I’m a Max-Level Taoist Master, and You’re Throwing Me Into a Rules-Based Horror Game?! - Chapter 172

Chapter 172: The Dwarf All-You-Can-Eat Buffet! Crispy! 

Sky Curtain City.

A massive aerial fortress. Whenever it passed over certain regions,

the birds and beasts below would look up, thinking clouds had blocked the sun.

But this upward glance sent many living creatures fleeing in terror.

Today, the battle formation deployed by Sky Curtain City was exceptionally powerful.

In addition to the Mechanical Sentries, both Mechanical Guards and City Guards were deployed.

Even though only fifty City Guards were sent, it showed the importance Sky Curtain City placed on this battle.

The City Guards were uniformly equipped with combat mechs, full of firepower.

After all, they were dealing with Dwarves this time, not Beastmen.

Fighting Beastmen didn’t require such heavy firepower; they needed the Beastmen to continue developing, not be wiped out.

This time was different. Without sufficient firepower, they couldn’t defeat the Dwarf race.

The Challengers were also exceptionally confident.

Before setting off, they fully charged their power, then armed themselves with weapons from the armory.

Carrying the Super Electromagnetic Cannon and Heavy Drive Unit gave them a great sense of security.

Having gathered considerable intelligence through indirect means recently, it was time to participate in this epic battle.

When going to war, one must be fully prepared to feel at ease.

The Potbellied Commander, unlike his usual casual self, wore an expression of utmost seriousness. It seemed this battle was crucial for his path to promotion.

According to intelligence, the Dwarves possessed a sturdy castle. There was no fear of them scattering and fleeing before the fight even began, so this battle required no surprise attacks, just a direct, hard confrontation.

Aside from the guards left in Sky Curtain City, most Challengers this time mobilized over two thousand combat units, the vast majority equipped with high-intensity weaponry, creating an impressive and formidable display.

However, the Challengers were wary this time.

Learning from the previous two stages, they decided to check the rules first to avoid being used as bait again.

As the lift platform began its descent, the rules appeared.

Dwarf Region Combat Rules:
[Rule 1: Within the first 20 minutes of combat, protect the Commander’s safety. He is crucial to your survival and escape.]

[Rule 2: You may return to the lift platform after capturing 5 Dwarves, or 1 Dwarf Engineer.]

[Rule 3: If you see a red-bearded Dwarf while alone, it’s best to stay away from him, as he may harm you.]

[Rule 4: Don’t be overly afraid when you see a wild boar; it doesn’t turn well while charging.]

[Rule 5: The back door is the only place the Dwarves can use to escape the city. You can find a way to make them leave; this is beneficial for you.]

[Rule 6: The structure of the Dwarves’ underground palace is complex. If you want to enter, it’s best to find a map.]

[Rule 7: Remember, no Dwarf is taller than 1.3 meters!]

When Zhang Yangqing finished reading the rules, he was slightly taken aback.

The commanders are all dead; where am I supposed to find a commander to protect?

But this rule was easy to understand: within the first twenty minutes of combat, ensure the faction doesn’t fall into chaos due to the commander being ambushed.

He reasoned that if an ordinary Challenger were at this stage, there would probably be only one commander, but many squad leaders.

If the commander died, given the green-skinned beings’ nature, everyone would want to command others, but no one would submit to anyone else.

This would inevitably cause some chaos, leading to a major defeat in this direct confrontation.

The primary task for ordinary Challengers was to protect the commander.

Without a commander, it was actually quite simple to handle.

Zhang Yangqing had someone impersonate the commander to see what dangers might arise.

He wasn’t very familiar with this Strange Tale world and hadn’t gathered much intelligence, so he decided to follow the procedure for now.

Since the rule was written this way, it certainly foreshadowed that the Dwarves would ambush the green-skinned beings’ mechanical legion.

As for the subsequent rules, Zhang Yangqing didn’t pay them much mind.

But that was just because he could afford to do so. Other Challengers were racking their brains to combine the later rules with the intelligence they had obtained.

During the preparation period for this stage, Brandon, the Challenger from Spain, was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding performers.

He had obtained intelligence that many other Challengers missed, giving him a certain understanding of the Dwarf race.

For example, regarding the Dwarf Engineer mentioned in the rules, other Challengers didn’t know what they looked like, but Brandon had learned from the drunk Dwarf yesterday.

Dwarf Engineers were few in number, but the emblem on their chests featured a hammer, symbolizing their honorable status.

