Chapter 747: Getan Prototype

Kestajin, Iron Beard, has seen the adult!

The voice of the King of the Hills rang across the Iron Furnace Arena, boldly pledging loyalty to Lei En.

The tens of thousands of dwarves in the stands were still immersed in the tremendous shock of Kestajin being defeated by a legendary Wizard, and the scene of the Titan Giant trampling the King of the Hills would be forever etched in their memory. Only after Kestajin half‑kneeling to declare his allegiance did the dwarves' minds return to reality, erupting in deafening cheers.

The entire dwarf crowd rose to their feet, the wave of enthusiastic cheers never waning, offering Lei En the highest reverence.

Even though Lei En is human, even though he has just defeated a King of the Hills, it does not at all diminish the dwarves' respect for Lei En.

They witnessed a spectacular battle with their own eyes.

A legendary Wizard, with overwhelming power, crushed a Saint Rank King of the Hills—a miracle that belongs only in heroic epics. With this victory, Lei En can be compared to the greatest heroes in dwarf history!

Lei En bowed to the surrounding dwarves, then his spirit leapt onto the viewing platform.

The three kings wore complex expressions; their looks toward Lei En had changed from before—more respectful, with a hint of lingering awe.

Especially King Dan En, whose mindset seemed to crumble.

His strength is not much greater than Kestajin's; in some aspects he may even be weaker, and if he were to face Lei En, he would likewise find it hard to avoid defeat.

The sense of superiority that a Saint Rank strongman once felt before Lei En vanished instantly. Moreover, Lei En is still only a legend, his power in a rapid ascent.

Wait until Lei En ascends to Saint Rank Wizard…

Dan En, thinking of this, gave Lei En a slightly uneasy smile.

Lei En sensed the dwarf king's thoughts but did not dwell on them, saying, "Thorgrin Your Majesty, you should fulfill your promise."

Thorgrin had originally been delighted, having finally kicked Kestajin out of Zhigao Shan, but upon hearing Lei En's words, his smile froze instantly, turning uglier than crying.

Five million Gold Shields!

The Zhigao Shan king felt his heart bleed, regretting why he hadn't persisted a bit more to lower the price.

"Count…," Thorgrin's hesitant demeanor made Lei En frown.

On the platform, other dwarves—including several Kings of the Hills—had their gazes fixed on Thorgrin, watching the deal.

At that moment, a bolt of lightning shot from the arena up to the platform, revealing Kestajin's figure.

"Your Majesty, you don't intend to renege, do you?"

"If I don't hand over the five million Gold Shields to the Count, I won't go to the New Continent," Kestajin shouted loudly, drawing every dwarf in the arena; the words "five million Gold Shields" instantly lit up their eyes.

The tens of thousands of dwarves' gazes pressured Thorgrin; breaking the pact would not only anger Lei En but also cause his reputation to plummet.

Thorgrin gritted his teeth and said, "I'll send someone back to Zhigao Shan for the money right away; please wait, Count."

"Fine."

Lei En nodded in satisfaction.

King Magnus, fearing further trouble, loudly declared the battle over and asked everyone on the platform to leave the arena first.

Half a day later, Lei En received the five million Gold Shields.

Over a hundred massive iron chests brimming with gold lay before him; Lei En personally supervised the dwarves counting them twice, stored half of the chests in the Nebula Ring, and had each Extreme Warrior carry two or three of the remaining ones that wouldn't fit, then took his leave from the kings.

"The Jin Gang Fort teleport array will stay linked with Rongyanbao," Lei En said, "After the Three-Hammer Legion and the artisans have assembled, please send someone to inform me."

"Count, await my good news," King Magnus stood at the front of the farewell party.

Lei En nodded toward the other two kings.

King Dan En responded with a smiling face, Thorgrin forced a smile as well, but his eyes stayed fixed on the iron chests carried by the Extreme Warriors, showing no hint of mirth.

Lei En had just stripped a layer of skin from this miser, not wishing to further provoke him, so he turned and stepped onto the teleport array; under Thorgrin's pained, reluctant gaze, Lei En and the Extreme Warriors vanished, accompanied by Zorutan.

In the Jin Gang Fort teleport hall, Lei En instructed the Extreme Warriors to move the gold into the warehouse.

Zorutan circled half a turn inside the fortress, exclaiming in surprise, "Lei En, is this on the Seian Plateau?"

"Yes, it's not far from the Makurag tribe's settlement," Lei En replied with a smile, "I've built a teleport array here that can return directly to Gra Morgan. If you need to go to Zhu Bile Mountain City to find Master Luo Jue, first stay at my castle for a few days, then teleport from Mo Du to Zhu Bile Mountain City."

