After killing several desperate enemies, Unas reached level 35 and immediately chose the new skill "Hand of Freedom" (applies Hand of Freedom to the target, making them immune to any movement-impairing effects for 6 seconds). He had heard that the Dark Iron Mages guarding the well gate was skilled in control spells, so he learned this skill to be on the safe side.
Isaac and several Ogres took turns ramming the iron gate with their shoulders, causing rubble to fall from the edge of the cave entrance, but the iron gate remained unmoved for the time being.
Unas slammed his fist on the door, the sound of which was about the thickness of two palms. In the Black Furnace, only Torbjorn could afford to use steel so extravagantly; even the entrances to his core territory had such iron doors for defense.
There must be many enemies desperately trying to hold the door open. The Ogres have rammed it forty or fifty times without any effect. Although Unas is stronger than the Ogres, he doesn't have a good way to break through the iron door. If he had Firekiss, he could try, but now he is helpless.
"Alright, stop wasting your energy. Take a break and get yourself some loot!"
After the battle, Unas, the nominal captain, finally gained some authority. No one objected to this favorable order, and his men cheered and began looting the corpses on the ground.
Unas didn't make a move. He had already picked up quite a few Dwarf weapons and equipment along the way, and he wanted to leave some for others.
Isaac didn't bother with the spoils; instead, he ran over and said, "The humans of Us are powerful. If that golden whirlwind were to happen again, Isaac's leg would be completely healed!"
Unas cast two Holy Light on his thigh. "Get out of the way. That spell was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
A dozen minutes later, Half-Face finally arrived with his main force. He had already prepared a way to deal with the iron gate. Eight strong Ogres used ropes and wooden poles to lift a cylindrical volcanic rock from the ranks, which could be seen as a simple battering ram.
The siege team moved toward the iron gate, chanting slogans. Half-Face strode up to Unas, patted him on the back, and laughed loudly, "I knew I hadn't misjudged you! It's a miracle that you managed to get here with just your Charge team. You deserve all the credit for this great achievement. I'll definitely reward you handsomely after this battle."
The enemy left behind nearly two hundred corpses. These fully armed Dwarves were Torbjorn's elite troops, equivalent to one-tenth of his forces. The results of this first battle were indeed significant.
"Thank you for the compliment, Boss Half-Face. Without your elite troops, I couldn't have accomplished anything on my own," Unas said modestly.
"Young man, don't be so modest. I heard from them that you single-handedly Execute dozens of enemies, including those three brothers."
Half-Face pointed behind him, and Unas looked in the direction he was pointing. Not far away, an Orcs was swaggering around, holding a spear stained with blood, with the heads of the three Dwarf Warriors impaled on the spearhead.
"Torbjorn often bragged to me about how powerful his three henchmen were, claiming they possessed the blood of the Mountain King, heh heh," he chuckled dismissively, clearly in high spirits, "And you killed them all in one Half-Face swoop. I'd love to know his expression when he saw those three heads, heh heh."
It turned out that these three were Torbjorn's capable generals, Unas some comfort, since it wasn't some nobody who had defeated him.
With a loud "thud!", the Ogre rammed the iron gate with his battering ram, shaking the entire Cave. Fine rain of stones and dust fell from the cave ceiling, leaving everyone covered in dirt.
But the siege team wouldn't stop. With one loud bang after another, a dent appeared in the middle of the iron gate, growing larger and larger. Under such powerful impacts, the guys holding the gate couldn't hold out for long.
"Charge team, prepare to attack!" Half-Face immediately gave the order.
"Damn it, he's pushing people to their limits!" Unas cursed inwardly. "If I weren't at full strength after the upgrade, this short rest period wouldn't be enough."
"The Charge team has lost over thirty men, and the remaining ones are exhausted. Boss, do you think you could..."
Half-Face interrupted, "I'll immediately send you reinforcements. Your mission is to Charge ahead. The team members are all elites I carefully selected, with excellent stamina. How could you get tired from such a small battle? Knight Unas, are you afraid to fight?"
"Of course not," Unas dared not admit it, seeing the ill intent in his eyes—cowardice was a serious offense. "I'm ready to be the first to charge!"
"That's good, go quickly!"
Unas felt like he was being manipulated, but there was nothing he could do; when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.
After reorganizing the ranks, with Unas and Isaac at the head and the Charge team following behind the siege force, they were ready to charge in and kill the enemy as soon as the iron gates opened.
