Chapter 32 Chapter XXVIII The Dragon of Nanfordo

"Stay in formation!" Banneker Braunenwell yelled to his warriors—they were retreating. It wasn't just the enemy that made the defense weak; Nan Foldo had drawn dozens of dwarves from him, too, to assist him in laying the metal pipes in Guardian's Gulch and nearby cliffs.The remaining dwarves defended the enemy's attack after attack, and the battle was stalemate several times. As the orcs expected, Banneker's troops were able to hold on to the cliff.But the dwarf commander glanced now and then to the northwest ridge, where the giant was setting up the huge ballista and was about to complete it.Every time Banneker's gaze was caught by a white flash.His scouts said that the gas released by Nanfredo had filled the tunnels under the giant's feet, and had escaped through some cracks in the surface, forming a pale yellow smoke over the ridge.But in Banneker's opinion, the discomfort caused by the stench was far from enough to drive the giants down from the mountain.They covered their faces with cloth and continued to assemble the ballista in an orderly manner.

"We're running out of time, Banneker," said a voice beside him. The commander turned around and found that it was Ivan Stoneshoulders. "We'll fight them back," Banneker replied. "Ha! Orcs are nothing." Ivan said rudely. "They don't care. But you can see the giant's ballista, which will be assembled before the sun rises again. From that angle they will easily attack us." Banneker rubbed his dry eyes. "Maybe we can retreat to the valley." Ivan suggested. Banneker shook his head. "The little man is still busy with his own work," he said out of breath, "he took more than a hundred people from me."

"As far as I know he's the last hope for this line of defense," Ivan retorted. He reminded Banneker to turn his mind back from the west and back to the dwarves who were working on the cliff. They saw Nanfudo and Ivan's brothers appearing on the cliff, constantly studying the chart in their hands.Every now and then Nanfuldo would yell at the dwarves to remind them to check the pipe joints—every one. "Smoke the giant away?" he asked Banneker and Ivan as they walked past Nanfreddo. Nan Fudo looked at Banneker, there was no trace of blood on his anxious face. "Relax, little one," Banneker suggested. "You get them down, we'll be grateful to you."

"They're not so far that they can't stand the smell!" cried Nanfudo. "Obviously!" Pike agreed. Ivan looked at his brother and shook his head. "We're not trying to drive them down with stench." Nanfudo wanted to explain. "Those are gas... They're filling the tunnel now...we need to increase its concentration.... " His voice trailed off, and he took out a piece of parchment with scrawled handwriting, and Banneker couldn't read a word of it. "Do you know what he's talking about?" Banneker asked Ivan. "Giants are not afraid of smells," Ivan replied.

"But they prefer to concentrate on assembling those devices." The commander guessed. "Yeah." Ivan agreed. "But then..." Banneker said, but quickly shook his head again. He gave Nan Fudo a strange look, then shook his head again.The dwarves were erecting pipes on the cliff—they should have held their ground against the onslaught of orcs. Banneker sniffed and returned to the battlefield. "No, he doesn't understand." Nanfudo said to Ivan. The yellow-bearded dwarf patted his weather-beaten hands, signaling the dwarf to calm down. "He'll never understand," Ivan said.

"These gases may leak." Nanfudo eagerly wanted to explain. "I understand, little man," Ivan assured him. "Boom!" Pike said softly. "We need to accumulate and increase concentration..." Nanfudo said dreamily. "I know, little man." Ivan interrupted him, but Nanfudo was still talking to himself. "The gas in the tunnel will never dislodge them, no matter how high the concentration..." "Small man," said Ivan, and when Nanfedo again tried to talk to himself, he made quiet gestures again, until he attracted the dwarf's attention.

"Small man, I finished the box you mentioned." He reminded. He patted Nanfudo on the shoulder, and then chased after Banneker who had already left. As he was leaving, Ivan looked at the ridge to the west, and instead of looking at the giant's position, he gazed across the ridge at the setting sun.In the afterglow of the setting sun, the giant positions on the ridge are particularly obvious. Ivan knew they were in big trouble when the sun came up again the next day. "The dwarves' plan doesn't work, boss," an orc officer said to Argen. The two Orc officers represented the armies that Argen could command; his own army was fighting the dwarves' army on the hillside, and some other army he sent out, encamped far out of sight of their enemies.

