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"Hmm, Frost Nova Grenades, an upgraded version of the Frost Grenades developed in collaboration with the arcanists of Quel'Thalas. The next step is to develop directional ice spike grenades or landmines—this is a good spot; let's intercept them here."

Tannis breathed a sigh of relief upon discovering that her group had reached a large hall. She quickly pulled out various machines and began setting them up, while Renault also started rummaging through his backpack and assembling his firepower.

"Piercing rounds aren't effective against those things. Use this, the incineration round, specifically developed to deal with heavily armored units or golems."

Tanis casually pushed a box of bullets toward Renault, then clicked the safety off the two large-caliber Viper cannons in front of her.

"Brian, you understand your mission, right?"

"Of course, I'll use my shotgun to headshot those guys who're standing a bit further away and look a bit unusual!"

“Very well, Miss Ellis, I’ll leave the matter of dividing the battlefield to you. I will use my engineering tools to create artificial sunlight to assist your magic.”

Elise Starseeker nodded slightly, opened her right hand and forcefully scattered a handful of seed-like things in front of her, while softly chanting a spell. As her voice gradually rose, patches of greenish-blue things began to spread on the ground.

"Finley... well, you shouldn't be charging forward with your crude spear... use your spells to patch things up—like those that are almost destroyed but still movable, but firing another shot would be a waste of bullets."

"Leave it to me!"

Finley patted his chest, looking like he was saying, "Don't worry about me."

"Very good, now that everyone understands their task, then what's next..."

Tennys turned a knob on her engineering glasses, causing several drones to take off behind her.

"Prepare for a spectacular performance!"

——————————————Outside the main gate——————————————————————

Gargan clutched his forehead, groggily crawling up from a pile of corpses. Before him lay a jumble of cavemen and Dark Iron dwarves, their bodies groping and throbbing with pain that told him it was not a nightmare, but reality.

"Aaaaaaaahh ...

Faced with such a horrific scene, even the most hard-hearted Gargan couldn't help but let out a beast-like howl. His personal guard had been completely wiped out, the mission he had confidently accepted had become a joke, and even the Seven Sages were now cold corpses. Everything that had happened clearly told him one answer—he was finished. His status and wealth in Darkforge City were all gone. Even if he could return alive, he would only be able to dig for black iron ore by the lava pools until he died, as the lowest of the low, a black iron slave!

"No! I still have another way!"

When a person falls into despair, strange thoughts begin to surface in their mind. In the blink of an eye, Gargan realized that if he wanted to return to Darkforge without being severely punished, the head of a Bronzebeard dwarf would undoubtedly be the best scapegoat. Clearly, he only had one choice…

"...Hehe...wait for me...to take your head...you damn bronzebeard dwarf."

Gargan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, picked up his musket, and staggered toward a small hole that had collapsed due to the opening of the gate. His eyes flashed with a ferocious light—a ferocity unlike that of a civilized creature.

44. The Battle with the Dwarf Sculptures

Brann Bronzebeard lay prone on a high platform, his right eye fixed on the scope of his beloved dwarven hand cannon, firing steadily shot after shot. Creatures made of mud or rock struck by his gun either lost limbs or were smashed to pieces by the powerful impact.

Elise Starseeker slightly clenched her fists, urging the natural forces that were roaming the hall. This caused the grass seeds that the Cenarius Council had specially cultivated to have thrown out earlier to grow rapidly at a rate hundreds or thousands of times faster than in their natural environment. They became thickets of thorny vines that were difficult to cut even with steel swords, binding the steps of the enemies who were trapped within. Some unfortunate clay models even became victims of the vines taking root, turning into 'proper' sculptures.

Renault hid behind a makeshift bunker made of alloy plates, observing the battle through gaps in the plates and controlling his mechanical minions—though, for the time being, it was pointless whether he observed or not, as the entire hall was filled with sculptures that had been awakened by Brian, densely packed together.

