Bai En walked in carefully. This corridor seems to be no different from other corridors, except that the glowing stones are still working and the air smells slightly cleaner. The rest of the soldiers rushed in from behind, and the door closed behind them.

Bai En noticed that the dwarves looked relaxed. To be precise, Guerrerogan, Snowy and Warwick look more excited. He couldn't tell why. Perhaps it is because they feel that they are getting closer and closer to the goal. This is not a feeling he can share. The long journey through the underground corridor made him nervous, he just wanted to find a place to lie down and rest.

This new corridor leads to a winding, labyrinthine passage. Hagrim stopped from time to time and pressed a panel against the wall. He didn't explain why, he just did it, and then moved on.

Bane looked at Warwick to see if the dwarf could tell him what had happened.

"Trap. Maybe it's a deep pit trap. It might also be some kind of fortification." Warwick replied calmly, but their guards gave him a fierce glare and made him quiet.

They walked past the guards of about a dozen sentries who were surprised to see strangers outside. In the end, they walked into an unusually long hall, where dwarves were clearly living.

This is a big place with many exits. At the other end of the room, a well was deeply buried in the floor. The ceiling is very low, without the vault of the magnificent hall they have walked through before. A large huge pillar supports the roof. A strange symbol was engraved on each pillar, and Bai En's eyes hurt when he looked at them.

"Hidden runes," Warwick whispered beside him. "No wonder this place can exist for so long."

"What is that?" Bai En asked.

"These runes protect the hall from magic, just like the hidden entrance protects the hall from normal sight. This place is almost impossible for a person who is not a dwarf to find it alone."

Bai En can see dwarf women wearing headscarves or hoods doing housework. Several pastors paced back and forth, saying words of comfort and assurance, then patting their heads, begging for blessing. There are many warriors, many of them lame. Some hands have hooks. Some people walked hard with wooden legs. Some people have bandages on their eyes, indicating that they are blind.

Bai En has never seen so many crippled people in one place, even on the streets full of beggars in Heidelberg. It seems that these people only appeared when the war failed. He did not see any obvious children.

But Bane understands why Grerogan ’s response to the dwarf women ’s question was undoubtedly. There is no doubt that the dwarf women are also hidden in similar halls in other places, except for the dwarves. they. Considering the number of women and children here, Bai En understands why dwarves do this.

But it seems that the dwarves of Fatalin Island are not the same. The former Golden Shield dwarves have lived in the human country for too long, and their women often appear on the markets and streets like human women. The women of the dwarves of the southern continent are more common. They will even become warriors and go out with the clan.

"Too few." Warwick muttered to himself. "This used to be a great city."

"Welcome to the hall by the well. Wait here." Hagrim said. "I want to tell him the news of your coming to the king."

The captain strode through a huge arch and disappeared into a corner of the city. Many dwarves who had been working stopped and stared at them frankly. Several crippled beggars came over. A person reached out and touched Bai En in disbelief.

"You are the first human to step into this castle." He said hoarsely.

"I am very honored."

"Hah! You may die soon." The lame battle finished and turned away. Then the rest came over. A woman in a hijab asked a question in dwarf language. Warwick responded. The crowd let out a collective gasp. One of the women cried.

"They asked where we came from." Valek answered the question that Bane did not say. "I told them that we came from the wasteland, from the dwarf kingdom."

"I don't believe you." Another gray beard turned and strode away. There seemed to be tears in his eyes. While they were waiting, the crowd did not spread out. It surrounded them and stared at them until Hagrim returned with a group of heavily armed soldiers, each carrying a weapon with a rune.

The magical rune burned with mysterious light. Bai En knew enough about the dwarves, he knew these were powerful magic weapons. These long beards are the best equipped dwarfs that Brian has seen since he entered Guntergrim. They travelled with sufficient precision to shame the best guards of the Fatalin Association. Their armor shone, and they marched with pride and discipline.

"The king decided to meet you," Hagrim said. "Now you are going to be tried."

"So we finally have to see the legendary Tangerim-Firebeard." Warwick said excitedly. "Who would have thought of it?"

Guerrerogen grinned fiercely.

"I've never seen so many rune weapons." Warwick whispered to Bai En. "Every soldier carries one."

"We collected them from the dead." Hagrim said coldly. "After all, there are so many dead heroes here."

King Tangalim's hall is large. The statue of the dwarf king stood on each wall like a sentry. More heavily armed dwarf warriors stood motionless between the stone statues. The four outsiders were surrounded by the guards of the King's Guard. They do not want this to be an assassination operation. They pulled out their weapons and apparently knew how to use them.

