Since they had figured out the opponent's patterns of action, the battle was not suspenseful, and apart from a little magic and arrows, they did not suffer any casualties.
The surrender of those ogres was also very smooth. There were more than 3 teams in total, and less than 40 fat men, who have now become Levi's subordinates.
Most of them are level 3 Ogre Bull Warriors, occasionally mixed with a few level 4 mercenary veterans, and among them is an elite Ogre who uses gloves as weapons - Leslie.
If they are used as front-line cannon fodder, they are definitely enough. At least their health points and size are there.
But when he saw this number, Levi couldn't help but be stunned. He thought about it and realized that before the war, the number of the enemy was about the same.
My goodness, were these guys just slacking off the whole time? Why didn’t so many of them die in total?
After accepting the other party, Levi took the opportunity to inquire about the other party's background.
Sure enough, just as Sonia had said before, the other party was a wandering legion called "Zadek Earth Spirits".
Under the leadership of the Minotaur Shaman, they did nothing else but rob everywhere all day, killing almost anyone they saw and robbing every village they found.
Because their leader is a shaman with some brains, they never engage in head-on confrontation with large groups of enemies, but only attack villages with very weak defenses.
Because of their great strength and the presence of heroic units leading them, there is almost no difference between humans, greenskins and dwarves in front of them, which allows them to always do quite well.
However, after the ogres joined in by coincidence, they felt that if they continued to launch indiscriminate attacks like this, the outcome would probably not be good.
They all used to be mercenaries in the Southern Kingdom, and Leslie got his name there. Whether in terms of experience or brains, they are much stronger than ordinary beastmen.
They knew the power of gunpowder weapons and magic, and could kill people much more effectively than the Beastmen's axes.
So after witnessing Levi's powerful magic, they, who were already somewhat concerned, immediately began to prepare a surrender plan, and finally joined Levi's team very smoothly.
The reason they left their hometown was to work for others to make a living. Following Levi and the others would definitely be much better than following those beastmen.
After hearing this, not only Levi, but everyone present couldn't help but sigh, who said ogres have no brains?
However, if the elite ogre who can come up with this plan can be trained well, he may have the potential to become a heroic unit.
After leaving some people to clean up the battlefield, Levi went directly into the treasure house that they had previously guarded.
Although Lilith said it was empty, he was really curious.
After actually entering, Levi discovered that the goddess and he seemed to have different concepts of "emptiness".
Because there are still many neatly arranged rows of metal ingots, stones, wood, etc., as well as some processed dwarf armor and weapons, and even hundreds of muskets, five crossbows, and three catapults.
Naturally, Levi and his subordinates started collecting all the materials as soon as possible. In order to pursue efficiency, he even asked Sophia, Sefa and others to join in.
Although the unit price of these things is very low, the quantity is here. I can’t say how much there is, but there are still three or four thousand gold coins.
It seems that the dwarves here were really in a hurry when they fled.
After working for a while and putting away all the things, the whole warehouse suddenly became empty.
At this point, Levi roughly figured out why Lilith said that before.
Because in a certain corner, there were indeed at least a dozen treasure chests that were being opened, and there was also a teleportation array next to them.
Although the dwarves cannot use magic, they can still hire someone to set one up so that they can escape at the critical moment.
If that were all, he would not be very satisfied with the hundreds of miles he had traveled.
But he knew that this was just an appetizer at most, and the real big deal was the two goddesses.
It is foreseeable that after the two goddesses deal with the mysterious vampire and the matter of the Ninth Volume of Nagash, he may get more.
Even though he didn't hear much due to the distance, judging from Yue Gong's performance, the vampire who could fight with Mala for so long seemed to have other hidden secrets...
After finishing all these, Levi began to evacuate with his troops. He planned to find a place to rest in the surrounding villages first, and then send people to continue exploring the ruins here and to gather information about the black iron mine in the north tomorrow.
Originally, Virginia had planned to have him and the wood elves attack there together. Although the wood elves' reinforcements were gone, her own troops did not suffer much loss, so they could also go and take a look.
While they were thinking about it, before they found a suitable place to stay, Virginia ran over with a happy face.
"Levi, I received the latest intelligence. Just now, a large number of undead have withdrawn from the Black Iron Mine. It is almost empty now!"
