Chapter 161: Remnants of the Fire Beard Tribe!

"Great!"

Hart slammed his fist on the table and said excitedly.

"With this money, we can expand the Storm Knights by another double!"

"By then, let alone the orcs, even if the Third Prince's army comes, we can make them never return!"

"Don't be in a hurry about expanding the army."

Roko waved his hand, signaling him to calm down.

"This money must be used where it counts."

"Martina, you immediately prepare a detailed fiscal budget."

"Prioritize ensuring the territory's grain reserves and the construction of various basic infrastructure."

"As for the army, first replace all soldiers' equipment with the Fine grade crafted by the dwarves."

"As for the Obsidian Gold equipment, for now, only equip the core members of the Storm Knights."

"Yes, Master."

Martina nodded and recorded all of Roko's orders.

She knew Roko's decision was correct.

What Vanguard Valley needed most right now was to solidify its foundation, not blind expansion.

"Alright, now, let's talk about the second matter."

Roko's gaze swept over everyone and finally landed on the letter from the Dwarf Mountains on the table.

"Regarding this underground passage leading to the hinterland of the Orc Wasteland."

Mentioning this, everyone's spirits lifted.

"Master, what do you intend to do?"

Falco asked.

"Yesterday, the three issues Martina raised were very reasonable."

Roko said slowly.

"Unknown intelligence, logistical difficulties, and capital shortage."

"Now, the capital issue is temporarily solved."

"But the first two issues still exist."

"Therefore, I have decided to first send a small team into the passage for exploration."

"To figure out the specific situation of the passage, the location of the exit, and the surrounding environment."

"To provide reliable intelligence for our next step."

This decision was steady and rational, and everyone expressed their agreement.

"Hart."

Roko looked at the Knight Captain.

"This mission is entrusted to you."

"I will give you fifty of the most elite Storm Knights."

"Remember, your mission this time is exploration, not combat."

"Once you encounter danger you cannot handle, retreat immediately, understand?"

"Yes, Master!"

Hart straightened his chest and responded loudly.

"Guarantee to complete the mission!"

"Very good."

Roko nodded and then looked at the thin, small Dijing standing to the side.

"Klazz, you go with Captain Hart."

"What? Me?"

Klazz was startled and waved his hands repeatedly.

"No, Master, I—I am just an engineer, I don't know how to fight—"

"I know."

Roko smiled.

"I'm not sending you to fight."

"Don't your designs require Red Copper and Ice Crystal Stone from the Dwarf Mountains?"

"This time, you can just go with the exploration team to the Dwarf Mountains and find Patriarch Bagelumu of the Stone Hammer Tribe."

"Tell him this is my order, and have him fully cooperate with you, providing all the materials and craftsmen you need."

"At the same time, you must also assist the dwarf craftsmen in the preliminary repair and reinforcement of that underground passage."

"Oh, so that's it—"

Klazz breathed a sigh of relief, then became somewhat excited.

Being able to cooperate with the legendary dwarf craftsmen, the best on the continent, was something he had dreamed of.

"Yes, Master! I will definitely teach them everything I have learned!"

Klazz patted his chest and promised.

"Hmm."

Roko nodded with satisfaction.

Letting Klazz go was a decision made after careful consideration.

On one hand, it could solve the problem of materials for the new equipment.

On the other hand, it could utilize Klazz's engineering skills to repair and modify that underground passage.

Once the passage was opened and reinforced, it would become the sharpest dagger in Vanguard Valley's hand, striking directly at the enemy's heart!

This was simply killing two birds with one stone!

"Falco, you just came back from the Dwarf Mountains, so you are more familiar with the situation there."

Roko looked at the other knight.

"You stay behind to assist Martina in handling the daily affairs of the territory, and at the same time, step up the training of the new recruits."

"Yes, Master."

Falco responded.

"Fura, you and Tain also stay in the territory."

"Protect the safety of the Lord's Mansion."

"Yes, Master."

Fura nodded gently, and the little beast Tain in her arms also chirped twice, seemingly indicating agreement.

The tasks were thus assigned.

The entire Vanguard Valley, like a precision machine, began to operate efficiently again.

That afternoon.