According to that drunk Dwarf, the Dwarf race also had two opposing extremes.

One was the Progressive Faction, who believed mechanical technology could greatly enhance the Dwarves’ combat power and focused on vigorously developing a mechanical civilization centered around traps.

The emblems on their chests featured a wrench.

The other was the Traditionalist Faction, who believed Dwarves should leverage their inherent strength advantages, hone their personal combat skills, and train combat partners, which they considered far more effective than machinery.

The emblems on their chests featured an axe.

Brandon had already vaguely guessed many things.

But the most important was the back door mentioned in Rule 5.

Based on Brandon’s understanding of Rule 5, the Dwarves’ back door would definitely not be open.

The Dwarf commander, to ensure his people fought to the death, wouldn’t allow the Dwarves to flee.

Thus, if Challengers wanted to enter the Dwarves’ underground palace in search of treasure, they would face many dangers.

After all, cornered Dwarves were not weak in combat.

As a special forces soldier, Brandon knew all too well that when people knew they were doomed, they would fight desperately, and the combat power unleashed in such moments was truly formidable.

Moreover, these were Dwarves with considerable strength.

So, a strategy formed in Brandon’s mind.

After arriving at the location, first hold the position for 20 minutes. As long as the commander survived, the Dwarves’ attention would be entirely focused on the firefight.

At that time, he would find a way to open the Dwarves’ back door and let them escape.

Once one Dwarf fled, others would follow.

This would significantly reduce the difficulty of infiltrating to search for treasure.

As for the precautions in the rules, he would just need to be careful when the time came.

Especially Rule 7 required attention. Based on Brandon’s experience, the thing mentioned in the rule might be an anomaly, not a Dwarf.

Thinking this, Brandon followed the large troop to the designated area.

On the way, Brandon looked grave; he felt the sky darkening around them, accompanied by a strong, foul odor.

The closer they got to the Dwarf stronghold, the more pronounced these phenomena became.

When he saw the Dwarves’ steel castle, Brandon was indeed surprised.

Before him, the massive steel castle had several even taller chimneys constantly belching black smoke, affecting the sky above and making it dim.

Needless to say, the smell was definitely the gas emitted by this industrially developed city.

Moreover, a large swath of forest around the steel castle had been cut down, leaving only bare tree stumps.

Brandon could even see a black, viscous river flowing out from the steel castle, apparently industrial wastewater.

It flowed directly into the distant forest without any treatment.

According to the map on his goggles, the upstream should be a clear river; how did it turn black after passing the Dwarf stronghold?

“Huh? The pollution source the Queen Bee asked me to collect… could it be the radiation material flowing out from the Dwarves?”

Brandon thought this conjecture was highly likely.

This intelligence seemed useless at first glance, but sometimes it could be fatal, or perhaps life-saving.

Having observed up to this point, Brandon felt that as long as he safely obtained the map this stage, he had a seventy percent chance of clearing it.

He was also among the Challengers with a relatively high degree of confidence.

Other Challengers had less than a fifty percent chance.

And the other confident one was undoubtedly the Chinese Challenger, Zhang Yangqing.

While other Challengers were considering whether the green-skinned beings’ mechanical legion could defeat the Dwarves’ heavy industrial defenses,

Zhang Yangqing was considering: Are the Dwarves tough?

He had over a thousand more firepower units than other Challengers, giving him many tactical options.

Meanwhile, inside the distant steel castle, a bearded commander, standing less than 1.3 meters tall, was observing the distance through a telescope.

“Those green-skinned beings are finally here. We’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time.”

The Dwarf race had been preparing for war for a long time; they weren’t as passive as other races.

Their patrol units had long since discovered the green-skinned beings’ tracks, and the commander had made defensive preparations.

Therefore, a surprise attack by the green-skinned beings was impossible this time; it had to be a direct confrontation.

The other Dwarves were also eager, ready for this battle of revenge.

Most of those stationed here were from the Progressive Faction, relying on Dwarf heavy industry weapons for combat.

The emblems on their chests featured a wrench design.

“Today, we’ll show those green-skinned beings what the continent’s number one industrial technology looks like,” a bearded Dwarf engineer said while drinking beer.

It was a habit for Dwarves to drink before battle.

“It’s time they tasted our big toys!”

The weapons in the Dwarves’ hands were even larger than their stature.

Fortunately, their physical prowess was strong; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to carry them.

