“Saint Cassian called you ‘Warriors of the Lord.’ I thought you were proud of that. This is just too embarrassing.”
Despite the menacing glares from the orcs, the elf remained composed. A snowstorm was raging. The elf kept repeating the same words as he brushed the snow clinging to his fur coat. He was waiting for the real negotiation partner.
Then, the orcs parted to the sides, and a towering orc revealed himself.
‘You are finally here.’
The elf buttoned up his coat and adjusted his posture to greet the giant orc as if showing respect. He waited until the orc approached him, then opened his mouth.
“I am honored to meet Hajak, who is the warrior of our Lord Lacryma, the patriarch of the Unfrozen Blood, the ruler of the northern warriors, and the descendant of the mighty ancient dragon at the same time.”
Hajak did not respond to the elf’s words. His gaze was fixed past the elf’s head, looking far off into the distance. The ships that elves had sailed across the frozen sea were anchored, and elves with swords were lined up in formation in front of it.
“The Queen did not come.”
Hajak’s voice was heavy, pressing down on the elf’s head.
“Instead, she sent me on behalf of her. My name is Anemos,” Anemos answered politely, contrasting with how he had acted toward the other orcs. Now that the real negotiation had begun, it was like walking on thin ice, just as harsh as the bitter cold. If the negotiation failed, then the tribes’ warriors could attack Elsland.
“I made two suggestions to you. Send us the Holy Tower. If that is not possible, open the way to Elsland. However, your Queen does not accept either. Soon the Demon King of Darkness will arrive here and watch you guys. Let me ask you one thing. What did Saint Cassian say about Elsland?”
“He called it the sanctuary of our Lord.”
“That is why I made a proposal to protect our Lord’s sanctuary. But as your Queen accepts nothing, there is no other way left. I must forcibly open the way.”
“Are you afraid of the Demon King? Do the Warriors of the Lord also feel fear?”
Anemos started provocatively.
“With all due respect, what I have seen so far is very different from the noble nature of the great warriors I have heard of. If you could clarify this, then I would be able to deliver the situation to Her Majesty once again.”
A red light flickered in the eyes of the orcs who were glaring at Anemos. But even then, Hajak responded without any hesitation, “I am scared of the day the Demon King will come to invade our Lord’s sanctuary.”
“So it is. I understand that Your Majesty was present where the ‘Demon King of the Dead’ met his end. Let go of your fears, my King. Elsland is impregnable. Therefore, I have a message for our Lord’s mighty warriors.”
However, Hajak ignored Anemos and turned his head. There, an old orc, whose eyes were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages, was walking slowly while leaning on a cane. Anemos’s gaze shifted to the old orc as well. Then, he soon realized that the old orc was a high-ranking sorcerer of the Unfrozen Blood tribe.
The old orc seemed to have difficulty taking each step, but no one around him offered support. At a glance, it was evident that the cane the old orc relied on was not ordinary. Moreover, a sinister aura of all sorts of spirits emanated from the bone necklace around his neck.
Then, Anemos fully grasped the identity of the old orc.
‘Is he… Shaman Toon?’
Although the orcs were scattered among various tribes, once every one hundred years, only one shaman was selected as the highest-ranking sorcerer in their world for generations. They were elected during their festival where the souls of the living sorcerers gathered. Therefore, the name ‘Toon’ had been passed down through generations.
‘When did Toon join Hajak? Then, this is even better. What a jackpot!’
The reverence shown by Anemos to Toon at that moment was greater than what he had initially shown to Hajak. Anemos raised his head, which he had momentarily lowered. Then, he could more clearly see the bandages wrapped around Toon’s eyes that were continuously soaking with blood.
However, it was not just eyes that he lost. Although Hajak was a king who united the warriors of the north, he could not replace Toon’s authority. However, Toon said nothing and only Hajak spoke.
“Toon had to verify Saint Cassian’s prophecy.”
Only then did Anemos notice that since arriving there, he had not seen a single sorcerer other than Toon. Based on the culture of the orcs who viewed shamans as guides of souls, this was odd.
As Anemos looked around again, there was no sorcerer there aside from the wounded old shaman. Only one thing came to his mind.
‘All the shamans of the Unfrozen Blood tribe, including Toon, must have summoned their spirits to check the Demon King’s movements… But in the end, all of them except him must have been massacred…’
Toon then pulled out a stiff piece of paper from his pocket, and it was a page of the Saint Cassian’s records that contained information about the castle with the strongest preservation magic spell. Anemos took it and his eyes, which were shaking since realizing Toon’s identity, widened even more.
“This is…”
It was not the part that contained the location of relics or the history of the ancient altar. It was a part of the prophecy, and the phrase that the land of the orc tribes would be eroded by a darkness brought by a single person was very clear.
Anemos had to quickly regain his composure. The prophecy had always been something that was reality. The court would hope that the tribal warriors would achieve something, but their defeat was predetermined. Neither the Queen’s instructions nor the court meeting reflected the current situation.
