Nearly two hundred scrapped Iron Golems made the Council Hall crowded, forcing Rendaen to order his men to haul these lumps of scrap metal out, which would then serve as a defensive line at the entrance of the Council Hall.
For the past hour or so, the battle inside the hall has been going smoothly. The Dwarves are becoming more and more skilled at dealing with the golems, and the archers are able to quickly eliminate them, whether they lure in two, three, or four at a time.
In the battle outside the hall, the Rendaen Army gradually gained the upper hand. The most important reason was that, as time went by, the Fire Dwarves transformed by the brutal Potions began to lose their strength. The energy that burst forth at the time of transformation slowly dissipated, and a few of the more fragile ones had already disintegrated on their own.
It is foreseeable that in the next two to three hours, all the Fire Dwarves transformed by the Potions will die one after another; holding on is victory.
After reaching level 40, the experience required for the next level increases significantly. Having consumed so much experience from the golems and Fire Dwarves, Unas is still quite a distance from level 41.
He and Rendaen were relaxing in a corner of the hall when a marksman suddenly ran up shouting, "Retreat! The puppets have retreated!"
The two exchanged a glance and hurriedly ran to the side door to check. They saw that the puppets were all facing away from them, retreating neatly into the Bedchamber.
There are only two possibilities for this situation: either the original commander-in-chief has passed away and a new commander-in-chief has been chosen, or Thaurissan came to the vicinity and personally issued the order. Obviously, the latter is more likely.
"Chase!" The thought that the most important enemy might be just ahead filled Rendaen with excitement.
After giving the order to pursue, the Dwarf lord took the lead, leading his troops, headed by his Dragonhide Armor guards, to charge at the back of the golems. Unas was naturally among them.
The puppets under command were not so foolish; the last few immediately turned to fight back, covering their comrades' retreat.
The soldiers, who had already destroyed over a hundred puppets, were very familiar with the same old lightning and iron fist attacks. After all, these iron machines' attack programs were all manually set, and they only used a few moves over and over again. Once they had experience, they were not difficult to deal with.
However, as the puppets retreated, a large number of Fire Dwarves seized the opportunity to rush forward and cover their retreat, firmly blocking Rendaen's advance.
Thaurissan did indeed arrive. These Fire Dwarves were the ones he had gathered along the way. His new body was fine in every way, except that it was too heavy and his slow pace made it take him so long to walk from the underground hall to here.
The Iron Golem suffered losses exceeding two-thirds. Although the controller kept beeping warnings, he only thought it was a malfunction and never dreamed it would end like this.
Thinking of the Fire Dwarf lifespans were running out, Thaurissan, who had been full of confidence, suddenly lost his resolve to fight back. He could only take a step back and assess the situation first. For the first time, the Dark Iron King had a premonition of defeat.
He immediately dismissed this feeling. His great master had hinted to him that the Fire Elemental army would also launch a general offensive, and they might have already breached Shadowforge City. Their victory would also be his victory. He just needed to hold out until that moment. With that thought, he quickened his pace as he retreated.
Even Thaurissan himself didn't realize that he had unknowingly put himself in a defensive position, which indirectly reflected his insecurity.
Despite their weakened state, the hundreds of Fire Dwarves acting in unison were still a formidable force in the confined space. Rendaen and Unas led the charge, pushing forward with difficulty.
After fighting for an unknown amount of time, Unas numbly repeated the actions of swinging his hammer and raising his shield. Suddenly, a deep blue light curtain appeared on the ceiling, enveloping the Fire Dwarf's head. A Blizzard of icy rain, icicles, and ice blocks poured down, smashing the enemy to pieces.
Unas immediately realized that Angela was nearby, which meant that Erigor's group had returned, and he could finally relax.
Angela's exquisite control ensured that the Blizzard almost harmed friendly forces; only the cold air caused a few Dwarves to sneeze.
After a blizzard, the hissing sound continued, and white steam rapidly evaporated from the Fire Dwarves' bodies, making the room hazy. However, it was clear that the enemy's direct casualties were not significant, but their overall strength had been greatly reduced.
This was a perfect opportunity to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. Unas faintly heard a familiar battle cry; it must be Erigor's voice. They seemed to be attacking the Fire Dwarves from another direction in a room next door.
It turned out that after the Lava Monster left, Erigor's group also lost interest in continuing to search for Fran and planned to rush back to discuss with Unas how to resolve the Huoye crisis.
After circling around the maze-like underground Bedchamber several times, they finally approached the exit, only to be immediately blocked by a large number of Fire Dwarves.
Angela unleashed her Mage's Eye and observed that the ones fighting the Fire Dwarf were Rendaen and Unas. She immediately joined forces with them to encircle the enemy.
Although the forces were small, the arrival of the human reinforcements immediately turned the tide. With the combined efforts of both sides, the Fire Dwarves gathered in the nearby rooms were quickly devoured, cut up, and eliminated.
Unas met up with Erigor, and to his surprise, the Blood Elf mage was also in their ranks, being carried on the back of a soldier, seemingly unconscious. "How did you manage to retrieve Huoye?"
"How else could we steal it? By force," Erigor's smug expression quickly faded. "But we weren't completely successful; Huoye is still in danger."
He explained the whole story, Unas angrily said, "If that monster had cooperated with us properly, it wouldn't have been a big deal to infuse it with energy. After all, the Crimson Diamond has plenty of energy. But it dared to use such despicable means, and I will make it pay the price!"
"Huoye woke up once during the fight and said he had a way to deal with the Lava Monster, but the risk was very high."
What method?
"A forbidden ancient spell, specifically used to forcibly enslave others. The method involves obtaining something belonging to the target—the more important the better, such as hair, blood, or even intimate items—and using this as a medium to subdue the target's spirit."
Now, the Lava Monster is injecting its own bodily fluids into Huoye's body to threaten us, essentially offering itself up as a medium. If Huoye can finish reciting the incantation in front of it, he might be able to subdue the Lava Monster. However, this is all based on what he read in an ancient text; he has never actually used it before and doesn't know how effective it will be.
"We'll only know if it works after we try it," Unas thought the method was quite good. If it succeeded, it would definitely make that monster regret it for the rest of its life. "Can Huoye cast spells in his current state? When will he wake up again?"
"He's not in a coma; he's conserving his energy so he can be woken up at any time."
"Good. When we encounter that monster, we'll beat it down first, then have Huoye cast the spell. Maybe that will increase the success rate."
Unas recalled how Rosebayne had to weaken the attacking giant Giant Spiders to succeed; the principle seemed to be the same.