Chapter 181: Try it? Try it and you'll pass away (not really)

The Magic Padlock was opened by Mr. Kasi and carefully placed on the ground to the side.

This item itself was of considerable value, a custom-made Magic Tool, so it naturally had to be handled with care.

The large metal door designed and crafted by Humans was not as reliable as those of the Dwarves; having gone over a decade without maintenance or movement, the door emitted a sharp, grating sound when Mr. Kasi and Mr. Bogete attempted to pull it open from the left and right.

Cree—eak—

Jier, possessing keen hearing, immediately covered his ears in frustration, while the two middle-aged high-ranking members of the Bostafa Family, whose once-sharp hearing from their years of Knight Training had long since degenerated, merely frowned slightly at the sharp, terrifying friction noise without further reaction.

Although their hearing had degenerated, the strength in their hands remained, and they successfully opened the heavy door together.

"Phew, next time, let's just have someone maintain this thing every year; this noise..." the Baroness also complained, covering her ears with her hands and frowning.

Mr. Kasi nodded to show he understood, then walked in front with a lamp for illumination, while Jier drew his Hunting Sword slightly, emitting a bright white light as he walked behind to provide extra lighting.

This was because there was no magic-powered lighting system behind the metal door like there was on the outer walls or inside the rest of the castle; or rather, the area where this Dwarf Secret Vault was located, while situated beneath the castle, actually had no further energy connection, and the two were not even adjacent.

The entire Dwarf Secret Vault was an independent, cubic structure located deep beneath the castle, powered from within, with the only access being this five-meter-wide stone staircase that continuously spiraled downward.

The empty passageway did not go straight down but turned regularly; although it turned left and right, Jier could feel that it was indeed spiraling downward continuously.

A few minutes later, the passageway turned into a large hall deep underground, and the faintly glowing, massive metal wall directly in front of the hall was the main entrance to the Dwarf Secret Vault.

Jier saw that the entire metal wall covered the wall opposite this spacious hall, and unlike the hall which was constructed of dense rock, the metal wall opposite seemed to extend deep into the ceiling and floor; just by looking at it, one could feel the massive size and overwhelming sense of weight of the object.

Jier pursed his lips and sighed in admiration, "I wonder how much metal the Dwarves used when they built this place years ago? Just the amount of metal alone must be a terrifying figure, right? Its value would also be hard to estimate?"

Mr. Bogete smiled and pointed at the vault wall covering the entire front: "Who's to say it isn't? If the family can eventually break through the Dwarf Secret Vault's defenses without spending too much, the metal material of the vault itself would be a huge and important asset."

The group bypassed some abandoned demolition tools scattered randomly in the hall, including massive hammers, huge metal drills similar to battering rams, and metal mining picks strewn everywhere.

But Jier, aided by the diffused light, noticed that the sharp ends of most of these discarded mining picks were bent or damaged, which gave him a certain judgment regarding the sturdiness of the Dwarf Secret Vault wall in front of him.

This thing was not something that could be breached by traditional violent means; after all, when the Dwarves designed it in the beginning, they likely primarily guarded against violent cracking.

So, could it really only be opened by the correct means?

When everyone arrived in front of the vault's main entrance, facing the vault door that was almost integrated with the glowing metal wall, everyone observed it carefully. The three members of the Bostafa Family spoke in hushed tones about the situation during their last attempt to open the door.

That time had been the Bostafa Family's most successful breakthrough; with the help of a specially hired Mage, they spent half a day exhausting the magic defensive power on the surface of the vault, and then, under the control of the Knights under the family, used various means and tools to forcibly conduct a violent breakthrough against the vault's metal wall.

But in the end, after a long period of over a dozen hours, those Knights who had turned into temporary Miners only left a "shallow pit" at most twenty centimeters deep on the metal wall.

Compared to the massive and thick Dwarf Secret Vault, it was probably about the same feeling as a normal person being bitten by a mosquito.

Jier also saw some signs of damage of various sizes at chest height on the metal wall, but just as the Bostafa Family members said, the deepest one was nothing more than a small pit.

At this moment, the few Dwarves had different reactions to this massive Dwarf Secret Vault.