Argen looked to the west, the giant was on the ridge.The fighting was still going on, and Oberd's messenger said that the general attack would begin at dawn the next day.For Argen, this meant that he had to drive the dwarves off the cliff, a task that would have been extremely difficult without the giant's ballista. "They're getting better soon," the orc officer said to himself. Argen turned to stare at him. "The dwarves and their stench will not stop the giants," said the officer. Argen nodded and looked west again.He had received assurances from the giant that the ballista would be assembled by dawn.

As they headed back north, the fighting continued.Not all the armies participated in the battle against the dwarves. This was Argen's own plan. Although these armies were not enough to drive the dwarves down, they were on par with the dwarves.He kept them on the attack until his father sealed all the dwarves' escape routes. The orc leader let out a low growl, clenched his fists, and waited eagerly. Dawn will bring him the greatest victory. He couldn't help but look nervously at the ridge to the west, knowing that without the support of the giant ballista, victory would be extremely difficult.

Nick Willig played with the small mirror in his hand.He looked at the ridge to the west, then at the taller peak to the east, and finally settled on a shorter peak on the edge of the cliff, short but difficult to climb.The first rays of sunlight can be seen there. If it is placed there, the probability of Banneker's failure will be greatly reduced. "What do I hear?" He heard Tred calling him, and the voice roused him from his contemplation. Nick Willig saw his companion of Feuerbaburg approaching. "What did I hear?" Qued asked, and sat down next to Nick Willig.

