The iron ore mine is an eastward branch of the Central Mountain Range. The highest point does not exceed 1,000 meters. It is not considered a high mountain in the interior. Most areas on the mountain are densely covered with vegetation. Only the red rocks surrounding the mine are exposed. Some exposures can be seen above the mine. of mountains. There is a wall more than ten meters high outside the mining camp, which is composed of rammed earth and logs.
Lant looked at the hillside opposite the iron mine for a long time, trying to find any signs of human activity in the mine with his naked eyes, but failed. The entire camp seemed completely still, and no one could be seen on the mountain or the earth wall.
In the evening, Carl Billy, the human mage in Neil's sky, came and met with Lant.
"Sir, I know you want to take over the entire iron mine. I am here to express to you that the humans in the iron mine are willing to fully support you. Once you take over the iron ore, we are willing to be loyal to you." Carl Billy entered Lant's tent began to express its loyalty, which surprised Lant.
"What I want to know is, what is happening in the iron mines now, how many humans and how many barbarians are there, and what is your relationship with the barbarians?" Rant asked the question that he was most concerned about, and Carl Billy also tried his best. possible answers.
"The relationship between the human race and the brown bear barbarians in our iron mine is relatively complicated. There are two parts of the human race. One part was captured by the brown bears earlier, and the second part was sent together a few years ago. Currently, the human race has two parts in the iron mine. There are 3 high-level knights, 7 intermediate knights, less than 30 low-level knights, 3 intermediate mages and 12 junior mages including me. In addition to the cavalry, the barbarians also have 1 high priest and 4 priests." Karl counted. He learned about the main combat forces in the iron mine, and then introduced their relationship with the barbarians to Lant.
"I just said that most of the humans in the iron mine were assigned a few years ago, including all intermediate knights and above and magicians above the apprentice level. Since then, the humans in the iron mine have been in a semi-autonomous state. 4 senior knights, 8 intermediate knights, 1 archmage, 4 intermediate mages and 12 junior mages formed a parliament-like organization to manage the human race in the entire iron mine." Karl paused casually and looked at Lant Eyes "You also heard that there is a gap between the number of remaining humans and the number of people who just said to form the parliament, and these missing people are the reason why I am here now."
According to Karl, the brown bear leader suddenly increased in strength in September last year. During a conflict between barbarians and humans in the mine, he suddenly took action and defeated the joint attack of two senior knights, revealing his high-level strength. Then the entire brown bear tribe began to continuously promote that their leader would be the new generation of barbarian god, requiring the humans and barbarians in the iron mine to pay tribute to him with magical beasts.
However, the subsequent development was beyond their expectations. At the end of the year, the brown bear leader suffered from mental abnormalities. The barbarian priests began to ask human mages to perform hypnotic spells on him. The barbarian tribes even captured some leaders of surrounding tribes as sacrifices.
"I wonder if you have ever heard of a very primitive way to break through: swallowing," Karl's eyes showed fear, and he gestured with his hands, "Simple literal swallowing, swallowing the newly dead... directly, not only Monsters, magical plants, and every kind of sacrifice you can think of, and then the brown bear leader really goes crazy!”
By January of this year, both the barbarians and humans in the iron mine had realized the danger of the situation, because once the brown bear leader went crazy, he would attack and devour the creatures around him indiscriminately. He would subconsciously attack the strongest person nearby, starting from the barbarians. From cavalry, to human intermediate knights, to barbarian intermediate priests, to senior knights to senior mages, both barbarians and humans are not immune.
"Now the entire camp is in danger, everyone is locked up, and the priests and magicians are performing hypnosis in the brown bear leader's room day and night.
"Have you ever tried to attack him?" Lant asked.
"After Senior Mage Berkeley was killed, the top leaders of the human race did not dare to take action easily." Karl shook his head, "After all, the monster picked the most powerful ones first."
After the production in the iron mine completely stagnated, Carl Billy, as a representative of the human race, began to frequently contact the tribes and humans outside the mine, hoping to attract strong foreign aid to deal with the brown bear leader. Finally, he waited for Neil a few months ago. army. After Neil roughly understood the situation, he also began to provide food and other materials to the mine.
Karl Billy did not stay too long. After he agreed with Lant on the attack time, he hurried back to the iron mine. The top leaders of the human race were still waiting for news from him. After he left, Lant, Tanya, Dugan and others fell into silence.
"I can understand that the Imperial Secretary hopes to cause trouble in the iron mines, but I can't understand why, as an institution of the empire, it should be devoured by the barbarians. What are they trying to do?" Lant knew that the incident in front of him must be attributed to the Imperial Secretary. A masterpiece, but I don’t understand the mystery.
"Sir, the Front Division is also a complex organization," Dugan smiled, "Their personalities are similar to those of the Salt and Iron Division, they just do more annoying things."
"What they do is not what we should care about," Tania said. "You'd better think about how to eat the iron ore. This is the most important thing. The opponent's high-level strength has not escaped, and you still have It may not be possible to deal with it.”
"To deal with such a target, a large-scale cavalry charge is of little significance. I'm afraid I have to fight him." Lant looked at the magic goblin and said with a smile, "But the good thing is that even if you take action personally, it is estimated that the people in the iron mine will No one cares about whether the duel is fair or not. The only question is, will the monster want to devour you?"
"I am an elemental creature, how could he possibly devour me?" Tania rolled her eyes, but she was still very satisfied with Lant's concern. "But according to your plan, I'm afraid the most dangerous person is you."
Several people began to formulate a detailed battle plan, including how to build momentum, how to confront the monster, and various possibilities such as whether the monster would be killed or difficult to kill. In the most difficult plan, Lant cannot trap the monster and Tania cannot kill it, so the knights can only step forward to continuously distract the monster, and at the same time divide the troops to escort Tania to the iron mine. In the magic furnace room, she tried her best to use the leyline energy to help her break through and become the Fairy Queen.
"Don't have any psychological pressure. If you can break through, break through. If you can't break through, let those goblins break through." Lant looked at Tania and said with a smile, "Don't hesitate because you care about me."
"Don't worry." Tania knew that the best choice for Lant was to let the two rock and earth fairies break through first, but she was still willing to give her priority, so as a thank you she swore by Jade Moon Willy that if she If you can't break through, let the rock and earth goblins break through and ensure that the new big goblin can stay with Lant.
(End of chapter)
