Spirit Taming

Chapter 742: Black Smoke

The terrain was in ruins compared to the rest of what the group could see in the distance. Now they could understand why it was common knowledge for the dwarves to have a barren and wasteland like home world.

It made the idea of even traveling to a place like that is desirable. "I wonder how they even get food to survive." Ella had a lot of information, but with what she saw, even dungeons would not be enough to feed an entire world of dwarves that destroyed their home like this.

It was basic math, understanding how much food was needed for a civilization was just that. If it was growing, then they needed more. If it was shrinking, then it would need less.

However, producing that food was important. If that failed due to plague, beast attacks, or other natural factors, then there would be famine. There would be death.

"I would guess they are a smaller race than what we all think." Taking a deep breath, Isa thought about how she had responded for a moment.

In her head, this would make the most sense. "We already know that the dwarves are solely focused on everything crafting, forging specifically, right? So what if they didn't focus on anything else? They could be running themselves to extinction because of that. It's an obsession."

"I could understand that. Driven by the desire to forge something better than has ever been made, they were willing to create things that even put their health and safety at risk. As the years went on, they did not focus on personal relationships. Instead, they were fully focused on the forging and creatine."

"They are able to make metal golems that can act like beasts, along with often having beasts that rely on metal and non eating aspects of life. Just like the possessed armaments and the spirit steel sword. So, we are able to assume that with those factors, the dwarven race is fruitlessly looking for materials even when it is slowly declining."

The theory all summed up by Ella and Isa made the group feel a lot less interested in pursuing the dwarven mining city that they had built here in this deep rocky wilderness. It was hard to accept that a race would be digging themselves in to their own grave and not trying to resist it.

Especially when there were threats that they had faced before. The blood moon cult should be one that they were focused on fighting and not ignoring. But what if they had just assumed the issue was gone all those years ago when they had been faced with a threat to their resources? What if that was the reason they had cared at all in the first place? Their resources.

Realizing that this could have been something that many people would have known from a long time, if it wasn't for how far the dwarves were, the group felt a little deflated. They wanted the help of the dwarven race to combat the blood moon cultists. Yet, what if they could care less due to their obsessions?

There was a focus that Clark was stuck on though. "Even if they are not interested in helping because of what the cultists are doing, they might want the ores we have. We can strike a deal to help them mine some things or at least take some rare ores. They will have a very powerful combat ability even in small numbers. Just look at how they mine."

Gesturing to the land around them as they walked, Clark was sure that this was the case. The dwarves had made so many metal golems and other powerful weaponry with energy crystals and rare alloys that this made sense. They could easily represent more than ten soldiers with just themselves. If they helped even a little, it would be invaluable.

"Well first, we should see what all that smoke is about." Jerold had run ahead a little and was standing on one of the large piles of broken rock and dirt that had been dug up. He had tried to get a vantage point so that they could maneuver through this area better. Instead, he was surprised to see all the way to the nearest start of a mountain.

There, he saw a cloud of black smoke slowly rising up from what could only be their destination. Forging would always put off some evidence of it. The smoke would be from the moving mining city. Regardless if it was from forging, the idea that steam and many other things were used to create what the dwarves made was common sense. They were focused very much on their technological inventions.

Less so on taming beasts and studying them.

From what everyone understood, the moving city was even using some of the excess wood, roots, and other materials it dug up to fuel its movement. While the complicated mechanical aspect would be beyond them, this was still an amazing example of why the dwarven race was powerful. They had managed to create so much that they could not be rivaled in that aspect of life.

Weaving through the dug up craters, Jerold significantly sped the group up. They were able to move much more efficiently now that he had gotten a wider view. It was something to say about how he was able to map out the pathways he took. Like he had been training his mind to take on puzzles like this. Even more so when Clark noticed that they were not backtracking at all.

They were moving in diagonals and stepping forward at all times.

When they got around the large pile of stacked crushed stone and dirt, Clark got his eyes pon the large plume of smoke that was ahead. Instead of white or multi colored like most forges would be, it was a deep dark black. It made him feel that there was something very wrong with it. Nothing should look like that. The color of rot, not the color of fire burning something to be created anew.

"It's so thick that I doubt we can even see the moving mining city when we get close." Ralph grunted in annoyance. This was a race that was all about forging. He wanted to learn more about them. Yet, here he was, looking at their city and only seeing smoke. What was the point of even trying if they were not able to see it even from a distance.

"I doubt that's normal. How could they have managed to farm through all this and if they had no idea where they were going? I doubt the move around blindly. They would overlap with all the areas that they had explored already." Grace felt it was ridiculous to think that they would move blindly. As did the rest of the group as well.

"Then there is a problem." Brad pushed Jerold ahead and picked up the pace. He felt that they were going to be seeing what they had wanted to see the least.

Regardless of whether the dwarves were destroying the land, declining in population, or anything else related to their culture or characteristics. The dwarves were definitely not foolish. They had sharp minds that let them delve in to a world of creation that others did not comprehend. So what if they had already been fighting the blood moon cultists?

The dwarves that had fought the elves within the most recent dungeon might not have been from the city they were going to now. The dungeon was connected to the human world, the elves, and maybe the dwarves' home world. Not their mining city here in the deep wilderness.

If that was the case, then these dwarves could have been fighting the blood moon cult longer than anyone else. No one would have ever known it either. The dwarves would have suffered because they were not allied with anyone on this world. Their stubbornness kept them from the elves and the humans were far away and did not bother them.

"Hey, send the elves a warning that we have a battle already. They are focused on the dangers that they need to face with the incoming locusts due to the plains being damaged, but they should be able to contact the rest of the universal alliance for us." knowing that they had the communication crystal as a last resort from the matriarch, Clark let Maria handle this.

From here, they would need to make sure that something was to change. That they were able to make themselves safe. That they would have back up coming from where they stood in battle. Fighting the blood moon cultists right now would be risky, but they would need to have that battle.

The cutlists could be making monsters out of the dwarves now. They could also be stealing all the materials and energy crystals here. If that was the case, then the cutists were planning to do even worse. They might be preparing to create more monsters at whatever their main base was. Nothing good could come of this.