Under the night sky.
The wind howled fiercely above the Angelicia Mountains.
Minori, wrapped in a black robe, floated in mid-air, wearing a single-lens magical item with "night vision" ability, watching a fortress below. That was the territory of the dwarves!
Whirr.
The biting cold wind rustled the black robe on his body, but high in the sky, and in the dark of night, this little noise would not be noticed by the fortress below.
His purpose here was for the rune artisans among the dwarves.
If he wanted to borrow these artisans from the dwarves, he would naturally need to have some contact with the dwarves, and the best way was what Ainz Ooal Gown did.
Using the threat of the Quagoa, he made demands of the dwarves, and after repelling the Quagoa, he would take away the rune artisans, and at the same time establish a diplomatic relationship with the dwarves.
But this approach was clearly not suitable for Minori.
Too many traces!
Too much information exposed!
When Nazarick descends in the future, if nothing unexpected happens, Ainz Ooal Gown will still be interested in rune technology and visit the dwarves.
Then he, a human appearing among the dwarves, a mysterious man who also needs rune artisans, will appear in Ainz Ooal Gown's sight, which is not what Minori wants to see.
Besides the rune artisans, there was nothing else in the dwarves that Minori was interested in, so after some consideration, he decided to use the simplest method.
Kidnapping!
Minori slowly descended from the high altitude, and the things below gradually became clearer in the vision of the "night vision" magic item.
The Great Rift.
It was a very terrifying geographical location in the Angelicia Mountains, with a length of more than sixty kilometers and a width of about one hundred and twenty meters.
The depth was even impossible to know.
For the dwarves' eastern city, "Feo Jera", it was a natural fortress, and no terrestrial creatures could cross the Great Rift.
However.
For Minori, who possessed the ability to "fly", the difficulty of crossing the Great Rift was obviously non-existent.
After descending to about two hundred meters above the ground, Minori could clearly see a somewhat conspicuous fortress on the edge of the Great Rift.
"At this time, have the dwarves already moved to the eastern city?" Minori swept his eyes below and thought to himself.
At the current time point.
Minori could not accurately determine whether the dwarves lived in the southern city or the eastern city after the plot began.
So, he first came to the eastern city, which was the closest location, to check. Since a fortress had already been built below, it meant that the dwarves already lived here.
"According to the timeline, the dwarves shouldn't have moved to the eastern city so early," Minori raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised.
When he solved the Lizardmen, the chieftain of the "Dragon Tusk" tribe, Zenberu Gugu, from the future plot, was not in the Dragon Tusk tribe.
Minori speculated at the time that this Lizardman should still be training in the dwarves' southern city.
Now, only a little over a month has passed since solving the Lizardmen. Have the dwarves moved to the eastern city so quickly?
Doubts arose in his heart.
Minori quickly observed the dwarven fortress built on the edge of the Great Rift below.
Calling it a "fortress" but it was actually just a settlement built by the dwarves. The existence of the Great Rift was enough to block any enemies on land.
The fundamental purpose of this settlement was to protect the suspension bridge that the dwarves had worked so hard to build over the Great Rift. As long as the suspension bridge was guarded, all the monsters on land could be prevented from invading.
"There are four dwarves on night watch. The area of the bridge is not large enough, at most only 20 people."
After observing for a while, Minori silently analyzed in his heart, then with a thought.
Minori's figure quickly descended from the high altitude.
Whoosh!
A rapid sound of air being torn apart came from above.
The four dwarves, who were yawning while standing on both sides of the suspension bridge, subconsciously raised their heads to look at the sky.
In their vision, they only saw a tall black figure falling in the middle of them. Before they could react, a deep, cold light flashed.
Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!
Four dwarven heads flew into the air and fell into the Great Rift not far away.
Minori held the magic greatsword in his hand, expressionlessly looking at the somewhat short, only about two meters high, square-shaped settlement building in front of him.
