Chapter 890: Dismantling Dwarf Armor

"Let me go and fight me!"

The Dwarf Warrior, being stared at by Jier, stubbornly spat out these wild words.

Jier didn't even pay the man any mind, not even bothering to meet the gaze of this furious Dwarf Warrior, his eyes merely scanning back and forth over the other's armor.

Being scanned by this young Knight, Jier, with a gaze that treated him like an object, the Dwarf flushed red, feeling deeply insulted. He was about to open his mouth to curse in Human Common Language to vent his anger, but was immediately stopped by the Dwarf Soldier Captain beside him: "Steady! Shut up! Don't provoke the other party when you can't move; getting beaten up for nothing is no good result."

"Then what else can we do? This person's eyes don't look like he has good intentions." The Dwarf Warrior was actually somewhat fearful of the young Human's gaze at this moment; it was cold and ruthless, not as if he were looking at a Dwarf, but with a strong premonition that he was about to be peeled open.

It was as if, in the next moment, this Human would treat him like livestock, bleed him, and cut him open to eat.

"Hey! Young Human Knight, you came over to find us on purpose, surely not just out of curiosity about what we Dwarves look like? Or is it that you covet our Dwarf armor? Right? I didn't guess wrong!"

It was the Dwarf Soldier Captain who spoke, rambling on his own, and then he also scanned Jier's suit of Metal Armor with a serious gaze.

While looking, he deliberately evaluated it in Human Common Language: "Take a look, lads, this is Human armor—thin, fragile, so light I could pick it up and wave it with one finger!"

"Hahahaha! Boss, you're right, my foot wraps are thicker than the armor on his body, if this thing can even be called armor."

"The plate I eat off is sturdier and thicker than the 'clothes' on his body."

"What my sister wears to do farm work at home is sturdier than this Human's. The big-toothed Cave Rats in the caves wouldn't even bother to use this thing to grind their teeth, ha, because those despicable little things know this stuff is thinner and more fragile than a leaf."

The Dwarves began to mock loudly.

Jier twisted his mouth, knowing the Dwarves were saying this on purpose. His armor was actually not bad; its protective effect had already been tested in the fighting and killing along the way, and it was perfectly fine. But he just found it unpleasant to listen to, knowing that even though these Dwarves were his captives, they wouldn't easily admit defeat with their mouths.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat: "If what you say is true, then were you defeated by a Human wearing something thinner than a leaf? So the Dwarves who always claim to be powerful warriors and soldiers in the village are actually this fragile! A Human only needs to wear armor worse than a leaf to easily defeat you?"

Jier wore an expression of surprise, directly leaving the Dwarf who had been heckling him speechless.

"Hmph." Jier let out a cold snort, his face turning serious: "It seems you don't quite understand the simple principle that respecting an enemy is respecting oneself."

The Dwarves felt somewhat ashamed and stopped speaking.

Jier didn't bicker or argue with these fellows either; he signaled the young man from the village who had returned with gagging materials to use them to plug the mouths of these Dwarves. He didn't care if the Dwarves' cheeks had been broken or injured in the previous battle; he had them plugged tight.

"Watch them." After giving the order, Jier then actually untied the Rope binding the Dwarf Warrior in front of him.

The young man nearby was somewhat surprised and wanted to intercept and stop him, but upon thinking that these Dwarves were no match for Knight Jier before, and that untying just one ordinary Dwarf wouldn't cause any trouble, he relaxed and took the initiative to block the only entrance and exit to the tool room.

"Mmph—mmph?"

The Dwarf Warrior was confused; he had been released from his bound state just like that. He moved his hands and feet, and was about to remove the rotten Linen Cloth gagging his mouth, but as soon as he raised his hand, it was struck down by the Human Knight.

"Behave!"

Jier warned: "Untying the Rope on you isn't to let you go; there's no such easy thing."

This Dwarf Warrior was somewhat bewildered, but quickly thought of something and wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Jier again: "Wrong, and it's not to let you go to be some shitty messenger either."

The Dwarf Warrior was confused, and the other Dwarves nearby also couldn't understand what this Human Knight meant.

