Chapter 28 Chapter 22 Charge of the Heavy Troops

Twelve heavily armored dwarves walked at the front of the line, their shields locked together to form a solid metal wall.The hinges connecting the shields were specially machined so that the dwarves at either end of the line could retreat to the back of the line when the tunnel narrowed. General Dagna and the elite combat forces of the dwarves are arranged in the second array.Unlike normal dwarf warriors, they are cavalry, not infantry.Each warrior carries a heavy crossbow equipped with specially made silver-white metal bolts, and rides a wild boar with tusks.Holding torches in both hands, a few dwarves walked among the twenty cavalrymen of Dagna, and the rest of the dwarf army followed.Every soldier had a serious look on his face, completely different from the last time they set out to destroy the goblins.

The dwarves were not thrilled by the presence of the dark elves, their king's life was in danger. They came to the crossroads where there were the bones of the two-headed giant. After so many things, the two-headed giant still lay there quietly, looking at the group of passers-by coldly. "Priest." Dagna whispered, and the low-pitched order was immediately sent back along the line of dwarves.In the first row behind the elite team were six dwarf priests. They wore blacksmith apron-shaped robes and held mithril warhammers engraved with holy symbols with two fists raised high.They began searching for targets, two on the flanks.Two for the front and two for the top.

"Okay," Dagna said to the shield dwarves in the forefront, "let's find some targets." The shield wall split into left and right, and the twelve dwarves withdrew along the branch roads on both sides of the intersection. Nothing happened. "Damn it." After a long time of tedious waiting, Dagna put on a straight face. The dark elf had obviously left here and went to the next ambush point.Within a minute, the battle formation resumed, and the troops moved forward at a faster speed. A small team was left to guard in case the main team was surrounded by the dark elves from behind.

A slight murmur echoed through the ranks.Eager for a fight, the dwarves were frustrated by the flight of their enemies. After a while, a war dog in the central army suddenly barked.Be the only warning the dwarves get. The sound of crossbow strings ricocheting sounded in the front, and the rain of crossbow arrows was mostly blocked by the shield wall, but some of them passed the large shield and shot into the second and third arrays.A dwarf with a torch was shot down and his torch burned two wild boars, but the dwarven warriors and their mounts were well trained and there was no confusion in the procession.

The priest began to sing hymns and recite spells, Dagna and his cavalry burned the points of crossbow bolts on torches, and the shield-bearing dwarves fell apart from each other and fell to the ground with their great shields thrown over them. With the low roar of the wild boar, the cavalry shot the burning magnesium crossbow forward, and a dazzling white light burst out in the tunnel immediately.Immediately a charge was launched, and the magic light created by the priest burst out around them again. Dagna and all the warriors around him saw the dark elves rolling in panic in front of them this time, and they roared with joy.Obviously, the dark elf was completely suppressed by the sudden burst of strong light.The speed of the dwarf's attack also surprised them.The drow were confident they could outrun the short-legged dwarves, but they couldn't outrun the dwarves' mighty tusk mounts.

Dagna saw a dark elf with outstretched hands, as if about to throw something.The battle-hardened general knew immediately that he would use his dark powers against the dwarves' divine radiance. The flaming magnesium arrow pierced the drow's chest and abdomen, lighting up his entire body, and his spellcasting action was also in vain. "Sands and rocks!" roared the cavalry around Dagna, a dwarf warrior's curse.Seeing his comrade fall backwards, the general raised his heavy crossbow.The warrior twitched, evidently hit by a stray arrow, but he managed to shoot a magnesium arrow before he fell off the pommel and slammed into the cold rock.

The flaming crossbow missed its target, but it caught sight of the drow floating on the roof of the cave, pointing out the target for the dwarven infantry who rushed up. "Cave top!" A dwarf shouted, twenty-four crossbowmen knelt on one knee, raised their crossbows at the same time to aim, and fired instantly. As they loaded the heavy crossbows, more dwarves rushed past them, and the war dogs howled anxiously.Dagna's cavalry continued to pursue at full speed, not even noticing that they had left the field of light.The tunnel here is quite wide, and the fleeing drow is not far ahead.

