Air walls had never been a problem for the Hero, and it was the same this time.
However, stuffing a tentacle into the ring was actually quite tight.
Moreover, after leaving Inanna, the Imprisonment Ring began to radiate high heat, nearly burning the tentacle off.
After passing through that invisible boundary, Lin Jun could only hand the increasingly hot Imprisonment Ring back into Inanna's hand.
Inanna's brief pause attracted the attention of a few dwarf warriors, but they clearly knew nothing about the existence of the air wall. They simply assumed this human acted on a whim, letting her Puchi try wearing the ring for a moment, and quickly looked away.
On the return journey, the atmosphere was distinctly different from when they arrived.
The biggest change came from Badul.
This dwarf war hero carried his giant hammer on his shoulder, striding near Inanna with a booming voice:
"Hey! Pink Hair! I misjudged you earlier!" He admitted without any avoidance. "Being able to not retreat half a step in front of that kind of monster isn't just relying on your weird talent! If you didn't have some hard stuff in your bones, you would have been scared paralyzed long ago!"
He slapped his solid breastplate forcefully, making a clang-clang sound: "I, Badul, only recognize one kind of person—those who dare to tie their heads to their belts and fight face-to-face with the enemy! You, not bad!"
Although Inanna didn't feel she needed his recognition, since he was praising her after all, she could only nod along in agreement.
Along the way, Badul started talking about his past combat experiences again, but no longer with that intention of competing. Instead, it was more like sharing stories.
At the same time, he also began to ask in detail about some aspects of the Battle of Dragonroar Valley, no longer questioning the military merits, but exploring the tactics and choices made when facing desperate situations.
Inanna told him some of the responses made by her father and the Puchis. Badul was sometimes confused and sometimes cheered; overall, the communication was quite pleasant.
However, when the team finally returned to the surface...
...
"You cannot take the Imprisonment Ring away."
The Deepforge Clan Leader, who had learned the whole story from General Duvalin, blocked Inanna just as she was preparing to board the carriage.
Ronan, the delegation's chief steward who had been waiting on the surface, immediately stepped forward: "Lord Clan Leader of Deepforge, what is the meaning of this? The Fire Elemental Lord has been sealed, the threat of the Molten Dungeon is lifted, and we have fulfilled the agreement!"
The Deepforge Clan Leader's gaze fell on Inanna... or rather, on that ring with dark red flowing patterns on her finger.
"What was agreed initially was exchanging the 'sealing method' for Inanna's assistance in controlling the dungeon's elements, allowing the troops to reach the Fire Elemental Lord smoothly. The agreement... never said anything about permitting Miss Inanna to take the Fire Elemental Lord itself, along with the important magic item imprisoning it, away together."
Ronan argued strongly on just grounds: "But it also didn't say we couldn't take it away, right?"
"No means no."
The Deepforge Clan Leader was clearly aware that doing this put him somewhat in the wrong, but in the face of tangible benefits, some face was truly not worth mentioning.
It wasn't that he was worried the human forces would become stronger after Inanna obtained the Fire Elemental Lord.
With the current state of humanity, strengthening them a bit to attract more of the Empire's attention would actually be beneficial to the dwarves.
It was just that this genuinely concerned the interests of the dwarves, especially the Deepforge Clan.
The Fire Elemental Lord represented not just a powerful combat force. Or rather, even if the Fire Elemental Lord was left inside the dungeon, it couldn't become a combat force for the dwarves.
What the dwarves wanted was to use the sealed Fire Elemental Lord to control the countless elemental spirits in the dungeon to a certain extent!
Only in this way could they rely on those cheap slave collars to drive a large number of low-level elemental spirits to mine and transport dungeon resources for them. Even the elemental spirits themselves were resources for them.
Without the Lord's command, those elemental spirits would not only fail to be an aid but would interfere with their mining like wild monsters instead.
"This Imprisonment Ring must stay. Its ownership has always belonged to the mountains."
The Deepforge Clan Leader refused to yield. General Duvalin hesitated for a while, but still stood behind the Deepforge Clan Leader.
Facing this situation, Lin Jun was discussing how to handle it with Sword Saint and Inanna in the mycelial network.
