Your war hammer is too fake

Grey Mountains, Fort Desolate.

Without any prior warning, the Wood Elves and the Caledonians launched a surprise attack. Rangers and deep forest scouts from all over Athel Loren were out in force, attacking all Shadowbeard warrior strongholds outside the Fortress of Desolation simultaneously. To ensure that these ranger-turned-scouts could not issue a warning, Ariel personally used prophecy spells to find the location of every Shadowbeard warrior outpost and secret camp, and then a one-sided massacre ensued.

The Mage Queen thought she was careful enough, but an accident still happened. In a mountaintop outpost that looked nothing special, the forest scouts who approached stealthily at night somehow exposed their whereabouts. When they climbed over the wall and sneaked into the outpost, they did not see the defenseless dwarves sleeping soundly in bed, but a group of fully armed shadow beard warriors with their crossbows already strung and staring at them angrily.

The Wood Elves, unable to launch a surprise attack, could only choose to attack by force. The Deep Forest Scouts tried to overwhelm their opponents with their numbers, but as soon as the battle started, a warrior wearing shiny golden armor and holding a two-handed axe of the same color suddenly jumped out from the Shadowbeard Warriors' team. Perhaps this guy is the leader of these dwarves? The Deep Forest Scouts thought so.

The wood elves still believed that they had the upper hand until the golden-armored dwarf rushed into their ranks. Although not as outstanding as the rangers, the deep forest scouts were also elite members of the Asrai clan. As a result, they were no match for the golden-armored dwarf. The bloodline of more than 200 people was suppressed by one person.

Realizing that they had hit a wall, the Deepwood scouts, despite feeling humiliated, still did not hesitate to send a signal to ask for help from the friendly forces nearby. Another blood-related warband arrived quickly, but even so, it was only able to suppress the group of dwarves who were shouting and fighting fiercely. Finally, the Asrai, who had always despised their cousins, had no choice but to send another signal. A moment later, in a whistling air current, a prince of Caledor and his dragon companion fell from the sky.

The fiery breath of the dragon ploughed through the small outpost, disintegrating the resistance of the dwarves with overwhelming violence. Somehow, the golden-armored dwarf did not fall into despair when he saw the dragon rider join the battle, but became even more furious. He took the opportunity when the dragon swooped down again and breathed dragon breath, jumped up from the ground, and chopped the dragon's belly with an axe. The sharp axe blade opened a long wound on the belly of the scaly flying beast, and the pungent blood and slippery intestines flowed out at the same time.

The dragon fell headfirst into the outpost. The great axe of the golden dwarf was specially made for their race, and a master-level dragon-slaying rune was inlaid on the axe blade. Combined with the golden dwarf's own martial arts and perfect attack timing, it only took one blow to severely injure the powerful Silver Moon Dragon.

As the dragon coughed up blood and tried to get up from the rubble, the golden-armored dwarf came in front of it and raised the axe in his hand. When the dragon saw the dwarf's cold and lifeless visor, the mountain copper axe fell and cut the dragon's skull, the hardest part of its body, in the middle. The huge body of the Silver Moon Dragon twitched a few times, and then stopped moving.

"I am Morgrim Elvenbane, the embodiment of your nightmares!" The golden-armored dwarf took off his helmet so that the elves who were surrounding him from all directions could see his face clearly. "I have returned from the kingdom of Gazul and vowed to settle all grudges!"

The rider of the dead Silver Moon Dragon, Prince Caledor, was thrown out when the dragon fell, and was now lying in a corner, dying. He broke both legs and his helmet fell off, so he could only stare at the dwarf who killed his most important partner with hatred: "What a lame lie! That cruel executioner has been dead for a long time!"

"The truth never changes because you resist," said Morgrim. "Calledor, ha! You..."

