Chapter 174: The Dwarven Traitor [Double Chapter]

Chapter 174: The Dwarven Traitor [Double Chapter]

The [Titan's Soul], built underground in molten lava, resembled a massive, irregular boulder.

Restrained by dozens of magical chains and submerged in Kazad-dûm's liquid layer, the only path leading here was a single [portal].

This was the gift of the [ancient Titan Gods] to the dwarves.

It was also the reason the dwarves had remained unshaken through the upheavals of the [multiverse] for thousands of years—because no one could find this place, and even if they did, they couldn’t enter.

At this moment, a fierce debate raged within the [Titan's Soul].

Inside the completely hollow interior, beneath dozens of towering pillars hundreds of feet high, the chieftains of the dwarven tribes gathered like ants on a raised platform, arguing until their faces flushed red.

"The Internet God must have realized we’re not so easy to conquer, which is why he suddenly retreated! Hmph! Did he think Kazad-dûm was a place he could come and go as he pleased? Now is the perfect time to counterattack! It’s time to sound the horn of war!"

"Arrogance! Counterattack? With what? Their [airships] hover high in the sky—how do you plan to strike them? With the pitifully few [magic artifacts] capable of flight in our tribe, or the handful of [advanced mages]?"

"So we just let them plunder our [wealth]?"

"No, no, you’ve all misunderstood! The [Fourth Calamity] was merely distracted by the [Faction System]—they’ll be back sooner or later! What we should be discussing isn’t counterattacking, but using this time to strengthen our defenses and relocate the [mushroom farms]!"

"Bullshit! Defense will only waste our opportunity! We must strike now! Don’t forget, the Internet God isn’t faring well either—the [God of Death] just besieged [Willis City], and half the [multiverse] is engulfed in war! He’s definitely tightening his defenses and preparing for battle! Now is the best time to strike while he’s weak!"

The opening of the [Conquest of Subdomains] [Faction System] had not only enriched the game’s content for players but also provided them with more avenues to seize benefits.

But for the dwarves, the sudden withdrawal of large numbers of players left them bewildered, spawning endless speculation.

Yet no matter the speculation, it ultimately split into two factions: the [Aggressive Faction] and the [Defensive Faction]!

There was no [Surrender Faction]!

The stubbornness of the dwarves was evident.

Just as the two factions argued endlessly, the [Magic Conch] of Dwarven King Kaut emitted a low, whistling sound.

"Something’s happened!"

In an instant, the quarreling dwarves fell silent.

Dwarven King Kaut activated the [Magic Conch].

"Your Majesty, [Haywood] has captured a [magic earth puppet] claiming to be an envoy of the Internet God! He demands an audience with you!" The report echoed from the [Magic Conch].

"What?"

"An envoy of the Internet God? What does this mean?"

"Could this be related to their retreat?"

The dwarven leaders exchanged uneasy glances.

"What’s the point of guessing? Why not just meet him and find out?"

Dwarven King Kaut narrowed his eyes.

The dwarven leaders then projected their consciousness via [magical projection] into a [Temporary Stone Palace], where they would receive the envoy of the Internet God.

The roughly expanded stone palace, hastily enlarged with magic, was crude and rugged.

The magical projection of Dwarven King Kaut sat high upon his throne, with nine steps descending below him. Dozens of stone pillars barely supported the grand hall's structure.

The chieftains of the various dwarven tribes were seated around him.

Soon, a magic earth puppet, escorted by dwarven warriors, entered.

It was none other than Detwe, who had just accomplished the feat of persuading the God of Dark Night to hire the Fourth Calamity.

Having already convinced the gods of Kaman, Detwe faced the dwarves, who had suffered greatly under the Fourth Calamity, with an air of arrogance.

Or perhaps, he needed to play the role of arrogance.

"State your purpose, envoy of the Internet God!"

Dwarven King Kaut no longer displayed the same arrogance he once had when facing the Internet God. Even now, confronting merely an envoy, he struggled to suppress the fury in his heart.

"The great Internet God, merciful and kind, mighty and glorious! By my lord's decree, though the dwarves' theft of the Dragon Factory's production line is a grave sin, they have already suffered due punishment. If the dwarves are willing to surrender to my lord, the great Internet God is willing to let bygones be bygones and grant the dwarves a chance to survive."

