Steel torrents pioneering a different world.

Chapter 294 Unable to Resist! One Man Charges Through the Pass, Unmatched by Ten Thousand! (Bonus Chapter)

Wars always start when people don't want them to.

The horrific alarms blaring everywhere were nearly tearing Mazast's eardrums apart.

"Elder! All our warriors in the Sixth Tunnel have been confirmed dead! They were destroyed by a metallic storm that descended from the sky!"

"Elder! Wired communications in the third area have been lost! There was just a large explosion there—"

"Internal shield—damn it, the enemy's attacks are too strong! Our restart energy is rapidly decreasing, and our magic stones are being consumed more and more quickly! Ancestors above, why is the enemy's firepower endless?"

Bad news came crashing down on him, each piece sinking Mazast's heart a little deeper.

He thought he had planned everything perfectly. He even imagined that if the enemy attacked, he would definitely make them pay.

To be fully prepared, he used a tough approach a few days ago to requisition a large number of magic stones and various rare materials and military equipment from the wealthy elites of Tranquil Harbor. He activated the rune warning devices and magic energy shields in the base that had stopped working due to energy depletion, keeping them in a luxurious state where they could be activated at any time.

Such a state has only been initiated during times of strife and chaos.

Although it came at a huge cost and offended many people, they managed to barely bring the base's defense capabilities back to 20% of their peak.

In his view, even if it were only 10%, let alone 20%, it would be enough to sustain them until the arrival of the main dwarven reinforcements.

After all, this is a military fortress left behind by our ancestors!

Who could have imagined that the enemy's attack would be so unreasonable!

Their defenses were not a solid barrier in the face of the enemy; they were more like a piece of lard thrown into boiling oil, sizzling and melting away quickly.

The enemy didn't even attempt any tactical maneuvers; they simply used the purest, most extreme violence to smash everything they were so proud of, punch by punch.

Mazast closed his eyes, recalling the last message Rice sent before the communication was cut off: "For the glory of our ancestors!"

"Even though that idiot Rice failed in his sacrifice, I'm sure I can succeed!"

We can't hesitate any longer.

"Have the soldiers on the perimeter hold out for at least half a day at all costs!" Mazast squeezed out the words through gritted teeth. He pulled a crumpled cigarette from his pocket and handed it to his adjutant beside him. He lit one for himself, but his trembling hands failed to light it several times.

The adjutant lit it for him, took a deep drag, and coughed, choking on the smoke: "Sir, but the outer perimeter is almost at its breaking point! We must hold on—"

"In that case, let them hold out for at least an hour." Mazast interrupted him, the last trace of hesitation in his eyes replaced by madness. "Let the Purifiers do it!"

The adjutant's face turned deathly pale: "Elder! Now? But—but our men aren't fully prepared! We've gathered too few sacrifices, and many haven't undergone the blood ritual! If we act now, chaos will erupt within the base!"

"Chaos?" Mazast laughed hysterically, grabbing his adjutant by the collar, almost face to face, and growling hoarsely, "What do you think the ancestors' will was? Was it to anesthetize those cowards, slit their throats like slaughtering livestock, and cut off their heads?"

"What the ancestors wanted to hear was wailing! The rage of souls, their frantic roars as they discovered they had become sacrifices! Their despair and curses before their deaths! All of this, mixed with blood and fear, was needed to create the perfect twisted energy to tear open the spatial rift leading to the ancestral temple!"

He shoved his adjutant away abruptly, who staggered back a few steps, staring at him in horror.

"We are offering sacrifices! We are not running a slaughterhouse! Although what you are doing is evil, these little pains and their sacrifices will bring about the greatness of our people again, so—do you understand?" Mazast's voice roared.

The adjutant's breathing became rapid. He looked at the usually dignified elder in front of him, who now resembled a wild beast ready to devour its prey.

He finally understood that from the very beginning, the so-called thorough preparation was just a pretense used by the elders to reassure everyone.