"Someone's going to do it." Trede put his hand to his lips and looked at the disarray of the camp.He had just returned from a battle, dragging back two dwarves who were badly wounded, and was about to return to battle. "I wonder why you're not with us," he said. "Ha, but you're doing fine." "I'm not right, Tred, you know." "You will never go back to the Marquis Erastus," replied Qued. "That alone deserves my respect - if it weren't for your persistence, none of us would be here." "We belong here," Nick Willig replied quickly, "we owe it to Bruno and Mithril Hall. What was certain was that they were glad that Tred was at their side. " "And Nick Willig." "Ha, but I haven't killed a single orc, and if you didn't rescue me again and again, I would have died several times." "So you chose this path?" Qued asked suspiciously. "Someone must go." Nick Willig said again. "I've seen that path, and I'm the most suitable." "How about Pike?" asked Trodder, "or that Nanfordo—yes, he made this crazy note first." "Pike lost an arm and the climb was difficult for him. Nanfudo needs to stay here - I know. Pike too, they are important to the situation. Ted, you stop complaining. It's for me It's a good thing, you know, I'm as good as anyone in doing this, and I'm useless here." Tred was about to argue, but Nick Willig stood up, his expression leaving the dwarf speechless. "And I really want to go," Nick Willig said, "sincerely, so I can pay off my debt to the Warhammers." "You can pay it back at another time, any time!" "If that's the case, you're going to have a tough time and everyone standing here." Nick Willig said.He sniffed and suddenly laughed. "When you rushed into the group of stinking orcs, did you still worry about me?" Hearing this, Qued also laughed.He caught up and patted his old friend on the shoulder. "It's not worth thinking about you so much after being apart for a while," he said. Nick Willig also patted Qued, "Me too, but I will try to help everyone. This is Nick Willig's job." Qued reflexively wanted to argue again—at least it seemed So—but he swallowed the words again. "You know." Nick Willig said simply. Qu De stared at his old friend quietly for a long time, and finally nodded hesitantly. "Be careful." "Did you forget?" Nick Willig said with a smile, "I know how to escape." A roar from down the hill caught their attention.The orcs broke through the line between the two dwarven phalanxes—not very far, but many of the dwarves were already exposed. "Moradin, give me strength!" Qued roared, rushing straight up the hillside. Nick Willig watched his friend leave with a smile, then returned to the west side of the hill.He looked again at the mountain that could decide the war, put the mirror into the backpack without saying a word, and started the last journey of his life. A few hours later, there was already a glimmer of light in the east that heralded dawn, but the entire sky was still shrouded in darkness.Banneker heard the news that the orcs were gathering in the southwest on a large scale, and they were rapidly advancing towards the dwarven positions west of the Guardian's Canyon.The dwarves quickly gathered their leaders, including Nanfudo, Pike and Santilla Xingyao. She had already gone to the west to investigate with the help of her own magic. "This is a rather large army," Santilla reminded them, "A mighty army. Our friends won't last long." This depressing news made all the dwarves look at each other uncomfortably for a while. "You're saying we should evacuate now?" Banneker asked. Santilla didn't answer, and Banneker turned his gaze to Nanfudo. "I hope Trud wins here," he explained, "but if the giants throw their ballistas over our flanks and throw stones at us, carry out your plan, dwarf." Nanfudo tried to look confident—but to no avail. "If we need to retreat, let's retreat," Banneker said to them, "but I think we must severely attack the arrogance of these orcs." Thiberdorf Panter growled. "They'll be here soon," said Ivan Stoneshoulder. "They're massing to the north, ready to attack." "They know the giants are ready for reinforcements," Wulfgar explained. "But if the giants don't have reinforcements..." Banneker said hesitantly. He looked at Nanfudo again, and all eyes were on Nanfudo. "Oh! Oh!" exclaimed Pike. "Will it work?" Banneker asked. "Oh!" Pike said again. "Smell won't help..." Nanfudo started to answer, but he quickly stopped and took a deep breath. "I don't know," he admitted, "I think..." "What do you think?" Banneker snapped. "You have more than a thousand dwarves guarding here, little man. What do you think? Shall we hold or retreat?" Poor Nanfudo didn't know how to answer, he didn't know how to take up the burden. "Ooooh!" Pike yelled. "It will work," Ivan said. "Are we staying?" Banneker asked. "That's for you to decide," replied Ivan, "but I think the giant would be very keen to see us flee." He walked over and patted Nanfudo on the shoulder. "Ooh," Pike exclaimed. "The orcs are coming back soon," said another dwarf, Priest Rockbottom. "This time it was a strong attack." "Very well, I'm free," exclaimed Thiberdorf Panter.He had been covered in blood from the evening's battle - some of his own, but more of his hapless enemies. "There's still an hour before dawn," Ivan said. "Less than an hour with Nick Willig, if he's here," Catti-brie said. "We stay," Banneker said. He looked at Nanfudo and nodded, expressing his approval of the dwarf plan to the greatest extent at this dangerous moment.Banneker bet everything on it.The people around also understood that under the giant's throwing stones and the orc's attack, it was difficult for the dwarves to retreat safely to the Guardian's Canyon.If Santilla's report is true, then retreating to the valley must be an even worse choice. "Send 'em back, Panter," Banneker ordered. "Get those pigs off us." Panter responded by touching a bundle of hides to his forehead, and rushed to join the bloodied Ripper squad. All eyes were on Nanfudo again, and he shrank into a ball under everyone's gaze.His plan had to work, but there was no sign of it now. Soon, the shouts of Panter and his team resounded on the hillside. Immediately afterwards, another burst of shouts of killing also sounded, and the defenders on the west side of the Guardian Canyon encountered the enemy. Almost at the same time, the first stone thrown by the giant ballista flew over, and a huge stone hit the edge of the dwarf's position, almost hitting the cliff. "Have you got the 'skin'?" Thiberdorf Panter asked his fellow Rippers as they gathered around to regroup.A dwarf held up the hide. "Some of you don't need this," he added. "Some of you won't