Chapter 962: A Dwarf's Plea for Aid

Lei En hurried to the bedside, sat down, placed a gentle kiss on Fa Lan Jia Si Ka's forehead, and said softly, "You've worked hard."

"Hmm," Fa Lan Jia Si Ka nodded slightly.

Her complexion was rosy and her body suffered no serious injury; for a legendary transcendent, childbirth carries little danger, and she can recover quickly after delivery, especially since Lei En had prepared the finest magic medicine and a healing spell scroll—she was already healed.

After offering comfort, Lei En finally turned his gaze to the child in Fa Lan Jia Si Ka's arms.

It was a daughter.

Her body was wrapped in a soft thin blanket, revealing only a tiny face. Though her newborn face was still wrinkled and not very pretty, one could already see hints of a beauty seed; as she grows, she will surely become a stunningly gorgeous woman like her mother.

"Little cotton coat..."

Lei En carefully lifted her from Fa Lan Jia Si Ka's hands.

A pair of sea‑blue eyes darted around, looking at him, bewildered yet a bit curious, but she did not cry or fuss, remaining very quiet.

Lei En instantly fell in love.

The blood‑line resonance between father and daughter made him overjoyed, and a sincere smile spread across his face.

Seeing this, Fa Lan Jia Si Ka felt her heart overflow with happiness, as the disappointment of not having a boy gradually faded.

"Sir, it's time to give her a name," she said softly.

"Alright."

Lei En, holding the newborn daughter, thought for a moment, then quickly came up with an idea and smiled, "Elizabeth, our daughter shall be named Elizabeth." He then looked down at the little one in his arms and said, "From now on, you will be Elizabeth Augustus."

"Elizabeth..."

Fa Lan Jia Si Ka whispered the name softly, finding it pleasant, yet she sensed that the name was not simple.

In Ai Lun E Si, it is a very obscure name.

Lei En gave her a glance, chuckling inwardly; adding a title or honorific to the name Elizabeth would make it entirely different.

He opened his Soul Eye while holding his daughter, furrowing his brow slightly; indeed, Elizabeth's soul bore the Blood Soul Curse. He had long lifted the curse—it had been inherited from her mother Fa Lan Jia Si Ka, lying dormant deep within the soul, stirring.

When an infant is at its weakest, the Blood Soul Curse is the biggest cause of premature death among human offspring.

At the same time, it is the most opportune moment to dispel the Blood Soul Curse.

Lei En placed his daughter on the bed, stared at her, and shouted, "Remove the Blood Soul Curse from the infant before me, the designated female named Elizabeth Augustus!"

The Nine Ring Wish Technique activated.

As the words fell, Elizabeth's soul began to change.

The red‑black rune lurking deep in the soul seemed seized by an invisible hand; it thrashed wildly, spreading, yet proved useless before the absolute power and was swiftly expelled. An evil aura rose above Elizabeth, low murmurs echoed in the room, but they quickly vanished, and the chamber returned to calm.

The Soul Eye examined Elizabeth again; her soul was pure and flawless, the Blood Soul Curse completely removed!

Lei En let out a sigh of relief.

Six years ago, he had lifted the Blood Soul Curse from his son Lei Ke Si; this time it went far more smoothly and easily than before.

The battery indicator on his phone's interface plummeted, but after dropping about thirty units it halted.

Other than that, there was no other loss.

He immediately drew energy from his Soul Power pool to replenish the consumed charge.

The last time he dispelled a Blood Soul Curse he lost three tiers; this time he only lost thirty units of charge, and the Wish Spell had been upgraded from Seven Rings to Nine Rings, with the effect clearly evident.

"Sir..."

Fa Lan Jia Si Ka called out anxiously.

She knew Lei En could use the Wish Spell; it was no longer a secret among the Empire's upper echelons, but she hadn't imagined he would employ the Wish Spell to lift the Blood Soul Curse, rejoicing for their daughter while fearing he might pay an unbearable price.

"I'm fine."

Lei En wore a relaxed smile, lifted Elizabeth again and was reluctant to set her down, saying, "Our daughter will surely become a great Wizard in the future."

The advantage of being free from the Blood Soul Curse is immense.

Moreover, Elizabeth inherited a quarter mermaid bloodline; although she does not naturally possess the legendary Element "Heart of the Ocean" like Fa Lan Jia Si Ka, being one tier lower, she does have the superlative water‑element affinity "Rushing Torrent", and she also inherited her own talents: her soul contains the "Lightning Form", "Void Resonance", and "Metal Domain"!

Born already bearing three superlative Elements and one legendary Element, she truly won at the starting line; her innate talent surpasses that of dragons, comparable to the blood of deities.

Of course, her greatest advantage remains having a powerful father.

Even if Elizabeth possessed no talent at all and could never become a transcendent, she could still stride across the world.

