Chapter 411 - 159: The Gray Dwarves’ Overt Scheme

Chapter 411: Chapter 159: The Gray Dwarves’ Overt Scheme

Iron Dome Castle was built on a massive mountain peak.

The Gray Dwarves had hollowed out a massive mountain peak, modeling it after the Iron Dome Castle once built by the Dwarf Kingdom, and constructed their homes inside.

Not only that, but when the Gray Dwarves first migrated here, the Emperor of the Beastman Empire, as a gesture of welcome, invited several Great Mage-level priests to help them build a massive Fire Element Array inside Iron Dome Castle.

Over time, Iron Dome Castle gradually became the most important weapons forging base in the entire Beastman Empire.

One has to wonder if the Emperor of the Beastman Empire who had rescued the Gray Dwarves back then would regret his actions if he knew of the conflict between the Gray Dwarves and the Purple-blooded Beastmen today.

Something major had recently happened in Iron Dome Castle. His Majesty Monroe, who had been away at war for a year, had unexpectedly returned today!

Everyone in the fortress—no, it’s safe to say the entire Gray Dwarves Race—was shocked by this news.

Iron Dome Castle was hardly an isolated place; it housed a massive Magic Communication Tower, and everyone was constantly monitoring the situation on the front lines.

Even the lowest-ranking Gray Dwarves knew that the war had reached its most critical moment. The fate of the Empire could very well be rewritten in the days to come!

So for their own king to just come back now... what was going on?

And it wasn’t just Monroe. Prince Dor, Prince Aurora... and so on. The armies on the battlefield were, one after another, either beginning their return or were already on their way back.

Once they processed the news, all the Gray Dwarves in Iron Dome Castle erupted in endless joy!

They didn’t know if the war was over, but in any case, the Gray Dwarves’ war was over now.

Monroe’s reputation among his people improved considerably in an instant.

As for what would happen to the Empire?

The general consensus among the Gray Dwarves was: to hell with the Empire. They were the noble Gray Dwarves and had nothing to do with those purple-skinned barbarians.

This brought up the question of why the Gray Dwarves had been driven out of the Dwarf Kingdom in the first place, forcing them to cross the entire Demon Beast Mountain Range to seek refuge with the Beastman Empire.

The core of Gray Dwarf culture was self-supremacy and contempt for all others. Back when the Gray Dwarves were in power, they had thrown the entire Dwarf Kingdom into chaos.

「Inside Iron Dome Castle’s Royal Palace.」

The ministers of the Gray Dwarves Race had all gathered here. A middle-aged Gray Dwarf with a white beard sat upon the throne.

"Your Majesty! I heard that old dog Kemal is on his deathbed!

Hah! He ran into some Humans and nearly died of fright. That’s the Emperor of the Purple-blooded Beastmen for you!"

"Your Majesty, we have already contacted the Northern Bear Race and the Naga to the west. Your Majesty, this is a golden opportunity!

The rise of us Gray Dwarves is just around the corner!"

Inside the Royal Palace, the crowd of ministers showered Monroe with endless praise.

"Your Majesty, I heard the main human army has reached the battlefield. Now that we’ve pulled out, there’s one less force on the field to resist the Humans.

What if the human reinforcements charge straight into the Beastman Grassland? What are we to do then?"

There were still voices of opposition in the Grey Dwarf Kingdom.

Initially, the Beastman Emperor’s legitimacy came from the Beast God. Later, it came from his bloodline.

Ultimately, due to the entanglement of various factions, the final source of legitimacy became the resistance against the Humans.

The Purple-blooded Beastmen have always claimed that only by rallying around His Majesty the great Emperor can they resist the Humans.

Hearing this, Monroe sneered.

"Charge straight into the grassland? Historically, it’s not as if Humans have never broken through the Beastmen’s defensive lines.

Go and see for yourself, what’s the farthest place they’ve ever reached?

Even their so-called Knight King only ever reached Madar Mountain. Guess why he didn’t advance further. Was it because he didn’t want to?" Monroe said with a laugh.

"I see! Your Majesty is truly wise and farsighted!"

"If you ask me, this Beastman dynasty is about to end..."

Monroe had only said a few simple words, but the still-hesitant Gray Dwarves in attendance immediately understood.

Right, it wasn’t the first or second time Humans had charged into the Beastman Grassland, but they had never truly managed to destroy the Beastman Empire. Why was that?

There was only one reason.

It was too far! The Beastman Empire was too big!

In terms of area alone, it was a third of the size of the entire Human World. The north-south expanse stretched for thousands of miles, and all of it was grassland.

The Humans’ logistical supply lines were completely insufficient to support them in a charge all the way to Iron Furnace Castle.

Unless they attacked from the eastern front.

In truth, aside from a few exceptions, most of the so-called Royalist Faction’s races were directly under the blade of the Humans’ northward advance.

These peoples truly had no other choice. If they didn’t rally around the Purple-blooded Beastmen, the Humans could genuinely wipe them out completely.

As for the likes of the Dwarf Kingdom, they were near the eastern front and had several mountain ranges as barriers, so they had nothing to worry about.

"I’ve contacted quite a few people this time, mostly races from the fringes of the Empire," Monroe said with a smile.

"This is a golden opportunity.

The Purple-blooded Beastmen actually expect us to keep submitting to them because of a favor they did hundreds of years ago!

That’s impossible."

"The throne of the Beastman Empire naturally belongs to the capable.

This time, the Humans will certainly deal a heavy blow to the Purple-blooded Beastmen! Kemal will be unable to escape blame for the Empire’s defeat!

It’s about time the Purple-blooded Beastmen coughed up all that wealth!" Monroe said with a laugh.

At least in Monroe’s eyes, this was a god-sent opportunity to topple the Purple Blood Royal Family!

As for the Humans? Who cares about them?

To the Frank Kingdom, the Beastman Empire’s southward invasion every thirty years was a natural phenomenon.

The same was true for the Beastman Empire; the Humans would march north once every thirty years, and then everyone would go back to their own homes. No one had ever heard of Humans settling on the Beastman Grassland.

"Your Majesty, we’ve heard that there’s a human army on the eastern front.

Should we be on guard against them?"

Yet another minister stepped forward to ask a question, making Monroe a little impatient.

’Why can’t these guys see the bigger picture? Don’t they know what time it is?’

It wasn’t that Monroe was being careless.

It was mainly because Humans attacking the grassland from the eastern front was simply unheard of.

In this world, the basic unit of combat was still the ordinary soldier, and soldiers could get altitude sickness.

Although the Beastman Grassland was only one to two thousand meters above sea level, attacking from below was not something to be attempted lightly without the kind of hard power the Human Alliance Army possessed.

"When have those Humans ever attacked the grassland from the eastern front?

Besides, aren’t the Centaurs still there? Let them deal with it."

Seeing that other ministers still wanted to ask questions, Monroe cut them off decisively.

"The current situation is the perfect opportunity for us Gray Dwarves to rebuild our empire.

All of you, go and contact the anti-emperor factions in the Empire. Ignore the neutral parties. Once we are victorious, they will naturally know who they should have supported!" Monroe commanded.

"As you command, Your Majesty."

After the ministers replied, they exited the hall.