A bloody arrowhead popped out of Morgrim's right eye. The dwarf staggered, and just when all the elves thought that this terrible enemy had been dealt with, Morgrim suddenly straightened his back, turned around and threw out his axe, splitting the scout master (captain of the Deep Forest Scouts) who shot an arrow from behind him in half.

After doing this, Morgrim knelt on the ground and remained motionless. After taking a deep breath, under the tense gaze of a group of elves, Morgrim's body, his golden armor, and the thrown axe all "collapsed" at the same time, turning into a ball of golden light particles and quickly disappearing from everyone's sight.

When Ariel, Orion, and Prince Imrik arrived at the scene, everything in the dwarf outpost that was ignited by the dragon's breath had been extinguished, leaving only a few wisps of smoke rising and drifting towards the distant blue sky. After listening to the survivors' reports, Prince Imrik, while feeling sad about the death of a giant dragon companion, ridiculed the "lame lies" of the golden-armored dwarf, while Ariel and Orion frowned and said nothing.

The supreme ruler of the Asrai clan, the hunting god Kurnos and the mother goddess Aisha's incarnation in the mortal world, the immortal demigod couple had a bad premonition at the same time, and their premonition soon came true. When the coalition forces of the Wood Elves and the Caledonians appeared under the Fortress of Desolation, they saw a fortress that was ready for battle.

In other words, all their previous efforts to achieve the surprise of the attack were in vain.

“We must adjust our plans,” Ariel said. “We must be prepared to sustain heavy casualties. If we cannot capture the fortress before reinforcements arrive, we may never be able to take it.”

"Why are you so obsessed with the fortress itself, cousin?" Prince Imric obviously had a different opinion: "With us here, it is most advantageous to fight where we can see the sky. The might of the dragons will defeat any blade that dares to be the enemy of Asur, no matter how many troops they have!"

"Dragons are powerful, but they are not invincible, Prince," Orion, the King of the Woodlands, glanced at the man, "You rely too much on their power."

"Yes, so you must have been so confident in your own prowess and magic that you did not seek help from the dragons that live in Athel Loren," Imrik raised his head, "rather than being rejected."

"Enough!" Before the two started arguing, the Mage Queen interrupted the conversation loudly: "It's time to call a war meeting. The dwarves will react soon, and we don't have time to waste."

Chapter 274: The Smoke of War Has Risen

Xuanshui, Duke Wu’s Mansion, small conference room.

"…After the soul was led back to the Reforged Triangle, Morgrim reported the incident immediately," said Lu Wu, the pacification envoy. "King Barel's men then informed our people of the incident."

Although there is a convenient and absolutely reliable chat group, the Lords of the Holy Scripture still attach great importance to the regular information communication mechanism. After all, personal energy is limited and it is impossible to be comprehensive. As part of the military alliance, the Lords of the Holy Scripture will remotely deploy one or two heroes in each other's faction capitals to be responsible for liaison and intelligence sharing.

For example, An Jiyue had stationed personnel in Akendorf, Gaoyuan Fort, Marienburg, Tal-Zhuer, etc. As for Xiao Yiyue's Jingning, since the two Jiedushi belonged to the same faction, the two sides had a lot of information communication channels, whether it was Jinyiwei's postcards, the town soldiers' system's books, or the government's official reports, there were a lot of such things, and there was no need to send someone to do this job. If it really didn't work, there was still the Kyushu barrier tower to urgently transmit the message.

In the An's Aurora system, these dispatched intelligence stations are all permanent institutions, generally known as certain hundred-household offices, and are managed by a thousand-household office within the Sanhe Town Pacification Division that is specifically responsible for external liaison. The emergency report received by the Sanhe Town Pacification Division this time was sent back by the centurion of the Gaoyuanbao Hundred-household Office who asked the military officer in the office to use the spell [Golden Arrow Letter].

After receiving the news, Lu Wu did not dare to delay and immediately used his special authority as the spy chief.

