The sun is high, the blue sky is white clouds.

With the long roar of the falcon, the wind that swept the clouds swept over the mountains and the dome, and the misty white clouds surrounded the majestic mountains, and under the long sky, there were 100,000 mountains, endlessly.

On the mountain wall, a gray fortress stood in front of it, like a huge city gate, and in the shape of a huge helmet, and the hundred thousand mountains behind her were the city.

The land of the dwarves, the northern gate of the Yunling Kingdom, the Silver Helmet Mountain.

Legend has it that this is the first place where the dwarves first started, the first fortress was built, the first mine was built, copper, iron, gold was found from the depths of the earth... And Mithril.

It was not until the deposits began to dry up that the tribe began to spread its footprints in every surrounding mountain range, every hill, carving winding paths between the mountains and rivers, connecting fortresses with tunnels and pits, and building their own palaces on the cloud peaks in the center of the mountains.

Once the mountains and rivers were gone, the dwarves also tried to expand their colonies, and in the north, they set up a series of outposts to guard against the raids of centaurs from the Gobi, and tried their hand at cattle husbandry in the nearby grasslands.

In the northwest, they attacked Byrne, and for a time controlled ten of the thirteen territories of Byrne, establishing a solid colony, ruling the Byrnes with large farms, mines, and repressive control... It was not until the flames of the uprising burned throughout Byrne that four generations of Turin raised their banners to resist and gradually declined.

Although after the establishment of the empire, the dwarves no longer had the grandeur of the past, huddled among the mountains and rivers, and could no longer occupy an inch of land, but the impregnable Yunling Kingdom still discouraged outsiders.

Heavily armed dwarven sentries were scattered across the towers and walls, staring out at the horizon in the distance—the vast walls, but not even a hundred-man guard.

With the rise of the rebellion, although the army of the Supreme King has not yet arrived at the Silver Helmet Mountain, the entire Yunling Kingdom has begun to launch, and all the city fortresses have begun to assemble and mobilize vigorously, and the encirclement and suppression front has been formed.

Naturally, the Silver Helmet Mountain is the same, using most of its troops to block the roads and paths in the mountains, blocking the tunnels leading to various city fortresses, and sending heavy troops to guard them.

Nominally, Silverhelm Mountain is the northern gate of the Yunling Kingdom, and the Boi and their "relatives" Byrne, who watch over the Great Green Sea, have actually been abandoned many years ago and turned into a trading hub for Boi and the Dwarves.

The horseback people have no interest in the mountains where they can't graze, and if Byrne wants to attack the Yunling Kingdom, he can go south directly, and there is no need to make a special detour to the Silver Helmet Mountain.

And when the centaurs invaded the Great Green Sea, the original trade did not increase but decreased - the centaur tribe did not know how to forge, so they could only exchange loot for supplies, and meat, dairy and leather for weapons and armor made of steel.

As a result, the Silver Helmet Mountain, which was surrounded and blocked on three sides, did not immediately break out in turmoil, but took advantage of the fact that the High King's army had not yet arrived, and repelled the small armies of several fortresses one after another, achieving a series of victories and a great increase in morale.

Therefore, the "inconsequential" northern defense line, naturally, has only a small number of scattered skirmishers and watchtowers, which are sufficient to maintain the supply line with the centaur tribe.

What's more, so far, no army has ever captured any fortress in the Yunling Kingdom.

So far......

Thinking of this, the expressionless dwarven sentry straightened his "three-headed" waist and raised his chin proudly.

The cold wind swept through the realm, and an icy chill made him shiver all over his body, and he inadvertently aimed his gaze at the distant horizon.

Then he froze.

A huge cloud of smoke and dust came from the grassland in the distance, pouring out from the horizon, like a monster wriggling over the earth, and the sound of the earth trembling could already be heard in the distance.

The sound grew louder and clearer, from a sudden vibration to a continuous wave, coming from a steady stream of distant waves.

The sentry squinted at the black dots that "emerged" on the horizon in the distance, densely packed with patches of black dots, and his face showed a little doubt.