Although the attack plan failed to materialize, she and the wood elves still maintained reconnaissance operations there. They did not expect that such a big change would happen now. This was almost an opportunity given to Levi by the gods!
Levi was also cheered up, and then he immediately thought of the two goddesses. Before leaving, he looked towards the north.
Did they do something, or was it just a warning, to have such an effect?
Speaking of Hermann Gost, he was notoriously timid.
Because he had enemies all over the world, he had to keep his head down and behave himself. When such a big event happened in the Underdark before, he didn't dare to show up in person.
As both are legends, he is much worse than the Vampire Queen in this regard.
Speaking of the Vampire Queen, Levi felt that her final fate might not be particularly miserable.
She kidnapped many knights from the Kingdom of Batto at Silver Peak, and then when she saw Lilith for the first time, she felt guilty and wanted to escape.
In this way, it is actually very obvious.
She already knew about Lilith's dual identity, which is why she looked so scared.
But up to now, there seems to be no relevant information leaked out in the world, which shows that she is still keeping her mouth shut.
Or, she might want to use this to gain greater benefits.
With Lilith's wisdom, there are probably only three ways to deal with her.
Treat, behead, and accept as a dog!
With such an exclamation, Levi hurried all the way and headed straight to the black iron mine.
Occasionally, we would encounter scattered greenskins and beastmen on the road. We didn’t know whether they had been defeated before or were attracted by the excitement. After all, the battle between Malar and the vampires was truly earth-shaking.
But Levi didn't want to deal with them, so he left it to Luna and the guards to handle.
Of course they have talent, but their level is still too low. When facing a truly powerful enemy, it is still difficult for them to be of any use. It is better for them to seize the time to become stronger.
With the guidance of Virginia and the wood elves, they chose the shortest and safest route.
After some time, a low castle in the distance appeared in their sight. It was the dwarf castle at the black iron mine.
From a distance, its area is much smaller than that of an ordinary novice village. It can probably accommodate two or three hundred people.
But in fact, the part of this castle buried underground is larger than the part above ground.
According to Virginia, who had been here before, this castle actually has four floors in total.
A long time ago, dwarves lived on the plains and in towns just like humans and elves.
But later, because the main world was invaded by demons and devils, and continued to be attacked by greenskins, beastmen and ratmen, they lost a large number of population and towns under the attack from both inside and outside.
In order to better continue their race, they chose to build this special castle for easy defense.
After the demons and devils were repelled, the dwarves finally recovered and wanted to walk out of the castle, but they found that the outside world had changed so much that it was no longer realistic for them to return to the plains.
One reason is that humans and other races have already developed and occupied large tracts of land.
Secondly, most dwarves have become accustomed to and fallen in love with life living in castles.
Finally, when the dwarves are mining underground, they are inevitably invaded by other underground races.
If it is an ordinary town, it will often be successfully invaded by the enemy by means of digging holes, etc., and then attacks, looting and theft will be likely to occur.
But this castle located underground can help them better defend against such enemies.
So now almost all dwarves live in this kind of castle.
The reason why I said "almost" is that in the north of the original Red Cloud Tribe, those Chaos Dwarves did not live in ordinary castles, but large military fortresses.
They enslaved large numbers of greenskins, hobgoblins, and even real demons to serve them.
Coupled with their unique demonic powers and various strange and powerful war machines, they are really not afraid of being attacked by others.
But there is still a problem. Goddess Lilith said that some survivors of the dwarves in the Filth Pit have escaped, and it can be seen from the magic circle in the treasury that this is indeed the case.
What if after we occupy the black iron mine, they claim sovereignty over it and want to take it back? What should we do?
After thinking about it, Levi's gaze couldn't help but move to the tree stump. It seemed that he would have to put in some effort in this matter.
The dwarves are much more tolerant of their own kind than those of other races...
After a slight sigh, Luna quickly brought back the latest news. The black iron mine was now in a mess, with blood and broken limbs everywhere.
It even polluted a large lake on the east side. It was obvious that Gost had conducted many evil experiments here before.
There was still a faint smell of death in the castle, and there were even dozens of wandering zombies at the door, but she did not detect any large-scale undead movements.
After hearing the news, Levi was in a good mood. The presence of a zombie at the door meant that most likely no one else had visited here yet.
Otherwise, those guys won't care who comes, they will just launch indiscriminate attacks on all living beings.
