Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

This is also related to how Dwarves are used on the battlefield; after all, the main enemies of the Dwarves are forces like Green Skin, Giant, and Rat People—low morale, low defense.

If this Hammer of War Squad is incorporated into the Hesse Territory’s army, its most important role will be providing fire support from afar during Divine Chosen duels. Their firing arcs are truly excellent, almost completely unobstructed.

At the same time, they can maneuver rapidly on the battlefield, helping our side quickly form local numerical superiority to overwhelm smaller enemy groups.

This matters a lot to the followers of the Sun Goddess. The Knights of the Sun Goddess most love using various tactical deployments to place their side in a crushing advantage.

Even without direct command, they can freely open fire in the sky and still do fine sniping against conspicuous units like Green Skin Giants, Anaric Giant Spiders, and Goblin Wolf Riders.

So after pondering for a moment, Su Li smiled, reached out his hand, and said to Bierga: "Then it’s decided! Once the Hammer of War Squad joins us, the ties between us will be even closer. Otherwise, whenever I send an Envoy to Gray Mountain, it takes days just to get there."

Bierga thrust out his powerful right hand and gripped Su Li’s firmly, laughing loudly: "This is a deal that brings honor to the Dwarves. The Sons of the Mountains will all praise your wisdom, my big friend. With the Hammer of War Squad, some of our important trades can be carried out much faster—for example, a set of Rare Level Armor, a Rare Level weapon, or a few Horse Vultures."

The helicopter’s greatest role for the Dwarves is still in transport between fortresses; even if this squad is shifted to the Hesse Territory, its strategic position is hardly affected.

Listening to Bierga’s description, Su Li couldn’t help but think of Dragon Rock Forge’s status as a strategic Holy Land, and he went on to ask: "If I have enough Vibranium, can I ask Dragon Rock Forge to forge Rare Level Armor?"

"Of course." Bierga replied at once: "The significance of Dragon Rock Forge lies in raising the tier of forged equipment by one whole level. As long as you consume Perfect quality Vibranium, you can forge Rare Level quality gear. If the Hesse Territory gathers all the materials for a set of Perfect Level Armor, we can have the Hammer of War Squad deliver it to Dragon Rock Castle, and we will forge it into Rare Level."

"Of course, due to the special expenditure of Dragon Rock Forge, we must invest large amounts of Dwarf blood and materials to keep the furnace running. So if you wish to use Dragon Rock Forge, you must pay a loss fee of 1000 Dwarf Oath Gold."

"1000 Dwarf Oath Gold?" Su Li couldn’t help but revise his expectations sharply upward.

"That’s right, 1000 Dwarf Oath Gold, not 1000 Golden Crown." Bierga’s tone was extremely solemn: "After all, Dragon Rock Forge is a Holy Artifact left over from the ancient age. We Dwarves don’t invoke it lightly; every time we fire it up, the consumption is enormous."

Enormous indeed—the thought nearly drove Su Li to completely abandon the idea of going to Dragon Rock Forge to forge Rare Level Armor.

Dwarf Oath Gold can be converted into 10,000 Golden Crown; forging Rare Level Armor at that price is already exorbitant. But more importantly, no trading center or bank offers exchange services for Dwarf Oath Gold. They only accept it; they never sell it—purely a case of value without market.

Since entering the Hesse Territory, after fighting so many battles and gathering so many opportunities, Su Li had accumulated only about 5000 Dwarf Oath Gold. That total even included war reparations from the Green Dragon.

If the Daily Intelligence hadn’t helped him locate an abandoned Dwarf treasure vault, he would have had no way to acquire that much Dwarf Oath Gold.

The value of this Gold Coin is far too high. With just these five thousand-plus Dwarf Oath Gold, Su Li had managed to establish a Firearms Guild Chapter in his Territory and recruit a top-tier Dwarf unit—the Warhammer Helicopter Squad.

This helicopter unit is equivalent to humanity’s Half-Lion Griffin Knight formation—each is a top, fully formed unit of its race.

So Su Li could only say regretfully: "If I manage to gather the necessary materials, I’ll contact you."

For day-to-day affairs, the Territory should still forge Perfect Level Armor on its own and rely on probability to produce Rare Level Battle Armor.

Unless he had a surplus of Dwarf Oath Gold, he could have the helicopter squad deliver it to Dragon Rock Castle and have them produce a set of Rare Level Armor with a 100% guarantee.

