Goddess Kaleidoscope

After receiving Lud's explicit permission, the dwarves began to devour the food, quickly becoming so engrossed in the wonderful flavors woven from various rich spices that they ate until their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

The five dwarf lads had an astonishing appetite; the mountain of meat skewers was quickly devoured, with more than half gone. Aiger asked if they could have a couple more refreshing glasses of ale, but Lud shook his head, saying that alcohol was not advisable during the upcoming treatment phase, and that water was fine if they felt thirsty.

Upon hearing that they would need to undergo treatment, the dwarves, who had been engrossed in eating skewers, finally snapped out of their daze and realized they were now patients in dire need of treatment. Their initial excitement over the delicious food quickly faded, and the skewers in their hands no longer tasted as good as before.

Soon, the dwarves finished their meat skewers, feeling as if they were covered in the aroma of spices, and when they burped, the sound was so powerful it seemed to reach the heavens!

Lud then told them to follow him, and the group left the restaurant and arrived at the door of another room next door. Barry looked around and, judging from the steam billowing out of the skylight under the eaves, determined that this was probably a sauna. It wasn't anything new; various tribes living in the northern regions, if they had the means, would take a sauna in the winter.

As the dwarves wondered why the treatment hadn't started yet, Rudd told them to take off their clothes and go inside for a sauna. During the sauna, someone would come in to observe their physical condition, and they could only come out when Rudd said they were ready.

At this point, Barry, whose mind was full of questions, finally couldn't contain his doubts and mustered up the courage to ask Ludd.

"Your Excellency, didn't you say you needed special treatment? When can we begin the treatment?"

After listening, Lud said to him with a smile.

"Hasn't it already started?"

End of this chapter

Upon hearing Ludwig say that "the treatment has begun," the five dwarves looked at each other in bewilderment, for none of them felt as if they were receiving treatment; this was completely different from the "special treatment" they had imagined.

But anyway, that barbecue skewers was really delicious!

As instructed by Lud, the five volunteers quickly changed their clothes, wearing only a burlap sack around their waists, and then lined up to enter the steamy sauna. They had been told before entering that they could not leave the sauna without Lud's permission.

The indoor temperature wasn't too high at first, but as the five men entered, they heard the sound of the bellows accelerating from the boiler room, which was separated by a wall. The temperature rose quickly, and the thick steam and profuse sweating soon made them look as if they had just been pulled out of the water.

Every five minutes or so, a masked man would come in and use tweezers to dab cotton balls from their bodies, absorbing some sweat, saying he needed to take it out for spore testing. The five dwarfs, drenched in sweat, couldn't help but wonder if this so-called special treatment involved steaming out "toxins" from their bodies using this high-intensity sauna?

Thirty minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and Aiger, who was almost dehydrated, felt that she couldn't hold on any longer.

"I mean, are they trying to steam us brothers alive?"

"Is it...it shouldn't be that bad?"

The dwarves were muttering to themselves. The hot and humid environment had made them dizzy and their faces looked green.

Just then, the dwarf who had come in to collect samples repeatedly pushed the door open again, but instead of continuing to use cotton swabs to absorb their sweat, he urged them in a slightly urgent tone.

"Quickly! You lot, come out with me right now!"

Upon hearing that they could finally go out, the dwarves immediately stumbled to their feet and ran outside. The cool breeze that rushed in from outside made them feel as if they had "come back to life" for a moment.

At this moment, the group noticed that there were five large barrels filled with clean water outside the sauna room door, and there were several dwarves wearing white coats and carrying bathing utensils around them. Lud pointed to the large barrels and said to them.

"Come on, everyone, jump into the bucket quickly."

Following Lud's instructions, the dwarves entered the bucket one by one. Only then did they realize that the greenish complexion they had seen on others earlier was not due to dizziness or blurred vision, but rather a genuine light green hue. The white-coated workers waiting nearby immediately swarmed around them, scrubbing their skin vigorously with coarse cloths like bathhouse attendants, quickly turning the clear water in the buckets a light green as well.

"Change the water! Scrub them until the color stops coming off."

Barry and the others rubbed themselves for nearly twenty minutes, each changing the water three times, until finally the color stopped fading. The five dwarf lads looked at each other, their skin pink and red, creating a subtly comical scene.