Seeing how much he adored his daughter, Fa Lan Jia Si Ka felt the weight in her heart lift.

Then another thought arose: have another!

"Wow..."

Elizabeth suddenly began to cry, and Lei En quickly placed her into Fa Lan Jia Si Ka's arms, saying, "She must be hungry."

Fa Lan Jia Si Ka's thoughts instantly flew away; she had already consulted the summoned wet nurse for advice and skillfully unbuttoned her top to breastfeed her daughter.

For the next several months, Lei En did nothing else, spending most of his time in Gotham City's highland fortress watching over his daughter. Though he didn't have to change diapers or feed her himself—several seasoned maidservants and wet nurses handled that—he stayed by her side, almost never leaving.

Conversely, Fa Lan Jia Si Ka returned to work the day after her daughter's birth.

Lei En spent more time with Elizabeth than her mother did, watching her grow day by day, which gave him a sense of accomplishment and deep satisfaction.

More than three months later.

Elizabeth had just turned one hundred days old; Lei En carried her for a walk in the garden, basking in the warm winter afternoon sun, listening to her babbling sounds, feeling very happy.

But this tranquility was soon shattered.

A Holy Lance Knight entered the garden and whispered, "Sir, Kestajin wishes to see you."

"Understood."

Lei En responded lightly, sent the Holy Lance Knight away, and kept walking with his daughter until after more than half an hour he handed her to a maid and proceeded to the reception hall in the fortress.

Even before entering the reception hall, heavy footsteps echoed inside; Lei En entered and saw Kestajin, his face covered in stubble and his complexion gaunt. He looked as if he hadn't slept for a month; his armor was unrepaired, blood dried on it forming dirty stains that emitted a foul odor, lacking any aura of the King of the Hills.

"Lei En!"

Kestajin saw Lei En as if he were a lifeline, and shouted, "You finally came! I thought you didn't want to see me."

"What's the matter, so urgent?" Lei En asked knowingly, "Sit down and tell me."

"We can't hold out much longer!"

Kestajin had no intention of sitting down, speaking anxiously, "The Demonkin army launched the fourth wave of attacks this month last night, breaching the 'Czesk Wall.' Although the Dwarf army eventually annihilated the enemy, the losses were heavy; if there is another assault, the 'Czesk Wall' will inevitably fall."

Lei En nodded, "I've already heard about this."

Since the beginning of the year, after I agreed to let the dwarves use the teleportation array, five Dwarf Kings began the New Continent expansion plan.

They mobilized the entire race, and in just half a month filled Gotham City's fifty‑thousand slots; besides the original Three‑Hammer Legion, the additional thirty thousand were all dwarf elites.

Then the whole dwarf race organized a legion of over two hundred thousand, almost all the elite from the five existing underground strongholds, and over two months spent more than twenty‑million Gold Shields to teleport the entire army and massive supplies to Gotham City.

The dwarf legion prepared in Gotham City for half a month; Gold Shields flowed like water to purchase huge quantities of food, demon medicine, scrolls, and many military supplies, making Gotham City's merchants a fortune.

In early April, the dwarf legion set out!

They left Gotham City at top speed, outrunning the protective range of the magical goddess statue, marching through the night, and the vanguard rushed to the Dreweil Peninsula five hundred li away.

On the island, the Netifu Demon tribes were caught off guard and two tribes were wiped out within a day.

While the dwarf legion eliminated the Demonkin tribes on the peninsula, they also dispatched tens of thousands of dwarf craftsmen and all dwarf mages proficient in earth magic to a pre‑designated spot, excavating a hundred‑meter‑wide trench and building a wall along its banks.

Only the northern part of the Dreweil Peninsula connects to the New Continent.

Its terrain is long and narrow, roughly an irregular spindle shape, pointed at both ends and wide in the middle; north‑south length exceeds four hundred li, but the northern neck linking to the New Continent narrows to only twenty li, flanked by river mouths— the west side a strait, the east side a bay.

The dwarves' plan was to dig a twenty‑li‑long trench, channeling seawater from both sides to block the peninsula's land routes.

At the same time, they erected a tall wall on the southern side of the trench.

Thus the newly dug trench became a moat, keeping the enemy on the opposite bank; as long as the wall holds, the dwarves control the entire, vast peninsula.

This dwarf strategy is not merely similar to the original Shield Island expansion; it is essentially identical.

The plan's execution began smoothly.

The Netifu Demon tribes were loosely governed and did not anticipate such a massive dwarf assault; the northern peninsula tribes were cleared within a week.

Surrounding tribes that came to reinforce met death one after another.

In the half‑month before the war began, the Netifu Demon had not organized any proper counterattack; by the time they reacted, the dwarves had already finished the moat and most of the wall, waiting behind the fortifications.