The item had reached Pink Puchi's hand, which meant it had reached Lin Jun's mouth.
And now, someone actually wanted to dig the food already eaten out of Lin Jun's mouth?
Dream on!
However, the small group was currently discussing whether to argue on just grounds or use a bit of violence.
Before they could discuss a result, a giant hammer smashed onto the stone pavement in front of the Deepforge Clan Leader and General Duvalin!
BOOM!!!
Crushed stones flew everywhere. If not for Duvalin's quick reaction, turning sideways to protect the old clan leader with his arm guard, those flying sharp stone chips would likely have drawn blood.
"Badul, what are you doing?!" Duvalin was shocked and angry, shouting sternly.
"What am I doing?" Badul pulled the giant hammer out of the crushed stone pit and rested it on his shoulder, fire almost spraying from his wide-open angry eyes. "I'm upholding justice!"
He pointed his giant hammer at Inanna: "I watched her with my own eyes, standing in front of that ghost thing without retreating a single step, and finally dealing with it! According to the rules of the mountains, whoever takes down a monster alone, everything of that monster damn well belongs to whoever did it!"
He spat fiercely at the Deepforge Clan Leader and the several clan members with varying expressions behind him: "Now it's great. People are just taking away a broken ring, and you bunch of guys hiding in the back, who didn't even smell the heat of the lava lake, dare to jump out and snatch the spoils of war! Do you motherfuckers have no shame?"
The Deepforge Clan Leader's face was livid, his gray beard trembling with anger, and he slammed his black iron cane heavily: "Idiot! You have no idea how important the Imprisonment Ring is to the dwarves! There's no place for you to butt in here!"
"No place for me to butt in?" Badul looked like he had heard the biggest joke in the world. "I hate cowards like you the most, who only know how to play politics and give blind commands, yet don't even dare to smell the blood of the battlefield! Snatching the glory warriors won with their lives—this is damn well Badul's biggest business!"
Before his voice fell, his already burly body expanded again, muscles stretching the armor until it creaked. A violent aura swept out like a storm.
He had actually directly activated his bloodline power and entered a combat state.
"Today I want to see, do you guys with no balls actually dare to stop me?" He cursed, the giant hammer already raised, clearly assuming a posture to forcibly clear the way.
"Reckless fool! Idiot!" The Deepforge Clan Leader trembled all over with anger, pointing at Badul but unable to say more for a moment.
He hadn't expected that the first one to jump out and sing a contrary tune would actually be "one of their own"!
General Duvalin's face was equally incredibly ugly, but he still led the dwarf soldiers to pick up battle axes and shields, waiting in full array.
Lin Jun hadn't decided how to handle it originally, but he didn't expect Badul over here to have already made a good start.
Then what else was there to say?
Sword Saint's tentacles curled around the sword hilt, and Knight Puchi's figure gradually faded. Within the team, an inconspicuous small soldier quietly cast a spell, stacking several phantoms on Inanna. As soon as chaos broke out, he could immediately hide Inanna's true body.
And what surprised the dwarves even more was that they actually heard the Fire Elemental Lord's manic and excited voice again.
"Hahahaha, kill these dwarves? Should have done this long ago, should have burned these dirty bugs to death long ago!"
Flames erupted from the Imprisonment Ring on Inanna's finger. The Fire Elemental Lord's power slowly flowed out, and the surrounding temperature rose instantly.
Facing this terrifying scene, some clan members retreated step by step in fear, and finally turned and fled.
Although the Deepforge Clan Leader didn't flee, in this continuously heating environment, he, being elderly, clearly couldn't hold on much longer.
As for General Duvalin—me fight a Fire Elemental Lord?
The key combat force, Badul, was even on the opposite side!
He cursed both the Deepforge Clan Leader and Badul thoroughly in his heart, but in this situation, he really could only brace himself and step up.
A fight didn't break out immediately.
Lin Jun wanted the dwarves to retreat in the face of difficulties, while Duvalin, representing the clan's face, held on desperately standing in front.
Just when Badul finally couldn't hold back and was about to smash first.
The Dwarf King's messenger ran over hurriedly, sweating profusely, and called a halt to the two sides with swords drawn and bows bent.
(End of Chapter)
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