A priest stopped to assist the kneeling crossbowmen who were firing, and they pointed him in the general direction in which to fire the bolts, to which he immediately cast a spell of light. Drow, who had just been shot to death, was torn to pieces by twenty long arrows, and hung motionless in the air. The bright light seemed to restrain his ability to float, and the dead body fell from a height of twenty feet. to the ground. None of the dwarves gave him another look, and the light from the ceiling revealed the shapes of the other two drow.The two dark elves immediately began to use their natural dark abilities to counter the white light around them.But this did them no good, and the highly skilled crossbowmen had locked their position, no longer needing to observe with their eyes.

The huge cluster of crossbow arrows rolled up the turbulent waves of the air, which almost drowned out the painful moans and screams.The two drows fell to the ground, one of them was not dead yet, still rolling and struggling. The enraged dwarf smashed him into mud in a breath. ※※※※ The chasing cavalry soon came to a fork in the road, where the main tunnel diverged into several branches. Although the path was complicated and the environment was dark, Dagna easily found the fleeing enemy.In fact, the dark environment helped Dagna instead. The drow he was chasing had already been shot in the shoulder, and the white spotlight pointed out the direction for the chasing dwarf like a lighthouse.

He hurried his mount after him, and saw Drow turn to face him. Seen from the front, the light from the dark elf's wound turned red.Dagna hung up the crossbow, drew out a heavy hammer, swung it high above his head, and controlled the wild boar to run towards his injured side. Drow was really fooled, he turned sideways hastily, and raised the weapon with his uninjured arm. At the last moment, Dagna lowered his head, letting the boar turn and charge in front of him. Drow was frightened by the wild impact of the dwarf, and when he jumped back with strength, his fangs had already pierced him Dagna's helmet hit his stomach.He flew straight for about fifteen steps in the air, and slammed into the stone wall hard.