Detwe clasped his hands before his abdomen, slightly raising his chin with pride.

"My lord has always respected the faiths and customs of all races. Moreover, the nobles are creations of the ancient Titan Gods. Thus, as long as you submit to my lord, there will be no need to change your faith or offer tribute. You need only acknowledge and promote the Internet within your tribe, as well as permit the establishment of Interconnected Bank branches."

Detwe paused, finally lowering his noble head slightly and nodding.

"Respected King Kaut, what say you?"

As his words fell, the dwarves erupted in uproar.

The Internet God actually wanted to offer them surrender?

And the terms were so lenient!

No change in faith, no tribute—this wasn’t surrender at all, it was outright negotiation!

But the Internet God held absolute advantage—why negotiate?

Could it be… that the chaos of the multiverse had already threatened the Internet God?

Thus forcing him to consolidate his defenses and prepare for war, abandoning his offensive against Kazad-dûm?

"Interconnected Bank branches? How is that any different from allowing the Internet God to establish a Church in Kazad-dûm?"

"Exactly! The Interconnected Bank is just the Internet God’s Church in disguise! This is outright proselytizing—we cannot accept this condition!"

The dwarven chieftains raised their voices in protest.

Some even severed their magical projections, directly advising King Kaut’s true body within the Titan’s Soul.

"Your Majesty, you must not agree! The Internet God is cunning. If he held absolute advantage, why offer surrender?"

"Indeed, his Propaganda Leaflets flood the multiverse—does he lack Believers? I suspect he fears we’ll drag him into the flames of war!"

"Precisely! In my view, this so-called Faction System is likely just a smokescreen."

For a moment, the generous terms offered by the Internet God led many dwarven chieftains to believe that his "surrender offer" was merely a pretense—his true intent was to seek peace.

After a moment of contemplation, King Kaut addressed Detwe through his magical projection:

"If the Internet God truly wishes to recruit my noble dwarven race, then first return the wealth he plundered from us!"

Upon hearing this, Detwe was instantly dumbfounded.

Wealth seized—how could there be any logic in returning it? If they had to give it back, was this even a surrender offer? This was nothing but groveling apology!

At this moment, not only Detwe but even Yu Sheng'an, who had been observing the negotiations from a Divine Perspective, wore an ugly expression.

In his view, the reason the Five Great Righteous Gods had failed to subdue the dwarves lay in the dwarves' refusal to change their faith.

Fine, then—he wouldn’t demand their faith!

Moreover, the dwarves' greed, rivaling even that of the Dragon Clan, was another key factor.

Thus, Yu Sheng'an also waived the requirement for tribute.

By all accounts, the terms were already exceedingly generous. Yet, he never expected the dwarves not only to reject the surrender offer but to dare make such an insolent demand.

Did they still not know their place? Or had they simply not been beaten hard enough?

With a cold sneer, Yu Sheng'an dismissed the thought. Recruiting the dwarves was merely one step in his plunder of wealth—not an indispensable one.

If they insisted on such stubbornness, so be it!

Then he would crush them utterly!

Immediately, Yu Sheng'an issued an order to Detwe via the internet, instructing him to withdraw from the negotiations.

At the same time, he decided to bind the soon-to-be-released time cards to Kazad-dûm.

Specifically, players would receive time cards equivalent to the number of hours they logged into Kazad-dûm daily.

This would ensure a significant portion of players remained continuously active within Kazad-dûm.

Now, having received Lord Ajef's command, Detwe let out a cold laugh. "Since the nobles refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, do not blame my Lord for showing no mercy."

With that, he prepared to log off and leave outright.

Unexpectedly, a shout suddenly rang out from the assembly.

"Wait!"

"Hm?"

A dwarven tribal chieftain stepped forward, his expression solemn. "No change in faith, no tribute—is this truly the case?"

Detwe's eyes flickered before he nodded. "Of course!"

"Chieftain Ironbeard, what are you doing?"

"Ken, what do you mean by this?"

The dwarven leadership erupted in shock.

Chieftain Ken Ironbeard, his face grave, declared, "How can the Internet God guarantee these terms? Don't speak to me of contracts—I don't trust contracts."

Detwe paused briefly before replying, "My Lord can issue a public declaration on the internet!"