Since the four dwarves did not make any sound until their deaths, they naturally did not alarm the other dwarves sleeping inside.
His gaze briefly lingered on the protrusion above the settlement, similar to a cannon barrel, facing the suspension bridge.
There were weak magic fluctuations on it.
It should be a "lightning strike" magic item that the dwarves had specially prepared to deal with the Quagoa.
The Quagoa had excellent resistance to metal weapons, but lightning attribute attacks were the race's weakness. If they encountered a Quagoa attack.
With the suspension bridge being the only route across the entire Great Rift, the Quagoa would face a "lightning strike" with a penetrating effect if they tried to break through from the suspension bridge.
Bang.
Minori raised his foot and kicked the corpses of the four dwarves into the abyss together, chanting in a low voice: "Camouflage."
A stream-like ripple flashed across the surface of Minori's body, and in the already dark environment, his figure gradually merged into the night.
"Stealth!"
As the rogue skill was activated, Minori silently passed the settlement and walked towards the mountain wall behind.
There was a three-meter-high, two-meter-wide stone door there.
Minori easily walked into the stone door, because no dwarves were stationed here.
"Apart from the settlement outside, the defense here is really lax."
Minori hid in the shadows, following the crystal ore that emitted a faint, hazy light on the top of the stone cave, and continued to walk deeper.
This was a spiral tunnel extending underground, and it was also an important route connecting the outside settlement and the underground eastern city.
Minori continued to move forward into the depths while recalling the information in his mind. Soon, a half-open giant stone door appeared in front of him.
Even in the dim underground, this stone door still reflected a bright silver luster under the light of the crystal ore above.
According to the information in his memory, this was a door made entirely of mithril and orichalcum, which could not be measured by money among humans.
Only dwarves who were good at mining and refining metals could be so extravagant as to use these two precious metals to make a door.
"Only one person is guarding here?"
Minori looked at the dwarven soldier guarding the half-open stone door, holding a spear, and still exuding a smell of alcohol, and couldn't help but become even more surprised.
This stone door in front of him could be said to be the last line of defense of the eastern city, and in theory, a large number of dwarven soldiers should be stationed here.
But the current situation revealed a sense of slackness.
Silently, Minori approached the drunken dwarven soldier, passed through the stone door to observe the rear. There were several dwarven soldiers guarding on both sides, and they also looked like they were drunk.
Raising his head to look into the distance, he could already see the eastern city.
"This is?"
Minori's gaze froze.
Rows of box-like, unremarkable buildings came into view, some were two-story buildings, and some were one-story.
And most of these buildings looked like they had just been built not long ago, and even in the distant direction, some dwarves could still be seen wielding tools to build.
Seeing this scene.
Minori had already realized something, exited the stone door, looked at the dwarven soldier leaning against the corner, sleeping soundly because of drunkenness, and raised his palm.
Slap!
A crisp sound.
The dwarven soldier's cheek immediately swelled up, and he woke up suddenly in pain, his eyes blurred as he looked at Minori, who was wrapped in a black robe, standing in front of him.
"Charm."
The dwarven soldier's body stiffened, then relaxed, and he swayed and climbed up from the ground.
"What's the situation here?" Minori asked.
"We are building a new city, 'Fio Jura'," the dwarven soldier opened his mouth, his words slightly unclear.
"Then what about your original southern city?"
"According to Commander-in-Chief, a large number of Quagoa traces were found near our southern city, 'Feo Raidho'."
"The regents, in order to be on the safe side, sent all the artisans to build a new city here in advance."
Minori asked a few more questions, and a look of understanding appeared in his eyes.
He had been a little puzzled before, clearly according to the timeline, the dwarves should still be in the southern city.
And the current situation showed that the dwarves had already started building a new city years in advance.
No wonder the defense here was so lax.
Thinking about it carefully, it was normal.
How could the relocation of an entire race be completed in a short period of time? They must have prepared in advance and laid the foundation.
Then.
Most of the dwarves are still in the southern city.
Should I go there?
