Diggy Diggy Hole Chapter 38 (Patreon)

Days passed by into weeks, and then months as I kept myself busy. I was still a young Dawi but with Ungrim was throwing other younger dwarves in my hold to encourage them to take charge of themselves. I was swiftly maturing into a respected dwarf.

Though, not that any of my kin would insult me saying I was too young to lead. I was... Very strong with my enhanced stats. I was a skilled Runesmith, and I led the younger kin who joined my clan with respect to our traditions.

Even if these younger kin here without their elder's gaze on them constantly were being... Rambunctious to say the least in trying to prove themselves in this hold that didn't have millennia of history.

Besides settling my new clan in, basically. I kept myself very busy doing two main tasks. A- Tripling the production of dwarven automatons, as well as teaching a few of my kin how to make the Dwarven Centurion core's, so I didn't need to make them by hand anymore myself.

And arguably most importantly. I helped build the tunnel from Karak Kadrin to Karak Eight Peaks and reinforced said tunnel as much as possible with traps and other things in case the Skaven did Skaven shit and managed to get through our lines.

All that time that passed did well for me. Over time, whenever possible, I helped enchant other kin's armor and weapons when I had the extra experience and mana for it.

This allowed my dwarven magic resistance to increase greatly!

In 40k terms, at this point I was already a low-level blank of sorts as magic cast around me from people I designated as hostile would just peter out and fade as my 'aura of fuck your wizard shit' made those wizards into easy targets.

And there was one major change with my magic resistance doubling beyond my ability to channel actual amounts of magic, especially fire magic, through myself without turning into stone.

I could... Feel 'The' gazes fade off of me. Things in the shadows of my mind, and in the rooms I was in had to squint to truly see me. Things far away could not see me through divination.

But names had power, so I never called out the dirty things.

Still with my growth in power... I noticed also that my body was growing quicker than my kin, and the medicine women who checked me every other week said that I was likely to be as tall as Ungrim's hair spikes themselves!

Which made me idly wonder if I was going to end up like the dwarf king Gazel Dwargo in Tensura, who was the fucking tallest dwarf in fiction besides in like Marvel?

"Still not sure how to feel about being Goku in height. I should have become a Vegeta in height and attitude." I muttered thoughtfully before I chugged down a large gaft of ale that tickled delightfully into my stomach.

A heavy, steamy exhale left me as the spicy ale burned in the core of my stomach, even as it renewed the heat and poison resistance to protect me from the Nether's foul effects.

Then a strong woman's voice rang. "Clan head, ere be yer rations!" 

I looked over at the solid dawi woman who was clad in light armor who brought me a large plate filled with hearty food. Food that would fill a man's stomach to last them half a day.

Thick sausage links, cuts of salted ham, sweet ale, several cuts of rock cake, and a bowl of mixed greens. The perfect mix for a dawi to keep the strength in his back as he was swinging his pickaxe.

"Thank you Fiona." I said with a nod to the dwarven woman who gave me a nod and went to help the other womanfolk in the camp feed the rest of our kin working in the Nether.

Because the path to Karak Eight Peaks was significantly longer compared to the path from my hold to Karak Kadrin. So we had set up a camp nearer to the end point, as it took eight hours by train to get back to Karak Kadrin.

A light fist thudded against my armored shoulder, and I raised an eyebrow at Umilgore Ironfist, one of Ungrim Ironfist's... Many sons.

And also a half-brother of Fiona Ironfist... 

"Yer getting real comfy with her bringing ye food heh?" He teased with a hint of gruffness in his voice past his beard as he also ate his food.

I just laughed and said pointedly. "Bah! How many daughters does he have anyway? Do I need to be tiptoeing like some Elgi ranger in the forest in fear of breaking a stick?" 

As Ungrim Ironfist was... Very odd by Dawi standards for having a large harem, as he knew that being the Slayer King. He and especially any of his sons. Didn't exactly have a long lifespan planned out for them, obviously.

And although Ungrim had a great number of sons, that didn't mean he didn't have any daughters who inherited his crimson hair for the most part.

I took a drink of my ale as I watched Fiona's hearty backside shift in those leather pants... Delightful. And it's not like I was hung up on her more dwarven facial features either. I was a dwarf after all.

"We are getting close to Karak Eight Peaks... I should probably head back soon. Your father will be calling a Moot of Kings to bring the blood of the kin to bear on the lost hold." I said firmly.

Umilgore gave me a firm grunt of agreement before he thumped his armor-covered chest and said with a grin. "Aye, it will be a glorious day to retake our hold. For better or worse, though, the Thaggoraki and Green Skins are separated by collapsed floors. So it will be a slog." 

My lips curled in amusement as I then said more to myself. "Good, we will teach them that in a war of endless attrition. The dawi can win this as well." 

As even should a dwarven automaton be utterly scrapped in battle... Its metal could still be recycled and made anew easily enough so long as it wasn't a Centurion with a broken core.

And honestly, there weren't too many Skaven weapons that could get through the four-inch-thick armor that surrounded the cores anyway.

"Glory will be ours. Blood will be repaid... And when the dust settles and the hold of Karak Eight Peaks is taken. I can start to say I have cleared part of my grudge with their blasted existence." I said with relief at the thought.

But Umilgore said rather flatly. "Heh, a living skaven is an insult to the Dawi. My axe hand won't settle until their entire line is blotted out."

I shrugged as honestly. Killing all the Skaven in this world was probably harder than killing a fucking Chaos god.

 They were like beastmen... There is alwaaays another rat hiding somewhere.