Your war hammer is too fake

"Everyone, please listen to me, we can't sit idly by any longer!"

Before Morgan Linge could recover from the huge shock brought by the crossing, he heard an impassioned voice saying: "Peace is not something that can be taken for granted. Our homeland is under threat, and we must take the initiative to attack instead of passively staying at home and waiting for the enemy to attack!"

The Weaver looked in the direction of the voice and saw a Shadow Dancer standing in the center of the circular open space, shouting: "Gather the troops and send more scouts. The war has begun!"

Morgan noticed that she was in a quiet clearing in the woods. In front of her was a circular clearing made of stone bricks that fit together perfectly. Fifteen stone chairs formed a circle around the clearing, and she was sitting on one of them.

"My mistress," Shadow Dancer said, bending down and saluting Morgan with his hands on his chest, "Your wisdom and foresight have always guided us. The situation today is no different from two hundred years ago. Now, it's time to make a choice once again."

Before Morgan could speak, another wood elf immediately rebuked him, "What nonsense! They are just some giant insects that have never been seen before. Even the most incompetent forest guards can easily deal with them. And you are asking the mistress to start a war over this?"

Who the hell are you… As soon as Morgan thought of this, the other person’s identity and a vivid memory automatically emerged in his mind. There was no classic online novel plot like a splitting headache. Morgan naturally “thought” of everything in the past, about the 230 years of life of a wood elf named Morgan Linge.

Morgan raised his right hand, and the meeting, which was about to break out into a quarrel, suddenly became calm. Under the gaze of the woodland lord, the weaver, and other important figures in the Crucible Court, their hostess sat in her seat in a daze.

No one would disturb them at this time. They waited quietly for half an hour until Morgan finished communicating with other Lords of the Holy Scripture in the chat group and began to issue orders after fully understanding the current situation.

"Let the army prepare for battle, but don't act rashly," she said. "We are now facing an underground race called the Nest Clan. Send all the rangers out. I want to know the specific movements of these bugs." While looking at the new information in the chat group, she added: "Also, I want to go to the dungeon to check on the 'prisoners'."

"Do you need guards to accompany you?" asked a servant standing behind Morgan's chair.

"I'm going to the dungeon, not hell," the Spellweaver Lord rolled his eyes, "Just bring a few good hands with you."

……

Note 1: The Panem Tree is an original creation of the author. Its prototype is naturally the famous breadfruit tree. As for its name, it comes from Panem in "The Hunger Games".

Note 2: Although Warhammer Elves have a long lifespan, their growth cycle is basically the same as that of humans.

Note 3: Tor-Quul, Quul means "tree of life, regeneration, decay". Then there are two uncommon characters in this paragraph, 筈, kuo, fourth tone; 磔, zhe, second tone.

The author says:

Author's words: PS: Reply to reader "Bergman Ranger":

"Okay, the name, but why did you join in the middle?" I don't understand what this sentence means. What exactly do you want to ask?

Chapter 228: Nest Clan

In this day and age, "Camp Orion" has come to represent a forest covering thousands of square kilometers.

The magical barrier covering the entire forest makes the Orion Camp experience normal seasons even though it is located near the equator; although it is surrounded by tropical rainforest, the flora and fauna are almost the same as those in Athel Loren, the hometown of the wood elves.

In the center of the Orion camp, there is a lake called "Starstone Lake". Tal-Zhu'er is built on the island in the middle of the lake, with a permanent population of about 6,000. For the Asrai, whose population has always been small, this number is already quite impressive. The residents of the city are mainly craftsmen, scholars, and warriors, as well as those who are responsible for providing them with various services. In addition, this is also the training base for mages of the Zhemu King's Court.

As the capital and only city of the King's Court, Tar-Tur doesn't look like the territory of the Wood Elves at first glance. There are few tree houses in the city. Instead, there are rock buildings arranged in a certain pattern everywhere, and smooth roads paved with large stone slabs connect them. These buildings are neither as gorgeous and shining as the white towers of Asur, nor as gloomy and depressing as the houses of Druzil. If you must describe it, the overall style is more like Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings movie.

