blogombal Page 27
Page 27
Or... both?
The oath of the weigher probably doesn't have much binding force on this guy; we need to find a way to put the shackles on him again!
While pondering, Casalos crawled into the tunnel that the kobolds had widened for him, entering a newly opened underground space.
Several kobold weaponsmiths were busy adjusting something. When Casalos entered, one of them put down the parts he was working on, and several of them hopped over to the dragon, knelt down, and barked out unoriginal praise.
"Alright, get up. How's the progress?"
"Praise be to the great Iron Dragon! The craftsmanship you taught us is truly amazing. I never imagined that simply drawing steel into fine wires and then weaving them together could increase tensile strength so much."
"Isn't this just the same principle as twisting straw rope? What's so mysterious about it..."
"But without you, we would never have mastered the method of drawing steel into fine wires!" the kobold craftsman said solemnly.
“That’s true.” Casalos cracked his iron beak. Given the kobolds’ original low-level blacksmith workshops and their steel processing capabilities, mass-producing steel wire was practically impossible. But they still had to thank magic; without the civil engineering archmage Eisen, where would the air forging hammer and hydraulic drawing machine have come from?
"With the steel cable and the steel pulley system, the shortcoming of the heavy crossbow with thick steel limbs in terms of low recoil rate is compensated, and the power of the thick steel limbs is fully utilized."
Chapter 64
.
Now, our dual-winch heavy crossbow fires steel-core armor-piercing arrows that can reliably penetrate the shields of Koto murlocs within 50 meters. After being enchanted to remove psionic energy, it is absolutely lethal to psionic warlocks and psionic warriors.
At your command, we have been working overtime for the past few days to produce 50 heavy crossbows, 2000 steel-core armor-piercing arrows, and 200 spirit-piercing arrows. All the arrows, including the spirit-piercing arrows, are soaked in a concentrated sedative venom. Even the slightest wound will leave even the most poison-resistant gray dwarves dizzy for half a day.
In addition, 200 steel magic weapons enchanted with the ability to break psionic energy have been manufactured, along with 100 hand-thrown bombs filled with steel balls in thin-shelled layers. These were packed into a vine box, imbued with invisibility, and secretly delivered to a hidden location in the gray dwarf slave crypt.
Those slaves who were used as food reserves by the gray dwarves can find weapons and arm themselves by following the clues hidden in the book once they receive the gifts you send and have their slave marks washed off.
The gray dwarves are in trouble!
After hearing what the kobold had to say, Casalos swished his tail with delight.
69. Chaos
Due to the constant threat of dragon bombardment, the grey dwarf slave owners and overseers have now gathered in safe places, leaving the slaves to fend for themselves in various parts of the crypt.
Zhuo Erlong, hidden in the shadows, tossed the assigned packages one by one into the slave quarters.
Hearing the sudden commotion, the emaciated humanoid creatures numbly raised their heads and saw the inexplicably appearing box. They remained unmoved; hunger had eroded their will, rendering them unwilling to move.
But even at times like these, there are always some oddballs. Perhaps thinking there was food in the package that fell from the sky, or simply out of a dying curiosity, a timid hand trembled and tentatively opened the first "treasure chest."
Then, the spark ignited a prairie fire...
Casalos flew into the air, looking down at the dark gray dwarf stone pillars. There was no light, no sound; the thick limestone blocked everything, except for the occasional flashes of light from battles that broke out nearby, announcing the carnage taking place beneath the burrows.
"How did you do that?" The mirror image of the Zorron appeared beside Casalos, no longer approaching in its true form.
“Not only do they have high-level spellcasters, we do too.”
"Of course I know, but how can you be sure they would fight back if they had weapons, instead of reporting the anomaly to the gray dwarf?"
“They’re doomed, aren’t they?” Casalos swished his tail. “I’m not sure about anything, nor do I need to be. I just gave them a chance. If they seized it, they seized hope; if they chose to give up, I could only let them and their slave owners perish together. You see, they seized it. Not everyone is like you drow, only thinking about harming others without considering whether it benefits you.”