In theory, all the system units under the Lord of the Scripture can communicate with the Lord of the Scripture himself through the mental network, even if they are just ordinary soldiers with nothing special. However, in actual operation, the Lord of the Scripture can basically have tens of thousands of subordinates after a little development. This communication permission is closed by default and can only be opened by the Lord of the Scripture. The Lord of the Scripture can call one of his subordinates at any time, but if the latter wants to call the Lord of the Scripture in return, they must be authorized.

As the de facto intelligence chief of the An family's Zhendan faction, Lu Wu also had the authorization given by An Jiuyue and Xiao Yiyue to call the two Jiedushi in an emergency, and this was the first time that the pacification envoy had used this power.

[Administrator #Xiao Yiyue: In other words, as the first-hand source of intelligence, after being killed by a hidden arrow, Morgrim's soul and bound equipment were automatically led back to the Reforged Triangle, and then when he was waiting for the resurrection bar, he told the information to the management of the Reforged Triangle, that is, the ancient rune blacksmiths headed by Master Kurgaz. These grandfathers told the people of Barel about the matter, and then the people of Barel passed the information to our people? ]

[Morgan Ringo: Isn't this a long way around?]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: Be content. Compared with the locals, the efficiency of information communication is already high enough. I just contacted the Adolf Hundred Households Office, and they don’t know what happened in the Desolate Castle. ]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: Whether it is between us or with our local allies, the current intelligence exchange model is indeed a bit too complicated. I actually have some ideas in this regard, but... forget it, let's deal with the current affairs first. By the way, how is the war situation in the Dragon Islands? ]

[Admin #Xiao Yiyue: I can only say it's a little subtle. The battle itself went relatively smoothly. The flying boat you designed was very useful. My troops launched a leapfrog attack. The transport boats, escorted by the gunboats, dropped from the sky with the assault troops, directly seized the key points, and then built a fortress on the spot. After gaining a firm foothold, we continued to advance in depth in the same way. We are not far from the first hatching facility now. Those blue-skinned lizards can't do anything to me.]

[Administrator #Xiao Yiyue: There is also bad news. The lizardmen on the Dragon Islands do not seem to be a group of degenerate beasts. From various clues, I can feel that they have a unified command, although the level is very poor. ]

[Group leader #Anjiyue: Combined with the imitation Roman crossbows found before, it can be basically confirmed that there are "competents" there. Does the other party have no intention of communicating with you at all? 】

[Administrator #Xiao Yiyue: No. I have a feeling that the other party seems to be deliberately avoiding me. ]

[Group leader #An Jiyue: If the other party doesn't come out, then beat him until he is willing to come out. Transmigraters other than group members are not trustworthy, especially this sneaky guy. In addition, I have something to discuss with you. I want to requisition the Partridge. ]

【Administrator#Xiao Yiyue: Yes. 】

The Partridge, the second ship of the Kingfisher class frigate. It and the fourth ship, the Willow Warbler, were prepared for the Shuofang Army. Currently, all five Kingfisher class frigates except the fifth ship, the Thrush, have been put into service. The Kingfisher and the Partridge have completed outfitting and successfully completed flight tests. The personnel assigned to the two frigates have all arrived and are now taking the time to familiarize themselves with the ship's condition.

According to the intelligence brought back by Morgrim, before he was exiled, he saw a prince of Caledor riding a dragon and killed the other's dragon; at the same time, the intelligence network set up by Dustan in Ulthuan brought bad news that the Caledor people had deployed at least thirty dragon riders in this expedition, including multiple Star Dragons!

Even in the Battle of the Longbeard, the High Elves rarely deployed such a large group of dragons in a single battle. After An Jiyue received this news, he immediately asked Barrel, who had not yet left the Eternal Peak, to meet with Thorgrim and tell the High King this crucial information in person - as long as these dragons were there, supporting the Desolate Castle from the surface would be a death wish.

One day after An Jiyue received Lu Wu's urgent call, the Recaster messenger from Plateau Castle finally arrived at Eternal Peak with the news. Then, the dwarf kings who learned of this were furious.

