CHAPTER 549: CHAPTER 231: LAND OF BLOOD

This Dwarf officer.

Watching the Dwarf who came over to speak with them.

He could very clearly feel the strength of this Dwarf, it gave him the feeling as if he was seeing an Elder from the tribe.

But this Dwarf didn’t look old, at most he could be considered middle-aged.

"Ah, yes."

The Dwarf officer nodded.

"I am Nute Silver Fist."

"Haha, hello Nute." Sergio patted Nute’s shoulder and laughed.

"You can call me Sergio, Sergio Grey Mountain. A member of the Night Watcher, Castle Lord of Gray Furnace Castle."

Upon hearing Sergio was the Castle Lord, Nute suddenly realized.

Yet he was puzzled by the surname Grey Mountain.

It was certain that during the Dwarf Empire’s split, there was no such surname as Grey Mountain.

The population of the Dwarf Empire wasn’t considered small, but in reality, there weren’t many surnames.

Most Dwarves belonged to various major tribes, it was only after the split that surnames began to diversify.

Because as long as one had acts of heroism known by people, they could pass down that name as a new surname.

Nowadays, Dwarves are scattered all over the world, having unfamiliar surnames is quite normal.

Sergio also seemed to be meeting outside Dwarves for the first time, pulling Nute and the others into a tavern.

Walking and inquiring about the situation of Dwarves outside.

This let Nute know that Gray Mountain Dwarves were relatively closed-off tribes.

Among scattered Dwarves across the world.

Most can fall into two situations.

Becoming relatively closed due to personal traits or the reason of the split.

Living in areas rarely visited by people, hardly communicating with the outside.

This is normal behavior.

After all, most Dwarves prefer living within mountains, even the more rugged the mountains, the more they like it.

This leads to once Dwarves are willing to be closed-off, it’s quite easy, other than nearby nations and forces, no one would know about it.

Just like Gray Mountain Dwarves.

Only the Cohen Kingdom has some interaction with them, even the Safro Kingdom knows little about the Gray Mountain Dwarves.

At night.

Nute returned to the military camp outside the castle with the United Army.

Watching those subordinates inside the command post.

After all, this is a Dwarf city, naturally having a great attraction for Dwarves.

So today, for a good half day, all Dwarves almost wandered and drank in Gray Furnace Castle.

When Nute came to the tent, his subordinates were still talking loudly.

"Damn, did you see?"

"You mean their Forging Workshop?"

"Exactly, terrifying, by the mountains, it’s my first time seeing so many Master Blacksmiths."

"Right, I heard this Gray Mountain tribe has only about 3,000 people.

Could they have once been part of the Golden Hammer Tribe?"

When the Dwarf Empire hadn’t split, the Golden Hammer Tribe had the most and best blacksmiths among Dwarves.

"What are you talking about?" Nute walked in to ask.

"The Forging Workshop of the Gray Mountain tribe, I didn’t go in to look closely, but just from outside, I saw at least a dozen Master Blacksmiths."

The Dwarf officer who spoke earlier widened his eyes, showing an exaggerated expression.

"Haha, you are joking, right?" Nute couldn’t help but laugh and said.

Today he hadn’t wandered much, just was taken by Sergio for drinking, hardly having time to wander around the city.

But looking at his subordinates’ eyes, he realized it probably was true.

"Alright, but anyway, don’t mind those; our task now is to prepare for combat down the mountain."

...

The United Army’s actions weren’t considered slow.

After resting for half a day, the next day they were together with the Night Watchers, split into different teams, coming to the various pathways.

"Going down from here, we can reach the mountaintop, from there we’ll be entering Safro Kingdom’s territory.

Previously, we battled Blood Race here for a long time, though we repelled Blood Race, they still have some forces below for vigilance.

Thus, our task is to descend from various paths forming a siege circle, eliminate all the vigilante forces."

With the task issued.

Everyone began moving downward through the pathways.

These were originally secret tunnels the followers of the Rotting Monarch used to attack Gray Furnace Castle.

Over the years repaired by Dwarves, allowing the United Army to quickly descend the mountain.

As they emerged from the mountain caves.

They saw a dark scene.

"What’s going on? A storm coming?" a human officer looked up at the sky, puzzled.

Their cave’s exit was within a forest.

The issue was that atop the mountain, it was a bright and sunny morning.

Yet when they reached the bottom, it turned into a gloomy rainy day.

No ray of sunlight shone from above.

Instead, upon descending, they immediately felt the slightly chilly air. And by gently sniffing, they could smell a faint scent of blood in the air, truly unpleasant and nauseating.

An Elf Ranger crouched down.

Grabbing a handful of earth beneath.

Then saw in his palm a wet stain akin to blood.

Feeling the slight magic power within the damp soil.

"It’s some kind of magical environmental alteration, the earth has been completely contaminated."

Facing the Elf’s analysis.

The Dwarves were angrier.

After all, they really despise the contamination of the earth.

"These disgusting monsters should be eradicated as soon as possible."

"Alright, let’s leave here and regroup first."

Soon this United Army left, joining others led by the Night Watchers, forming a siege circle without any intelligence exchange.

The Blood Race stationed at the foot of Grey Mountain wasn’t numerous, more were scattered Ghouls.

Under siege by the United Army, these vigilante forces could hardly resist, almost all of them were cleared out one by one.

"This environmental magic wouldn’t really affect us, right?" a human officer looked at the surroundings with some pessimism.

The perpetually dark sky.

A faint blood scent pervading the air.

Blood-red soil, eerie, dark, and twisted plants.

This place was practically an evil land influenced by monsters.

Accompanying Mages, including Elf Mages and scholars from the council, also researched this area.

"This is clearly an impact through magic nodes on the environment, according to the Night Watchers’ intelligence, the magic node is located in this nation’s Royal Capital.

Such evil and crude transformations, even if we recover the node, restoring this land will take a long cost."

Speaking was an Elf Mage.

Upon hearing even Elves speaking of long costs, it meant even less hope for them.

This land, at least for hundreds of years, won’t receive any enhancement.