Chapter 573 572 If you become a friend of a dwarf, you will
Chapter 573 572. If you become a friend of a dwarf, you will be a friend of all dwarves - more updates [1430]
(Additional update for "Huo Zheng is very good" brother [14/20])
The distance from Shadow Valley to Black Flame Pass is actually not that far, the straight-line distance is only thirty kilometers, but the road is very winding.
Inheriting the complex and changeable terrain near Barren Mountain, this road requires passing through two cliffs and climbing a winding mountain road with a drop of at least 130 meters before truly entering the Dark Mountain area.
This kind of terrain is obviously not naturally generated. According to Kudel, this strange terrain appeared after it was bombarded by the Bone-Gnawer King with hundreds of meteorites more than a hundred years ago, and the local psychic energy was out of control.
The name is unstable.
Especially when the black disaster occurs, the surge of psychic energy in the Dark Mountains makes it very challenging to perform large-scale psychic spells in this area.
It has been like this for many years, which fully proves that this area is "irregular"!
Murphy speculated that this might be related to the destruction of Eden in the Golden Age, but he could not provide any more evidence.
However, the imagined situation of the blood alliance vampires lying in the defense line and sleeping in broad daylight did not appear. When the carriage approached the Black Flame Pass for five kilometers, the knights of the blood alliance knights appeared.
These guys are not vampires.
Although in common parlance on the mainland, these ordinary people who serve the Blood Alliance Knights are similar to "blood servants", Murphy knew that no one in the Blood Alliance Knights would use this term to describe these retinues.
Judging from some of the information previously disclosed by Palano, the Blood Alliance clans under the leadership of Lord Paying do not actively recruit servant armies. These mortal military organizations that are dependent on the existence of the Blood Alliance Knights are all "committed".
Especially for some elite retinue soldiers, their ancestors can even follow them until the first Black Disaster broke out.
Lord Paying saved their ancestors. Those brave men who lost everything in the war and swore revenge on the Black Disaster followed the Blood Alliance Knights to the Dark Mountains. The subsequent three Black Disasters continued to expand the number of this group.
Especially the most terrifying Fourth Black Disaster, when the King of Bones overturned half of the continent, and the cruel war created many "Avengers".
This has brought the number of followers of the Blood Alliance Knights to a new high. It is said that it still maintains a scale of nearly 50,000 people in more than thirty battle groups.
The selection of new recruits for the Blood Alliance Knights will also first select elites from these retinues. However, since they are not blood servants in the conventional sense, these brave men naturally do not have the twisted belief that becoming a vampire is the glory of life.
Many of them do not actively pursue immortality, but regard themselves as warriors of the vampire army.
They followed Lord Paying and beat the gnolls all year round within the Dark Mountain Range. They fought bravely and crazily, making the gnolls a little afraid of these guys. They called this group of followers who fought with the vampires "Paying's dogs".
But as the saying goes, being insulted by your enemy is the best compliment.
From this point of view, the retinue of the Blood Alliance Knights is indeed not simple.
In fact, many people on the mainland will praise these mortals as "warriors". They believe that these warriors who dare to fight in the Dark Mountains all year round are a symbol of glory for all races on the mainland.
Of course, with Lord Paying's super charisma, there must be more than just humans in his army of followers. For example, among the knights who came to escort the "distinguished guests" to the defense line, there were several dwarves riding black goats and
An elf archer with a scar on his face.
They wore uniform chain mail, and outside the chain mail they wore the battle robe of the Blood Alliance Knights, which was the emblem of a blood spear, symbolizing the eternal silence of Lord Paying and his holy spear.
There were also people holding battle flags.
The battle flag was dilapidated, but it was not because of lack of maintenance. In fact, Murphy could tell at a glance that the tattered battle flag was full of traces of battle.
It is a kind of inheritance of belief, which represents the support of the soldiers in front of them from the bottom of their hearts for their ideals and the glory of war.
There were not many people in front of him, but the combination of the chilling aura of the twenty knights made Maxim, who was drowsy due to the sunlight, wake up.
This vampire general seems to have seen the future of his army!
This was the brave stance of the Cadman People's Army that he wanted to see, silent, tenacious and deadly.
