**Chapter 143: Between a Rock and a Hard Place**
Behind the second city wall, chaos began to emerge.
Dwarf warriors pulled back from the front lines mixed together with female dwarf crossbowmen, clogging the retreat.
The female dwarf crossbowmen could draw a thousand-pound crossbow and shoot well, but they had rarely received battle training, lacked discipline, and could not accurately distinguish military orders in a noisy environment.
In a moment, the retreating street became a mess.
George stood on the noisy street and stopped.
Jenna, holding a tower shield, asked, “What’s wrong?”
They could use their advantage as extraordinary beings to directly bypass the noisy crowd.
“We can’t retreat too quickly,” George said. “If the enemy charges in, the little order we have left will collapse, and the consequences would be unimaginable.”
As if to prove his reasoning, a scream erupted nearby, and a massive Hell Abyss Abomination, as large as a hill, scattered the troops behind the palace. Dwarfs flew everywhere and fell to the ground. It climbed up and stepped down heavily on a fallen dwarf warrior.
The meticulously crafted heavy armor shattered before absolute power, crumbling like cereal with a crack.
The seven heads of the Hell Abyss Abomination looked toward the retreating street.
A horned helmet-wearing long-bearded dwarf led a group of dwarf warriors, who were also supposed to retreat. They immediately stopped, raised their round shields, and formed a thin line in front, banging their axes against the round shields.
The six rat heads growing from the main head screamed and yelled in unison: “Crush these little dwarf things to pieces! Pieces!”
The Hell Abyss Abomination charged at the dwarf line, numbering fewer than twenty. With a crash and a sweep, the dwarfs were either killed on the spot or knocked away.
The horned helmet-wearing long-bearded dwarf smashed to the ground, his helmet fell off, and he quickly stood up, blood streaming down from his forehead.
The Hell Abyss Abomination didn’t notice him; it was raising its foot to stomp down on a screaming young dwarf warrior, turning him into a meat patty.
“Big meat chunk! It’s your grandpa here!” the horned helmet-wearing long-bearded dwarf roared as he charged alone toward the Hell Abyss Abomination.
George, who was rushing from behind, shouted, “Fall back!”
Without looking back, the horned helmet-wearing long-bearded dwarf replied, “This is still far from the long-eared dragon!”
With that, he struck forcefully, cleaving his axe into the Hell Abyss Abomination’s ankle, where the young dwarf warrior was still underneath. He swung his axe again and again, shouting:
“Ugly monster!”
“Far worse than the long-eared dragon!”
“I’ve seen beasts stronger than you!”
Eve Frostleaf’s arrows continuously struck its eyes, yet the Hell Abyss Abomination still noticed the horned helmet-wearing long-bearded dwarf, who was mumbling and continuously chopping at its ankle.
It shook its foot, sending the horned helmet-wearing long-bearded dwarf sprawling on the ground, then lifted its foot to step on him.
The long-bearded dwarf quickly got up, facing the descending foot, and roared, “Far worse!” He jumped, swinging his axe toward the sole.
“Bang!”
The foot landed and twisted on the ground, a clear sound of bones shattering was heard alongside a faint voice saying, “Far worse…”
This veteran from the long-bearded war had died.
The Hell Abyss Abomination took a step forward down the street, leaving behind a stark trail of bright red blood beneath its foot.
Even the obstinate dwarfs couldn’t help but feel fear; some stood dazed, gripping their axes, while others lifted their heavy crossbows to shoot at the Hell Abyss Abomination, sending raucous “drizzles” toward it.
Like the drizzle, they posed no real harm; it dragged its massive body, crashing through homes, charging forward and leaving a path of ruins in its wake.
George raised his great sword and charged forward, swinging it now and then to cut down any ratmen daring to obstruct him.
Enraged, the Hell Abyss Abomination could not believe someone would dare to stand in its way today. It roared, waving its four arms and charging toward him.
“Stop! Stop!” a ratman responsible for directing the Hell Abyss Abomination shouted from behind. “Get it to stop! It’s George! George!”
Perhaps out of fear or a desire to weaken the Corrupt Clan, no ratmen charging behind the Hell Abyss Abomination attempted to stop it.
George sprinted and leaped powerfully, covered in a translucent shield, soaring directly toward the top of the Hell Abyss Abomination’s head.
The six rat heads on its neck screamed in unison, “Kill! Kill!”
The Hell Abyss Abomination raised its limbs, striking down at George from all sides; in its view, this jumping little bug was simply seeking death, just another piece of flesh beneath its foot.
As weapons like the Dimensional Stone hammer and butchers’ knives aimed to tear George apart, he suddenly transformed into light, flashing past and appearing atop the Hell Abyss Abomination’s head, wings of light unfurling from his back.
A familiar feeling, familiar people, familiar light pollution—an image flashed in the Hell Abyss Abomination’s blood-soaked mind, recalling events from a few days prior.
The six rat heads on its neck emitted terrified screams: “It! It’s that thing!”
“The butcher bug!”
“Get him down! Get him down!”
With both hands glowing with white light, George pressed down, embedding the sword into the main head’s skull.
“Die!!!”
“Ahhhhh!”
The main head of the Hell Abyss Abomination lost half of itself instantly, but this twisted creature, manufactured with the most advanced gene engineering from ratmen, was not so easily killed. It shook its head, throwing George off and swung a hammer down at him.
A beautiful arc of white light swept through the air.
A severed hand with a Dimensional Stone hammer fell to the ground.