"—I understand, elder." The adjutant lowered his head, his voice hoarse. "To ensure the absolute safety of the ceremony, I will—personally offer the swiftest mercy to those compatriots who have not yet undergone the blood trial."

A look of satisfaction appeared on Mazast's face. He patted his adjutant on the shoulder and turned to walk towards the heavy alloy door at the deepest part of the command hall.

"Go then! Though I cannot witness the arrival of our ancestors, our souls will ultimately attain eternal glory in their sacred temple!"

"Living up to the glory of our ancestors!"

The adjutant gave a solemn dwarf salute, then turned and strode away.

Mazast got up and left, went to a wall, then cut his palm with a dagger and drew one ancient rune after another on it.

Then, accompanied by a low hum, the wall began to move slowly.

An ominous red light burst forth from it —

Outside the tranquil harbor, inside an abandoned cave.

The space distorted slightly, a faint blue light flashed, and Lin Li's ever-changing figures appeared out of thin air.

His appearance was still that of the dwarf named Gazul, but his inner self was completely different.

The disguise provided by the spacetime source is flawless, but Lin Li has always believed in the principle that "no matter how good your kung fu is, you're still afraid of a kitchen knife," so his own safety protection must be in place.

He looked down and patted his chest, feeling the dull thud of the hard metal.

The dwarven-made rune armor borrowed from Pangulet Fortress is currently activated.

As long as the energy slots on this armor contain magic stones and Lin Li has abundant magical energy, the rune armor can easily withstand hundreds of 12.7mm heavy machine gun bullets without collapsing.

Even if attacked by 20mm artillery, it can withstand multiple hits!

Magic stones are extremely scarce among the dwarves. The armor of ordinary dwarf warriors doesn't even have slots for installing magic stones, and they rely entirely on their own meager magical power.

Only the elite veterans of the dwarves can obtain large quantities of magic stones.

As for the heavily armored warriors, their canned armor sets always have a full supply of mana stones. In fact, they themselves possess several times more mana than ordinary dwarf warriors.

He could even sense that as long as the magic power within him continued, his tortoise shell could withstand the bombardment of artillery.

Compared to those ordinary dwarven cannon fodder who don't even have magic stone slots, he is now truly armed to the teeth.

The comprehensive enhancement of his spacetime essence had already made his physical abilities surpass those of ordinary people. Even without this iron suit, he could still easily defeat the so-called elite dwarf veterans with his bare hands.

This gear is for multiple layers of protection!

"I wonder if the original owner of this armor was happy or moved to know that his precious darling was being worn by me to slaughter and corrupt dwarves!"

Lin Li muttered something and took out the pioneer team's military terminal from his storage space.

He skillfully turned it on, the screen flickered a few times, and began trying to connect to the internal network that had been set up here before.

"Permissions granted, connecting..."

"63% of the nodes have been damaged, and the data signal is unstable."

The terminal emitted a series of prompts, and the image that popped up on the screen was rather messy!

Of the hundreds of shots, most showed thick smoke and fire.

Among them, dozens of miniature cameras he had secretly installed had their viewpoints spun around, clearly blown away by the shockwave of the explosion to some unknown corner, or simply lost contact.

"Ha, they're having quite a lively fight."

Lin Li's fingers swiped rapidly across the screen, filtering out relevant information.

He quickly focused the camera on several key areas inside the fortress. When he clicked on a special video feed from a terminal, he stopped abruptly.

The screen shook violently, accompanied by piercing screams and curses!

What the camera captured was infuriating!

A group of dwarves, dressed in standard armor and armed with standard weapons from the Tranquil Harbor military base, their arms and heads bound with red ropes, were slaughtering their unarmed comrades with various weapons. There was no mercy, no hesitation, only cold-blooded carnage. The piercing screams and desperate cries seemed to pierce eardrums even through the terminal.

Many dwarf warriors who were ambushed and killed can be seen lying in pools of blood.

The dwarves' faces were filled with disbelief, clearly shocked by their companion's betrayal.

