Chapter 1699 Language Barrier
After several days of forced march, the forward troops gradually entered the Eversnow Forest region. Sun Hao could already see a thin layer of snow covering the ground in the distance.
The trees in the forest were conifers, occasionally bearing clumps of snow.
No signs of any structures or activity by Intelligent Races were visible at the outskirts of the Eversnow Forest. Along the way, some wandering Undead Warriors were present, but they were swiftly swept aside by the vanguard before they could even express admiration for Gerlane. Gerlane shouted in dismay, lamenting that blindly forging ahead with such a barbarian legion promised bleak prospects.
Truthfully, she simply felt that those scattered warriors had clearly had the potential to become her allies. What a waste.
Sun Hao said with a laugh, “Lan’er, we could split off a bit. As long as the main heading is right, we should not fall behind.”
Gerlane glanced at the warriors ahead, who showed little regard for her presence. She lowered her voice and said to the Dwarves, “Brothers, let’s take shortcuts and try to get ahead of them. Otherwise, what good is my grand reputation?”
The seven Dwarfs all looked at Sun Hao together, then nodded in unison. They spoke at once: “Good idea! Maybe we can recruit a couple of Furnace ale barrels. They might not be the most charming, being sloppy and rude, but they’d make loyal friends…”
Sun Hao seemed to struggle, his running pace slowing down.
By the time they reached the outskirts of the Eversnow Forest, they could only see the soldier ranks ahead, far in the distance.
Entering not far in, they encountered a bend. Sun Hao zigzagged left and right and disappeared into the Eversnow Forest. Following the Dwarves’ directions, he pushed into the forest from a different direction.
The Dragon Tooth Legion maintained its marching speed and kept its scouts deployed to all four directions. Only after most of the day had passed did they realize Gerlane had actually fallen behind.
Someone went to report to Grefni, who muttered, “Oh no, I forgot they might lag behind.”
Danyu Bai said in a low voice, “Forget it. They couldn’t be much help anyway. Besides, along the way, the stronger Undead Warriors were all cleared out by us. They should be relatively safe.”
Wu Kai’s voice was deep, gurgling like mud, “They’re slow, can’t keep up with us, so naturally they aren’t in much danger. We should still advance according to the original plan. If we suffer a truly embarrassing defeat, well, that wouldn’t be great.”
Grefni nodded, “Mmm, guess that’s how it must be. Wu Kai’s right. With you two powerful Heroes assisting me, if we still lose badly… that would really be letting down the Witch God…”
Before she finished speaking, a Male Witch scout emerged from a blue glow nearby. He said softly, “Report, Commander! Native inhabitants discovered ahead — a Dwarf village! What should we do?”
Wu Kai’s gut gurgled. He spoke quickly, “Crush through them! Advance straight! Native locals won’t impede the heroic march of our Dragon Tooth!”
Danyu Bai frowned slightly, “Better not stir up trouble. Let’s detour around. If the Dwarves are powerful, it might create many unexpected complications.”
Grefni pondered, then said softly, “Don’t provoke the Dwarves for now. See if effective communication is possible. If not, we detour first. Within the Eversnow Forest, it’s best not to antagonize the natives.”
The two Heroes loudly voiced their agreement. The legion rested briefly on the spot as the rearguard units gradually caught up.
Not long after, the scout sent to liaise returned and said loudly, “Commander! They don’t understand Void Speech!”
When operating in the Lower Realm, the most dreaded thing was meeting Barbarians who couldn’t understand Void Speech. Communication difficulties made it hard to know their taboos, easily leading to a fierce battle.
Grefni frowned and asked, “What was their demeanor?”
The scout wore a strange expression, “Even though we couldn’t understand their words, this tribe has a small tavern full of belligerent drunkards. They’re probably very difficult to deal with.”
Grefni frowned deeply. Encountering a bunch of uncommunicative drunks was really not good news.
With a wave of her hand, Grefni declared loudly, “We’re detouring further out. Remember, endure encounters if possible; on no account casually provoke combat. Otherwise, we might be utterly exhausted long before we ever leave the Eversnow Forest!”
The orders were passed down. The legion moved out, pressing onward.
