Of course, Half-Face could also choose a third path: immediately cease hostilities with Torbjorn and turn against him to attack the Blackrock Orcs from both sides.
But now that the two sides have broken off relations, it's difficult for them to trust each other anymore. Even if they were to try to make peace, the party that speaks first would definitely be at a severe disadvantage and wouldn't be able to negotiate any good terms, which is something he doesn't want to see.
Then we have no choice but to launch a full-scale attack. If we take it, we'll be the biggest winners. Even if we don't, we'll put immense pressure on Torbjorn, forcing him to sue for peace. Then we can offer him favorable terms.
Half-Face had already decided on his strategy and there was no turning back. He immediately intensified his supervision, driving the temporary battle group that had been coerced into pressing forward into the cave, and forcibly pushing the Charge team ahead forward.
This short-sighted approach will cause even greater casualties on his side, but as long as the goal can be achieved, Half-Face doesn't care. In his mind, these subordinates are just numbers; if they're gone, he can recruit more.
Suddenly, the frequency of the little lights drifting over increased significantly, Unas's experience points had already exceeded 30%. If this continued, he might be able to level up in another hour or two.
But they were clearly not so lucky. Soon the speed at which people entered the cave began to increase, indicating that the enemy was retreating. The tactic of Half-Face casualties proved to be very effective.
"The enemy has retreated!" The latest battle report came back from the front. Half-Face shouted "Good!" and then ordered the troops to advance at full speed.
The soldiers filed in, and Unas, with the three men beside him protecting him, tried to join the crowd, but Half-Face called out to him, "Unas, you're seriously injured, aren't you going to rest in the back?"
"A minor injury is nothing. If the situation becomes critical, I can continue fighting." Unas pretended to be enduring immense pain.
Half-Face didn't believe he was so loyal, but then he changed his mind and said, "Alright! Maybe I really can use you. Come on along."
"I was just saying that to be polite. This bastard isn't taking it seriously, is he? "Unas cursed inwardly. "There's no reason to use wounded soldiers when we have so many fresh troops."
But he brought it on himself; who told him to try and gain experience points too easily?
Unas wanted to increase his experience to 80% to 90% before returning, so that he could level up quickly during the subsequent escape and rapidly recover his full combat strength. To achieve this goal, Unas had no choice but to continue following him.
Torbjorn's army retreated through three large mining areas in one fell swoop. Beyond the passageway lay the outer assembly area of Arsenal, where an oval, thick iron gate reappeared before everyone's eyes.
The same old method was used: the Ogres carried the massive stone pillars made of hard volcanic rock to ram the door. The iron door was quickly smashed open, and this time there were no Stone Walls left, and not a single enemy could be seen inside.
Torbjorn had actually abandoned this place. Half-Face, so he sent a small team of scouts in to investigate. The report came back that it was safe.
The heart of the Arsenal is the Smelting Room built in the magma pool, the only place underground where ore can be turned into metal. The other workshops are built radiating out from it: the foundry for casting and forging to make weapon blanks, the machining workshop for polishing and sharpening, and finally the assembly workshop for assembling handle parts.
Half-Face led his troops cautiously to this place. The number "3" at the entrance indicated that this was assembly room number three. Various semi-finished weapons were scattered haphazardly on the workbench and the ground, indicating that the people here had left in a great hurry.
There are openings leading to other places in the front, left, and right directions, but they are all blocked by iron gates. The floor of the hall is covered with messy footsteps, making it impossible to tell where the enemy's main force has retreated. According to the map, going left leads to another workshop, going right leads to the armory, and going forward leads to the furnace.
Torbjorn will eventually retreat to the most important Forge, but it's hard to say now. If he hides a surprise force behind one of the doors and suddenly attacks when we advance, it would be very dangerous to have our ranks cut off.
Half-Face had no choice but to order the siege team to break down all the iron gates, which took a lot of time. After searching all three directions, they found no enemy, but instead encountered a small group of Blackrock Orcs looting unfinished weapons in the workshop on the left.
After exchanging information with their leader, Half-Face learned that the main force of Blackrock was in a workshop not far from here. The Blackrock Clan's experience was very similar to his; after the initial fierce resistance, the enemy immediately retreated, allowing the Orcs to quickly storm the Arsenal.