In a few places, the dwarven warriors who had recovered from the corruption put up a gradually weakening resistance.

Because the enemy was caught off guard, many of the uncorrupted dwarves lacked ammunition and magic stones, and some were even relocated elsewhere.

The Corruptors caught them off guard with heavy artillery, various large magical bombs, and heavy weapons.

This resulted in heavy losses for the uncorrupted dwarf warriors from the very beginning.

At this moment, this is an unfair battle.

A meticulously planned, bloody sacrifice.

Unfortunately, the sacrificial ceremony appeared very crude; the corrupt dwarves were clearly not prepared for the proper rituals.

Upon seeing this, Lin Li's pupils suddenly contracted into dangerous pinpoints.

"You son of a bitch!"

He forced out a low curse, suppressing extreme anger, through his teeth.

Lin Li shoved the terminal away with a cold look in his eyes.

He no longer had the heart to painstakingly behead the enemy, bit by bit.

All that remained in his heart was a surging murderous intent.

The next second, his figure turned into a blurry blue light and disappeared instantly.

Target—the core of the ritual!

These corrupt individuals probably want to wail? Want to despair? Want twisted emotions?

it is good.

I will personally deliver the end to them!

Dozens of kilometers away!

On the large screen, the bloody images created a somber and oppressive atmosphere in the command center.

A group of dwarves, with red scarves tied around their arms or heads, are frantically slaughtering their unarmed brethren with standard weapons.

The elderly, women, and even babies in their arms became their ruthless targets.

This is a heinous massacre.

"These beasts!" a young operations staff officer gritted his teeth.

The Corruptors used various pretexts to lure the innocent dwarves seeking refuge deep into the mountains, where the rock layers were thick and the structure complex.

Humanity's existing offensive weapons are simply not capable of being precisely deployed to that location in a short period of time.

Bi Shengli stared at the innocent dwarves being slaughtered on the screen, his face ashen.

As a frontline commander with sound values, he could only watch helplessly as innocent people were slaughtered, and this sense of powerlessness almost overwhelmed him.

"How much longer will it take to break through their outer defenses?" His voice was hoarse, filled with suppressed anger.

A technician, sweating profusely, reported to the commander: "Commander-in-chief! According to geological scans and signal positioning, the target shelter is more than three kilometers away from our surface assault point! The enemy has ample forces. Although we can use robots, it will take at least three—no, two and a half hours!"

Two and a half hours?

Bi Shengli's fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

Even if two and a half hours have passed, or even just half an hour, how many living people would still be left inside?

They'll probably all be killed by then!

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Get the robot army forward as fast as possible! Also, record this footage!"

"yes!"

Just as the command room was filled with a heavy atmosphere, a soldier responsible for monitoring the battlefield suddenly exclaimed.

"Report! A friendly encrypted signal source, codenamed [Gaizur], has been detected. The source is located outside the Panggle Fortress!"

The military terminals and various reconnaissance devices used by Lin Li all came from the reclamation team.

As long as these devices are in an inactive state, their location and basic data streams will be captured by the pioneer team's central system.

Therefore, the moment the numerous terminal screens lit up and began receiving images from inside the fortress, alarms sounded at the pioneering team's command center, dozens of kilometers away.

Upon hearing the name Gaizur, Bi Shengli's eyes lit up.

"Mr. Bi, shall we get in touch?"

Bi Shengli nodded immediately: "Contact them!"

"OK!"

As soon as they sent the message, the terminal signals disappeared immediately.

"Report, the signal codenamed Gaizur has disappeared?"

"Disappeared?"

"Yes, I saw Gaizul check the surveillance footage and then put the things away."

"Report! An unusually high-energy signal has been detected in Zone 7! Report, the enemy is attacking, confirmed not to be our personnel!"

The large screen immediately switched to a view of a figure appearing in front of the human combat robot's camera.

By dwarven standards, the figure was extremely tall and imposing, dressed in a simple yet magnificent runic armor. Its appearance bore a striking resemblance to the statue of Gazul enshrined in the ancestral temple of the dwarves—a resemblance that was nine-tenths uncanny!

