Green Monster Epic

The defeat of the Elven Kingdom on the northern front was not entirely unjustified. This was the first thought that came to Allen's mind after hearing more secrets about the northern front from Eilistraee.

Who would have thought that the elves, in their self-proclaimed ingenious strategy, would transmit an elite force through the Crystal Gate to the rear of the dwarven northern front, launching a simultaneous pincer attack on the dwarven positions – a stroke of divine calculation.

But all of this was just a chess game that the gray dwarf commander, Gurete, had been guiding the elves towards step by step over a hundred years of confrontation.

Having spent a long time with the Drow, the gray dwarves had become masters of understanding human hearts. Through seemingly ordinary and unrelated adventurer tasks, confessions of dwarves betraying their own kind, and so on, Gurete actively exposed the weaknesses of the northern dwarven defense line to the elven high command.

At the same time, Gurete, under the pretense of developing land and mineral resources, had built dams in the mountains of the Snowy Highlands, accumulating countless reservoirs of various sizes.

As long as the elves' ambition for civilized warfare remained, they would inevitably launch another attack on the Dwarven Kingdom at some point. And the northern defense line, having had too much deployment information leaked, was basically certain to become the direction of breakthrough for the Elven Kingdom's military.

After all, the southern defense line was guarded by Gurete himself, the gray dwarf commander. His style and methods would absolutely not give the elves any opportunities.

In contrast, besides the deliberately leaked information on the northern front, the commander in charge, Oberte, was mediocre in military ability, ambitious but incompetent, and also a guy who was harsh on his subordinates and lax in management. Under his command, even without the information Gurete leaked to the elves, the elven spies would have been able to easily find the scattered and disjointed weaknesses of the northern defense line.

When the elven army successfully broke through on the northern front and advanced eastward like a hot knife through butter, the elven high command never imagined that their kingdom's most elite army had embarked on a path of no return.

The defense line on the Ironwhisper River was not as hasty and lucky as it appeared on the surface. In fact, the narrow terrain and river barriers made it a natural defense line. It had been chosen as the battlefield to intercept the elves decades ago, and it was also the burial ground for the invading elven army.

Although they could not control the time of the elven invasion, their advance route was consistent with the predictions of Gurete and the royal advisers. Only after the Ironwhisper River defense line did the royal family activate the heavy-armored force centered on the Royal Capital Garrison Legion to complete the interception of their tidal offensive. At the same time, they allowed Oberte to regain power and control over the northern defense line.

Everything proceeded according to plan. Next was to wait for the moment of the decisive battle between the two armies. The elite warriors lurking upstream in the Snowy Highlands simultaneously blew up the river dams under a unified command, overturning the thick snow on the mountains to form an avalanche. The mudslides, mixed with various rocks and debris, merged with the raging floodwaters below the mountain, forming a terrifying natural disaster without any magical fluctuations, giving the soldiers on both sides of the battlefield in the middle of the river no chance to detect or react.

From an outsider's perspective like Allen, the biggest doubt about this man-made natural disaster was that the damage suffered by the Dwarven Kingdom was actually far greater than the damage suffered by the elves. Not to mention the collapse of the border defense line and the loss of more than 2.5 million dwarven troops in the Ironwhisper River decisive battle, just the flooding of several provinces, causing tens of millions of dwarves to be displaced and countless farmlands and houses to be destroyed, was already equivalent to the cost of losing a million elven warriors.

However, Eilistraee only gently reminded him that among the millions of dwarven troops lost, more than half came from the three powerful tribal branches within the kingdom, while the Thunder Dwarf lineage army represented by the royal family suffered no losses. Then, everything became clear to Allen, without any obscuring clouds.

It turned out that the ultimate goal of this plan was not only the powerful enemy of the elves, but also several political rivals of the royal family! After this heavy loss, the Dragonblood Dwarves and Bronze Dwarf tribes, whose strength in the dwarven bloodline was second only to the Thunder Dwarf royal family, had little remaining power. If they wanted to continue to retain their original territory and interests, they could only bow their heads to the royal family, which was intact and had righteousness on its side, thereby achieving the goal of further concentrating the dwarven king's power.

After the dwarven king completed the consolidation of power, perhaps in future wars with the Elven Kingdom, they would no longer be as passive and weak as they are now.

Allen couldn't help but feel a little emotional. Those powerful countries that prided themselves on being civilized and enlightened were actually no different from the wilderness in their actions, and even surpassed it.

"…Even if the Dwarven Royal Family and the Duergar's followers act secretly, there will still be clues to follow. The Dragonblood Dwarves and Bronze Dwarves, who are eager to shift the blame and retaliate, will inevitably get to the bottom of things until they catch the mastermind behind the scenes."

"The Dwarven Royal Family will definitely be fine, after all, they have that old fellow behind them who is more powerful and protective than us, but the gray dwarf branch that has just been accepted into the Dwarven Kingdom will definitely become the target of public criticism again, becoming the scapegoat of the royal family."

"When planning all of this, the Duergar's followers had already thought of the consequences, and used this as a bargaining chip to make a request to the royal family: after the goal of counterattacking on the northern front is achieved, the gray dwarf lineage can become independent from the kingdom and form its own entity, while the royal family ensures that the Dwarven Kingdom will no longer pursue this matter afterwards."

"So you are worried that the close relationship between the Duergar's followers and the Dwarven Kingdom no longer exists."

"If that's the case, then Your Majesty's followers actually didn't get any benefits from this incident, but instead lost the recognition and protection of the Dwarven Kingdom again, right? Then what exactly are the gray dwarves trying to achieve by doing this?"

Allen frowned and pondered.

"Hmph!!"

The silent gray dwarf deity's incarnation snorted softly, proudly turning its head to the other side, not preparing to answer Allen's question.

"If you use the legends and stories of the gray dwarves circulating in the world as a basis to judge their bad relationship with the dwarves, then you would be very wrong. My dwarven ally values and cares for the entire dwarven race no less than other dwarven deities. For the survival and development of the entire race, He can allow His followers to make certain sacrifices!"

Eilistraee smiled slightly, defending her partner: "Moreover, the gray dwarves have not had an easy time in the kingdom these years. Until now, they are still suffering from the threat of war, the exclusion of internal tribes, and so on. They still don't have a piece of land that truly belongs to them to live on."

"So taking this opportunity to become independent and seize a fertile land from the elves as a place to live is the right choice for the gray dwarf branch."

"Now, if you have any other concerns about our cooperation, you can say them directly. I believe we can solve them together."

The goddess's pleasant voice echoed in the room, and Allen's thoughts were also numerous. The other party's disclosure of so many secrets to him naturally showed a firm will to cooperate. It would probably be impossible for him to continue to advance the war with the elves according to the previous plan, but he would not be easily moved by the other party. At least, he had to test the other party's bargaining chips again.

"For the sake of the two Majesties, it is not impossible to cooperate in attacking the elven border, but the strategy we originally planned will have to be significantly adjusted as a result, and subsequent cooperation will cause too many inconveniences."

"I want to know, what kind of return can we, the Northern Territory, get from this matter?"

Allen sat behind his desk, tapping his fingers lightly on the smooth ironwood surface, transforming from his previous steady demeanor into a meticulous businessman, and began to prepare to bargain with the two deities.