Inside a cave deep within the tunnel.
The dim firelight illuminated the rugged face of the dwarf general Mogdin. He crouched on a protruding black rock, his fists clasped together, his eyes gleaming with a beastly light. A scout knelt on one knee, his helmet still covered with rubble from the tunnel wall.
"They've come in, sir," the scout whispered. "The humans followed our retreat route and have gone deep south of Echo Path. They're now stopped near the crossroads, seemingly hesitant."
Mogdin slowly stood up, a grin spreading across his face to reveal a set of teeth stained yellow by tobacco: "Just a little further... just a little further. Once they're completely inside, we'll close the iron gate. That gate was forged from fine iron by our ancestors; not even a hundred bulls could break it open. Inside, they'll be like rats in a jar."
He recalled his previous attack on Mountain Throat Fortress, where he was routed by the Cannons and volleys of gunfire. Many brave dwarf warriors had died, and even his own weapon had its handle blown off by a cannonball. This humiliation was branded into his heart.
Mogdin growled, "This time it's not us running away, it's them dying. Either kneel down and surrender, hand over your weapons; or rot in this ground, let the bugs eat their bones!" He slammed his fist against the stone wall, sending pebbles tumbling down.
He looked up into the thick, impenetrable darkness deep within the tunnel, as if he could already see the panicked faces of the human soldiers in their confined, desperate situation.
Just as Mogdin was imagining himself leading human prisoners, standing tall and proud before the orc emissaries, a deep and terrifying rumble suddenly came from the depths of the earth, as if a mountain god had turned over in his sleep.
Immediately following were the second and third explosions—three violent explosions in quick succession, almost happening in one continuous burst.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire tunnel shuddered violently, the overhead rock walls shook wildly, and debris rained down like a storm. All the torches went out, and darkness instantly engulfed everything. The dwarves screamed and fell to the ground, instinctively clutching their heads. The rock strata emitted a teeth-grinding cracking sound, as if the entire mountain was being torn apart by an invisible giant hand.
"Earthquake!" someone shouted.
Mogdin roared, "Don't be afraid, our tunnel is very sturdy."
But one of the dwarf warriors suddenly noticed something amiss: a previously barely visible crack in the tunnel wall was spreading at a visible speed. His heart tightened, and he grabbed Mogdin, shouting, "It's not safe here! Let's go!"
The group scrambled and crawled, desperately trying to escape through a narrow side ventilation shaft. Only after they emerged from the mountain and stood on a scree slope did they dare to look back.
The mountain was still trembling slightly, and dust slowly seeped out from several cracks in the rocks, like the earth breathing.
They waited with lingering fear, but the earthquake ended faster than expected, and the shaking stopped shortly afterward. Mogdin, panting heavily, ordered a young scout to go back and check.
The scout cautiously re-entered the tunnel, meandering along the uncollapsed side road. A short while later, he returned, his face filled with terror, his voice trembling: "Sir... the entire main road between Echo Valley and the fork in the road... it's completely collapsed! We can't dig it up at all! And... there are more than thirty brothers, all buried inside..."
Mogdin was struck dumb.
That was the very spot where he had laid an ambush, ready to strike humanity. Before the trap door could even close, and before the ambushing soldiers could get their prey deep inside, the entire passage had collapsed from the inside and been completely buried.
Mogdin personally returned to the tunnel to check, staring intently at the tunnel entrance blocked by rubble. Based on his experience as a dwarf, he knew that even if they dug it open again at all costs, it would take a very, very long time.
His chest heaved, and after a long while he slowly exhaled, muttering to himself, "As long as those humans are buried in there too... those brothers didn't die in vain."
He turned around and waved to his remaining subordinates: "Go, go back and tell the chieftain that we have wiped out the invaders and won this battle."
A group of dwarves trudged along the ridge path deeper into the mountains. A cold wind whipped up dust, whipping it across their dusty beards and armor. They bowed their heads, mourning their fallen comrades and struggling to muster their strength for this "victory."
As they approached a bend in a gentle slope, Mogdin was about to order the pace to quicken when he suddenly froze in place.
Ahead on the mountain path, a group of figures were marching in formation—the very human army they thought had been buried alive!
Not only were they alive, but they also appeared calm and orderly, clearly having suffered no losses.
Mogdin's pupils contracted sharply, his heart feeling as if gripped by an icy hand. He abruptly raised his hand, signaling his men to lie down. They quickly huddled into the crevices of rocks and bushes by the roadside, holding their breath.
Through the withered leaves, they watched as the human army marched past. An officer-looking man was talking to his companion, his voice carried on the wind: "...The explosion was effective; passage will not be restored in the short term. It was a very successful demolition."
"Explosion?" Mogdin seemed to have thought of something with that word.
The human army took a short rest on the mountain path, and Mogdin and his men were planning to sneak away when the opportunity arose.
But suddenly a human soldier shouted, "Look, there seems to be an entrance over there!"
A hole, half-hidden by loose rubble and dead branches, was suddenly revealed; it was the ventilation shaft that Mogdin and his group had hastily dug open when they escaped.
Clearly, the shockwave from the explosion made the already narrow passage even more visible.
"Another entrance found!" one of the soldiers shouted excitedly after checking it out.
The surrounding soldiers immediately perked up, and some even laughed: "These dwarves are really addicted to digging holes; there are dog holes everywhere."
Derrick walked over, crouched down to examine the scratches and footprints around the edge of the hole, then stood up and ordered, "Find every dwarf dog hole you find. And make sure they never get to dig one again."
"Yes!" the soldiers replied in unison.
Several engineers quickly took a box of explosives from the pack, connected it with a wire, and carefully sent it deep into the cave.
They chose to load the explosive at the narrowest point of the passage, ensuring that once detonated, the entire passage would be completely sealed off. After setting it up, they pulled the long fuse and retreated from the cave entrance, all the way to a rock bunker fifty paces away.
"Get down!" Derrick ordered.
A soldier lit the fuse, and the flame shot rapidly into the ground along the thin wire.
After a brief silence—BOOM!!!
A deafening roar, deeper and more violent than before, exploded, as if the earth's core had been torn apart. The ground trembled violently, and debris shot out of the cave entrance like cannonballs, sending plumes of dust billowing into the sky that lingered for a long time. The cave entrance collapsed, forming a charred crater, from which waves of heat rushed in.
Mogdin and his men, who were hiding in the bushes, were frozen in place, their pupils dilated with shock.
They finally understood.
That wasn't an earthquake!
That was a human weapon—a force capable of blasting mountains apart from the inside and melting rocks.