The Fire Dwarf

Atop the Grand Altar of Isdalia, Trump held a scroll in hand, bowed his head to Cassius, and said with the utmost reverence: "Your Majesty, the Plane Shift to the Elemental Plane of Fire has been fully constructed." "You will be transported to the outskirts of the City of Pig Iron, where the Empire's pioneers have already established a foothold—the Cinder Empire Elemental Plane of Fire Agency." Plane Shift was a seventh-circle spell capable of transporting up to eight creatures at once to another plane, with a margin of error ranging from five to five hundred miles from the destination. The Cinder Empire had not originally possessed such cross-planar teleportation magic. However, the Imperial South Continent Company had sent envoys to deal with the court wizards of the Kingdom of Thrace, acquiring this spell scroll for a mere seventeen thousand gold dinars. At present, Thrace was engulfed in the smoke of war and was desperately short of military funds. Meanwhile, having grown wild and untamed in a magical wasteland, the Cinder Empire sorely lacked high-tier magical resources. The two sides hit it off immediately. Such were the benefits of wealth. After months of study, Trump and the wizards of the Ministry of Magic had achieved an initial reproduction of the spell. Its margin of error was simply somewhat substantial, at times reaching over a thousand miles. "Master, your might is so great that I have no doubt you will return victorious," "Yet to spare you unnecessary trouble and keep you from excessive toil, I have found you a native guide from the Elemental Plane of Fire." "The Empire's army repelled the salamander raiders sent by the efreet to invade their domain. They owe us a favor." "Grim Cardoso!" "It is time to fulfill your contract!" Trump retrieved a magical contract and called out the name. The contract flared with blazing fiery light. "Trump, benefactor of the fire dwarves..." "Grim Cardoso, smith of the City of Pig Iron, comes as promised." In an instant, a humanoid creature with flame-like hair and beard, his skin gleaming with the metallic sheen of bronze, materialized before them. He stood under four feet tall with a stout, burly build, wearing a kilt forged of brass. He held a finely crafted iron warhammer in his hand, and pouches wrought from red copper hung across his back. "A fire dwarf?" Cassius gazed down at the creature, which appeared minuscule in his eyes, recognizing his kind at a glance. They were dwarf-like creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Fire, typically peerless master smiths whose method of reproduction was rather peculiar. The birth of a fire dwarf required another fire dwarf to personally cast its form from bronze, after which the creator would infuse it with the fire of life. It was said that the first fire dwarf was born when the dwarf god mistakenly infused the fire of life while forging a bronze statue, thereby creating this dwarf-like race whose essence was that of elemental fire. For this reason, they were also vividly known as "bronze-cast fire spirits." Owing to their cumbersome forging process, the fire dwarf population was quite scarce. Having just adjusted to the Material Plane's atmosphere, the fire dwarf named Grim Cardoso opened his eyes, only to be greeted by the sight of the colossal red dragon coiled atop the altar. Terror instantly turned his legs to jelly, and he collapsed to the ground. "M-Moradin above..." "No way..." "This isn't an illusion! How can such a dragon still exist in the Material Plane?! A red dragon even more massive than a great wyrm!" Shivering from head to toe, he stared up at the dragon's body, babbling in utter disbelief. "Insolence!" Trump snapped, barking an angry reprimand. "Is this how you fire dwarves show your manners? To stand here is already the greatest honor of your life!" "Standing before you is the sole ruler of the Great Anzetta Waste, Breaker of the Silver Wings, Destroyer of Frost Giants, Foe of Abyssal Demons... the supreme Cinder Emperor, His Majesty Cassius!" "Fire dwarf! Is this how you treat the benefactor who saved your people?!" Trump's voice rang like rolling thunder across the altar, jolting Grim out of his panic and shock. It was simply beyond anything he could have imagined. This empire on the Prime Material Plane—its emperor was actually a red dragon larger than a great wyrm! These fire dwarves spent their lives among volcanic craters and rivers of magma, searching for gleaming metals and gemstones. They seldom