The moment the words fell, Ken's magical projection solidified as he swapped it with his true body. "Good! The Ironbeard Tribe accepts the Internet God's surrender offer!"

"Outrageous!"

"Ken, what are you doing?"

"Traitor!"

"You betray the dwarven people!"

"You coward!"

The dwarven leadership exploded in fury, hurling curses.

Ken Ironbeard, his dense beard trailing down to his waist, turned in rage and roared back:

"No! I am no traitor! I have not betrayed my faith! Nor have I betrayed my race! I only wish to restore our lives to normalcy!"

"When the Five Great Righteous Gods invaded, which tribe sacrificed the most? Mine—the Ironbeard Tribe! In every charge, were we not at the forefront?"

"And now? We can't even find our enemy! Open your eyes and look at our tribe—how many of our kin starve? The wealth we accumulated over millennia has been plundered to the last coin, all because of Dwarven King Kaut's reckless theft of the Internet God's production line!"

The usually taciturn Ken completely erupted in fury!

The invasion of the Five Great Righteous Gods had not broken him, but the Fourth Calamity did.

The Five Great Righteous Gods were terrifying, but Kazad-dûm was vast.

Facing an underground world that had been almost entirely hollowed out, even the massive combined forces of the Five Great Righteous Gods were split into countless small squads upon entering, utterly unable to leverage their collective advantage!

Not to mention tactics like poison gas, venom, or even seawater flooding.

Against the fragmented forces of the Five Great Righteous Gods, the dwarves relied on their home-field advantage and the mobility of giant worms, which could burrow through rock from any angle to strike the battlefield.

They might not have outright crushed the Five Great Righteous Gods' armies, but at least they fought fiercely and held their ground.

Every victory was a tremendous morale boost for the dwarves.

But what about the Fourth Calamity?

They were even more scattered than the dwarves and far more mobile.

In the tunnels, within the rocks—their figures could be seen everywhere, charging forward only to vanish like ripples dissolving into water.

The dwarves' mobility was utterly outmatched in comparison.

With their internet-based communication, the Fourth Calamity could report dwarf positions in real-time, not only avoiding direct confrontation but also exploiting weaknesses to plunder, steal, and raid with ruthless efficiency.

In the pitch-black underground world, they adapted even better than the dwarves.

They had no issues with morale—in fact, they only grew fiercer the longer the war dragged on.

For wealth, they resorted to fraud, extortion, and every trick imaginable!

They even threatened to destroy mushroom farms to extort riches.

It could be said that the war not only disrupted the dwarves' weapons trade but also shattered their production and daily lives.

Countless mushroom farms were ruined, and countless low-ranking dwarves suffered starvation.

Perhaps the dwarven leadership could endure such sacrifices.

But Ironbeard Chieftain Ken could not!

He would fight to the last soldier for the supreme faith of the Titan.

But he refused to let his tribespeople suffer hunger and deprivation in a pointless war, watching as millennia of accumulated wealth was plundered away.

"You're a coward!"

Dwarven King Kaut roared in fury.

At that very moment, a portal suddenly flared to life beside Ironbeard Chieftain Ken.

Abruptly, Ajef's figure appeared within the portal.

His arrival instantly silenced Dwarven King Kaut's rage.

Not just him—the entire stone palace fell deathly quiet in an instant.

After a long pause, Dwarven King Kaut finally snapped back to reality and bellowed, "Ken, don’t fall for the Internet God’s schemes to divide us!"

Ken responded with a cold smirk, unwilling to waste words.

Seeing this, Dwarven King Kaut turned his fury toward Yu Sheng'an and roared, "Ajef! You may deceive Ken, but not me! Don’t think I don’t know your plans? Even if it means dragging you down with us, the dwarves will pull you into the abyss of eternal damnation! I’ll be waiting for that day!"

With that, the Dwarven King vanished.

The dwarven high officials in the stone palace also departed one after another.

Only Ironbeard Chieftain Ken remained, a trace of sorrow flickering in his eyes.

"Congratulations on abandoning darkness for light."

Yu Sheng'an ignored the dwarves' threats and instead turned to Ken.

"I just don’t want to see my people suffer!"

Ken's expression was complicated.

He should have hated the Internet God to the core. If he could kill the Internet God, he swore he would do it the first chance he got, even at the cost of his own life.

