Chapter 881: Conflict and Light (Part I)

The night had deepened; of the Three Moon Goddesses, only one seemed to be out for a stroll tonight, while the other two revealed only thin, crescent slivers hanging in the sky.

The Dwarf Warrior Captain, holding his spear, swept his gaze across the ruins dimly lit by glowing plants, wary of that despicable Human Knight who might jump out from these ruins at any moment!

He was not afraid of that fellow; although he had to admit that being able to defeat those muscle-men who held Faith in the God of Strength did indeed require some skill, his side was different! He and his soldier brothers were not the civilian armed forces organized by the Miners themselves in the Zhenbao Mine; he was a regular soldier!

His four subordinates were also regular soldiers!

Decades ago, when the Mine's Soldier Captain was still around, where would there be all these various kinds of unruly armed forces?

The safety of the entire Zhenbao Mine relied on the protection of formal soldier squads like theirs!

Although he knew his own skills were far inferior to the previous Captain, he was not afraid of the Human Knight who had broken in today. After all, the Dwarf Spear held by him and his soldiers was not some simple trinket made within the mine.

Thinking of this, the Dwarf Warrior Captain tightened his grip on the shaft of the spear in his right hand and glanced at the spearhead, where the sharp edges were engraved with Dwarf Runes the size of fingernails.

The entire weapon had not only received a powerful blessing during its manufacture, but the runes on the spearhead could also provide an additional magical Sharp ability after drawing blood; it was an excellent weapon that only important Zhenbao Mines could be equipped with.

In the nearly one hundred years since the local area was lost, he and his soldiers had relied on these weapons, along with their perseverance and physique, to repel wave after wave of attacking Monsters.

Even ordinary strong beasts did not require the few of them to take action; only the most troublesome Monsters required them to step onto the battlefield.

Especially after the Soldier Captain failed to call for reinforcements and subsequently went missing.

"Today, it is not like the usual..."

After pretentiously reciting a line in Dwarven Language, the spear-wielding Captain's ears twitched beneath his Helmet, and he turned his head to look toward the south side of the Cunzi.

He frowned once again.

That was the edge of the Cunzi in the distance, obscured by the ruins of collapsed Dwarf Residences and still-standing Human houses. There were faint, gathered sounds of many people, and some orange light projected from afar, casting a layer of dim light over him and his team members.

Some of the light was even reflected by the soil on the ground, illuminating a small patch of the night sky to the south.

He knew it could not be the result of a Human wooden house accidentally catching fire; if it had caught fire and a conflagration had occurred, the panicked wailing of Humans, as well as their sounds of crying and complaining, could not have failed to reach him.

Especially the screaming of Human females, which was truly unbearable for Dwarves who preferred quiet; the volume was both loud and excessively shrill.

Since it could not be the light caused by a fire, there was only one other possibility.

The possible conjecture made him look very displeased.

"I said long ago, those Humans are unreliable!"

He said to the armored Dwarf Soldiers holding spears beside him. These Dwarf Soldiers, who had worked together for over a hundred years, did not express any opinions, only agreeing with grunts. Because as soldiers guarding the Zhenbao Mine, they only needed to follow orders and fight; the Captain's words at this moment were merely talking to himself during patrol, and he did not need anyone to actually respond.

But at this moment, there were three other Dwarves following alongside these soldiers. These individuals were not soldiers, but because they had previously joined the Captain in opposing the Mine administrators, they now stood firmly on their side, following along on patrol.

"I think so too. Over these years, their numbers have been increasing more and more. Cunzi is getting bigger, but the places that expand are all for Humans; we are still just in that original small area," a Dwarf carrying an iron hammer on his shoulder interjected with dissatisfaction.

Another Dwarf followed up: "And we hardly increase our population at all. This must be why the Humans in the Cunzi look down on us. I know what they are plotting!"

The last Dwarf snorted with disdain: "Isn't it because there are only a few Dwarf girls in the mine? After we were abandoned and forgotten here by the Kingdom, these girls chose the young and capable guys in the mine early on. Others can only watch them build families, shrinking alone in their own houses year after year. If it weren't for that guy 'Iron Fist' distributing treasures from the mine to appease the Miners, everyone would have found a way to leave here long ago."

The spear-wielding Soldier Captain scanned left and right with his eyes, then said: "Those unreliable Humans must be up to something tonight."

The soldiers looked at each other and said nothing.