received outside news and had never heard of the Cinder Empire, which had only risen over the past few years. Yet the military might the Empire had demonstrated was undeniable. Not to mention having such a sovereign atop it. At this realization, the fire dwarf hurriedly turned around and prostrated himself deeply against the stone, offering respectful greetings before stammering apologies in rapid succession. "Grim Cardoso... g-greets the great Cinder Emperor!" "I am terribly sorry, Your Majesty Cassius. Just now, I was... er..." Grim racked his bronze-cast brains, desperately searching for words, until he finally managed to blurt out: "...completely awed by your colossal body." The fire dwarf lay flat on the ground, looking like a smoldering block of bronze. "An interesting little fellow." Cassius merely looked down at this peculiar fire elemental creature with amused curiosity, exhaling a breath of sulfurous, scorching heat. These fire dwarves were exquisite forging masters and held great value in his eyes—practically walking humanoid treasures. *Fire dwarves... Back in my past life, these fellows forged quite a few renowned pieces of equipment. Perhaps they can be put to work for the Empire.* *Still, for now, it's best to settle the matters with the efreet first.* A year ago, he had dispatched Misha and the Empire's vanguard to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Their primary goal was to trade with the efreet kingdom for local rare metals and ores rich in fire energy, using them as food reserves for his upcoming slumber. Yes, food. As a draconic lineage with a bloodline close to that of the progenitor dragons, Cassius's growth from a juvenile to a young adult required multiple prolonged slumbers and consumed an astronomical amount of energy. Ordinary meat was utterly negligible compared to his colossal size, no longer capable of satisfying his needs. With these thoughts in mind, Cassius gave a casual nod of approval. "Very well." "Since everything is in order, begin the teleportation." "Yes, Master," Trump responded promptly. He raised the staff in his hands, and the twelve skulls around his neck flickered in unison with delicate points of magical light. "Attention, all units of the Ministry of Magic! Prepare to construct the large-scale Plane Shift model for His Majesty!" Trump commanded loudly. "Squad 1 acknowledges!" "Squad 2 acknowledges!" "Squad 3 acknowledges!" The spellcasters across every tier of the altar raised their staves in unison, unleashing dazzling auras of magical radiance. Chants of conjuration, the hum of the Weave's fluctuations, and the groaning compression of space filled the Grand Altar of Isdalia. *Whoosh—* A colossal, exceedingly complex spell framework gradually took form. A planar gateway tens of meters tall materialized out of thin air, standing at the very peak of the altar. For a creature of Cassius's life tier, an ordinary Plane Shift would hardly have had any effect—in other words, his creature level exceeded the spell's upper limit. However, this Plane Shift was spearheaded by Trump, an archmage boasting an Intelligence score of 22, and cast simultaneously by dozens of imperial court wizards, pushing its tier right to the threshold of the ninth circle. *Rumble—* The planar portal slowly ground open. Though unprecedented in scale, the gateway still appeared somewhat narrow compared to Cassius's thirty-six-meter frame. Even so, it was at least large enough to suffice. "This is..." "Moradin above... Could it be... His Majesty intends to go to the Elemental Plane of Fire in person?!" Grim stared up at the portal soaring tens of meters into the air, utterly dumbfounded. The next instant, he felt himself seized and enveloped by a giant claw descending from above. Total darkness closed in around him, leaving him completely unable to move a muscle. "Then let us depart, my guide," the red dragon's low, thunderous voice rumbled from the "outside world." "No, wait, Your Majesty Cassius!" "Wait—!" the fire dwarf shouted repeatedly. Cassius paid him no heed. Tucking his wings slightly, he gripped the fire dwarf tight and plunged headfirst into the portal. Due to the demonic curse, he had not unleashed his true nature in a satisfying, full-throttle battle for quite some time. Rumor had it that the Elemental Plane of Fire was home to numerous powerful entities, and he was quite eager to see them for himself—such as the efreet of the City of Brass, or the fire elemental lords dwelling in the plane's deepest reaches.