But hatred couldn’t fill the growling stomachs of the tribe’s children.

It couldn’t restore the wealth and freedom the tribe had lost.

"In the future history of the dwarves, your people will surely take pride in your choice—I promise," Yu Sheng'an said with a smile.

"If I cared about reputation, I’d be like the others, rejecting the surrender offer, because commoners have no right to write history," Ken replied with self-mockery.

Yu Sheng'an’s gaze flickered with surprise as he looked at Ken.

He hadn’t expected that a race whose brains were so thoroughly pickled in alcohol could still produce someone with such sharp insight.

Population size truly was the foundation for geniuses to emerge.

A shame, then, that the Dwarven King wasn’t him.

How on earth did the dwarves elect their king, anyway?

Was it through sheer stupidity of bloodline?

"This isn’t the place for conversation. Would you take me to your tribe so we can discuss things properly?"

"I need to see the surrender declaration first!"

"Cautious—I like that! But let me remind you one last time: once the declaration is issued, if you break your word, don’t blame me for pursuing you to the ends of the earth."

"That’s my line," Ken said, a hint of threat in his tone.

Yu Sheng'an chuckled. The weak could only resort to desperate threats against the strong.

He couldn’t care less.

Casually, he drafted a declaration and released it across the entire internet in a scrolling bubble format.

Ken clearly had an internet alias, because the moment the declaration went live, his expression visibly relaxed.

"Follow me," Ken said, summoning a portal.

Yu Sheng'an stepped onto it without hesitation.

Just as the portal activated, he abruptly swapped out this divine projection, replacing it with a magic puppet.

The next second, the portal deposited them inside a vast underground cavern.

The cavern stretched endlessly, its towering dome ceiling studded with fluorescent mineral veins.

Inside, the rock formations rose in jagged layers, resembling a kaleidoscopic wind-eroded landscape.

It wasn’t dark.

The glow from the ceiling and the torches scattered throughout illuminated the surroundings like twilight.

Only after confirming through his Divine Perspective that there was no danger did Yu Sheng'an switch his divine projection back.

"Chieftain, you’re back? The internet just—who is—?"

An elderly dwarf rushed over in a panic, but before he could finish his report, his eyes locked onto Yu Sheng'an. The unmistakable human features froze his expression instantly.

"The declaration on the internet is real. Inform the tribe to immediately control members of other tribes and expel them. Also, convene the tribal council."

"...Understood!" The Elder Dwarf hesitated, then finally gave a heavy nod. He shot Yu Sheng'an a solemn glance before turning to leave.

"Mr. Ajef, according to dwarven customs, the tribal council does not permit outsiders to attend, so..." Ken said awkwardly.

"I respect your faith and traditions—that’s written in the declaration," Yu Sheng'an replied.

His cooperation eased Ken’s tension.

He called over a dwarven warrior and said, "This is Mr. Ajef. Accompany him on a tour of the tribe. Remember, fulfill all of Mr. Ajef's requests."

"Yes, Chief!" the dwarven warrior responded in a deep voice, though his expression remained blank.

Ken, the chief of the Ironbeard Tribe, then bid farewell to Yu Sheng'an and left to convene the tribal council.

Meanwhile, Yu Sheng'an wandered curiously through the Ironbeard Tribe.

The terrain of the Ironbeard Tribe was incredibly complex—if one had to describe it, it was eerily reminiscent of Blue Star's 8D bridge city.

Stone bridges and tunnels were everywhere.

Houses carved directly into the rock surrounded him at every turn.

As he walked, Yu Sheng'an's height made him stand out like a crane among chickens, drawing the involuntary gazes of countless dwarves.

Fear, confusion, hatred, surprise, bewilderment, numbness, loathing—all these emotions flickered across their faces. Most of them were gaunt and hollow-eyed.

If not for the warrior accompanying Yu Sheng'an, someone might have already rushed forward.

Even so, some exchanged questioning glances, only to receive subtle shakes of the head—an unspoken warning to stay away, that no answers would be given.

Thwack!

Yu Sheng'an suddenly raised his hand and caught a pebble midair.

Following its trajectory, he spotted a dwarf child ducking back into a window carved into the rock wall.

In an instant, the surroundings fell into silence.