Seeing that the washing was almost done, Luther carried silver needles and several small crystal bottles, came up and collected blood samples from each of them, then handed them to the nun standing nearby, saying they were for testing.

Several dwarves, soaking in the tub, watched with great interest as the silver-haired nun approached a massive metal device almost as tall as herself. She poured her blood into a flat crystal vessel (actually glass) and placed it beneath the device. Everyone began to speculate about the purpose of the metal device.

"What do you think that thing is?"

"It looks a bit like the kind of astrolabe that astrologers use, but judging from how that little human girl is using it, it seems like she's looking down!"

"Could it be that it can magnify our vision to see if there's still any poison in our blood?"

The dwarves chattered amongst themselves, while Lud deliberately didn't answer their questions. They, however, managed to guess the microscope's purpose quite accurately by observing its structure and Aina's usage. Lud couldn't help but admire them; the dwarves' reputation as a "craftsman race" was truly well-deserved.

Soon, the blood samples from the five dwarves were tested. The microscope the three sisters had built, perhaps due to the "Hand of God," possessed divine artifact properties, with an unimaginable magnification and automatic calibration. Since it wasn't too difficult to operate, Lud passed the task to the eager Aina, letting her treat it like a game.

“Master, there are still those little ghost faces in their blood, but there aren’t many left.”

"That's normal. If it's not completely drained in one go, just steam it a few more times."

"..." x5

At this point, the dwarves realized that the treatment Lud had given them was indeed the "sauna therapy" they had previously suspected.

Lude's specific treatment strategy involved using the active state of the spores to raise the infected individuals' body temperature for a period of time, thereby causing the spores to escape. To prevent them from going in the wrong direction, Lude also fed the infected individuals a large amount of spices beforehand, ultimately successfully forcing the spores to escape through the sweat glands.

And so, after steaming and washing repeatedly, Barry and the other five dwarf volunteers were subjected to this ordeal three times before the spores were finally expelled. Lud had the people remove their masks for a test, and after smelling the spores for a long time, there was no adverse reaction. This result delighted everyone present.

"Master, we did it!"

"Yes! It worked. The only problem is that this method uses a lot of seasonings."

When treating the five dwarves, Lud did the math. The water and firewood for the sauna were a small expense, and since Pine Village was next to two large rivers and the Void Forest, the only cost would be a little labor.

The real expense was the kebabs that the dwarves raved about, the lavish ingredients of which would leave even ordinary nobles speechless.

Fortunately, Lud now has a way to accelerate crop growth, and the dwarves have made it clear to him that the Steelwhip Clan will reimburse all expenses, so it's not Lud's place to worry about who will suffer the loss in the end.

After the five dwarf volunteers complete their treatment, they will be transferred to another "cured patient isolation area" and kept in isolation for another week for "postoperative observation" until it is confirmed that there is no risk at all before they can be released from isolation.

Lud then wrote another letter, using a raven raised by the dwarves to notify Winnig, who was stationed in the underground city, to prepare for the treatment, to build more saunas, and to immediately bring the "miracle drug" over once he had cured the infected in Pine Village.

Over the next two days, the 55 infected people in Songshu Village received the same treatment. Many people praised Lude's medical skills and even wanted to have another course of treatment.

As for the underground city, Winnipeg's situation remains dire. The number of infected on his side is more than ten times that of those in the village, and patrolling sentries have discovered that those terrifying blue mushrooms have reappeared around the city, almost surrounding them from all sides.

Indeed, many ill-intentioned eyes lurk in the forest, attempting to use poison to plunge the dwarves into a terrible situation of killing each other!

End of this chapter

In the dense forest, with the dwarven construction team's hasty relocation, more than a dozen construction sites came to a halt. Because the dwarves left in a hurry, many supplies and tools remained at the construction sites, attracting many scavengers, including the mastermind behind this series of disturbances—the lizardmen.

The lizardmen arrived at the abandoned construction site, first driving away the other weaker subhuman races who were scavenging for scraps, then ransacked the place, taking away food and metal tools that could be used as weapons, and finally set the camp on fire.

