Chapter 163: Welcoming the Bride

At the request of the challengers, all participants in this challenge used standard armor, and the weapons used were all wooden training equipment. On one hand, they were wary of the Snuori Family's financial power; on the other, it was to avoid damaging friendly relations.

Sinuoli, of course, had no objections to this; as long as it wasn't a group brawl, he could completely take down a Little Beard and then manually pick his hammer back up.

Since Hemujiade Yaosai was not far from Weifengbao, many of the Empire Dwarfs there had marital ties with those here. Because Sinuoli had stayed a few days longer waiting for Sir Meng-ke to take office, his reputation as the "Storm Hammer" had already spread throughout Weifengbao.

The first challenger had certainly taken care to note Sinuoli's technical and tactical characteristics. Facing the specialty of the flying hammer, he chose to quickly close the distance after Master Haleke gave the order, hoping not to give Sinuoli a chance to throw the hammer.

Forcing casters, archers, and Rune Smiths—who are similar to them—into close-quarters combat, which they are relatively less skilled at, is considered a conventional way of countering them, but this was of no use against Sinuoli.

He watched the Little Beard opposite him hopping left and right, even rolling on the ground to reach his front, but before the Little Beard could even swing the Battle Axe in his hand, he was struck directly in the face by a Storm Hammer and fell straight down.

Although a wooden hammer was used, with the bonus from the skill and the close distance, Sinuoli saw that the Little Beard's nose bridge had already been broken, and his unconscious face was covered in blood.

"I'll hit the chest next time!" Sinuoli muttered secretly to himself.

"May the Ancestor Goddess bless you!" Sinuoli waited until Master Haleke announced that the outcome was decided before stepping forward twice and reaching out to stroke the top of the Little Beard's head.

He once again chose the healing option from the Valaya Ritual; a green light appeared on the Little Beard, and in the blink of an eye, his injuries were healed.

Sinuoli felt that his prestige had now reached another level, and he had a decent force on hand. Considering that he would need to organize an expedition team later—or, in terms of scale, an Expeditionary Force would be more appropriate—

he believed it was time for his clansmen to know that his relationship with the Ancestor Goddess was solid enough. Such a miracle, as expected, attracted every clansman in the hall.

"Praise the Mother Goddess!"

"Valaya be above, he is willing to pray for the challenger; he is truly merciful!"

"The Ancestor Gods have returned to our side; the Golden Age of the Qunshan will come again!"

The cheers of the clansmen were enough to lift the ceiling of the stone hall. Although Sinuoli's title as the Chosen of the Goddess was already known to everyone in the Qunshan, witnessing the divine grace with their own eyes still made every Dwarf extremely excited.

Sinuoli saw that his revival points had started to skyrocket again. Healing a single injured person did not cost much, but the current Kalake-Zifulin was a blue ocean for spreading faith.

Sinuoli looked at the numbers in the system. In Kalake-Hern, he had emptied his accumulated points to heal the wounded from the Twilight Sisters' raid. Later, he spent five hundred points to apply the Vigorous Effect to Queen Mother Mali.

Since then, he had gained some points from battles along the way, but because Skarsnik before Fearless Fort was not yet the future general of Eight Peaks, and Hemujiade was a fortress belonging to the Empire, his points had just barely broken the two-thousand mark.

Amidst the praise, the guy who had been knocked out by a Storm Hammer rubbed his cheeks and sat up. He was wondering why he had suffered a heavy blow yet remained unscathed, but he soon understood what had just happened from the shouts of the surrounding clansmen.

The surrounding clansmen asked him loudly about the feeling of receiving divine grace. This Little Beard was quite clever; although he had been defeated in one move in the challenge, he still seized this opportunity to raise his own status.

He cupped his hands to Sinuoli, praised the Mother Goddess a few times, then jumped off the high platform to go among the enthusiastic clansmen to preach the grace of the Mother Goddess.

Sinuoli struck while the iron was hot and added fuel to the fire. After waiting for his skill cooldown to end, he signaled to Master Haleke that the next challenger could take the stage.

Master Haleke called out twice, but the remaining local young Dwarf talents began to shrink back. Losing to the Chosen of the Ancestor Goddess, Master Sinuoli of the Storm Hammer, was not shameful, but it would be very embarrassing if one couldn't even take a single move.

Seeing these Little Beards like defeated quails, the surrounding middle-aged and elderly clansmen, who had witnessed the divine grace and respected Sinuoli even more, laughed and scolded them.

"Hahaha, spineless fellows, no wonder Princess Pamila is going to marry into Everpeak!"

"Calling out happily just a moment ago, now you're going to lose face for the Clan!"

"Their ancestors must be blushing in the halls of the Mother Goddess!"

Young Dwarfs are always hot-blooded, and finally, the second challenger jumped onto the stage.

"Hmph! Throwing a hammer from afar to hit people is not the act of a hero! Let me, Beast Hammer, demonstrate before the Mother Goddess what a true warrior is!"

This young Dwarf used a one-handed Warhammer and a Shield. Although he shouted loudly, his body was very honest after getting on the stage.

Compared to Human friends who only knew a general idea, Dwarf compatriots knew more details about Sinuoli's story.

After being saved from death by the Mother Goddess, Sinuoli also received extracurricular tutoring from the creator of the Dwarf script and was passed down two lost Master-class Runes.

Relying on those two Runes, he was successfully rated as a Rune Master. Afterward, he attached one of them to his own Warhammer; the power of the Master-level Throwing Rune allowed him to retrieve the thrown weapon.

Considering that Sinuoli was now using a training wooden hammer, which could not be retrieved after being thrown, the Dwarf opposite him did not advance, maintaining a distance of ten meters, protecting his front with a Shield, and moving back and forth with small, shuffling steps.

His combat experience was quite rich, and his little calculations were clicking away. In his view, Sinuoli was the anxious party because of his higher status; if he maintained a defensive posture, Sinuoli would certainly have to take the initiative to attack.

Otherwise, if the Chosen of the Goddess and some Beast Hammer stood on the stage for a long time without making a move, it would be a loss of face for Sinuoli no matter how it spread.

And if Sinuoli didn't use the flying hammer and engaged in close-quarters combat, he at least wouldn't be defeated in one move. And if he insisted on throwing, then with focused defense, it was very likely to be blocked. By then, even if Sinuoli were as heroic as the legends said, empty-handed he would be nothing more than a griffin without claws!

"Heh! Still underestimating the power of my skills!" Sinuoli thought to himself, but his hands were not slow, and he fired off a Storm Hammer.

The Little Beard failed to react in time and was blasted onto his Shield. Although the damage might not have been enough, the stun effect still made him fall to the ground as expected.

Thanks to Chen Yexiong, Lingdu Aobaniu for the tips, MENGMO, Half-Dead Evil, Xiaoyue Tiankong, First Legion Loyalty, 19th Century? Tou, Wenfeng Yue, and book friends for the monthly tickets.