He wasn't attacking the human robots; he was currently attacking the corrupted dwarves' defenses.

After he killed several corrupted dwarves, a loud, majestic, and utterly authentic dwarven voice resounded across the battlefield through a loudspeaker.

"I am Gaizur! You who have forsaken the glory of your ancestors and slaughtered your own people, you shall face the judgment of death!"

Before the words were even finished, the figure who called himself Gaizur acted again!

He was incredibly fast; the robot's camera captured him almost as a blur before he charged headlong into the horde of corrupted dwarf warriors who had come to his aid.

"Stop him!"

"Fire!"

The corrupted dwarves roared as powerful projectiles from the magic cannons and dense projectiles from the Three-Eyed Fire rained down upon them.

Lin Li dodged the frontal bombardment of artillery shells and ignored the attacks of the three-eyed musket.

A shield appeared around Lin Li, and all the projectiles were blocked by a light red energy shield when they were only a few centimeters away from him.

"boom!"

Lin Li, transformed into Gaizur, didn't even slow down in the slightest, crashing directly into the enemy ranks.

The scene was beyond description, beyond what could be called a battle.

It's crushing! It's harvesting!

With a single swing of his sword, the sharp blade easily sliced ​​three corrupted dwarves in two, armor and all.

With a kick, several dwarves who attacked from the side were sent flying like cannonballs, crashing into the distant mountain path. Upon landing, their internal organs were ruptured, and they died bleeding from all seven orifices.

The robot's camera could only capture a blurry afterimage moving back and forth in the enemy ranks. Wherever it passed, severed limbs and broken armor flew everywhere, and life was extinguished in large swaths, like candle flames blown out by a gale.

Everyone in the command center was stunned.

"Wow—that's amazing!"

"As expected of Gaizul! The ancestors of the dwarves were truly formidable!"

Bi Shengli stared intently at the invincible figure on the screen, his eyes flashing with excitement.

"Pass on my orders!" He stood up abruptly, waving his hand, "Arrange for the relay platform to establish a stable communication signal network. Deploy defense robots and assault robots, and prioritize the unmanned forces to follow Gaizur! He is our sharpest spearhead!"

"yes!"

After the order was given, the pioneering team warriors, who had originally been attacking in all directions to eliminate all hidden dangers, began to shift their focus of attack.

Multiple waves of robot troops, originally heading to other places, changed direction and rushed in, closely following the gap that Lin Li had carved out. They quickly occupied various locations where the dwarves might interfere with the passage, setting up an ambush network to ensure that the dwarves would not damage the passage.

With the incredibly powerful "Gaizur" charging ahead, humanity's advance speed instantly increased dozens of times!

The corrupted dwarves are fearless, but their courage becomes laughable when they encounter an army of equally fearless robots that only execute killing programs!

The defensive line, which was originally expected to take two hours to break through, was completely breached in less than ten minutes under the guidance of the ancestors' divine intervention!

Inside the dwarfs' sanctuary.

Lin Li held the 35mm caseless ammunition cannon in one hand, the heavy muzzle aimed at the billowing smoke and dust in front of him, and suddenly spat out a deadly tongue of fire.

Da da da—!

With a piercing roar, the cannonball tore through the air and struck several corrupted dwarves who had just emerged from the smoke and dust.

These guys had been fighting and slaughtering for a long time and hadn't had a chance to rest. The energy of their rune shields was already greatly depleted. Faced with this kind of physical attack, the shields only flickered once before shattering like glass.

The next second, blood and flesh flew everywhere.

The enemy, who had just been grinning as they slaughtered their compatriots, didn't even have time to scream before being torn to shreds by a hail of bullets.

The pungent smell of blood and gunpowder, mixed with the stench wafting from deeper into the tunnels and the screams of terror, could almost suffocate a living person on the spot.

Lin Li remained unfazed, striding across the slaughterhouse that resembled a living hell, and headed deeper into the tunnel.

