Chapter 232: Luring and Ambush

"Respected Chosen of the Goddess, perhaps we could fight in a way that is, slightly more complex!" Just as Sinuoli was preparing to arrange the ambush troops, a voice came from the outside of the circle.

Sinuoli looked closely and saw that the speaker was Gelate of the Baruk Clan. Although the clan he came from once held a respectable status in the Mountain Kingdom, it no longer possessed its former prestige.

The Baruk Clan once ruled Karak-Drazh, also known as Black Crag. After the fortress fell, they retreated to the fortress of Karak-Dorn in the Thunder Mountain to continue living while preparing to reclaim their homeland.

They had fought against the Greenskins for countless years, but now that the mineral veins of Thunder Mountain were about to be exhausted, the Baruk Clan decided to abandon the place after receiving Sinuoli's notice and gathered entirely under his command.

These stubborn Dwarfs refused to be broken up and assigned to different squads based on their unit type; they insisted on fighting as a clan unit. Sinuoli was not satisfied with this; his experience from his past life told him that having small cliques within a team was not a good thing.

For this reason, Sinuoli abandoned the idea of making this collectively defecting clan a benchmark and instead limited Clan Chief Gelate's status within the team. However, relying on his rich combat experience, sufficient loyalty, and bravery, he still stood out.

"How so?" Sinuoli did not refuse him the chance to speak.

"I suggest that we do not directly eliminate them, but instead surround them. The other spiders will certainly crawl out to save their kin, and the results will surely be greater then!" Gelate analyzed while stroking his gray-white beard.

"Very good! Even if that brood queen comes out in full force, it is not a bad thing; that way, she will have abandoned the spider nest she has managed for a thousand years!" Sinuoli became happy.

He now had some qualified Captain-level commanders by his side; these people could execute combat missions with quality and quantity but lacked organizational ability and necessary tactics and schemes.

Of course, he knew this was also normal. The Dwarfs had such a small population, and the lords of smaller fortresses had no more than a thousand troops in their hands. Lower-level commanders only had the command ability for a hundred men; they generally inspired and guided their subordinates by directly participating in the fighting.

For Sinuoli, this was not enough. He did not want to do everything himself, at least not all the time. However, he could not ask for more and could only unearth talent from his existing subordinates.

War and expansion would bring many opportunities, which was also the reason why many clansmen gave up their originally stable lives to join his team.

"You will be responsible for commanding the troops that close the net!" Sinuoli handed this task, which contained both danger and honor, to the proposing Clan Chief Gelate.

He needed to ensure that the first batch of spiders lured out could not escape back, while also holding the line during the time between the second batch of spiders rushing out and the first batch being annihilated.

In the two days of reconnaissance, Sinuoli's subordinates discovered that these large spiders were active day and night, but they seemed to be more frequent and active at night. Therefore, the Dwarfs still scheduled the battle for the morning.

After eating breakfast, the Amazon warriors took action. They had to go ahead to set up some traps and other facilities; otherwise, how could two-legged people outrun eight-legged beasts?

When the appointed time arrived, the previously deathly silent forest suddenly began to move. The Dwarfs could feel the earth trembling and could see the trees shaking constantly.

A moment later, Anagongda darted out of the forest like a cheetah, "They're coming! A giant spider!"

The Dwarfs quickly opened a gap to let the Amazons pass. Just as the line closed, several spiders the size of Ogres darted out. Beneath their appendages were dense swarms of smaller kin.

"Fight slowly! No rush!" Sinuoli shouted from the Doom Anvil. Although the giant spiders' natural appendages and mouthparts were sharp, they were still difficult to penetrate iron armor; the damage caused to the Dwarfs mainly came from their added monstrous strength.

Sinuoli cast the Veto Rune on the Ironbreakers at the very front. This rune was said to have been created by the Mother Goddess Valaya and could reduce the impact of disasters on all things.

"Boom!"

It was another collision of flesh and steel. Under the blessing of the runes and the shield wall, the Dwarfs withstood this impact. They began to grapple with the spiders. To avoid killing them too quickly and scaring the beasts behind from coming out, Sinuoli did not arrange for powerful units like Slayers or Hammer Guards to participate.

The one-handed weapons of the front-row clansmen were nimble enough to hack at adult spiders the size of Squigs, but landing on the giant spiders, they could barely cut through the bristles, and it took some effort to even hack off an appendage.

After a brief contact, a low, heart-palpitating "Hiss!" sound came from the forest. This sound did not come from the spiders' mouths, but from the friction between other parts of their bodies.

Following the toppling of trees, an Arachnarok Spider crawled out. Although he was mentally prepared, Sinuoli still felt a wave of nausea when he saw this colorful thing. The discomfort brought by insects was much greater than that of constructs.

"Retreat slowly! Try not to make direct contact with it!" Sinuoli roared while standing on the Doom Anvil.

The Dwarf troops were, of course, not stupid; they slowly retreated, luring the giant spider away from the forest.

"Kill those Forest Goblins!" Sinuoli turned his head and shouted to Buluokesen. On the giant spider's back was a huge, ugly-looking saddle-palanquin, which would be two stories high by human standards. A dozen or twenty Forest Goblin archers were jumping around on it.

Sinuoli was not worried about how much damage their poisoned yet inferior arrows would cause the Dwarfs, but rather that these cunning fellows might see through the Dwarfs' tactics.

A lone behemoth was a true disaster for adventurers with few people and no heavy weapons; their resistance was like scratching an itch through a boot, and they could only wait to be slaughtered.

But for a regular army with a large amount of firearms, these beasts driven by instinct were not so terrifying; only when they were commanded by intelligent creatures and moved in an orderly fashion would they cause trouble.

"Boom!"

"Pop-pop-pop-pop!"

The Organ Gun and Cannon rang out simultaneously. The palanquin was like a living target and was instantly blown to pieces. This could not be blamed on the Forest Goblins; staying in the Southlands, where would they have seen such things?

The Arachnarok Spider shook its eight pillar-like legs and shook off the fragments of the saddle-palanquin. This thing made it uncomfortable, and those little green things were even more noisy. If it weren't for its old grandmother's request, it wouldn't have allowed all this to happen!

The liberated giant spider rushed toward the Dwarfs. It was a bit strange; why had those tall, monkey-like things that originally disturbed it turned into this group of short, earthy-smelling ones?

But none of that mattered now; what mattered was that they were a large amount of fresh meat, and it just happened to need a full meal.