Barren Plains, deep within the Far Mountain Range, inside a valley shrouded in mist year-round.
Within a small city capable of housing three thousand people.
"Patriarch Rabio, there is still no news from Prince Anakin."
Masi Brutehammer stood behind the Dwarf King, his expression filled with dejection.
The king of the dwarven clan, Rabio Brutehammer, was at this moment gazing solemnly out the small window of the straw hut, watching the dwarves moving ores along the street.
This was a city built by the dwarves with their own hands.
Thick mist hovered five to six hundred blades above, permanently blanketing the valley below. Even if an beastmen wyvern were to fly into the fog, unless it descended to a certain depth, it would not notice that within this ten-kilometer-wide valley lived a group of dwarves.
But now, this city that once shielded them from external threats no longer belonged to the dwarves.
Rabio lowered his brow, gripping the window frame tightly, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.
The most eye-catching figures in the streets were no longer dwarves, but the tall, ferocious beastmen.
Now, the beastmen were the true masters of the dwarven valley. These irritable brutes would immediately lash out with their long whips at any dwarf who moved too slowly.
Slaves, a title that filled Rabio with immeasurable shame.
But now, the dwarves had indeed become the slaves of the beastmen!
At this thought, a flash of barely suppressed rage flickered in Rabio’s eyes beneath his black feathered coat.
They were the great Brutehammer clan, bearing the noble bloodline of the dwarven royal family. Yet now, a group of filthy, lowly beastmen had enslaved them.
This was a disgrace etched into their very bloodline!
The beastmen would one day suffer the wrath of the dwarves!!
"Anakin has Grandmaster Valen with him. I believe they won’t face any serious danger. Have the other teams established contact with the dwarves of the Copperhammer clan to the south?" Rabio turned and fixed his burning gaze on Masi.
"No one may trample upon the dignity of the dwarves! I will make these beastmen taste the fury of the dwarves!"
Under Rabio’s piercing stare, Masi fell silent for a moment.
"My King, the Copperhammer clan relocated two hundred years ago. We still need more time to locate them."
Hearing this, disappointment showed on Rabio’s face. The Copperhammer clan was the nearest dwarven clan to them, with a population of fifty thousand.
The dwarves were a combat race where all were soldiers; every dwarf was a powerful heavy infantryman with tremendous strength.
Moreover, the Copperhammer clan possessed 3,000 giant-horned goat cavalry and 500 dwarven chariots, enough to wage a large-scale war.
If the Copperhammer clan learned of the Brutehammer clan’s plight, Rabio firmly believed they would dispatch a mighty army to show the world that the dwarves were not to be violated.
The strongest dwarven kingdom had once been destroyed by Abyssal Demons hundreds of thousands of years ago. It was not until one hundred thousand years ago that they reestablished the dwarven kingdom in the Brute Rock Mountains near the Storm Sea.
After hundreds of thousands of years of dispersal, dwarves had spread throughout the Glory Main Plane. Tribes and clans like the Brutehammer’s were numerous.
But the dwarven kingdom in the Brute Rock Mountains was far too distant. Even traveling by ship would take nearly half a year to reach them, making it impossible to request aid.
Thus, Rabio could only pin his hopes on the nearby Copperhammer clan.
"The Copperhammer clan relocated too abruptly. We only discovered they had left when we visited their settlement a full year after they had already moved."
Masi began to explain, "But back then, we didn’t take it seriously. After searching for a while and failing to locate them, we gave up.
Now, trying to search for them again..." He trailed off, smiling bitterly and shaking his head.
Dwarven clans all had the same bad habit: while they were incredibly united when facing external enemies, they constantly looked down on each other between different family clans.
Rather than building relationships with one another, they preferred to stay underground mining and forging weapons.
That was why it had taken them a full year after the relocation to even realize the Copperhammer Clan had moved.
"Do not give up searching. The Copperhammer Clan is currently our only potential ally. The other dwarven clans are too far away," Rabio shook his head, a hint of contemplation flashing through his eyes.
"At the same time, if we cannot contact Anakin and Grandmaster Valen, send other dwarves to search for allies.
We must not slacken in seeking out dwarven clans, nor give up contacting allies.
We need external support."
"Yes, my king," Masi pounded his chest firmly with his fist.
At that moment, a figure standing 2.2 blades tall entered from outside.
The enormous lion head revealed his identity, a king of a beastmen tribe, a member of the Lionmen.
The Lionman’s golden fur was as majestic as a mighty lion, and his body was clad in dark-patterned half-armor, clearly dwarven craftsmanship.
His two glowing blue eyes were filled with an oppressive aura, and his hands were not human hands, but beast-like claws.
"King of the Dwarves, next month we require you to forge five thousand sets of armor and five thousand weapons."
The beastmen king spoke in the Common Tongue of Glory with an authoritative tone that allowed no argument.
Masi glared furiously at the beastmen king before him and roared, "Greedy beastmen!! Impossible!!
The dwarven clan does not have such forging capacity. The three thousand sets of armor forged this month already exhausted all the clan’s stored ore at full effort!
Two thousand sets, no more than two thousand!! And we can only supply one thousand weapons!"
Kap Lionmane shook his head mockingly.
"Dwarf, this is not a negotiation. This is an order!"
After speaking, he turned his head to look at Rabio, who was draped in his black feathered coat, radiating extraordinary bearing despite being reduced to a slave.
"King of the Dwarves, I hope you clearly understand the reality. The dwarves are now my slaves. If you wish for better treatment, you had best cooperate."
He gave Rabio a meaningful glance.
"Do not try to play any tricks under the noses of the beastmen, Dwarf King. You are a smart man. I believe you will make the right choice."
With that, he waved his hand and turned to leave the dim, dilapidated straw hut.
Only the two dwarves inside were left standing there with extremely grim expressions.
Masi fell silent upon witnessing the scene.
Right now, the dwarves had no room to resist.
Rabio suddenly flung off his black feathered coat and threw it to the ground, revealing his linen clothes tightly bound by dozens of anti-magic chains.
Rabio’s lips were pale, and a cold gleam flashed in his eyes, but the Dwarf King said nothing.
Only the weak wail in helpless despair. The dwarves would repay this humiliation with blood.