"Perhaps it has to do with that Human Knight! They are all Humans; they must be huddled together preparing some conspiracy!" a Dwarf Warrior shouted loudly.

But he was quickly covered by the mouth of another companion: "Keep it down! What if that damned Human hears and comes to kill us?"

The Dwarf carrying the iron hammer looked at the Soldier Captain: "You will lead men to deal with him, right?"

"Of course! I am not one of those brainless fools who only believe in muscle and strength. What is a real soldier like?" The Soldier Captain walked up to his subordinate, patted the Dwarf Soldier's Helmet and shoulder armor: "Look at this, a sturdy Helmet with sharp horns, cast in one piece; even a forge hammer couldn't deform it. And look at this, shoulder armor with sharp spikes on the edges; even if it were a hundred-kilogram beast, if my men hit it sideways with their shoulders, it would be dead."

"Is this equipment powerful?" someone asked from the side.

He proudly patted the soldier's Chest Armor and leg armor, explaining: "This is sturdy Shrimp Armor imbued with blessed power; even a warrior riding a war-ram couldn't shake it with a strike from its big horns!"

"What else?" someone continued to ask.

"Finally, there is this, a powerful weapon that can even stab a Monster to death! It only gets stronger after drawing blood!" The Soldier Captain excitedly brandished the Dwarf Spear in his hand, taking the opportunity to perform a few standard-to-the-point-of-perfection combat moves.

The three Dwarf Warriors were greatly encouraged upon seeing the Soldier Captain's superb martial arts and shouted excitedly. The Soldier Captain did not stop them, because he was confident that even if that Human Knight were truly attracted here, he would be no match for him and his soldiers.

He waved his hand vigorously: "Besides these, what truly makes us powerful are some things that cannot be seen or touched, but are truly important."

"For example?" someone asked.

"A firm will to fight! Seasoned group coordination! Proficient individual martial arts! Rich combat wisdom! We have honed each of these for over a hundred years. Ordinary Monsters are just a one-hit finish in my hands alone! There is no need for the five of us to coordinate in battle at all."

The Soldier Captain said proudly at the end.

After he finished speaking, he realized that the soldiers beside him and the three Dwarf Warriors all had expressions of surprise, looking toward the ruins on the right.

Only then did he realize that the person who had just asked the question and spoken to him was not speaking in Dwarven Language, but in Human Common Language.

Having lived in a Cunzi where Humans were the majority for nearly a hundred years, he had long since mastered both languages, to the point that when someone asked a question in Human Common Language during casual chat, he treated it as normal and replied in the Human language.

Realizing he had been played, the Soldier Captain's face flushed red. After holding his spear horizontally and assuming a frontal combat stance, he shouted at the ruins where the question had originated: "Who is hiding there? Get out!"

He thought it was the Tusi Brothers, with whom he had fought before, or some young man from the Cunzi who had helped chase the Human Knight during the day.

Click, click, click...

The person who turned out from behind the ruins of the Dwarf Residence was none other than the Human Knight who had caused a scene at the Zhenbao Mine during the day—Jier.

Beneath his steel Faceplate, his voice carried three parts mockery, three parts curiosity, three parts excitement, and one part smugness as he said loudly: "It's me? Don't you recognize me?"

Then Jier said mockingly: "Oh, could it be that those soft-handed, weak-footed Dwarves I crushed during the day didn't describe my appearance to you? Seriously, that's too uncalled for. I beat them up so repeatedly, yet they didn't keep my image in their minds? And didn't convey it to other Dwarves who haven't been beaten up yet?"

The Soldier Captain was furious.

Without the Dwarf Soldier Captain needing to say anything more, the other four Dwarf Soldiers with him immediately stood with him, two on the left and two on the right, forming a combat formation with the Soldier Captain in front and the others slightly behind to the sides.

The other three Dwarf Warriors also put away their surprise and, acting cautiously, formed a small combat squad of three. However, although the three had said they didn't care about the Human Knight, now that Jier had truly appeared, the three of them still maintained a "safe" combat distance.

Uh, it wasn't that they were cowardly, but rather to provide enough combat space for the soldiers.

Up ahead, the Dwarf Soldiers did not waste words, directly thrusting their Dwarf Spears and quickly closing in on Jier. But Jier simply turned and retreated back into the ruins of the residence, forcing the Dwarf Soldiers to slow down and be careful of the uneven ruins under their feet.

