You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

"He restarted the furnace?"

"Yes."

Which furnace?

"Main furnace".

Which main furnace?

"The King's Heart Furnace Underground".

As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of weapons hitting the ground echoed in the military council hall.

It wasn't a ceremony.

Someone's legs buckled, and their armor hit the floor.

The Wangxin Furnace is a core project left over from the old empire. It was sealed underground to create divine weapons, but something went wrong and the entire fire vein went berserk. It was only after a desperate attempt to suppress it with a melting seal technique that the capital city itself could not be saved.

"How could it be restarted? That place has collapsed, hasn't it?"

"It was the city that collapsed, not the furnace."

Somo's face was cold.

"And he not only restarted it... he also assembled an army."

"What kind of soldier?"

"Fire soldier".

Soma raised his hand and released a piece of drawing paper with a snap.

It was a simplified diagram sent back by an informant, showing the Fire Emblem patterns, formations, and oracle bone structure. The drawing wasn't very clear, but it was enough to make it understandable.

This is a regular military formation.

Grey Nest is no longer a settlement of scattered people.

Instead, they formed a complete underground tribal army.

"You mean... he lit the royal fire and also gathered an army?"

“Yes.” Soma stared at the picture. “And he didn’t just pick it randomly; he sat directly on the throne of the main furnace.”

"Do you have a name?"

"The informant who came back said his name was..."

Su Mor paused for a moment.

"Ron."

There was a three-second silence in the Xuanhuo Hall.

Then, the commander-in-chief of the capital, sitting at the head of the table, slowly spoke: "Wasn't he dead?"

"not dead."

"Are you sure?"

"confirm."

Soma opened another scroll.

The above is a diagram of the fire vein structure after bone pattern decoding, showing that the entire Wangxin Furnace fire vein has recovered more than 60% of its operation in the past three days, with stable fire pressure, controllable fire patterns, and even the ability to connect to external fracture ore branches.

What is this concept?

This indicates that this is not a case of "the fire reigniting after being extinguished".

This is the formation of a new furnace.

“What we destroyed before… might just have been his double.” Somo gritted his teeth.

"So what do we do now?" someone asked.

"Kill him." The commander of the capital's voice was as cold as a knife. "Crush him completely before he can push the fire soldiers onto the surface."

"how to spell?"

"Using people".

"how many people?"

"Hunting squad".

Upon hearing this, Soma raised his head: "How many should I transfer?"

"Didn't you say he became king?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll give you a king-level configuration."

"Transfer the first, second, and third teams of the Soul Rift Hunter Group from the capital, along with Skyfire Archers and Death Steel Weapon Teams, to form the 'King Flame Encirclement and Kill Formation'. Target: the underground King Heart Furnace."

"When to set off?"

"tonight."

Su Mo stood up and clasped his hands in greeting.

"I guarantee I'll bring back his head."

……

Meanwhile, a sealed crack appeared in the western gray-scale mining belt.

Three people wearing black cloaks are sending a message underground.

Before they could finish writing the message, the other end lit up.

The fire pattern automatically etched a sentence:

The Fire King has been forged; those whose Ash Scales have not yet returned will bleed within three days.

The three exchanged a glance.

Nothing was said.

Pull your legs and run.

The third day underground.

Outside the main hall of the Fire Nest, the chieftain of the Grayscale Clan personally led his troops to surrender.

Without uttering a single wasted word, three thousand men were reorganized and trained within three days, and all were equipped with standard firearms bone armor.

Ron did not show up.

He sat on the Wangyan Platform, staring intently at the battle map before him.

The Fire Vein Diagram is alive.

It shows every passageway through which soldiers could pass, every unextinguished line of fire, and every area where bones were still burning.

Grayscale West Mine —

It was a testing ground with residual heat from the fire veins, but the channels were unstable.

More importantly, the empire is making its moves there.

“My lord, the people on the Grayscale side just wiped out those few in their tribe who had defected to the Empire last night,” Viser whispered a reminder from the side. “But the Empire has already sent the Dead Steel Squad to dig a backup assault tunnel from the ground. If they break through first, your side will become a corridor.”

“Hmm,” Ron replied.

"You're going to use firearms?" Claudia arrived as well.

"move."

"You're leading it yourself?"

"The first fire formation infantry exercise used the abandoned nest corpse pit. This time it's going to be a real battle. I need to see if they can really fight."

Ron stood up after he finished speaking.

The fire pattern lit up from the knees and circled all the way to the back.

He stepped down from the Wangyan Terrace, and the bone armor automatically adhered to his body.

The fire armor wasn't worn; it "grew" out.

Plates of bone emerged from beneath the skin, piecing together to form armor. Flame marks were branded from the heart to the wrists, like a fire knife inserted into the body, ready to be pulled out at any moment.

"Where are the soldiers?" he asked.

"I'm waiting for your word." Viser lowered his head.

Ron raised his hand and pointed towards the west mine.

"Firefighters, move along the mining belt."

……

Grayscale West Mine.

The Imperial Steel Legion has just cleared a trench passage and is laying explosive tags down to prepare to blast the area.

Suddenly, the firewall in the rear passage ignited automatically.

They didn't start it; the fire started on its own.

"Enemy attack!" The Imperial squad leader had barely uttered the words when a whole row of gray-black fire soldiers burst out from the wall of fire.

They are not like humans.

They were more like machines that had burst forth from a furnace, marching in unison, their entire bodies covered in fire armor, moving without slowing down at all. Their weapons were long, bone-claw-shaped hooks, specifically designed to break through rune shields and golden armor.

Contact would result in slaughter.

Before the Imperial soldiers could react, the front-line shield bearers were hooked and pulled away by the fire soldiers, and then the fire runes behind them exploded, burning the two men to ashes.

"The Hokage has arrived!"

Just as the second platoon of the Dead Steel team was about to fill the front line, Ron had already emerged from the fire.

He didn't bring anything with him.