The grievances between the Fortress of Desolation and Athel Loren can be traced back to the time when the Battle of the Longbeard had just ended and the Asrai had not yet formed. After the ancestors of the Wood Elves signed a contract with the Forest Spirits and officially became a member of Athel Loren, the first war engraved in the history of this new race was to fight against the tens of thousands of Dwarfs who came from many fortresses. After a hard and bloody battle, the Asrai and the Forest Spirits successfully repelled the Dwarves.

This was a beginning, but it was definitely not the end. After that, the Fortress of Desolation organized armies more than once, trying to exact revenge on the inhabitants of Athel Loren, and the dwarves, who were on the decline, naturally failed every time. Among them, the most recent revenge took place in the year 2385 of the Imperial Calendar, and many of the people who experienced this war are still alive.

For example, the King of Fort Desolation, Brok Ironchisel. After learning that his fortress was surrounded by elves pouring out of the forest, Brok immediately wanted to return, but was persuaded by Thorgrim. The High King believed that it was too dangerous for Brok to return with only a few followers, and it would be safer to return with the reinforcements.

After consulting with the kings and seeking the advice of the Longbeard Lord and the Reforgers, Thorgrim issued three orders as the High King: First, immediately send an envoy to Ulthuan to ask Finubar face to face whether he wanted to start a second Longbeard War?

Second, with King Agrim of Butcher's Castle as the commander, a reinforcement force was organized to rush to the Desolate Castle. Considering that the enemy had an absolute advantage in air force, Thorgrim specifically instructed Agrim to take the entire tunnel after entering the Grey Mountains and never expose the soldiers to those damned lizards.

Third, Thorgrim asked the Cathayans to fulfill their covenant and provide air support. This was Gotrek Starbreaker's suggestion. In the Battle of the Longbeard, the dragon allies of the high elves left a deep impression on the previous High King. The dwarves' own air force was either not suitable for fighting against air units (gyroplanes) or too few (thunder airships), and was completely unable to compete with the Caledor Dragon Riders. If the ground troops were to face the dragons alone, the casualties would be unacceptable.

In addition to the above three, there was actually a fourth order, which was to destroy Akendorf... The dwarves who did not trust the elves once suspected that Asur had planned it in advance, and that a certain wizard was actually a nail planted by Ulthuan at the door of the dwarves' house. Otherwise, how to explain that the high elves, who have always been arrogant, would suddenly come to colonize Akendorf, a rotten place that even humans despise?

Fortunately, An Jiyue had anticipated this situation and specially entrusted Barel to come forward and hold back Thorgrim, whose anger was about to get out of control. In a meeting without a third person present, the Lord of Plateau Castle told the High King that the information about the Caledonians was actually given by Dustan, and this wizard with extremely unique sexual habits was not an enemy of the dwarves.

Under Barel's assurance, Thorgrim suppressed his anger and decided not to move Akendorf. The High King himself would lead another army to personally monitor the group of high elves at his doorstep.

【Dustan Falcon: ←_←Fuck, A-Duan is not really going to demolish my house, is he?】

[Group leader #An Jiyue: I won't let that happen. Just focus on gaining points. Also, don't order your territory to prepare for war. Any action you take now could trigger the dwarves' sensitive nerves and cause the situation to get out of control.]

【Dustan Falcon: ←_←Damn Caledor.】

In any case, the sudden war disrupted the dwarves' overall strategy, and the Mountain Kingdom's original plan to rebuild the Lonely City had to be postponed indefinitely. Thorgrim determined that the gathering place for the reinforcements was Hornburg, a dwarf fortress located in the Black Mountains, and the current king of Hornburg, Alaric Ranulfson, was very happy to accept the task of providing supplies and intelligence for the tribesmen.

On March 3, the High King's envoy from the Eternal Peak arrived at Xuanshui. He brought a handwritten letter from Thorgrim, saying that the dwarves needed the Cathay Air Force to help them regain air superiority.

