Chapter 863: The Comical Battle of the Valley of Babotali (Part 7)

After Jier kicked the Dwarf away, he turned his head to look at the other Dwarf, who was still locking his Metal Spear and had been blinded by Divine Power.

Although this Dwarf could not see with his eyes at this moment, his ears heard everything that happened here, especially the sound of his companion being kicked away, which he heard even more clearly.

Realizing that the only attack before his stamina was exhausted had failed, this Dwarf sighed, his mouth under the Helmet curling into a smile; instead of fleeing or retreating, he swung the Single-handed Axe on the Hooked Spear in his hand and threw it toward Jier.

With a hook and a flick of the Hunting Sword, the object was deflected to the side and landed on the ground.

"Surrender!"

Jier shouted in a low voice.

But the Dwarf on the other side of the Metal Spear used his free right hand to make a gesture of contempt: "Impossible."

Without further ado, Jier saw that the Dwarf was clamping the spear tightly with his left arm, so he did not try to pull the weapon free; instead, he lifted the spear with his left arm, used his strength to hoist the spear along with the Dwarf, and then brought it down heavily, smashing it hard against the ground.

The Dwarf let out a groan of pain, and after that, no matter how Jier threw or smashed him, he did not make a single sound.

"Tough enough!"

Jier praised while lifting and smashing the spear.

After seven or eight heavy smashes, the Armor all over the Dwarf's body had fallen off and deformed significantly, and one short leg had even snapped and bent backward during the impact, the bone broken, causing the leg to swing back and forth as it fell through the air.

Yet this Dwarf still held onto the head of Jier's Metal Spear tightly with his left arm.

Somewhat annoyed by the tenacity and stubbornness of the Dwarves, Jier was just about to use his sword to cut off the Dwarf's left arm and free his Metal Spear when a warning whinny from Tianxuecao came from not far behind him.

Jier turned his head to look and only then discovered that the Humans in the local Cunzi were taking the opportunity to surround his warhorse; perhaps wanting to capture Tianxuecao alive, the three Archers leading the team did not shoot arrows at the horse, but instead, each led a dozen young men to flank it from three directions.

At first, Tianxuecao did not take these local Humans seriously; after all, when it was in the Refugee Team, it was surrounded by similar Humans. But the clever horse was no fool, and it soon realized that it was surrounded from three major directions and that the encirclement was shrinking bit by bit.

So it reared its hooves and let out a whinny, which immediately caught the attention of Jier, who was smashing the Dwarf not far away.

Jier turned his head and saw exactly this scene, and he immediately blew a loud whistle. The whistle was loud and long, and upon hearing it, Tianxuecao immediately ran quickly toward Jier.

"Catch it!"

A young man in the surrounding group shouted, and then the three closest young men took two quick steps and lunged at the accelerating warhorse.

One person grabbed the Stirrup on the left side of the warhorse, while the other two were not so lucky; their hands fumbled across the warhorse's Armor, but they caught nothing and fell heavily to the ground. It was fortunate that the warhorse was running in front, otherwise, if they had been stepped on by the heavy hooves, it would be hard to say if they would still be alive.

"Haha, I caught it! I caught it!"

The young man who grabbed the Stirrup shouted excitedly, and the other young Villagers who couldn't make it in time cheered along, while the three Archers who had raised their Large Bows also showed smiles on their faces and slightly lowered the weapons in their hands.

"It's up to you! Ride that damn warhorse away! Get far away from here!"

"I want to see if a Knight without a warhorse can still deal with the Dwarves in the Valley?"

"Over here! Dwarf Shop Assistants! Over here! That Knight's warhorse is gone! It's a good opportunity! Hurry over!"

The three Archers shouted loudly for the other Dwarves who were gradually approaching to hurry over, and expressions of relief finally appeared on their faces. To be honest, watching the foreign Knight knock the Dwarves down one by one during the fight had been truly distressing and worrying for them, but they couldn't go up to fight together, so they had set their target on the Knight's warhorse instead.