"Use bombs! Blow them up! Blow them all up!"

The mad roars of the corrupted dwarves came from ahead, mixed with the desperate screams of the innocent and the dull thuds of blunt weapons hitting flesh, creating a symphony of death.

As the smoke and dust cleared, the scene ahead was shocking.

The shadowy dwarven executioners were wielding battle axes and maces, mercilessly slaughtering their unarmed brethren.

Blood pooled on the ground, forming streams that gurgled and flowed, turning the entire underground space into a pool of blood.

Lin Li's gaze swept across the scene and found that the surviving civilians and the murderous enemies were mixed together, making the indiscriminate attack of the machine guns clearly no longer applicable.

boom!boom!

He pulled the trigger again, using two precise bursts to blow the head off a corrupted dwarf who wasn't wearing a helmet and was raising his butcher's knife. Only then did he reluctantly pat the scorching hot cannon barrel and put the big thing away.

"Unfortunately, there are too many innocent victims!"

He muttered something and drew the captured dwarven rune longsword with his backhand.

Buzz—

With a soft ringing sound, the runes on the sword lit up one by one, and surging energy flowed along the blade.

The next moment, he moved.

Without the slightest hesitation, he charged into the chaotic crowd like an arrow released from a bow.

A deadly tornado swiftly swept over the corrupted dwarf bound with red ribbons.

Lin Li's figure darted and weaved through the crowd, his rune sword transforming into the scythe of death.

His movements were precise and efficient; every slash and thrust took the lives of one, or even two or three, enemies with remarkable accuracy.

Wherever the sword's edge passed, neither heavy armor nor sturdy shields were easily sliced ​​through, as if made of paper.

Heads and severed limbs flew off together, and scalding blood was splattered everywhere.

Faced with the powerful rune sword, these corrupted dwarves were unable to mount any effective resistance and were annihilated as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

When the last dwarf bound by a red rope was beheaded with a single sword stroke, and his body collapsed limply to the ground, the whole world seemed to fall silent.

The large shelter, which could originally accommodate thousands of people, now has fewer than three hundred survivors.

Those resisting dwarven warriors, or craftsmen, gaped in disbelief upon seeing the figure of Gezul transformed into a forest of figures.

The surviving dwarves stood there in a daze. After a moment, the ecstasy of surviving the ordeal and the grief of losing their loved ones intertwined and turned into a deafening wail.

An old dwarf with a white beard trembled as he dropped the iron hammer in his hand. His knees buckled, and he knelt heavily before Lin Li, shouting out the name that existed only in legends with all his might.

"Our ancestor—it is our ancestor Gaizur who has appeared to us!"

"Ancestors!"

"Thanks to our ancestors for saving us!"

The crowd fell like dominoes, crying and kneeling, desperately kowtowing to Lin Li.

Lin Li looked around to make sure there was no further threat before letting them kneel for a moment and then slowly spoke.

"Dwarfs, those scum who betrayed the glory of their ancestors and slaughtered their own people have all been judged!" He paused, looking at his still-shaken comrades, and added, "Later, the Iron Guardians of our human allies will arrive to aid us. Do not panic, do not flee, and do not attack! They are our own people."

"Remember, humanity is your friend; cooperate with them patiently! Beware of the sources of corruption that still exist within you; they lurk in the darkness!"

After saying that, he turned and left without lingering.

A few hundred meters away, in another enclosed shelter.

Time seemed to stand still, each second feeling incredibly long.

Nat felt his heart pounding so hard it was about to jump out of his throat.

He was a craftsman of the Mithril Clan, just one step away from becoming a master alchemist, and was about to become a prominent figure in the nearby villages and towns.

But now, so-called status and position are not even worth as much as a piece of the cheapest toilet paper.

Early this morning, the military commander here, Mazast, suddenly announced that the enemy was attacking and urged everyone to enter the shelter.

Without much thought, Nate used his status to grant his entire family the right to enter.