Drow, lying slumped at the foot of the cave wall, saw that dwarf knight had come to him in a trance, holding up his warhammer. The cracking sound of the skull created a brighter light than the flame of the magnesium arrow before his eyes, and then only darkness remained. ※※※※ The Warhounds led a powerful detachment of the Dwarves into a ring of natural caves to the left of the main battleground of the Goblin War.Soldiers were at the head of the ranks, and priests were between them.They were followed by dwarves, unarmed and carrying only tools, who worked the passage behind the warrior. The warriors advanced to a crossroads, and the war dogs ran to the roads on both sides, but the dwarves forcibly dragged them back and moved on to the middle road.As expected, a dozen dark elves slipped out from the sideways on both sides and shot poisonous arrows at them. The dwarf army turned immediately, and the priests summoned magical radiance.Seeing that there were four times as many dwarves as himself, Drow retreated hastily.There are many forks here, and with the number of dwarves, they can only block less than half of the intersections. The dark elf ran into the first fork in the road and couldn't help crying.A newly-appeared iron gate blocked the tunnel. Although the hastily built iron gate could not completely match the natural outline of the cave wall and exposed many gaps, with the dark elf's size, it would not be able to squeeze through no matter what. The flustered drow hurriedly fled to a more concealed fork road, and the sound of barking dogs and the heavy footsteps of the dwarves behind him could be clearly discerned.Turning a corner, the dark elf saw the second iron door, and the sound of the sledgehammer still ringing behind the door. Desperate dark elves threw a dark ward behind the door and blindly fired crossbow bolts through the cracks, throwing the dwarf artisans into chaos.A drow inserted his hand into the crack of the door and found the iron bolt that locked the door. It was too late, the war dogs had already rounded the corner, and the dwarf army launched an attack. Absolute darkness fell on the battlefield, and a dwarven priest countered with divine light, but his strength was nearly exhausted.Another drow cast a dark barrier again, and the brave dwarf fought to the death in a state of blindness, and the heart of rage completely overwhelmed the drow's dark killing skill. A dwarf felt a heart-pounding pain as an enemy hidden in the darkness thrust a sword through the gap between his ribs and pierced the lobes of his lung.The dwarf knew that the wound was fatal, the blood had rushed into his lungs, suffocating him, and if he retreated quickly, he still had hope of breaking out of the dark barrier, falling at the priest's feet, and receiving the healing spell of life.But he knew that at this critical moment, he could easily attack this enemy, and if he retreated, his brothers might die under this sharp sword.He lunged forward, driving the drow's longsword deeper into his body, smashing the hammer one after another at the foe. Finally, he fell on the drow's dead body, a contented and ferocious smile on his bearded face. The two dwarves rushed into the depths of the enemy's formation in parallel, and they felt the target of their pursuit suddenly turn around and rush between them, and then they slammed into the iron gate heavily.The two dwarves, in haste, slammed violently in the middle at the same time, but both hit their companions in the body. They fell together, feeling the drow who had run past fall back against the iron gate with the sound of the wind, and he hit a dwarven spear that was drawn horizontally.The wounded drow fell on top of the two dwarves, to this gift from heaven.The two dwarves still retain enough will and strength.They punched, kicked, and beat the black body with weapon handles and gauntlets.In seconds, they tore the hapless dark elf to pieces. More than twenty dwarves died in this narrow tunnel, but they were also buried with fifteen dark elves—half the soldiers who blocked access to Mithril Hall. ※※※※ The five drow fled long distances, pursued by the cavalry, into the cave where Drizzt and Entreri were fighting to please Werna and her men.Broken door panels and the bodies of several of their accomplices let them know that Vierna's forces had been hit hard.But they were still convinced that they had escaped, and the fastest drow immediately jumped towards the slope.As a result, the whole body was glued to the magic spider web. The panicked Drow slapped the web helplessly, only to get his arms entangled in it.His accomplices had no intention of rescuing their comrades, and ran to another door. The wild boar roared, and twelve dwarf cavalry cheered and rushed through the broken wooden door. Five minutes later, General Dagna walked into the room and saw eight drow corpses, two dwarf corpses, and three wild boar corpses lying on the ground. Seeing that the enemy had all been wiped out, the general ordered a search of the surrounding area.When they found Cooper's crushed body, grief shook everyone's hearts, but that mood was also accompanied by a certain hope.Bruenor and his companions had apparently decimated the enemy here, and with the exception of Cooper, they were likely still alive. "Where are you, Bruno?" the general called into the empty corridor. "Where are you?" ※※※※ Unwavering determination and a stubborn repression of failure are now the only sources of strength that Catti-brie and Bruno have left.Exhaustion and trauma made them support each other, and they walked through the winding tunnel with difficulty and moved deeper into the natural tunnel.Bruno held the torch in one hand, and Katie drew an arrow from her bow.None of them believed that they could withstand the attack of the dark elves again, but in their hearts, they never thought about the possibility of failure. "Where's the damn cat?" Bruno asked. "And the wild man?" Katie shook her head, but she didn't have an answer either.Who knows where Panter can go?Fueled by rage, he rushed blindly out of the cave.It's been so long.He may have run back to Mithril Hall from Glen Canyon.Katie reached into her pocket, her sensitive fingers gliding over the delicate curves of the figurine, convinced that the Panther had returned to the Astral Plane, if Guenhwyvar