In addition, Tar-Zhu'er has a wall. Its outer wall is made of large and solid stones, and is cast with a powerful spell by the Weaver. The wall surrounds the entire island in the middle of the lake, leaving only a semicircular open space in the dock area on the east and west sides of the island. The rest of the area is close to the edge of the island, separating the city from the tranquil lake.

If it weren't for the ballistae on the city walls, Tar-Zhu'er would be a simple high elf city. The most common buildings here are furnaces and workshops of various sizes. Flat-bottomed riverboats bring ores mined from other areas here, which are then processed into metal ingots of uniform specifications in magic-driven furnaces. Finally, they are forged into weapons, armor, arrowheads, and other metal products by skilled Asrai blacksmiths.

But this does not mean that Tar-Shril is a dusty place like Nuln or Nangao. In order to protect the forest, the Southland Asrai spent a lot of energy to study how to make industry and nature coexist. One of their research results is a magic furnace that is completely driven by magic and does not consume fuel. This magic device does not produce pollution when working, but the disadvantage is that the working state will be affected by the activity of the magic wind, so the production capacity is not so stable.

Perhaps because the ore came into deep contact with the wind of magic during the smelting process, the steel and other metals produced in Tal-Zhuar were often easier to enchant. While this provided a steady supply of enchanted arrows to the Asrai in the South, it also attracted the attention of some "neighbors" with ill intentions.

The Plague Clan, one of the four major clans of ratmen, has its headquarters somewhere in the South. In addition to relying on their fanatical beliefs and deadly plagues, these sneaky rats also do not ignore the role of steel in war. Besides, even if they can't use it, don't they have other clans?

The black rats of Clan Eshin hired by Clan Plague conducted several reconnaissance missions to the Orion camp, but they were all discovered in time by the alert forest scouts. Most of the time, when the rats were still racking their brains to think about how to sneak into the city, they were already shot into sieves by the accurate rain of arrows. The only result they brought was the creation of an underground prison in Tal Hoar.

Asrai don't need facilities like prisons, even the maverick Southland Asrai. The Wood Elves have many ways to punish those who make mistakes, but they definitely don't include locking people up in a small dark room. When the King of the Crucified Wood realized that they needed a facility specifically for detaining and interrogating foreign captives, they immediately built an outpost on the other side of the Star Stone Lake. Under the outpost was a small but deep dungeon.

Don’t ask why the dungeon is not placed in the city. The reason is that the first batch of “residents” of the dungeon were dirty rats from the Plague Clan. Normal people would never want this thing to appear in the place where they usually live.

After crossing the lake in a canoe, Morgan walked into the dungeon entrance with the prison guards silently saluting him. The moment the sun disappeared from overhead, the Spellweaver Lord had the illusion that he was playing a real-life version of Diablo 2. The classic old game had all kinds of underground tunnels, tombs, and caves, all filled with all kinds of monsters.

While entering the dungeon, Morgan turned on the live broadcast function in the chat group.

[Morgan Ringo: How is it? Can you see clearly? ]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: Yes, very clear. ]

The ranger caught and brought back three different kinds of bugs. The first kind was about the size of a large dog, with a pair of sharp limbs for attack and four hind legs for movement. This was also the most numerous, accounting for nearly four-fifths of the bugs ambushed by the ranger.

[Group leader #An Jiyue: It is indeed a nest tribe. This is a "stinging bee", the most basic combat unit of the nest tribe. Its forelimbs are very sharp and can easily penetrate rhino leather armor. This thing also has a subspecies that grows a pair of insect wings on its back and can fly. ]

The second type is a bit larger than the one above, and from the ranger's report it seems to have no melee ability. The most notable feature of this thing is that it has a long tubular mouthpart on its insect head, with a trumpet-shaped front end that can spit out sharp chitin spikes in combat, and the spikes have paralytic toxins.

[Group leader #An Jiyue: "Needle Bee", the basic ranged unit of the Hive Clan, has average range, firing speed and power. The only bright spot is the toxin attached to the chitinous stings it fires, which is effective against most known races.]

The third type looks like an enlarged version of the first type. Its forelimbs have become guillotine-like shapes and its entire body is covered with thick black carapace. It has excellent attack and defense capabilities, is not slow, and seems to be smarter than other insects.

