Chapter 225 Bloodline Curse

The wings of several lion scorpions rumbled in the mountains. They flew over the ruins of Steelforge Castle and finally landed on the nest platform on the top of the mountain.

Untying the reins, the sturdy Hem led the dwarf warriors back to the stone platform and dragged the iron chain tied to the manticore into the cave.

The long-awaited trainers and sentinels put away their big pipes and walked forward quickly.

"It's great to see you return safely. Bless you, Elder Hem, did you have a good trip this time?" The dwarf guards guarding the entrance to the top of the mountain greeted the ancient tribesmen in front of them.

Hem accepted the warm embrace of his compatriots, patted each other on the arm, and replied: "My companions will be able to return to Steelforge soon."

"That's great. I heard that the long-bodied people are always shameless, especially their noble lords. I am afraid that those elders will be detained and can't come back." The guard said, calling his companions, and drove the beasts behind the tribe back to the nest to arrange feeding: "You go back and rest quickly. I think His Majesty must be waiting for your good news."

Hem nodded, and walked into the depths of the lion scorpion's nest with everyone, leading the returning dwarves into the passage one after another.

Walking through the long spiral stairs, walking onto the elevator platform, and forcefully turning the switch rod, with waves of chain and gear rotation, the platform on the column is lowered little by little with the counterweight at the bottom.

The elevator made a rattling sound.

After leaving the mountain trough, everyone completely entered the hollowed-out rock mass. The view in front of them was suddenly clear, and the vision was not affected too much.

Several giant solar arc arrays that receive sunlight alternately refract the bright sunlight from caves outside the mountains to various places in the vast space at clever angles, like narrow lights in the valley, illuminating the city inside the mountain with its extraordinary craftsmanship.

However, the empty ancient cliff stone chambers and suspension bridges were full of dust, and there were many desolate vegetation. It seemed that there were few traces of dwarves living there for a long time. Only a few dwarf soldiers were patrolling around with revolving crossbows on their backs, sucking their pipes carelessly. When they saw Hem and his party returning, they greeted them loudly from afar.

Shuttled between several cliff platforms, and took the elevator back and forth, Hem went lower and lower.

The gurgling mountain spring water converged along large channels in the mountain, forming many clear waterfalls of different sizes. The rivers above and below the ground were circulated and endlessly by the ancient dwarfs' urban engineering.

Some dwarves walked between the passages and bridges of the surrounding soil and rock steps, taking care of the gardens where rare vegetables were planted.

After passing through countless rock pillars like giant stalactites, and through the carved stone chambers and suspended corridors embedded in them, Hem entered the underground city, which is also the middle level of Steelforge.

The light became dimmer and the lighting in the dwarf city was gradually replaced by braziers and torches.

The occasional garden plants were also replaced by various mushrooms and geothermal potatoes.

In the pure metal paving fence, there were underground carps covered with scales and thorns.

These extremely fat livestock lazily used their claws to dig the feed in the trough. There were not only butchers who looked after the meat livestock, but also other dwarf residents around.

The wide middle-level city was still not too lively, but the conversations and footsteps added a lot of life to the city on the ground.

After walking across the long bridge guarded by guards, taking the elevator to go deeper into the deep rock gorge, we came to the darker lower city area, where the faint sound of furnace fire rising and hammer knocking began to become obvious.

Without reaching the more unfathomable underground factories and mining areas, the platform carrying everyone finally stopped at the magnificent square supported by giant stone pillars.

Following the crowned long-bearded guards, Hem entered the Heraen Palace of this era and met the current King of Steelforge, Gorim again.

"I hope that Lord Feru didn't embarrass you, Elder Hem, did you bring back good news from your compatriots?" The dwarf king did not sit on the throne, he came up from the hall to greet him warmly.

Hem bowed his head and saluted, and he did not correct the other party's address as he did when they first met.

This is not just because he came from more than a thousand years ago.

At the beginning, when he met the other party, Hem looked at the color and length of the beard of the contemporary dwarf king and felt that the other party was much older than him, at least about 280 years old.

He thought that the other party called him "elder" out of respect for each other's age.

But after knowing the inside story, Hem was stunned.

His Majesty Gorim is only 172 years old now.

He is 50 years younger than himself.

But at the age of 172, which should be the prime of the Heraen people, the face of the dwarf king has already shown the appearance of old age.

This situation is not just a special case of His Majesty Gorim.

