Chapter 3: The Impending Crisis
1
The Great Rift.
It referred to the huge chasm that ran along the western side of the Dwarven Capital, Feoh Gēr.
It was a massive crevasse, over 60 km long and 120m across at its narrowest point. Its depth was unknown. Nobody knew what was waiting down there, and nobody had returned alive from the two expeditions that had been sent out to investigate it.
For the longest time, this natural barrier had protected Feoh Gēr from all manner of monstrous attacks. They could thwart any monsters from the west that tried to invade so long as they defended the suspension bridge which ran across the Great Rift.
Yet today, Feoh Gēr’s garrison — the military base that stood between the Great Rift and Feoh Gēr — was in a whirl of shouts and confusion.
“What’s going on? Someone tell me exactly what is going on!”
That cry came from the commander-in-chief of the Dwarven Army, a veteran of over 10 years of service.
The information coming in was garbled and contradictory, and nobody had any idea of what was happening. The only thing he could be certain about was that something had happened at the fortress which defended the Great Rift.
“The most recent information we have says that the Quagoa are attacking!” one of the platoon commanders said, repeating a report from the fortress.
News like that was hardly uncommon. The Quagoa and the Dwarves were mortal enemies, and they frequently attacked in groups of hundreds. There had been more attacks during the commander-in-chief’s ten years of service than he could remember, but until now all of them had been turned away at the fortress. None of them had managed to get close to the garrison, much less Feoh Gēr itself.
This was because the Quagoa were a race that was strong against weapon attacks, but very weak against electrical attacks. Knowing this, they had stocked the fortress with magic items that could produce [Lightning] and comparable effects.
[Lightning] was a spell that pierced the enemy in a straight line, and thus extremely effective against an enemy which lined itself up to attack a bridge. It could wipe out an entire wave of Quagoa in one shot, and on top of that, the Dwarves guarding that place were armed with crossbows enchanted with the ability to inflict additional electrical damage.
In contrast, the Dwarves in the garrison were inferior in both gear and numbers. However, it was not because they did not wish to allocate military power to an important base, but because the Dwarven Army had always lacked in manpower. Thus, the fortress had to draw its defenders from their meager pool of troops, and they had to do so in numbers which would not invite censure.
Despite all this specialization against Quagoa attacks, the fortress was now in a state where they did not even have the people left to call for aid. What did that mean?
“Don’t tell me they were attacked by too many enemies for them to fight off! Have there been any other messages from the fortress?”
“Nothing until now.”
Cold sweat poured down the commander-in-chief’s back.
The words “big invasion” appeared before his eyes. There had been rumors of such a thing several years ago, but even so, he had been trying his best to deceive himself, saying that there was no such thing. Yet, it was unfolding before his eyes.
The commander-in-chief pulled himself together. Now was not the time to contemplate such ghastly things.
What was the right thing to do now?
A gently-sloping tunnel in the shape of a spiral led from this garrison to the fortress, and ahead of them was the capital Feoh Gēr. The cavern where the garrison was located at was their final defensive line, and on top of that, they had gates of mithril which were alloyed with orichalcum. They could withstand an enemy attack from the tunnel if they closed the gates.
Should they close the gates?
If they did so, they would not be able to send out reinforcements from here. In other words, they would be abandoning their comrades, who might be fighting for their lives at the fortress.
Still, his hesitation only lasted for a moment.
There were less than 20 people in the fortress. There were over 100’000 Dwarves in Feoh Gēr. There could be only one answer when one thought of which side had priority.
“Close the gates!”
“Relay the orders! Close the gates!”
Before the echoes faded from the air, a thrumming sound came from the earth. Slowly, the gates covered the entrance. These gates, which had not been touched except during training, were now being used for their true purpose.
“Sir! It’s the Quagoa!”
“What?!”
After hearing the cry from the soldiers guarding the tunnel entrance, the commander-in-chief turned to look. He saw the disgusting form of a demihuman, foaming at the mouth, its eyes bloodshot.
Without lightning-enchanted weapons, even one of them was a formidable foe. And now, hordes of them, so many that they could not counted with both hands, were rushing at them.
How could this be? Had the fortress really fallen? How many men had the Quagoa brought with them? Could they hold against them even if they shut the gates?
The commander-in-chief had these and many other questions in his heart, but in the end he shook his head.
“Don’t let them in! Spearmen, forward!”
With great cries, the soldiers formed up into a spear line.
Even seeing this did not slow the speed of the Quagoa charge. This was because they trusted in their fur and hide to protect them against metal.
The commander-in-chief clicked his tongue. The Quagoa had made a wise choice. Their skin was such that crossbow bolts might bounce off when fired at them. The only thing a spear line could do was to hold them at bay. However, the people here had anticipated that the Quagoa would try something like this, and they had naturally taken steps against it.
“Mages! Blitzkrieg!”
A third-tier area-of-effect spell, [Thunderball] and two second-tier spells, [Thunderlances] came from the balcony overlooking the spearmen, at an angle which would not hit them.
The casters of these spells were the three most powerful mages in the army.
The group running at the head of the horde was instantly slain by the [Thunderball], as one would expect of the Quagoa’s bane. The Quagoa behind them stopped to avoid being hit by it as well.
It was only for a short period, but it gave them breathing room.
The gates closed with a great clang. The sounds of hammering and banging filtered through from the other side of the sturdy doors.
The tense atmosphere in the air lightened somewhat. However, the commander-in-chief, the men around him, and everyone here knew that this was not over yet.
The gates were very tough. The teeth and claws of regular Quagoa would not be able to damage them. However, some Quagoa had teeth which were said to rival the hardness of mithril. While these were leader-level beings, it would not be unusual to find such entities participating in an attack like this. There was no way to rule out any problems.
“Dammit! If only the gate was electrified!”
That was a suggestion the commander-in-chief had made when he had first taken his position. After all, the gates alone were not reliable enough as a final line of defense. Of course, there had been various reasons for why they could not enchant the gates, such as a lack of national power, but a big part of that had been because the fortress had always managed to stop any enemy invasions. Thus, the higher-ups had the attitude that “as long as the fortress holds, everything will be fine”.
Looking around, he saw grim and dark expressions on everyone’s faces.