[Group leader #An Jiyue: “Guardian bees” usually exist as bodyguards for superior individuals of the nest. When your rangers were ambushing this group of insects, did they encounter any individuals that looked very special? ]

[Morgan Ringo: No, they thought this thing was the commander of the bugs.]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: That's a bit strange. The lower-level individuals of the Nest Clan cannot perform complex tasks. ]

[Morgan Ringo: So, where did you get all this information? ]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: Then we have to start with a race called the Faceless Ones...]

Even after being imprisoned, the bugs were still very restless, jumping around in the cell until they were tired and then they would stop for a while. Morgan noticed that the guards had put some water and bread in the cell, both in small quantities. The wooden bowl of water was almost empty, but the bread was completely untouched.

[Group leader #An Jiyue: ...In short, I used magic to search the memories of many cavemen and pieced together the general situation of the Nest Clan. Of course, soul searching can easily miss intelligence, so regular intelligence work is still necessary.]

[Morgan Ringo: So, why did these bugs living underground appear at my doorstep? ]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: You hit the point, and that's exactly what I'm going to say next. The underground world obviously has some hidden passages that we don't know about, which can lead to the surface. How many rangers do you have now? ]

[Morgan Ringo: Three teams. Or, as the Wood Elves say, three blood-related warbands.]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: That's enough. Let them track down the nest tribe and find the tunnels they use to enter and exit. It's almost time for me to leave. I sincerely hope that I won't encounter such a weird thing as the Mind Storm again. ]

The author says:

Author's words: PS: Answer to the reader "Da Miao Command Type":

The Grasshopper class naturally has a bathroom, and it even has the same water vapor collection equipment as the Manna Car.

Answer to reader "Bergman Ranger":

Yes. Remember that among all the Lords of the Holy Scripture, only the protagonist has no false memories? From the moment the protagonist traveled through time, the "past" of all the Lords of the Holy Scripture was embedded in this world. Let me give you an example. Before Egwene arrived, the Bretonnians remembered that there was such a female knight with incredible military strength. The same goes for other group members.

Chapter 229 Preparations for the Expedition

The Zhumu Royal Court and Gaoyuan Fort began to act almost at the same time.

Hundreds of villages scattered around the Orion camp received orders to prepare for war from the Falcon Cavalry at the same time. According to Morgan's request, all defense facilities will be activated, all families will be mobilized, and one out of every three forest guards will go to Tal-Zhu'er to await deployment, while the rest will stay at home. In addition, some villages with particularly important locations not only do not need to send people to the capital, but they can also receive support from the royal court's direct troops, mainly the Eternal Guards and the Spellsingers.

Wildwood Rangers guard the guide stones scattered throughout the forest all day long. These stones of varying sizes, with elven runes engraved on the surface, have the function of guiding the wind of magic. In Ulthuan, their duty is to guide the wind of magic to the Great Vortex; and in the Orion Camp, they support the super-large magic barrier covering the entire Orion Camp, blocking threats and hostility outside the forest.

The deep forest scouts increased their patrols, traveling through all kinds of secret paths that only they knew, alert to the slightest danger signal from any corner. Groups of woodland cavalry shuttled back and forth to pass messages, falcon cavalry patrolled the sky above the forest, and war dancers performed martial arts day and night in Tal-Hor's military camp. Wild cavalry gathered in the sacred forest of Kurnos, the god of hunting, to pray, and the thorn sisters took the time to read the classics, meditate, and adjust their body and mind to the most suitable state for casting spells.

As for the best archers of the Asrai, who are also the most experienced hunters, three teams of rangers, led by three trackers, set out to investigate the areas where the Nest tribe appeared. Once the target is found, Morgan will decide how to deal with it according to the specific situation. If the worst happens, the series of activities of the Nest tribe before are all preparations for a large-scale attack. The army of the King's Court of the Crucible will rely on the forest and magic barriers to resist until reinforcements from the Plateau Castle arrive.