Sir Finley gripped his weapon tightly, using the crude spear as a staff to occasionally throw a lightning bolt or a water arrow, striking the sculptures that got too close. The power of the elements roared, disrupting the internal energy flow of these clay and stone sculptures, gradually weakening them until they finally collapsed.

Of course, the most dazzling one was Tannis. As the great tinkerer of Ratchet and a warrior who participated in the Holy War of Hyjal, the scene before her, which would frighten ordinary adventurers to the point of weakness, was just a drop in the ocean for her. Dozens of drones rose and fell around her, dropping round after round of high-explosive bombs on the enemy's heads. Fixed Viper Cannons poured out their fury, creating a clear dead line on the battlefield. G3 Predators precisely cut through those statues that were too intact and seemed to have special abilities, causing these things to be destroyed before they could perform their functions.

"Brian, why do these things look so much like you dwarves?"

With very little combat pressure, a slightly bored Renault began to carefully examine the appearance of their enemies. He was fine until he looked closely, and he couldn't help but think that the attacking things were a bunch of dwarf statues carved from stone or clay!

"How would I know?"

Brian spat out a resentful sentence, clicked the bolt to eject the spent cartridge, loaded a new bullet, pulled the trigger, and blasted a sculpture in the distance with its hands raised, seemingly preparing to do something, into a headless horseman.

"Are there really no records of these things in your dwarven literature?"

With a flick of her wrist, Ellis dragged the two charging sculptures to the ground with her vines, and then they were torn to shreds by the combined firepower of the two tinkerers.

"No! We dwarves don't have the habit of sculpting our models on such a large scale. Besides, how should I put it... these sculptures... although they look very rough, some parts are too exquisite, so exquisite that I suspect they might turn into living dwarves at any moment!"

Brian, who continued bombarding the enemy, quickly answered Ellis's question.

"Then... could someone have carved this here?"

Sir Finley, clutching his spear, ran to the back to rest. His mental energy was almost completely depleted, and casting spells again could potentially harm his body.

"Impossible! I've already checked the soil layers outside this place; their sedimentary thickness is at least five thousand years old, while our dwarf kingdom's history is only 2500 years! Moreover, the soil is all newly excavated; there's no way anyone has entered this place before!"

Brian, who started cleaning the gun with a cleaning rod and rag, immediately dismissed Finley's guess.

"Someone was magically transported here, and then, unable to escape, carved all these dwarf statues. Ha! That's absurd!"

After saying that, Renault laughed at himself. If someone were magically transported to such an ancient hall, he would definitely not be in the mood to carve so many dwarf statues, but would be desperately trying to escape. Moreover, they have already smashed more than a hundred statues, a number that cannot be completed by just a few people!

"These things are mass-produced."

Tanis, who had begun to reassemble her own weapons as the number of enemies had decreased significantly, suddenly spoke up.

Mass production?

Brian was immediately drawn to Tennys's words.

"Well, I scanned the body size data of these guys and found that the size tolerance range of their entire bodies is collectively less than plus or minus 0.01 millimeters. If they were sculpted by hand, this obviously doesn't make sense."

Tannis deftly twirled the gun in her hand, blasting the last statue to pieces before carefully storing it away.

"A fully automated production line?"

Brian immediately thought of some kind of statue created by the gnomes who had fled from Gnomeregan to Ironforge.

"Theoretically, they are similar things. We'll have to go and see for ourselves. I believe that what you just touched, Brian, is not the one that produces these statues, but it is also related to them."

Tannis, who was squatting on the ground trying to find some precious metals or gems from a pile of rubble, tilted her head. On a piece of black cloth beside her, some gold dust, silver grains and small gems shimmered under the light.

"Um... Tannis the Great Tinker, shouldn't these spoils be divided equally?"

Renault crept up to Tannis, looking at the items on the cloth with envy—he had no instruments and it would be difficult to find valuable loot among so much rubble.

