"Crush it finer. If I see a chunk larger than a grain of sand, you don't eat tonight."
Dante's voice cut through the howling wind, cold and absolute.
Three hours had passed since the discovery of the coal. The Great Hall of Blackcrag Keep had been transformed into a makeshift factory. The twenty survivors—starving peasants, cripples, and Kaelen the steward—were on their hands and knees, smashing the black rocks with stones, hammers, and even rusted helmets.
The air was thick with black soot. It coated their lungs, their skin, and the floor.
"My Lord," Kaelen coughed, his face a mask of black grime. "We are exhausted. We have fuel for the fire now. Why... why must we turn it all into dust? It burns faster this way. It's wasteful."
Dante stood by the roaring fireplace, his eyes scanning the System interface that only he could see.
[Current Resource: Pulverized Anthracite Coal][Quantity: 40kg][Particle Size: Sub-optimal. Flammability: Rising.]
"We aren't making fuel, Kaelen," Dante said, not looking up. "We are making a welcome gift."
[ALERT][proximity Warning Triggered.][Biological Signatures Detected: 15.][Species: Frost Wolf Pack.][ETA: 4 Minutes.]
The red warning pulsed in Dante's vision.
"They're here," Dante announced calmly.
The room froze. The rhythmic smashing of rocks stopped.
"Who... who is here?" a woman whispered, clutching her child.
"The rest of the pack," Dante turned to face them. "The scout I killed earlier wasn't alone. Wolves don't forgive, and they don't forget. They tracked the scent of blood back to our gate."
Panic exploded. Two men dropped their rocks and bolted for the back door.
"Sit down!" Dante didn't shout, but his tone had the weight of iron. "Run into the snow, and you die tired. Stay here, and you might live."
He walked to the center of the room, grabbing a sack of the fine black dust they had processed.
"Listen to me closely," Dante commanded. "The gate is broken. They will come through the courtyard and straight into this Hall. That is exactly what we want."
"You want to let them in?" Kaelen looked at Dante like he was insane. "My Lord, we have no guards! We have pitchforks and... and dust!"
Dante grabbed a torch from the wall. The orange flame danced in his dark eyes.
"Physics," Dante said, "does not care about your fear. It only cares about surface area."
Three minutes later.
The sound of claws scraping against stone echoed from the courtyard. Low snarls drifted through the open double doors of the Keep.
Dante stood alone in the center of the dark Hall.
He was the bait.
Behind him, hiding in the shadows of the mezzanine balcony above, were the peasants. Each of them held a heavy sack of the ultra-fine coal dust.
Dante stood perfectly still. His heart rate was steady. His breathing was controlled.
[Threat Analysis: 1 Alpha (Tier 1), 14 Betas.][Win Probability with Conventional Tactics: 0%.][Win Probability with Thermobaric Event: 94%.]
Come on, Dante thought.
A massive shadow stepped into the moonlight of the doorway. The Alpha Frost Wolf. It was the size of a horse, its white fur bristling with ice crystals. It locked eyes with Dante, a low growl rumbling in its chest that vibrated the floorboards.
It didn't rush. It knew its prey was cornered.
Slowly, the rest of the pack filed in, filling the entrance of the hall. Fourteen pairs of glowing yellow eyes.
Dante waited. He needed them all inside. He needed the air density to be perfect.
The Alpha roared—a sound that shattered the courage of the peasants hiding above.
"Now!" Dante screamed. "Drop it!"
From the balcony, twenty sacks were upended.
A black rain fell.
Forty kilograms of microscopic coal dust dumped into the air, creating a thick, choking black cloud that filled the space between Dante and the wolves. The wolves sneezed, confused, shaking their heads as the grit blinded them.
To a mage, this was just dirt. To an engineer, it was a fuel-air bomb waiting for a spark.
[Atmosphere Saturation: Critical.][Ignition Window: 3 Seconds.]
Dante didn't hesitate. He threw the torch.
He threw it high, arching it right into the center of the black cloud, and immediately dove behind the heavy stone table he had overturned for cover.
The torch spun through the air. The flame kissed the suspended dust.
Click.
It wasn't a roar. It was a thunderclap.
The air inside the hall instantly turned into plasma. The rapid combustion of millions of dust particles created a pressure wave that hit with the force of a freight train.
BOOM.
A massive tongue of orange fire blasted out of the Keep's entrance, vaporizing the snow in the courtyard. The windows of the hall shattered outward.
Inside, the world was fire and noise.
Dante felt the heat sear the back of his coat even through the stone table. The shockwave rattled his teeth.
Then, silence.
Dante stood up, dusting the debris off his shoulder.
The Hall was a smoking ruin. The air smelled of ozone, burnt hair, and cooked meat.
Where the wolf pack had stood, there was only charred blackness. The smaller wolves were... gone. Blasted apart or incinerated instantly.
The Alpha Wolf was still there, but it was a wreck. Its fur was burned away, its skin blackened. It tried to stand, wheezing, one leg missing entirely.
It looked at Dante not with hunger, but with primal terror.
Dante walked over to it, his boots crunching on the soot-covered floor. He looked down at the dying monster.
Dante didn't say a word. He simply drew a rusted dagger from his belt.
He plunged the dagger into the Alpha's eye.
[Target Eliminated: Tier 1 Frost Wolf Alpha.][Experience Gained: Massive.][Level Up!][Level Up!][System Energy Restored: 5%.][Blueprint Unlocked: Black Powder Formula.]
Dante pulled the dagger out. He turned to the balcony, where the peasants were peering over the edge, their faces white with shock, looking at the devastation. They looked at the burning corpses, then at the man who had summoned hellfire with a bag of dirt.
Dante wiped the black blood from his cheek.
"Dinner is served," he said coldly. "Skin them. We eat meat tonight."