Traveling through the game world

Leaving aside how Lian Yang and Barn calculated how to gain enough benefits in the war between the Dark Elves and Dwarves, Vidir, the Golden King, one of the main characters in this war, was absolutely thrilled.

The Black Nightmare has existed among the dwarves for many years, but back then it was actually very weak. No matter how the dwarves cultivated it, it could only be used as a last resort and had no practical value whatsoever—the cost of cultivating the Black Nightmare was simply too high.

However, the arrival of the Age of Destruction completely changed everything. The Black Nightmare, which had been so difficult to cultivate, began to multiply rapidly as the evil Black Nightmare spread throughout Arad.

The powerful Black Nightmare grants immense strength to anyone it touches, at most causing the person to become impulsive. But would the Dwarf King Vidir, already preparing for a major war with the Dark Elves, care about the madness of his warriors?

Having been among the first to encounter the Black Nightmare, the Golden King Vidir was already insane. He didn't care about being in the water. Charging ahead, he raised his sword high in his right hand and shouted, "Warriors, charge! Those damned dark elves are in the city right before us. Let's kill them all!"

"Kill them all...kill them all..." Along with the shouts of the Golden King Vidir came a million-strong dwarven army. Each one had bloodshot eyes and was shrouded in black mist—clearly the mark of someone corrupted by a dark nightmare.

However, he wasn't passively infected by the Black Nightmare, but rather actively released by Vidir, the Golden King of the Dwarves, with only one purpose: to eliminate their mortal enemy, the Dark Elves.

Facing the dwarves, who had been plotting for a long time, the dark elves were clearly unprepared. Even though the dwarves had begun to openly appear on the ground, the dark elves' high command had not yet deployed any troops but was instead negotiating with Barn.

Only after hearing that the dwarven forces had begun their assault on Dark City did Queen Maya and Elder Shaplen of the Dark Elves realize what was happening and stop arguing with Barn. Instead, they began frantically gathering their forces to prepare for the onslaught of the dwarves.

"Hurry!" the dark elf commander roared frantically, "Faster! Those damned dwarves are about to charge! We have to stop them!"

The Dark Elf commander was a middle-aged man. Of course, he was not a high-ranking commander, but a mid-level officer with a basic rank equivalent to a battalion commander. He was leisurely leading his soldiers in casual training in places like drifting caves when he suddenly received news of the Dwarves attacking the city.

Upon receiving the news, he initially thought it was a prank, but when he saw the dispatch letter bearing magical emblems, he realized it was no joke; the dwarves still underground had launched an attack on Dark City.

At this time, the first batch of Dark Elf troops mobilized numbered only around 100,000, perhaps more or less, but they were all troops closest to the gates of Dark City.

However, these 100,000 dark elves had no choice at this moment. Ahead of them was a ferocious army of a million dwarves, and they could feel the evil power permeating the dwarven ranks from afar, a power so strong that it made them tremble.

But behind them lay their homes, where their fathers, wives, relatives, and friends lived. They had no choice but to risk their lives and charge forward to fight for a chance to save their homes.

The hastily assembled dark elf army, led by its highest-ranking dark elf, shouted with magic: "Dark elf warriors, ahead lies an unprecedentedly powerful evil enemy, and behind us are our families. If we charge forward, we will die; if we don't charge forward, the entire city behind us will perish! We have no choice! For our homeland! Charge!"

Some wars are like this: you know the enemy ahead is powerful and you will surely die if you go, but for the sake of certain principles, even death is worthwhile.

Dark elves are proud, but even proud dark elves would never abandon their companions. So, these dark elves, who had just emerged from the underground and were experiencing the prosperity of the surface world, silently charged towards the dark, mist-shrouded dwarf army for the sake of their homeland and their loved ones.

From afar, the Golden King Vidir spotted the charging dark elves and shouted, "Warriors! Those despicable dark elves dare to resist our attack! Slaughter them all!"

"Kill them all! Kill them all!..."

A million people is an endless expanse; you can't even see the end of the line at a glance. But a hundred thousand people is also a significant number, and an individual in the middle of the battlefield is just as insignificant.

It must be said that the continent of Arad is highly developed in terms of magical civilization and is also a data-driven world. Every soldier here is incredibly powerful, far surpassing any so-called special forces on Earth. Therefore, even though it was just an infantry charge, their momentum was still overwhelming.