"Damn it!" the Soldier Captain cursed. Just as he was about to bypass the ruins, a Stone of considerable size flew out from the shadows of the ruins ahead.

Whoosh—

The Stone carried a loud whistling sound through the air, and one could tell at a listen that the sender meant no good.

Before he could warn his companions to be careful, the Soldier Captain held his left forearm in front of his face to protect his head and face. As for other areas, the armor he was wearing was no boast; ordinary axe or hammer strikes couldn't hurt him. As for the other soldiers? It would depend on their own agility.

Bang! The Stone hit the Soldier Captain square in the chest; the thick and well-crafted Metal Armor completely blocked the impact of the Stone, but the force behind this strike was not small, and even with the Dwarves' stable stance and low center of gravity, this blow sent the Dwarf Soldier Captain tumbling backward through the air.

"Captain!"

The Soldiers let out a cry of alarm, but the Soldier Captain soon scrambled up from the ruins on the ground. He brushed his chest with his left hand, wiping away the stone dust left by the impact, while soothing them with his mouth: "Don't worry, I'm fine!"

Having said that, he was the first to charge forward, bypassing the ruins in front of him from the left, chasing directly after the Human Knight who was hiding in the ruins and shooting arrows from the shadows.

Seeing that their Captain was fine, the Soldiers immediately followed. But what they did not know was that although the Soldier Captain looked fine, in reality, his face was twisted into a knot afterward; it wasn't because he was injured by the Stone, but because when the Stone struck his chest, the massive impact caused a strange, unbearable resonance in the air cavity of his lungs! The sound of the impact reverberated inside the Metal Armor and within his chest cavity, traveling all the way up into his head.

It had nearly deafened him.

"Don't, don't run! Stand still and fight me!"

The Soldier Captain shouted.

The Human Knight, who was weaving through the residential ruins ahead, immediately stood still, then drew his Long Sword, lowered his body, and charged straight over.

Jier was tall with long legs; he strode over the collapsed building less than a meter high, brandished his sword, and leaped to kill.

The Dwarf Soldier Captain stood his ground when he was four or five meters away from the Human Knight, then planted his feet firmly and thrust his Soldier Spear forward.

The glowing Long Sword swung, accurately parrying the suddenly thrusting spear tip, but before Jier could advance any further, four Dwarf Soldiers flashed out from behind the Dwarf Soldier Captain. They spread out with their Soldier Spears, thrusting rapidly at Jier in sequence.

If it weren't for the fact that each Dwarf Soldier had a glowing plant with a luminous tip strapped to their back, providing sufficient lighting, it would have been very difficult for Jier to parry these sequential spear thrusts.

He swung his Long Sword to parry the spear tips, lowered his body to dodge the Thrust aimed at his upper body, and quickly stepped back to slip out of the maximum attack range of the spears; Jier avoided the threatening, continuous spear Thrusts several times at a hair's breadth.

But blind dodging was not his fighting style. Jier spotted a gap in the opponent's attack, kicked his right leg hard against the ruins on the ground, and sent the various pieces of debris on the ground flying forward violently.

Stone dust and ash were immediately kicked up, and the various debris bombarded forward like a shotgun.

"Watch out!" the leading Soldier Captain shouted a warning, then covered his mouth and nose with his hand, letting the flying debris strike the surface of their sturdy Metal Armor.

Pitter-patter, a chaotic clatter.

"Attack!" With a low shout, the Soldier Captain immediately charged forward several steps, then swung his Soldier Spear from top to bottom; the subsequent Soldiers also followed his assault, flanking from the left and right of the Soldier Captain to thrust.

But Jier crouched down, his legs exerting force, and the next moment, he jumped backward before all the attacks could close in.

While in mid-air, Jier had wanted to throw the Long Sword in his hand as a projectile to kill one of them, but after hesitating for a moment, he did not actually do so.

Thud, his feet landed on the ground, his legs bending significantly to absorb the impact of the landing; the next moment, he pulled his feet out of the ground, quickly withdrawing after his feet had sunk to his ankles.

Because the five Dwarf Soldiers were charging over again.

Their assault was fierce, wave after wave, never stopping. If it weren't for the poor ground environment, where the ruins restricted the movement of the Dwarf Soldiers, the offensive of these Dwarves would have had no weaknesses at all.

Sure enough, this guy wasn't bragging; a century of tacit cooperation is not so easy to counter.

