Chapter 009: Subjugation

Another point is that these leaders never imagined that such minor disputes could turn into the catalyst that turned the two sides into enemies!
Thus, it started with a few warriors fighting each other, and as more people joined in, the scale of the chaos grew. Soon, the warriors of both tribes vented their frustration from defeat on one another!
By this point, the situation was beyond control, and the fighting and unrest between the two tribes escalated into a full-scale war.
Strangely enough, although the Bilu tribe had more than ten thousand members compared to the Dodge tribe, they were at a disadvantage. There were two reasons for this. First, after successive defeats, the Bilu tribe had completely lost confidence in warfare and their morale was low. When conflicts arose with the Dodge tribe, their warriors never expected such disputes to escalate into war. Once actual fighting started, their morale plummeted even further.
Second, the warriors of the Bilu tribe had been severely depleted in battles against Basa’s army. Meanwhile, the Dodge tribe’s warriors, often staying in the rear, were in a position of advantage, able to fight with fresh strength.
Third, the warriors sent by the Dodge tribe were all carefully selected, while many of the Bilu tribe’s warriors were picked from ordinary dwarfs or craftsmen after their regular soldiers died. Such warriors were naturally inferior to the professional soldiers.
Under these circumstances, what Du Fan and the others witnessed occurred: a group of over three thousand Bilu warriors was surrounded by five thousand Dodge warriors.
As soon as fighting started, the Bilu warriors were no match for the five thousand Dodge warriors. Many Bilu warriors died at their hands.
“Du Fan, should we go down and save them?” Naixiu asked.
“Du Fan, shall we go and help?” Moses also asked.
“Let’s go and save them. Anyone who is an enemy of the Dodge tribe is our friend. Moreover, if we can win over the Bilu tribe, it will have a significant impact for us. Many tribes will then be willing to submit to us,” said Basa.

“Alright, let’s go down and save them!” Moses said, then plunged downward. As he fell, his battlefield domain was unleashed, landing right at the heart of the battle between the two tribes. Soon, the battlefield domain covered an area of nearly three hundred miles. Within its bounds, all warriors of the Dodge tribe lost part of their combat strength, while the warriors of the Bilu tribe suddenly felt an surge of power within them! With the help of Moses’ battlefield domain and Du Fan and Naixiu’s assistance, the Bilu warriors quickly routed the Dodge warriors. The Bilu warriors naturally recognized Moses and Du Fan; Naixiu was from Bashar’s side. “Why save us?” asked the leader-like figure of the Bilu tribe. “It’s not your fault,” Du Fan said with a smile at the dwarf leader. Once again, Du Fan wore his signature holy smile. Seeing such a smile, the dwarf leader’s heart warmed instantly. At that moment, it felt as though he could never refuse anything ordered by a man who carried such a holy smile! “You’re just victims,” Du Fan continued. “The fault lies solely with Karu. He shouldn’t have incited your leaders to rebel against the Dwarf King.” “Yes! It’s all that bastard Karu! To get himself to power, he’s turned the entire dwarf race into this mess!” the leader said angrily. “Do you know what benefits Karu promised your tribe to get them to rebel against the Dwarf King?” Du Fan asked. “That Karu promised that once he came to power, he would hand over three major mines of their Dodge tribe to us,” said the leader of the Bilu tribe. “Three major mines?” Du Fan frowned. “Out of the three, only two are currently in the hands of the Dodge tribe. The third has already been requisitioned by the Dwarf King,” the Bilu leader explained quickly, seeing Du Fan’s confusion. “Any one of those mines is enough to ensure our Bilu tribe’s prosperity for thousands of years. The three mines produce rare metals, not ordinary iron ore,” the Bilu leader continued.

