Chapter 156: Purification Potion! A Large Number of Dwarf Tribes Join the Alliance!

In the tribe's plaza, broken weapon racks and overturned liquor barrels were everywhere.

Dozens of strong Stone Hammer dwarves, holding shields and ropes, formed a circle with grave expressions.

Inside the circle, a dwarf warrior with bloodshot eyes and drool streaming from his mouth was crazily slamming his head against the hard rock wall like a beast.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The dull thudding sounds made every dwarf present tremble in their hearts.

"Hold him down! Quickly! Don't let him slam his head anymore!"

The Patriarch of the Stone Hammer Tribe, Bagelumu, his beard and hair disheveled, roared with a hoarse voice.

His face was filled with exhaustion and heartache.

That crazed dwarf was a nephew he had watched grow up, once one of the bravest warriors in the tribe.

But in that war against the Fire Beard Tribe, to protect his clansmen, he had been forced to consume the "Red Potion."

Although he ultimately survived, he had turned into this unrecognizable state.

Several dwarves swarmed forward, and only after a tremendous effort did they manage to bind the maddened dwarf with ropes and drag him into a makeshift prison nearby.

Such tragedies were playing out every day in the Stone Hammer Tribe and throughout the entire Dwarf Mountains.

"Patriarch."

Mike walked to Bagelumu's side, looking at those former kin in the prison, his eyes filled with sorrow.

"Has Master Falco not arrived yet?"

Bagelumu shook his head and sighed heavily.

"Wait a little longer—he is already our last hope."

Ever since that war ended, the aftereffects of the "Red Potion" had spread through the Dwarf Mountains like a plague.

All the dwarves who had consumed the potion, without exception, had developed varying degrees of madness symptoms.

They lost their reason, became violent and irritable, and attacked every living thing that approached, whether it was an enemy or a relative.

To control the situation, the various tribes could only lock these "patients" up.

But this was not a long-term solution.

Those imprisoned dwarves were weakening day by day.

Some had even already died from exhaustion.

The entire Dwarf Mountains were shrouded in a dark cloud of despair.

Those tribes that had once been jealous of the Stone Hammer Tribe for exclusively enjoying the Strong Liquor of Vanguard Valley could no longer laugh either.

Because in their tribes, there were likewise a large number of warriors who had turned into beasts that only knew how to roar.

They had sent people to ask Bagelumu for help, but Bagelumu himself was also at his wit's end.

He could only pin all his hopes on that young and mysterious human lord, Roko.

"Patriarch! Look! What is that!"

Just then, a dwarf responsible for keeping watch pointed at the distant sky and shouted in surprise.

Everyone looked up in unison.

They saw a giant griffin carrying several figures, flying rapidly from the distant sky toward the direction of the Stone Hammer Tribe.

"It's Master Falco! It's Master Falco and the others!"

Mike shouted excitedly.

Sparks of hope instantly ignited in the eyes of the desperate dwarves.

Soon, the griffin landed steadily in the plaza.

Falco jumped down first, followed by several Storm Knights wearing Obsidian Gold Armor.

"Patriarch Bagelumu, Mike."

Falco looked at the miserable scene in the plaza and Bagelumu's haggard appearance, his brows furrowing tightly.

"The situation is even more serious than I imagined."

"Master Falco, you've finally arrived!"

Bagelumu walked up quickly, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw.

"Does Master Roko—does he have a way?"

"Rest assured, Patriarch."

Falco patted his shoulder, signaling him to be at ease.

"The Lord already anticipated this situation; he had me bring you the antidote."

As he spoke, he took a heavy box from the knight behind him.

Opening the box, hundreds of crystal bottles filled with a pale golden liquid were neatly arranged inside.

These were precisely the "Purification Potion" that Roko had worked overnight to produce using Tain's blood and various precious herbs.

"This is—the antidote?"

Bagelumu looked at those potions shimmering with a soft light, his eyes filled with doubt and anticipation.

"You'll know once you try."

Falco picked up a bottle of the potion and walked to the prison of the maddened dwarf warrior who had just been locked up.

"Hold him down."

Several dwarves worked together to pin the warrior, who was still struggling incessantly, firmly to the ground.