As for the bad relationship between the wood elves and the dwarves, it is not a problem for the Lords of the Holy Scriptures. If there were no such thing as the Nest Clan, Morgan would probably have discussed with Barrel how to open a trade route. The Southland Asrai needs ores and finished metal ingots, while the dwarves need agricultural products, herbs and furs, and the two sides complement each other. In addition, An Jiyue is also very interested in the root network of the Oak of Ages.

On the other side, the dwarves of Plateau Castle were also preparing for war, and they were the ones who took the initiative. According to An Jiyue's battle plan, the governor himself would lead 10,000 elite troops to set out first, making a gesture of intimidating the underground world; Barrel would lead 20,000 dwarf troops of relatively lower quality to follow behind as backup.

In addition, An Jiyue also asked the dwarves to prepare a third batch of troops. Gotrek Starbreaker, who had been staying in Plateau Castle since regaining his body, would command another 20,000 people to follow behind Barrel. This army was mainly composed of Plateau Castle dwarves, mixed with a small number of ancestors. In order to support the actions of future generations to recover the lost land, batches of recasters turned into streams of light and flew to the north. While recovering their homeland, they also saved the precarious beer reserves of Plateau Castle.

There are only a few thousand recasters left in Plateau Castle, most of whom are technical talents. Especially the rune blacksmiths headed by Master Kulgaz, they are very dissatisfied with the current situation of the continuous decline of rune literature in the Mountain Kingdom. And since Plateau Castle is a place where rune literature is flourishing, they are naturally unwilling to move.

The three dwarf armies, totaling 50,000 people, will advance along the path that has been explored by the rangers of Plateau Fort, exactly one day's journey apart from each other. Unless the Hive Clan can also come up with an unimaginable method like Mind Storm, it is absolutely impossible for these big bugs to eat any dwarf army in one day.

If all of this isn't enough, Baril's cheap son, the Dwarf Prince Ragnar Barilson, will lead an army of over 30,000 Dwarf Warriors and Dwarf Miners, plus all the remaining Reforgers into battle.

Highland Hold had a population of 1 at the beginning of the Advent, and later when fighting the Faceless Men, Barel recruited an additional dwarfs. Although the losses were not small, Barel later replenished the population, and now Highland Hold has a population of , more than any other existing stronghold. Including the fourth batch of troops scheduled to be commanded by Ragnar, almost all the men in Highland Hold will go into battle (Note ).

I can only say that if you can afford to die, you can be so willful.

The fourth batch of troops will stay in Plateau Castle and wait for orders, and decide whether to go out depending on the situation. An Jiyue believes that both war and peace are possible. If the Nest Clan chooses peace, the dwarves can go home directly; if they choose war, it is likely that the first batch of troops led by the Jiedushi will fight a decisive battle with the bugs, and the follow-up troops will probably not be able to catch up.

"Are you enough alone?" Although Barel asked this, the dwarf king did not show much worry on his face: "When you can't use spells, you may not be able to suppress all the enemy's high-level combat forces with psychic power alone."

The earth itself would hinder the flow of the wind of magic, and this was probably the reason why dwarves liked to drill underground. The depth of Plateau Castle was not very obvious. When An Jiyue and Barrel fought the Faceless Men, the wind of magic was already very weak, so much so that the girl needed to rely on the magic circle to charge it two days in advance to use a big move, which was barely enough.

If you go deeper underground, you may not be able to use spells at all: unlike many spellcasters in fantasy worlds, Warhammer mages cannot store the wind of magic in their bodies with very few exceptions. To be precise, the typical Warhammer way of casting spells is to gather the wind of magic when you need to cast a spell.

The Warhammer Mage uses a temporary mana bar, and even An Jiyue is no exception.

"I have already made sufficient preparations," Jiedu pointed in a certain direction with his eyes, "Three tons of high-quality spirit stones are enough for me to flatten half of Rick Territory."

These things were given by Xiao Yiyue. Although An Jiyue believed that the grasshoppers allocated to the Shuofang Army were state-owned property and could not be considered a personal gift, Xiao Yiyue still gave them a return gift. In the words of the Shuofang Army Jiedushi, being too particular about human relationships is certainly indulging the growth of bureaucracy, but not being particular about them is also not acceptable.

The Lord of Plateau Fort took a look at the six wooden oxen and horses that were being led over by the sword guards, as well as the thick sacks stuffed bulging on their backs, and he was immediately relieved.