A raised table occupies the other end of the conference hall. There is a throne on the high platform. There is a strong, majestic figure on the throne, wearing a robe and heavy armor. Two priests stood on either side of the king. One is the priestess of Veolia. Bai En can see this from her holding a holy book. The other was wearing armor and had an axe in his hand, and Bai En wondered if he was a priest of Greni, the **** of warriors.

When they approached the throne, Bai En saw more clearly. He is old and as old as Borek, but there is no weakness in him. He looked like an old oak tree, knotty and strong. The skin on his arm had begun to fall, but there was still a lot of muscle tangled there, and his shoulders were even wider than Snowy's.

His hair is long and red, although there are white stripes in the middle. His beard almost grew to the floor, and in some places it was still white. A pair of sharp eyes shone in the deep sockets. Bai En knew that the dwarf might be very old, but his mind was still sharp.

The weapon placed on the king's lap caught Bai En's attention. This is a big hammer with a short handle. The runes have been carved into the hammerhead, and something on them forced the eyes to look straight. No one told him what it was, but Bai En knew that this was the amazing weapon, the legendary hammer of fate, they came here thousands of miles to find it.

The guards separated in front of them, leaving only one way to the throne. The four partners advance simultaneously. Warwick knelt on one knee and made some gorgeous and complicated gestures with his right hand. Grey Logan and Snowry walked arrogantly and lazily beside him without any salute. Bai En decided to rather be cautious than make a mistake; he bowed deeply, then hesitated, and took a step back and stood beside Warwick.

"Even as an oath-slayer, you are too rude." The king said. His voice was thick and deep, and the voice from that ancient throat was full of surprising youth. He laughed and laughed through the room. "I almost believe that the nonsense you told Hagrim is true."

"No one said I was a liar and I could survive." Gray Logan said. The obvious threat in his voice caused the guards to raise their arms in preparation for battle.

The king frowned. "Few people dare to threaten me in front of my throne and still survive. But I still ask for your forgiveness, oaths, if you are telling the truth. We are surrounded by servants of the dark forces. In this case, doubt is wisdom. You must admit that we have reason to doubt. "

"You have," Gray Logan admitted.

"You came to us, claiming that you came here from a world outside our walls. Before I make a judgment, I will hear your story from your own mouth. Tell me."

"I want to declare more than that," Warwick said suddenly. "I claim to have a blood relationship with the people of Gunter Grimm. My father is a half-breed. My uncle is Borek, and you sent him around the world to ask for help."

King Tanglim sneered. "If you are telling the truth, it took Borek a long time to provide assistance, and you cannot represent an army. However, tell your story."

The king listened attentively to Warwick, and occasionally stopped to verify with Guerrerogen. Warwick made the story simple and clear, and Bane was surprised by his memory. He also noticed that when the dwarves spoke, the eyes of Veolia ’s priestess never left them. He remembered that the deity ’s priestess should have the gift of knowing the truth. At the end of the story, the king turned to the priestess.

"How about ~ lightnovelpub.net ~ he said.

"They are telling the truth," she answered.

Bai En heard the soldiers in the hall breathing a sigh of relief. The king raised his hand and scratched his chin with a long and beautiful beard. He considered for a while, then smiled coldly.

"Now tell me, oath swearer, how did you get Valek's Axe." The king asked.

Bane suddenly wondered Grey Rogan's answer. The axe was indeed powerful, but Valek was the rune **** among the dwarf gods. But in fact, the **** of runes seems to be the largest number of dwarf gods. And this Valek also seems to be a dwarf ancestor god.

Guerrerogan's answer was as cold as Tangalim's. "Its owner is dead and I don't need it anymore, so I took it away. Do you have the right to ask for it?"

"The man who left with that weapon from here is my son Morkai. He tried to cross the wilderness to see if anyone else lived there."

"Then he is dead, Tangerim-Firebeard. His body lies in a cave on the edge of the wasteland. It is surrounded by the bodies of twenty horned beasts."

"Isn't anyone with him? He left here with twenty buddies."

"There is only one dwarf. I buried him according to an ancient ritual. At that time I needed a weapon and I used it. If it is yours, I will give it back to you."

The old king lowered his head, his eyes filled with sorrow. When he spoke again, his voice sounded as old as he looked. "So he died alone in the end."

"He died like a hero," Gray Logan said. "He paved the way to the steel hall with the bones of the enemy."

Bai En couldn't help but notice a bitter satire in the king's voice in the last sentence.