As it happened, the foreign Knight had jumped off the warhorse himself to fight that team of Dwarves on foot, which actively gave them an excellent opportunity.

Jier saw that someone had climbed onto the warhorse, but he did not show a worried expression; at least, with his face shrouded under the Helmet Faceplate, no one could see it.

He even continued to blow the whistle to call the warhorse, while his body turned, moving up along the Metal Spear, and with one sword strike, he cut off the left hand of the stubborn Dwarf still hanging on the spearhead.

The Dwarf had been smashed so many times that he was already dizzy, but at this moment, having his left hand cut off actually gave him a jolt of mental clarity.

With a muffled groan, the Dwarf didn't even look at his left hand, which had been severed at the wrist; he reached into his waist, took out a Small Forging Hammer, and threw it at Jier.

But he overestimated his stamina and physical condition; although the Dwarf relied on an extraordinary will not to let out a cry of pain, his physical state was actually already very dire.

The small hammer he threw slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, and in the blink of an eye, it was curiously picked up by Jier.

Jier, who had casually sheathed his Long Sword, tossed the palm-sized Small Forging Hammer in his hand and sensed its center of gravity and overall weight: "Quite interesting, isn't it."

Jier casually tucked the item into his metal belt on the right side, keeping the Heartfire Dagger company.

Then, ignoring the Dwarf who had lost his ability to fight, he retrieved the Metal Spear from the opponent's severed hand and turned to look at Tianxuecao, who was running over quickly.

The local youth who had grabbed the Stirrup on the left side of Tianxuecao had by now climbed onto the warhorse's Muan by following the fixed Jiansheng and other gear. The local Villager youths who saw this scene from afar roared with excitement, as if this had instantly neutralized the foreign Knight's greatest combat advantage.

And the other Dwarves who were panting as they hurried over from afar also had to hold their noses and acknowledge that the people from the village near the mine were doing a pretty good job.

At least, if they, these short-legged Dwarves, were to approach the Human Knight's warhorse, they probably couldn't manage it even if the Knight wasn't beside the warhorse. Their legs were too short; their desperate running was actually not as fast as the tall warhorse taking a few casual steps with its hooves.

Everything looked very good and very smooth; the advantage was gradually tilting toward them, at least that was how the locals saw it.

But was it really so?

The young man on the back of the Licking Blood Grass Horse did not think so.

At this moment, he was far from being as reliable and brave as his companions in the distance saw. This young man was covered in sweat—not from exhaustion, but from the anxiety and panic that had flared up!

Only he himself knew that even though he was sitting on the Muan at this moment, gripping the warhorse's Jiansheng tightly, in reality, no matter how the youth pulled on the Jiansheng, the warhorse in front of him did not listen to him in the slightest.

The warhorse was running at top speed, following the sound of a loud whistle.

And the source of the whistle was none other than the foreign Knight who, after knocking down many Dwarves, was standing tall in place, holding his spear.

"Turn! Turn! Turn for me! You stupid thing!"

The youth tried in desperation to use the Jiansheng in his hand to whip the warhorse's neck, but the warhorse was covered all over with thick Horse Armor; let alone the front of its body, even the warhorse's neck, right in front of the rider, was protected by thick Armor made of an unknown material.

Tianxuecao didn't even feel the youth's whipping with the Jiansheng.

The clever and loyal horse had originally wanted to throw off the stranger on its back at the first opportunity, but its master was calling it at this moment, and it had to put aside the idea of throwing off the strange Human on its back and reach its master's side as quickly as possible.

Tianxuecao galloped at high speed across the soft spring wild grassland and soon reached Jier and began to slow down.

At this moment, the local Villagers in the distance and the Dwarves who were rushing over from even further away finally came back to their senses from their excitement, looking at each other in awkward confusion.

The youths in the village cursed loudly, believing that at such a critical juncture, the young man who had climbed onto the Knight's warhorse had failed, was incompetent, or had performed poorly due to nervousness; in short, it had completely ruined the great battle situation that had originally been turned around.