Hart led fifty fully armed Storm Knights and the Dijing engineer Klazz on their journey to the Dwarf Mountains.

Each of them wore Fine plate armor crafted by the dwarves and held sharp battle swords.

The warhorses they rode were also one-in-a-hundred elite steeds.

Although the team of fifty was not large, it exuded a heart-palpitating, fierce aura.

Roko stood on the city wall, watching them go until their figures disappeared at the end of the horizon.

"Master, are you worried about them?"

Martina walked to his side and asked softly.

"A little."

Roko did not deny it.

"Hart's temperament is a bit impulsive. I'm afraid he might encounter some accident in the underground passage."

"Don't worry, Master."

Martina comforted him.

"Captain Hart is impulsive, but he is not a fool. He knows the importance of this mission and won't act recklessly."

"Besides, haven't you already given him something to save his life?"

Roko smiled and said nothing.

He had indeed given Hart something before he set off.

It was an amulet he had condensed with his own Holy Sun Battle Qi.

Although it couldn't compare to Tain's Companion Flame Crystal, it was enough to save his life at a critical moment.

"I hope everything goes smoothly."

Roko withdrew his gaze and turned to walk down the city wall.

Next, he had even more important things to do.

Three days later.

Hart's exploration team successfully arrived at the edge of the Dwarf Mountains.

Led by a dwarf guide from the Stone Hammer Tribe, they traversed rugged mountain roads and arrived at the entrance of the legendary underground passage.

It was a giant cave hidden behind a waterfall.

The entrance was blocked tightly by a giant rock weighing tens of thousands of pounds.

If it weren't for the dwarves' innate sensitivity to ore and mountain structures, it would have been impossible to discover the anomaly here.

"This is it, human friend."

The dwarf guide pointed at the giant rock and said.

"We discovered this passage here back then."

Hart looked up at the giant rock, a trace of shock flashing in his eyes.

He walked to the giant rock and extended his hand to push it hard.

The giant rock didn't budge.

"How did you guys manage to open this thing back then?"

Hart asked curiously.

"Hehe, we dwarves have plenty of ways."

The dwarf guide smiled proudly and took out a few things that looked like iron lumps from his bosom.

"This is our specially made alchemy explosive; don't look at it as small, its power is not small."

"Back then, we used this to blow it open."

Hart looked at those black iron lumps, and the corners of his eyes twitched.

He had no doubt that if these things exploded, let alone this giant rock, he estimated that even their group would be sent to the sky together.

"Alright, stop talking nonsense, hurry up and open the door."

Hart urged.

"Alrighty."

The dwarf guide responded, called over a few companions, and skillfully installed the explosives on the giant rock.

With a deafening roar.

The giant rock blocking the cave entrance instantly shattered, and rock fragments flew everywhere.

A bottomless, giant cave entrance exuding an ancient and damp aura appeared before everyone.

On the cave walls were carved some peculiar murals and characters, which looked quite ancient.

"Let's go, let's go in and take a look."

Hart waved his hand and walked into the cave first.

The knights lit torches and followed closely behind; the Dijing Klazz followed at the end of the team, excited, holding a small notebook and constantly recording something.

The passage was even wider than they had imagined.

The ground was paved with an unknown black rock and was very flat.

The air was filled with a faint smell of sulfur and dust.

The team walked cautiously toward the depths of the passage.

The light of the torches swayed in the darkness, stretching everyone's shadows long.

All around was deathly silence, with only the sound of their footsteps and water dripping from the cave ceiling.

They walked for about half an hour.

Hart, who was walking at the very front, suddenly stopped and raised his hand.

"Something's wrong!"

He lowered his voice and said.

All the knights immediately drew their weapons, looking around vigilantly.

"Captain, what's wrong?"

A knight asked in a low voice.

"Up ahead, there's the smell of blood."

Hart's nose twitched.

"And it's very fresh."

Everyone's hearts tightened.

Could it be that there were other living creatures in this passage?

They slowed their pace and crept toward the source of the bloody smell bit by bit.

Soon, they discovered the source of the bloody smell at a corner.

It was a few corpses wearing tattered leather armor.

