield dwarves!" Heart-wrenching roars came from the figures wrapped in flames.

Even until the last moment of their lives, these dwarf heavy infantrymen still did not forget to boost morale, cursing the brutal invaders and wishing they could eat their flesh alive.

Hearing the voices of his companions, the dwarf general climbed out of the rocky ruins, picked up the war hammer on the ground, and staggered forward.

Seeing that the ferocious steel behemoth was still crushing his comrades, the dwarf general's veins suddenly bulged, his eyes glared, and he completely ignored the burning flames and just rushed towards the raging fire.

He growled, "Let me show you the power of the descendants of the mountains!"

The dwarf general raised his hands high, exerted all his strength, and swung his warhammer with all his might, smashing the hammer head heavily into the armor of the steel behemoth.

"Keng——"

The crackling of steel resounded through the sky.

Under the full force attack of the extraordinary dwarf warrior, the thick armor suddenly dented and cracks appeared.

The entire tank was shaking violently and almost turned over. The scene was extremely exaggerated, like an ant shaking a hill.

However, the Empire's military engineers had learned lessons from the Demon War and had already made targeted modifications to deal with the sudden attacks of the extraordinary beings.

“Crack—bang!”

At the moment when the heavy hammer hit the armor, the emergency protection device of the steam tank was activated, electric light surrounded it, and a force field instantly popped out, knocking the dwarf general, who was wrapped in subtle arcs of electricity, into the air. Bill pointed at the dwarf in the air and said angrily, "Damn dwarf, how dare you hurt my baby? Beat him into a sieve!"

"Yes, boss!"

The goblin machine gunners quickly stuck their heads out, operating the two machine guns, and madly poured bullets at the dwarves.

"Da da da da——"

The dwarf's body was paralyzed and he was knocked into the air. He had no way to dodge and could only allow the dense bullets to hit his body.

His armor glowed with a faint glow of protective spells, but was still riddled with bullet holes and spider-web-like cracks.

——As the tank charging at the forefront, the bullets equipped on this "Emperor's Wrath" have anti-magic effects, and those metal shells are engraved with delicate runes.

Suddenly, accompanied by a "crash" sound, the dwarf general's armor cracked in mid-air, and metal fragments flew everywhere.

"No--"

The dwarf roared, and streaks of blood appeared on his strong and sturdy body. Even though he was a super warrior with tough skin, he was still made of flesh and blood, and could not withstand the continuous shooting from the machine gun.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

With a howl of pain, the dwarf general fell to the ground, rolled several times, and blood flowed from the bullet holes all over his body, forming a pool of blood on the ground.

The dwarf general was dying and would not live much longer. The scalding bullets had torn his internal organs apart and shredded his body.

With his last bit of strength, he turned his head and looked at the majestic fortress built on the mountain in the distance, and said hoarsely: "Avenderdan will never fall."

The next moment, accompanied by the roar of the steam engine, the steel behemoth rolled over mercilessly, blood splattered, and dyed the tracks red.

At the exit of the valley, there was thick smoke, flames, crackling sounds, and the ground was littered with the corpses of dwarf heavy infantry.

"For the Empire!"

The goblins poked their heads out and shouted wildly.

Immediately afterwards, one steam tank after another drove past, running over the corpses of the dwarf heavy infantry, breaking through the thick smoke and heading towards Avenderdan.

The wyverns descended into the valley, searching for the remaining dwarves, clinging to the rocks with their winged forelimbs and roaring with their heads raised.

The Empire's elite half-red dragon infantry also poured into the valley, skillfully clearing the battlefield.
The "Grinding Road", which was regarded as a solid barrier by the dwarves, was penetrated by the Empire within an hour, and they were unable to put up any decent resistance.

Those dwarves who were either burned to death, suffocated to death, or killed by random gunfire, experienced the true meaning of "Iron Torrent" and "Thunder Offensive" at the cost of their own lives.

On the majestic walls of Avundaldan, dwarf warriors, wearing armor and holding hammers and axes, stood ready for battle.