To be honest, although the old Dwarf was a high-level manager from the Shitai Family, he was not responsible for this former Cuikuang center, so even if he had been here a few times before, it was impossible for him to have seen this key underground storage room.

He patted the magic defense floating on the surface of the entrance, and after finding that the Protective Magic was as solid as crystal, he had a rough idea in his mind.

Considering the massive size of the entire Dwarf Secret Vault, he also had a guess about the source of the vault's Protective Magic energy and had some thoughts in his heart.

Meanwhile, 'Shishou' and the Wild Priest of the God of Strength were admiring the creative power of their Dwarves in the Dwarven Language while pondering how heavy this thing was. Could the chosen one of the God of Strength, in the state of a true god's descent, lift this whole thing up?

'Shishou' felt it was a bit unlikely and needed to try it once to know if it would work, while the Wild Priest felt that the Divine Power was boundless and the great God of Strength could definitely flip this "tiny" metal storage room with one hand.

"Shishou, can you try the defensive effect of this Protective Magic?" Jier walked to 'Shishou's' side and whispered to him.

"Impossible, I can't even open the Protective Magic of our own mine storage room, let alone this 'giant object'."

'Shishou' shook his head modestly.

But Jier glanced at the three Bostafa Family members not far away watching them and whispered, "There's money to be made. Regardless of whether it succeeds or not, as long as we put on a show, we can get a sum of money. So for your expenses on the road later, please try your best, you strongman!"

'Shishou' rolled his eyes; apparently, the "strongman" Jier mentioned came from the way other locals had addressed 'Shishou' during the banquet earlier.

He was a Miner, a Warrior, and a believer favored by the Dwarf God of Strength, but he was certainly not some strongman who performed for a living.

Although he said that, 'Shishou' rotated his wrists, preparing to test whether the storage room's Protective Magic could withstand his full-force punch.

Seeing that 'Shishou' might be getting serious, Jier and the old Dwarf led the Bostafa family members to retreat, all the way back behind a sturdy and heavy battering ram in the middle of the hall, and poked their heads out to look forward.

'Shishou' first moved his body to ensure it was completely stretched out, then the Wild Priest of the God of Strength cast a Divine Art to strengthen his power on him alone.

After a prayer in the Dwarven Language, the bronze-colored Divine Power light rose from the Priest, transformed into a phantom of a strong arm in mid-air, and then projected onto 'Shishou', making 'Shishou' look like a robot cast from metal.

Afterward, the Priest hurriedly ran over and hid behind Jier; at this moment, 'Shishou' himself knelt on one knee to pray to the God of Strength, activating the special Divine Power bestowed upon him by the deity.

The activation time was short, just a few seconds, and within these few seconds, 'Shishou' picked up the two-handed sword stuck in the ground nearby, filled his two-handed sword with the brilliant bronze-colored Divine Power, and then spun in place and threw the weapon in his hand forward.

In an instant, the massive sound caused everyone present to be knocked to the ground; Jier was directly knocked unconscious by the loud noise and vibration, with blood flowing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and even pink lung blood gushing from his mouth and nose with his breathing.

With Jier in such a state, the others present were naturally the same. The old Dwarf was better off, wearing his own armor, and the Dwarf body was sturdy enough, so after fainting, he only vomited a small amount of blood from his mouth.

As for the Wild Priest of the Dwarf God of Strength, the Divine Power of the God of Strength on his body vibrated violently, protecting his viscera and important organs, so after fainting, his entire body was covered with tiny, terrifying bloodstains, which was the result of the tiny Blood Vessels on his body surface being injured by the violent vibration and sound.

And of the three from the Bostafa family, the Baroness was in the best condition; she was not even knocked unconscious, nor was she injured, all thanks to the various Magic Tools for protection her husband had prepared for her coming in handy.

However, the Baroness was still pale with fright, covering her chest with her hands, eyes wide open, unable to calm her intense emotions for a while.

And after things were over, if she checked the Magic Power consumption of the protective Magic Tools on her body, she would probably be shocked once again.

By then, she would likely add heartache to her shock, as all the Protective Magic on her body had been activated at the highest state all at once, and the Magic Power consumed was not a small amount of money. And this unexpected expense would probably only be paid from her own private treasury.