The Hell Abyss Abomination wailed, swinging its arms; an arm with a butchers’ knife struck George, shattering his shield and penetrating his divinity, knocking him aside.
George flapped his wings of light, flying sideways up into the air, circling around before slashing his sword at the Hell Abyss Abomination’s back.
The six rat heads screamed in unison, and the Hell Abyss Abomination twisted its massive body, struggling to turn around. At this moment, the surrounding dwarf buildings impeded its vast bulk.
Too late, George closed in, his great sword descending.
The rat heads gleamed with a light of cunning triumph, and the Hell Abyss Abomination’s remaining three “hands” twisted at the joints, stabbing and slashing at George behind it.
Caught between a rock and a hard place in the air!
George opted for a head-on clash, slashing off one wrist with another sword stroke. He flapped his wings, adjusting his stance as the butcher’s knife smashed against his back, breaking his armor.
But this worked to George’s advantage; like a cannonball, he plunged into the Hell Abyss Abomination’s fat, followed by another terrifying flash of white light.
An astonishingly deep wound appeared.
Ratmen strongmen rushed over, trying to hinder George and kill this giant beast.
However, Eve Frostleaf’s sword blocked them, while Jenna used her divine magic, transforming into countless nets of light to entrap the advancing ratman infantry.
They could only watch helplessly as the Hell Abyss Abomination’s massive body was illuminated by one white light after another, flesh chunks falling to the ground, followed by its remaining two arms.
Ultimately, the last thing to hit the ground was half of its main head.
The Hell Abyss Abomination slumped forward, its legs kneeling beneath it, dirty black blood continuously flowed down from the severed neck.
Yet its wounds continued to heal, growing fleshy buds.
A few oil stones fell from the sky, followed by flames descending, as Eve Frostleaf manipulated the flames that enveloped the Hell Abyss Abomination’s body, burning fiercely.
George also landed, half-kneeling on the ground, lifting his helm to spit out a mouthful of blood mixed with gold.
He reached behind his waist and felt a deep indentation; light surged from his palm to heal the flesh and bones, forcing the dented armor back into place.
He staggered to his feet, wincing from the pain in his lower back.
But compared to the raging Hell Abyss Abomination behind him, this was nothing.
Eve Frostleaf waved at George, and George, now unsteady, ran faster and faster, jumping onto the rooftop.
Jenna approached and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I can still fight.”
With a 360-degree field of view, he suddenly spotted another Hell Abyss Abomination, covered in naked dwarf butchers, who were crawling all over it. The creature tossed its body, shaking off many dwarf butchers, but more continued to climb over it.
Ants swarming!
The Hell Abyss Abomination was like a large caterpillar tossed into an ant nest, covered with dwarf butchers.
George never imagined that one day he would witness the sparsely populated dwarves using an ant swarming strategy to thwart a giant beast invading their homeland.
It was breathtaking.
George said, “We need to support them.”
Frostleaf replied, “I was just about to say that.”
At that moment, covered in blood and even with an arrow still stuck in his back, Butcher Gatrek climbed to the highest point, swinging his axe toward the back of the Hell Abyss Abomination’s neck, which already had a deep wound.
But Butcher Gatrek aimed for deeper, severing its cervical vertebrae.
The Hell Abyss Abomination continually smashed the wounded dwarves with its damaged limbs, trying to knock down that damned dwarf butcher from its neck, but it was in vain.
George suddenly wondered why the Hell Abyss Abomination didn’t retreat back? If it escaped to the lines of its army, no more dwarves would be climbing onto its body.
Only when he entered did George discover that below the Hell Abyss Abomination, it was a blood-soaked hellish battlefield.
Dwarfs and butchers were all over the place, continuously chopping at its legs, and there were also dwarfs rushing beneath it, disregarding the companions crushed beside them, pushing toward the Hell Abyss Abomination’s back to block the approaching ratmen.
By the time George arrived, the Hell Abyss Abomination was overwhelmed; its head dropped, and its massive body collapsed, crushing countless injured and disabled dwarfs beneath it.
A sparse cheer rose from below, as very few dwarfs had survived.
From this hellish scene, George found the unconscious Butcher Gatrek, rescuing him while also carrying away a few dwarfs who looked like they could still be saved, moving back with the retreating army to the last stronghold of the dwarfs, the inner keep of Dragon’s Spine City.
Compared to the entirety of Dragon’s Spine City, the inner keep was pitifully small.
After George and his group entered the inner keep, they expected a crowded scene, but found it to be anything but.
To prevent the Hell Abyss Abomination from attacking, the retreating dwarf forces had paid a heavy price, sacrificing many lives just to gain a slight respite.
These sacrifices only allowed the dwarfs to take a breather.
The clan leader stood on the city wall, looking at the collapsed Hell Abyss Abomination and the pile of dwarfs beside him, a field of blood, and he noticed several wounded dwarfs among the piles of bodies.
He sighed heavily, as if he had aged ten years.
Ratmen surged up, gaining control of the battlefield.
The clan leader turned away, unable to bear the sight.
George approached, having only roughly wiped the dirt off his armor.
The clan leader wearily asked, “Will you really come back? Human.”
“I believe in Jima.”
The clan leader’s gaze passed over the hellish battlefield, over the two collapsed city walls, over the outer battlefield, finally landing far away.
“We dwarfs have no way to retreat,” the clan leader said. “The next time the walls collapse, it will be the end of Dragon’s Spine City.”
“Oooooo~~~”
With the sound of a horn.
Atop the hill, torches erupted, their flames illuminating the wings of winged knights, the bright red cloaks, and the lance standing like a forest.