In this Strange Tale world, other races might not be able to mass-produce such weapons, but the Dwarves could.

Aside from being unable to create mechanical beings, they had their own research into other weapons.

The Dwarf race was highly ambitious. In their eyes, the best hunters disguised themselves as prey.

The green-skinned beings wanted to plunder their resources, but likewise, the Dwarves wanted the green-skinned beings’ chip technology.

Once they obtained the chip technology, Dwarf factories would mass-produce mechanical beings and aerial fortresses.

Then, the Dwarves would rule this world.

In this world, there was no mistake; backwardness meant being beaten.

Among the Challengers, aside from Ramírez from Argentina, who had become a deputy captain, the others were sticking with the group.

At least for the first twenty minutes of combat, they had to ensure the commander’s survival.

The combat vehicles emerged from a tall forest. Ahead lay the tree stumps left after deforestation, and a plain.

The Dwarves’ steel castle stood directly ahead.

So, a surprise attack was simply impossible; there were no obstructions around the steel castle.

In this world, there was no scenario where generals from both sides first duel for a few rounds, then exchange words.

As long as they entered each other’s firing range, they opened fire directly—it was that simple and brutal.

Brandon, the Spanish Challenger, although having an advantage, was still very tense.

It wasn’t that he worried the green-skinned beings’ firepower was inferior to the Dwarves’; he kept looking at the surrounding forest, feeling an ambush was imminent.

BOOM!

As the Dwarves’ city defense cannons fired first, huge, destructive energy beams shot out.

The green-skinned commander was prepared; the siege cannons he brought returned fire in kind.

The heat wave from the colliding energies instantly charred the surrounding tree stumps black, turning the grass into scorched earth.

The shockwaves made the surrounding trees sway wildly, leaves falling, the power extremely formidable.

With orders from both commanders, the full-scale battle officially began.

Under the cover of rear firepower, Mechanical Sentries and armored combat vehicles continuously advanced.

As long as they breached the Dwarves’ main gate, the green-skinned beings would have victory in hand.

But Brandon noticed something abnormal. The Dwarves’ firepower wasn’t as strong as expected, or perhaps they were intentionally letting the Mechanical Sentries and armored vehicles advance?

That meant the defensive forces around the commander were significantly reduced, and they were mostly configured for long-range assault. If ambushed, the consequences would be dire.

Brandon felt he couldn’t just wait. He wouldn’t join the assault force because, regardless of whether they could break in, the assault force had the highest casualty rate.

After firing a few symbolic shots from a distance, he aimed his Super Electromagnetic Cannon at the forest behind them.

Based on his guess, the Dwarf commander would probably send a surprise attack force from the tall forest.

To prevent an ambush, he decided to use the Super Electromagnetic Cannon to fell these tall trees first.

As a series of tree-falling sounds came from the rear, it attracted the Potbellied Commander’s attention.

“What are you doing?”

The Potbellied Commander had a fairly good impression of Brandon, Mechanical Guard ID 1333; otherwise, he would have started cursing already.

Brandon briefly explained his thoughts.

He felt the Dwarves seemed to be intentionally letting the vanguard advance, so he suspected a trick and wanted to take precautions.

The Potbellied Commander nodded, agreeing with his reasoning. The green-skinned beings were inherently fearful of death.

So, he ordered Brandon to take fifty Mechanical Sentries and knock down the nearby tall trees, which would make it easier to spot any surprise attack forces.

This also came down to favorability and trust. Brandon’s performance in the previous stages had been good, so the Potbellied Commander was willing to listen to him.

Watching Brandon’s actions, Spanish viewers commented that he was the most textbook example of operations among ordinary Challengers, bar none.

Spanish viewers even began speculating on how many ‘S’ ratings Brandon might get upon clearing this.

But just after they jinxed it, an accident occurred.

The rules had already told the Challengers that the Dwarves would launch a surprise attack.

Many Challengers were setting traps or destroying the tall forest.

But they still underestimated the path of the Dwarves’ assault.

Especially those Challengers who were cutting down trees were now in a perilous situation, nine deaths likely out of ten.

Because the site was constantly bombarding the Dwarves’ steel castle to reduce pressure on the front lines, the roar of the cannons was immense.

This gave the Dwarves an opportunity to sneak attack.

The Dwarves weren’t attacking from the grasslands on the flanks, nor from the forest behind.

They were attacking from underground!

BZZZZZZ!

