----------
Guys, if you are reading this, then please consider leaving a review, it really helps out. And if possible please give the story some powerstones as well. 🙏
🎁 12 Days Remaining until the giveaway begins! Join us on Discord!
----------
Translator: AnubisTL
The night on the Black Iron Plains was as thick as unyielding pitch, the two moons swallowed whole by heavy, dark clouds, plunging the land into a suffocating, absolute blackness.
Suddenly, the deathly silence was shattered.
On the watchtower at the tribe's perimeter, the ear-splitting alarm siren managed only a brief, strangled shriek before being abruptly silenced, as if its throat had been seized.
In its place came a cacophony of chilling scraping sounds, low growls, and the screech of claws raking against metal fortifications!
The curtain of darkness was abruptly illuminated.
Not by lamps, but by pairs of eyes that suddenly opened in the absolute darkness, burning with raw, murderous intent!
Yellow-green, crimson, eerie blue... countless eyes, like Will-o'-the-Wisps, silently and inexorably encircled the Gold Tooth Tribe.
"Enemy attack! It's the monsters from the Ironforged Tribe!"
"Ballistas! Quick, load the ballistas!"
"Lights! We need light!"
The goblin guards' panicked cries erupted in the silence, their voices trembling uncontrollably.
Searchlights flickered to life, their beams sweeping futilely through the dense darkness, illuminating only a small portion of the outermost ring of the encirclement.
There were the grotesque, twisted faces of ogres, their fangs dripping with saliva; the arched backs of graymane werewolves, their claw-blades glinting with cold light; and the heavy iron hooves of centaurs, each step crushing the ground beneath them.
In the night sky above, massive shadows surged through the darkness before materializing.
Dragons circled overhead, their wingbeats tearing through the silence of the night. An invisible pressure, like icy iron bands, tightened around the hearts of every goblin.
The operator's finger hovered over the trigger, but he dared not press it.
Though the anti-air crossbows and alchemical heavy cannons were fully loaded, no one dared fire them. The goblins piloting the mech golems didn't dare cross the thunder pool, retreating step by step before the relentlessly advancing Ironforged Warriors.
"It's over... all over... the Grand Artificer is gone..."
An elderly goblin elder collapsed to the ground, muttering to himself, his clouded eyes filled with despair.
News of the alchemical legion's defeat and Scott's death in the southwestern mountain region had long since reached them. The Gold Tooth Tribe's backbone had been broken, their confidence shattered.
Cowardice was in the goblins' nature.
Having lost their protectors and witnessed the annihilation of their once-proud legion, the goblins now possessed alchemy machines for combat but lacked the will to resist.
"Scum!"
"Drop your weapons and kneel!"
Thunderous roars erupted from the iron and red dragons as they circled the towering red-iron dragon, their voices reverberating across the battlefield.
The goblins' knees buckled, collapsing like harvested wheat.
But just as the tribe's panic threatened to devolve into utter collapse...
From the heart of the tribe, deep beneath the core palace—the symbol of the grand artificer's authority—a muffled rumble, like the earth's heartbeat, began to resonate.
Woom—thump! Woom—thump!
The ground trembled violently across the entire Gold Tooth Tribe, cracks spiderwebbing across the surface.
The palace's outer walls peeled away, revealing its steel-reinforced core.
Then, to the astonishment of countless goblins, the grand artificer's palace came to life!
Thick plumes of steam, infused with blinding arcane energy, erupted violently from the palace's base vents.
The heavy armor plates covering its surface shifted and rearranged like the scales of a giant beast, sliding, rotating, and reforming into new configurations.
Massive gears churned and meshed within the structure, emitting a deafening metallic roar. The upper structure collapsed and contracted downward, while thick, suffocating mechanical arms extended from the sides. The base bulged upward, transforming into a massive, mountain-like colossus.
Garos's eyes narrowed slightly.
"There's definitely something strange going on here."
At the same moment, the steel giant straightened its colossal frame with inhuman precision and ponderousness. Each extension of its joints was accompanied by the grinding of machinery.
Its towering stance seemed to support the entire precarious sky of the Gold Tooth Tribe.
"G-Grand Artificer?!"
"Lord Scott! Is that you?!"
The desperate goblins, clinging to this last straw of hope, erupted in cries of relief and frenzied cheers, as if reborn from the ashes of despair.
Their terror vanished, and they all rose to their feet, chanting wildly, "Great Artificer, slaughter these monsters!"
Yet the colossus remained unresponsive to the goblins' pleas.
Blue light streamed from its eyes, sweeping across the darkness, across the dragons circling in the sky, before settling into stillness.
Analyzing environment. Assessing threat levels and enemy-ally power ratios. Calculating tribal survival probability.
Resistance: 11% chance of success. Tribal survival probability approaching zero. Optimal solution: surrender.
Under the stunned, despairing, and incredulous gazes of countless goblins, the giant that had just ignited their hopes knelt slowly and heavily before the red-iron dragon, like the most humble of servants.
All its weapons retracted, and the energy glow gradually dimmed, like a ferocious beast sheathing its claws and fangs.
Then, on the giant golem's lowered head, the armor split open, and a goblin emerged—a middle-aged grand artificer, judging by his appearance and attire.
"Honorable dragon, please accept the Gold Tooth Tribe's allegiance."
"If you spare the Gold Tooth Tribe for our transgressions, we will pay any price."
He knelt as well, maintaining a humble posture, but his voice carried no emotion, each word measured and precise.
"So it's an alchemical construct."