"Only half of Rick Country?" he asked with a smile.

"After all, the magic of the warhammer is not that reliable," the girl shrugged, "so I won't be too confident."

"My lady, and Barel," Gotrek Starbreaker, wearing a shining orichalcum armor, came over, followed by Master Kurgaz. "Although it took a lot of effort, fortunately we finally completed these masterpieces in time."

Amid the rumbling of footsteps, 10 Rune Guards appeared in front of everyone, lined up and stood still. "I gained a lot of new inspiration from communicating with colleagues from different eras," Kurgaz said, "I improved the original design and created these new generation Rune Guards. If the war broke out a year later, I could come up with a more powerful work."

"It may not necessarily come to a fight," An Jiyue said immediately after putting on the Eternal Armor given by Granny and tucking the helmet under his armpit, "if those bugs are rational enough."

"Dwarves never chose war," said the Rune Master. "War chose the dwarves."

"If war is unavoidable, Master, then my duty is to ensure that my allies and I have the last laugh and win the final victory." The governor's eyes fell on the faces of each dwarf in turn. "Of course, no matter what, I am looking forward to seeing your creations beat our enemies on the battlefield."

"You will see," the Rune Master said, "the dwarven craftsmanship will never disappoint you."

"I'll see."

……

Note 1: GW has adjusted the gender ratio of newborn dwarves. The old setting was that females accounted for one-tenth, and the new setting is one-quarter. This book uses the new setting.

Chapter 230: First Entry into the Underground World

"'When a whale dies, all things come to life', so what if the one that dies is an ancient giant whose length is measured in kilometers?" - "Records of the Western Kingdoms", by An Jiyue

The marching process is always boring, tedious and tedious.

The 10,000 elite troops led by An Jiyue personally carried a month's supply and marched deep underground along the pre-planned route, preparing to enter the legendary underground world. According to the rangers' prior reconnaissance, there was no suitable water source along the way before entering the underground world, so the vanguard not only had to bring sufficient fuel, but also brought enough light beer for the dwarves to drink for a month. These things alone took up more than half of the capacity of the supply convoy.

When making the plan, An Jiyue originally considered making the march route pass through a place with an underground river, but found that this would require a long detour. Although it could solve the problem of water sources, it would increase the consumption of other supplies. In the end, the Jiedushi chose the current route that does not pass through any water sources and is also the shortest route to the underground world. It is estimated that it will only take six days to reach the destination, and if the return trip is included, it will leave 18 days of supplies.

These eighteen days were the time the vanguard could operate in the underground world before receiving subsequent supplies. Although in theory it was possible to obtain water and some food on the spot in the underground world, An Jiyue was not Showa's staff officer, and would never take such "possible" supplies into consideration when making plans.

The second batch of troops under the command of Barrel and the third batch of troops under the command of Gotrek Brokenstar will set up military stations along the way to store and transport the materials that will be delivered later. All military stations are first surveyed and selected by the rangers, and then repeatedly checked by Tu Wushang who can burrow underground to ensure that there are no secret passages and paths nearby that are not under their control.

It is worth mentioning that these Tu Wushang were originally under An Jiyue's command, and were transferred to Barel after the battle with the main force of the Faceless Ones. Because Tu Wushang did not like living in the Fortress, Barel placed them in an abandoned mine near the Plateau Castle. The Dwarf King treated Tu Wushang with a laissez-faire attitude, and the only requirement was to let Tu Wushang and the Iron Breakers patrol the tunnels together, as their innate ability to burrow underground was particularly suitable for this.

This was also the first time that Tu Wushang had participated in such a formal military operation after changing to a new boss. Before, they only operated near the Plateau Castle. After changing into the armor and weapons specially made for them by the dwarf blacksmith, Tu Wushang's combat effectiveness was significantly improved. They moved around the marching army in batches, forming the outermost layer of vigilance.

As the vanguard advanced into the underground world, the Brood did not just stand by and watch. However, the presence of Tu Wushang made it difficult for the Brood's reconnaissance units to get close to the dwarf army.