Jier slightly raised his chin and pointed at the Armor on the Dwarf Warrior's body with his finger, saying: "The only thing you're still useful for is this Armor on your body. Behave, take it off yourself consciously; don't make us go to the trouble of pulling it off. Otherwise, if we do it, you'll have to suffer a bit."

Upon hearing Jier's words, this Dwarf Warrior immediately became indignant, raising his hand to swing his fist and strike this presumptuous Human.

But Jier just lifted his foot and tripped him, unexpectedly knocking the Dwarf Warrior to the ground.

Then he stepped on the back of the fallen Dwarf Warrior, signaling the others around to come forward and subdue him: "Since you don't want to cooperate properly, then beat him. Aim your fists at the places on the head not protected by Armor. Don't worry about beating this Dwarf to death; Dwarves are 'tough guys', their heads are hard, and their tempers are stubborn and sturdy."

Being pinned to the ground by Jier's foot, the Dwarf Warrior couldn't move, and subsequently suffered a beating from the fists of several young men nearby.

After a flurry of blows, the Dwarf's head, face, ears, mouth, and nose were all bleeding, and his struggling movements diminished significantly. Seeing this, Jier immediately called a halt to the others who were intending to kick him.

"That's enough, everyone step back a bit first, leave one person to help me, and we'll take off the Armor on this guy together."

Jier flipped the Dwarf under his feet over and found that the guy had probably been beaten into a mild concussion, and was currently dizzy and had lost the ability to resist or struggle. Jier didn't stand on ceremony; he examined the equipment specifications and logic of the Armor on the Dwarf Warrior, found the easiest places to undo, and instructed the young villager beside him to follow step-by-step to undo the buckles, leather strap locks, and the hidden metal clasps beneath the Metal Armor.

First were the two wrists, followed immediately by taking off the Armor Gloves on the Dwarf's hands, then the articulated joints at the elbows, next the large pieces of Upper Arm Armor, and finally the angular metal shoulder guards.

At this step, losing the cover of the shoulder guards, the part of the Chest Armor connecting to the neck guard was exposed. Taking advantage of this, he removed the precision ring-like metal neck guard, which allowed him to undo the hidden metal clasps of the Chest Armor from the area covered by the neck guard.

At this point, simply undoing the leather belt at the Dwarf Warrior's waist allowed the Metal Breastplate covering the main part of the upper body to be removed. Along with it, the Abdominal Armor, composed of several pieces of articulated armor, was also taken off.

After that, the triangular metal skirt plates covering the vital parts below were also removed in turn. The leg armor was more troublesome; it had to be done in reverse, starting from the Dwarf's Boots, taking off the leg armor from the bottom up.

This Dwarf Warrior probably didn't pay much attention to personal hygiene; after the Boots were taken off, a heavy odor immediately filled the small tool room, causing everyone in the room to change their expressions.

Jier's mouth twitched; he suddenly felt like he had returned to the sewage outlet under Kendall City. Seeing the young man helping to dismantle the Dwarf Armor with an expression of agony, he apologetically suggested: "These Dwarves are just too unhygienic; I don't think we can stay in this room. How about this, I'll drag him to a more open place outside, and we'll do it there, how about that?"

The young man pinched his nose, looking like he wanted to breathe deeply but didn't dare to, and immediately nodded upon hearing Jier's suggestion.

So Jier grabbed the arm of the dizzy Dwarf Warrior on the ground and dragged him to the open space in front of the tool room. The other two young men dragged and carried the Dwarf Armor components out of the room, then went back in to continue guarding the Dwarves.

Once outside, with the air flowing, the smell from the Dwarf Warrior's feet had space to dissipate, and the odor wasn't as pungent, at least bearable for the young men Jier had directed.

Continuing from before, after taking off the pair of Boots, it was the Metal Greaves on the lower legs. Jier looked with some envy at the Dwarf's thick and sturdy pair of Metal Greaves, then looked at his own; they were indeed much thinner, with a thickness only about one-third of that on the Dwarf's legs.

However, he couldn't use this stuff; after all, Dwarves were small with short legs, so the Dwarf's Greaves couldn't be used at all, at least not directly. If he wanted to use them, they would inevitably need to be reheated and forged by a blacksmith to fit the length and structure of a Human's legs.