As far as Hem knows, the short life of the tribesmen in this era is a common phenomenon.

"I have good news, a very bad news, and a news that I don't know whether it is true or false, good or bad, Your Majesty." Hem sighed.

He told the current ethnic leader about his experience of this trip.

After listening to the first two pieces of news from the ancient elder, Gorim's mood was ups and downs.

The first piece of news made him feel at ease. Those tribesmen who were still wandering outside were really priceless treasures of Steelforge.

Not only because these ancient survivors who mysteriously awakened from their long sleep in the spirit-like land possessed a large amount of lost Heraen knowledge and skills.

But also because the fifty-one pure bloodlines of the ancestors who returned had not yet suffered the "curse" that the current tribe was enduring.

The truth behind the so-called curse is actually very simple. Even as a descendant of the ancestors who have never seen the ancient times, Gorim is also clear about the reason.

"Steelforge Castle" and the "Desolate Mountain City" that left the mountains east of the Wound of Omros two or three hundred years ago are of the same lineage. The current number of tribesmen is probably less than 20,000, all of which are descendants of the earliest hundreds of Heraen ancestors.

The ancestors naturally did not have any taboos on inbreeding, but in a small tribe, there has been no foreign blood for many generations, and the blood curse still appears among the tribe.

The life span of the descendants of the Heraen survivors is decreasing from generation to generation, and only less than two-thirds of the ancestors are left. No one can live beyond 220 years old, let alone the longevity of the ancestors of more than 300 years.

And looking at the trend of the next generation of the tribe, the life span is getting shorter and shorter, and it is not even known when it will stop. Will it stop, or will it become as short-lived as other races, or even die out one day?

If Hem hadn't dissuaded him, Gorim would have even wanted to personally lead his troops through the underground webway to forcibly retrieve the nine ancestors who were left behind.

He was not at ease with the "long-bodied, short-lived species". Those short-lived people were the best at betraying their promises. Hundreds of years ago, they had done the despicable thing of trying to confine the remnants of Heraen as slaves.

The ancestors who couldn't find their fellow tribesmen at first were weak and alone. If they hadn't been lucky enough to get rid of the pursuit by taking advantage of the complexity of the underground webway and escape to the old place of Steelforge in the north and close the mountain gate, they probably wouldn't know what kind of situation they would be in now.

Unfortunately, later, when the fourth king of Steelforge, his grandfather, saw that the tribe had the ability to retaliate more than two hundred years ago, he wanted to lead his troops to avenge the ancestors, but he found out after going out of the mountain gate.

The Kingdom of Norse actually destroyed those Norse people who betrayed the ancient covenant. They had long been driven out of the Western Continent by the Feru people. The rest were either killed or assimilated into the Feru people, and they could no longer be distinguished.

If we continue to declare war on the Kingdom of Orland, which has unified this area, it will undoubtedly be an inexplicable and absurd act. If we want revenge again, Steelforge can only wait until the future to build a ship and go out to sea to find the so-called "Nosnia" island.

As for the second undead disaster, Gorim frowned and asked: "Isn't Lord Orland bluffing us?"

"Before we came back, we did see the scene he described with our own eyes." Hem replied.

Seeing that the other party gave affirmation, the dwarf king paced.

"The disaster of all living beings on the continent? I find it hard to believe. Maybe it's another struggle between a short-lived and long-bodied noble and their wizards.

Since he at least helped to wake you up, I can give him some rewards, but sending troops to the south? He can't even think about it. Now the precious lives of my people, I can't waste them on his alarmist words." The dwarf king shook his head and refused.

"I think you should listen to the last news of that lord before making a decision." Hem reminded quickly.

The dwarf king restrained his temper.

However, after hearing about the whereabouts of the ancestors, he immediately blew his beard and glared: "? The gate of the realm?"

The kings of Steelforge have thought of various answers, but this is indeed the most incredible situation.

"Whether you believe it or not, we have to send someone to take a look." Hem suggested.

The ancestors did not encounter collective accidents, but just left this world as a whole family?

There are other "worlds" besides this "world"? Gorim, who got this hope, suppressed his shock and said without hesitation: "Where is the "gate"? Tell me quickly!"

The dwarf king did not hesitate too much. As the elder said, whether it was true or false, Steelforge had to send someone, or he had to go to the direction indicated by the map in person.