"Then I won't be polite," Zorutan replied eagerly.

Lei En teleported the old friend to Gra Morgan, accompanied him to tour the castle and Mo Du for several days, even climbed Weizelan for a visit, before sending him onward to Zhu Bile Mountain City.

Also joining the journey was a Thundercast Celestial Soldier that had taken Lei En's form.

These days, Zorutan's eyes were opened, seeing that Lei En was completely different from the young man of a few years ago, yet he was still shocked upon seeing the Thundercast Celestial Soldier.

Lei En simply said it was a magical duplicate he had created.

Zorutan interacted with the duplicate for a while, finding it almost indistinguishable from Lei En himself, its power also immense, which made him even more curious, yet he wisely refrained from probing further.

After seeing Zorutan off, Lei En returned to Jin Gang Fort to continue researching the Titan Engine.

Meanwhile, he stationed a duplicate at Gra Morgan Castle to begin preliminary preparations for building Getan—coordinating logistics, recruiting manpower, transporting materials, city planning, and so on—all handled by this duplicate, mobilizing all the forces of his domain and the Augustus Principality, continuously sending them to Shield Island.

One month later.

In the eastern part of Shield Island, on a barren plain about two hundred li east of Gotham City at the western edge, a fierce battle raged.

Over sixty human warriors clad in golden armor and golden masks, wielding Bolt Guns and lightning war hammers, besieged the entrance of an underground cavern. This was the last Undead tomb on Shield Island; originally over five thousand Undead Army, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers spent two days cutting in from the outskirts, gradually encircling and finally sealing the cavern's exit.

The undead within the tomb, now fewer than a thousand, still, under the command of a legendary Mid-stage Death Knight, fiercely charged the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers' defenses.

Boom—Boom—Boom—Boom……

The Bolt Gun's fire roared like endless thunder.

The Undead Army that surged from the cavern's mouth was instantly blasted into fragments at the slightest emergence; the high‑temperature flames burned them, leaving no bones behind.

Clearing Shield Island had taken nearly two months, with daily battles; the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers had become highly experienced against the Undead Army. They did not rashly storm the tomb, instead using Bolt Guns for long‑range bombardment; the vast majority of undead were below Legend level and could not withstand a single Bolt Gun shot.

Moments later, the number of emerging undead sharply dropped, as if they had all been slain.

About a dozen Thundercast Celestial Soldiers at the front line flashed to a spot a hundred meters from the cavern mouth, raised their hands in unison, and quickly gathered a dazzling bolt of electricity.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldiers cannot ascend to Legend; at most they can cast a four‑ring spell.

However, with the amplification of their lightning forms, even a four‑ring Electric Blast Orb remains formidable.

Dozens of Electric Blast Orbs shot out, all landing into the cavern's mouth.

Boom!

Amid a tremor that shook the ground, the cave entrance was blown into the air. Through the sky‑filled dust and debris surged a towering figure, clad in jet‑black armor, wielding a massive two‑handed sword, riding an undead warhorse made entirely of white bone, radiating powerful death energy, charging at the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers.

Death Knight!

The Thundercast Celestial Soldiers had already detected the enemy's presence; they just launched an Electric Blast Orb, then immediately raised their guns, aimed, and fired.

The Bolt Gun spewed a tongue of flame, and in an instant dozens of Explosive Shells struck the Death Knight.

Each Explosive Shell's power equaled a triple‑ring flame spell, its firing rate like a raging storm; originally it could not threaten a legendary Mid-stage Death Knight, but the sheer volume altered the quality—dozens of barrages per second shattered the Death Knight's external white‑bone armor instantly.

Its undead warhorse was blown apart even earlier, reduced to slag.

The Death Knight's body was riddled with holes, rotting bones splintered outward, and the coordinated volley halted its forward charge. It activated a frozen body, holding its broad two‑handed sword before it, yet the Bolt Gun still forced it to retreat repeatedly.

Six Thundercast Celestial Soldiers seized the opportunity to flash behind the Death Knight, coordinating with uncanny precision, each blocking a direction, swinging war hammers to strike different parts of the enemy.

Streaks of lightning erupted from the hammer heads.

The Death Knight sensed the danger, but with Bolt Gun fire ahead and no retreat behind, it barely managed to turn and swing its sword at a Thundercast Celestial Soldier, only to have it dodge.

Then it was struck by five war hammers at various points on its body.