He immediately ordered an attack, but out of caution, he summoned creatures first, and he specifically chose the shadow element.
If we let these guys in and there are still enemies inside, it’s hard to say who will ambush whom.
As it turned out, Gost had indeed run away.
Because apart from a few zombies, the Shadow Elementalists, the Guards and others did not find any enemies during their search. Instead, they first discovered some dwarf villagers who were imprisoned in prison.
In fact, for most undead, they don’t like fighting with dwarves.
Dwarves are naturally resistant to magic and are well-equipped, so they are not easy to defeat, whether it is a low-level undead wizard or ordinary zombies or skeleton soldiers.
Secondly, dwarves are vengeful and protective. If they beat the younger ones, the older ones will come. Yet, they have a very long lifespan.
If you offend them, if you don't kill them all, maybe dozens or hundreds of years later, when you are lying at home, someone will come to your door and seek revenge for the death of a deceased elder.
Finally, and most importantly, since dwarves are naturally resistant to magic, it is relatively difficult for them to transform into undead.
Moreover, they all have short legs when they are alive. After they die and turn into zombies, they are even more difficult to use than human zombies.
As for the Black Knight and the like, let alone them, they cannot be transformed at all.
As for the weapons, armor, gold coins and other things that the dwarves are proud of, most undead are not very interested in them.
For the Undead, who are accustomed to fighting to survive, the input and output of attacking the dwarves are seriously disproportionate.
So generally speaking, they are unwilling to provoke dwarves, nor do they like to kill them. They try not to offend them if possible.
Attacking a town and killing all the residents are both great humiliations for the dwarves, but hatred also comes in different levels.
The residents here were lucky enough not to be killed by the cautious Gost.
Gousite, as expected of his surname, is quite good at "Gousite".
However, Levi did not deal with them immediately, but went straight to the central hub of the castle. No matter what attitude the dwarves would have later, he had to occupy this place first!
With a flash of light, Levi gained a new territory under his command.
Levi took a quick look and found that this place was indeed not as good as Thorn Town, but much better than Blood Glory.
The entire castle is divided into four floors. The first floor is located on the surface and is the dwarves' facade. The dwarves usually use it to receive foreigners, conduct military training, etc.
In addition to the meeting hall, military barracks, etc., there is also a special building here, the black iron rune gate.
When in good condition, it has 60 points of physical defense, 40 points of magic resistance, and up to 8,000 health points.
It can be said that if it were an ordinary low-level troop, it would be almost impossible for them to capture it even if they were left alone to fight.
However, although the gate is difficult to attack, the stone buildings on both sides are relatively easy to destroy, and the gate is not completely sealed. The dwarves behind the gate have no good resistance to magic such as the Stink Cloud.
Now the gate has fallen to the ground. Judging from the traces left on the ground around it, Levi can roughly infer what happened.
The dwarves must have been attacked by magic first, which is why they were conquered so easily.
But no matter what, as long as it can be repaired and combined with a large number of arrow towers and defensive troops, it can still play a very strong role.
The underground floor is the commercial and residential area, with taverns, houses, grocery stores, etc. It is also the largest area in the castle, and can accommodate about four to five hundred people.
There are also some barley fields, barns and a hard rock bakery.
Although dwarves like to trade with humans, elves, dwarves, etc. in exchange for food and so on.
But no mature race can rely entirely on foreigners for food.
Although the dwarves are not very good at this, they will try their best.
But Levi definitely didn't want to try the bread they produced.
Hard rock bread is not just about its appearance and taste, it actually contains rocks...
The second floor contained a storage area, armory, blacksmith shop, gunpowder furnace, and a second barracks.
Levi can recruit Miners, Dwarf Crossbowmen, Dwarf Warriors, Dwarf Warriors and Dwarf Heavy Crossbowmen here.
Although their class is generally not high, based on the racial characteristics of the dwarves, whether they are miners or crossbowmen, their defense can be considered relatively outstanding among the same class.
Especially the crossbowmen, almost all of them have close combat skills, and warriors of weaker races like goblins may not be able to defeat them.
Of course, there are pros and cons. Their recruitment costs are much more expensive than goblins of the same level, and the number of recruitment quotas per week is relatively small.
This means that when the indigenous dwarves fight, they often have to face enemy forces that are several times their number at the same time, and they can only adopt elite tactics.
