Chapter 105 The Battle of the Deep King Fortress
The Deep King Fortress is a huge building with a dark and forbidding appearance. It is built between two huge pillars that tower to the top of the cave, with thick smoke swirling above it. Accumulated clouds.
Huge basalt braziers are filled with lava, which then pours down the palace's outer walls, shining with a hellish red light.
There are battlements set up on the thick stone walls, with steel turrets installed on them.
The heavily armed gray dwarf prince Erdi is leading his henchmen, twenty elite Calavor cavalry and thirty Saron spearmen, and is heading towards the Deep King's Fortress.
Looking at the thick outline of the fortress gradually emerging in front of him, Erdy took a deep breath, suppressed the tension in his heart, and subconsciously glanced at the troops following him.
Most of the Calavor cavalry who ride giant tarantulas come from the domesticated Hinton clan, the family of his late mother and his staunchest supporters.
The trainers of Clan Hinton nurtured and trained this giant wolf spider, native to the Underdark.
Male riding wolf spiders, which are similar in size to ponies, are used as pack animals, while larger female wolf spiders are trained as mounts.
Although these wolf spiders cannot weave webs, their feet can secrete a sticky substance, so they can move freely on walls and ceilings, which is convenient for catching prey.
Saron spearmen come from the Salosga clan who are good at forging armor.
Because Brian, a foreigner from the surface, helped him convince the 'Dragon Blacksmith' Argotus and made a heavy promise, all the warriors of this family turned against him.
After all, except for the real ruler of the King of the Deep in Aldus King City, most decisions are the result of joint deliberations by the ‘Landowners’ Parliament’.
This advisory body represents the interests of the various clans loyal to the Deep King, and the landowners use this council to resolve differences and discuss future plans.
Each clan holds a portion of the royal city of Aldus and controls a specific craft or service industry in the city's economy.
If he wanted to overthrow the rule of the Deep King, he had to win over some leaders of the 'Landowners' Council' and gain their support.
As for the conditions for winning over, they are nothing more than wealth, territory and rights.
At this moment, except for the two hundred Saron spearmen who obey the orders of the Flame Watchers, all the remaining warriors of the Salosgar clan will participate in his war to overthrow the rule of the Deep King.
On the surface, the gray dwarf prince Erdi seems to be preparing to break into the Deep King's fortress with only fifty men.
In fact, all his large forces are on standby.
As long as he takes control of the fortress, the troops from behind will swarm forward and take the lead in occupying the entire fortress until they control his father, the King of the Deep, who was completely corrupted by the devil.
Erdy put away his thoughts and led his men along the road. As the grid of stone floor tiles became more and more conspicuous, a comfortable and regular avenue finally appeared on the road not far away.
The light ahead allowed him to identify regularly placed blue-white light sources, rather than the phosphorescent mushrooms growing on the roadside.
The light is real street lighting, and its light comes from two huge, intricately carved stone doors installed at the end of the tunnel.
In addition to lighting, these blue-white light sources containing magical power also have the function of breaking invisibility.
Because of this, it was impossible for him to seize control of the fortress by means of a surprise attack.
Erdy looked solemnly at the Deep King Fortress within sight. On the surface, the walls of the entire fortress were empty and seemed particularly quiet.
In fact, this is just an illusion.
Because all the guards were invisible and stationed everywhere, he could hear the sounds of guards walking back and forth in heavy armor just by observing carefully.
He also knew very well that the fortress was guarded by the most powerful force in the Aldus King City, the 'Stone Guards'.
This force, composed of 500 gray dwarf veterans, is directly affiliated with the Deep King and serves as his father's bodyguards, elite troops, and secret scouts.
According to the intelligence he collected, 500 invisible stone guards guarded the fortress and the Deep King.
200 of them formed a neat patrol in front of the palace in the fortress, ready to take down the intruding enemies at any time. The other 250 guards were stationed in turrets and battlements everywhere.
The remaining 50 people were organized into the Deep King's personal bodyguards.
So, his Karavo cavalry and Saron spearmen alone could not defeat this group of gray dwarf veterans who had participated in many battles with the drow elves in the Underdark.
The most important thing is that the arrogance of these veterans and the madness of the demon lords that have spread here have corrupted their souls and secretly plunged into the bottomless abyss.
"Stop whoever is coming!"
A rude voice came from the battlements, and the voice ordered in emotionless Dwarf language: "State your name and the purpose of your visit!"< br>
The words just fell.
Erdy sensed that there were at least hundreds of loaded crossbow bolts aimed at their group.