Jier mainly memorized the mature armor connection structure and craftsmanship of the Dwarf armor, especially how the protective parts of the armor covered and protected the connection parts; many places were interlocked, and if the previous armor component wasn't removed, the next piece of armor couldn't be taken off.

This was clearly a very practical and important armor structure. Excellent armor craftsmen on the Human side could probably make it, but ordinary craftsmen likely lacked the skill to forge these delicate and useful connection components.

After removing the Greaves, it was the knee armor components. Here, like the elbow of the arm, there was a special armor-plate folding technique at the main bending point, which was very magical.

When the Dwarf's leg was straight, the two delicate armor plates above and below the back of the knee covered that area. But when the Dwarf began to move their leg, bending the knee and bringing the back of the knee into contact, the two plates here would actually fold at the connection point, bending along two small internal moving metal axles.

Thereby not hindering the movement of the leg.

This was far more precise than what Jier was wearing, and many Knight Armors he had seen before. Like Kela's armor, the thickness of the armor far exceeded that of the Dwarf armor, but as far as he could see, the inner side of the elbow and the inner side of the knee/leg-pit were not protected by metal plates, but by an unknown animal hide to provide protection.

Although that might be some kind of Magic Beast hide he didn't recognize, which was no less protective than steel and had unique flexibility, it was rare after all, and far inferior to the Dwarf armor protection structure Jier was seeing at this very moment.

"Knight Jier, how should this be opened?"

The young villager who had been replacing Jier in dismantling the armor components looked distressed; he had tried several times but couldn't find the method to dismantle this knee armor component.

Jier glanced at the Dwarf Warrior who was currently pretending to be unconscious, snorted coldly, and without exposing the Dwarf's "acting", he squatted down himself and felt around the back of the Dwarf's knee with his hand.

He thought that armor had to be put on and taken off after all, especially since Dwarves didn't have much manpower, and their armor was the kind that could be put on and taken off by one person without help. Therefore, this armor component that seemed impossible to dismantle must have a trick that the Dwarves themselves knew.

Jier straightened the Dwarf Warrior's smelly feet and carefully felt around the knee armor component with his hand.

Tapping here, knocking there.

He visualized in his mind what it looked like when a Dwarf put on armor by himself, guessing how to smoothly and easily put on and connect the armor components on his own knees.

"If I'm not mistaken, here..."

Jier used his Steel Armor Gloves to flick a piece of metal on the inner side of the knee joint; sure enough, he discovered that while it appeared to be entirely metal, this piece was thinner and lighter than the surrounding armor parts, and possessed a certain degree of elasticity.

"It should be like this, press it with your fingers. Hmm, not enough force; one must account for the fact that Dwarves have great strength, so it must be like this."

Jier applied pressure with his fingers from both sides, and the slightly elastic armor component was pressed down a little. Then, without relaxing his grip, Jier tried to move the Dwarf Warrior's knee armor component; sure enough, the connection here to the thigh armor component loosened.

After wiggling it and pulling it toward the foot, the component came off. He hadn't expected it to be a latch mechanism arranged inside the armor; if one did not know the location of the external switch for the latch, and did not accurately press the switches on both sides simultaneously with both hands, it would be basically impossible to remove this thing.

Of course, this was the method for safe removal; if it were in battle, there would be no need for such trouble—one could simply use a Heavy Weapon to destroy these precise contraptions.

Doing it once more, Jier took the opportunity to remove the knee armor component from the Dwarf Warrior's other leg as well.

Finally, only the thigh Armor remained; because of the thickness of the thigh, this piece was removed from the Dwarf's leg very smoothly.

Thus, after placing the previously removed Dwarf Warrior Helmet to the side, the entire set of ordinary Dwarf Warrior Armor was completely dismantled. The parts were placed on the ground, attracting quite a few Villagers to come over to watch and comment.

The Dwarf Warrior, having been stripped of his armor, was wearing a sturdy, well-fitting set of Linen Cloth clothes. Jier judged that there were at least two layers; one was close to the body and was finer, to ensure the body would not be too uncomfortable.