They hadn’t gone far when, on the snow-covered ground in the distance, a group of little red-nosed, long-bearded Dwarves appeared. Each wielded a hand axe. They were draped over each other’s shoulders, slurring incoherently and rambling off-topic, clearly plastered.
The large, formidable legion of soldiers didn’t deter this group of drunkards. Several reckless fellows stood outside the main formation, eyeing the Dragon Tooth forces eagerly, radiating a hard-edged posture of wanting to step forward and provoke a fight.
That such tiny specks dared be so brazen was truly astonishing.
The Dragon Tooth unit had strict orders not to casually initiate combat. Therefore, they restrained themselves as much as possible, trying hard not to stoop to the level of these ignorant little runts.
Unbeknownst to them, the little Dwarves mistook restraint for weakness and grew increasingly brazen. Swaying and cajoling, they drifted closer to the troops, periodically raising their hand axes in a display directed at the legion, shouting loudly, glaring with flared beards, their attitudes agitated, presenting a strong sense of offensive intent.
Grefni had a headache.
Why had they encountered such a fearless, reckless race? Usually, even if Lower Realm races were xenophobic or unfriendly, their perception wasn’t poor. They didn’t actively challenge large-scale armies descending from above.
Situations like this behavior from the Dwarves were very rare.
Drunks really were the death of you.
Grefni didn’t need a brain to guess it: these red-nosed Dwarves were liquored-up fools. Otherwise, why act like this?
The inability to communicate normally was actually the Dragon Tooth Legion’s greatest problem here.
If Sun Hao were here, with the Dwarves accompanying him as translators, she might have known that, actually, up until now, these drunkards had been displaying quite friendly intentions.
However, due to the peculiarities of the race, the Dwarves’ unintentional expression of goodwill was misinterpreted as provocation by the Dragon Tooth unit, breeding this misunderstanding.
One red-nosed Dwarf said, “These troops seem alright. Polite, didn’t disrupt our village. Thumbs up! We can let them pass, generously not trouble them…”
Another Dwarf stumbled slightly. He slung one arm over the first Dwarf's shoulder while constantly raising his axe with the other hand, “But they’re not exactly the most civilized bunch either. Didn’t you notice? I raised my axe to show them respect, yet they were completely unmoved!”
Another drunkard bellowed alongside him, “Exactly! Brothers! Everyone raise your axes together! Let’s see if they still refuse to welcome us! If they do welcome us, why not just join their ranks then? Forward, forward! My blood is boiling! I want to fight…”
Around twenty drunkards raised their axes together and cheered wildly.
Opposite them, the Human Clan warriors saw this: the little Dwarves were raising their axes… threatening us? All eyes turned to the squad leader.
The squad leader wrinkled his brow. Orders were not to initiate combat lightly… but challenging axework? Who’d back down from that? Steeling himself, he also raised his longsword high and roared fiercely.
Who would flinch from a threat?
Under the squad leader’s lead, the Dragon Tooth Warriors also raised their weapons and roared loudly as one.
In the eyes of the opposing drunkards, this felt incredibly welcoming.
One Dwarf yelled loudly, “Wow! They’re actually giving us a warm welcome!”
Another shouted, “Good! A force aiming for big things! I’m dying to join them already!”
Finally, a slightly bulkier drunkard boomed, “Since they welcome us so warmly, they must know the fearsome reputation of Furnace Tribe’s warriors! In that case, everyone! Join their ranks in our most heroic manner!”
The most heroic manner, naturally, meant charging into their formation brandishing hand axes.
Amid cheers, the Furnace Tribe Dwarves, brandishing their hand axes, charged.
Holy cow! Failing to intimidate, they directly attacked!
Grefni felt she was truly having a streak of bad luck. Meeting such a bizarre race, encountering such reckless fools who dared smash an egg against a rock, unable to judge when to advance or retreat… she was simply gobsmacked.
The enemy charged. They couldn’t not retaliate. Grefni genuinely wanted to avoid escalating things. Thus, she still held back, ordering loudly, “Archers! Drive them off! Be careful! Don’t actually wound them!”
The little Dwarves charged with ardent enthusiasm.
Suddenly, they realized the forces before them had turned hostile. Rows of arrows rained down ahead of them.
Several Dwarves howled in outrage:
“Vile! Absolutely vile! Pretending to welcome us, then launching a surprise attack… trying to wipe us out completely?!”