Chapter 206: Malagor—Dark Omen

After discovering the tracks of the behemoth, Sinuoli became anxious. He rewarded the Ranger who brought the news with two pieces of Oath Gold, first for the information he brought back, and second for his discretion in keeping it secret and telling him privately.

If the clansmen were to know that a behemoth beyond the strength of mortals to resist was prowling nearby, it would undoubtedly be a massive blow to morale. In such a situation, if anyone decided to break away from the main force, it would likely be a death sentence with no hope of survival.

"Faster, we must go faster, brothers, hold on!" Sinuoli had the guards set up the Doom Anvil by the roadside, and he stood upon it to cheer on the clansmen passing by.

"Moo! Moo!"

"Minotaurs!"

"Form ranks! Everyone else, get out of the way!"

Most of the clansmen had passed by Sinuoli when the Beastmen caught up. The booming voice of Qiangsen-Jian Dun proved effective once again in the noisy environment, and the Anvil Guards quickly formed ranks to face the pursuers alongside the rearguard.

Sinuoli saw a dozen or so bipedal bull-monsters, and behind them, more dust was being kicked up by the rest of their kin. These creatures hunched their backs and lowered their heads, pointing their horns—which only needed one thrust to disembowel an opponent—downward to gore.

Watching the Minotaurs charge with the force of a thunderbolt, every Anvil Guard felt a secret panic; there were no such high-impact creatures in the Earth Vein Network. But their oaths and courage compelled them to hold their ground.

"These 'pure-love war gods' are truly model workers; they are indispensable in every world!" Sinuoli certainly would not sit by and watch a tragedy unfold. As a large unit, Minotaurs could charge at high speed even in the forest, as they would simply trample the low-lying brush.

"Earth, unleash your fury!" The Rune of Wrath and Ruin caused the ground along the Minotaurs' charge path to crack open. Due to the concentration of magical power in Aisuoluolun Senlin, the potency of Sinuoli's runes was also enhanced.

However, Minotaurs were monsters truly born for war; they had thick fur, and their bulging, muscular bodies were covered in rough but heavy armor. Sinuoli's runes could only interrupt their charge, causing little actual damage.

The Minotaurs brandished their axes and closed in on the Dwarf ranks. They possessed a strong desire for battle, craving slaughter and flesh.

This group of Minotaurs dual-wielded one-handed battle axes, perhaps because their original opponents, the Wood Elves, were almost all lightly armored, allowing for increased killing efficiency.

Yet their one-handed axes were larger than the Dwarfs' two-handed battle axes, and combined with the Minotaurs' bodies, which were even more robust than an Ogre's, they could still transmit the impact through the armor into the Dwarfs' bodies.

The Anvil Guards' line was shaken, and their Meteorite Iron Armor creaked under the monstrous strength born of Chaos mutation. Sinuoli could even smell the bloody stench wafting from the Minotaurs' flared nostrils.

"Spray them! Otherwise, we won't be able to shake these guys off!"

Following Sinuoli's order, the Irondrakes opened fire, and over a dozen tongues of flame licked toward the Minotaurs. The creatures' fur was ignited, and the grease from the victims they had wantonly slaughtered and devoured became an accelerant.

The fuel specially concocted by the Dwarf Engineers kept the flames burning for a long time, which undoubtedly signaled the Dwarf unit's position to the enemies hiding in the darkness—a move that could be called drinking poison to quench thirst.

"Move quickly!" Sinuoli covered the wounded as they hurried to catch up with the group.

"Why aren't we moving ahead? Why stop?" A moment later, Sinuoli realized something was wrong.

"Master, there is a narrow valley ahead!" The news was passed back from the front of the group.

"Isn't that a good thing? Easy to defend and hard to attack, it's the perfect place to spend the night!" Snuolan was very confused.

"But, but it's a dead end!" Balin ran over; Sitelinge, who was scouting ahead, had sent him to negotiate with Sinuoli. "How will we get out once we go in?"

"Are we supposed to set up a formation at the mouth of the valley then!" Sinuoli roared.

"Boom!"

Just as they were speaking, a massive boulder landed beside Sinuoli, and two poor clansmen were sent flying by the shock!

Looking at the rock, which was about the size of an adult Dwarf, every experienced Dwarf knew where it had come from!

"Giant!"

"Quick, get inside!"

Now no one questioned Sinuoli's order to continue deep into the valley. Giants were not a variant of giants, but rather distant relatives of the Minotaurs. Unlike those creatures that could only brawl with rough tree trunks, these behemoths could throw rocks or other hard objects they found with greater force than a catapult.

The Dwarfs began to crowd quickly into the valley. Sinuoli called out loudly for Sitelinge; this Prince displayed the trait of remaining calm in a crisis, and he and his sister-in-law Pamila led the guards to maintain order, preventing potential crowding and trampling.

Sinuoli took the opportunity to command the combat troops to form a line, buying time for the civilians to fully enter the valley.

"Heh-haha, shorty, you've found yourself a fine graveyard!" A Bray-Shaman with black wings rose from the forest, which had fallen into darkness. Its voice was not loud, but the blasphemous whispers seemed to pour directly into the Dwarfs' chests, making their hearts itch.

"Malagor the Dark Omen!" Sinuoli recognized the Beastman lord in mid-air by those pitch-black wings and the motley collection of blasphemous symbols on its body.

"Is it really him?" Balin's voice trembled slightly. "Malagor is depicted by the followers of Sigmar as a symbol of blasphemy. The Sigmar Cult has sealed all ancient scrolls depicting this profane thing; those priests claim that merely reading the words slandering the gods is enough to cause one's mind to collapse."

"What else could it be? Aren't those black wings the best signature of the Crow Father!" Sinuoli watched the legendary Beastman lord, who wouldn't stop spouting nonsense in the air, and he involuntarily tightened his grip on his Warhammer.

"Wretches, thank me, the Seer of the True Gods, for granting you a glorious evolution!" Malagor hovered in the air, the blasphemous items hanging from its body swaying in the wind. From the mangled flesh of Human priests to the filthy fragments of holy scriptures.

Following Malagor's shouts and gestures, a wave of dark power spread out with it as the source. Sinuoli tried to use the Doom Anvil to interfere with its spellcasting, but it was clear that the Dark Omen had strong control over magic.

Unexpectedly, Sinuoli and the Dwarf warriors around him felt nothing unusual. Before they could even mock the ineffective spell, they heard beastly screams and roars coming from the direction of the group that had already entered the valley.

"What's happening? Could there be an ambush in the valley?" Sinuoli's heart trembled.