Finally, the dark elf troops, who charged forward to defend their homeland, and the dwarf troops, whose hearts were filled with bloodlust and killing desires due to the black nightmare, clashed.

"Kill!" The two mortal enemies met on the battlefield and didn't exchange many words. The giant hammers in the dwarves' hands and the bows and arrows in the dark elves' hands were the best way for them to communicate.

However, as soon as the close-quarters battle began, the powerful dwarven army launched a crushing attack on the hastily assembled dark elf army.

First of all, the average level of the dwarf troops is as high as 45, which can almost be called the most elite troops on the Arad continent. Even Barn's Knights do not have such a high average level.

The hastily assembled dark elf army was a hodgepodge of all sorts of troops, with an average level of only around 36, a difference of nine levels.

Then, the incredibly powerful dwarf army not only had an advantage in level, but also an absolute advantage in numbers, with a million people.

The Dark Elf army, which was already relatively weak, numbered only slightly over 100,000, making them inferior to their opponents in both strength and numbers.

So when the battle began, it resulted in several dwarves ganging up on a single dark elf. Often, a single round of concentrated fire from a dwarf warrior could kill a dark elf soldier instantly.

However, the crazed dwarven army only knew how to kill, while the dark elf army, equally determined to die, didn't care about life or death at all. Their only mission was to use the lives of 100,000 men to hold back the madly advancing dwarven army in front of them, and to buy more time for the dark elf army behind them to gather.

At the front lines, 100,000 dark elf soldiers were engaged in a fierce battle with the dwarven forces—or rather, a one-sided slaughter of the dwarven warriors. But they did not retreat.

Meanwhile, the main force of the Dark Elves, who were gathering at the gates of Dark City, remained stationed in place, continuously regrouping... continuously regrouping. Tears streamed down the faces of all the Dark Elves, yet they remained steadfast, awaiting the arrival of more Dark Elf soldiers.

They all knew that the 100,000 dark elves at the front were prepared to die to give the troops behind them more time to regroup. Facing a million high-level dwarf troops, only an equal or greater number could effectively snipe them.

There was no other way; the Dark City, which suddenly appeared on the surface of the earth, was located in a vast plain, where the numerical advantage of the troops was almost infinitely amplified.

It must be said that although the dwarves had an almost absolute advantage in numbers and strength, the Arad War at this time was still mainly an ancient cold weapon war, and the 100,000 enemies still effectively blocked the advance of the entire dwarf army.

There was no way around it; even if the dwarves numbered a million, the number of soldiers they could actually engage in combat per unit of time was limited to a single line. Moreover, the dark elves had a terrifying number of archers. The dark elf swordsmen at the front were responsible for sacrificing themselves to block the enemy's advance, while the dark elf archers at the rear were responsible for sniping at the dwarves.

Finally, as the initial 100,000 dark elves who went to intercept the dwarves were almost exhausted, the dark elf forces in the rear had also amassed a massive army of over one million, along with an equally large number of various defensive weapons.

"Giant ballista attack!" At this moment, the commander of the dark elf forces at the gates of Dark City was none other than Lian Yang's old friend, Krent, the special envoy of the Dark Elf Queen. There was no way around it; everyone knew that being the commander of the second wave of defending forces was almost always a thankless and dangerous position, one where death could strike at any moment.

This position is particularly important, as it involves an army of over a million, and cannot be entrusted to just anyone. At this juncture, Krent, as a trusted minister of the Dark Elf Queen Maya, is undoubtedly the perfect candidate.

At Krent's command, a row of giant ballistae, arranged in a straight line, roared with a buzzing sound as they fired massive steel arrows at the dwarven troops who were launching a second charge after having already annihilated the 100,000-strong vanguard of the dark elves.

For every clever plan you have, there's a countermeasure. The moment King Vidir saw the Dark Elf's giant ballista, he immediately ordered, "Wall Shield Battalion, get up there!"

All I saw was that the row of dwarves charging at the front suddenly changed their weapons to heavy shields that were 10 centimeters thick, 3 meters high and 2 meters wide, with small wheels at the bottom. Luckily, this was the data-driven world of Arad with advanced weaponry, otherwise, it would probably take an extremely heavy truck or tank to move such a shield.

For a time, the battlefield undoubtedly became the old story of spear and shield again. Some giant steel arrows, due to their good angle, could penetrate the thick shields and then shoot through the dwarves behind them.

More often, however, they were simply unlucky enough to crash into the dwarven steel shields with a loud "clang" before falling unwillingly to the ground.