The war had already continued for some time.

  For Eric, the commander atop the city walls, this period had been the longest moment of his life, but also… better than he had anticipated.

  He stood upon the wall, gazing at that "Iron Shield" outside the city, composed of the Dwarven army and seemingly indestructible. The sixteen thousand main forces of the Iron Guard, under the protection of the "Heart of the Forge" barrier, were like a massive and incredibly efficient meat grinder, ruthlessly harvesting the lives of the monster tide’s vanguard.

  Spears thrust and retracted in perfect unison from the gaps in the shield wall, each time bringing with them a spray of blood and filth. The archer and magic units on the walls were like an unceasing rainstorm, pouring steel and flames onto the enemy’s middle and rear ranks.

  The battle was tragic and fierce, but the dwarves' defensive line was as steady as the mountain range itself.

  "Ha," beside Eric, a centurion who had just retreated from the front line leaned on his battle-axe, baring a mouth full of blood and filth as he laughed loudly. "Is this all they’ve got? These pieces of trash can't even touch our barrier!"

  Eric did not laugh, but the tightly locked brow he wore did indeed loosen slightly.

  He watched the offensive of the monster tide; though it remained insane, it could never cross that death zone composed of the barrier and the shield wall. He even began to harbor a flicker of an illusion—perhaps they truly could, just like this, keep holding on. Hold on until the enemy was exhausted, hold on until the arrival of dawn.

  For the first time, the scales in his heart tilted a fraction from "despair" toward "hope."

  But this "stability" was utterly shattered by a massive roar echoing from the rear of the battlefield.

  The cannon fodder of the monster tide, as if hearing some sort of command, suddenly pulled back to both sides like a receding tide, giving way to a corridor. An incomparably tall monster strode slowly out from the black tide.

  It was an Orc King. Its height exceeded five meters, and its entire skin presented an ominous, deep red color, like clotted blood. In its hand, it dragged a morning star fashioned from an entire giant tree, its tip embedded with a massive beast bone.

  "It’s 'Bloodrage'!" Atop the wall, a veteran centurion cried out its name in horror. "An A-Rank monster! A creature that requires at least three B-Rank squads in coordination to have a chance at subjugating!"

  That "Bloodrage" Orc King, with its blood-red eyes, stared fixedly at that golden barrier blocking its path.

  ROAR————!!!

  It let out a roar filled with pure destructive desire, then raised that giant morning star high, using all its strength to slam it fiercely against the "Heart of the Forge"!

  BOOM————!!!

  A roar more immense than any previous impact resounded! The entire barrier trembled violently, its light dimming instantly, and even the soldiers on the wall could feel the stone blocks beneath their feet wailing.

  "We cannot let it continue attacking the barrier!" Lord Eric roared. "All magic units! Abandon the grunts! Concentrate all mana on 'Bloodrage'! Pin it down there for me!"

  Dozens of dwarven mages on the wall immediately pointed their staves at that giant red monster. Fireballs, ice shards, and thunder spears poured toward it crazily like raindrops! At the same time, the Iron Guard outside the city immediately shifted their formation; under the centurion's command, hundreds of spearmen exerted all their strength to hurl their spears at the Orc King attacking the barrier!

  Countless spells and spears exploded and burst upon the Orc King's hard skin; though unable to cause a fatal wound, they successfully enraged it and slowed its attacks.

  "Now is the time!" Eric bellowed.

  In the next second, all the standby Runic Ballistae on the wall turned simultaneously, locking onto the same target.

  Whir—SHOO—!!!

  Dozens of giant bolts, thicker than a man and flickering with explosive runes, tore through the air with a shriek and struck the Orc King’s chest and head at the same time!

  That arrogant A-Rank monster let out the most painful and indignant cry since the start of the war. Its massive body was pinned in place by the power of the dozens of bolts, then it slowly and powerlessly knelt down, finally crashing to the ground, never to make a sound again.

  Deathly silence.

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  The entire battlefield fell into a strange, deathly silence lasting several seconds.

  Then, starting from someone unknown, a sky-shaking cheer filled with wild joy and disbelief erupted from both atop and outside the city walls!

  "We... we killed it!" "Long live Khagurem!!"

  Soldiers held their weapons high, embracing each other, and even shed tears of excitement. They had defeated an A-Rank monster! The flames of hope, at this moment, burned fiercely in the heart of every dwarf.

  Even Eric could not help but show a look filled with exhaustion, yet incomparable pride.

  However, Eric did not join in the cheering, but the knuckles he used to grip the battlements finally loosened somewhat.

  He looked at the army below that was soaring in morale due to the slaying of a powerful enemy, and a great stone fell from his heart. He knew that there were still countless King-class monsters in the rear, and the battle was far from over.

  But they had proven that even an A-Rank monster was not invincible. Hope, though slim, did indeed exist.

  And a good commander's job was to take that slim hope and turn it into a catalyst for victory!