"Lord Heather is already waiting for our distinguished guests at the defense line. Governor Murphy and General Maxim, please come with us. We fought a small group of jackals on the position yesterday. It was quite chaotic there. I hope our distinguished guests don't mind."
The leader of this retinue of knights is a human female knight. Judging from her height and body shape, she must be a Nord. Her face cannot be seen clearly with her helmet on, but you can tell from the spiked hammer on her back that she is a real knight.
warrior.
She was very polite and spoke to Murphy in the carriage in a gentle yet contradictory tone.
Obviously, she does not really think that the vampire governor from Transia is a so-called "distinguished guest". She may think that Murphy's arrival will only interfere with the operation of the defense line.
But Murphy wasn't angry.
On the contrary, he mobilized his desire energy to listen to the thoughts of the soldiers around him with great interest.
Well, it seems that they think they can hold the Black Flame Pass without assistance, and a few people are praising the governor for his handsomeness and beauty. He really knows his stuff.
But I can't stand it when you call me a sissy.
If I don't really have something serious to do today, I would be here to ask you about the essence of swordsmanship.
With this thought in mind, Murphy's carriage was escorted and quickly approached the Black Flame Pass.
As a natural passage from the ring of dark mountains to the outside world, this mountain pass is not really a flat road between the two mountains. In fact, the length of this mountain pass reaches 17 kilometers. It relies on the towering
A relatively flat terrain exists between the barren mountains on both sides.
As early as the first expulsion battle of the Black Disaster, the civilized camp realized the strategic value of this mountain pass, so they built castles and fortresses here. From a height, it looks like a long and narrow "town"
It is not a single line of defense, but the ravages of four black disasters have left this mountain pass covered with ancient ruins.
The castle built after the first black disaster has long been destroyed, and only the ruins of the base are now the residence of the Knights of the Blood Alliance. Hundreds of years of war attacks and repeated construction have made the terrain here more complex.
When the carriage reached a raised mountain col, Murphy got out of the carriage and used a telescope to carefully observe the entire defense line below.
He had to admit the strategic value of Black Flame Pass. This kind of terrain made him, a layman who had no knowledge of war, see how dangerous it was. Hundreds of years of construction had turned this place into a real "hedgehog".
There are no less than a hundred spherical bunkers built on the ground alone. The sentry towers built against the mountains and sections of city walls form a deadly cross-fire platform, and the small fortresses that are constantly being shaped directly change the situation.
The original terrain of Black Flame Pass.
It looks very messy, but it's actually quite intertwined.
It’s like a serious tower defense player spent an entire night creating an “abstract piece of art” with ten bottles of expired wine.
But one thing is for sure.
If the three thousand men under Murphy's command came to attack this mountain pass, they might not even be able to break through the second line of defense and they would all die from the deadly firepower.
"How many people are on this line of defense?"
Murphy put away his telescope and asked the commander of the retinue beside him with an expression of wonder.
The latter answered simply:
"There are nine main battle groups of the Blood Alliance with 13,000 people, as well as 20,000 new recruits. All the Second Lords of the Blood Alliance Knights are stationed here, 140 people from the Silver Blood Tribe, 2,530 people from the Black Iron Squire, and one gold commander, Lord Heather.
There is also an artillery regiment of brass dwarves and a ranger force of forest elves.
The Black Flame Pass is no different from the Brass Fortress in terms of strategic location. It is just because the terrain here that even the Brass Dwarves cannot shape the city on a large scale that it cannot be as large as the Brass Fortress."
Having said this, the Nord female warrior wearing a battle helmet glanced at Murphy. She seemed to want to say something but held back in the end.
This emotion was quickly captured by Murphy, who said:
"You are an excellent soldier. You have been guarding here all year round to protect the peace of the mainland. A hero like you does not have to be reserved in front of me. Your Excellency, just say what you want to say."
"Oh well."
Under the quiet influence of desire, this female warrior with the rank of captain finally expressed her true thoughts. She said:
"I heard that you have established a defense line in Shadow Valley? With all due respect, that's not necessary!
Just let your soldiers come directly to Black Flame Pass. We still have a position here that can be left for them. If Black Flame Pass is lost, it will be impossible for you to stop the Jackals in Shadow Valley. Instead of spreading out your forces, why not join forces together?
."
"Well, very good advice."