"Pah, as if you're some kind of great person." Zorron remained noncommittal about Casalos's assessment.
From the very beginning, Casalos had no intention of personally confronting this large, powerful group of gray, low-lying stones who had retreated into their crypts. Three Exemplary Mind Mages plus a bunch of Exemplary Mind Warriors—they weren't so easy to deal with.
But what can you do when the grey dwarves love using slaves so much?
The expeditionary force consisted of several hundred men, nine-tenths of whom were slaves of the Grey Dwarves. Among them were gnolls, goblins, even ogres, as well as Grey Dwarves from other tribes. They were all unfortunate souls forcibly enslaved by the Grey Dwarves of Gravesend using psionic powers, and were not of any interest to them.
First, by continuously bombarding them, the grey dwarves, who cherish their feathers, are forced to retreat into their burrows. By encircling them, they are plunged into a predicament of scarce living resources. The inherently evil grey dwarves will naturally turn their attention to the slaves, creating enough survival pressure to break their minds.
Provide them with some "ideology" and substantial weaponry, and the expeditionary force will naturally collapse.
Those exemplars were indeed powerful; Casalos dared not fight them head-on. However, among their slaves were also powerful individuals who had been mind-controlled. There were about ten of them, including warriors and barbarians who were also exemplars. These guys were as dull-witted as wood and had no special expertise in mind control. If they were to encounter a mind sorcerer in a one-on-one fight, their fate would undoubtedly be to be mind-controlled again.
But once they are all freed from mind control and gathered together, and are wearing the anti-psychic equipment that Casalos specially prepared for them, what can the three psionicists do?
Of course, Casalos wouldn't place all its hopes on the slaves' rebellion; no one knew what strange accidents might happen. That's why it was stationed there, ready to blow up the dome above the stone pillar should things deviate from expectations—it had secretly planted bombs there long ago, and with the dragon vein sorcerers' cover, no one noticed.
"Get ready, those psionicists will be escaping soon. The crypts aren't a good place for them to exert their power." Casalos had no interest in explaining much to Drow Dragon right now, but simply reminded it, "Try to incapacitate them rather than kill them outright. These guys are quite vulnerable without psionic power."
"Don't worry, I have far more experience handling these kinds of things than you. It's you who's so determined to keep them around; aren't you afraid they might turn on you one day, just like their slaves are now?"
"hehe."
"They'll never have a chance," Casalos chuckled, folding his wings and swooping down with a sharp cry.
A gray dwarf exemplar of mind warlock, with two spirit-piercing arrows stuck in his body, had already retreated from the ground in a disheveled state, with no cover in sight.
The piercing scream generated by the violent vibration of the wing membranes against the air during the dive could not be concealed, and the mind warlock immediately spotted Casalos. The dragon was so close to it, closer than ever before. Instead of being alarmed, it was delighted. In a flash, its mental spike took shape, about to pierce the dragon's mind, but suddenly its vision went black and it completely lost its senses.
"You are indeed very skilled. Your use of the sap is so refined. I suspect you received training as a thief rather than an assassin."
As previously agreed, Casalos would act as bait to draw the attention of the grey dwarf mind warlock, while the drow dragon would blend into the shadows and sneak up behind him to ambush him. A simple and effective tactic, provided neither side sabotages the other. Given the potential ineffectiveness of the oath, the drow dragon is highly likely to sabotage Casalos. Casalos, aware of this, also has the intention to preemptively strike and sabotage the drow dragon in return.
Fortunately, neither of them made such a decision this time.
Casalos was unaware of Drow Dragon's intention to cooperate, but it had its own reasons—its current Iron Will, combined with the magic resistance of the Leather Dragon, made it completely unafraid of an Exemplary Mind Mage in extremely poor condition who could instantly unleash a powerful counterattack, so it was worth taking the gamble.
