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CHAPTER 23

While the meeting with the king continued, I prepared everything for the arrival of the enemies, because we knew they would come, Chapatrueno asked me (me) to wait for the mercenaries of the great dwarven houses who would bring as a mission to eliminate all opposition from the city before the return of the Deathbringer, so they would have plenty of justification to eliminate him and recover all the weapons they have lost trying to do so.

The main access tunnels are barricaded, the Skyrock Dwarves have been working all night to improve their weapons, the only protection they wear is their helmets and some of them shoulder pads and a small breastplate that only covers the heart, according to what I hear, "so no matter if they get hit or wounded, they won't die quickly and can continue to wield their weapons", which is something inconceivable to my people, what is the point of eliminating many enemies if you are destined to die? But neither the forest elves nor the dark elves have what the dwarves have, the red color of their skin, caused by a diet of highly pigmented mushrooms, intensifies when they get angry, at that moment they glow, their magic strengthens every one of their bones, At two in the morning, when most of the living beings are resting, footsteps can be heard, it's a synchronized, slow, heavy march, I guess they all come heavily armed, that means my battle hasn't started yet.

Around four in the morning, something strange, here there is no sunlight itself, but they are guided by flowers that follow the sun even though they receive no light or heat from it, they only eat insects and tell the time, at that moment a horn sounded with an impressive bass, called the citizens, told them that it was the High Arbitrator, head of the guild mediator, that since the city was corrupt, the brave warriors of the Chief Engineer Big Horn had decided to bet on the city, We expected something like this, apparently they think they can easily defeat those who live here, there are three hundred dwarves in fighting capacity, they are not many I admit, but if we add that there is only a small opening in the barricade, it is possible that only about ten dwarves pass at a time, I have to be sure that they will resist, their strategy is the same as when they entered the mines invaded by dead dwarves.

Each mine is closed by a magic field that only the dwarf of the family that owns the mine can open, it is their only possession and when he dies the field disappears, so when they enter and there are enemies they try to eliminate as many as possible, they retreat to the entrance and there they fight, knowing that they could get out of their tunnels to safety but most do not, They fight with the exit within reach, when the hobgoblins, lizards, snakes and other parasites were no threat, the reanimates came, but their strategy also worked well against them, but many of the current artisans were miners who were robbed of their mine in unfavorable battles, so they all know how to fight like this, with salvation at their back, refusing to surrender, frankly they are incredible.

The first thing I see when I look out are full shields, over a meter and a half, these shields are made of solid iron, they protect the user from arrows, spears, axes and swords, to see a core of ten impenetrable dwarves marching is intimidating, but that is what they expected as far as I can see, Most of these dwarves would come out in blocks and once they were inside they would protect the entrance for the arrival of the rest, this was not the case, as soon as they left the entrance several of our warriors rushed under the area of vision, dwarves without armor run very fast, The blows of their one-handed axes were not aimed at the shield, but at the feet, several blows went through the boots of these invaders, as soon as the screams of pain and rage were heard, some dwarves climbing the walls threw themselves at them, There I stopped watching, the strategy worked, these shield dwarves had a good attack, they used their protection to hit the hordes of enemies, but they were nothing against beings that knew how to counter, there I stopped watching, my battle began.

I ran to the ventilation exit, the tunnels are small, but it is possible that attacks come from there, that, the main exit (where we arrived) are places where any strategist would attack, so I waited, I set some traps with pieces of sharp stone, they will not resist more than one use, but it is enough, I set several, two hours after the battle I begin to hear the sounds of enemies approaching, for an ambush they are very noisy, that does not matter, what matters is that they do not speak dwarf or any language I know, they are a mixture of grunts and gasps, unpleasant, I take an arrow from my box and wait.

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The screams of hate and pain echo everywhere, now I know they are small, more than the dwarves, my traps don't catch their legs, they bury themselves in their stomachs, their language is a mixture of human and something else, it sounds disgusting even when they wail, it doesn't matter, My battlefield is dangerous, there are three entrances, I have active magic traps only two meters from where I am and some already loaded with fire and ice at the exit of these tunnels, that required me to consume a few potions of mushroom bark from the dark forest, that leaves me only three potions and my magic, I hope it's enough.

The first one to come out is a child, something like that, with long arms and yellow skin, his reptilian eyes are bloodshot, he carries a rusty knife in one hand, with the other he grabs at his intestines, it is clear that this is no longer my enemy, but what is it? It reminds me a bit of the goblins with whom there is an alliance in the forest, however, these seem to be willing to flee, they only fight if it saves their lives, even with the wounds and about to die they continue to advance, behind this wretch you can hear all my traps being activated, screams of pain, curses incessant, finally begin to leave those who were not affected, there are many, There are many, more than the 300 that we defend or the 800 that attack us, but my traps are ready, one by one the magic circles that I have traced and energized begin to activate, one of them stops all movement, it could look like a freezing trap, but I do not want to incapacitate, I want to eliminate, fifty traps I have placed along the esplanade to the first house, all go together, inside the tunnels I have placed another hundred and fifty, so there are 200 fewer enemies, When the first one goes beyond the line of traps, my arrow is already on its way, a precise shot between those disgusting eyes, I don't let it fall, I jump and when I fall, I run to the next house, where I leave the last of the engraved lines and reach the attack circles, One line in each of the nearby houses, inside there are some old women and children waiting for me, I enter and give them the signal, this is a vital part of the plan, my power could only energize these fifty circles for several days, but now that they are emptied they are only stone engravings, or they would be if it weren't for something I learned from our Lady Lilith.

It took me several days to explain it, when I found out that the dwarves handle magic (she told me as a vital secret chapatrueno) they can imbue magic in earth and stone, that's what I taught them, while they charge the runes of the circles I start a frantic dance, I run in and with an arrow I shoot down six of those little bastards, The idea is to keep them inside the area of the circles, a line connects each of them, but they are written so that one is charged first and then the other, there are more than twenty dwarves charging these traps, even if they don't have much magic they will make it, I do my job, when there are many I take out my swords and start to turn among them, Cutting heads, slashing chests, dodging darts, teeth and knives, all in the center of the plain, my armor has withstood the few hits that reach me, a poisoned dart grazes my arm and I feel it numb, but I do not give up, more fall but I cannot stop them much, so when I see that they have already charged about forty circles I start jumping between them, When I see that they have already charged about forty circles I start jumping between them, avoiding to interrupt the lines of magic or to activate them by mistake, I reach the safe place and there I start to apply bandages with antidote, it is a paralyzing poison, I imagine that this way they immobilize bigger victims to finish them, but with me they failed, now I will see them die while they reach me.

The fight at the entrance seems to have stopped, I have several wounds in my arms and legs, around me countless piles of frozen and charred remains tell of a bloody battle, the bodies of the dead are scattered there, there are no more hobglobins alive, when we eliminated more than half of them they started fighting to return to their tunnels, maybe they think I am some kind of demon and they will write songs about it? I think their poison is already working, I'm not thinking clearly, I'm sure I used the antidotes, but something must have been left, how come one of them gets up without a head... no, there are several, I must have killed more than a hundred, but they get up no matter what the wounds, oh no! I recognize that look, they are reanimating with the dark magic of the lich! I'm too tired to attack them, the dwarves who helped me must be exhausted, in the end without magic they came out with weapons to join the fight, several fell but twelve of them remain at my side, I'm sure we're going to die but none of them is determined to let them advance, knowing we're going to die doesn't stop us from trying... who knew! I'm a Berseker too.