After a dozen or so impacts, like striking a bell, a loud crash followed, and a hole was smashed in the iron gate, revealing gray stones inside. It turned out that the enemy had built another Stone Wall behind the iron gate.
The two Ogres put down their battering rams, reached their hands into the hole and gripped the edge tightly, then pulled with all their might, trying to tear the iron gate out.
A tooth-grinding creaking sound came from the iron gate. The violent impact turned the oval iron gate into an umbrella shape with the hole at its center. The area it could support was reduced, and it was no longer enough to wed it against the cave wall. It was quickly pried out by the super-strong Ogre.
Several sappers immediately grabbed hoes and shovels and ran up. The makeshift Stone Wall was quickly dug down, revealing half an opening. But suddenly, several iron spears pierced out from inside, and the three sappers at the front fell to the ground, splattered with blood.
Unas immediately pulled out the hammer, axe and other weapons he had picked up earlier and smashed them into the cave. Several screams were heard, and the enemies inside the cave began to shoot spears outwards. Several other engineers and Ogres from the siege team who were close by were immediately stabbed down.
Unas quickly pulled out his giant shield and held it in front of him. He could squeeze through half the opening, but the Ogres, who made up half the number of the Charge, couldn't. "Except for the Ogres, everyone follow me!"
The Half-Ogre made way, and the Dwarves and Orcs who had been standing in the back rushed forward. Unas took the lead, picking up spears from the ground and firing them back as he went. The powerful shots caused the enemies in the passage to scream in agony. In this confined space of the cave entrance, he alone was able to suppress the firepower of all the enemy forces.
With that momentum, he put away his oversized shield, took out two long spears, and thrust them straight into the half-open hole, then took the opportunity to squeeze inside.
It was pitch black inside, but thankfully the Sacred Shield on my body provided some light. The two Dwarves in front of me were clutching spears that had pierced their stomachs, coughing up blood. Behind them, in the darkness, a dozen pairs of the scarlet eyes that were characteristic of the Dark Iron Dwarves were glowing, densely packed together from near to far.
Unas swiftly withdrew the iron spear from his left hand and replaced it with a giant shield. The sounds of weapons striking the shield immediately rang out in rapid succession. Reckoning was activated, and instead of retreating, he advanced, unleashing Righteous Shield Strike that combined with the power of Reckoning to deflect all the incoming weapons.
He then stepped forward, thrusting his spear out wildly in his right hand. The two-meter-long iron spear could not go any further after piercing the third body. He then swept it horizontally, slamming all the enemies in front of him against the stone wall. Regardless of whether they were dead or wounded, as long as there was space in front of him, Unas kept charging forward. His comrades swarmed in behind him, easily Execute the dizzy and disoriented men.
Using Divine Storm in such a confined space as the tunnel would be too wasteful, Unas adopted a defensive counter-attack strategy. He didn't hold back on Reckoning and released it as soon as it was activated, which put almost no burden on his body and was more than enough to deal with the enemy's ordinary soldiers. The Charge team, spearheaded by him, was invincible and quickly pushed the enemy back nearly a hundred meters.
The long weapons they had collected earlier were all used up, and their arms were sore and numb, but their pace of advance did not slow down at all. The more they fought the Dwarves, the more terrified they became, feeling that the humans wielding giant shields and Silver Hammers in front of them were like invincible war gods.
The intense offensive Unas faced when he first charged in was gone. Now, as he pressed forward slightly, the enemy dared not engage and simply retreated.
According to the map, this passage is about 300 meters long, and breaking through it is no problem. But what's the benefit of breaking through? Being Half-Face to attack the next, even stronger, enemy defense? Unas doesn't think so. Leveling up is one thing, but he can't get too bogged down in this.
He had secretly removed a few rivets from his shoulder armor. The next time he swung his Silver Hammer, he deliberately swung his shoulder forcefully, causing the triangular silver armor on his right shoulder to fall off as if by accident. He pretended to be surprised, giving the enemy an opening. The Dwarf in front of him did not disappoint, immediately thrusting his spear into the shoulder that was almost right in front of him.
Unas let out a bloodcurdling scream and staggered backward, colliding violently with a Dwarf behind him. The two of them rolled on the ground at the same time.
He climbed to the edge of the stone wall, pretending he couldn't stand up. Gelasi, who had been assisting him in the battle, quickly carried him on his back. The soldiers behind him had been watching Unas's fighting figure advance, and they already had great respect for him as the nominal captain. They immediately made way for him, and Hart and Raymond followed.