The few remaining Demonkin tribes on the Dreweil Peninsula were also eliminated one by one by the dwarves.

They successfully occupied the entire peninsula!

For two months after the wall was completed, the Netifu Demon showed no activity; the dwarves thought the enemy had abandoned the peninsula and basked in the joy of victory.

The kings named the wall "Czesk," which means "Revival" in the dwarf tongue.

However, the dwarves' joy was short‑lived; the Netifu Demon army arrived, hundreds of thousands of troops at the wall's foot. Their leader, the Chosen Champion named "Kurgos," ruled over hundreds of Demonkin tribes in the central eastern coast of the New Continent, and was revered by the Demonkin as the "Blood‑thirsty King."

Among this Demon army, there alone were fifty thousand Abyss Knights!

There were also Demonkin warriors and Shadow Priests, as well as the Abyss Dwarves and corrupted elves under his rule, defected Black Wizards, Necromancer Wizards, tens of thousands of Evil Beastmen and Demon troops.

Kurgos also commanded a casting corps of Purgatory Mages numbering over a hundred, with dozens of legendary Purgatory Mages.

Among them was a Purgatory Grand Mage!

Moreover, Kurgos had two other Chosen Champions under his command, both extremely powerful Saint Rank elites.

The Blood‑thirsty King led his army to the outside of the Czesk wall and launched an attack that same day. The Demonkin did not simply charge; they first sent the Purgatory Mage corps to bombard the wall with spells. Although the dwarf mages repelled it, they expended a great deal of stamina and mana.

Then they used magic to raise earth and block the moat, or freeze the water, allowing troops to cross the moat and assault the wall.

Simultaneously, several elite Abyss Knight units were teleported behind the wall to attack the dwarves from the rear.

The battle lasted a day and a night.

The dwarves relied on the wall's cannons, rune spell formations, and superior weaponry, especially the Empire's recently popular assault rifles. They spent heavily in Gotham City to acquire tens of thousands of them, allowing the "Dwarf Gunner" to swap rifles for cannons, greatly boosting combat power and becoming the main force that eliminated the Demon army, successfully repelling this wave of attack.

In terms of high‑end combat power, the dwarves have a slight edge over the Netifu Demon.

Although dwarves have never produced a Grand Mage, they possess powerful King of the Hills. Every Dwarf King is a King of the Hills; they are battle‑hardened, mighty, wielding thunder power, and clad in luxurious ancestral armor, far surpassing ordinary Saint Rank elites.

Today the entire dwarf race has eight Kings of the Hills, six of whom were deployed to fight.

The Zhigao Shan King Thorgrin's strength is comparable to the "Blood‑thirsty King" Kurgos, holding back this most terrifying foe.

The other two Chosen Champions were each dealt with by a King of the Hills.

What troubled the dwarves most was that Purgatory Grand Mage. They were not afraid of a frontal clash, but the Purgatory Grand Mage employed countless tactics, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. Three Kings of the Hills, together with more than twenty legendary mages, barely managed to stop the Purgatory Grand Mage from damaging the wall and the legion.

This heavy responsibility fell on Kestajin's shoulders.

From April's landing on the Dreweil Peninsula, the Czesk wall was completed in August, and in August the Demon army launched a counterattack, repeatedly putting them on the brink of disaster.

Kurgos's strategy was simple: to wear down the dwarf legion.

Both sides knew clearly that the dwarves, marching from the distant Old Continent, could never out‑consume the local Netifu Demon tribes.

With each assault, the enemy legion's strength would be reduced a bit.

Although the Demon army suffered heavier casualties, they did not mind; the surrounding hundreds of tribes total two million people, continuously replenishing the army, and the attrition could eventually kill the dwarves.

Two million versus two hundred thousand, a ten‑fold disparity.

After more than three months of attrition, the dwarf legion had lost a third of its strength, and everyone felt exhausted, their willpower at a low ebb; then last night, the Demon army broke through the wall for the first time.

The next wave of attack will arrive soon.

The dwarves can hardly resist; it is foreseeable that the Blood‑thirsty King will not let this chance slip.

After urgent deliberation, the kings found only one recourse: to request aid from Gotham City, and thus sent Kestajin to request an audience with Lei En.

Lei En was fully aware of these reports and the situation.

In fact, on the very first day the dwarves began their plan, he had Thundercast Celestial Soldiers covertly observe, gathering the battle situation on the Dreweil Peninsula.

Rescue is definitely required.

However, the dwarves must show sufficient sincerity.

"Kestajin, the dwarves are my friends; I will never refuse a friend's plea for aid."

Lei En's words made Kestajin overjoyed, but before he could celebrate, Lei En's expression turned serious, and he asked, "Kestajin, I saved you, helped the dwarves secure a foothold on the Dreweil Peninsula—what can I gain?"

(End of chapter)