How... Those centaur barbarians won another battle so quickly and came back with loot?

But the next second he didn't think so.

The dwarven sentry's eyes widened, and his mind went blank in shock, and he couldn't even believe what he was seeing.

It's the cavalry, it's the cavalry of humanity!

Like a torrent bursting an embankment, thousands of cavalry rolled in with the roar of iron hooves.

Wielding spears and sabers, bows and arrows, and throwing spears, the smoke swept across the vast expanse beyond the ramparts.

However, that's not all.

Before the dwarven sentries could be stunned, another steady stream of vibrations was emerging from behind the tidal cavalry.

More shocking, heavier, and more familiar to them.

10,000 infantry, lined up in a horizontal line on the wide grassland, formed five huge phalanxes and slowly moved forward, and the continuous battle flags hunted and sounded in the cold wind.

Full flood!

Often, if you want to attack a fortress, you will often camp as far away as possible, build a siege position before you are discovered, and then advance slowly to avoid a counterattack from inside the fortress.

But this human army... Completely contrary to common sense and the laws of war, they appeared outside a heavily fortified fortress in a dense array, where they showed off their might.

That's right, they didn't even bother to hide it, they were directly exposed to the view of the fortress, forming a neat queue and stepping forward, bragging off their strength unscrupulously.

It didn't look like it was coming to attack the city, but it was like it was coming to intimidate.

Apparently, they succeeded.

There was chaos on the walls of the ramparts, and the unprepared dwarven sentries barely knew what to do now - they were only arranged to supervise the normal entry and exit of the supply teams and the delivery of the loot, and they were not prepared for battle!

After a quarter of an hour of tossing and turning, when the army outside the city had approached the walls of the fortress, the dwarves, known for their "stiffness and inflexibility", made up their minds to blow the horn first, send an alarm to the fortress, and then send a few people to tell the story.

The rest of the people acted as "messengers" to find out the identity and purpose of the army outside the city.

So, in the sound of loud trumpets, the fortress gate of Silver Helmet Mountain slowly opened, and the "ghosts for the dead" who were sent out of the city beat their spirits and walked out of the city gate with a banner.

After seeing them, a knight with a golden lion banner on a black background galloped out of the army and came towards them.

The sluggish dwarven sentinels stared at the banner with wide eyes and bewilderment - they really couldn't understand why Duke Byrne's army was at Silverhelm Mountain?

The knight with the banner stopped in front of them, looked down condescendingly at the group of dwarves who seemed to be very dissatisfied with him, and snorted coldly:

"In the name of the Holy Cross, in the name of the two families of Turin and Jonah, the Lord of Byrne, the Grand Duke of Loren Turin, and the Lord of the Great Boi, Salica Jonah, rode 100,000 to the Silver Helmet!

You are a traitor to the Yunling Kingdom, an accomplice of centaurs and beasts, a sinner who slaughtered the people of the Empire, a gangster who harmed the friendship between the Sakran Empire and the Yunling Kingdom, and a robber who plundered the Great Green Sea—your crimes are simply too numerous to mention, and everyone will be punished;

Grateful for the deep friendship between the Yunling Kingdom and Byrne, the Grand Duke of Loren Turin has decided to give you the opportunity to regret the most, lay down your arms, and all the people in the city will leave the fortress by themselves, and hand over the Silver Helmet Mountain to the Grand Duke for trusteeship, and wait until the High King arrives to make a decision;

Otherwise, after this night an army of 100,000 will besiege the city—burning your houses, crushing your walls, flooding your mines, destroying your fields and orchards;

In all the city, only things shorter than the axle can get out alive!"

Looking at the frightened and angry dwarf, Count Eckert of Fort Fury, who snorted coldly, planted his banner on the ground, raised his head in contempt, drew his sword with a "swish", and pressed the tip of his sword against the top of one of his heads:

"The Grand Duke commands me to remind you that this is not a warning......

It's an ultimatum——!"