“Oh, the mines you’ll be in charge of—what do they produce?” Du Fan asked with interest.
“The mines of our tribe produce gold and silver,” said the leader of the Bilu tribe.
“Gold and silver! What’s the output?” Du Fan became interested upon hearing that the mines produced gold and silver.
Gold was the hard currency of the continent—usable everywhere. And silver was highly prized by magicians and craftsmen!
Weapons and armor infused with silver saw a significant improvement in quality.
Silver’s natural ability to conduct magic made it an excellent material for crafting magical items.
“The gold output from those mines is about ten thousand gold pieces per year, while the silver output is around a thousand pounds,” said the leader of the Bilu tribe.
“A thousand pounds of silver!” Du Fan exclaimed in surprise again. As a magician, he knew that silver was a hundred times more expensive than gold and was often in short supply.
A thousand pounds might seem like a small amount, but adding just half a tael of silver to a weapon or armor could greatly enhance its quality.
After some thought, Du Fan said, “There are no warriors from the Dodge tribe behind us. You can head back to your tribe slowly. We still need to move forward to see if we can save more warriors from your tribe.”
After bidding farewell to the leader of the Bilu tribe, Du Fan and his group continued flying forward. Along the way, they rescued nearly ten thousand warriors from the Bilu tribe.
While rescuing these warriors, Du Fan also discovered that Komhan’s eldest son had been killed by the Dodge tribe.
After rescuing the last group, Du Fan was already very close to the territory of the Bilu tribe.
With the last group rescued, Du Fan began walking toward the Bilu tribe’s settlement. Two hours later, they arrived at the Bilu tribe’s camp.
Upon reaching the territory of the Bilu tribe, a profound sense of sorrow spread among everyone. There wasn’t a single person in the tribe who wasn’t wearing mourning attire!

White flowers were pinned on all the members of the Bilu tribe, signifying that a close relative in their family had died. Whether it was an elder, a child, or a woman, everyone had white flowers pinned on them. Some dwarfs even had three or four white flowers pinned on them, indicating that three or four close relatives in their family had passed away.

The previous two wars had already seen everyone in mourning, and this time, more people died than in those two wars combined. It was unknown what kind of further harm such casualties would bring to the already sorrow-stricken Bilu tribe!

As they went further inside the tribe, the profound sorrow became even more evident.

Inside, cries could be heard everywhere!

Many of the Bilu tribe warriors who had escaped the pursuit of the Dodge tribe warriors had returned. Those who returned naturally told the tribe members about the situation of this war. Originally, there were still over 40,000 remaining Bilu warriors, but after being pursued by the Dodge tribe, more than 10,000 of them died. Out of 100,000 who set out, only over 30,000 remained!

Over 60,000 warriors of the Bilu tribe had lost their precious lives!

In total, out of 350,000 people in the Bilu tribe, over 100,000 had died, leaving only over 240,000 people! Nearly one-third of the population had been wiped out in just over ten days.

The Bilu warriors who had returned were still patrolling the tribe. It could be said that the Bilu tribe was in a very dangerous situation. On one hand, they had offended Basha and the dwarf king behind him; on the other hand, they had intense conflicts with the Dodge tribe. In other words, the Bilu tribe was now trapped with no way out!

Any move by either side would make the Bilu tribe feel extremely vulnerable.

Du Fan and the other two entered the territory of the Bilu tribe. Soon, someone reported their arrival, and quickly, a group of over a hundred giant pangolins rushed over.

“Our leader asks whether you are guests or enemies,” said a leading giant pangolin knight.

“May I ask who your leader is?” Du Fan asked with a slight smile.

“Our new leader is Rimoldo,” said the giant pangolin knight.

“Look behind me. This group of over two thousand people was saved by me from the warriors of the Dodge tribe. See, am I a guest or an enemy?” Du Fan asked back with a smile.
With Du Fan’s question, the dwarf knights didn’t know how to respond. They had never expected him to pose such a question again.
Seeing the stunned expressions on the giant pangolin knights’ faces, Du Fan smiled and said, “Of course, I’m your guest. May I talk to your new leader?”
As soon as Du Fan said this, the giant pangolin knight replied quickly, “Since you’re a guest, please follow me.”
Led by the giant pangolin knight, they encountered dwarfers crying in sorrow along the way. Watching them so heartbroken, Du Fan suddenly realized that while fighting enemies on the battlefield and killing them swiftly was indeed satisfying, he wondered if he would still feel the same way if he knew each killed enemy had a family devastated by their loss.
Soon, they arrived in front of a house.
“Please come in, guests. Our leader is inside,” said the giant pangolin knight, making a polite gesture to invite them in.