An Jiuyue's response was that she would personally lead the flying fleet to attack.

The author says:

Author's words: First update

Answer to the reader "Gravekeeper":

Don't Have

Answer to reader "Yuanyuan":

Because it was prophesied that the dwarves and a group of invisible beings would destroy Athel Loren, they took action against the dwarves in advance. As a result, it was this action that caused the prophecy to come true. Both the medieval bean sprouts and the 40K bean sprouts did this a lot, especially the latter.

Chapter 275: The Beginning of the Fierce Battle

On March 2503, 3 of the Imperial Calendar, the Asrai-Caldor coalition entered the Grey Mountains.

The vanguard of the elven coalition simultaneously raided all the outposts of Desolate Castle. Five days later, the main force of the elven coalition arrived at the foot of Desolate Castle, but found that the dwarves had already prepared. The elves noticed that the dwarves had strengthened the city defenses and sent more troops, and the dwarves' preparations for war were obviously not started recently.

The attackers naturally didn't know that the Fortress of Desolation had actually started strengthening its defenses as early as October last year (see Chapter 201), and now these preparations came in handy. Because the elves spent too much time on the rugged mountain road, the Reforger messenger who set out urgently from the Highland Fortress arrived at the Fortress of Desolation before the elves. Although the King of the Fortress of Desolation, Brock Ironchisel, was not there, the dwarves still made the most correct choice at the first time: to close the fortress and prepare to hold on.

As for the dwarven settlements around Fort Desolation?

After the outposts and secret camps on the outskirts disappeared silently, the Shadowbeard Brotherhood in Fort Desolation sent out their remaining men to notify the surrounding dwarf strongholds to evacuate as soon as possible. Those who could retreat to the Fortress quickly hid in the Fortress, while those who could not retreat in time went east into Wiesenland or ran south. Queen Thelma of Fort Desolation wrote a letter to Karl Franz in the name of her husband, asking the emperor of the empire to help take care of these people who had lost their homes.

Most of the Shadowbeard warriors never returned after being sent out, and the few survivors who successfully returned brought news that made the dwarves devastated: dragon flames and rain of arrows destroyed every mine and town, water sources were poisoned, farmlands were burned, livestock were looted, civilians were massacred on the way to evacuation, and the elves indiscriminately killed every dwarf they saw (Note 1).

The furious dwarves swore immediately that this hatred was beyond the limit of what gold could compensate, and the elves must pay for their crimes against the dwarves with their blood. In a raging rage, the dwarves opened the warehouse that had been sealed for thousands of years, took out the rune equipment left by their ancestors, and armed the warriors of the fortress.

In the Battle of Longbeard, many runesmiths died in the war. The dwarves would rather lose their skills than pass on their skills to unsatisfactory apprentices, which led to many precious forging knowledge and skills disappearing in the long river of history. In order to preserve the heritage of their ancestors, after the Battle of Longbeard, the dwarves sealed a large number of rune items in warehouses and sealed the warehouses with runes. They would never open the warehouses unless it was absolutely necessary, so as to prevent these precious treasures from being completely forgotten.

Among the many existing dwarves, only Belegar Ironhammer and his Angrand clan would not hesitate to distribute these ancient weapons filled with rune power: the soldiers of the Lord of Eight Peaks were so few that it was heartbreaking, and the number of enemies was so great that the dwarves felt desperate. The harsh living environment forced Belegar to break some traditions, although this unworthy king knew that this would bring him a lot of criticism and accusations.

The current situation of the Desolate Castle is much better than that of the Angrand clan, but even the most conservative and stubborn Longbeard Venerable would not oppose the use of the ancestral legacy at this time.

The elven coalition did not launch an attack immediately after arriving at the Desolate Castle. Since the action had lost its surprise, it was better to let the soldiers rest for a night and organize an attack the next day. After some discussion, the dwarves on the other side wanted to chop the pointed ears outside the city into minced meat, but reason made them give up the plan to go out of the city and counterattack at night.