  He seized this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity where the enemy's center was in brief chaos due to the death of the Orc King. He immediately turned around and roared at the messenger beside him:

  "Go! Go to the main gate immediately! Tell Hag! Now is the time! The enemy's center is in chaos; have him lead 'The Warhammer' and crush the other magic beasts in the enemy's rear for me!"

  At the same time, in the assembly area inside the main gate.

  The elite counter-attack force of nearly two thousand people, led personally by Hag Ironmane, was waiting quietly. They could clearly feel the stone blocks beneath their feet vibrating with the slaughter outside.

  Just then, a messenger from the Lord’s Manor came scrambling down the stone stairs.

  "Chairman Hag!" He ran to the front of the formation, his voice hoarse with urgency. "The Lord’s orders! The main force has successfully attracted and stalled the enemy's vanguard before the barrier! Now is the best chance! The Lord orders 'The Warhammer' unit to strike immediately!"

  After Hag finished listening, a smile of lethal resolve appeared on his coarse face. He turned around to face those two thousand most elite warriors behind him.

  "You all heard it!" His voice was like thunder. "Our path has been opened with flesh and blood by the main force! Now, it's our turn!"

  He raised the battle-axe in his hand high, pointing toward the deepest part of that darkness outside—the massive collective of darkness that everyone feared.

  "Our target isn't those pieces of trash! It's that 'King'! Follow me, we are going to rip the enemy's heart out alive!"

  "For our families behind us—"

  "OPEN THE GATES——!!"

  Accompanied by his roar filled with the sense of a death-defying resolve, dozens of Iron Guard soldiers worked together to turn the giant winch inside the gate. The incredibly heavy gate, crafted from steel and runestones, began to open slowly, inch by inch, with a tooth-aching "creak."

  The first gap appeared, and the sky-shaking battle cries and the scent of blood from outside rushed in like a literal tsunami!

  The gate opened slowly to the halfway point. Through that gap, they could already see that chaotic, meat-grinder-like battlefield outside.

  But at that moment—

  An unspeakable shudder from the depths of the soul made everyone present, including Hag, freeze instantly.

  Everyone instinctively looked up past the city walls, toward the deepest part of the monster tide outside.

  They saw it.

  Upon that writhing, massive existence composed of darkness and bones, that blood-red single eye was staring coldly at them.

  Immediately after, a beam of pure black light—deeper than the night, as if it could swallow all light—shot out fiercely from that single eye!

  That beam made no sound, yet it carried an absolute will that ignored distance and space, striking the golden barrier named "Heart of the Forge" that enveloped the city in an instant.

  There was no earth-shattering explosion.

  Only a crisp "crack" like the sound of shattering glass was heard.

  That indestructible guardian barrier, composed of centuries of dwarven runic craftsmanship and leyline energy, showed a tiny crack from the point where the beam struck. Then, like a spiderweb, that crack spread to the entire barrier at an incredible speed!

  BANG——!!!

  The "Heart of the Forge," the city's last magical defense, under the disbelieving and horrified gazes of all dwarves, shattered like a broken eggshell, turning into a sky full of golden light motes, silently and slowly dissipating into the air.

  And at the same time the barrier disappeared, in the center of the city of Khagurem, at the deepest part of the Artisan District's underground—that massive leyline furnace that had supplied energy to the barrier for centuries instantly overloaded because it lost its outlet for energy!

  BOOM——————!!!

  A burst of explosion, more muffled and more destructive than any sound on the battlefield, came from within the city! Even the elite troops in the assembly area could feel a violent vibration from the earth beneath their feet, as if their heart were being torn apart!

  The barrier disappeared. The city's power core was also destroyed.

  ROAR——————!!!

  The monster army outside, after seeing the protection shatter, erupted in a sky-shaking roar of greedy and murderous joy. They no longer needed to ram anything; like an opened sluice gate, they charged toward the sixteen thousand Iron Guard main forces who were currently in a bloody battle and had lost their magical protection, and toward that half-opened gate, launching a true and tragic general offensive!

  On the command platform, Eric Hammer-Basder stood frozen in place.

  He watched with his own eyes as that golden barrier he had trusted for hundreds of years turned into a sky full of golden light motes like fragile glass. Each point of dissipating light seemed to be mocking that flicker of an illusion named "hope" that had just ignited in his heart a second ago.

  Immediately following, that muffled and violent vibration from the city center slammed fiercely into his heart through the stone bricks beneath his feet.

  "Heart of the Forge..." he murmured to himself, his voice so hoarse he could barely hear it.

  He knew what that was. It was the heartbeat of Khagurem, the symbol of dwarven pride, and the source of power for all their runic craftsmanship.

  And now, it was destroyed.

  At that moment, all color drained completely from Eric's face. Upon that face, which was always filled with fortitude and authority, there flowed for the first and only time a deep, ashen despair.

  The massive war hammer he gripped tightly in his hand seemed, at this instant, to become heavier than an entire mountain range. His knuckles, one by one, powerlessly loosened.

  It was over.

  Everything was over.

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