After Zenn led the old, weak and sick to leave, there were less than 10,000 dwarves left in the city, and almost all of them were adult male dwarves. They took the initiative to assume the responsibility of guarding Avendeldan and vowed to live and die with the city.

Thick smoke billowed out of the valley in the distance, and there were the battle cries and wails of the dwarves, and some strange low growling sound, as if made by a huge wild beast.

Suddenly, the dwarves looked nervous and their hearts began to beat faster. They knew exactly what this meant - their compatriots in the Road of Grinding had suffered heavy losses.

How is this possible?
Clearly, less than an hour had passed. According to their experience fighting the orcs, the Imperial Army should have been blocked at the front of the Grinding Road by the endless traps.

Could it be that someone surrendered voluntarily?

This is even more impossible. They are shield dwarves, descendants of the earth and the mountains. They are stationed here with the belief that they will die. Those cowards who are greedy for life and afraid of death would have fled overnight!
Suddenly, a muffled "rumbling" sound was heard in the valley. The dwarves stretched their necks to look over and saw several huge black shadows appearing in the black fog.

——This immediately gave them a bad feeling.

"Look! What is that?"

"Wait a minute. It's the army of the Burning Empire. It really is those evil dragon followers!"

"what?"

"God Moradin, this, this is impossible, how can they be so fast!"

"boom--"

All they saw were hideous, blood-soaked steel monsters roaring and breaking through the thick smoke, appearing in the dwarves' sight.

Then, a huge and ferocious figure appeared in the sky. It was a terrifying two-legged dragon beast covered with hard red scales, which was almost the same as a real dragon.

This is Smaug, the leader of the Wyvern clan and the Dragonblood Duke of the Empire!

Smaug was perched at the top of the valley. He stood up, spread his broad wings on his forelimbs, raised his head, stretched his neck, and let out a fierce howl.

"Ow—"

Along with the howl of the dragon leader, hundreds of two-legged dragons roared in response, and the sound was extremely noisy.

They flapped their wings in a disorderly manner and took off into the sky, like thick dark clouds, casting mottled shadows on the flat ground.

As the steam tanks drove out of the valley one after another, the empire's elite infantry also formed a tight formation, quickly poured out from them, and lined up on the plain.

Each imperial infantryman is armed with the most advanced firearms and dressed in brightly colored uniforms. They look majestic, with the flag of the Burning Empire flying above their heads.

And behind them, there are many troops including the Engineering Corps, Artillery Corps, Player Special Regiment, etc., crossing the Road of Grinding and arriving at the plains under the city of Avondeldan.

At this moment, nearly 50,000 imperial troops gathered on this not-so-spacious plain. They were so densely packed that they almost occupied the place.

Outside the valley, half of the army was waiting, ready to enter the valley to provide support at any time.

The dwarves looked at the Empire's army and couldn't help swallowing their saliva. Obviously, unlike the orcs' 200,000 miscellaneous soldiers, the Empire's 50,000 troops were definitely the real elite.

Not to mention anything else, just those monsters made of steel are enough to make the dwarves marvel. How many sophisticated weapons can be made from such a lump of iron!

Standing on the top of the tower, Ed looked down at the imperial army in the distance and murmured to himself: “No wonder they were able to conquer Ethel in just one month and break through my grinding path effortlessly.

So this is the army of the Burning Embers Empire, it really lives up to its reputation."

At this moment, a sense of tragedy arose in Ed's heart. Such an army might not be defeated by his less than 10,000 dwarf remnants.

But even so, he wanted to leave a final glory for the dwarves and let the world remember their bravery and fearlessness.

"bring it on."

The dwarf king clenched the hammer in his hand, with determination in his eyes.

In the imperial army formation in the distance, the hobgoblin general Dror raised his head and looked at the Lord of the Mountains from afar.

The hobgoblin's eyes flickered with cunning, and then he smiled grimly: "He is the famous Lord of the Mountains? Hahaha, great! My promotion depends entirely on him."

(End of this chapter)