Chapter 551: Champion Duel (End)

"Forget it, I don't need to ride my Tooth King to chop off a stuntie's head!"

Seeing the difficult look on Tiepi's face, Tiezu responded decisively. Having watched the previous two matches, he knew the opposing Dwarf Demigod could certainly obtain something far stronger than a war boar.

"Tiezu? That's just gilding the lily! Turns out he's a cripple!"

"Henlide must not be careless! Even without a mount, his momentum is extraordinary."

The coalition knew this match was critical, and cheers and jeers rose one after another. The Greenskin Warlord's face was covered by his helmet, making his emotions unreadable; with the help of his guards, he climbed down from his war boar and slightly moved his legs to adjust.

"Clank! Clank!"

"Tiezu was one of Tiepi's earliest core members. He lost a leg in a critical bloody battle. After the victory, Tiepi replaced it with the steam leg of a slaughtered Demon Smith, which is how he got this nickname."

"Relying on Da Orks to drive mechanical creations again; he is truly worthy of being Gork's chosen, with enough WAAAGH energy around him."

Snorri muttered, but Henlide had already captured the favorable conditions. He held a short axe and a round shield, with his double-handed heavy axe on his back for emergencies.

"Henlide-Tulongzhe, Commandant of Tumobao, is here! The Ancestor Gods bear witness, this battle shall surely manifest my glorious name!"

"WAAAGH!"

"That's it, attack his lower body!"

His promotion to general had not caused the Dwarf to lose the combat skills honed from licking blades as an adventurer in his youth. He took small, quick steps to approach the Greenskin, ducked to dodge a sweeping blade, then straightened up and slammed his shield into the steam leg.

"I've been waiting for you!"

Tiezu gave a sinister grin. Accompanied by a screeching sound like a turbocharger, the iron leg slammed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. He had intentionally left an opening, hoping to win with a surprise strike.

"Heh heh!"

"Pfft!"

As the dust settled, Henlide had already tossed his shield—its runes now dim—to the side, unslung his heavy axe, and slashed fiercely at Tiezu's knee joint—not the mechanical left leg, but the intact right one.

"Urghhh!"

The Warlord's cry of pain echoed across the battlefield, but the Dwarfs could not laugh at all. A green, evil light flickered out of thin air, blocking the axe blade from cutting deeper. Henlide struggled to twist the handle and spin away to free himself.

"Dare to touch my good leg! WAAAGH!"

With the help of the machinery, Tiezu leaped nearly a yard high. He swung his blade down with force; although he dodged, the Dwarf's momentum stalled. Immediately after, the Orc used his iron leg as an axis to spin his entire body like a windmill.

"This kind of move consumes too much; he can't sustain it for long."

"What a pity, the treasure was borrowed temporarily and there was no time to get used to it. If I had the boots I'm wearing, Henlide could have had it much easier."

Belegar was the strongest among the Dwarfs and captured the battle situation most comprehensively. Henlide retrieved his round shield, strapped it to his arm, and dragged his heavy axe while circling the field to look for an opportunity.

"At this point, it's a contest of resilience."

Both the Dwarf's Rune Weapon and the heavy blade empowered by the Orc Warlord's battle cry strength possessed the power to break defenses in one hit. The two sides sometimes stood off from a distance, and sometimes burst into pursuit of each other. Tiezu's prosthetic limb was, after all, a stolen object and could not be operated with perfect ease, leaving him lacking in flexibility.

"The sun is going down."

"How could the Sons of the Mountains fear a night battle?"

The fourth battle took longer than the first three combined. The Orc side lit torches for illumination, but the Dwarfs did not move. After their physical strength and energy were both exhausted, Tiezu finally revealed an opening and was knocked down. The Champion Duel had finally reached the final round.

"This cup is for the warriors!"

"This cup is for Henlide!"

Snorri held a victory banquet directly. With Gotrek and Kazador tied up, achieving a draw was something to celebrate. The songs of joy in the coalition camp made the Stone Mine Outpost seem particularly gloomy.

"Heh heh, it's finally our turn. This duel came a little later than I thought, it's just a pity I didn't block you at Peak Pass back then!"

"Gork and Mork above! Snorri Thorsson, your name is loud like a beacon on the mountain, but we'll see what you're really made of after we fight! WAAAGH!"

Compared to Tiepi's irritability, Snorri appeared calm and composed. The plans he had made since arriving in this world were already showing great results. The forces of Order had been strengthened, and his enemies' "development time" had been compressed.

Yes, after important chess pieces like Skarsnik, Iblit, and Red Fang were destroyed one after another, Gork and Mork had increased their cultivation of Tiepi, helping him improve his strength and unify the Badlands. But forcing growth was ultimately not as solid as one's own cultivation and fighting.

"Boom!"

The Black Orc charged over like a locomotive, though he replaced the "choo-choo" whistle with a sky-shaking war cry. Having drunk countless blood, the blood-rusted axe—which even the green light could not cover—brought a sonic boom as it thrust toward Snorri's head.

"Haha! Exhilarating! But if that's all you've got, it's hard to satisfy me."

The Dwarf crossed his hammer and axe to block the attack. Although he retreated two or three steps, he was not angry but happy. After just one exchange, the Greenskin side was like it had been hit by a silencer—who in the world didn't know that this restorer of the Dwarfs relied on Transformation into Stone Statue to defeat strong enemies?

"Is that it? Then it's my turn!"

With a flick of his hammer, he parried Tiepi's follow-up sweep. Snorri's taunts were endless as he transformed, activating Avatar of the Gods. His stature grew sharply, instantly becoming a head taller than even the largest Black Orc, Tiepi.

"Creak! Creak!"

He brought his hammer and axe down in a double-ear-piercing strike. Tiepi blocked with his axe, but his knees sank three inches under the immense force. Snorri channeled power from the ground, pressing down continuously; the clash between the legendary weapons made ordinary soldiers tremble.

"Bang!"

The stone statue kicked the Black Orc in the stomach—a move he used repeatedly. This firm suppression not only left the enemy unable to dodge but also caused great mental trauma. Tiepi had to awkwardly support himself with his axe handle to avoid being knocked down and losing face.

"WAAAGH!"

"If you can't beat them, call for backup from above. By the time you reach this step, who doesn't have a backer?"

A large green face appeared behind the Warlord in response, and after it covered him, his aura surged significantly. Snorri naturally knew this was Gork stepping in personally, so he did not delay in continuously applying buffs to himself.

"This armor has some tricks to it!"

"I saved up a dozen Demon Smiths' evil blood to quench and cool it! If I drench it in your Rune Demigod blood, its power will surely soar!"

"Still talking tough? You could change your nickname to Iron Mouth!"

The hammer and axe attacks were like a storm. Tiepi gritted his teeth and fought back, but he could not break through the stone statue's defense. His own eerie protective armor was struck repeatedly, revealing twisting, scarlet patterns that seemed to have a life of their own.

"Your state is very similar to another loser of mine—the Candle Dragon Lidao of Zhendan! Bullying the weak and oppressing the small for a long time can cultivate an invincible momentum, but it also causes one to lose the heart of a strong man!"

The Dwarf King swung his gear to force his opponent back, took a long breath, and analyzed word by word—this was for himself. The experience and awareness accumulated from countless life-and-death struggles and winning against the strong would eventually be rewarded.