Having completed this deal, Bierga’s mood was excellent. He laughed boisterously and said: "My friend, my mission is complete, so I won’t delay any more of your time. Next I’m heading to Gray Rock Castle and Redbeard Castle."

Su Li nodded and said: "All feasts must end, my friend. Let us each toil and govern diligently, and look forward to fighting side by side in the future."

"Hahaha! Well said. But as for fighting side by side, you won’t have to wait long. You may soon have to send out a Cavalry unit to operate together with us." Bierga clenched his steel gauntlet, battle lust blazing: "It’s time for our Alliance Army to sweep clean those filthy, vile, damned smashers in Gray Mountain."

"My trip to Gray Rock Castle and Redbeard Castle is to convince them to form an Alliance Army and clear the trade routes—so that supplies from Heisen Castle can travel all the way to Dragon Rock Castle."

At these words, Su Li felt his blood stir and said immediately: "Then this battle is no trivial matter. To carve out a passage through an ocean of Monsters, the scale of Dwarves mobilized might not be less than 5000!"

Bierga nodded heavily and said: "Our King has been inspired by the Supreme King and is also governing diligently. The numbers of the Gray Mountain Dwarves have recovered somewhat, and our military strength has grown anew. It’s time for another sweep through the Monsters in Gray Mountain. I’ve heard you humans are also undertaking an expedition?"

"That’s right." Su Li’s brows furrowed slightly: "It seems the forces of justice are flourishing, presenting a scene of full-scale counterattack, momentum completely overwhelming evil."

Yet he suddenly had a bad premonition: for everything to go this smoothly doesn’t fit the style of this world at all.

Too tranquil, too beautiful a life only makes people uneasy.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that the evil camp might be brewing a colossal storm. Everything now is merely the oppressive calm before the tempest.

But he kept all that to himself; words of ill omen are never welcome.

A vast sense of pressure forced him to act at once and expand his own strength as quickly as possible.

So he steadied his thoughts and said solemnly to Bierga: "Of course our Territory will support your request. I’ll order the garrison at Lady Grey Pass to operate together with you."

Garsen was stationed at Lady Grey Pass. He came from Mercenaries but had outstanding command ability, and he was smooth and tactful, able to handle relations with everyone.

Putting him in charge of the army to coordinate with the Dwarves would absolutely not lead to any mishaps.

The Dwarves weren’t counting on human Knights to provide much assistance on the frontal battlefield anyway; the key was that these roaming Knights could gather large amounts of intelligence for them, and then screen their flanks during battle.

Then, at critical moments, they could unleash a furious strike to decide victory and fate—and most importantly, help the short-legged Dwarves pursue those fleeing Monsters.

The reason the Dwarves’ war against the Monsters has dragged on for ages and is gradually turning against them lies in a key point: the Dwarves’ legs are too short. Whenever they win a pitched battle, they can’t expand the results.

Once the Monsters escape, they can rally their morale and forces and come back to fight again.

The scale of the justice camp simply can’t compare to that of the Monsters. Whether Green Skin or Beastman, they can replenish their ranks swiftly anytime, anywhere.

But the Dwarves’ birth rate is extremely low. Even now they haven’t recovered from the wounds of the Battle of the Longbeards thousands of years ago. To wage a protracted war against the Monsters under such conditions—no matter how often they win—is not enough to turn the tide. Yet if they lose just once and thousands of Dwarves die, a single clan and a fortress vanish silently into the river of history.

After Bierga left, Su Li said to Hilude, who remained by his side: "We’ll also assemble our forces and prepare to head to Storm Shadow Fortress."

For delving into the underground nest, Hilude’s thinking was quite thorough; he said: "Lord, should we also recruit one or two Squadrons of Dwarves to form an Alliance Army with us?"

"After all, in this kind of cramped terrain with close-quarters combat, the sturdier, more tenacious, and more melee-proficient Dwarves have more of an advantage than we Knights. And the Dwarf Rangers can fight both near and far, able to clear places that are hard for us to climb."

Although Dwarves are listed as a Free People’s Corps in the Hesse Territory’s army roster, elite Dwarves possess Elite Level strength.

Some Dwarf Butchers in particular fight exclusively in Mercenary Corps and barely affect the Territory’s production.

Su Li did not reject this proposal; he said: "Have Dorglin muster two Squadrons of Dwarves to follow us into the nest. Also, if I remember correctly, there are still two Giant Butchers in the Territory?"