hadn't left the Material Plane.She will definitely get in touch with them. Katie stopped in her tracks, and Bruno in front took another two steps, stopped too, and looked back at her strangely.The young woman knelt on one knee, and the divine bow was placed on the ground. She was holding the magic statue in both hands, and she was concentrating on studying something. "Leaving?" Bruno asked. Katie shrugged, placed the statue on the ground, and began to call Guenhuffar softly.For a long time, nothing happened. Just when Katie was about to put away the statue, the familiar gray smoke suddenly appeared and quickly condensed into shape. How terribly haggard Guenhyfa looked!The panther's muscles were sluggish, hanging from the bones, and the black skin on one shoulder was still torn, exposing the flesh and tendons underneath. "Oh, go back!" Katie yelled in a trembling voice as she picked up the statue and prepared to free the panther. Although Guenhwyfa's state is chilling, her speed is far faster than Katie and the dwarves imagined.A paw slapped on Katie's hand, knocking the statue to the ground. The panther pursed its ears and let out an unhappy growl. "Let the big cat stay," Bruno said. Katie looked at Bruno with disbelief. "Her body is not much worse than ours," Bruno patted the panther's head tenderly.Guenhive's ears relaxed, and he stopped shouting, "Her determination is not much worse than ours." Bruno looked back at Katie, and then turned his head to look at the tunnel in front of him, "Since the three of us have gathered together, we must have the determination to go to the hell of the nine abyss together, but we must first get rid of those stinking Zhuo send me down!" ※※※※ Drizzt could sense other beings nearby, and he pulled the flash out of its sheath, while trying to suppress his mind so that the blue flames would not be too hot, and the machete perfectly matched Drizzt's request.Drizzt could barely feel the halfling still in his arms now, and his sharp senses stretched in all directions, searching for any sign of the enemy.He stooped into an ordinary cavern, only slightly wider than a tunnel.Besides the hole he came in, there are two other exits.One is on the side, leading to a branch road on the same level; the other is directly in front, leading to an upward passage. Drizzt suddenly lowered Regis to the ground, leaning his back against the wall, and focused fully on the other side of the cave.It wasn't drow coming up that side road, though, but a dwarf, possibly the strangest creature Drizzt had ever seen. Panter stopped three paces away from the dark elf, and his heartfelt howl showed that he was fully confident that he would surprise his enemies.He lowered his head, pointing the spikes at Drizzt's stomach, when he heard a small thing screaming nearby. Drizzt raised his hands above his head, gripping the wall with strong, nimble fingers.He was still holding the handle of the knife in his hand, and there were no suitable points of support on the wall, but these did not constitute an obstacle to the agile drow.When Zhan Kuang charged confidently with his eyes closed, Drizzt lifted his legs high and hung his body above the spikes. Panter slammed into the stone wall, and the spikes of the helmet carved a hole three inches deep in it.Drizzt's legs dropped, right on top of Warcrazy's head, and he slammed the dwarf's exposed nape of the neck with the hilts of his twin knives. The dwarf fell to the ground, groaning loudly, and his helm studs scraped against the rock and buckled with a shrill whine. Drizzt jumped aside, and blue flames, unleashed, danced over the blade, illuminating the cavern. "Dwarves," Regis said in surprise. Panter rolled over with a groan, and Drizzt saw an amulet hanging around his neck, engraved with a frothing beer mug representing the Warhammer clan. Panter shook his head and jumped up. "You win!" he growled, keeping his eyes on Drizzt. "We are not enemies," the drow ranger tried to explain, but Regis just screamed, and Panter charged at the drow again, striking both spiked and gauntleted fists at the same time. Drizzt easily dodged the short arms of the dwarf, noticing the sharp edges on his opponent's armor. Pan Te threw his fist again, and at the same time took a step forward to expand the attack range.Drizzt knew that this was a ruse, and the dwarf's intention was not in the fist.Drow, who has experienced many battles, has long understood Pante's tactics.This punch was only a preparation for the full-body action of the dreadful dwarf, so that he could jump accurately into his arms.A scimitar blocked the oncoming punch, and the dwarf expected his opponent to back away, but Drizzt stepped forward instead, the other scimitar held high above his head.As soon as he got close to the dwarf, the raised scimitar drew a beautiful arc, and the back of the knife hit the dwarf's knee. Panter immediately forgot about the long-planned jump, bent his knees forward, and Drizzt put more pressure on the knife, slamming upward.The dwarf fell back, flat on the ground. "Stop!" Regis yelled to the stubborn dwarf, who was trying to get up. "Stop. We are not your enemies!" "He's telling the truth," Drizzt said. Panter leaned on the ground with his knees, looking at Regis and Drizzt strangely. "We came here to find the halfling," he said to Drizzt, confused. "We were going to find him and skin him alive, and now you're telling me to trust him?" "Different halflings." Drizzt sheathed the double blades. A smile inadvertently appeared on the dwarf's face, seeing the advantage the enemy provided him. "We are not your enemies," Drizzt said quietly.The purple eyes flashed with danger, "But I don't have time to play such stupid games with you." Panter leaned forward, muscles twitching, intent on rushing forward and tearing the drow apart. Drow's eyes flickered again, and Panter relaxed, knowing that the enemy knew his thoughts like the back of his hand. "Go ahead if you want to," Drizzt warned him, "but know that if you still want to do that, you'll never go back." Thibbledorf Panter, who had never wavered, also began to consider the opponent's strong strength and harsh warning this time, and he remembered the legendary Drizzt Do'Urden that Katie had told him , "I guess we are indeed friends." The exhausted dwarf admitted as he stood up.