Judging from their size and appearance, they should be Dijing or Kobolds.

Their state of death was very miserable.

Some had their chests pierced directly by sharp weapons.

Others had been torn in half alive.

Fresh blood stained the ground, looking as if they hadn't been dead for long.

"Are they adventurers?"

A knight guessed.

"Doesn't look like it."

Hart shook his head.

"Look at their equipment, it's too poor. And there are no identity markers on them."

"More like indigenous people here?"

Just then, Klazz, who had been following behind, suddenly let out an exclamation.

"I know who they are!"

He pointed to a scorpion pattern drawn in fresh blood on one of the corpses and said.

"This—this is the mark of the Fire Beard Tribe!"

"Fire Beard Tribe?"

Hart frowned.

"The dwarf tribe that was fighting the Stone Hammer Tribe before?"

"Yes!"

Klazz nodded forcefully.

"I heard Patriarch Bagelumu say that the Fire Beard Tribe likes to use this kind of poisonous scorpion as their totem!"

Why would people from the Fire Beard Tribe appear here?

A bad premonition surged into Hart's heart.

"Everyone be careful! The enemy might be nearby!"

He shouted a warning.

However, his voice had just fallen.

A burst of dense whistling sounds suddenly rang out from the darkness above their heads!

"Ambush! Raise shields!"

Hart roared and immediately raised the giant shield in his hand above his head.

"Clang! Clang!"

A burst of dense metal collision sounds rang out.

Countless poisoned crossbow bolts shot onto the knights' shields and armor like raindrops.

Fortunately, they were all wearing Fine plate armor, which had astonishing defensive power.

This wave of arrow rain did not cause them much damage.

But this also completely enraged these knights, who already had fiery tempers.

"Son of a bitch scum! If you have the guts, come out and fight one-on-one!"

Hart roared, slamming a shield toward the darkness from where the crossbow bolts were fired.

A muffled groan came from the darkness.

Immediately after, dozens of short, sturdy black shadows holding battle axes and scimitars jumped down from the cave walls.

Each of them had red eyes and carried a crazy, bloodthirsty expression on their faces.

It was exactly the dwarves of the Fire Beard Tribe!

"Kill them!"

The leading Fire Beard dwarf raised the battle axe in his hand and roared as he charged up.

"Looking for death!"

A cold light flashed in Hart's eyes.

He met the Fire Beard dwarf, advancing instead of retreating, and the battle sword in his hand drew a sharp arc.

"Puff!"

A soft sound.

The Fire Beard dwarf's head flew directly into the air.

Hot fresh blood sprayed all over Hart.

"Kill!"

Hart roared like an angry lion and charged into the enemy's formation.

The Storm Knights followed closely behind.

A tragic hand-to-hand combat instantly broke out in this narrow underground passage!

The sounds of killing, weapon collisions, and screams wove into a bloody movement in the narrow underground passage.

Hart and the Storm Knights under his command were like a red-hot branding iron, slamming into butter.

The Obsidian Gold equipment on their bodies shimmered with a cold and deadly light under the reflection of the fire.

The dwarves of the Fire Beard Tribe were fearless of death.

But their weapons could only make a harsh friction sound when they hit the Obsidian Gold armor.

Leaving white scratches, they couldn't break the defense at all.

And the Storm Knights' battle swords could easily tear through the simple leather armor on their bodies, taking away one fresh life after another.

This was a massacre without suspense.

Hart was even more unstoppable.

Every time the battle sword in his hand swung out, an enemy was bound to fall.

His body was already stained red with blood, unable to distinguish whether it was the enemy's or his own.

But he didn't care at all.

He only knew: Kill! Kill! Kill!

Kill all these scum who dared to ambush them!

The battle came quickly and went quickly.

In just over ten minutes.

Dozens of Fire Beard Tribe dwarves all fell into a pool of blood.

On the Storm Knights' side, a few people suffered minor injuries, but it was nothing serious.

"Damn it, a bunch of dogs who don't know life from death!"

Hart stepped on a Fire Beard dwarf who wasn't quite dead yet and spat fiercely.

"Check the battlefield and see if there are any survivors!"

He panted heavily and gave the order. **CHAPTER 162**