He thought this was a safe place to escape disaster, and he was very satisfied with the status he had earned through his efforts over the years.

Little did they know, this was a one-way ticket to hell.

Those wielding the butcher's knife against them were not foreign enemies, but their own compatriots whom they had always respected!

The sounds of violent explosions and screams outside were gradually fading away.

Nat is anxious!

This is not a good sign.

This means that the butchers are about to kill all their fellow citizens.

They might be dying!

"Dad—will we die?" His daughter buried her face in his arms, her body trembling violently.

Nat's throat was dry, and he managed to squeeze out a few words with all his might: "Pray to the ancestors, child. The ancestors will guide us—to the temple."

He himself no longer believed these words.

The higher one's status, the more one sees, and the more ridiculous one finds one's former innocent dreams.

If our ancestors truly have spirits, how could they stand by and watch their descendants being slaughtered?

The little girl took it seriously, clenching her little fists tightly, closing her eyes, and muttering incantations, devoutly praying for salvation to the ethereal ancestor.

boom!

The heavy stone gate trembled violently, and rubble fell down in a flurry.

The sounds of impact followed one after another, each one heavier than the last, like the knocking of death.

Their corrupt compatriots have already cleared the perimeter; now it's their turn.

"Waaah—Daddy, I don't want to die—"

Nat was distraught by his daughter's cries.

He took a deep breath, shoved his daughter away, and grabbed the battle axe beside him.

"Don't cry!" Nat growled, his voice hoarse. "Child, you're all grown up now! Now, wipe away your tears and hide! I promise you, I won't die after you!"

He kissed his daughter's forehead one last time, then turned and stood with the other dwarf men in the room.

They will use their flesh and blood to block the door.

They had no runic armor and their weapons were just ordinary weapons, which were no match for the firepower of those madmen outside.

But at least, one can die with some dignity.

Boom!

The stone door groaned under the strain, and huge cracks spread from the hinges.

It’s over.

Nat gripped his axe tightly in despair, preparing to charge after the door was breached, and to face the final moment of his life.

Just then, the violent banging and roaring outside the door abruptly stopped.

A deathly silence.

Immediately afterwards, a rapid and unfamiliar tapping sound rang out, accompanied by the terrified screams of the corrupted dwarves.

What happened?

Nat and his companions looked at each other, completely bewildered.

The next second, a loud, majestic voice, as if from ancient times, pierced through the heavy stone door and resounded in the ears of every survivor.

"I am Gazul! The scum who betrayed the glory of our ancestors and slaughtered our own people have been dealt with by me! Soon, the Iron Guardians of our human allies will arrive to our aid. Do not panic, do not flee, and do not attack! They are our own people."

"Remember, humanity is your friend; cooperate with them patiently! Beware of the sources of corruption that still exist within you; they lurk in the darkness!"

Gaizur?

Our ancestors have appeared to us?!

Everyone was stunned, thinking they were hallucinating.

A moment later, a familiar voice came from outside the door, filled with the sobs of someone who had survived a disaster.

"Nat! Nat! Are you alive? Open the door! We're saved! It's the Ancestor! The Ancestor has come to save us!"

It's Arthur's voice from next door!

Nat shuddered. They looked out through the special observation slit in the shelter and, sure enough, found that all the madmen from before had been executed.

Some familiar faces appeared nearby.

"We're safe!"

The others watched and, after confirming it was safe, they worked together to push open the protective door.

Squeak—

The stone door slowly opened a crack, and the pungent smell of gunpowder and blood rushed out.

Outside the door, the scene of purgatory still remained, but all those involved had been executed.

This moment, this scene, was once again an unforgettable sight for them—

Nat and the others experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. Just as they were marveling at what had happened, they suddenly heard screams of panic and the sound of an enemy approaching.

"Dwarf friends, we are human beings, not enemies! Not corruptors! Don't worry!"

"Humans?"

Should we trust them?

"Our ancestors all said we can trust them."

"But----"

"There's no 'but' about it—we can't trust anyone anymore."