Chapter 60 The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind

Back when Kana and Lurik were standing atop the watchtower during the day, watching Retaenke assign tasks, they had already devised a plan.

Gretari and Eric each took a token of the Sage and headed off in opposite directions to gather the dwarf warriors whom Retaenke had deliberately sent away.

They instructed them to lie in ambush behind the distant hills—to charge out if the enemy came, and to wait for a signal if they did not.

When a vast horde of goblins gathered outside the walls, the dwarves rode their battle rams straight down from the slopes on both sides.

In an instant, a multitude of goblins were sent flying and scattering by the impact of the charging dwarves, letting out miserable shrieks.

"For the Grey Mountains!"

The battle cry of the dwarves echoed from without.

Listening to the continuous battle cries, Retaenke, who had been restrained by lightning all this while, wore an expression of extreme ugliness.

At that moment, the plague-cursed dwarves inside the ramparts once again began to retch.

Already plagued by the curse, trying to fight these believers of the pestilence—even for dwarves—was becoming nearly impossible.

From the top of the tower, Lurik, who had been manipulating the lightning the entire time, watched this scene and decisively released Retaenke.

A massive surge of lightning descended once more. This time, the bolts fell like raindrops, and all the remaining goblins within the inner walls were paralyzed.

"Retaenke, you traitor of the mountains!" Lurik roared from the tower peak.

Released from his confinement, Retaenke did not immediately attack the others. Instead, he looked up at the tower.

Grasping his sword, he stamped hard against the stone beneath his feet and leaped upward toward the tower summit.

"Lurik! You bunch of cowards who only dare to linger on in the shadow of doom!"

Taking advantage of the moment when the two powerhouses began to clash, Kana started brandishing his weapon, rapidly reaping down the goblins.

+12
+9
+13
……

Watching the experience points continuously jump upward, Kana wore a radiant smile as bright as a farmer during harvest.

A nearby dwarf watched as Kana brandished his weapon to slaughter goblins while wearing such a beaming smile, and could not help but shudder, silently backing away from him.

With dwarf reinforcements returning, even a tide-like horde of goblins could not stop them.

Ultimately, this group of goblins was simply too weak. Goblins could only display a certain advantage when operating in small squads, employing various forms of harassment, sneak attacks, and traps.

In a frontal battle like this, even in vast numbers and bearing the power of the Rotting Lord, they were still no match for these dozens of dwarves.

Because they lacked any tactical organization whatsoever, merely huddling together in a chaotic mass and swinging their weapons at random.

Simply by charging back and forth, the battle rams under the dwarves' feet were enough to trample and crush massive groups of goblins to death.

Not to mention that these dwarves were clad in full plate armor, and the weapons in their hands were exceptionally finely crafted.

The attacks of these goblins landing on the dwarves could at most leave a few scratches on their armor.

It was an entirely one-sided, crushing conflict.

When Kana finally stopped, the air was filled only with a foul stench and the numerous corpses of goblins.

Outside the city, a few goblins were still fighting the dwarves—perhaps this was the only commendable trait of these goblins, who, having sworn faith to the Rotting Lord, could no longer flee out of cowardice.

"Boom!"

Several flashes of lightning streaked across the night sky once more, directly striking the top of the tower.

A figure was sent hurtling down from above, crashing heavily onto the ground below.

Through the billowing black smoke, the onlookers peered closely.

The one who had been knocked down was none other than Retaenke.

Another figure wreathed in electric arcs also leaped straight down from the top, slamming violently into the earth.

Lurik raised the lightning-shrouded polehammer in his hands, electricity flickering in his eyes as he gazed down at Retaenke.

"Is this... the power you sought at the cost of betraying the mountains?"

Upon hearing these words, Retaenke, surrounded in the center, was driven to a bitter laugh.

Kana could also perceive that while this dwarf had taken faith in the Rotting Lord, he did not actually wish to completely succumb to a corrupted form.

He had merely harnessed a certain power of the plague without desiring to completely alter his physical appearance.

Thus, aside from acquiring a few plague spells, he had not actually undergone any profound physical enhancement.

"Then let me show you the power of my Lord!"

He roared as he stood up. The armor on his body, already dented and warped from the fall, was forcefully ruptured and fell to the ground.

Several tentacles protruded directly from his torso—from his chest, his abdomen, and his back.

A total of five tentacles writhed continuously, each one thicker and bulkier than his own physical body.

The tentacles were slick with greenish, foul-smelling pus, and lined with jaws full of sharp teeth.

This nauseating appearance caused the surrounding dwarves to involuntarily take several steps back.

This was entirely too blasphemous.

"I don't want to turn into this kind of freak at all," said one of the plague-cursed dwarves with disgust.

"If I looked like that, Nalia would definitely kick me off the cliff."

"How is anyone supposed to drink with him? It smells so foul, who would ever want to share a drink with that?"

The surrounding dwarves actually began to grumble and complain amidst such a situation.

Retaenke cast a sidelong glance at them. Standing with a distorted posture, he abruptly raised his left hand and made a fierce grasping motion.

"Rretch!"

"Gods, ugh..."

The dwarves who were already cursed by the plague immediately dropped to their knees, vomiting incessantly as pustules began to sprout densely across their faces.

In an instant, their entire bodies grew exceptionally weak.

The plague within them had been detonated.

"Get them out of here, quickly!"

Lurik's command prompted the dwarves who were still able to stand to immediately drag the plague-cursed individuals away, hauling them toward the city gates and out into the open air.

The dwarves who had been clearing goblins outside rushed back inside and formed a circle, raising their weapons against Retaenke in the center, whose features were now completely unrecognizable.

"Come, Lurik! Punish me, and let you witness the power of my Lord!"

Lurik waved his hand to disperse the surrounding stench, took a deep breath, raised his polehammer, and walked toward the center.

A massive amount of lightning gathered around him, and the entire night seemed illuminated by the electric light radiating from his body.

None of the dwarves intervened rashly; instead, they all took a step back in unison to maintain the surrounding perimeter.

"In a situation like this, are they really going to duel?" George asked from the side, still holding his bow, unable to contain his curiosity.

He found it somewhat incomprehensible; shouldn't everyone just swarm a monster like that and beat it to death on the spot?

Bobot stubbornly fought through the stench to watch the scene without blinking. She needed to commit this to memory so she could write it down in her travel journals later on.

She casually remarked, "Dwarves are just like that, especially among themselves. Such a combat carries a certain sense of honor. Though, fundamentally speaking, for someone who has defected to an evil deity like him, honor has no meaning anyway."

Gretari, who had approached them at some point, overheard their murmured conversation and couldn't help chiming in, "We dwarves aren't that rigid. It's just their relationship... well, Yata is that traitor's master."

Hearing this, everyone understood instantly.

So it was a matter of cleaning house with one's own hands.