Falco unscrewed the cap and carefully poured the entire bottle of pale golden potion into his mouth.

A miraculous scene occurred.

The moment the potion entered his throat, the dwarf warrior's body shuddered violently.

The madness and violence in his crimson eyes receded rapidly, like a receding tide.

Replacing them was a trace of bewilderment and clarity.

"I... where am I?"

He struggled to sit up from the ground, looking at his kin around him and the ropes on his own body with a confused expression.

"My head... it hurts so much—"

"A... Agni! Do you recognize me?"

Bagelumu asked with a trembling voice as he looked at his nephew who had returned to normal.

The dwarf warrior named Agni raised his head and saw Bagelumu's face clearly.

"Patriarch? I—how could I be here? I remember—I was fighting with the scum of the Fire Beard Tribe—"

His memory was still stuck on the battlefield.

"He's fine! He's fine! He's really fine!"

The surrounding dwarves erupted into cheers that sounded like a mountain collapsing and a sea roaring!

They looked at the box in Falco's hands, their eyes becoming incomparably fanatical!

That was hope!

It was the divine medicine that could save their kin and fellow tribesmen!

"Master Falco! Please, save my son too!"

"And my husband! He also—"

For a moment, all the dwarves crowded around, their eyes filled with anticipation.

"Everyone, don't be anxious, one by one."

Falco said loudly.

"Master Lord has prepared enough medicine this time! I guarantee that every suffering fellow tribesman will be able to receive treatment!"

Under Falco's direction, the Purification Potion was quickly distributed.

One by one, the dwarves who had been tortured by madness miraculously returned to normal after taking the potion.

The entire Stone Hammer Tribe was immersed in the joy of surviving a disaster.

Bagelumu looked at this moving scene before him, his old eyes streaming with tears.

He walked up to Falco and, without any hesitation, fell to one knee with a "thump."

"Master Falco! Please convey to Lord Roko the highest respects from me, Bagelumu, and the entire Stone Hammer Tribe!"

"From this day forward, my Stone Hammer Tribe is willing to go through fire and water for Master Roko, and we will not refuse!"

All the Stone Hammer dwarves behind him also knelt on one knee in unison.

"We are willing to go through fire and water for Master Roko, and we will not refuse!"

The sound, like a mountain collapsing and a sea roaring, echoed in the valley.

At this moment, their Loyalty to Roko climbed to its peak!

It was not just because of the grace of saving their lives, but even more because of the unfathomable, god-like ability that Roko had displayed, which far exceeded their imagination!

Soon, the news that the Stone Hammer Tribe possessed "divine medicine" spread throughout the entire Dwarf Mountains as if it had grown wings.

Those tribal patriarchs who had been watching from the sidelines, or even held some hostility toward the Stone Hammer Tribe, could no longer sit still.

They brought generous gifts and visited in person, begging for the divine medicine from Bagelumu and Falco with humble attitudes.

Following the instructions Roko gave before his departure, Falco did not refuse them.

But he put forward a condition.

If they wanted the medicine, they could have it, but they had to show sufficient sincerity.

Either exchange it with rare ores.

Or sign an agreement to swear to join the dwarf alliance centered on Vanguard Valley, and from then on accept the unified command of Vanguard Valley and the Stone Hammer Tribe.

Faced with the hope of saving their tribesmen and the future supply of endless Strong Liquor,

these dwarf patriarchs chose the latter with almost no hesitation.

Within just a few days, over seventy percent of the forging tribes in the entire Dwarf Mountains had sworn to join the alliance.

The prestige of the Stone Hammer Tribe reached an unprecedented height.

And Roko, the human lord who had never appeared before most of the dwarves, became the de facto "

uncrowned king" of the entire Dwarf Mountains.

After solving the problem of the medicine, Falco did not leave immediately.

He was still investigating another matter.

"Mike, are you sure that the black-robed person who rescued Fire-Melting that day had a scorpion mark on him?"

In the council hall of the Stone Hammer Tribe, Falco looked at Mike before him and confirmed again.

"I am sure!"

Mike nodded forcefully.