Mr. Bogete and Mr. Kasi, like Jier, were both knocked unconscious by the vibration; however, although they were also bleeding from their faces and vomiting blood, because their bodies were not as sensitive and they had more Life Energy than Jier, their foundation was deeper, so the injuries they sustained were much lighter.

The massive impact and vibration came quickly and went quickly; as the 'culprit' who caused all this, 'Shishou' himself was not injured because of the true god's Divine Power. He quickly exited the state of using the Divine Power bestowed by the deity, looking at the massive Protective Magic covered in cracks like broken glass in front of him, as well as the two-handed sword embedded in the metal wall behind the Protective Magic, and his expression collapsed all at once.

Seeming to think of something, he ran forward quickly, having no time to care about the situation of the people behind him.

When he finally arrived in front of the vault wall, he desperately struck the slightly fluctuating, crack-covered vault surface Protective Magic with his fists.

But the magic, which appeared severely damaged, remained motionless under the strenuous beating of 'Shishou' after being strengthened by the Priest.

The defensive strength of this Dwarf Secret Vault was truly extremely formidable.

"It's over, it's over, the weapon is stuck inside, and now it can't be taken out!" No matter how 'Shishou' tried to find a way, his pair of flesh hands simply could not do anything to the formidable Protective Magic on the surface of the metal wall.

When he wanted to seek help from others or think of other ways, he turned his head and found that everyone except the Baroness had been injured and fainted.

The Baroness gave a wry smile at this: "Your strength is indeed formidable; it is also my first time seeing someone directly attack the metal wall behind without breaking the Protective Magic of this thing."

"Are they okay?" 'Shishou' spoke in the Human Common Language, giving himself away.

"You can speak our Human language?" The Baroness was somewhat surprised.

Shishou scratched his head, having no choice but to pin the blame on Jier: "It was Knight Jier who told everyone who knows Human Common Language to pretend they don't, saying it was to avoid trouble on the road. He told us to act like we don't understand so we could avoid the vast majority of harassment."

The Baroness understood; if that was the reason, it was indeed plausible. However, she felt it was more likely that the young Knight Jier wanted to monopolize communication between outsiders and these incredibly powerful Dwarf mercenaries to prevent them from being hired by others.

And this reason she had guessed felt more in line with the true situation.

"Are they alright? I see Jier is constantly spitting blood!" As she spoke, a miraculous scene occurred: the massive, potentially fatal amount of blood flowing out of Jier's body seemed to be controlled by an unknown force, actually returning back into his body along the same path.

The Baroness raised an eyebrow, feeling that this young Knight, including this band of Dwarf mercenaries, possessed strength and skills that were not simple. But everyone has secrets; she saw this scene, but had no further thoughts on it.

Before long, it was Jier, who appeared to be the most severely injured, who woke up first, likely due to his youth, or perhaps the power of several gods within his body had taken effect.

In any case, Jier climbed up from the ground, his whole body aching and his head spinning, and saw the old Dwarf and the Wild Priest lying on the ground, as well as Mr. Kasi and Mr. Bogete, who were in poor condition.

"Just now... what happened?"

Jier's memory was even a bit fragmented; he couldn't recall the short period of time before he lost consciousness, and he was even a bit dazed looking at the bronze-skinned Shishou and the Baroness, whose Protective Magic equipment was in an activated state.

"I remember, uh, we came to see if this Dwarf Secret Vault could be opened, so what is the situation now?"

Jier looked left and right as if he were unfamiliar with the surrounding environment, then saw the sturdy metal wall of the vault and the large cracks in the Protective Magic on the wall's surface.

And most conspicuously, the slightly familiar greatsword embedded in the metal wall of the vault, located behind the Protective Magic.

"Uh, that weapon, I remember it being Shishou's, right?"

Jier asked, feeling somewhat dazed.

Shishou shrugged: "That's right, it's mine."

He used Human Common Language, which left Jier stunned, and then he looked at the Baroness in embarrassment.

The Baroness, meanwhile, glanced at Jier and used a ring on the little finger of her left hand that could emit healing Magic to treat the two unconscious members of the Bostafa Family.