At the same time, with a burst of metal sound, twenty heavily armored dwarf warriors who had already used invisibility to hide in the dark appeared out of thin air behind them, put up a strong metal shield, and raised their swords to confront them. .
There are heavy crossbowmen in front who are ready to attack, and there are gray dwarf heavily armored warriors in the back blocking the retreat.
In this case, Erdi signaled his men not to act rashly, then looked up at the shouter on the battlements, and calmly replied with the wording he had already thought of:
"I He is the leader of the Calavo Cavalry and the only heir of the Deep King. I heard that the 'Dragon Blacksmith' Agtus has rebelled and is leading his army of kobolds to wreak havoc in the city. So, for my father. For the safety of the Deep King, I specially led my men to help you defend the fortress."
The Flame Wardens and most of the city guards have been attracted by the red dragon's kobolds. He must take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to capture the Deep King's Fortress as quickly as possible.
"Hey! My little prince, your lying skills are really bad."
The gray dwarf guards on the battlement took off their helmets, paid a slight salute to Erdi, and touched the light reflected by the blue-white light source. The shiny bald head curled his lips in disdain and said:
"Now, the stone guards around you are enough to form an army that even the chief mage of Ancient Orens City would not dare to attack rashly, let alone It's that stupid dragon of Agtus and a bunch of kobolds he raised. They won't come here."
"But." The gray dwarf guard looked at Erdi meaningfully and smiled. , and said:
"Your dear father, the King of Deep Earth has already told you that if his filial son, Prince Erdi, comes to take refuge, we must let him go and bring all your men in." Come on, the 'brave' little prince Erdi."
With a loud rumbling sound, the gate of the fortress was slowly pushed open.
Erdy raised his head and glanced at the 20 stone guards guarding both sides of the door corridor.
He secretly exchanged glances with the Saron spearman leader and his cavalry deputy beside him, and under the vigilance of the 20 stone guards behind him, they all walked towards the gate.
When they were halfway there, the guard shouting on the battlements, led by two subordinates, rushed towards them.
His old, rough-skinned face was full of smiles, and he came towards the gray dwarf prince.
Looking at the guard approaching, a cold light flashed in Erdi's dark gray eyes.
He secretly clenched the dark red warhammer in his hand. The moment the guard came over and stretched out his hand, orange flames suddenly jumped out of the warhammer. Under Erdy's swing, it accurately hit the guard's bare body. head.
The smile on the opponent's face had not dissipated before he was smashed to pieces by the hot flaming war hammer.
“Do it!”
The gray dwarf prince raised his warhammer surrounded by flames, and the roar echoed in the spacious corridor.
The Calavo cavalry behind him jumped up on giant tarantulas.
The ferocious wolf spiders exposed their fangs filled with venom. Each of them threw down the stone guard beside them, wrapped them tightly with their sticky long legs, and then were killed by the cavalry wielding war hammers or heavy axes. .
The Saron spearmen instantly activated the magic of the flaming spears, covering the stone guards on both sides of the corridor in a raging sea of fire.
It only takes a moment.
The more than 40 guards guarding the city gate corridor were neatly cleared away by the gray dwarf prince's men with the opportunity and numerical advantage.
Erdy swung the war hammer and hit the flesh and bones of the last stone guard. Looking at the scorch marks on the torn head that was burned by the flames attached to the war hammer, he nodded with satisfaction, and then said to the adjutant beside him. He ordered:
"Open the city gate quickly and release the general attack signal to the troops outside the city!"
With a loud rumble, the gate that had just been closed opened again, and a brilliant flame Rising in the dark sky.
At the same time, the stone guards in the fortress also noticed the fighting in the corridor. The patrolling stone guards immediately organized a force of more than a hundred people and rushed towards the corridor.
“Set up a defensive formation and never let them break through the defense line!”
Erdy watched the torrent of black armor composed of gray dwarf veterans sweep towards the corridor, and he immediately gave orders to his soldiers.
He had to do this. Once the defense line here was breached, it meant that subsequent large forces would not be able to rush into the fortress.
In this case, it is impossible for them to control the entire fortress before the major clans react.
He leads the Calavo cavalry and Saron spearmen, all of whom are carefully selected elites. At least half of the warriors are around level three, enough to challenge any gray dwarf veterans in the stone guards.
So, in the favorable terrain of the defensive corridor, he had great confidence to withstand the charge of the stone guards.
Moreover, he still had two trump cards in his hand that would make his father's jaw drop.
Following the order of the gray dwarf prince.
The 20 Cavola cavalry jumped off the back of the Wolf Spider, took out their metal shields, and smashed them on the ground, forming a steel defense line to block the speeding crossbow bolts.
