Chapter 324: The Black Iron Fortress: Secrets of the Past

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Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Excluding the numerous gaps and damages spread throughout, and even the grandeur unable to conceal the complete lack of vitality and desolation.

Thotmudo looked at it, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

“Black Iron Fortress, how could it turn out like this… What exactly happened to the Dwarven race over the past thousands of years…”

In his memory, the Black Iron Fortress was forged from countless rare metals using the “Solar Furnace”, weighing hundreds of tons, and it was known as the impenetrable fortress gate – the “Dwarven Shield”. But now, there was a hole over ten meters wide on the gate, with melted traces along its edges.

Inside the fortress, the once magnificent sculptures and halls were now in ruins. The grand hall that could accommodate tens of thousands of people was also in chaos, and the symbol of Dwarven unity – the Dwarven Hammer – was shattered into pieces, scattered all over.

As Thotmudo looked at everything, his expression was incredibly complex.

Relying on his memory, he passed through one corridor after another, one hall after another, and what he saw was desolation everywhere. There were marks of axes and knives on the walls and floors, indicating how fierce the battles here had been.

Fierce to the point that not even the united Dwarves could stop them.

In an inconspicuous side hall, Thotmudo turned a broken Dwarven sculpture, and with a rumbling sound, a passage entrance appeared on the wall.

He walked in.

Perhaps because the passage was relatively sealed, there were still some bones left behind, some belonging to Dwarves, and others from different races. But with just a slight breeze, they turned into powder.

Walking to the end of the narrow and winding passage, he arrived in a vast domed space.

This place had originally stored mountains of treasures from the Dwarves, but it was now completely empty. Clearly, when Black Iron Fortress was captured, this place had also been looted.

Thotmudo paused for a moment, then walked to a corner and touched a stone brick with a specific force and angle, rotating it.

With a clattering sound.

A passage entrance opened to the side, just wide enough for two people to pass through side by side.

Inside the passage, there were no bones or signs of battle.

Seeing this, Thotmudo felt a glimmer of hope.

This was a secret known to only a very small number of Dwarves within Black Iron Fortress. They had agreed that if Black Iron Fortress faced an unstoppable attack, in the face of impending destruction, they would record everything that happened and store it here for future generations to know.

Inside this passage, perhaps he could find out what had truly happened to the Dwarven race.

The passage was very long and winding as if it led deep into the heart of the mountain.

But Thotmudo was patient, and he walked down quietly.

Finally, he reached the end and slowly pushed open the last stone door.

Behind the door was a small, dimly lit chamber with only a platform inside. On top of the platform was a small stone pillar with a white crystal on top.

Beside the stone pillar, there rested a tiny Dwarf skeleton adorned in elegant attire, its bones gleaming with a golden hue.

In the chest, where the heart would be, there was a strange-looking dagger stuck, dealing him a fatal blow.

Thotmudo was stunned, his expression filled with sorrow.

He recognized whose Dwarven skeleton this was…

“Claudio, did you fall too?”

Claudio Blackiron, one of the epic Dwarven powerhouses of Black Iron Fortress in the past, and also his close friend who had guarded Black Iron Fortress and the Dwarven race together.

His fatal heart was attacked, yet he persevered to come here, which was enough to prove how sudden and fierce the events were back then, and how powerful the enemy they faced was.

Thotmudo felt a profound sense of guilt in his heart.

If he had stayed in Black Iron Fortress instead of going out back then, he wouldn’t have fallen into the hands of the Archlich Krieg Theredell.

With his epic-level power, could the events that unfolded here have taken a different turn? Could Black Iron Fortress have remained unbreached?

His mind was filled with countless thoughts, but Thotmudo eventually calmed himself down, and his gaze gradually became resolute.

“Claudio, did you persist until this point to preserve this information?

What kind of enemy was it that even you couldn’t match and had to fall within this small chamber?”

Thotmudo stepped forward and gently touched the crystal.

A projection appeared.

In the projection, there was another rugged Dwarven figure, with a grayish complexion and lifeless eyes.

A horrifying wound cut across his abdomen to his right shoulder, with the pallid bones faintly visible.

If an ordinary person had suffered such an injury, they would have died long ago. Only an epic-level powerhouse could endure and reach this place to leave behind information.

In the projection, Claudio Blackiron slowly spoke, “I am Claudio Blackiron, one of the three epic heroes of Black Iron Fortress. If the situation is as dire as I suspect, then I must have already perished.

But I never imagined that Black Iron Fortress would fall in this manner. With just one blow, our pride, the ‘Dwarven Shield’, was pierced in an instant. In less than half a day, we were forced to withdraw, losing our outer defenses step by step…”

Pierced in an instant?

Thotmudo’s face showed astonishment. Even epic-level powerhouses couldn’t destroy the ‘Dwarven Shield’ in such a violent manner, let alone with just one strike.

Moreover, there were countless defensive fortifications and formidable defensive weaponry on the outskirts of Black Iron Fortress. With the advantage of its natural terrain, it should have been impervious to enemy attacks, even against a massive army.

But it was breached in half a day?