Since the blacksmith shop was located here, the dwarves even brought a stream of running water from a lake on the surface for quenching and so on.
The gunpowder furnace is where the dwarves make ammunition for muskets and cannons. Due to the temporary lack of professional senior blacksmiths, they can only make bullets for muskets and helicopters, but cannot make cannon shells.
But for Tree Stump, it will definitely save a lot of money from now on.
At the same time, there are several relatively hidden paths on these three floors, which are interconnected and can only be passed by one person.
It is probably to facilitate communication and to allow important people to leave in an emergency.
But if the enemy wants to launch an attack from these directions, just arrange a high-level dwarf warrior and a mage or priest to assist, which will definitely play the role of one man blocking the way for ten thousand.
As for the last layer, it is a semi-open area where the dwarves are mining. There are large tracts of black iron ore here.
To be honest, black iron ore is not something particularly valuable. It is only slightly more valuable than the most common iron ore and copper ore, but this is a large mineral vein with abundant reserves.
The dwarves here have been digging for who knows how many years, but the minerals have not yet been exhausted.
However, the surrounding underground has been hollowed out a lot. In order to protect the above three layers from being threatened, the dwarves built a large number of defense facilities on this layer, which are even better than the defenses on the surface.
But despite this, in Levi's opinion, because the area that needs to be defended is too large, if a large number of enemies really invade, it may not be possible to completely isolate the battle .
The dwarves probably knew this, so they set up several doors between the second and third underground floors.
I guess he has made up his mind that if the war goes badly, he will just close the door and be cautious for the time being.
Anyway, apart from the dwarves, the ratmen and greenskins they encounter most often are not good at mining or forging. What's more, there are plenty of black iron ore outside and it is impossible for it to be snatched away by the enemy.
All in all, the Black Iron Mine doesn't look large, and in fact it is indeed not as large as towns like Thorn Town and Ashridge Town, but it is still more than enough to accommodate thousands of people.
And in the system's recognition, it is also at the town level.
The future development prospects here may be much worse than those of Bitao Village and the like.
Bitao Village has waterways, resources such as pearls, and a good location, so it can develop maritime trade in the future.
But the only resource of the Dark Iron Mine is Dark Iron Ore. For the dwarf natives, they will never have to worry about having no ore to mine in their entire lives. Although the types of ore are a bit single, it is still a good thing.
But for Levi, it was just a matter of making a little money, but it took a lot of energy to do it.
After all, this place is too far away from Thorn Town and his other territories. If any accident happens, there will be no timely rescue.
Even if the celestial beings could send out a hundred or so defenders according to the previous contract, this number of people would not play any decisive role in a real war.
Another key question is, who will he send to manage this place?
The others were not fools either. They had obviously occupied the new territory very smoothly, but now Levi had a frown on his face, and it was obvious that something was wrong.
Levi saw that the time was almost right, so he sighed softly and expressed his concerns.
Everyone was thoughtful for a moment, and finally Shudun decided to take the initiative to take on this responsibility.
“Brother Levi, with my current strength, it won’t be of much use if I continue to follow you, so I’ll just help you guard here.”
"Although my troops are not very strong, there is more than one dwarf clan nearby. With mutual support, we should be able to hold on."
Compared with elves and humans, or even greenskins, beastmen and other races, the total population of dwarves is much smaller.
The most important reason why they still stand in the main world, in addition to forging, gunpowder and the blessings of the dwarf gods, is their unity.
Apart from anything else, to the west of this place are the dwarves of Ironforge, who are even stronger than the Helhein clan near the colony.
But to say that it can really be of much help, that's not the case .
Because further west is the famous Bafeng Mountain.
It was once the most important transportation hub for dwarves all over the world, as well as the second largest military fortress, political center and economic center.
But because of a war in the past, as well as natural disasters such as earthquakes, the dwarves had to abandon that place.
Afterwards, many races including dwarves, greenskins, goblins and ratmen began to attack and plunder there like crazy.
It's not just because of the rich mineral deposits and superior geographical location there, but also because the dwarves sealed up a large number of weapons, armor, gunpowder weapons and other secrets when they evacuated.
Add to that other miscellaneous alien races, and the fighting there was extremely lively.
There are eight mountains in total, several of which are occupied by dwarves, while the others have been divided up by evil races, involving more than one legendary hero.