The most common means of reconnaissance for the Hive is to have the Winged Bees perform one-hit-and-leave reconnaissance in small teams. As a subspecies of the Stinging Bee, the basic melee unit of the Hive, the Winged Bees are actually Stinging Bees with a pair of membrane wings on their backs. They fly faster than the Night Demon Bat Knights of the Cavemen, and their numbers are much greater. The Cavemen, who are weak in long-range combat, basically have no way to deal with this thing. After all, you can't let the Faceless Ones waste their precious psychic energy on this thing, right?

However, when the reconnaissance target was changed to dwarves, the situation was completely different. The front troops' alert circle was divided into two layers, the outer layer was the mobile Tu Wushang, and the inner layer was the ranger holding the rune crossbow. Although the flying winged bees were reconnaissance units, they had never been associated with the word "hidden". The sound of their wings flapping when flying was very loud, and the sound waves were even more powerful after being reflected by the cave. Tu Wushang, who had a keen hearing, could detect their arrival from a long distance.

No matter when and where the Winged Bees conducted their powerful reconnaissance, they would always be hit by the rain of arrows from the Rangers who had lined up in advance. After suffering several losses, the commander of the Nest Clan realized the existence of Tu Wushang and the role they played, and immediately adjusted their strategy to try to prioritize the elimination of these alert sentinels.

However, it was useless. Tu Wushang had no other skills except the ability to burrow underground, but the ability to burrow underground was a magical skill in an underground environment. No matter how hard the Winged Bee tried, it could only watch Tu Wushang see the situation was not good and quickly burrowed underground to escape. The two sides fought back and forth several times, and finally the Nest Clan had to give up this futile attempt.

Six days after leaving Plateau Fort, the vanguard arrived at the destination on time. Of course, there was no proper road to take after leaving Plateau Fort. The dwarf army sometimes passed through cracks formed by geological activities, and sometimes marched along dry river channels that once flowed underground rivers. The latter was easy to deal with, but the former had no regular shape. The widest place could easily allow tens of thousands of troops to deploy their formations, while the narrowest place was only wide enough for rats to squeeze through.

At this time, it was An Jiyue's turn to take action. With [Earth Controlling Technique], all obstacles in the way were clear. The Nest Clan, who had originally wanted to take advantage of the terrain to regain their ground, could only quietly retreat back into the shadows.

[Barel Hammer: This is the underground world? ]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: To be precise, the underground world is just ahead. ]

In the past, when the rangers of Plateau Castle were conducting reconnaissance activities, the farthest they had gone was to the edge of the underground world. They brought back valuable first-hand information about the underground world - for example, how it was formed and has continued to exist to this day.

Historically, the geological conditions of the Warhammer world have undergone more than one large-scale change. The earthquake that hit the Mountain Kingdom was so severe that it affected the entire world, and even the Yuan (second tone) collapsed. From a geological point of view, even if the underground world could be formed, it would not be able to survive such a disaster.

This question lingered in An Jiyue's mind for a long time, until the rangers brought back a resident of the underground world during a reconnaissance operation, and it was finally answered.

"Ah, I smell the scent of mushroom trees. It seems we have arrived." An old caveman raised his head and squeezed out a self-proclaimed kind smile on his eyeless face. "Surface man, do you remember the story I told you?"

The caveman is called Kagu, a special individual who is naturally immune to mental interference methods such as [Cultivation]. As the true natives of the underground world, the cavemen are either killed by outsiders or enslaved by the faceless men with psychic power. Only a very few people can have a free mind and survive in various inconspicuous corners.

Whether it is the Faceless Ones or the Nest Clan, they will kill them without mercy. Those who can survive in such a cruel environment are truly ruthless, and those who can live to Kagu's age are even rarer than the Emperor Dragon.

Hearing Kagu's words, An Jiyue turned her head and glanced at him. Although this male caveman looked very old, according to the rangers' reports, Kagu suddenly appeared when they were ambushed by the Nest Clan, and killed a dozen guard bees in less than a deep breath, all of which were killed in one blow, while he himself was unscathed.

"I am deeply impressed by your story," the governor said, "it answers many of my questions."

"The Holy Insects are the true rulers of the underground world," Kagu said with a sigh, "but their era is over."