Gazing at the camp reduced to ashes, the lizardmen let out piercing screams, as if they had just won a great victory. The burly lizardman at the head grinned maliciously, his eyes gleaming with a sinister light of vengeance.

"Father, I will make them pay the price..."

This robust young lizardman, dressed in full metal armor, is named Dorgon, nicknamed "Hardskin." He is the current chieftain of the Greyscale Clan and the eldest son of the former chieftain and high priest, Albert.

Their clan was originally the most powerful lizardman tribe in the South River region (as the lizardmen called it). At its peak, the entire clan numbered nearly three thousand people, occupying the abandoned ancient city and dominating the area!

In early spring this year, the local ratmen, in alliance with several demi-human races, wanted to make a fortune in human territory, and the powerful Grayscale Clan naturally received an invitation from them.

Dorgon, who was not yet the clan leader at the time, was very interested in this and looked forward to joining the group. However, his father, Albert, pretended to agree to the ratmen's request and then deliberately dragged his feet and delayed sending troops.

Dorgon was initially puzzled. He thought it was a good opportunity. The ratmen had allied with powerful races such as orcs and ogres, and their army numbered in the tens of thousands. Taking over a human town would be a piece of cake. They were sure they could plunder a lot of good stuff then.

So Dorgon tried to persuade his father, but Albert replied with a cold laugh.

"My foolish son! That old bastard Midi is cunning; you absolutely cannot believe his lies!"

Later events proved Dorgon right; the Skaven's coalition was annihilated by humans in a single battle. The survivors cursed the Skaven, saying they had sacrificed their allies to summon an uncontrollable monster, and that all powerful races had been killed by the Skaven!

After this incident, the lizardmen, who escaped death by releasing pigeons, immediately became the most powerful clan in the South River region, because almost all the other powerful races were wiped out along with the ratmen, while their Grayscale Clan remained unscathed.

But instead of feeling joy, the old patriarch Albert was deeply worried, fearing that the Grayscale Clan would become the next target of humans, until they unexpectedly obtained a "sacred relic".

Dorgen still remembers that day. He was out hunting with his men when suddenly dark clouds gathered and a meteor fell from the sky. Dorgen had heard that meteorite fragments were valuable, so he rushed to the scene with his men, only to discover an ancient book radiating mysterious power.

Dorgen brought the book back to the tribe and gave it to his father. Old Albert was overjoyed and, following the ritual procedures recorded in the book from outer space, sacrificed the "guardian beast" as a offering, turning it into a summoned creature.

Previously, the giant serpent and the lizardmen had a symbiotic master-servant relationship, with the serpent as the master and the lizardmen as the servants. The Grayscale Clan had to offer a large number of sacrifices to get this foul-mouthed giant serpent's help, but now that it had become a summoned creature, things were much easier.

Although a living sacrifice is still required for each summoning, the summoned giant serpent must obey the summoner's every command, and the old master-servant relationship is completely reversed.

However, not long after they had completely taken control of the giant serpent, the humans, who had just defeated the ratman alliance, launched an attack on the lizardmen who were entrenched in the ancient city, just as old Albert had feared.

The Grayscale Clan was first lured away from their stronghold, with Dorgen leading the main force of the clan out of their lair. Then they suffered a "base swap" from the humans. The shrewd old Albert never expected that the black dragon from the north would side with the humans. The giant serpent fought two against one and was eventually destroyed by the two dragons (not really).

This battle was undoubtedly devastating for the Grayscale Clan. Humans had taken away their "homeland" where they had lived for nearly two hundred years. Old Albert and the remaining clan warriors were all wiped out, and more than half of the women and children were also killed or wounded. In the end, only less than two hundred clansmen and more than one hundred lizard eggs escaped and joined up with the main force led by Dorgon.

Upon learning of his father's murder and the destruction of his home, a furious Dorgon was filled with rage and wanted nothing more than to lead his warriors to the southern human settlements to slaughter the despicable humans and avenge his people. Fortunately, his younger brother Barney managed to persuade the enraged Dorgon to return home.

Old Albert knew his eldest son's temperament well, so one of the instructions he gave his youngest son was that he should not attempt revenge within ten years, but instead lead the remaining members of his tribe northwards, and that the bloodline of the Grayscale should not be allowed to die out.