The next day, March 3, the Battle of Fort Desolation officially began.

Although the Caledor were eager to fight, Orion decided to let his own people lead the charge. The King of the Woods blew the Horn of the Wild Hunt, and the Asrai warriors and forest spirits charged side by side. Before the sound of the horn faded away, Ariel cast a spell to summon a supernatural white mist, filling the open space in front of the main gate of the Desolate Castle and blocking the view of various dwarven war machines mounted on the city walls.

Dwarves are perhaps the best race in the world at countering spells. The runesmiths in the fortress struck runes, trying to break the elves' spells. However, the power of the Mage Queen was too strong. When the runesmiths finally dispelled the fog with great effort, the attackers had already rushed through two-thirds of the distance.

The dwarven artillery immediately opened fire, and the giant arrows and fireballs broke free from the walls with a whirring sound and smashed into the mixed formation of the wood elves. As an old neighbor of Asrai, the Desolate Castle was equipped with a large number of crossbows and flame cannons. Most of the former were struck with the burning rune, which was an engineering rune that could attach flames to the giant arrows shot out. When these war machines fired collectively, the entire section of the wall was filled with the smell of burning and flames.

Several tree men became the target of the dwarves' concentrated fire. These huge monsters posed a great threat to the defenders and had to be eliminated first in the battle. However, when the dwarves' firepower poured on the tree men, a translucent energy barrier with a slightly blue hue appeared and blocked the attack - Ariel took action again.

The dwarven artillery deployed on the city wall immediately adjusted their strategy. Under the command of the engineer with the longest beard, they further concentrated their firepower and aimed all their war machines at the same tree man. The second round of artillery bombardment hit the target. This time, even the [Shield of Saphiri] cast by the Mage Queen herself could no longer protect this ancient creature. The energy barrier was shattered by the excessive attack, followed by the rough skin of the tree man, whose defense was comparable to that of dragon scales. The wooden body was immediately ignited by the high temperature. The tree man roared in pain, and rushed forward for a distance with flames all over his body before falling down.

The dwarves cheered at the sight, and they clenched their weapons in preparation for the battle. On the city walls, the heavy crossbowmen and thunder gunners successively brought the attackers into range, followed by rounds of precise volleys. The dwarves of the Desolate Castle had fought too many battles with the residents of Athel Loren, and the dwarves who used ranged weapons ignored the tree spirits and tree men, and focused all their firepower on the dryads and the annoying elves, because they knew that their weapons were useless against the two big guys.

In response, the Woodland Guards fired arrows from behind the Eternal Guards who were advancing with their shields, using accurate shooting to pin down their fellow dwarves on the opposite side, while they themselves fell one after another in the counterattack of their opponents. After paying the price of a tree man being burned to charcoal, the other tree men approached the wall under the artillery fire and raised their hands.

Several flexible, slender root-like objects suddenly popped out from the palms of the tree people, piercing all the dwarves gathered around the war machine. These roots penetrated the dwarves' armor and bodies, and then quickly retracted. In the blink of an eye, several artillery groups were paralyzed by the forest spirits in this way. After eliminating the biggest threat, the tree people took a few steps forward, waved their arms to sweep away the dwarf warriors in groups, and then put their hands on the city wall.

The agile Asrai warriors put away their weapons and climbed up the hands of the tree man with their hands and feet. Then they took out their weapons and jumped onto the city wall, fighting with the roaring dwarves who rushed over.

The easiest part of the siege was over. A steady stream of Asrai warriors used the huge bodies of the tree people to jump onto the walls and compete with the dwarves for control of every floor tile. The defense system of the dwarf fortress was more complex than any other race in the world. When the wood elves cleared the outermost wall defenses and began to advance deeper, the real test came.