Wait!
"You just said that all the artisans were sent here to build, so are the rune artisans here too?" Minori remembered what the dwarven soldier had just said, and his eyes lit up.
"They should be, right?" The dwarven soldier opened his mouth somewhat uncertainly.
With the development of "magic itemization" technology, even among the dwarves, the outdated craft of rune technology was no longer valued.
After asking the question.
Minori raised his palm and knocked the dwarven soldier unconscious, then put him back against the corner, pretending to be drunk and sleeping.
With a flash of his figure.
Minori disappeared and entered the eastern city.
Using the crude and simple method of "Charm", he found the lone dwarven artisans and asked them directly, and quickly locked down the location of all the rune artisans.
Then it was much simpler!
Taking advantage of the gaps when these dwarven artisans were sleeping, Minori knocked out the rune artisans he found and returned to the lava zone with teleportation magic.
After dozens of trips back and forth.
Without alarming any of the dwarves, all the rune artisans had been taken away by Minori.
The next day.
Outside the lava zone.
More than 20 rune artisans were lying on the ground, sleeping soundly, some turning over and pressing on other dwarves.
These dwarves were all around 140cm tall, with short hands and feet, and a beer-barrel-like physique, with gray-brown beards all over their faces.
"Snore!"
"Creak!"
"Snore!"
Various snoring and even teeth-grinding sounds were constantly coming from this group of dwarves.
Minori was sitting cross-legged not far away, supporting his chin with one hand, seemingly unable to help but yawn because these dwarves were sleeping so soundly.
Kuro was lying on Minori's right side, its sharp beast eyes constantly scanning this group of dwarves, its eyes filled with curiosity.
And on Minori's left side, the Gray Dwarf Forging Minister, controlled by "Charm", stood respectfully.
Three pairs of eyes were watching this group of dwarves at the same time.
Minori was not in a hurry to wake up this group of dwarves. The ability of "Charm" could only control one creature, and he could not control more than 20 dwarven artisans in one breath.
If he wanted this group of kidnapped dwarves to work for his next, somewhat crazy idea, he could not use only strong-arm tactics.
"Huff~"
Gondo made a strong snoring sound from his throat, shaking his upper and lower lips.
After snoring once.
Gondo closed his eyes, chewing his mouth, half-awake and half-asleep, raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
So hot.
This thought flashed through Gondo's mind.
Dwarves who like to live underground do not like cold environments, but the temperature in the Angelicia Mountains is already on the cold side.
Even when underground, the temperature has never been high.
But it's too hot now.
Is the environment in the eastern city so hot? Or did I drink a few more bowls of wine last night and haven't sobered up yet.
Gondo thought like this as he sleepily opened his eyes.
The crimson light reflected between the mountain walls first came into view, which was the light and heat transmitted from the magma sea.
Gondo was stunned when he saw such a scene, and then suddenly woke up, quickly getting up from the ground, while shouting in panic: "Fire! Fire!"
Terrified roars echoed between the mountain walls.
The other dwarves who were still sleeping soundly all jumped up from the ground, looking around in panic.
However, there was no fire anywhere!
No!
This was not their eastern city, 'Feo Jera', at all.
"What the hell is this place? Aren't we building houses?" A dwarf opened his mouth blankly.
Clap!
At this moment, a crisp sound of clapping hands came from the front of the dwarves, attracting the attention of all the dwarves.
A human sitting cross-legged on the ground, wrapped in a black robe, came into the sight of all the dwarves present.
And a monster similar to a magic wolf, and... a dwarf?
The gray skin of the Forging Minister, which was different from their skin color, made all the dwarves unable to help but stop and stare.
"Welcome everyone to the lava zone."
"I'm very sorry to have invited you here without your consent."
Minori exerted a slight force on his legs, and easily stood up from the sitting posture, apologetically speaking to the dwarves in front of him.
As soon as these words came out!
All the dwarves who were originally noisy suddenly became quiet.