Red Dragon Samantha's eyes flickered with a faint magical light as she cast a detection spell, then blinked in realization.
She smacked her lips thoughtfully, musing, "Garos, the Gold Tooth Tribe's chief is likely long dead. This grand artificer is a construct he left behind using alchemy."
"Your insight is as sharp as a blade," the Grand Artificer said.
Garos lowered his gaze to observe the Grand Artificer, his voice calm as he replied, "I need to know more."
"As you wish."
The goblin began to recount his origins in detail.
When Grand Artificer Scott reached the end of his natural lifespan, he secluded himself within his palace.
Unfortunately, due to the Frontierlands' scarce resources and limited knowledge inheritance, coupled with the fact that he had devoted nearly all his prime years to researching golems and developing his clan, even his extraordinary innate talent couldn't overcome the constraints of time. In his final years, he failed to devise a method to prolong his life.
On his deathbed, the Grand Artificer chose alchemical ascension.
Using alchemy, he fused his soul with the palace, transforming it into an intelligent golem.
The goblins gradually came to understand the truth.
The alchemist they revered—the one who had led their clan from obscurity to prominence—was long dead.
What remained was merely Scott's cold legacy: an alchemical intelligence existing solely for "continuation." It possessed no honor, no anger, no resentment—only the cold logic of rational intelligence.
"Alchemical intelligence," the red-iron dragon said, "your performance in the war makes me doubt your claims."
He had initially expected the war against the Gold Tooth Tribe to last much longer.
However, the goblins' decision to establish a base on the Fertile Plains, disregarding the potential risks, had directly led to their downfall.
"Don't give me gold," the grand artificer said. "Teach me the flames of the philosopher's stone. It was the life motto written by my predecessor and the very reason for my creation. My purpose isn't combat, but to guide and nurture alchemists, to ensure the Gold Tooth Tribe can endure and thrive even without me."
He was ill-suited for war.
His strategies against the Ironforged Tribe relied primarily on reports from the goblin elders, from which he attempted to deduce the most appropriate course of action.
Garos finally understood.
No wonder the Gold Tooth Tribe had so many alchemists—this was the reason behind it.
"Let me see your intelligence core," Red Dragon Samantha said.
As an alchemist herself, she knew that every intelligent golem possessed a core that integrated and processed chaotic information, forming what could be called "thought."
The grand artificer did not hesitate.
The armor at the back of the golem's neck opened, revealing an octahedral core etched with alchemical runes. Red Dragon Samantha examined it closely before turning to Garos. "Such an intricate structure—it truly is an intelligent golem. It will be invaluable to us."
Having witnessed the grand artificer's ability to match Garos in combat, completely overwhelming the strength of other juvenile dragons, Samantha's anticipation for alchemy grew even stronger.
In her view, if mere goblins could achieve such mastery, her noble self was destined for even greater accomplishments.
Of course, she had no interest in alchemical ascension or transforming herself into an alchemical intelligence. Her focus lay in using alchemy to create various equipment and enhancing her own abilities with runes.
"An unexpected boon," Garos remarked.
"After this, we may never lack alchemists again."
Garos gazed at the grand artificer with the admiration one reserves for a work of art, his gaze sweeping over the deathly silent tribe.
"Your wisdom will fuel the Ironforged's furnace, and your fate will be defined by the shadow of dragon wings," he declared.
There was no room for negotiation, no need for pretense. This was the victor's unquestionable decree.
"We thank you for your mercy," the giant golem replied.
The giant golem, the grand artificer's true form, gradually transformed back into a palace, settling silently on the ground. The goblin-like construct was merely a more mobile "avatar" for him.
"All goblins of the Gold Tooth Tribe, abandon resistance and submit to the Ironforged Lord," the grand artificer declared.
In truth, no further words were needed. The moment the goblins realized the grand artificer was merely a construct, not a "legendary" being, nearly all of them knelt again, silently praying that the dragon would accept the Gold Tooth Tribe's allegiance, thus granting them a chance to live.
A few outliers remained.
They cursed the intelligent golem for deceiving them, dishonoring the Gold Tooth Tribe, and refused to submit. Before the monsters could even react, the grand artificer crushed them with his alchemy machine.
Afterward, elite battle groups were stationed on the Black Iron Plains.
As time passed, the Gold Tooth Tribe's former strongholds and resource points were swiftly seized. The Ironforged Tribe's territory gradually expanded across the southern Frontierlands. The hyena-men and kobolds, whose rapid breeding rates had once made them nearly unsustainable, finally found a purpose.
While the Ironforged Tribe was flourishing,
in the northwestern Frontierlands, at Red Maple Valley,
"Deborah has been in the Frontierlands all this time," the silver-haired, flawlessly handsome man said, frowning. "She told me she left the Frontierlands to go on an adventure, but that's not true."
"Staying in the Frontierlands but not returning to Red Maple Valley, pretending to be adventuring elsewhere."
In his human form, Frostmark Edri looked puzzled and displeased. "What exactly is Deborah up to?"
Edri had secretly placed a tracking mark on the red-silver dragon, allowing him to monitor its movements at all times.
Recalling Deborah's evasiveness during their last communication, when she claimed to be on an adventure, the silver dragon was convinced she was hiding something from him.
It was time to investigate.
(End of the Chapter)
---------------------------
📚 You are reading [177] Chapters behind.
🔥 Read up to Chapter [411] now, only on 𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝕞.
🚫 Also get FREE lifetime ad-free and join the giveaway by joining our Discord!
---------------------------