"What are you talking about? Get ready, the next one is already out." Zorlong seemed to have absolutely no intention of tricking Casalos. He swung his claws and threw the unconscious, powerless gray dwarf aside, then disappeared into the shadows without a trace, ready to launch another sneak attack.
Casalos snapped off his iron beak, then sprang up and swooped down again, charging toward the second mind warlock who had left the crypt.
This guy was in a worse state than the first one; his body was tattered and one of his arms was missing. A gnoll barbarian wielding a broken spirit axe roared and chased after him.
The two spotted the swooping iron dragon at the same time. The gnoll laughed and threw his battle axe, forcing the psionicist to make no defense or counterattack against the dragon.
The dragon did not appear. Casalos pulled up at its maximum height, swung its tail and slammed it to the ground, smashing the mind warlock's legs into bloody dust. The tip of its tail curled up and carried it into the air, throwing it off the cliff of the stone pillar.
70. Liberated Slaves
The mind warlock whose legs exploded did not
Chapter 65
A creature fell into the lake, but Eisen, under the invisibility spell, caught it in mid-air and pulled it back to the mushroom patch. As Eisen's Dragonvein Warlock level increased, he had grown the "stolen" dragon wings of the kobolds and had consumed a feat to gain full flight ability.
Even though Casalos designated her high-level spell slot for infrastructure spells, she was still the "strongest" in the Kalik tribe. If we only consider the challenge level rules, Casalos was much lower than her.
In fact, her combat strength is not bad either. Dragon Vein Warlock is a special advanced class that gradually awakens the bloodline of true dragons, and Eisen is just a little short of fully transforming into a half-dragon. The other Dragon Vein Warlocks, while somewhat inferior to Eisen, are not far behind. As Casalos grows, their improvement rate is also increasing rapidly in steps. The influence of true dragons on the dragon race is that immense—however, it seems that not all dragon descendants can establish a mysterious connection with true dragons and grow rapidly like the kobolds. It's unclear whether this is because kobolds are inherently too weak, or because their worship of dragons comes from the depths of their souls.
In short, considering only the individual strength of high-level individuals, the Karrick tribe isn't actually that afraid of the Grey Dwarf Expeditionary Force. While the magical power of six high-level dragon vein warlocks can't match that of three exemplar mind mages, their awakened dragon breath can obliterate an unprotected mind mage. This is precisely why the drow dragons previously dared not even enter the mushroom patch.
The third psionicist failed to appear, but one by one the slaves emerged from the crypt and surrounded the several high-ranking grey dwarf mind warriors who had escaped, cutting them into pieces.
Then, the slaves spontaneously gathered on a platform at the top of the stone pillar, looking up at the dark sky, waiting for Casalos to descend—Cassaloz, who was going to give them equipment and help them break free from mind control, was not there to be a Good Samaritan, and of course he would not forget to leave his name and conditions.
The moment these slaves who successfully revolted received their weapons, they had already tacitly become half-dragon servants of Casaloz!
After a long time, no one emerged from the cave. Casalos then lowered its altitude, causing the flames to shimmer and circle above their heads before landing on a towering boulder.
Six kobold warlocks broke free of their invisibility and appeared, circling the boulder while simultaneously spewing sparks of dragon breath into the air, illuminating the entire platform.
A mirror image of Zhuo Erlong landed on the platform at this moment, walked leisurely to the bottom of the boulder, sat down, and also looked at the slave.
They didn't run away, they even came out to support me?
Casalos glanced at the creature's reflection with surprise, pondering what it was up to, while addressing the slaves in Dwarven language.
"With my help, you escaped the mind control of those gray dwarves, gained your free will, and successfully exacted revenge on them. Now, it is time to fulfill your promise..."
It raised its head high, straightened its forelimbs and neck, and tried its best to show its majesty. Unfortunately, the baby dragon's disproportionately large head could not support much of the scene.
"Where did this dragon cub come from? When did Wagu ever make a promise to you!" The gnoll berserker, who had forced the mind warlock into Casalos's dive attack range, interrupted its sermon.
