Chapter 430

Ang extended one finger and shot a red light onto the surface of the iron ball.

"Ku Bada! Skin-spot removal spell? Can this spell be used like this? This isn't some customer's face from Meishencheng!" Negrilis thought Ang was about to pull out some divine artifact, but instead it was just the skin-spot removal spell—could this spell even be used like this?

"Brilliant!" Du Luo kicked his thigh and couldn't help but praise: "Is there impurity in the iron? Of course there is—it all depends on how the lord defines it. If you define carbon as impurity, you get pure iron; if you define iron as impurity..."

But no matter what you define as impurity, after being sprayed by the skin-spot removal spell, nothing stays intact—chunks of iron sand tumbled out with a rustling sound.

Ang chose to spray upward; the shattered iron sand rolled and flowed downward under gravity, forming a steadily deepening hole in the ball's outer shell.

No need to dismantle the whole thing—just one small hole is enough. Everyone's souls could probe inside and examine the internal structure.

Du Luo was now intensely curious about the internal structure: such a massive iron ball—what powered it? There were no visible mechanical parts on the shell—what force made it roll?

Although the skin-spot removal spell was highly effective, piercing through the entire iron ball required two or three hours. Ang kept casting it for over two hours before finally drilling through the two-and-a-half-meter-thick outer shell.

Du Luo couldn't wait to send his consciousness inside.

The six-meter-diameter iron ball, minus its two-and-a-half-meter-thick shell, left only one meter of internal space—within that one-meter diameter, the most prominent feature was a small teleportation array, piled high with magic crystals.

These magic crystals were glued together with a sticky substance and affixed to the teleportation array, so even as the iron ball rolled, they wouldn't shift or rattle loose.

"Sss—genius design! I wondered how energy was fed in without an intake port—I guessed maybe soul energy powered it, but no—it's the teleportation array!"

The teleportation array only took in, never released—but it didn't matter, since nothing needed to be taken out.

Besides the teleportation array, the inner walls held other arrays, and at the very center was a circular iron cage containing a fist-sized animal skull.

It possessed a soul far more vigorous than its tiny body warranted, yet now it was dazed, its bones scattered across the entire cage—clearly shattered by the Earth Hammer's impact.

"Lord Negrilis, take a look—what kind of animal is this bone from?" Du Luo stepped aside.

Negrilis probed inside with his consciousness: "I can't identify it—it looks like some kind of rodent bone. But I recognize the arrays on the inner walls: magnetic induction spells from Arcane Magic, stacked repeatedly to amplify a certain effect. But strangely, there are identical arrays on both sides of the center, yet their directions are reversed."

"Lord of Knowledge, you're incredible—you spotted it at a glance! I thought so too, but wasn't sure. Come on, Silvercoin, take a look." Du Luo said.

Silvercoin leaned in and glanced: "Looks like a hamster's skull. The empty spaces on both sides of the jaw—those are cheek pouches, used to store lots of food."

"So it's a hamster. Why put a hamster skull inside an iron ball? This sealed space blocks the breath of death—within a few years, the soul would wither and die." Du Luo exclaimed.

Negrilis said: "No problem. When you send in magic crystals, just toss in a few soul crystals. The hamster skull will pick them out and absorb them from among the magic crystals."

That made sense—it's a skull, not a real hamster. Even a real hamster would pick out sunflower seeds from stones.

"Is the hamster in the cage meant to spin the cage itself?" Negrilis speculated.

No sooner had he spoken than the hamster skull's eye sockets flared briefly—its scattered bones were drawn together by soul force, reassembling into a complete hamster skeleton.

Ignoring the sudden presence of the consciousness, the hamster skull sprinted inside the cage, causing the cage to spin rapidly.

The entire internal array of the iron ball activated instantly: as the cage rotated half a turn, the magnetic induction array ahead flared; another half-turn, the array behind flared—alternating, the arrays triggered in sequence, making the entire iron ball creak and shake.

Du Luo used his consciousness to halt the cage inside. The hamster skull lunged forward, rolled once along the cage's inner wall, then stopped, lifting its head blankly toward the unfamiliar consciousness—it could no longer ignore the incoming presence.