Every corridor and every aisle of the dwarves has been carefully designed. Several shooting holes may suddenly appear anywhere, and invaders will never find any shelter in such places. At the same time, at all key nodes, wherever the attackers find it difficult to deploy their troops, there will definitely be dwarf fortifications blocking the way.

The main wall of the surface part of the Desolation Castle is a nested multi-layer structure, connected to each other by passages and secret passages, which is also the standard configuration of most dwarf strongholds. After taking down the first layer of the wall, the wood elves soon realized that it was not so much that they took down the first layer of the wall, but rather that the dwarves gave it up on their own initiative.

As they pushed deeper into the fortifications, they found all kinds of defenses and tactics that the forest dwellers had never seen before, and each one was extremely deadly. More and more elven blood flowed on the tightly sealed rock floor, and the attackers had to pay a higher and higher price for every step forward. They lost the magic support from the Mage Queen herself, and the runesmiths on the dwarf side finally showed their true power. The spellsingers who accompanied the warriors tried to break the stalemate with their own spells, but all their attempts to cast spells were quickly countered.

The casualties suffered by the Wood Elves gradually accumulated, but the results achieved were better than nothing. The ancestors of the Asrai did not participate in the Battle of the Longbeard, so they had no idea how tough the Dwarven Fortress was. When the Wood Elves, with the cooperation of the Dryads, conquered the second layer of the city wall with great difficulty, the number of casualties among the tribe finally made Ariel unable to bear it.

The Mage Queen, despite her husband's repeated dissuasion and Prince Imrik's mocking eyes, decided to go into battle herself, rather than just stay in a safe place and cast a few spells. The demigod's personal participation once again turned the tide of the battle. Neither the dwarves' indomitable fighting spirit nor their innate magic resistance could stop the furious Ariel from using spells to tear open their defenses. In the end, after suffering huge casualties, the Wood Elves finally broke through the gate of the Fort of Desolation.

What greeted them were the dwarves who had already taken their positions in the barricades behind the city walls.

……

Note 1: During the Battle of the Longbeard, both the High Elves and the Dwarves massacred each other's civilians, and the High Elves even poisoned the Dwarves' water source.

The author says:

Author's words: Second update

The special ranged attack of the tree man mentioned in this chapter is shown in the picture. In the tabletop rules, this attack method is called "mysterious roots". I have hardly come across the Wood Elves faction when playing Warhammer Total War, so I am not sure whether the tree man in the game has this thing... It seems that there is no such thing?

Chapter 276: In Danger

For the dwarves, the situation is visibly deteriorating.

Shortly after the incident at Fort Desolation, several large-scale greenskin armies invaded the Dwarven territory in the World's Edge Mountains from multiple directions at the same time. And without exception, the targets of the attacks were those castles that had just been recaptured and even the ruins had not yet been cleared.

Not only that, Sanhe Prefecture, surrounded by mountains and rivers, was also not at peace. Several greenskin tribes crossed the World Edge Mountains and rushed all the way to Iron Rock, trying to plunder the land of the Zhendan people. Although these greenskins were intercepted by the Anxi Army on the way and were defeated before they even touched the edge of Sanhe Prefecture, this in itself was a very dangerous signal.

The greenskins acted at the perfect time: the reinforcements gathered from various fortresses had already set out, and those who were walking fast were almost reaching Hornburg. The greenskin invasion forced the only Reforgers in the Mountain Kingdom that could be deployed quickly to fly back and forth between several fortresses, helping the Descendants to constantly repel waves of greenskins, and they could not withdraw any troops to support Fort Desolate.

Even without any evidence, An Jiyue could conclude that this was definitely not a coincidence. The only Reforger who could quickly reinforce the Desolate Castle and could not be intercepted was dragged by the greenskins, and the timing was so perfect. If she said that this was not the work of a blue-haired Gugu, the girl would never believe it. In addition, An Jiyue always felt that Tzeentch's plan was more than that. What this blue-haired Gugu showed at present was definitely not all of his plans. The Lord of Change must have a deeper plot.