Under the command of the cavalry, this group of female wolf spiders, which are the same size as human heavy horses, climbed to the ceiling of the corridor in an orderly manner, lurking in the darkness like predators, waiting for the arrival of prey.
The Saron spearmen all put away their flaming spears, took out the heavy crossbows that had already been loaded with explosive bolts, and under the cover of the cavalry shield wall, poured out crossbow bolts wrapped in explosive flames. .
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
In the first round of explosive crossbow bolts, explosion sounds continued to be heard around the gray dwarf warriors on both sides.
The entire dark fortress reflected the scene of hell with flashing red light.
Amidst the painful screams, gray dwarf warriors continued to die in the exploding crossbow bolts. Fortunately for the gray dwarf prince, the charging stone guards obviously did not expect this unexpected situation at all, so they prepared very few explosive crossbow bolts.
Under the second round of attacks, the firepower of the hundreds of stone guards was completely suppressed. They could only rely on their heavy armor and flesh and blood to launch a fierce attack on this line of defense.
However, when they rushed to the defense line, the female wolf spiders that had been waiting for a long time showed their fangs, jumped down from the ceiling, and harvested their lives.
In just a moment, this corridor, which was not too narrow for the gray dwarves, turned into a meat grinding ground mixed with blood and fire.
Only the respective races know the most fatal weakness of their own race. This is a conclusion reached by the gray dwarf prince Erdi when he was adventuring in the surface world.
This is exactly the case.
The royal city of Aldus where the gray dwarves live is also known as the 'City of Blades'. The 'dragon blacksmith' Agtus provides flames for the entire city's furnaces, and countless gray dwarf blacksmiths follow the rhythm of the city day and night. Work ceaselessly to produce the best weapons and armor in the entire Underdark.
If you want to deal with the heavily armed stone guards, even bows and arrows with armor-breaking properties are not as effective as expected.
The best method is the Explosive Crossbow and the Flamethrower of the Saron Pikemen.
So, in order to deal with the stone guards, he brought out almost all the explosive crossbow bolts produced by the Salosga clan.
After Erdy blocked the fifth round of charge from the stone guard.
His men have been reduced by one-third, but the number of stone guards is increasing, and there are even a few psychic priests and warlocks.
An ominous premonition filled his heart.
Just when the gray dwarf prince was extremely anxious, he suddenly turned around and suddenly saw the terrifying figures of a group of female wolf spiders outside the city.
There is no doubt that his reinforcements have arrived.
A fierce confrontation is taking place in the corridor, and the stone guards on the city wall are not idle either.
The moment they discovered the wolf spider swarm, they immediately drove the rows of steel turrets placed on the battlements without mercy.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Accompanied by loud noises.
Rows of steel gun barrels ejected dazzling tongues of flame in the dim environment.
The lead bullets shot out rapidly, passing through the arc of billowing smoke, and exploded into brilliant flames the moment they fell into the Calavo Cavalry Regiment.
Looking at the crumbling defense line and the struggling reinforcements charging under the artillery fire, the gray dwarf prince who fought bloody battles felt anxious when he saw that his other two supporting troops had not yet appeared.
Because if this continues, failure will only be a matter of time for him.
However, he believed that this would never happen.
He roared angrily, and the war hammer in his hand was wrapped with hot flames, accurately hitting a gray dwarf warlock standing in the last row of the stone guard who was chanting magic.
Under the control of Erdi's thoughts, the flame warhammer returned to his hand again.
With the death of the suppressive gray dwarf warlock, his remaining twenty or so men finally withstood a new round of charge.
At this moment, he suddenly felt faintly that the entire corridor was shaking.
Erdy looked surprised at first, and then realized that this was a sign of the arrival of his reinforcements.
He quickly eliminated the enemies in front of him, ran to the leader of the Saron spearmen, and told the heir of the Salosga clan: "The stone giant in the Smoky Quartz Cave has been teleported to the city wall. I’ll leave the large army to you to command.”
After saying that, Erdi immediately activated a teleportation ring on his finger, disappeared in place and appeared on the city wall under the light of the magic circle.
After adapting to the brief discomfort caused by the teleportation, he saw more than fifty burly and majestic stone giants, each holding a five-meter-long wooden-handled mace or mace, fighting with them as if driving away the Los beasts. Nearly 200 stone guards on the city wall and many ordinary city guards fought together.
With the appearance of these stone giants, which were more than 4 meters tall, the guards on the battlements panicked for a short time, so that they had no time to take care of the reinforcements rushing into the city, resulting in many Cavola cavalry and Sasha Long pikemen appeared in the fortress.
The gray dwarf prince Erdi knew that the balance of victory was slowly tilting in his direction.
