Rabio charged unimpeded through the Beastmen ranks, wielding a warhammer taller than himself.
No one could withstand the fury of the Level 18 Dwarf King.
Two-blade-tall Beastmen looked like children before the 1.5-blade-tall Dwarf King. No Beastman could survive even a single breath under his warhammer.
Rabio's pale lips revealed his exhaustion, he had only just broken free from his anti-magic shackles, and not even one-third of his strength as a Level 18 Dwarven Warrior had returned.
But the flames of vengeance let him ignore it all.
"Patriarch Rabio! The army attacking the Beastmen isn't our reinforcements, it's Vampires!!"
At that moment, Masi Brutehammer approached with a complicated expression.
Rabio's expression froze at the words. He turned his head sharply.
"Vampires??"
"Yes! Spotted through the long-distance scope! And there are many giant bats in the sky too!!"
Rabio took a deep breath, eyes full of confusion. Vampires? How could it be Vampires?
Countless questions swirled in his mind, but now wasn't the time to figure it out.
He knew well the terror of these dark creatures. If the Dwarven clan were still intact, he wouldn't fear any enemy.
But after so long under slavery and oppression, the Dwarves' fighting strength was less than a tenth of their peak.
They no longer had the power to face Vampires who could unleash powerful magic and had crushed an army of over ten thousand Beastmen.
Now, they had to retreat!
"Notify all clansmen, we leave through the secret passage immediately!!"
Though he longed for vengeance, Rabio quickly calmed down. The Dwarves were far too weak now.
If he were alone, he could fight freely, even die here.
But among his people were elders and children. He could not bury them alongside him.
"Yes, Patriarch."
Just as Masi turned to leave, Rabio suddenly looked up.
In the faint firelight, over a hundred massive black shadows were flying in quickly.
Whoosh whoosh~
These were bats bred by the Vampires!!
Rabio's heart sank. The Dwarves had once hunted these monsters, their entire bodies valuable alchemical materials. He knew them well.
If it were under normal circumstances, Rabio would have had countless ways to shoot down these damned dark creatures. But now, the Dwarves had nothing.
He could only watch helplessly as these ten-blade-wingspan bats spread terror above their heads.
A glint of unwillingness flashed in Rabio's eyes, but strength ruled the world. No matter how bitter he felt, he could only turn and leave.
Whoosh whoosh~
Over three hundred Whispering Bats took advantage of the night to hunt above the Dwarven city. With no opponents, they claimed the entire sky.
The flapping of wings roared through the air, plunging the already-panicked Beastmen into even greater terror.
Rabio watched the skies warily, but to his surprise, the massive dark creatures didn't attack the Dwarves. Instead, they completely ignored them and continued attacking the Beastmen.
Some Dwarves were even rescued in the process.
This made Rabio's expression tighten. Could these Vampires be reinforcements sent by Grandmaster Valen and Anakin?
Why else would they not attack the Dwarves?
But... was that even possible?
These were dark creatures, cruel, bloody, murderous. Every negative adjective described them.
How could such beings be allies of the Dwarves? It sounded absurd.
But if they weren't allies, why had they not only spared the Dwarves but even aided them?
Rabio's head was full of questions.
Still, he didn't linger. Even though the Vampires' giant bats hadn't attacked the Dwarves, he wouldn't place hope in them.
Only strength held in one's own hands was truth.
The other Dwarves noticed the bats' unusual behavior too. Their hostility toward the devil-like dark creatures quickly diminished, and they stopped attacking them, focusing instead on the routed Beastmen.
Before long, more and more Dwarves gathered around Rabio. In just a few minutes, their number exceeded three hundred.
Their assembled formation greatly boosted their power, and they began crushing the disorganized Beastmen.
But at that moment, the Whispering Bats that had just been aiding the Dwarves seemed to notice the shift. Unexpectedly, they began to scatter the Dwarves trying to regroup around the Dwarf King, no longer acting so friendly.
Rabio's heart sank. "Clansmen, form ranks! Follow me back to rescue the others!"
"Dwarves never retreat!!"
"Never retreat!!"
Hundreds of Dwarves roared in unison. Their morale soared.
Just as Rabio prepared to turn back to rescue more of his people, an indescribable wave of terrifying energy swept over from the horizon.
Roar~
A tremendous dragon's roar echoed above the entire Dwarven city.
It was like a beast from the Abyss had opened its bloody maw to devour the world, panic spread like wildfire.
It was the aura of a dragon!!
Masi's bearded face twisted with urgency as he shouted to the Dwarf King, who was still preparing to charge back into the city.
"Patriarch Rabio! Hurry! A dragon is coming!!"
"No, our clansmen are still inside the city!!"
Seeing Rabio hesitate, Masi's forehead veins bulged as he roared in desperation.
"Patriarch!! If we don't leave now, we'll all be left behind!!
Only by staying alive can we take our revenge! Once we reach the Copperhammer Clan, these damned Beastmen and Vampires will all become prey for the Dwarves!"