get it in your life, but you know how to do it!" The Rippers cheered together. "Get in, and get ready," ordered the fiercest dwarf. "As the enemy passes by, attack from behind!" They rushed towards the orcs without any resistance. Pant and his team went deep into the orc army, throwing them into chaos. Their goal was to cause chaos as much as possible instead of causing damage-this is important Hard to do for the bloodthirsty Ripper team - but they did it. The orc charge fell apart, and many of the orcs turned around and rushed back. Thiberdorf Pant maintained his formation tightly, not allowing a Ripper squad to fall behind.He held up his leather bag to show everyone, collecting any old weapons that could be used, while silently apologizing to his dead companions in his heart, hoping that they would forgive his actions. The orc army came again like a tidal wave, and in the short interval between the two charges, the giant's ballista hurled stones across the dawn sky.It didn't do much damage at first, and the still-light sky helped them.But the dwarves knew that would change soon. "We must hold the east!" Tred yelled at the others, especially Wulfgar; he was like the pillar of the whole position. Wulfgar gave him a stern look, and answered the dwarf of Felbar silently, reminding him that he already knew everything: that his good friend, Nick Willig, might never return. Banneker paced nervously on the edge of the cliff, looking at the battle on the southwest side for a while, and then at the battle on the northern hillside. It's time, he thought. He and the enemy threw all their forces, and the Orcs advanced from the north and west, while the Giants pressed the Dwarves' positions. A stone fell not far to Banneker's right, nearly knocking him off the cliff. The stubborn dwarf was indifferent, still pacing, his eyes kept gazing at the brighter and brighter sky in the east. "Come on, Nick Willig of Fort Fellbar," he said softly, and as he spoke, he noticed a flash of mirror in the distance, reflecting the first rays of sunlight from the east. Others also noticed, someone pointed to the east excitedly, Catti-brie ran towards Banneker with a bow in hand, Nanfudo, Santila and Pike all followed. "Look! Look!" whispered Santilla, looking into the distant mirror. Nanfudo clasped his hands tightly and held his breath. "There!" Catti-brie said, pointing to the ridge, and the light reflected from the mirror in Nick Willig's hand shone on the second mirror that had been placed on the ridge to the west.Catti-brie raised her bow. Banneker and everyone held their breath. Below their feet, the orc army had assembled in unprecedented scale, and they came out in full force, and almost nothing could stop them along the way.The dwarves issued orders to retreat one after another, and retreated to the Guardian Canyon. "What shall we do?" Catti-brie said humanely, and she saw that everyone was staring at Nanfudo. Nanfudo could barely control his breathing.He was out of breath, and for a moment seemed to be about to pass out. He looked at Pike, who was sitting beside him next to a stone at a joint in the pipe. The dwarf took a deep breath and nodded to Pike. "Oh! Oh!" cried Pike Stoneshoulders. The druid waved his hand over the stone and squeezed the softened stone into the tube, sealing it shut. Nanfudo took another deep breath and forced himself to calm down. "Shoot that mirror," he yelled, to the sound of terrified boos around him. Catti-brie leveled the Tamari and aimed at the shining mirror—the one Ivan had placed on the ridge. More stones fell into the dwarf defenses, and several dwarves cried out in terror. Catti-brie drew her bow fully, and the mirror in Nick Willig's hand on the mountain to the east suddenly dimmed. She maintained her posture, held her breath, and held her bow steady. "Medium!" cried the dwarves. "Shoot!" Banneker yelled. She held her breath, didn't shoot the arrow, and waited, out of trust in Nick Willig, she continued to wait. She stared at the area that had flickered, looking for the target. "Come on." Santilla said softly. "Aimed." Banneker ran away. "Get back!" he yelled at the fighting dwarves. "To the second line of defense!" he yelled at the nearest defenders on the edge of the cliff, who were spreading out to avoid the increasing concentration of hurling stones. Catti-brie concentrated all her attention, maintaining that pose perfectly.She was always ready to shoot, and Tamari kept aiming at the area—the place that had been glowing just now. A flash of light streaked across the dark ridge to the west. Tao Mali's bowstring rang, and at the same time, a silver light flew out.Catti-brie immediately fired a second arrow, then a third, and kept firing in that direction. She doesn't need these.The first arrow hit its mark, piercing the mirror on the box, shattering the box to pieces, and the vial inside exploded on impact in a burst of flame. Nothing happened for a split second, and then.... boom! ! ! The whole hillside was set ablaze, as if the sun had suddenly risen over there.Flames burst out from every crack in the mountain, and all the giants and their siege machines on the side and top of the mountain flew high into the sky, higher than all the flames, higher than those who were deeply shocked Everything the onlookers see flies high.The flames of Nanfudo shot up almost a thousand feet, and the night sky turned into day completely, mixed with dust, stones, and boulders, rushing into the air together. The flames lasted only a split second, before the gas burnt out and turned into a fiery shock wave, sweeping towards the stunned onlookers.The shock wave went over Catti-brie and Santila and Nanfred, over the screaming Pike and the wide-eyed Banneker, over the fighting orcs and dwarves, and knocked them all to the ground. Then came wreckage large and small, tons of rocks falling on the fighting slopes, covering the entire slopes and some falling even farther to the north.The orc camp suffered particularly heavy losses. Hundreds of orcs were killed in the explosion alone. What used to be the ridge to the west was completely destroyed.Ballistas, like the giants—several of which were still on the hillside—flame, while others were blown to pieces, leaving wreckage everywhere. Nan Fudo struggled to get up from the ground, and looked over there foolishly. "Do you remember how you described that fireball when you first visited my lab many years ago?" he asked an equally shocked Santilla. "Big Bang at Elminster, yes," replied a dazed Santilla. "Biggest fireball ever cast." Nanfudo clapped his small palms in the air, "It won't be bigger." "Oh! Oh!" Pike Stoneshoulders shrieked.