Torbjorn abandoned so many defensive advantages and kept retreating, whether it was a feint or a real counterattack strategy was unclear. This successfully aroused Blacktooth's suspicion. The Orcs slowed their advance and sent their men to the left and right to grab some spoils first.
Half-Face sent a message to Blacktooth through the junior leader, first criticizing the other party for their previous breach of contract, and then urging Blacktooth to attack quickly so as to put pressure on the enemy and prevent Torbjorn from having a chance to breathe.
Unsure if the message would be effective, Half-Face reluctantly abandoned the armory, determined to continue advancing. Controlling the situation was more important than seizing weapons.
After passing through three more workshops, their progress suddenly slowed down as a new report came in: lava had appeared.
Half-Face hurriedly arrived at the front of the group, only to see that the floor of the foundry was covered with a shallow layer of lava, only ankle-deep. The iron door of the cave opposite was wide open, and golden-red liquid was flowing out continuously.
"Is this Torbjorn's secret weapon?" he asked, his Half-Face grim. He shouted, "Construction crew, immediately quarry stones on the spot! The enemy wants to block our way with the river, so we'll build a bridge!"
The engineers began digging rocks with a clanging and banging sound, while the others went back to move stone platforms and other similar items from the previous work area and threw them into the lava to pave a path. A path was immediately created in the shallow layer of liquid, which could not stop everyone's progress at all.
But the lava in the next room was even deeper, reaching up to an average person's thigh. Torbjorn must have used some method to bring all the lava out to use as a moat for the Smelting Room. The lava pool was originally the lowest point, so he must have used some method to transport the lava up.
This tactic was indeed brilliant. As you can imagine, the rest of the journey would be covered by increasingly deeper lava, making it impossible to pave the road at a faster pace. Half-Face had no choice but to order the entire army to halt their advance.
The flow rate of underground magma pools cannot be infinite; the newly emerging magma will always be insufficient to keep up with the consumption, and the magma will gradually solidify after losing heat. Therefore, waiting is a work in progress, but the time is uncertain, ranging from several hours to several days.
Half-Face had no choice but to wait while sending a trusted confidant to raid the armory. Unexpectedly, Lincoln had already gotten there first. The Ogre had done the least work but gained the most, not only looting Torbjorn's Granary but also obtaining all the weapons left in the armory.
The bad news brought back by his subordinates enraged even the usually shrewd Half-Face. He cursed the damned Ogre loudly, terrifying the innocent Isaac and his companions, who feared being held responsible for his anger.
Time passed anxiously, but the lava flow showed no signs of abating. The stones laid by the engineers were gradually submerged, forcing the column to retreat.
After a long time, Torbjorn's messenger appeared in a small, hastily put-together iron ship, with very strong words: withdraw your troops immediately, and this matter will be treated as if it never happened, or your attackers will be annihilated.
Half-Face was laughing with anger. At a time like this, he was still trying to intimidate others. Torbjorn had retreated hastily and must not have enough food. Just by staying put, he could starve him to death.
Blacktooth and Lincoln also received threats from Torbjorn's messenger, but ignored them. The hot-tempered Orcs disregarded the unspoken rule of not killing messengers and threw the arrogant fellow directly into the lava.
The three parties reached a consensus after some initial contact and agreed to jointly besiege the other side to see how many days they could hold out.
The day passed just like that, and the lava flow showed no signs of stopping on the second day, so it passed peacefully as well. Unas's shoulder injury had greatly improved, and the stalemate in the battle was good news for him, although his lack of experience made him a little frustrated.
On the third day, Lincoln withdrew half of the Ogres, citing the excuse that the Ogres had large appetites and if they didn't return to mining, they wouldn't have enough food next week.
This reason was met with disdain by Half-Face and Blacktooth. Torbjorn's stockpile was enough for all the Ogre like mad for a while without doing anything. They both thought Lincoln had made enough money and wanted to preserve his strength. Only Unas knew that the day when people were released from above could come at any time, and Lincoln was making preparations in advance.
The lava flow finally slowed down, the "water level" began to drop, and the "water surface" solidified like jelly. The engineering team hadn't been idle these past few days, making many stone slabs that could float on the lava. Except for Ogres, other races could stand on the stone slabs without sinking. Half-Face was already prepared for a surprise attack; he couldn't wait any longer.
The Blackrock Clan lacked such skilled craftsmen, Half-Face agreed to let the Orcs pass through if he couldn't conquer the area, partly out of fear that they might cause trouble.