The three Archers shook their heads with regret and looked at each other, feeling that the problem did not lie with the young man on their side. What kind of skills could these youths who had never left the Valley have? They knew that well. Wanting to climb onto a Knight's warhorse and control this huge riding beast—perhaps even people from the Western Province who had lived on the grasslands since childhood couldn't do it.

It was an adventurous plan that had successfully reversed the battle situation to begin with, so they shouldn't blame the young man for not doing well enough if it failed.

They only hoped that the foreign Knight wouldn't kill this youth because of it.

The Dwarves, whose heads had originally been held high, lowered them upon seeing that the situation seemed to have returned to what it was before. They sighed and inhaled more fresh air through their noses, hoping that their bodies could recover more stamina.

'Shishou' looked worriedly at the local young Human on the foreign Human Knight's warhorse not far away. His eyesight was good; even from a hundred meters away, he seemed to be able to see the urgency and despair on that young man's face.

Gripping the hilt of the Long Sword in his hand, he quickened his pace, hoping that he could save this young Human from the village when he arrived.

He was fairly confident in his own skills, but even so, he didn't think he could catch this foreign Knight who was determined to slip away just by relying on a pair of feet. But that was how Dwarves were; even knowing it wouldn't work, one still had to do it, didn't one?

No matter how deep a Mine is, it all starts from digging into the ground at the very beginning. No matter how difficult a war is, if one wants victory, it must be pieced together through small victories accumulated by one life-or-death struggle after another.

Shishou felt that even with his own skills, he would likely end up like his previous companions, easily defeated after the opponent exhausted his stamina. But it was fine; this was also within his plan, and the great power of the God of Strength would give this Human Knight a good show.

Shishou turned his head to sniff the rust smell coming from his Large Metal Sword, as well as the bloody smell coming from the places in the weapon's gaps that hadn't been cleaned properly.

This was the smell; this was the smell of victory.

"Dedicate this victory to our respected God of Strength. Through the God's enlightenment, we have come to know that all hardships are due to insufficient strength."

He began to mutter, trying to imitate the usual manner of the Dwarf among his companions who claimed to have received guidance from the God of Strength.

He reached a hand toward his chest, pushed aside the collar of his sleeveless leather clothing, and rubbed with his rough fingertips a Small Humanoid Pendant he had adventurously hammered out himself. It was a sturdy, naked-chested Dwarf man, hands clenched into fists, striking a bodybuilding pose.

This was a scene he had dreamt of during a rest several years ago, after he had defeated a fierce beast that had broken into the Mine all by himself.

In the dream, a sturdy, shadowy Dwarf figure lifted him into the air and tossed him around playfully; at over two hundred years old, he should have been a heavy, solid Dwarf, but in the hands of this figure, he was no better than a small wooden stick.

He still remembered the sturdy shadow setting him down and patting his shoulder, telling him to temper his body more in the future. The shadow praised his body as an unexcavated Zhenbao Mine, saying that his talent and treasure had been buried for too long, too long, for hundreds of years, until now when it was finally glimpsed by Him.

Shishou wanted to ask this existence, whose name he dared not speak directly, about the future of everyone in the Mine where he lived.

Everyone had been troubled by this for nearly a hundred years. Everyone was approaching their mental limits; even Tie Quan had no good solution.

But before the words could be asked, the shadow of this existence answered him in advance. The shadow squeezed his shoulder, which was not exactly sturdy, quite hard: "One who tempers his own body, who carries a treasure within, yet does not know it. When the future is difficult, when power surges, that is the time, the moment, for the answer to what you seek and what your heart asks."

The shadow of the deity seemed to have given an answer, yet also seemed to have said nothing at all, shouting slogans and flexing every muscle as it walked away in the dream.

After waking from the dream, he followed the image he saw in the dream and secretly, hiding it from the Dwarf companion who served the Metal Statue of the God of Power, crafted this Small Humanoid Pendant of the deity's image.

