The girl's cold voice echoed, making Nori's face turn grim. He recognized her as the leader of the extraterrestrial visitors.
Without his weapon, Nori knew he stood no chance against Alex.
"Do you know who I am? I am Nori of the Silverbeard Clan, one of the seven noble families of the dwarf kingdom. Do you really want to make an enemy of the entire dwarf kingdom?"
Nori tried to use his background to intimidate the extraterrestrial visitor. In his mind, these visitors were cowardly and feared death.
"Hmph."
The surroundings turned into a frozen wasteland as Alex's figure vanished, reappearing in front of Nori, swinging her scythe at his head.
Nori seed prepared, holding a device resembling a chanical sphere. As Alex disappeared, he activated the device.
A surge of spatial energy enveloped Nori, and he vanished, leaving behind his armor and clothes.
Nori reappeared a hundred miles away from Grimstone, naked and panicked, fleeing imdiately.
This teleportation device was a new invention developed by the three major clans of the dwarf kingdom, given to Nori by the Silverbeard Clan chieftain for ergencies.
Alex hadn't expected Nori to have such a trick, allowing him to escape.
But it didn't matter. Alex wasn't afraid of the Silverbeard Clan knowing about the attack on Grimstone.
From Grimstone's defenses, the Silverbeard Clan was weaker than Alex had anticipated. Given ti, Alex believed Sophie could lead the dwarves to overthrow the Silverbeard Clan.
With Nori's escape, the two Monarch level dwarf guards were quickly overwheld by the undead.
Alex stood behind the two dwarf guards, knowing the outco was inevitable. The guards were dood.
Alex ordered the undead to surround the remaining dwarf troops, making them her prisoners.
Although Alex wanted to kill them to summon more undead, she needed them to defend the city and operate the weapons. Sophie's thousand dwarves wouldn't be enough.
Alex doubted all the remaining dwarf troops were loyal to the Silverbeard Clan.
If they were, it was even better. She could kill them and increase her undead numbers.
The massive zombie titan smashed open the city gates, allowing Balin Forgeheart and the dwarves to enter. The battle had been confined to the gates, minimizing the impact on the civilians.
"Balin Forgeheart, it's up to you now. If any dwarves don't cooperate, John will handle them."
"Yes, leader."
Pacifying the civilians and troops was simple. The troops were conscripted by the Silverbeard Clan due to the kingdom's internal war, and the civilians were heavily taxed.
As long as Sophie and Balin were more benevolent than Nori, they would gain support.
The two Monarch level dwarf guards were killed by the undead. As nobles, they refused to surrender, adding two more Monarch level undead to Alex's forces.
The battle had killed nearly ten thousand dwarf troops, increasing Alex's undead army from thirty thousand to fifty thousand.
Alex checked John and Azure's levels, both reaching lv7 Commanding level, closer to Monarch level. Only Arthur remained at lv4.
With the death of the two Monarch level dwarves, the remaining noble troops surrendered.
The battle ended, and Alex withdrew the fifty thousand undead, leaving only herself, Sophie, the three Monarch level undead, and the dwarves.
The three Monarch level undead were left to intimidate the dwarf troops, while their withdrawal allowed Balin Forgeheart to rally the civilians against the nobles.
Balin Forgeheart passionately denounced the nobles' injustices. Alex, uninterested, decided to search the city with two dwarf artisans for useful items.
Nori and the nobles lived in the city center. Though not luxurious, their hos were far superior to the surrounding dwellings.
Alex's first target was Nori's room, easily identifiable as the largest.
The castle held no valuables, only miscellaneous items. However, Alex discovered a hidden chamber.
Inside, a room filled with torture devices held a dying dwarf. Seeing Alex, the dwarf struggled to lift his head, surprised to see a human girl instead of Nori.
"Where's Nori? Cough, cough..."
The dwarf, lying on the ground, weakly asked. How could a human enter Grimstone? He thought Nori was playing a trick.
"He ran away."
Alex casually replied, standing outside the iron bars, looking at the dying dwarf chained to the wall.
The dwarf was a strong male. Alex wondered why Nori tortured him instead of killing him.
"Hey, who are you?"
The dwarf, seemingly enraged, or perhaps because Alex was close, suddenly lunged, punching through the bars at Alex.
The bars were wide enough for the dwarf's fist.
Alex easily dodged, and the dwarf collapsed, exhausted.
Alex considered killing him but sensed domain power in his punch, deciding to investigate further.
"You're a Monarch level, yet Nori tortured you. Why?"
Before the dwarf could answer, a dwarf artisan entered.
"Leader, we found Grimstone's teleportation array in the castle's basent, but it's small."
The imprisoned dwarf looked up, seeing the artisan's attire and behavior, realizing he wasn't a noble or soldier. Could the human girl be telling the truth? Had Nori been defeated?
He had been imprisoned for months, hearing the recent battle outside, involving at least four or five Monarch levels.
The dwarf pondered. Grimstone might have fallen, and perhaps the girl was worth talking to.
"I am... the lord of Grimstone."
As soon as the dwarf finished speaking, both Alex and the other dwarf artisan turned their attention to the imprisoned dwarf.
"You say you're the Lord of Grimstone. Then what's Nori's deal?" Alex asked, surprised to find Grimstone's Lord imprisoned in Nori's castle. She was skeptical.
"First, tell what happened in the city," the dwarf demanded, even as a prisoner, refusing to submit. He wanted to know the situation in the city.
Alex saw no harm in telling him. He was just a prisoner, after all.
"Grimstone is under my control now. The nobles are all dead. Nori had so kind of escape device and fled."
"Why do the dwarves... serve you?" the imprisoned dwarf asked again. This ti, the dwarf artisan stepped forward before Alex could respond.
"We were refugees. This girl took us in and saved our lives. We follow her willingly," the artisan explained.
Hearing this, the imprisoned dwarf fell into deep thought.
He then began to recount his story to Alex. His na was Durin Silverbeard. His father was a Silverbeard Clan noble, and his mother was a commoner. Due to his exceptional talent, the chieftain appointed him as the Lord of Grimstone.
Unlike other nobles, Durin treated everyone equally, whether they were commoners or nobles. He even punished nobles who committed cris, which naturally made him unpopular among them.
Because his mother was a commoner, he was often scorned and considered unworthy of being a noble, labeled a half-breed.
After the Silverbeard Clan lost a battle to the Stoneforge Clan, the chieftain ordered the conscription of commoners from all cities. Durin refused to forcibly recruit soldiers, leading the nobles to accuse him of conspiring with commoners to rebel. They imprisoned him.
Nori then took over Grimstone with his noble guards. He began torturing Durin, trying to force a confession of rebellion.
Without sufficient evidence, and given Durin's noble birth, neither Nori nor the chieftain could kill him outright. So, Nori resorted to brutal torture to extract a confession.
After hearing Durin's story, Alex didn't know what to make of it. She could only marvel at the dwarves' internal strife, even as their race remained divided.
"Why not join us and help overthrow these corrupt nobles?" Alex suggested.
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