"Heh, you're just using us to deal with these disgusting gray dwarves. We accepted your help and took your weapons, but we also helped you kill them all. We don't owe you anything, and you think you can control us like this?" A thin female drow ranger chuckled, picking up where the gnoll left off. "We're not blind. You're just a fledgling dragon whose scales haven't even fully grown yet, and you're already thinking about enslaving us like those evil dragons? Isn't that a bit too presumptuous?"
"That's right, a fledgling dragon whose scales haven't even fully grown in yet, Hachi..."
"Hachi, don't even think about controlling us!"
The dim-witted gnolls, as if finding a mouthpiece, began to chime in with loud, grunting chatter, while the ogres joined in, turning the entire platform into a chaotic mess.
The other gray dwarves from different clans didn't voice any opinions for the time being, but their iron-black eyes also revealed contempt.
A few goblins, however, showed their displeasure at the jeering group, hissing and growling a few times—they didn't want to support Casalos, they just instinctively disliked the increasingly chaotic situation.
Zhuo Erlong's reflection turned his head, and even though the shadows blurred his face, the thorns on it were still clearly visible, revealing a human-like mockery.
Casalos clicked its iron beak indifferently. This situation was entirely within its expectations. There were no grateful people among the slaves of the gray dwarves. Regardless of race, whether lawful or chaotic, they were all extremely evil creatures, and they had no sense of gratitude whatsoever.
Furthermore, they are not dog-headed people who worship dragons by nature, so of course they would not willingly become servants of dragons, especially when the dragon that intends to rule them is still a fledgling dragon.
boom...
Several explosions rang out outside the stone pillar. The overpressure from the explosions spread a distance and then scattered into a storm that swept over the stone pillar, briefly silencing the chaotic group of slaves.
“What have you done, you dragon cub?” Drow spoke again. Casalos’s calm demeanor completely contradicted her judgment. Shouldn’t a proud dragon, after such a setback, be enraged and panicked, charging down to fight those foolish jackals? What on earth was it trying to do?
"It's nothing. I knew you bunch of trash would do this, so I planted explosives beforehand and blew up the entire passageway through this stone pillar."
Casalos flapped his wings and flew into the air, while the kobold dragon vein sorcerers cast invisibility spells on each other and disappeared.
"You're asking for it! Let's all go and grab it!" Drow shouted as she charged forward, her steps strangely unpredictable—she seemed to be rushing forward but was actually retreating. The grey dwarf stood still with a cold smile, the goblin frowned and remained motionless, only the dim-witted gnolls, swayed by Drow's incitement, swarming forward, some throwing weapons, some firing crossbows wildly, all jostling together, injuring countless of their own kind.
The gnoll berserker, perhaps the strongest among them, roared and leaped up, raising his battle axe to strike the still-flying iron dragon hatchling.
Casalos rolled aside to avoid the aerial leaping attack from which it could not gain leverage, ignored the crossbow bolts and thrown weapons flying everywhere, and soared dozens of meters into the air, completely escaping the attack range of the ground soldiers.
A series of muffled thuds came from the mushroom bushes and stone pillars, followed by the whistling sound of heavy steel arrows piercing the air.
Then, a dense barrage of crossbow bolts, each as thick as a dog-headed man's wrist, rained down, raising a cloud of dust.
71. To incorporate
The gnolls' screams rose with the billowing dust, and the volleys of ballistae and the whistling of steel arrows quickly subsided, the screams turning into intermittent wails. As the dust slowly dissipated, the gnolls who had charged forward suffered heavy casualties.
How could these unarmored slaves withstand a volley of enchanted steel arrows launched hundreds of meters away by heavy ballistae? Anyone grazed by a steel arrow as thick as a kobold's wrist would either die or be maimed. The gnoll berserker who had leaped into the air fared even worse, with five holes piercing through his body as he fell to the ground, fragments of his internal organs flowing out with his blood. The powerful vitality granted to him by the Exemplary Berserker kept him alive for a while, but it was unknown how much longer he could hold on.
