The Author's POV-Novel

364  The end of the war [1]

Thud—

With a loud thud, Orion's body fell face first on the ground.

As his body fell onto the ground, everything froze and the atmosphere in the hall chilled completely. Apart from Waylan and Douglas, everyone had confused and astonished looks on their faces. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Randur, who everyone thought was a traitor turned out to never have been a traitor but was actually manipulating the whole scene from behind. Not everyone was clear about what had happened, but they all knew that at this moment, Orion had been taken out by Randur. 'I guess my jobs done…I'm tired.'

Staring at the scene from afar, my eyes grew heavy. For the past week or so I have had sleepless nights, trying my best to infiltrate this place and making sure everything went according to plan.

It was hard.

It was really hard.

In an unfamiliar place surrounded by enemies, this place reminded me of my time back at the Monolith. Just the mere thought about the past made it hard for me to get a good night's sleep as the nightmares would haunt me in my sleep. I could only cope with the nightmares by working even more. Trying my best to make sure that my plan had no flaws. "Huaam..." A soft yawn involuntarily escaped from my lips. Blinking a couple of more times, turning around, I headed for the door and exited the hall.

Soon enough a massive battle would ensue, and given my current state and strength, I would be nothing but a burden. The best course of action for my sake was to just leave. "Ukk..." Upon exiting the hall and walking quite far from it, entering a secluded room, and closing the door behind me, I took out my communication device and sent a message to Waylan and the others. 'Once you're done, come and wake me up.'

The message was short and concise with the coordinates of my location attached to it. Bzzz— Bzzz—

"Ah, right, the dampening system is back on." It was then that I realized that the dampening system was back on and I could no longer send a message. "Oh well..." Shrugging my shoulders and leaning back on the wall, I slid down and finally relaxed.

'It's finally over…'

At least my part was over.

Everything else would be left to Douglas and the others. With the teleportation devices down and their leader currently under the effects of a strong poison, everything was set for our victory. Finally, after planning everything for over a month, the plans came to fruition and the war was now as good as over.

Although the fight might be a difficult one, I had done everything within my power to give the dwarves a large advantage. If they couldn't even win after all I've done for them, they might as well just die. "Haaa…I'm tired." I muttered out loud, my eyes slowly closing.

'I don't know how I was able to last this long with everything that was going on, but I should be able to get some rest now, right?...I can at least have this much...' I inwardly to myself as my eyes slowly closed and my vision slowly turned dark.

***

"Leave no one alive."

Gervis's cold voice rang throughout the hall as a powerful energy blast shot towards from his large staff, towards the duergars in the distance. "I repeat, make sure you kill everyone in the hall. Spare no one!" He of course reminded everyone to kill all the duergars in the hall. Since their goal was to stop the war and deal significant damage to the demons outside, sparing anyone in the hall was not an option. They had to all die. BOOM—!

A torrential energy blast shot out from both sides as the mana in the air froze and the space distorted. The terrifying fluctuations that came from the attacks of each side would've left anyone weaker than <S> rank paralyzed in fear, unable to move. 13:45

Despite of the fact that the walls of the room were made out of Rhimestone, as both sides attacked each other, the walls slowly started to crumble apart.

It was clear to see that the power of the individuals present was too much for the walls to hold.

Rumble—

The whole room shook, and more and more energy blasts and attacks shot from the opposite directions as the representatives from each side fought with their own lives in the line. There were no fanciful attacks, but each and every attack that came from the individuals present in the room could shake the whole city outside. If not for the special room they were in, everything would've long crumbled apart within seconds that the fight had started. "Haaa!" Bang—!

Blasting away one of the duergan elders away with his long staff, Gervis looked in Randur's direction.

At the moment he had joined back their side and was fighting against another duergan elder who was glaring holes at him. Swinging his axe downwards and blocking an attack coming the elder, sensing something, Randur turned his head and his eyes soon met with Gervis's.

Once their eyes met, Gervis gave him an all known look and mouthed.

"We'll be having a long talk later."

Some may not know this, but when Randur stabbed him in the back, Gervis had genuinely thought that he had betrayed him. He was stronger than Randur, but Randur was not an elder for nothing. Despite his strength, he was unable to react before he had already stabbed him in the back.

Once he got stabbed in the back, he felt his own body paralyze, and for a brief moment of time, he actually thought he was going to die.

…but that sensation didn't last for long as before he knew it, he had gained his consciousness back and was presented with a familiar scene.

It was a scene where Randur stabbed someone in the back, but this time, the one at the end of the dagger was not him but Orion.

It didn't take long for Gervis to understand what had happened as he soon got a clear picture of what had happened. In order to deceive the enemies, he decided to deceive them as well. It was a great plan, but Gervis was not too pleased with it. Was he that untrustworthy?

"We will definitely talk about this matter later," Gervis said once more as he turned distance.