A huge spiral drill bit emerged from the ground, and a behemoth erupted from the soil.

Instantly, many Mechanical Sentries fell, disabled.

A massive drill vehicle emerged from the earth.

As it appeared, a large number of Dwarf warriors brandishing battle-axes and riding wild boars charged out, engaging the nearby Mechanical Sentries in combat.

Brandon then realized the sound of the drills had been masked by the cannon fire, allowing the Dwarves to reach the rear of the mechanical legion so easily.

The Dwarves’ target was clear: kill the green-skinned commander.

Once the commander was dead, the mechanical legion would fall into chaos.

Without the highest command authority, the mechanical legion couldn’t fight effectively.

Seeing the imposing Dwarf warriors before him, Brandon panicked.

These were Dwarves with axes on their chests, formidable in close combat.

The thousand-strong mechanical legion might not lose the fight, but if the commander died, it would be over.

If he hadn’t cut down the trees, the commander could have hidden among them. The wild boars ridden by the Dwarves were the type that charged straight ahead; the forest could have provided some buffer.

Now, not only had he failed to stop the Dwarves, he had created better conditions for their assault.

This was a case of being too clever for one’s own good.

“Damn Dwarves, you didn’t tell me you invented underground drill vehicles!” Brandon cursed as he rushed forward to fight.

He would deal with that boastful Dwarf later. For now, he wielded his Super Electromagnetic Cannon, continuously firing at the charging Dwarf cavalry.

The Dwarf cavalry’s target was clear. They charged directly towards the green-skinned commander on their boars, fearless of any interception attempts by other Mechanical Sentries.

In this stage, the best performer, and the most surprising one, was actually the Holy Knight Sidney from France.

Sidney’s heavy armor had been further enhanced, to the point that French viewers didn’t even want to watch.

So far, he had only completed basic tasks, earned no merit points, remained a Mechanical Sentry, and couldn’t obtain heavy weapons.

But now, he stood like an indestructible wall, physically blocking the charge of the Dwarf cavalry, buying some time for the Potbellied Commander.

Using large-scale area-of-effect weapons at such close range risked killing all allies.

In that case, while the Dwarf cavalry might be wiped out, they would likely lose the war anyway.

And if one wasn’t careful and killed the commander, that would be… interesting.

It required precise accuracy and calculation of charge time.

Using ordinary firearms against Dwarf-forged armor wasn’t very effective.

At this time, Challengers carrying melee weapons had a significant advantage.

Relying on their enhanced physical strength, they could cut down many of the charging Dwarf cavalry.

Challengers who had managed to obtain the Queen Bee Crystal in the previous stage had a much easier time now.

Because their defense was increased by half, they were less likely to be killed by a Dwarf cavalry charge.

Just as other Challengers were in a frantic state, the audience suddenly remembered an absolute melee powerhouse.

So, they switched to the Chinese Master Zhang’s stream, wanting to see how he slaughtered the Dwarf cavalry in close combat.

But when they opened the screen for the Chinese Master Zhang, the scene was even more explosive than Holy Knight Sidney’s.

Many seemed to have forgotten that Master Zhang had the black bear with him.

The twenty-meter-tall black bear was hiding in the forest.

When the Dwarf cavalry charged out from underground, they were dumbfounded.

A group of fierce warriors found a colossal creature standing before them.

The Dwarves at the front wanted to turn back, but those behind had no idea what was outside.

They ended up pushing the front riders out.

Besides the black bear, the emerging Dwarf cavalry saw numerous Beastman warriors perched in the treetops, and the area was surrounded by heavily armed Mechanical Sentries.

The Dwarf cavalry leader began to doubt his life, wondering if he had the wrong script. Why did the enemy have so many combat units?

As he hesitated, the black bear grabbed him and the boar he was riding and tossed them into its mouth.

A loud CRUNCH echoed.

Dwarf muscles were well-developed, and boar meat was pretty good too.

Both were things the black bear liked to eat.

After spitting out the blood-stained metal armor, the black bear continued guarding the tunnel entrance, enjoying the ‘all-you-can-eat buffet’.

After eating about a hundred Dwarf cavalry, the black bear patted its full belly contentedly.

The Dwarf cavalry that gave other Challengers headaches were thus casually resolved by the black bear Zhang Yangqing had brought along.

The Dwarf race never dreamed that a Challenger would bring the boss from the previous stage to play in this one!

Wasn’t that just cheating!