The long-silent underground ruins suddenly became lively again.
Torin and Glenm dragged the lizardman into a relatively intact domed building. The Frost Spirits chasing them had gone from one to a whole pack.
The two dwarves desperately pushed the rust-covered bronze gate shut, using their shoulders to force the doors closed.
The hinges let out an ear-piercing groan, and several broken metal parts snapped off in the process.
Glenm looked at the severely damaged hinge base—most of the components were already missing.
“This gate won’t hold long.” He turned to the lizardman. “Balok, you okay?”
Balok had been dragged the whole way and looked miserable. Half his body had lost chunks of scales.
He bared his teeth. “I keep telling you—maybe, just maybe—I only broke my tail and could’ve run myself…”
“…”
“Ha… haha,” Glenm awkwardly patted Balok’s uninjured shoulder and helped him up. “It was urgent. Don’t sweat the details…”
A heavy impact suddenly came from outside. The bronze doors shuddered, shedding green rust.
Torin scanned around. “Looks like there’s no other exit.”
Glenm pointed to the spiral stone stairs leading deeper into the hall. “Then we go deeper and see.”
The interior was far more spacious than expected.
Tall furnaces stood scattered throughout the hall. Rusted conveyor chains hung from the dome. Some walls still bore dark scorch marks from smoke and fire.
“I never knew there was a dwarven city beneath the North!” Balok exclaimed through the pain.
“Forget you—I’m a dwarf and I didn’t know either!” Torin excitedly darted between the furnaces, feeling like he was uncovering history.
Glenm kicked aside a piece of metal scrap at his feet. “This looks like a forge, but it doesn’t seem to be for weapons or armor…”
Boom boom—
The door-smashing continued.
“Torin, stop messing with antiques!” Glenm yelled at the crouching figure in the distance. “We need a solid room to hide in and wait for rescue from the fortress!”
“Come quick! Look what I found!” Torin’s excited shout came from behind a furnace.
“We’re in a hurry to—” Glenm was about to scold his companion for not knowing priorities, but when he rounded the furnace and saw the scene, all words stuck in his throat.
On a shattered pedestal lay the remains of a metal construct.
The humanoid upper body was covered in dull rust. Its arms ended in vicious claws and spinning saw blades.
Even in its broken state, one could imagine its terrifying destructive power when intact.
Most importantly, a magic crystal was embedded in its chest. Though dim, it retained its perfect prism shape.
“A metal golem? What’s the big deal?” Balok didn’t understand.
“A war golem?” Glenm leaned down in disbelief. “But it’s completely different from the ones I’ve seen in the Deepfurnace clan…”
“Powered by magic crystal—what else could it be but a war golem! This is an ancient war-golem forge!” Torin excitedly stroked the patterns on the metal shell, voice trembling.
War golems were an almost-lost art.
The Deepfurnace clan still had some, but they were trump cards—one broken meant one less.
The dwarven inheritance hall still had the “Golemancer” profession, but modern craftsmen could only make low-tier golems for hauling stone.
The one Torin found, just from the precision joints and murderous armament, was clearly a true war machine.
Glenm snapped out of his shock. “It’s an amazing discovery, but escaping comes first!”
From the entrance came the loud crash of the gate being smashed open. Torin could only reluctantly follow them deeper.
They passed several areas but found nowhere suitable to hide.
Finally they entered a massive warehouse filled with over a hundred identical metal war golems—like a sleeping army of steel.
Yet these once-mighty war machines were now thoroughly rusted.
Worst of all, the warehouse’s gigantic gate had long collapsed; it couldn’t block the pursuing Frost Spirits.
“We’re done for…” Balok slumped to the ground.
Glenm pried a rusted saw-arm off a golem, preparing to fight to the death.
Torin dashed into the pile of golems and vanished.
*Thud thud thud—*
An ice-crystal puppet strode into the warehouse, radiating cold, and locked onto the heat-emitting living beings.
“Damn it! Should’ve brought shields and weapons to work!” Glenm cursed but patiently waited for the Frost Spirit to strike first so he could counter.
Just before they clashed, a relatively intact war golem suddenly charged out from the wreckage!
The magic crystal in its chest flickered unstably—Torin’s spare staff crystal.
“Get it!” Torin shouted from the ruins.
Under everyone’s stunned gazes, the golem swung its right arm—whose saw blade didn’t even spin—straight at the Frost Spirit.
*Crack—*
Ice shards flew. The Frost Spirit was cut in half, shattered ice scattering across the floor.
“Woo-hoo! Awesome!” Glenm and Balok cheered, seeing hope of survival.
But they celebrated too soon.
The shattered Frost Spirit rapidly reformed its ice body. More were closing in from afar.
Worse, the golem’s miracle-making arm wobbled a few times in the air before the rusted joint finally gave way. The entire arm clanged to the ground, kicking up dust.
The now-disarmed golem was quickly surrounded and destroyed by two more Frost Spirits.
“Glenm! Torin! I’m glad we shared a dorm. You’re the best friends I ever had. Hope next life we can all be mushroom citizens together!”
Finishing his last words in one breath, Balok curled into a ball and waited for death.
“Ohhh! Fight to the death!” Glenm roared, swinging the saw-arm he’d pried off and charging the Frost Spirits.
**BOOM—!**
The metal ceiling exploded. A deafening blast echoed through the warehouse. A massive mana explosion instantly obliterated the nearest Frost Spirits.
The shockwave sent Glenm flying back, crashing onto the lizardman.
Through the smoke, Norris piloted a Jida down through the hole blasted by the resonance cannon.
The jet Puchis on the Jida’s back puffed unstably, providing barely stable lift.
The shoulder resonance cannon was recharging; mana glow swirled at the muzzle.
“Found the three workers—they’re all alive!”
A second resonance cannon shot roared out. Several more incoming Frost Spirits were annihilated in the mana bombardment.
The one that slipped through was casually shredded by Norris swinging the drill on his right arm.
Through the broken dome, Glenm and the others could hear continuous explosions outside—clearly the Jida squad was clearing the surrounding Frost Spirits.
Norris frowned at the reforming ice bodies. “Can’t even kill them… this looks troublesome. You lot still mobile? If you can move, follow me and withdraw!”
The lizardman had been knocked out, but no problem.
Glenm and Torin each grabbed an ankle and an arm. “We can, we can! Commander, please take point—we’ll definitely keep up!”
(End of Chapter)
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