The clouds were swept aside and shoved apart by colossal vessels, like dragons lowering their heads. The propellers roared without pause. For the first time, Borgeld saw inanimate objects capable of flying through the sky.
"Dwarf Airships? They actually made them."
Duchess Vera murmured in shock, staring incredulously at the hot-air-balloon-like creations in the sky. Quite a few Dwarves were running about on them in apparent confusion, as though something had gone wrong.
"And Hill People."
Duchess Vera looked beneath the Airships. Iron chains hung down one after another, suspending towering stone-bodied beings and carrying them across vast distances to Vera Fortress.
The rotating black openings were Dwarven black technology. They differed somewhat from Magic Crystal Cannons, but they also appeared to be powered by Magic Crystals.
As a Dwarf aboard an Airship turned a gear taller than himself, the metal barrel began to glow. Yet in the end, only an iron ball flew out.
"Damn it, why is it malfunctioning again?!"
A burly Dwarf grabbed a hammer and violently smashed the barrel until it began glowing again, seemingly repaired.
Borgeld grabbed the iron ball and crushed it with a hard squeeze. It shattered into fragments, revealing densely embedded Magic Crystal shards inside. Faint threads of light connected the shards, but they too broke like glass under such immense force.
"Human woman, let go of Duchess Vera!"
The Dwarves shouted from the Airships.
"Don't be afraid, Duchess Vera! We're here to save you! With all the years of friendship between us, we'll never let your territory be occupied!"
An iron axe severed the chains, and towering members of the Hill Royalty fell from the skies. They struck the ground, raising clouds of dust and blasting out huge craters. The sleeping stone people awakened at that moment. Their gray-white stone skin