Chapter 134 (1/2)

The Castia Mountains were located ten days away from west of Torlot Fortress.

It was a place spread across the Volga Republic and the Baroque Empire. It had less human activity there due to the myriad of monsters, rugged mountain terrain and the mazes of valleys it harboured.

If one could lead the troops and cross over the Castia mountains, it would take a lot of time. However, the damage would be considerable.

So, the two nations only deployed a few ranger units in the area and didn’t build many fortresses or large units there.

Not long ago, unusual signs began to appear in the Castia mountains.

Squeak squeak.

The ones, who pulled up the bushes and sneaked on the ground, looked at Baroque Rangers, who were patrolling nearby.

As they disappeared to a farther place, he slipped back to his position covering himself with leaves and bush.

“The empire dogs are gone.”

“Nice, get back to work again!”

As soon as the orders fell, loud noises began to ring violently in the ground.

Deep in the basement of the mountains, they were working on something, like a child, yet with a fully grown body that was subject to discussion and a shaggy beard.

They were a type of fairy who were called dwarves.

Dwarves, though short, had a tough body.

They were strong, and their skills were so great that they could knead stones.

The best of the dwarves was the Red Hammer clan.

They were blacksmiths, artists, architects, and natural miners.

More than 500 years ago, their first leader Rommel worked under the Devil King Saymon.

After the death of Saymon, the Red Hammer clan hid from the world by digging the ground.

A huge burrow made with the power and skill of pure dwarves was enough to pummel a Gigant.

Watching the dwarves dig up the ground with shovels, pickaxes and other variety of tools, Dreetree turned to an unusually tall dwarf and asked,

“Look here, Elder Kurgan, are we there yet?”

“Kung! Almost over now. Just wait a moment.”

The one called Kurgan, who had a nice red beard, was a tall dwarf who was indistinguishable from a human, and among the dwarves, he was called the Giant Kurgan.

Kurgan, the elder of the Red Hammer clan, commanded a unit on Vladimir’s order.

The Volga Republic had been studying for a long time on how to bypass the Baroque empire.

One of them was the Castia mountain, where geological studies have been conducted for a long time, and the dwarves found that the land was suitable for digging.

Of course, even if the strata were adequate, digging tunnels across the mountains would have been impossible for human engineers.

Being natural miners, they were able to dig a tunnel in almost two months. They were about to reach the culmination of their hard work in a massive tunnel called the Underground Invasion Path. They were doing all of this for the Republic.

“We are moving to the battlefield soon. I’m getting frustrated with it. It wants to fight as soon as possible.”

Dimitry, who came to see the progress as the days went by, spoke with his fists clenched,

Kurgan had known him for a long time, so he was able to understand his impatience.

“But do you need to go directly?”

Kurgan asked, not able to understand him.

The purpose of the war wasn’t to occupy the enemy. It was to drastically reduce the number of soldiers the Baroque could use.

However, instead of the main unit, the detour unit was being led by Duke Dimitry, the greatest swordsman of the Republic.

It was natural to wonder as he had never left the capital despite the numerous battles that had happened between his empire and Baroque.

“Of course, there was no need to be… I’m just tired of protecting the capital.”

“Bored, huh?” Asked Kurgan.

“Yeah, I wanted to fight. It has been a long time since I used my sword for a fight.”

Dimitry was a Sword Master, an advanced Expert knight.

Although he had never been defeated in Volga, he was still weaker compared to Baroque Emperor’s Sword Sage, Rudolf.

With his diligence, he was able to set foot on the same level as the Sword Sage.

The moment he had reached the Sword Sage level, his body had changed as well.

As if he was rejuvenated, his body felt young and full of vitality.

His grey hair turned black again, and his stiffened old spine had regained its flexibility.

‘If I feel like this, then what about Emperor Rudolf?’