Chapter 230: The Giant Scorpion and the Giant Spider

"Let's give it a try!" Buluokesen loaded his double-barreled rifle with high-explosive shells and fired at the sandy ground, but nothing appeared except for two craters.

"Let me do it!"

Seeing that Buluokesen's probing had little effect, Sinuoli stood up from his seat himself. He struck his Rune of Wrath and Ruin, and a burst of flame and dust erupted beneath the sand.

A giant scorpion-like creature with a massive stinger on its tail and a pair of pincers as large as warhorses burst out from the ground, charging toward Sinuoli amidst the sky-filling rain of sand.

The well-prepared Dwarf Prince threw the warhammer in his hand once again. The giant construct, struck by the weapon, stiffened slightly in mid-air as a large number of projectiles impacted its body.

It was pieced together from a pile of stones, metal, painted wood, and bones bound together. Compared to the Bone Giant carved from stone or the Warsphinx, it was relatively fragile.

These Tomb Scorpions were said to have been born to protect the realm of souls from the plundering of dark powers; Nehekharan mythology records that they guard the entrance to the underworld here.

The Dwarfs' ranged firepower hindered it for a moment, but this construct, which feared neither death nor pain, still marched forward on its eight segmented legs toward the Dwarfs, its tail hook swaying and ready for action.

Sinuoli struck his Slow Rune once again; the efficacy of the Doom Anvil had shortened the recharge time and usage interval of his runes. But Sinuoli was surprised to find that the effect of the rune was not obvious on the giant scorpion; the incantations on its body seemed to provide some magic resistance.

In fact, Tomb Scorpions are mobile tombs for the Liche Priests of the Mortuary Cult. The soul of the spellcaster provides vitality to the construct, as well as some magic resistance, capable of weakening or even directly nullifying magic.

Looking at those huge pincers, even the bravest Dwarf felt a chill; no one wanted to test whether their armor was sturdy enough. In the haste, one Dwarf rushed out ahead of the crowd, charging straight toward the giant scorpion; his clansmen all thought this reckless fellow was a Slayer.

Before they could cheer or lament for this warrior, the Dwarf suddenly lay down on the ground. The surrounding warriors only thought that his blood had rushed to his head and he had gotten scared after rushing out, so they muttered and formed a shield wall, preparing to take the hit.

Suddenly, the incantations on the giant scorpion flashed once, and then "Puff!" they extinguished. Sinuoli seized the opportunity to land a Thunder Strike; the giant scorpion's charge speed plummeted, failing to break the Dwarfs' shield wall.

What awaited it next were hammers and ranged weapons striking from all directions. Its tail stinger, which it relied on for its ferocity, was chopped off by an axe from Rogov, and it was subsequently blasted into paralysis on the ground by several rocket rounds.

The Dwarfs cheered, and the warrior who had rushed out walked back; Sinuoli looked down and saw it was Andemuge, who had presented the map earlier.

"Well done, lad! How did you do that?" Sinuoli praised him.

"My ancestor's notes record that there is a mummy in the abdominal cavity of this type of scorpion-shaped construct; if it can be destroyed, it will greatly weaken its power!" Andemuge demonstrated; after lying down, he raised his battle axe and accurately sliced open the giant scorpion's belly.

Sinuoli recorded a merit for the young Ranger. The Tomb Scorpion was inlaid with quite a bit of gold, silver, and jewelry, which the Dwarfs naturally pried off. Afterward, they flipped it over, poured out the jars containing the Liche Priest's important organs, and took the other burial goods.

The team then continued forward, and before nightfall, they finally entered the Nan Shijie Bianyuan Shanmai. After setting up sentries and resting for a night, the Dwarfs continued their march. Five days later, the scouting helicopter brought back new information.

"Twenty kilometers ahead is Zhuwangshan; that place, it truly lives up to its reputation!" Auerte-Yanmei climbed out of the cockpit. He looked somewhat worried; it was clear this was not for his own mission, but for the army's path ahead.

"Tell us slowly!" Balin handed him a mug of beer. By this point, the team's supplies were becoming somewhat tight. Dry rations and meat were fine; the Dwarf marching staple, stone bread, was easy to carry and store, and very filling.

Meat was supplemented by the Amazon warriors hunting in the jungles along the way; compared to being mercenaries and hacking people, this was their true profession. Being skilled at jungle warfare was, after all, one of the reasons Sinuoli hired them.

Only beer had become the supply that needed the strictest control. Balin was now Sinuoli's chief civil official; he and his subordinates were responsible for managing military supplies, the merit book, drawing and compiling maps, and so on. And every time Balin tallied the remaining supplies, he would find that the beer had inexplicably decreased; there was nowhere to replenish this stuff.

"Gulp!" Auerte took a swig. "By Mogelimu! That fortress, by Grungni's beard, looking at it from the sky, one would never imagine it was still a fortress!"

Sinuoli, having read the previous adventure notes, knew what he meant. Zhuwangshan was not originally called by this name; it was named by later adventurers after seeing its brand-new appearance.

After the Dwarfs abandoned the fortress complex in the Nan Shijie Bianyuan Shanmai, an Arachnarok Spider Empress, who was called, or perhaps called herself, Anglian, usurped the original Zhuwangshan fortress. She spun webs and laid eggs there, and her descendants continued this process there as well.

A thousand years later, when the first Dwarf adventurers attempting to reclaim their homeland returned there, they were all stunned by the sight that met their eyes: the parts of the fortress exposed to the surface and the surrounding mountains were all covered in dense, white spider webs.

From then on, this fortress received the name Zhuwangshan, but as time passed, the original Empress Spider seemed to undergo strange changes. She was immortal; every time she was sighted, she seemed to be growing larger, and her spider descendants were also increasing in number.

Another thousand years passed, and that Empress Spider reached certain agreements with the surrounding Savage Orcs due to her own powerful strength. The Savage Orcs and Forest Goblins worshipped her as a minor deity, and she allowed the Greenskins to drive her offspring onto the battlefield.

As the Greenskin warbands campaigned everywhere, her offspring gradually spread to all parts of the world. The Black Pit in the Drakwald Forest of the Empire of Man was now the territory of her offspring, and together with the Forest Goblins there, they plagued the residents of the Empire.

Sinuoli had thought the more he looked at the information about Anglian, the more familiar it seemed. He thought of the legendary lord of Norsca, the champion of the Chaos Four Gods—the monster hunting of the World Walker, or the Wanderer, Wufuruike.

That breeding queen of Kalake-Tiefengbao was very likely this Empress Spider currently entrenched in Zhuwangshan. The journey from Tiefengbao to here was not far; after passing Red Cloud Mountain and heading north all the way, it was right there. It was fully capable of wandering over there.