The heavy gate of the Giant Tooth Pass, resembling the throat of a giant beast, slowly rose amidst the roar of winches and chains, revealing a deep passage behind it that seemed to lead to the Earth's core.
The moment Linde stepped inside, he felt a vast and powerful aura that was completely different from the surface world.
That was the territory of the dwarves: a magnificent kingdom nestled in the mountains.
Gimli Bronzebeard straightened his back, his mustache held high with pride, and his booming voice echoed through the vast passageway:
"Welcome to the Heart of Redhill, Lord Lind! Welcome to Ironforge, the home of the dwarves!"
The passageway was not as low and oppressive as one might imagine; quite the opposite! It was wide enough for several Lind's carriages to travel side by side, and its height far exceeded that of the main hall of a human castle!
The passageway is not made of rough rock, but rather dark rock walls that have been carved and polished to a mirror-like smoothness by dwarven craftsmen with unparalleled skill.
At intervals along the rock face are enormous, ever-burning magical torches. These torches are not flames, but rather spheres of molten lava contained within transparent crystal domes, emitting a warm, golden-red light that illuminates the passage as bright as day and casts dancing shadows on the smooth rock face.
The road beneath our feet is paved with solid, specially treated stone slabs, as smooth as a meticulously paved square, and the wheels of vehicles make almost no sound when they roll over it.
The air was thick with the smells of rust, burning coals, a peculiar mineral aroma, and a deep, heavy pulse that seemed to emanate from the very depths of the earth. In the distance, a rhythmic, muffled "thump...thump..." could be faintly heard, like the heartbeat of a giant—the eternal pulse of the "Unquenchable Forge," the source of power for the entire dwarf kingdom.
Linde's gaze swept around, his purple eyes flashing with amazement.
The sense of spatial scale here completely defies common sense.
The passageway is suspended high above the ground, estimated to be at least ten stories high. It is not a simple dome, but rather a massive relief carved with intricate details, depicting the epic scenes of the dwarf ancestors carving out the Red Mountain, taming the earth fire, and forging divine weapons.
The details of the relief are so exquisite that every whisker and every nail plate is lifelike. Its scale and craftsmanship are unparalleled by any church mural.
The massive stone pillars supporting the passage are each so thick that it would take seven or eight adults to encircle them. Thick, metallic pipes are wrapped around the pillars, through which scalding steam or molten metal flows, emitting a deep hum, like the breath of a dragon.
"A lowly race, a magnificent creation..."
Linde murmured to himself, his tone filled with genuine admiration.
With their hammers, chisels, and unparalleled engineering skills, the dwarves carved out a world for giants from inside the mountain!
Every inch of space is filled with the ultimate beauty of power and order, a perfect combination of practicality and artistry.
Under Gimli's arrangement, the group took a short rest at the equally large and sturdy "Stone Hall Inn," a place specifically for receiving foreign guests.
Dwarves’ food is simple yet plentiful: large chunks of roasted, charred rhinoceros meat, “rock bread” with a hard outer shell and a soft, chewy interior, “lava roar”, a spicy and invigorating dwarven spirit, and a thick soup made from underground fungi.
The flavor may not be refined, but it is full of the richness and warmth of mountain rocks, leaving a deep impression.
After a quick meal and packing their belongings, especially after the heavy wagons carrying the key items were carefully protected, Lind and the others, led by Gimli, officially embarked on the road to the heart of the Dwarven Royal Court—the Soul Forging Hall.
The road was still incredibly wide, but the scenery on both sides was beginning to change.
It is no longer just a simple passageway and rock wall, but a magnificent architectural facade has appeared!
Palaces, workshops, warehouses, and barracks stand side by side, carved into the mountainside or constructed entirely of massive rocks and metal.
The lintels of these buildings are all extremely tall and heavy, as if they were entrances prepared for ancient giants.
Above the lintel, huge anvils, warhammers, or gear emblems often hang, gleaming with a cold, hard luster in the light of the lava torches.
Huge gear sets slowly rotate inside or outside the building, driving complex linkages and elevators, emitting a heavy and regular metallic friction sound, playing the industrial symphony of the underground kingdom.
The closer you get to the core area, the stronger the scorching metallic aura and surging energy in the air become.
Huge pipes, like steel vines, cling to rock walls and the exteriors of tall buildings, transporting scalding steam, cooling water, or molten liquid metal.
Fine metallic dust filled the air, shimmering faintly in the light.
Finally, they arrived at an underground space whose vastness defies description.
That is the Soul Forging Hall, the palace of the King of the Hills.
Suddenly, a vast expanse opened up before him! A space many times larger than Linde had imagined unfolded before him.
This is the heart of the Dwarven Court—the Soul Forging Hall.
It can no longer be described as a "hall"; it is more like a sacred temple built by hollowing out the entire mountain, dedicated to "forging" and "power"!
Looking up, the enormous dome seemed to connect with the sky (albeit an underground "sky"), so high it was dazzling. The dome was not smooth, but covered with natural crystal clusters that shimmered like stars and glowing moss, which the dwarves had skillfully guided and inlaid to form a vast and magnificent star map depicting the trajectories of stars and the souls of their ancestors.
Several incredibly thick natural stone beams, like the spines of a mountain range, span the dome, and are also carved with huge epic reliefs, telling the legend of the dwarves' origin and their protection of the Red Mountain.
The hall floor was paved with huge stone slabs polished like obsidian mirrors, so smooth that the starlight from the dome was clearly reflected.
Its vast area was large enough to accommodate several legions of ten thousand men arrayed here! In the center of the hall, there was not a throne, but a huge, sunken circular platform—the legendary "Heart of the Royal Court's Furnace." Although the furnace was not fully lit at the moment, one could still see a dark red light shining through the deep hole in the center of the platform, radiating astonishing heat, and the air above it was slightly distorted.
The deep rumble emanated from here, like the heartbeat of the entire Red Mountain.
Supporting this boundless space are twelve colossal pillars reaching to the heavens! Each pillar seems to have been carved from an entire mountain peak, with a diameter of over twenty meters, and its surface is covered with thick, fine gold armor plates engraved with ancient runes.
These runes are not decorations, but giant magic array nodes that guide and restrain the raging energy of the entire hall and even the Red Mountain ley lines, radiating a heart-palpitating energy fluctuation.
Between the giant pillars, thick metal chains crisscross like the tendons of a dragon, from which hang huge anvil models, extinguished giant torches (used for special ceremonies), and even several exaggerated metal statues of dwarven ancestors wielding giant hammers, like silent guardian deities.
At the far end of the hall, directly behind the "Heart of the Furnace" platform, stands a towering platform made of countless massive rocks gleaming with mithril.
On the high platform was the throne of Muradin Bronzebeard, the dwarf king.
The throne itself is a breathtaking creation—it is not in the form of a traditional chair, but rather an abstract sculpture symbolizing "power" and "forging," cast from countless weapons, armor fragments, mineral crystals, and a massive metal with flowing lava patterns!
Behind the throne, a massive wall, tens of meters high, is entirely composed of polished metal plates of different colors, forming a huge emblem depicting anvils, flames, and mountains. It gleams in the firelight, symbolizing the glory of the dwarven kingship and the god of forging.
At this moment, in this magnificent and breathtaking Soul Forging Hall, the most eye-catching thing is not the building itself, but the figures standing solemnly on both sides of the road leading to the throne platform—the Dwarven Royal Guard, the "Mountain Heart Fortress"!
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