Anemos organized his thoughts, then opened his mouth. “If you allow me to take Saint Cassian’s records, I will see Her Majesty the Queen as soon as I return to the court. I will try to open the way, but…”
“But what else is left?”
“It will be difficult if you plan to migrate all your warriors.”
“There is no disagreement on that. Our kin will fight valiantly and fulfill their duty.”
“Then, I have a favor to ask of Toon.”
The old orc’s head moved slowly.
Speak, a child of the tribes from Elsland.
Anemos tensed at the eerie voice that drilled into his brain. Although it was a voice tinged with severe injury, Toon was indeed powerful. Anemos thought it was time to reveal his main purpose for coming here.
“The Order can open a route of retreat for the other tribes with warriors. However, unfortunately, not to other tribes.”
Initially, the Unfrozen Blood tribe had a positive relationship with Elsland. Nonetheless, the King of the Sorcerers Toon and King Hajak of the northern warriors were intertwined as one community. Moreover, even Saint Cassian’s prophecy was confirmed. No matter the results of the court meeting and the Queen’s instructions, adjustments were inevitable.
Anyway, Anemos was the one who came in person.
You speak too much. Hmph…
“Then I will get straight to the point. There is a priest of the Demon King. He is a monstrously strong guy that oversees the world of the Demon King and receives the most trust from the King.”
Then, Anemos explained meticulously to avoid any misunderstanding. Starting from why he had no choice but to send an expedition to outer space even at the risk of carrying the Order’s highest relic Soul Ring, the explanation became quite long.
Eventually, Toon nodded his head.
You call it ‘retreat,’ but you are introducing the battlefield. Ugh… That pleases me even more, child. Our king will gladly accept this.
Then, Anemos could finally relax.
“The tribes that Toon will tell us will build altars in the Demon King’s world.”
The negotiations were successful. Not only did he prevent the orcs from fleeing the Demon King and crossing the sea in a mass migration, but the newly accepted orcs would also be a force for the nobles of the court, including himself.
The queen’s momentum would wane naturally.
***
The recorded voice of Olivia was flowing out from Jonathan’s laptop. She said that an Awakened on Level 231 gold managed to eliminate a beginning-level Sword Expert with all their might, and leveled up to Level 246 in the platinum section in a blink of an eye. In the case of an Awakened with Level 321 in the diamond section, they were promoted to Level 328, which was equivalent to Sword Expert Intermediate Knight.
“It was the same in my case as well. The outer space creature I defeated was a high-level Sword Expert. I was managing the fight alone, and the XP I gained at that time was 490,000, So I leveled up by one and finally entered the challenger section. Compared to similar-level beings, one thing is certain. The XP gained was considerably higher than what could be earned in the Stage of Advent. Currently, the east is under Mr. Caliber’s command, and thanks to his command, I have been hearing victories from there. My lord…”
I felt like I knew what she was going to talk about. However, Olivia couldn’t bring herself to say that and only recorded up to that point.
“I will follow up with you again.”
The Challenger section especially required a large amount of XP to secure one level. The Caliber, who was leading the corps and advancing aggressively, and Hera were indeed doing great despite this. It was clear that they were beheading a number of species and absorbing XP from them.
Moreover, even Lee Tae-Han had entered outer space after quickly transferring the association’s important tasks to civilians. A new era of competition had arrived.
Jonathan’s clenched fist trembled violently for a long time. It was not a problem if everyone’s growth had stopped at the same time. However, if those below him grew at a fast pace, he couldn’t help but assume the worst-case scenario.
Sun’s death. Osiris’s betrayal. Mary’s breakaway, and the mainland turning into a battlefield. Even those at the pinnacle of power would challenge the existing order. When that time came, who would lead the battlefield until the mainland was destroyed?
Nonetheless, the strength in Jonathan’s fist gradually loosened.
‘I cannot leave this post. Sun entrusted it to me.’
The issue was that no one else could replace him in this position. Thus, there was only one thing he could hope for. He wished that raids that stopped before the great war in outer space would start again, and the elf species that constantly spied out and retreated would reappear.
However, that was an incredibly risky matter, especially since there were almost no Awakened left on the mainland. The elves that spied on them were powerful. If by any chance one of them escaped to the mainland, then Sun’s order would start to waver.
That night, Jonathan was tormented by contradictory emotions, hoping for the raids to start again, but also hoping they wouldn’t. It was another night as always.
It’s here.
The blue aura sealing the hideout wavered along the walls. However, something was weird. There was no doubt that a powerful aura was lurking, but the number of entities following and breaking in began to increase uncontrollably.
The distinctive breathing of the orc species also started to fill the space. The nature of the raid was different from before. The species attacking were also different.
[You have used Night Eye.]
Jonathan opened his red eyes and went out into the corridor. In the darkness, countless red eyes were embedded like stars, waiting for him. Until that moment, Jonathan could not have imagined that this assault was just the beginning.
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