"Although his speed was very fast, I definitely did not see wrong! It was a black, lifelike scorpion pattern!"

"Also, I recently heard some news from some dwarves who escaped from the Fire Beard Tribe."

Mike lowered his voice, a trace of fear appearing on his face.

"They said that Fire-Melting is not dead."

"Someone saw him in the depths of the Black Wind Mountains."

"They said that—he was taken into a secret altar by people from the Poison Scorpion Society, and is undergoing some kind of—very evil transformation."

"Transformation?"

Falco's brow furrowed even deeper.

"What kind of transformation specifically?"

"I don't know—"

Mike shook his head.

"Those dwarves only dared to take a glance from afar; they said the area around that altar was filled with a nauseating stench of blood and an ominous aura."

"They also said that Fire-Melting's screams didn't stop for days and nights, and they sounded—not at all like sounds a dwarf could make."

A bad premonition welled up in Falco's heart.

The Poison Exhaustion Society, this persistent organization, what exactly are they trying to do?

And why are they transforming Fire-Melting?

He felt that a greater conspiracy was brewing in the shadows.

He had to report this news to the Master immediately.

Just as Falco was preparing to write a letter, a Stone Hammer dwarf responsible for sentry duty ran in, looking flustered.

"Master Falco! It's bad!"

"Outside the tribe, a—a very strange person has arrived!"

"He said—he is called Roko, and he is here to find you!"

Vanguard Valley, Lingzhu Fu, backyard.

Roko looked with a grave expression at Tain, who was lying on a soft animal-hide mat, fast asleep.

Ever since absorbing that fragment of the "Ancient Elemental Heart" at the Ancient Altar in the Red Leaf Forest, Tain had remained in this state.

Its body was like a small furnace, radiating astonishing heat at every moment.

The surrounding air had become somewhat distorted because of this heat.

Even stranger was that on the surface of its body, faint, seven-colored elemental lights would flash from time to time.

"Master, Tain... it won't be alright, will it?"

Fula stood behind Roko and asked with a face full of worry.

She came to see Tain several times every day, but Tain's condition was getting "worse" day by day.

Two days ago, it was just a high body temperature.

Starting yesterday, small-scale ice and lightning began to fall over Vanguard Valley without any warning.

This morning, strange winds that could blow people away started to howl.

Martina had already sought out several of the most experienced veterinarians and scholars in the territory.

But they were all at their wits' end regarding Tain's condition, and couldn't even figure out what species it was.

"I don't know."

Roko shook his head, reached out, and carefully placed his hand on Tain's head.

A scorching energy instantly transmitted through his palm.

But unlike before, within this scorching energy, he also felt an extremely chaotic and violent elemental torrent.

Gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, light, dark.

Almost every type of element was rampaging inside Tain's tiny body, as if wanting to tear it apart completely.

"So that's how it is."

Roko understood instantly.

Tain was suffering from indigestion.

The energy contained within that "Ancient Elemental Heart" fragment was too vast and complex.

With Tain's current ability, it was simply unable to fully absorb and control it.

If this continued, it would likely die from an energy explosion.

"I can't wait any longer."

Roko's gaze became firm.

He took a deep breath, and the Holy Sun Battle Qi within his body began to circulate slowly.

After advancing to the Silver rank, his control over energy had reached a whole new level.

Perhaps he could attempt to use his own Battle Qi to guide the chaotic energy inside Tain's body.

Although this was dangerous.

Once two completely different energies clashed within his body, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But now, there was no other way.

"Fula, step back a bit, stay further away from me."

Roko said in a low voice.

"Remember, no matter what happens next, do not come near me."

"Yes, Master."

Although Fula was worried, she obediently retreated to the corner of the courtyard.

Roko sat cross-legged and gently placed both hands on either side of Tain's body.

The golden Holy Sun Battle Qi, like a trickling stream, carefully probed into Tain's body.

"Boom!"

The moment Roko's Battle Qi entered Tain's body.

An indescribable, violently peerless elemental torrent surged back at him!

Roko only felt his brain "buzz," as if he had been heavily struck by a giant hammer!

Countless chaotic, fragmented, and bizarre images surged madly into his mind!