"Of course, I will award points according to the amount of effort put in."

Tannis's words immediately turned Renault's face into a bitter one. Clearly, if the spoils were divided according to the amount of effort put in, Tannis would take at least fifty percent—no, even sixty percent!

"Also, your ammunition cost will be deducted from your share."

Before Renault could even protest, Tannis's leisurely voice sent him plummeting into an icebox.

"Aren't those special ammunition free?"

Upon hearing Renault's words, Tannis gave him a subtle look.

"When have you ever seen anything from the Tinkerers' Guild free? In fact, you've actually made a profit. According to my mechanical assistant's statistics, you're second in kills, contributing about 15% to the battle. Without those special bullets, you might not even have reached 1% contribution!"

Ignoring Reno, whose expression had turned ashen, Tennys packed up the valuable items she had collected and tossed them to Brian.

"Brian, you keep these things for now, we'll split the spoils after this adventure!"

45. Earth Spirit Production Center

Following the route they had initially taken to retreat, the explorer team returned to the small room where they had been forced to flee in a sorry state because of Brian's careless actions. As soon as they entered, they were all drawn to the surrounding walls, which had expanded several times over and were riddled with holes.

"It seems those statues were buried in the ground; no wonder we didn't notice them when we came in."

Tanis picked up a clod of dirt and rubbed it in her palm. The clod was loose; it was just ordinary dirt.

"This machine isn't working."

Brian tapped on the unidentified machine whose switch he had flipped, only to find that he couldn't get it to do anything else.

"Let me take a look."

Tannis walked up to the strange facility that had half of its body protruding from the rock wall and soil, and activated the various scanning devices on her body. Instantly, the scene behind the soil appeared in her field of vision in the form of a black and white 3D model.

"........"

"What's wrong, Tennyson the Tinker?"

While idly studying the murals on the wall, Reno noticed a fleeting moment of distraction on Tannis's face and quickly asked her what was wrong.

“Spectacular”.

Tannis uttered a word that left Renault even more baffled.

"Ahem, Miss Tanis, you mean what's behind this pile of debris is beyond our imagination?"

Brian quickly understood what Tennys meant.

"Ah."

Tennys nodded, indicating her agreement with Brian's answer.

"Can we dig through? I mean, if we dig a passage to the back, can we support the passage so it doesn't collapse?"

"I can provide directional explosives to blast through the rock wall behind, as well as specialized props to support the cave and prevent the tunnel roof from collapsing."

Tanis quickly responded.

“I can plant plants on the cave walls and let them act as adhesive to hold the cave walls together so that they don’t loosen quickly.”

Ellis also said what she could do.

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's roll up our sleeves and get to work! I think we're sure to uncover a big secret! Miss Tanis, Miss Ellis, please prepare the things, and leave the digging of the hole to me."

Brian perked up instantly upon hearing Tennys and Ellis's answers. He rolled up his sleeves, took out a shovel, a pickaxe, a hammer, and other tools from his backpack, and swapped his expedition hat for a hard hat, putting on a pair of goggles. Then, he handed a shovel to Reno.

"Me too?"

Reno's face turned sour after Brian shoveled a shovel into his.

"Of course!"

Brian pulled out another shovel, glanced at the pile of rubble in front of him, and with his dwarf instincts, quickly found the most suitable place to dig. He then laboriously swung the shovel, and Reno had no choice but to join Brian in doing the physical work.

——————————————Half an hour later————————————————————

"Ha, ha... I'm so tired..."

Renault casually tossed the shovel at his feet, gulped down an energy drink in his right hand, and frantically pulled at his chest with his left hand to cool himself down faster.

“Excavation is a fundamental skill in archaeology, Reynolds. I thought you were quite used to it.”

Brian, sitting cross-legged on the ground, wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and slowly drank an energy drink. Undoubtedly, he was in much better shape than Reno.