"Have you forgotten who beat your master so badly that he could only cower in the crypt and not show his face?" Casaloz circled around, continuing his sermon in the Common Tongue: "You are a bunch of mind-controlled enslaved trash and garbage, lowly, weak, pitiful, and utterly worthless!"
I will not kill you, but will provide you with help and weapons so that you have the power to rebel against your masters, simply because I am merciful enough to give you the opportunity to offer me your humble strength and loyalty.
If you
Chapter 66
If you are unwilling to cherish this opportunity, I can send you to be buried with your former masters at any time.
Of course, I am so kind that I am still willing to give you the final choice.
I destroyed all the safety passages of the stone pillar, so you can't get any food supplies. Now, make a choice before you starve to death: either jump off this cliff and feed those Kotō fishmen with your corpse, or try to escape and get riddled with crossbow bolts.
Or perhaps, we should choose one of these reckless gnolls, cut off its ear, chop off its finger, or some other part, seize that troublesome drow, tear her to pieces, then kneel down and swear by your gods that you will forever dedicate your loyalty to me in exchange for the right to live?
“No!” the drow cried. “You can’t do this! I, Elthorpe Amber, swear to the Mother of Darkness that I will make you my one and only lord and give you everything I have…”
“It’s too late, Drow…” Casalos shook its head as it saw several crossbows already silently aimed at Drow.
"Don't worry, some of you will surely be able to recognize my race and know that I am not one of those fickle, evil dragons. I don't want your lives, nor do I need you to serve me like slaves."
I am a lord. As long as you offer your loyalty and become my servants, I will regard you as my own people, give you protection, teach you new knowledge, and bestow new strength upon you. Beyond fulfilling your assigned tasks and duties, you will remain free.
Otherwise, only death awaits you!
The crossbow strings snapped, and the prepared drow dodged, only to be forced back in another direction by a steel blade swung by a goblin. An ogre, who happened to be blocking his path, grinned foolishly, grabbed him, lifted him above his head, and slammed him to the ground. A second volley of crossbow bolts and several steel blades pierced the limp drow corpse almost simultaneously.
A large horde of evil humanoid creatures roared and charged into the jackal pack pinned to the ground by steel arrows, shouting, fighting, and plundering...
"Charson family brat, I'm targeting my own kind like this, don't you want to say anything?"
"Same race? What same race? What opinion are you expressing?" Zorron's reflection appeared beside Casalos, full of innocent confusion.
"Forget it, it's nothing."
Casalos clicked its iron beak; it seemed impossible to glean anything from the feigningly ignorant Drow Dragon. The situation was settled. From now on, nothing in this sealed underground rift could threaten Casalos's development. It could now focus on growing stronger for a while. Once it grew powerful enough, the Drow Dragon would have no chance of escaping its grasp.
Deeper within the cramped cavity, the purple eyes of Meo, the Roaring Whisperer, which was monitoring the rift through some means, gleamed eerily. Its claws and four tentacles beneath its jaws frantically clicked on the control panel, deleting all of the Roaring Ship's recent navigation records. Next, it fabricated numerous signs of an attack on the Roaring Ship, then retrieved an old Githyanki battle blade from the cargo hold. With a knot tied in its tentacles, it ruthlessly slashed itself several times, before groaning as it plunged the entire blade into its abdomen.
Finally, the clamorous words set up two pre-triggered psionic powers, fabricated a memory of the Shell Ship encountering the Gith Yankees during a patrol, inserted it into one of them, and then closed his eyes and sat down in silence.
Two psionic powers were then triggered, fabricated memories were stuffed into its mind, while its recent real memories were completely extracted, sealed into a dusty gray physical bead, and buried in the suction cup of the thickest tentacle under its nose, quietly waiting for the right time to be opened again.
Once everything was complete, the noisy voice awoke with a wail, trying to contact the mainframe while frantically healing its wounds. It fled to the control panel and activated the dimensional portal of the shell ship, disappearing without a trace as soon as it entered the opened portal.
Inside the rift valley, the stone pillars have returned to calm.