Murphy nodded, but then he shook his head and said:
"Your suggestion is based on the fact that Black Flame Pass can block the main force of the enemy's stagnant army, but if Black Flame Pass is destroyed in this battle. I mean, I don't think the scale of this black disaster will be greater than
Last time, you should know that it only took fifteen days for the Bone-Crushing King to destroy this place last time.
We must form a second line of defense in Shadow Valley, madam, to prevent the worst case scenario.
Once the worst happens, Shadow Valley can at least provide you with a place of refuge to avoid the tragedy of the Fourth Black Disaster.
One hundred and ten years ago, more than 10,000 people who guarded this place died in one night, including many famous figures on the continent. I admire their courage very much, but if they had made preparations earlier, they might have retained more vitality.
"
“Compared to the current situation, the defense of Black Flame Pass during the Fourth Black Disaster was as good as a child’s toy!”
The female warrior wearing a helmet retorted disdainfully:
"Lord Paying has been thinking of ways to strengthen the system here after the last black disaster. Over the past hundred years, we have increased the number of fortresses five times, and dug caves and storage rooms for hiding soldiers underground.
, enough food to feed tens of thousands of people for several months is already in place.
Brass dwarves and halflings brought enough munitions to blow up an entire mountain.
I don’t despise your military qualities, Governor Murphy, but we can stay here until we die of old age!”
"Of course, of course, you have the capital."
Murphy shrugged and said:
"I'm not a professional soldier or commander. I don't intend to argue with you in your professional field, Ms. Heather. I've just never heard of you having this kind of hobby? You pretended to be like this and came here specifically to test me.
Is this governor of Transia valuable?"
"ha?"
That female Nord warrior wearing a battle helmet still wanted to act stupid.
However, under Murphy's faint gaze, she made a snort of disdain, and the flash of a rune stone on her wrist revealed her true appearance.
Just like Marshal Loren, a short half-man.
But Ms. Heather, the second lord of the Blood Alliance Knights, is much more handsome than that mean-spirited dwarf Loren.
A suit of brass dwarf exquisite plate armor covered the body, and the angular armor shaped a goat's head decoration on the shoulders. Coupled with the tight fitting way of wearing it, Lord Heather looked like a short man made of steel.
As in the legend, she wears a dwarf-style full-coverage battle helmet, with only a V-shaped observation hole exposed for the eyes. The helmet is topped with two carefully shaped horns, which looks full of intimidation.
Lord Heather is a shield warrior.
Her weapon is two shields, which sounds strange, but the round shield on her back is a terrifying structure with edged edges. With the deadly flying shield skills of the shield warriors, this thing can bounce quickly among the enemies.
It causes horrific damage, not to mention that the powerful shield warrior is almost invincible in defense mode.
Exaggerated rumors say that gold-level shield warriors like Ms. Heather can guarantee that they will exhaust their opponents to death in battles of the same level.
To be honest, if Lord Heather's plate armor hadn't been covered with the robe of the Blood Alliance Knights, Murphy would have thought that this guy was a pure dwarf rather than a dwarf vampire.
Well, the words dwarf and vampire just feel very awkward when put together, and the descendants of the Earth Mother Goddess would not allow themselves to be shaped into such a depraved posture after death.
Therefore, the number of dwarf vampires is the smallest among all vampires. According to Tris, there are no more than two hundred dwarf vampires in the entire continent, and Lord Heather is undoubtedly the most famous one among this unique group.
The story about her is a secret.
Even among the Knights of the Blood Pact, few people know why Lord Heather accepted Lord Paying's first embrace and became a vampire.
This is her taboo.
At this time, after Lord Heather took off her disguise, she put her hands on her hips in a very unhappy manner and looked up at Murphy, who was very tall and had a damn smile.
she says:
"I have confirmed that, just like what little Loren said in his letter, you are a complete military idiot! You have no way of understanding how powerful the defense force of Black Flame Pass is, but I will not correct you.
Murphy, Lord Paying values you very much, so if you really want to waste time building your defense line in Shadow Valley, that's up to you, but I have a request!
After I issue the order, your soldiers will come to support the defense line!
You have already stepped onto the battlefield, and you should smell the gunpowder."
"Of course, this is for you and my General Maxim to discuss. I will not interfere."
