The Author's POV

"Wow."

Standing on top of a hill, my mouth opened in amazement. The scenery I've only seen in movies and paintings was currently presented before me.

It was a lot more mesmerizing than I had ever imagined.

I could barely take my eyes away from the sight.

The mountain range revealed nature clearer than anywhere I had ever seen before.

The slight chill in the air was enough to give me a gentle shiver but not enough to find the need to cover up.

Staring into the distance, the gentle breeze coming down from the mountains tickled the trees, making their leaves shake and sway as though they were laughing.

"Is that where we're supposed to go."

Leopold asked as he pointed at the mountain range in the distance.

"It is indeed the place."

Giving a small nod, I replied.

"That over there is Henolur, the dwarven capital, and our destination."

Traversing a thousand kilometres over these past few months, we were finally close to reaching our destination.

Just like usual, we encountered a few beasts during our journey, but in general, nothing out of the norm that would result in our trip being delayed occurred.

The only noticeable delay in our journey was the Monolith incident, but it was now over.

"Huaam, I guess we can finally have a proper night sleep."

Leopold yawned and packed up the camping equipment beside him.

Turning my head, I wryly smiled.

"...not so sure about that."

"What?"

"It'll depend on our luck."

Although Henolur was generally safe and did not block humans from entering the place, that didn't mean that it was completely safe.

It was best to stay alert at all times.

"...seriously? And here I wanted to finally rest."

"Tell me about it."

Constantly watching our backs due to the threat of beasts, apart from Ryan, almost everyone here was running low on sleep.

"Ren!"

"Yes?"

Holding onto a small tablet, Ryan suddenly ran up to me.

"I've found it. I've found the entrance of the place."

"That fast?"

Because the mountain range was massive, finding the exact location of Henolur was a lot harder than originally anticipated.

Fortunately, I had Ryan with me, who could use his drones and equipment to look for the place.

Shoving the tablet in front of my face, Ryan excitedly pinched the screen and pointed towards a specific area in the mountains.

"Yes, check over here. Doesn't this look like a statue?"

"It sure does."

Because the drone was so high up in the sky, to avoid the dwarves detection, I wasn't able to see too much.

However, from what I could make out, by the side of one of the mountain ranges in the distance, there seemed to be some sort of artificial monument.

Sort of like a statue.

my eyes away from the tablet,

"Good job."

"Hehehe."

my compliment, prompting

guess he's a child at

was a genius and acted mature at times, he was still a kid after

and

up; we're

we had arrived at the

***

At the same time.

so far

of branches, revealing the

elves shared similar features, with fair skin, pointy ears, and stunning faces. However,

Their hair.

instead of being pure gold, though faint, had a mix of silver in

almost regal aura spread from that elve's

we do? Should

the golden-haired elf

we can't

because of the

"Correct."

starting to make their

each bordered lengthened and the general rank of each force were

sign that the demons were preparing for

the humans for the past week could

...at least for now.

we do now? Should we let

"Mhm."

silvered-haired elf turned around and

or later. We might meet them again in

***

we neared Henolur, the massive stone gates of the city that were

statues depicting dwarves holding onto massive

presence, made me, who standing

scenery from the drone, it was only now that I was close that I truly understood the sheer

It was massive.

the gates of Henolur, an earthy and sulfur-like scent invaded my nostrils, prompting my brows

"Uek!"

I wasn't the only that didn't like the smell as Ryan grimaced and

used to

was the capital of

also the only city that existed in

the other races that lived on the earth's surface, dwarves lived

were multiple reasons for this, but in the end, it all boiled down to the fact that the temperature was the hottest

centre, the dwarves were able to smelt the ores faster and

probably originated from the natural gasses found in the

the front is the

asked as he tapped

Turning around I reassured.

"Yup, don't worry."

prejudice against humanity had died down a

their places wasn't out of the question,

now back in her ring form, there

strongest of the group, and even then, I was only

not like we're

on Smallsnake as he

you spent so much money on

"That's right."

space were multiple different ores that

bought them was so that

amount of metal that they went through each day to craft an

trade with

the enormous gate, I looked

follow closely behind me. Let me do the

"Okay."

nodded their heads in unison, prompting me

"Great."

a group of small burly creatures

'Are those guns?'

at the barrels in

sure looked like