The passageway was packed with Charge team members who rushed in to fight. Fortunately, wounded soldiers had been brought back earlier, so a narrow gap remained, but they could only slowly squeeze through.
The Ogres could be seen in the latter half of the cave entrance; it seemed the pile of stones blocking half of the entrance had been cleared. Isaac was among them. He immediately spotted Unas, who was groaning on the Orcs's back, and called out, "Unas, human, what's wrong?"
Unas wanted to curse, "You're brain-dead and blind!" but he held back and hissed, "Seriously injured! I'm seriously injured!"
He wasn't entirely acting; the Dwarf was truly ruthless, nearly piercing his right shoulder. Luckily, he managed to avoid the bone, but the wound was now bleeding profusely. Even casting three Holy Light had little effect, giving the impression that the charade had become real. He was covered in blood, unable to distinguish between the enemy's and his own, and indeed appeared to be seriously injured.
Isaac seemed to want to follow along, but the Ogre's massive body could only move forward in the crowded passageway; there was no way it could retreat.
The three of them helped Unas squeeze out of the tunnel with great difficulty. Feeling that it might be easier to get out, Raymond immediately took out a needle and thread from his bag to stitch up Unas's wound. Although he was not old, he was already a veteran, and this kind of needlework was no problem for him.
Half-Face also rushed over, and after checking Unas's wounds, the doubt on his face dissipated somewhat. "Knight Unas, you've worked hard. After your wounds are bandaged, go and rest in the back."
"Thank you... um... Boss Half-Face." Without anesthesia, the stitches were even more painful, and Unas couldn't help but groan.
Raymond quickly and skillfully applied the ointment and bandages, completing the entire treatment in no time. Unas immediately felt much better.
The three men protected him, intending to take him to the back of the mine, where there was a temporary resting place for the wounded. Unas quickly refused, saying, "No, I'll rest here. I won't gain experience if I'm too far away."
None of the three understood him and thought he was rambling incoherently due to blood loss. Only after Unas insisted did they reluctantly stay.
He glanced at his experience points, which had risen to 21%. Since leveling up, he had personally killed about ten Dwarves, each giving him an average of about 1%. The remaining 11% was earned through cheating.
Now, as the battle progresses, a small dot of light will occasionally float by. The experience gain is only a decimal, but you can gain experience just by lying down, so you can't complain too much.
After Unas was "seriously injured" and withdrew, the Half-Face side lost its spearhead and its offensive power was greatly reduced. The enemy's morale slowly rose, and the battle returned to a normal stalemate rhythm, with neither side gaining a significant advantage.
The two sides fought fiercely, and this passageway instantly became a meat grinder. Unas gained experience comfortably, rising straight to 30%.
In stark contrast to his leisurely demeanor, Half-Face paced anxiously around the cave entrance. He had just received intelligence: although the Blackrock Orcs had arrived later, they had already breached Torbjorn's stronghold, only to find it emptied out, leaving the Orcs with nothing.
The agreement reached beforehand among the three parties was that the Ore Deposits and Arsenal would be divided equally among the three after the war, but Orcs wanted manpower when attacking the stronghold, Half-Face wanted the Arsenal's armory, and Lincoln was after the food in the warehouse.
From the start of the war, Blacktooth and Lincoln showed signs of breaking their agreement, and Half-Face also wanted to take the opportunity to seize the Arsenal for himself. But now that the Orcs have failed, they will definitely try to seize the spoils of the other two sides. Lincoln is still slowly attacking the warehouse, and the pressure on Torbjorn is the greatest on our side. The Orcs' next target is easy to choose.
Torbjorn's stronghold and Arsenal are adjacent. Since the Orcs have occupied the stronghold, they can attack the Arsenal from another direction. If they get there first, we will be drawing fire for them for nothing.
Given the Blackrock Orcs' greedy nature, they might take advantage of the situation to attack me. Although Lincoln's relationship with Blacktooth is ambiguous, he is still a member of the Dark Horde. Perhaps they have already secretly plotted to use this joint operation to unify Black Furnace, and I am already the next target after Torbjorn.
Half-Face thought about it more and more and felt that this was possible. Cold sweat had already broken out on his forehead. He thought he had calculated everything perfectly, but he had also fallen into the trap.
Now, whether to advance or retreat, he was completely at a loss. Should he launch a full-scale attack to seize the Arsenal first? Or should he retreat and wait, allowing Torbjorn to catch his breath and deal with the Blackrock Clan? This was a difficult question to answer.