In order to take care of the strange self-esteem of the dwarves, Murphy squatted down and looked at Lord Heather's eyes with satisfaction.
He said:
"Since Marshal Loren has written to you, you should know why I came here, about the gold purchase of Transia."
"The first batch of the Hoffmann family's gold-burning powder is already on its way."
Adhering to the straightforward style of the dwarves, Lord Heather spread his hands and said:
"It will arrive at your Scarlet Castle in another week. Time is tight, so my nephew, the current head of the Hoffman family, rented a halfling airship to complete the transportation. We can hand over the fuel reserves at the lowest price.
Here you go, for the sake of you and your Triss helping the frost dwarves recover the remains of their high lord.
We dwarves have always had a clear line of grudges. You have done great things, so you are a friend of our dwarves.
But friends are friends, and business should be done separately.
You'll pay for the lease of that airship.
Well, my nephew rented it for about three months, maybe you guys will need it in the war too.
The halfling airships are very useful, but it's a pity that they are few in number, otherwise the defense line at Black Flame Pass would be more stable."
"Well, I must express my gratitude from the bottom of my heart for your generosity, my dear Lord Heather."
Murphy's praise this time was without exaggeration.
Although Lord Heather was speaking very rudely in front of him, her assistance to Transia made the dwarves' impression in Murphy's mind suddenly fuller.
"Compared to you, Marshal Loren is really a third-rate dwarf. He has not inherited the generosity that a dwarf should have, but it is not his fault. After all, he is only half dwarf."
Murphy said:
"If you have the opportunity in the future, you must go to Scarlet Castle as a guest. I will treat you with the highest VIP etiquette. Oh, by the way, Mark, take out the gift we brought to Lord Heather."
He called out, and Maxim immediately took a box of wine from the carriage and placed it next to Lord Heather.
Murphy said proudly:
"This is a specialty of Transia. We call it 'Flying' wine. The silver dwarf's master craftsman, His Excellency Ilych, said it was good after drinking it! This is obviously a drink that suits your tastes, the damn one from Loren
A short man doesn’t know the goods”
"Wait! What did you just say?"
Lord Heather, who had just picked up a bottle of wine, was originally very happy and thought that Murphy was quite capable of doing things. However, the "Dwarf Dignity Radar" that was turned on 24 hours a day quickly captured a damn thing that could trigger the anger of all dwarves.
words.
The smile on Murphy's face solidified at this moment.
Seeing that Heather had pulled out the round shield from behind, the vampire governor coughed, and regardless of the fact that it was daytime, he opened his wings and jumped into the sky with a whoosh.
He shouted from a distance:
"Well. I suddenly remembered that I have to go to Hungry Mountain. It is a private matter, so I leave first, Mark! You stay here to discuss military affairs with Lord Heather. You must learn with an open mind and learn from the Lord.
Two moves."
"Snapped"
Murphy, who was high in the air, swung his molten sword to block the shield thrown by Lord Heather angrily from below. The counterattack of the Blood Alliance Clan's Sword of Sanction caused the round shield to bounce back to the ground along the route it came from, and was struck by Heather.
Take it in your hand.
Following this impact, Murphy flew into the sky and disappeared.
On the ground, Lord Heather angrily yelled the dwarves' "home dialect" and vowed to tear Murphy's mouth open, apparently because the damn name "short man" was too insulting to the dwarves.
Everyone around Maxim was numb now.
Murphy can run, but he can't.
He came with a military mission. Looking at Lord Heather's angry eyes under his helmet, Maxim could only laugh twice.
Fortunately, Heather was a vampire after all, and the blood of the Sinspawn diluted her dwarf's violent personality, allowing her to calm down after drinking a few bottles of wine.
The rumors are true, this lord will not take off his war helmet even when drinking.
"Hey, the flying shield can actually block my angry attack. It seems that you, Lord Murphy, are quite capable."
A few minutes later, Lord Heather sat on the wine box and glanced at Maxim, who had been beaten but could still stand with gritted teeth. She whispered:
"No wonder the Lord values him so much. Hey, at this age and with this kind of strength, you have a bright future. You are not bad. When are you going to start the Silver Trial? Your violent fighting style is very similar to that of a dwarf, so you need to