At this moment, a light of dark blue teleportation circle flashed not far away from him again.
The moment the light dissipated, he was pleasantly surprised to see the figures of the two outsiders from the surface and the 'Dragon Blacksmith' Agtus finally appearing.
He knocked down the stone guard blocking the way with one hammer and quickly rushed forward.
——"Fireball!"
Looking at the melee on the city wall, Brian pointed his staff, and a fireball the size of an ogre's head fell into a group of people rushing up the stairs. An explosion mixed with screams erupted from the reinforcements.
Hisaya also drew out his rune sword and guarded him, blocking all invading enemies.
“Where is that old bastard from Deepland King?!”
The bloated red dragon Agtus flapped his wings, climbed onto a steel turret, stretched his neck and roared, activating his Dragon Power Domain.
In an instant, with Agtus as the center, all the stone giants and gray dwarves within a radius of 50 meters felt their breathing heavy, their hearts beating faster, as if they were surprised, and there was a feeling on their backs. I had chills and an inexplicable feeling of powerlessness and exhaustion.
This is the powerful ability from the True Dragon Clan: Dragon Power!
Any pure-blooded dragon species, except for newly born dragons, all have their own realm of dragon power.
Once turned on, any creature approaching them must make a mandatory Will save, otherwise they will be shrouded in fear and horror, and instantly lose their combat effectiveness.
Almost at the moment Attus roared, Brian was also affected, and a row of data emerged:
"Affected by the dragon's power effect!"
"Triggering a mandatory will save. Check!"
"Will saving throw passed!"
"You successfully saved the effect of Longwei!"
"You have successfully exempted yourself from Longwei's panic effect!"
"You have successfully exempted yourself from Longwei's panic effect!"
…………
Rao Shibu Ryan succeeded in saving due to his strong will, but he still felt as helpless as if he had a bad cold.
Fortunately, his concentration skill has a higher level, otherwise, it is very likely that his spell release will fail.
He immediately released the spell he had just prepared, and then looked in the direction of the red dragon.
Brian saw this bloated dragon spread its wings, jumped up, and flew into the air. The moment the huge and bloated dragon body suddenly lost its balance, it swayed crookedly and seemed to fall. Like a machine, he fell down and smashed the two gray dwarf stone guards to death on the spot.
“Brian, I can’t fly anymore, what should I do?!” Agtus got up from the ground and rubbed his head, looked at Brian as if asking for help, and shouted road.
Looking at the red dragon’s sad face, Brian really couldn’t bear to look at it.
It was hard to imagine that he could actually see an expression on the face of a red dragon that was about to cry.
As an adult dragon, under normal circumstances, the red dragon's biological level is around level 20-24, and its body is also very large.
He visually determined that Agtus’ body length is 30 meters and its tail length is 25 meters.
Almost among the adult red dragons, there is a ceiling.
Who would have thought that this fat red dragon could not even control its flight.
This shows how comfortable his life is.
However, it’s understandable if you think about it carefully.
Because the cave of Argotus is not as vast as imagined, and the gray dwarves still live in a tunnel-based city in the Underdark.
If he didn't want to bump his head often, he could only crawl out of the cave every day and light the flame of the furnace.
And under the deliberate captivity of the gray dwarves, he hardly had to do anything. Suddenly coming to such a vast place, it was normal for him to be unable to adapt to his flying ability.
"Climb up to the turret and spray dragon breath or fireballs on these gray dwarves." Brian shrugged helplessly, saying that he had no choice, and gave him the most correct approach at the moment.
Originally, he planned to ride a red dragon and kill the King of the Deep.
Now that he saw this situation, he directly rejected this unreliable idea.
He saw Argotus spreading his wings and pushing hard with his two chubby thighs, just like a monkey climbing a tree. He hugged the turret with his two front paws and climbed to the top of the tower in a weird posture. .
I saw fire jumping out of his lava-colored pupils, and thick smoke flowing out of his nose. As he took a deep breath, a hot dragon's breath spurted out, among a large group of gray dwarves. A sea of fire ignited.
In the blink of an eye, at least fifty gray dwarf warriors and stone guards died in the sea of fire.
Seeing this terrifying power, Brian showed a surprised expression.
Obviously, he did not expect that the dragon's breath sprayed by this guy would be so powerful.
This mouthful of old phlegm would probably put even the red dragon in his prime to shame.
It can be seen from this that Agotus's nearly 100 years of clocking in and starting work on time is not completely useless. At least he has developed a strong lung capacity.
Thanks to the boss: Shui Shi Yu Ling for the reward, thank you for your support! ! !
(End of this chapter)