"None, no race rules here."
"The Valley of Despair is desert everywhere, and its deepest part is a wasteland of active volcanoes; it is the most remote place in the world."
"Then what is the nearest country to here? Which race rules it?"
"I don't know," the dwarf spoke blankly. "Fifty years ago, our Gray Dwarf Kingdom went to war with the Troll Kingdom. Our nation was defeated, so we fled here to survive."
"We Gray Dwarves haven't left this place for over fifty years and don't know much about the outside world."
After listening.
Lyle looked thoughtful, then continued to ask:
"What was the battlefield you mentioned earlier?"
"The weak humans have occupied an Oasis here, and the strong among them has died of old age. We want to seize the humans' Oasis."
"As long as we can take the Oasis, the great Gray Dwarves can once again breed a larger population, form a great army, leave this Valley of Despair, and reclaim our Glory."
Next.
Lyle asked for more detailed information, and after a moment, he reached out and snapped the Gray Dwarf's neck with a forceful squeeze.
"Ghost Hound, let's go!" Lyle's expression was solemn.
The situation of the humans in this region could no longer be described as merely bad; it had reached the brink of extinction.
In this vast desert region, any place with a water source could be called an "Oasis."
Since twenty years ago, among the humans surviving in the Valley of Despair, a powerhouse who could be called a "hero" was born, and they occupied one of the three major Oases in this region.
Only then did the human tribes, who had originally been hiding and barely surviving, completely settle down here.
However, this "hero" had died of old age!
A human's lifespan, after all, could not be compared to that of other races.
Weak, short-lived, and with nothing but decent reproductive capabilities, they were indeed seen as an inferior race in the eyes of other races, fit only to be slaves or even food.
And that a "hero-level" powerhouse could be born from such an inferior race was itself one of the most incredible miracles of this Valley of Death.
Clatter!
The sound of weapons clashing and rubbing against shields and armor rang out amidst the occasionally blowing yellow sand and the parched desert.
Five hundred fully armed Gray Dwarves, their eyes gleaming with ferocity, surrounded a human unit of about a hundred people.
Calling them fully armed was an exaggeration; in reality, each Gray Dwarf held a hammer-style weapon and a wooden shield wrapped in sheet iron.
As for armor?
In this godforsaken place lacking Ore, even dwarves skilled at forging weapons couldn't conjure Materials out of thin air.
As for the human side, not many held proper weapons; most even used weapons in the style of those held by the Gray Dwarves.
Only at the very front of this group of humans was a quite conspicuous figure, holding a silver spear and wearing deep brown armor.
This was a girl with short silver hair and wheat-colored skin, looking to be only about seventeen years old, with a resilient face.
The armor was already covered in pits and dents of all sizes, looking very worn out—clearly an ancient set of armor that had existed for unknown years.
A thick scent of blood filled the air, and numerous corpses lay on the ground, though most were human.
They had been surrounded!
In terms of numbers alone, they had no chance of winning, let alone the disparity in weaponry.
"You damned runts! None of you will escape; you will all die under the weapons of the great Gray Dwarf warriors."
The Gray Dwarf General leading this army shouted excitedly at the besieged humans.
He had long anticipated that the humans wouldn't just surrender and would surely resort to desperate resistance; he hadn't expected his gamble to actually pay off.
What surprised him even more!
Was that the granddaughter of that human "hero" was actually in this unit. If he could capture her alive and kill her in front of the resisting humans, it would surely shatter the human defense line completely.
Compared to the Gray Dwarves with their excited and hideous gazes.
The surrounded humans were instead very calm; no one spoke, and everyone just silently gripped their weapons.
There was no fear of death!
Nor was there any dread of the enemy!
Clank!
The armor rattled.
"Live on, everyone!" The Silver-haired Girl raised her arm, lifting her spear above her head. "Kill!!"
A raspy roar resounded.