The other layer was against the armor; this part of the fabric was much coarser, but Jier pinched it with his hand and discovered that although the fabric was coarser, its durability was also stronger, separating the armor from the body to prevent the metal parts on the armor from scratching the body, and also providing a partial cushioning effect against impacts.

"This one is useless, tie him up!" Jier ordered.

Immediately, this Dwarf Warrior was bound up again. Because he had lost the Metal Armor that protected him, this Dwarf Warrior was much more docile overall, lowering his head and letting the Villagers tie him up and escort him back to the tool room.

In the tool room, the Dwarf Soldier Captain saw his companion return having lost the full set of armor on his body, and his expression changed immediately; he knew that the biggest difference between Dwarves and the Humans in the village was the gap in combat power.

But this gap in combat power was actually mostly due to the fact that they, the Dwarves, possessed a complete set of Armor for protection. Without the protection of armor, any martial arts training, any combat experience, and any advantage in weapons were all hollow.

After all, there were few of them; without the absolute advantage in protection, even if Humans used their lives to trade one-for-one in battle, the Dwarves could not endure it.

Even if captured at this moment, as long as the armor on their bodies remained, they would actually still have the strength to fight. But having lost the protection of the armor, relying only on the fact that Dwarf strength was several times greater than that of Humans would not make them opponents. After all, Dwarves were short with short arms, while Humans were tall with long arms; using the same weapons, Humans could strike them first.

'It's over.' He thought, and with that, he closed his eyes in despair.

Perhaps only the Dwarf Soldier Armor on the bodies of these soldiers could slightly block that Human Knight.

But there was little hope; after all, the ordinary armor worn by these Dwarves was actually obtained by specifically imitating the Dwarf Soldier Armor on him and his companions over the past few decades.

The anti-dismantling mechanisms of the armor were all inherited from the same source, and the difference between the two mainly lay in the material of the armor. The material of the armor worn by ordinary Dwarf Warriors was a major byproduct obtained along with the excavation of rare minerals from the local Treasure Mine.

It was a high-purity metal alloy produced by special mineral insects consuming specific metal ores; it had appropriate weight, first-class hardness, and good toughness, making it suitable for making armor.

But the local material was far inferior to the Dwarf Soldier Armor on the soldiers' bodies.

The Dwarf Soldier Armor was made by the Kingdom's specialized Craftsman, using the 【Cursed Steel】 material whose manufacturing method was kept secret, processed through precise manufacturing, and blessed multiple times; not only was its defensive power super strong, but it also had corresponding resistance and protection against the spears used by the wearer themselves, so they would not be killed on the battlefield by enemies or their own side using the same type of weapon.

But all of this was useless.

They had been captured.

Judging by the fact that that Human Knight had dismantled the armor on the ordinary warrior in just this short while, he estimated that the Dwarf Soldier Armor on their soldiers would likely not be able to resist for long either.

'A total failure, I'm truly sorry, Lao Tiequan; we stubborn fellows have ended up causing you some extra trouble after all.'

The Dwarf Soldier Captain twisted a few times on the ground, but because he was bound, he couldn't even manage to hit the wall to commit suicide, and his mouth was also blocked; he was completely helpless.

Soon, Jier dragged the other two Dwarf Warriors out; this time he called over the young men who were guarding, and let the first young man lead the other two to dismantle the armor on these two Dwarf Warriors.

Of course, it was one by one.

With Jier suppressing any possibility of the Dwarf Warriors resisting, the three young men then followed the previous sequence to dismantle the armor on the Dwarf Warriors one by one. If a Dwarf Warrior resisted, everyone would reward the Dwarf Warrior with a few punches.

After several failed attempts at resistance, the two Dwarf Warriors resigned themselves to their fate, were stripped of their armor, and were re-bound and escorted back to the tool room.

Next, it was the turn of the Dwarf Soldiers.

For the first Dwarf Soldier, Jier chose one who was injured and whose resistance was not as strong. As for that Dwarf Soldier Captain, Jier felt it was more appropriate to leave him for last.

Start with the easy ones first.