Honestly, compared to the metal statue his companion kept in a metal box, his pendant was much smaller and looked less powerful, yet it was more like the real thing in terms of image and temperament.

Back to the present, Shishou rubbed the pendant with his fingertips; although there was nothing miraculous about it, he felt a sense of Yongqi added to his heart out of thin air.

"Is it time?"

He talked to himself, his footsteps not stopping, heading straight for the foreign Human Knight who had knocked the local Human Villager off his horse not far away, charging toward that Human Knight with a pace much faster than the others, straight, without stopping, striding forward.

He noticed several Dwarf companions knocked down on the ground ahead, as well as the young Villager curled up on the ground after taking a punch to the abdomen; every face revealed immense pain and the expression of helpless failure.

"Perhaps it is time."

Shishou said as much.

He braced himself, shaking his head to let the hot sweat fall from his hair as he moved; his entire body's muscles were trembling with his movements. They had not lost too much stamina or the energy hidden within his body due to the long run, and the air brushing past his body during the run took away the heat from his skin, making him feel even more comfortable.

"I am ready. Perhaps my body is not tempered to the point where it cannot be criticized, but I think today, now, is the time to know the answer."

As Shishou talked to himself, he exerted force with both hands, lifting the huge double-handed Large Metal Sword straight over his head. As he ran, an aura capable of shattering everything rose on the Large Metal Sword.

This move was simple and direct; the raised Large Metal Sword was like an exclamation mark, seemingly sighing, yet seemingly having no need to sigh.

Jier was not blind, and his combat experience was even more abundant; he perceived it immediately with his intuition and keen senses.

He turned his head and saw a lightly dressed middle-aged Dwarf, holding a Large Metal Sword about the same size as himself, approaching rapidly.

Across a distance of more than twenty meters, the opponent's fighting spirit was so intense that Jier had to squint his eyes as he looked over.

Not knowing what had happened, every step the attacking Dwarf took while running seemed to shake the ground, making the earth tremble along with him.

Facing this aura and spirit that he didn't know how to describe, but could tell at a glance that the opponent intended to cut him in half, Jier's first reaction was even to shrink back.

Can't block it, must not block it, must ride the horse to avoid this person!

His body and instincts told him so.

But Jier gritted his teeth, not wanting to retreat just like that; if he retreated, wouldn't that mean he was afraid of these Dwarves?

Cannot retreat, cannot be afraid; these little iron lumps, apart from having more strength and wearing armor, were no different from ordinary Humans, and were even slightly inferior.

He had to defeat these Dwarves, he had to beat them, let these Dwarves who hid behind the Forest and in the Valley know that they were no match! Let the Humans in the Valley understand who really called the shots on this land!

"Come! I am not afraid of you!"

Jier shouted, clamping his horse's belly to make Tianxuecao charge forward; with just a kick, the warhorse accelerated rapidly. Jier raised his Metal Spear high, aiming from top to bottom at the sword-wielding Dwarf charging at him, and thrust the spear with all his might.

This thrust gathered the weight of the weapon itself, the speed of the thrust, the weight of Jier's entire body, and the speed and weight of the warhorse's charge; all of these converged together, all supported by the tip of the thrusting Long Spear. The tip broke through the warm spring air, and the Gun-blade on both sides vibrated the air, emitting a roaring sound like a lion, a tiger, and a bear.

As for the Dwarf, he opened his eyes wide, his body stretching and springing with his forward run. Every part of his body seemed to clearly understand the meaning of this battle—he was not fighting for himself, but for all the Dwarves in the Mine; he was fighting to verify the answer the deity had once promised him, to sweep away the homesick sorrow on his companions' faces, and to swing this sword for everyone's future.

"Give me—the answer!!!!"

Shishou roared.

The two weapons were attracted to each other like magnets, or perhaps the two Warriors instinctively knew that only by colliding their weapons could they avoid the result of both of them perishing together.

And the clash of weapons, the collision of arms, and the entirety of the two Warriors behind them would thoroughly and clearly determine who was superior.