Du Luo sighed: "I get how the iron ball rolls now—strong magnetism. The hamster skull spins the cage, which repeatedly activates the magnetic induction arrays on the walls, generating magnetic forces that make the ball sway, the sway growing until it rolls."

"So simple?" Negrilis exclaimed. "No wonder it resists so many attacks—this design is too simple. Unless the Spirit Hammer stunned the hamster skull, no one could stop it. Isn't that great? Simple structure, less likely to break."

Du Luo grumbled: "Not great at all. Simple structure means narrow application. Guess how it rolls?"

As he spoke, Du Luo kicked the ground.

"Iron ore!? It rolls because there's a massive deposit of magnetic iron ore beneath it. So if it leaves here, it's useless?" Negrilis realized.

He pulled up the internal text and asked—then froze: "I didn't notice. The Round and Round Demon appeared in many places, but I didn't record them. I don't know if they were mining areas."

Thus, the Round and Round Demon's practicality plummeted—from a marvel that amazed Du Luo to something he now scorned. With such narrow application, it was better to melt the iron and forge thousands of blades.

Negrilis didn't share Du Luo's expectations for new technology—he didn't care. "Useless? Fine. As long as it's useful here, roll on—crush your way to Tieshacheng."

Ang's consciousness probed inside and discovered the hamster's soul bore a mark—it was a hamster skull owned by someone else.

He crushed the hamster skull's soul, reformed a new soul flame, and placed it inside—the new hamster skull now belonged to Ang.

He plugged the hole with mud, used his soul to make the hamster skull run—and with a creaking sound, the giant iron ball began rolling.

…

The gates of Tieshacheng were tightly shut, barricaded with sandbags to prevent them from being smashed open.

The guards on the walls were bewildered and anxious: their lord had been killed; the major miner, Ba Mos, wielding the Staff of Undeath, led undead guards into the city to purge the remnants of the lord's faction.

Because Tieshacheng was a mining district, it was unusually fortified—most buildings were constructed like fortresses. Even with undead guards, Ba Mos couldn't quickly eliminate the holdouts barricaded in these fortresses.

But victory belonged to Ba Mos—he held the Staff of Undeath. His undead guards didn't need food or rest; simply blockading the city would starve the enemy to death.

The guards on the walls had already surrendered. After all, neither the lord nor Ba Mos were good men—they kept slave laborers, trafficked slaves, forced mining—people died every year.

The mines were pitch-dark, accidents frequent, labor intense, protections inadequate—deaths were common. But Ba Mos had one terrible habit: he kept necromancers.

Rumor had it Ba Mos had acquired a secret method to increase the chance of turning ordinary corpses into necromancers, often producing dim-witted liches.

These necromancers were tireless, thick-skinned, strong, didn't need to breathe or eat—perfect miners.

But this practice was illegal. The Undead Empire strictly cracked down on unauthorized necromancer creation, let alone enslavement and imprisonment.

But how many people were there in the Undead Empire? The mining district was vast—hide in any mine shaft, and no one could find you. Only these local guards had faint rumors about it.

But the lord wasn't much better—he was cruel to his men too. Neither was good. Whoever ruled didn't matter—until yesterday, a squad of bone dragon knights flew in.

They noticed the fighting, landed to inquire, then immediately declared this illegal, ordering Ba Mos to cease his rebellion.

Ba Mos refused to listen. Relying on his Staff of Undeath, he ignored the bone dragon knights entirely.

Bone dragons were ineffective in cities, especially fortress-style ones like Tieshacheng. Eventually, they could only hover helplessly in the air—five of them broke formation and flew north.

The rest began rotating: four remained circling overhead, four disappeared to rest, returning at dusk to switch.

Now Ba Mos was alarmed. These bone dragon knights were clearly targeting him—the ones that flew off were surely seeking reinforcements.

Ba Mos immediately ordered intensified efforts: eliminate the city's remaining resistance before enemy reinforcements arrived, so he could focus on the bone dragon knights.

To delay the reinforcements, he even deployed his secret weapon.

Progress had been slow because Ba Mos wanted to preserve strength—he didn't want heavy losses in street fighting. Since time wasn't urgent, starving them out was cheaper.