So, after calming down, Dorgen followed his father's dying wish and led the remaining members of his tribe to quickly move north to avoid possible human pursuers.

At first, Dorgon believed that the key to revenge was the Book of Ashes. When old Albert knew that all was lost, he decisively released the summons, retrieved the giant serpent that had been half-dead by the dragon, and then gave the book to his youngest son so that he could escape with it.

However, when Barney, who had escaped and reunited with his brother, opened the hard-skinned backpack containing the sacred book, he discovered that the book had vanished, replaced by a stack of picture books depicting human intercourse.

Upon discovering that the sacred book on which they had placed such high hopes was missing, the furious Dorgon beat up his younger brother. However, Barney repeatedly expressed his grievances, stating that he had never left the backpack containing the book for a moment, and that the clan warriors protecting him had always been by his side. There was no reason for it to be stolen.

But regardless, the sacred book was still missing, and the Greyscale Clan of Lizardmen were devastated. Barney, who had studied witchcraft with his father since childhood, suggested that since the previous sacred book was lost, they should try to request the Great Demon to retrieve it.

Thus, Barni, who became the new priest, led the remaining tribesmen to continue to worship the powerful "demon god" and hold regular sacrificial ceremonies.

Although the chieftain Dorgen kept his father’s dying wish not to lead his people in a war of revenge within ten years, when he learned that a large number of dwarves had entered the Void Forest and occupied their “old home”, Dorgen thought to himself, “My father only forbade me to take revenge on humans, but surely the dwarves are okay?”

Believing he had found a "loophole" in the testament, Dorgen, on his brother's advice, implemented a "poisoning tactic" against the dwarves entering the forest. The Devil's Umbrella was a poisonous mushroom discovered by the Grayscale Clan in an ancient cave; it was ineffective against the lizardmen, but it could cause many other races to kill each other.

The dwarves, who were new to the area, had never seen this thing before. More than a dozen camps were hit, and the lizardmen suffered heavy casualties without losing a single soldier. They abandoned their camps and fled into the ancient city to hide.

The tremendous victory greatly excited Dorgon, who believed he had found a "magic weapon" to defeat his enemies. He thought that if they used these mushrooms properly, they could defeat humans and dwarves even without the help of the demon god.

"Brothers, collect all the iron parts that can be used to make weapons. These are all good things forged by the dwarves, don't miss a single one!"

While directing his men to clean up the "battlefield," Dorgen wandered around the camp, trying to figure out what the dwarves were doing. Dorgen remembered his father mentioning that the ancient city they had lived in for nearly two hundred years was originally a dwarf city, but it was later conquered by his great-great-grandfather's generation, which then became the home of their Grayscale clan.

Dorgon was clearly unaware of the war of the gods that took place more than three hundred years ago, and he deeply believed the boasts of his great-great-grandfather's generation, genuinely thinking that their lizardmen ancestors were invincible and could actually seize a city from the dwarves with swords and spears.

As he walked, Dorgen suddenly noticed something amiss. There seemed to be a shadow moving inside a dwarf tent not far away. He immediately drew his twin swords from his waist and shouted loudly in that direction.

"Who is it? Show yourself!"

"Sir, please don't kill me!"

Seeing that they had been discovered, a small, thin figure emerged from the tent. Dorgen looked closely and realized it was a kobold-headed man who had appeared out of nowhere.

Kobolds are a type of demi-human race in the Void Forest, but they are not a particularly powerful race. They are physically weak and do not know magic. Their only special ability is their sense of smell, but there are many demi-humans in the forest with good noses. The key is whether they can fight!

Seeing that the furtive figure was a kobold, Dorgen's face revealed undisguised contempt before he sheathed his twin swords. He assumed that this kobold, like the other demi-humans, had come to plunder the camp, so he roared fiercely at the man.

"While I'm in a good mood right now, get as far away as you can! This place, and all the other places like this in the forest, are all our Grayscale Clan lizardmen's to keep. You can all go back to your doghouses and eat shit!"

At Dorgon's roar, the skinny kobold scrambled away, tail between his legs, and fled the scene. The other lizardmen, seeing this, let out a series of grating laughs.