Chapter 54: An Unexpected Turn

On the eve of the demons breaking through the tunnel defense.

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"Demons, it’s the demons!"

"Those damned demons are swarming us again!"

"Follow me, my dwarf brothers! Kill these cursed monsters, every last one!"

A dwarf warrior at the far end of the tunnel cried out, and his comrades rushed in from every side to back up the one who had first spotted the demons.

Koda called him a warrior because the dwarf’s conduct truly deserved the word.

In this terrible fight for the tunnel, the dwarf had survived more than six hours. And in those long six hours, he had personally led his comrades to beat back the demons’ assaults three times!

He was already covered in wounds, his weapon and armor battered and broken, yet he still stood stubbornly on the front line, lifting the spirits of every dwarf around him.

Even someone as hard to please as Koda could not help but respect the dwarf’s courage in battle.

But...

It could not change the fate of the dwarf and his comrades. Least of all the cruel fate that was about to fall on him.

’Karolith, throw a caged imp at the spot I marked, at an angle of thirty-seven degrees. Then wait one point two seconds, and send the chain to that same spot,’ Koda ordered in his mind.

Receiving her lord’s command, the Imp Matriarch Karolith carried it out without a moment’s hesitation.

"Aaaargh!"

She swung her arm, thicker than a wagon, in a full circle, and hurled a cage holding a frenzied imp right next to the dwarf warrior.

Once that thoroughly maddened imp got in among the dwarves, it would surely cause great chaos in the very near future.

But the dwarves did not panic.

Instead, these dwarves, long familiar with the trick, were ready before the cage even touched the ground. Several of them, with no shields in hand, swung their weapons at the cage as it flew through the air.

In the blink of an eye, the poor imp died under the blows of many dwarves.

"Phew, good thing we reacted in time..."

The dwarf had not even finished speaking when a chain came out of a completely unexpected angle and wrapped tightly around the ankle of the "heroic" dwarf.

None of the dwarves saw how the chain got there. Their eyes had all been drawn to the imp in the cage.

The chain was a new power Karolith had gained after she evolved. She hurled it to snare the imps or enemies she wanted to catch.

And it tested the strength of whoever it caught. Any enemy weaker than Karolith was bound and unable to move for a time. And if the enemy was far weaker than her, he would be dragged straight toward her.

These dwarves might be much smarter than Karolith, but when it came to strength...

Next to her, they were truly no more than "children."

"Impossible!" "Why?" "Save him!"

Many dwarf warriors leaped to rescue him at once, but the brave dwarf with the chain around his ankle vanished screaming into the darkness before them.

The screams ended soon enough.

Because under the light of the nearby torches, the dwarves saw a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

"Meat..."

"Tasty!"

The bloated Imp Matriarch was eating the brave dwarf alive, grinning as she walked forward.

Around her, the countless "children" she tended fought over the scraps falling from her mouth.

But that was not the most terrifying part. The dwarves had already learned all about the demons’ cruelty and violence over the last few hours.

What truly chilled them was that Karolith was eating the dwarf from the feet up.

Which meant...

"Help... me... no..."

The upper half of the "heroic dwarf" twisted like a worm, and he stretched out a feeble hand toward the comrades less than ten meters away.

"Kill... me...!"

Crunch!

With a heavy bite from Karolith, the dwarf’s chest caved in completely, like...

A broken doll.

"Heavens!" "Monsters among monsters!" "I... I..."

At last, their high morale began to fall.

Even the strongest warriors still had reason and fear. Under the demons’ relentless pressure, the whole battlefield was turning into a purgatory.

Misery, pain, blasphemy, corruption...

One negative word after another settled into the nerves of the dwarf warriors like snow and was carved into their souls.

With no priest to steady their minds, it was already a miracle they had held out this long.

So, naturally, the first deserter appeared.

He was executed soon enough, but a second deserter appeared in another direction.

The defense at the end of the tunnel began to fall into disorder.

* * *

"Your Majesty!"

On the other side, in the region of the dwarf kingdom.

"The Copperhammer Guard holding the kingdom’s passage cannot endure any longer! They... they need to rest and regroup!"

General Maes Copperhammer had wanted to say that his men’s spirits had broken. But for the sake of his men’s futures, as their commander he changed his words at once.

Six hours of hard fighting. Those fine lads had done enough.

If the Royal Guard who protected the king had been there, perhaps the battle could have lasted longer. But for an ordinary dwarf army, six hours was the limit.

The limit of fighting demons. Or rather, the limit of standing against a demon lord.

"Useless!"

The dwarf king glared at Maes Copperhammer, his face dark.

He had never been on a real front line, and he could not understand why the generals and warriors loyal to him tired so easily. In his mind, dwarf warriors, famed for their strength and toughness, could fight a day and a night with ease. Especially when most of them had battle aura.

"No matter the cost, the entrance to the kingdom’s passage must hold!"

The dwarf king’s beard quivered, a sign of how furious he was.

Maes had already reached the peak of despair. A king who knew nothing of war, of course...

But the king’s next words lit his hope again.

"The kingdom’s passage must not fall. It is the key node between our capital and every trade town, so you will have the help of the earth dragons."

"Earth dragons?"

Hearing the words, Maes could not help but brighten. He knew those blasphemers, the demons, were about to meet their end!

Not long after the king gave the order, the demons felt tremors from the far end of the passage.

And along with the tremors came a series of horrifying, strange howls.

For some reason, they sounded like...

The cries of dragons?