These Dwarves were strong-willed; once they started, they didn't hesitate, just like crocodiles in a stream or river—once they bit their prey, they wouldn't let go.

'But this is good; this is exactly what I want.' Jier thought to himself.

Coming back to his senses, the five Dwarf Soldiers were charging over again.

The five of them inhaled as they charged, and when the attack distance was suitable, they stood firm and thrust, simultaneously exhaling and letting out a low roar.

If it were just one person, it would be nothing, but with this team of five doing it, it created an unbearable feeling of being suppressed.

The first person thrust, the second followed up, and the third was already prepared to attack. The suppression these five Dwarf Soldiers exerted on him far exceeded that of the Dwarf Warriors he had encountered during the day.

How to put it, it was like the difference between professional and amateur.

As the battle continued, Jier retreated while parrying, and the five Dwarf Soldiers, under the leadership of the Soldier Captain, kept pushing back the guy whom other Dwarves had boasted was incredibly powerful.

'Nothing special!' the Soldier Captain thought, then let out an excited low roar: "Cave Scorpion Formation!"

As soon as his words fell, he maintained his assault and suppression of the Human Knight, while the others to his left and right abandoned their continuous attacks, instead taking quick steps to surround the Human Knight from the left, center, and right in a V-shaped formation.

The next moment, once the formation was complete and the Human Knight opposite was looking around, the Dwarf Soldier Captain raised his hand and thrust.

But it was only a feint; his arm only tightened on the Soldier Spear and pushed out seven-tenths of the way, holding back nine-tenths of his strength.

The four Dwarf Soldiers on the left and right launched their attacks simultaneously.

The two outermost Dwarf Soldiers launched their attacks from the outside; they let their spear tips trace an arc, thrusting their spears with a 'slow' speed that one could react to.

Jier saw at a glance that this was not a killing blow, but merely an appetizer to restrict his movement and range, but he could not ignore this kind of weapon attack, so Jier's available reactions at this moment were very limited.

The two middle Dwarf Soldiers also thrust their Soldier Spears a beat slower, but this was also a feint, the kind of offensive that one had to deal with and could not ignore. The ultimate goal, instead, was to follow a person's subconscious reaction and force the person being attacked to move forward.

After all, since the Dwarf Soldier Captain in the center position attacked first, his moves were already fixed, making it easy to parry at close range?

But Jier understood immediately that this was a trap; if he wasn't mistaken, the Soldier Captain, who seemed to have already thrust his spear and was thus easy to parry, was the true killing blow of this rapidly deployed formation.

The opponent must have still held back most of his strength, using the increase in combat information caused by the rapid change in formation to make the person being attacked lose their judgment of the situation, thereby falling into the trap set by these Soldiers.

However, Jier saw through their plan at this moment, but his body and footsteps involuntarily fell into the trap of the Dwarf Soldiers. After all, it was a trap set by using a person's subconscious reaction to speed, and by the time Jier realized it, it was already too late.

Just a few meters in front of him, the Dwarf Soldier Captain holding the Soldier Spear had a focused expression; it seemed the force of the spear in his hand had been spent, giving the Human Knight a perfect opportunity to reach him, but in reality, it was not he who was in crisis, but the other party.

A curve appeared at the corner of his mouth; the Dwarf Soldier Captain thrust his spear again out of thin air, instantly turning the situation around and unleashing the true finishing move of this 'Cave Scorpion Formation'.

His Soldiers were the mighty pincers of the Cave Scorpion, waving left and right; they looked powerful and dangerous, but the thing that could truly kill was the poison stinger at the tail of the Cave Scorpion—which was him.

'Die!'

The sharp tip of the Soldier Spear tore through the air, and one after another, Dwarf Runes flickered and emerged on the spear tip; unfortunately, according to its design, it had to come into contact with blood to activate the runes, thereby increasing its sharpness in a short period of time.

At this moment, none of these runes were activated, but the Soldier Captain was not worried, because besides that, the material of this fine Soldier Spear was excellent, it was forged by a professional Dwarf Craftsman, and the entire weapon had been blessed, specifically increasing its sturdiness and durability.

Even if the Human Knight in front of him was wearing Human Metal Armor, the Soldier Captain was confident he could pierce him through with one spear thrust!!!

But did the facts really go as he wished?

Jier's eyes brightened, and the corners of his mouth curled up, revealing a smile that truly excited him.