The Charge, having rid themselves of the Ogres, carried long stone slabs on their backs and laid pontoon bridges as they advanced. The lava had almost stopped, so the paving work went smoothly. After passing through two workshops, they finally reached the room above the furnace.
On a high platform in the center of the room, several massive, figure-seven-shaped metal pipes, each requiring one person to encircle, were slowly spitting out red liquid. The sparse flow was almost gone, and a rumbling sound came from underground. Something like a pump must be sucking up the lava, and this was the culprit that had kept the battle deadlocked for two days.
There wasn't a single guard here. The group carried planks all the way to the high platform. In the center of the platform was a wide well opening. The downward passage was squeezed by several giant pipes, leaving only a narrow gap next to the well ladder, barely wide enough for one person to pass through. A Dwarf eager to make a contribution was about to go down when he accidentally brushed against a pipe, was burned, and jumped back out.
"Don't go down yet, let's see if we can get rid of the pipe first," someone suggested.
The temperature of the giant metal pipe was astonishingly high, and the normally extremely hard material became somewhat soft. The soldiers used their blunt weapons to hammer it with all their might, quickly flattening the pipe opening and stopping the lava from flowing out. The sound of enemy drumming could be heard from below, but no one came up the well ladder.
The stone slabs gradually covered the entire hall, and Half-Face reached the wellhead on the central platform. After seeing the situation clearly, he laughed loudly, "Torbjorn's doom has come! Use your long-handled Warhammer to smash all these giant pipes flat, clear the passage, and our victory will be just around the corner!"
The sounds of hammering and banging immediately began to echo in the room. The soldiers obeyed orders, took their giant hammers, held onto the well ladder, and began to smash the pipes to clear a path downwards.
The enemy below finally began to fight back, with various weapons flying up and stabbing. One by one, the soldiers smashing the pipes were stabbed down, and the passage was blocked by their corpses, which conveniently provided cover for the people behind.
After losing over thirty lives, all the giant pipes in the tunnel were smashed flat, and the downward passage was finally breached. Several large buckets of water, which had been prepared beforehand, were poured down to cool the pipes (nowadays they should be called double- Half-Face iron plates). Then, several ropes were lowered down, and the soldiers slid down wave after wave, finally managing to enter the furnace.
The Cave beneath the passage is a large hall, almost the size of a football field. Furnaces of various sizes surround a lava pool at the far end of the hall, but they have all ceased operation, since the high temperatures required for smelting ore depend entirely on the lava.
Beside the magma pool were several enormous, makeshift machines, with several giant pipes connected to them. Each machine also had another pipe inserted into the nearly dried-up magma pool. These must be the machines that could extract magma.
More than four hundred Torbjorn soldiers surrounded the opening above them, wielding their spears to kill the enemies who were attacking them. However, the enemy kept coming in, especially after the Dwarf with half his face rotted down. The battle situation gradually turned unfavorable.
In the final battle, Half-Face finally took to the field himself. His weapons were two short axes, which he wielded like two plumes of black smoke. Enemies he encountered were either killed or wounded, instantly opening up a significant advantage for the enemy.
But as soon as he stepped down, he realized the number of enemies was wrong, and Torbjorn was nowhere to be seen. He had never been here before. Could there be other rooms?
Thinking about it all is useless. Taking over the furnace is just around the corner. Now all that matters is fighting. His trusted men are all elites, and they quickly stabilized the position. More and more of his men jumped down from above unharmed, and their advantage continued to grow.
The injured Unas didn't need to risk his life. Instead of going down, he stayed in the room above and focused on gaining experience. His progress was even faster than the day before, with waves of small lights coming his way. After his experience points exceeded 70%, the progress finally slowed down.
Based on that calculation, around a hundred enemies died below. Half-Face's personal intervention was indeed extraordinary; he wiped out the enemy so quickly.
But Half-Face felt no joy of victory. Although the enemy had surrendered, a thorough search of the entire hall revealed no secret passages or anything like that. Torture had yielded no useful information either. These men only knew that Torbjorn had ordered them to guard this place, but they knew nothing about where their leader was.
He quickly climbed up the well ladder and warned his men not to let their guard down. Torbjorn should still have about a thousand soldiers left. So many people couldn't have just disappeared without a trace; they must have left clues. So let's start searching. Centered on the forge, they must be in some secret passage somewhere.