Staring at Gervis in the distance, Randur's face became bitter. 'I did it in order to ensure the highest chance of success, and it worked…and I didn't even stab him that hard.' He inwardly muttered to himself as he lamented over his bleak future.

He did this for the benefit of the dwarves, yet he was going to get an earful for what he had done later.

He really was not looking forward to that.

"Well, whatever, a small price to pay for victory."

Shrugging his shoulders, Randur once again raised his axe in the air. Preparing his attack, the mana in the air gathered towards the head of his axe, and a bright glow enshrouded the whole area around him. Raising his hands, he slashed down. Bang—

Gervis's body jerked as he slashed down while the mana converged towards him, transforming into a white stream that headed with a frightening power towards the elder in the distance.

As he was currently fighting against an orc, he was unable to react in time by the time the attack reached him, and it directly hit him in the body.

Clank—!

But the elder was not an elder for nothing, the moment he knew that he could not dodge the attack, rather than dodging the attack, he did nothing, and a loud metallic sound rang out throughout the hall. The metallic ring lasted for a brief moment before disappearing as the duergan elder remained standing. Revealed underneath his torn clothes was a buff metallic armor.

A subtle glow enveloped the armor as the elder turned his attention towards Randur. He had an almost smug look on his face as he looked at Randur opposite to him, but contrary to his expectations, Randur did not care one bit for him as he slowly turned around and left, much to the surprise of the elder. Before the elder could react, a large hand came from above, grabbing him by the head and smashing it towards the ground. Boooom—

With a large sound, the head of the elder smashed against the ground with a 'bang,' fine miniature cracks formed around the area where his head smashed. The one responsible for the attack was the orc from before. Randur's goal was never to defeat the elder. He was only trying to distract him to buy 13:46

an opportunity for the orc.

He knew that his attack wouldn't have worked since the elder had an armor. Being an elder, Randur obviously knew who the duergan elders were and how they fought. So he knew from the very beginning that he wore an armor. Usually, armors were only worn by tanking-type individuals. Typically not many wore it since it consumed quite a lot of mana and weighted quite a lot.

An example would be Orion and Gervis. As they were both long-ranged type fighters, in order to maximize their movements, they refrained themselves from wearing an armor.

Still, even if they wore an armor, Randur wouldn't have had a problem taking them down since he mainly relied on the poison rather than the attack to deal damage to them. As long as he just gave them a scratch, they would've found themselves in the same situation.

"Let's get this over with."

Planting the heel of his foot on the ground, Randur shot towards a nearby duergar and once again attacked.

Bang— Bang—

Tremendous energy blasts shook the entire hall as the terrifying battle continued.

Blood spilled from both sides as the duergars fought with their life on the line. Some tried to run but were soon stopped by even more reinforcements coming. In the end, by the time the third hour passed, all of the duergars in the hall were dead.

None remained standing.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Panting heavily and supporting his body with his staff, Gervis looked at the hall which used to be the elder council of Inferno.

It was a scene of carnage. The hall was now dyed red with blood as pieces of flesh and limbs scattered all over the hard ground.

Propping his body up with the aid of his stuff, Gervis turned to face his right, where another dwarf stood. It was Alga. With her hair disheveled and panting heavily, she too, looked extremely tired, but her eyes were bright.

"We did it…we've finally won." She muttered in a relieved and joyful tone. The raw emotions contained within her voice were clear for anyone around her to feel. "We did…" Gervis added by the side, walking up to her. Staring at the scene before him, a heavy load was lifted away from his shoulders.

They had finally defeated Inferno. But Gervis's joy didn't last for long as his face soon became serious.

"What are our losses?" He asked, with his brows furrowed, intently staring at the surroundings before him. Turning her head, Alga's previous joyful expression turned into a bitter one as she lowered her head and said. "We've lost a total of six people out of the fourteen that came with us. Of the six, four of them are from our side…"

"Shit…" Gervis cursed out. It had to be noted that all those that died were elders who stood at the peak of Henlour. Each ranging from <S> rank to <SS>. Every one of their death was a big blow to their power.

Fortunately, with Inferno now gone, they could grow and recuperate their losses easily, but it still pained Gervis who had spent years with each and everyone present. Lifting his head up, with his bushy eyebrows locked into a frown and staring at one of the panels that had somehow managed to survive the terrifying battle that had ensured in the hall, displaying the situation outside, Gervis turned his head and looked at the others people present in the hall. "We'll hold a tribute for all our fallen comrades later. For now, let's get rid of the remaining forces outside. It's not over till it's really over!"

His powerful voice reverberated throughout the whole hall as everyone lifted their head and stared in his direction.

It was only then that they realized that a battle was still going on outside. Carrying his tired body towards the exit of the hall, Gervis stumbled a couple of times, but using his last bits of energy, he continued to move forward. As a leader, he had to set an example. His weak and tired figure stood as an example to the people present as soon, following him from behind, were the survivors of the terrifying battle. As they carried their bodies outside, although tired and injured, everyone knew that at this moment, the war was finally over.

They had finally won.