Chapter 235: Bitter Battle

The Empress Spider, with a Shenkan mounted on its back, slammed its raised front limbs heavily into the ground. Under the influence of supernatural power, with the point of impact as the apex, the land in a fan-shaped area with a radius of over ten meters in front was heaved upward.

The Dwarf front-line troops were either sent flying or knocked into a heap by the shockwave. The Brood Queen charged in, accompanied by two giant spiders and a swarm of large and small spiders.

During its brief wind-up, Sinuoli attempted to activate the Doom Anvil to gather the Winds of Magic to interfere with it. Regrettably, this skill relied on divine power to activate and was unrelated to the Winds of Magic.

"In the name of Grimnir! Those who dare to stand before the Sons of the Mountains shall be crushed!" Seeing the front line broken, Sinuoli could not afford to complain about the tenacity of the spider Demigod; he released the Winds of Magic that the anvil had been gathering along the way.

With the attachment of the Winds of Magic, the ordinary weapons of the surrounding subordinates were imbued with magical lethality, allowing them to inflict a certain amount of damage on large creatures.

Meanwhile, the clansmen and Humans wielding two-handed weapons nearby charged at the giant spiders that had broken through the defensive line. To avoid being knocked down in multiples by a single strike, they did not form a dense formation but acted as skirmishers to stall for time for the Artillery to reload.

Sinuoli quickly activated several more Runes, and seeing the anvil enter a red-hot state, Sinuoli jumped down directly. He did not join the encirclement of the giant beasts but circled halfway around to reach the front line, which was struggling to reorganize.

As a commander with considerable experience, Sinuoli already knew how to read the battlefield situation. He was not a lord with powerful personal combat prowess like the Slayer King or the White Dwarf, at least not yet. Staying behind to fight the giant spiders was not a good choice.

Those two strongest among the Dwarfs could cut through giant beasts like slicing melons and vegetables because they relied on their legendary-quality two-handed Battle Axes, combined with extremely rich combat experience to dodge the giant beasts' attacks, which had a large range but relatively low frequency; even if they missed once and were hit, the high-quality armor on their bodies could give them more chances.

Sinuoli possessed none of these three things; his one-handed Warhammer had poor lethality against large units, and his armor and combat experience were not comparable to those two. The only extra thing he had was the ability to heal himself with rituals, but he only had one chance for that.

By comparison, encouraging the front-line troops to reorganize quickly and preventing more spiders and Greenskins from rushing through was the real priority. Facing giant spiders and large spiders, the difference between having a Shield and Meteorite Iron Armor was not significant; the huge impact force of their attacks could injure the internal organs through the armor.

But it was different when fighting Savage Orcs and adult spiders. They might rely on madness and bloodlust to injure the less-protected clansmen behind, but these were not enough for fangs, stone spears, and stone axes to pierce through masterwork heavy armor.

"Form ranks! The Ancestor Gods are with us!" Sinuoli roared. Together with Henlide, he helped up the fallen clansmen, tightened the defensive line on both sides of the breach to reform the shield wall, and simultaneously attended to evacuating the severely wounded.

"Die!" Sinuoli held his shield in his left hand to brace against a spider that was pouncing over with its fangs twitching, while his right-hand Warhammer smashed a yelling Savage Orc Boy, then he stomped on its head.

"Hold on, brothers! These blood-drinking, penniless mushrooms are no match for us!"

"Bang!"

Another two-handed great blade ground from flint struck Sinuoli's shield, but he only swayed slightly. The upgrade provided bonuses to all his attributes, and now Sinuoli had changed from the standard thinness of a Dwarf to being strong.

"Trash! The ore I mine is much harder than you!" Sinuoli pushed upward, snapping the great blade, and then smashed his hammer into the knee of a Big 'Un. The Savage Orc knelt down in pain, and Sinuoli took the opportunity to crush its head.

"I don't believe these beasts can't be killed!"

Using his shield to knock away a spider pressing down on a clansman, Sinuoli roared. After landing a hammer blow on the enemy in mid-air, he used his shield to block the splashing body fluids while pulling up the fallen clansman with his other hand.

"Clang! Clang!"

Two Forest Goblins seized the opportunity to poke their spears at Sinuoli's helmet and shoulder armor, but the spears slid off after two crisp sounds. He swept his Warhammer to break the spears, then directly used the lower edge of his shield to shatter their pointed heads.

"Hoo!"

Sinuoli caught his breath and observed the battle situation; the Dwarfs had overcome the initial panic, and now the battlefield was divided into two areas by the line he himself was in.

Behind him was the Brood Queen and its screeching offspring, who were struggling to break through the second line of defense led by Rogov, hoping to attack the Dwarfs' ranged troops.

In front was the forest and spider webs that had gradually burned out, with Greenskins and spiders constantly emerging from behind the sea of fire. Fighting on the front line, he vaguely felt that the number of enemies pouring out of the fire was decreasing; this should be the credit of the arsonist troops.

Apart from the very few that could breathe fire, no intelligent creature did not fear fire. For the Greenskins, crossing the sea of fire to fight for the spiders might be asking too much. As for the spiders, those with eight legs that moved slowly should have already been roasted.

"A bitter battle!" Sinuoli spat; the burning trees and spider webs produced a large amount of smoke and dust, and having been shouting commands with his mouth open, his throat was not feeling very good now.

"I am one recognized by Grimbrindal!" A roar from Rogov suddenly came from behind; he hacked his two-handed heavy axe into the forehead of a giant spider that had already been riddled with holes by projectiles, its compound eyes bursting open, and poisonous blood flowing everywhere.

Another giant spider was also tottering under the siege of Andemuge, who was riding a bear, Anagongda, and others. Seeing that the offspring around it were getting fewer and fewer, and the divine shield covering the Shenkan was gradually thinning, the Brood Queen finally became anxious.

The pressure on Sinuoli's defensive line from the forest also began to decrease; the Greenskins all saw the decline of the giant spiders and the resilience of the Dwarf defensive line, and they gradually began to slack off.

The Brood Queen trembled, conveying some kind of signal to its offspring, and in an instant, they turned around and charged toward Sinuoli's side. The halo emanating from the Shenkan seemed to have shifted its focus to boosting speed.

"These beasts are trying to escape!"

"Don't let that Empress Spider get away!"

Everyone shouted in unison; they had won half of this great battle, but the remaining half was equally critical. If that spider Demigod was allowed to escape, it would not take many days for it to regenerate a group of cubs and make a comeback.

By then, the positions of attacker and defender would be reversed; it would be in the dark, and the Dwarfs would be in the light. With the combat power of this thing, it could wantonly slaughter small groups of Dwarfs, and it would be difficult for large groups to trap it, so Zhuwangshan could be said to have no peace forever.

"Follow me! Stop it!" Sinuoli roared, and the Empress Spider, as if to cooperate with him, stuck its rear end up.