Hearing this, Rabio gave his trusted subordinate a deep look, then hardened his heart and stopped hesitating.
He turned and quickly led the three hundred Dwarves already at the city's edge, fleeing into the secret tunnel within the valley, abandoning the homeland that had once been theirs.
By the time Li De flew the Bone Dragon above the Dwarves, Rabio had already led his people into the tunnel.
This secret tunnel was built inside an abandoned mine along the mountain's edge. To pursue them would mean entering a complex and treacherous terrain.
"Your Majesty, the Dwarf King has escaped. Should we give chase?" Stanley's eyes blazed as he watched the last few Dwarves entering the mine, but before he could finish.
Boom~
A thunderous explosion erupted, blasting soil dozens of blades high. The escape tunnel the Dwarves had used was collapsed by alchemical bombs.
Li De shook his head. These Dwarves were truly decisive.
"No need to consider it now. Clean up the battlefield below."
A trace of coldness flashed in his eyes.
"Kill all the Beastmen. As for the Dwarves, unless they attack us first, do not harm them. They're all part of our spoils."
At Li De's command.
Over a hundred Level 7 to 9 Vampires, supported by more than three hundred Whispering Bats and led by seven top-tier combatants, launched a dark slaughter against the remaining Beastmen.
War has never known mercy.
This was a battle between races for survival. There was no good or evil, no justice, only war in its purest form.
The Beastmen, now disorganized and leaderless, still outnumbered the Vampires ten or twenty to one, but with their high-end strength completely outmatched, they collapsed in utter defeat.
And whenever the Vampires encountered Dwarves, they would shout, "We are allies who have come to rescue the Dwarves! As long as you don't attack the Saintlight Vampires, we will not harm you!"
The initially panicked Dwarves didn't believe it. Fierce fighting broke out at first, but they soon realized that the Vampires truly didn't attack them, in fact, they even offered aid in times of danger.
While the Dwarves didn't fully trust the Vampires, they no longer treated them with the same ruthless hostility reserved for Beastmen.
One sun-hour passed, then two. Time flowed swiftly.
In the darkness of night, the valley bore witness to its most brutal scene yet.
Slaughter was the theme of the evening. Death, the hymn of the night.
Every second, lives were lost.
Lifeless, pale corpses littered the land.
Blood soaked every inch of ground where footsteps had tread.
The Beastmen, already broken in will, no longer resisted. Countless of them tossed away their weapons and armor, fleeing the Dwarven Valley in madness.
The Vampires could not stop them, their numbers were too few. They couldn't contain the flood.
The battle lasted from deep night until dawn.
When the first light pierced through the clouds and fell upon the valley.
This horrific war between races had finally ended.
By then, more than half the Dwarven city had been reduced to rubble. Towering buildings had collapsed into the streets, scattering beams and stone blocks and clogging most of the pathways.
The pointed clock tower at the street corner was half-shattered, leaning against a four-story stone-and-wood building. The clock rang out dull duang duang sounds as it swayed in the wind.
Entire streets were destroyed. From beneath the wreckage, pale arms extended through splintered beams and shattered stones, with blood slowly seeping from beneath the ruins, life had always been this cheap in war.
Ruins and debris filled every corner of the city. Everything bore testament to the cruelty and indifference of war.
But that cruelty was for the defeated.
The victors would taste its sweetness.
Li De stood on a partially intact street in the ruined Dwarven city, gazing at the half-collapsed ruins with a calm expression.
As if none of this had anything to do with him, the one who started it all.
In the sky, the Whispering Bats were still hunting, ensuring no enemy resurgence. The Vampires were binding the surviving Beastman captives.
This was war. A complex light flickered in Li De's deep eyes. Mercy has no place in command, nor kindness in wealth. Though he had experienced several wars already, this kind of absolute annihilation still stirred some sentiment.
"Maybe I'm just being dramatic… Damn, we won and I'm still mourning like a poet," Li De cursed himself.
"Your Majesty, the Beastman King has awakened. Also, the Dwarves request an audience."
Not far off, Stanley approached with excitement written all over his face.
His gaze on Li De's profile was full of admiration.
Under the command of the Lord Progenitor, they had secured a massive victory, an unprecedented, glorious victory.
In one night, they had wiped out a Beastman tribe with an army of over ten thousand, and captured a Level 16 Wolfman and a mighty Level 18 Beastman King.
If word spread, they would be praised throughout Green City, and tonight's battle would become legend among bards.
And all the credit belonged to the great Lord Progenitor. If not for his decisive command, none of this would have happened.
Unbeknownst to Li De, his Bloodline Descendants had already given him all the glory in their hearts. If he knew, he would surely be pleased. You want to praise me, huh?
He nodded slightly.
"See the Dwarves first. As for the Beastman King, he's already our prisoner. Just make sure he doesn't die."
With that, his eyes drifted meaningfully toward the hundreds of Dwarves in the distance.
This meat delivered right to the mouth… really was juicy.