Regardless, the dwarves were determined to settle their scores and take revenge on the invaders. Their plans were not shaken by the increasingly dire situation - could it be that without the help of their ancestors, the dwarves would be unable to fight?

The fury of the Sons of Stone surged like the magma in a volcano. While the Reforged were busy dealing with the endless stream of greenskins, the reinforcements continued to gather towards Hornburg unmoved.

Hornburg is a fortress with only a few thousand years of history. It is located in the western part of the Black Mountains, and further west is the Wintertooth Pass. It is the closest to the Desolate Fort among all the existing fortresses, so it was chosen by Thorgrim as the gathering place for reinforcements. Due to the lack of star iron and precious metal veins in the Black Mountains, the development level here was very low even in the heyday of the Mountain Kingdom, so there is no tunnel network in the Black Mountains. The dwarf army gathered from various fortresses can only reach here through the mountain roads on the surface.

Fortunately, the geographical location of the Hornburg is quite good. It is located right on the most important land route between the Empire and Tyrell. The caravans coming and going bring novel exotic goods and a steady stream of tax revenue, which somewhat makes up for the "shortcoming" that the Black Mountains lack precious minerals, making the Hornburg not as rich as the fortress on the other side of the World's Edge Mountains.

At the call of Thorgrim the Grudgebearer, Butcher's Keep, Torrent Pass, Sea Gate Pass, Horn Fort, Copper Mountain Fort, and Bdal all announced that they would respond to this support. Eternal Peak also sent a small but elite army for the reinforcements commander Agrim to dispatch. Iron Peak Fort, which had the sacred duty of defending the Valaya Gate, not only did they not send troops, but even the Council of the Ancestors squeezed out a group of Recasters from their teeth to go to Iron Peak Fort to strengthen the local defense force under this extremely tight military situation. As for the main force of Eternal Peak, they entered the border prince territory under the personal command of the Supreme King himself, closely monitoring every move of a certain territory with a mage.

Breeze Castle, located northwest of Fort Desolation, was also planning to join the operation, but recently their territory was invaded by Skaven, so they had to give up. As for the newly recovered fortresses, although the parties involved expressed a strong willingness to join the war, Thorgrim still firmly asked them to prioritize defending their own territory. After all, it was not easy for the dwarves to regain these lands.

Dwarf armies from various fortresses and clans gathered from all directions with battle flags, and headed along the mountain road to the Hornburg, which served as the assembly point. Although dwarves were not fast, their excellent endurance allowed them to march in armor for a long time. The combat mobility of the dwarf army was actually much stronger than that of humans.

In just half a month, all the dwarf troops scheduled to participate in this operation arrived at Hornburg, except for Copper Mountain Fort and Buddar. After weighing the pros and cons, Agrim decided not to wait any longer and the reinforcements set out immediately.

The Butcher King's decision was often complained by the two fortresses, but they also understood why Agrim did it. Although from the map, Copper Mountain Fort and Bdal, located south of Fort Desolation, seemed not too far from Fort Horn, the terrain of these two remote fortresses was very special: Copper Mountain Fort was located at the junction of the Black Mountains and the Gray Mountains, surrounded by glaciers, canyons and cliffs, and the geographical environment was highly closed, making it quite troublesome to enter or exit.

Except for a few flying beasts, Copper Mountain Castle is almost not disturbed by enemies. Even the warlike greenskins rarely appear here. Copper Mountain Castle and the surrounding areas have become a refuge for many displaced dwarves. After being forced to flee their homes, they can rest and recuperate here, accumulate strength, and wait for the day to recover their homeland. Of course, everything has its pros and cons. While this glacial canyon shelters the local residents, it also makes it extremely inconvenient for the dwarves to go out. This is the case with Copper Mountain Castle, and the situation in Buddar is similar.