Level‑9 power combined with a Level‑4 destruction critical hit instantly shattered the Death Knight into pieces, and the Bolt Gun's barrage swept the remains, turning the corpse into fragments in an instant.

The undead's demonic soul was siphoned remotely, raising the energy charge.

Having slain the Death Knight, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, with no further hesitation, turned and surged into the largely collapsed undead tomb.

Half a minute later, the gunfire ceased.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldiers exited the cleared undead tomb, repaired battle‑damaged armor, rested briefly, swept around the tomb to ensure no undead had escaped, then concluded the fight and headed back toward Getan.

Shield Island's terrain is narrow and elongated, narrow north‑to‑south and long east‑to‑west.

The entire island stretches nearly three hundred li from west to east, its widest western end under fifty li; most of the island is flat land, yet over the past millennia, beneath this fertile ground lie tens of thousands of the Undead Army.

Until now, the island's undead have finally been completely eradicated.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldiers marched west, taking less than two hours to travel from the east side of Shield Island to its west, encountering no undead along the way.

Approaching Gotham City, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers encountered several dwarf priests.

Half a month earlier, at Lei En's request and planning, the first batch of dwarves were teleported to Gotham to begin work, the most important being a hundred priests belonging to the Three‑Hammer Legion.

Undead do not pollute the land with Abyssal evil like the demon nests, but having occupied Shield Island for years, their death energy seeped into the soil, contaminating it almost as badly as evil; where they passed, not a blade of grass grew, leaving barren wasteland. After eliminating the Undead Army, the first task is to purify the lingering death energy, so the land can become fertile again for crops, livestock, and magical beasts, suitable for human habitation.

The Mother Earth priests excel at cleansing evil, so the task of purifying the land naturally fell to the dwarf priests.

However, Shield Island's total area exceeds ten thousand square li; relying solely on those hundred dwarf priests to cleanse it is too slow.

In half a month, the dwarf priests managed to cleanse only Gotham City and a small surrounding area, less than one percent of the entire island.

Entering Gotham City—more precisely, the future Gotham City—it is still a vast wilderness.

However, this selected wilderness has been fenced off, the ruins of New Village cleared, and stone steles erected at intervals, bearing dwarf script that indicates the future use of the land, along with some data and notes.

On the ground, several roads were roughly laid with broken stone.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldiers followed the path toward the high ground at the center of Gotham City, the island's sole hill, the site of the teleportation array and the future location of Reslin's tower.

Dwarf craftsmen are seen everywhere in the city, along with dwarf warriors on patrol.

The dwarves cast curious glances at the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers.

Since the dwarves arrived on Shield Island, they have discovered these mysterious and powerful human super‑humans, their bodies concealed within golden armor; no one has ever seen their faces. They are silent, speak little, rarely interact, and are known only as the super‑human legion personally created by the Count, who trusts them immensely.

Climbing the city's high ground reveals the city's outline.

Centered on the high ground beneath their feet, roads paved with broken stone radiate in all directions; the entire city spans over a hundred square li, divided into sections by the crisscrossing roads.

Near the western side of the city, the dwarves erected stone houses as temporary dwellings.

Five thousand dwarf craftsmen are mostly concentrated on Gotham's western side, where a towering city wall rises along the strait, already extending several thousand meters.

The wall stands thirty meters tall and fifteen meters wide; first, dwarf mages used the Mud to Stone technique to shape orderly stone blocks, then dwarf craftsmen inscribed rune arrays with alchemical materials onto them, stacking the blocks to form a seamless wall, gradually completing the magical arrays.

In Lei En's plan, this section of wall measures roughly twenty li in length.

The wall's length approaches nearly half of Shield Island's western coastline, using the East Strait as a natural moat to prevent the Undead Army from crossing the strait from Aibolaken on the opposite shore to assault the city.

Only after the wall is built can Gotham City truly begin to develop.

The dwarves work with extreme efficiency; a twenty‑li wall can be completed in three to four months, but such activity cannot be hidden from the undead across the strait—they will never stand by while the wall rises.

Lei En has already prepared for this.

Soon, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers entered a concealed basement, all teleporting to the Obsidian Tower to assist Reslin in setting up the Hesse magical array. In the Obsidian Tower, Sword Bay Town, and Jin Gang Fort, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers already number over one hundred!

At the same moment, in Jin Gang Fort's mechanical alchemy chamber, Lei En stared at the Titan engine before him, his eyes full of anticipation.

There will be an update tonight.

(End of Chapter)