Because the fight for the ownership of Bafeng Mountain lasted so long, several related titles were created.
What about the God of War of Bafeng Mountain, the King of Bafeng Mountain, the General of Bafeng Mountain, etc.
As a member of the dwarves, Iron Peak Castle is naturally also trying its best to fight for the Eight Peaks Mountain and eliminate the many evil alien races entrenched there.
Of course, they did not seem to be trying to take the Eight Peaks for themselves, but like the other dwarves around them, they were helping their legal master, Belegar Ironhammer from the Angrand clan, to seize the Eight Peaks together.
Therefore, even if Shudun could win the trust of Tiefengbao, it was hard to say how much actual military support he could get.
But this at least shows his attitude. Levi will do his best to help him guard the black iron mine!
So without saying anything, he directly handed over the position of deputy mayor to the other party.
As for the position of mayor, it was given to Luna.
Of course, both he and Shudun knew, and he told the other party clearly that she was just a figurehead, and in fact, all matters here in the future would be decided by Shudun.
He actually just went for the title and the leadership bonus it provided.
Due to insufficient leadership, many female hunters and tree spirits are still under Levi's name for the time being and cannot enjoy her battle bonuses.
In this way, the problem is solved directly.
At this time, Virginia also took the initiative to suggest that their temple would help each other and send some priests to serve.
If she wanted to build a temple in the black iron mine, to be honest, with her identity and status, she couldn't do it for the time being, and the church was unlikely to agree.
Not having enough manpower was one reason, but more importantly, the residents of the Black Iron Mine and nearby villages were mostly dwarves, making it almost impossible for the church to successfully spread its faith.
It is not completely impossible for dwarves to believe in foreign gods, but it is very, very rare .
There are many ways to repay a favor, and their temple will not use this most inefficient way to repay a favor.
In fact, many powerful races are in similar situations. Spreading faith across races, regardless of how much gain can be gained, is bound to offend the gods of the other side.
The guard scratched his head randomly, and after discussing with the tigresses around him for a few more words, he stepped forward a little shyly, saying that the tigers were also willing to do their part.
Since Virginia was around, he didn't say it too obviously, but Levi quickly understood his subtext.
The tiger people were originally near the Sulen Temple, wanting to use the other side's power to form an offensive and defensive alliance.
But now even Sullen's temple itself was attacked, the wood elves in the forest were almost wiped out, and even their magic forest was burned down.
In this situation, how can the tiger people expect each other to take care of themselves?
Perhaps they felt that the guards were not straightforward enough, so several tigresses quickly stepped forward and said that if Levi needed anything, they could call more bear people over.
The Bear God and the Tiger Goddess are brother and sister. Among their two tribes, the former is called Bear Papa and the latter is called Tiger Mom. From the names, we can roughly see the close relationship between the two.
The reason why the tiger people and bear people nearby didn't get together was because the bear people liked fishing and slacking off (in a double sense).
But there was no lake near the tiger village, so they finally gave up the idea.
There is now a lake above the black iron mine, which is just right for the bears to migrate here, and the tigresses have enough confidence that they can accomplish this task.
Just as the Bear God dotes on his sister, the Tiger Goddess, the Bears cannot refuse most of the Tigers' requests.
Levi naturally would not refuse such a good thing that came to him, even though the bears were not particularly warlike most of the time.
But if you think about it, you will know that they are bears after all. When there is a real need, no one can underestimate their fighting power.
He immediately promised that once the other party really arrived and was willing to work hard to protect this place, he would give them the same treatment as other dwarves or elves.
After hearing this, Virginia's face looked a little grim.
But there is no way. The church and the tiger people have always been equal allies. The church cannot provide enough protection for the tiger people, and naturally there is no reason to stop them. That would only bring shame to the goddess.
After thinking about it for a while, Levi decided to ask Michaela to send a message to the crocodile people in Pigherd Town.
The environment in most places around here is indeed not very good, and the swamps are full of filth.
But this lake near the Black Iron Mine is enough to feed some crocodile people as long as the evil power of the undead is purified.
They were seen talking to each other and having a heated discussion, but Sonia and Sefa looked at each other in silence for a while.
They wanted to help, but unfortunately they were really powerless.
The employment relationship between them and Virginia has indeed ended, and they are now free again, but there are only two of them, so what can they do?