Now time was critical. He abandoned caution. Progress surged. By midnight, most key resistance points had been cleared—other areas, hearing the news, surrendered. Only the alchemy workshop remained unconquered.

Ba Mos personally oversaw the assault on the alchemy workshop—it was too vital. All the most valuable assets Tieshacheng had developed over the years were stored here.

"Be careful! Every single sheet of paper here is worth more than your life. Each one likely records an alloy formula or a construct design. Damage one, and I'll throw you into the mine to dig until you die!" Ba Mos bellowed, completely unaware this would paralyze his men.

After half a day, they'd advanced barely a few meters. His men couldn't take it anymore and rushed over to complain: "My lord, this is causing too many casualties! Let us use heavy weapons? What? No? Then we'll have to negotiate surrender."

"Negotiate? How? Those big dwarves are stubborn as rocks. What's your plan?" Ba Mos knew it was hard to take, but heavy weapons were absolutely out of the question.

The alchemy workshop's contents were too precious. He could spare men to surround it and starve them out—it was the last holdout anyway.

"I heard these big dwarves love alcohol. Let's bring in wine and lure them?" one of his men suggested.

"Good. Do it."

Soon, carts of fine wine arrived. Someone shouted toward the workshop: "Surrender! Our lord offers fine wine, food, and beauties—favorable terms. Surrender quickly!"

The workshop, previously silent, suddenly emitted a loud gulp—then more and more swallowing sounds followed.

After a long pause, a gruff voice bellowed: "What kind of wine? Bring some for us to taste. If it's good, we'll surrender."

Several carts of wine were pushed forward. Ba Mos added from afar: "Surrender, and you'll have all the wine you want."

A filthy dwarf emerged from the workshop—but this dwarf was tall, at least two meters, a head taller than everyone else.

He had long arms, broad shoulders, thick waist, short legs—like a living wall. No wonder Ba Mos's men called them "big dwarves"—they were just scaled-up dwarves. If you enlarged Copperbeard's dwarves proportionally, they'd look exactly like this.

The big dwarf licked his cracked lips and growled: "Real wine? First, if it's not good, we won't surrender. The bloodline of Lei Ting produces only heroes who die fighting—not cowards who surrender."

Ba Mos and his men were stunned. What? No surrendering cowards? Does that mean surrendering for wine doesn't count?

The big dwarf grabbed a barrel, tore off the seal, and guzzled it down. After a few swallows, he spat: "What is this? Garbage? So disgusting."

He spat again, then kept guzzling, grimacing as he finished the entire barrel. He threw the empty barrel aside and cursed: "Too sour. Disgusting."

Watching the shattered barrel, not a drop left, Ba Mos and his men were dumbfounded—was it bad or good? If it was bad, why did he drink it all? Was this big dwarf just here to scam wine?

The big dwarf tore open another barrel of different wine, took a few swallows, and said: "This is just my usual rum. Not bad, but it's not good wine. You think this crap will make us surrender? Dream on!"

Ba Mos was certain now—the big dwarf was just here to scam wine. He was about to order him killed when the ground suddenly trembled.

Before he could wonder what was happening, a thunderous crash echoed—dust rose from the direction of the city gate—the gate had been smashed open by something.

The booming sound drew closer, the ground shook more violently, nearly vibrating—nearby undead guards, sensing something, turned simultaneously toward the same direction.

Soon, Ba Mos saw what was shaking the earth: his own secret weapon—the Round and Round Demon construct.

"What's going on? How did Round and Round come back? And it smashed the gate?" Ba Mos gasped.

The giant iron ball rolled to a stop not far from Ba Mos, still swaying back and forth, maintaining its rolling motion.

A stunted Huang Tong dragon flew out from behind the iron ball. It was about to speak, but then spotted the wine carts—and its eyes lit up.

Negrilis hadn't drunk wine in ages. He'd drunk it in life, but never since death. Even when Ang brewed, Negrilis hadn't tasted it—he'd been longing for it.

Now his body was alive, capable of tasting—he flew straight to the wine cart, tore open a barrel, stuck out his tongue, tasted a drop—and spat: "Pah! What is this? Garbage?"