More than fifty ancient bloodlines joined the tribe to reconcile the bloodline, which was obviously still only a temporary solution. If the huge tribe of the ancestors could be found, it might be the real way to solve the blood curse of the people today.

However, this trip will pass through the barren mountains, and Gorim suddenly became entangled. Should he tell those hateful cousins ​​about this?

The short-lived blood curse is not only rampant in Steelforge

At the end of August, the temperature in the central part of the Western Continent was slightly higher, and King Orland did not continue to stay in his military tent.

Logically speaking, this season is not suitable for a war, but Ledwin knows that he and his "companion" in the south, Cantadar, who is trying to usurp the throne, will not easily let go of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Under the shade of the sunshade awning, he sat on the royal chair and deduced the battle plan on the Usato map provided by the new king of Cantadar with Trosa and other confidants.

Casso bet everything on the gamble he chose. This map provided by the Cantadar royal family has been surveyed and revised for hundreds of years and is very accurate.

The previous Cantadar kings who ordered people to draw maps in the past would never have thought that this confidential survey map hidden in the palace and forbidden to be passed on to the Orland people would now be handed over to them by their own descendants.

As for the validity of the map, the Pegasus Knights from Kronia have also confirmed it from the air these days. Now, some simple golden indicators that symbolize the armies of both sides are pressed on the riverside area where the two armies are confronting each other.

Nearly 20,000 elite troops directly under the command of Ledwin from the Crown of Kronia.

Ten thousand lords' coalition forces from the entire Grey Shirt Valley.

Three thousand reinforcements from the Lord of Wester from the Western Front.

Finally, there are the new king of Kantardar, Kaso, the two thousand Kantardar guards and the four thousand royal city civilians.

At this moment, a total of 39,000 troops have been assembled north of the river bank, and there are countless local civilians who have been forcibly conscripted in the rear. The camps and flags are distributed so far that it seems that there is no end.

And in the distance south of the river bank, the scene of the Kantadar "rebels" at this moment is much more exaggerated than that in the north.

However, Ledwin has also roughly figured out the enemy's strength through the two armies' probing and outpost fighting in recent days.

The so-called 100,000 Kantadar troops are actually only half of them.

However, in addition to the 30,000 troops of the Duke of Aberle, the other 20,000 Uriah allies, their huge cavalry group is indeed not to be underestimated.

The grassland rich in horses has created an exaggerated number of cavalry for the Uriah people. The iron cavalry of the Southern Army is probably more than twice that of their own.

Having said that, it is not enough to make Ledwin and Trosa have any intention of retreating.

Despite the disadvantage in terms of military strength and the number of cavalry far less than the opponent, in terms of the morale and quality of the soldiers, the army under Orlando is far superior to the opponent at this moment.

The Eastern Expedition Army recalled by Aberle has been fighting since last year, and has been running for nearly a year. It only took a short rest before heading to the royal city. It is obviously a tired army at the end of its strength.

The Uriah people on the grassland are indeed fierce, but they have also been conquering other regions for a long time and their military force cannot be sustained.

And Orlando's southern expedition has not been long. After two or three months of fighting, he has picked up the loopholes of the civil strife in the south and has not suffered any defeats. The troops of each territory have won victory after victory, with high morale and abundant military strength.

Of course, after all, without long-term and sufficient logistical preparations, Orlando's troops could not withstand the unsustainable consumption of food and grass, and stalemate with the Southern Army for a long time, and could not really wait for the enemy to tire.

Fortunately, there is no need to completely defeat the enemy in this battle. As long as Aberle can be forced to withdraw from the Usato Territory, it will be a victory for the Northern Army.

Ledwin stroked his beard and sighed in his heart. Abel must have thought the same thing at this moment, so that the Orland people would retreat in the face of difficulties.

". The key is still the Uriah army. You might as well try to attract the enemy. If you can make the Uriah people take the initiative to disconnect from Abel's army." Trosa thought.

If there were no huge grassland cavalry, the Orland army would have taken the initiative to attack and would have been confident of defeating Abel's 30,000 troops head-on.

"If you can't attract the Uriah people, try to attract Abel himself." Ledwin pondered for a moment and said, "There must be spies in the north of the river bank now, otherwise he wouldn't have sent the secret letter so quickly.

Let Casso and his troops go to your camp these days to raise the flag higher, move his troops and flags, and show more faces. I'm curious how long Abel can endure."