This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 565 - 504: The Orc King’s Mountain-Crushing Strike

Chapter 565: Chapter 504: The Orc King’s Mountain-Crushing Strike

Winter had arrived, and that year’s temperatures were exceptionally low. Not only did Laine suffer extensively from snowstorms, but even the Emerald Dream Forest and Silvermoon Tribunal—two kingdoms that seldom saw snow—experienced blizzards.

However, in this era replete with magic, snowstorms did not cause much impact.

As long as the upper echelons of the kingdom were willing to spare no effort in disaster relief, they just needed to dispatch a large number of mages and priests to cast spells everywhere.

With enough spellcasters, issues such as clearing blockages and transporting food could be easily resolved in those kingdoms.

Laine was renowned for its kindness toward its citizens, so when the snowstorm struck, the Light Priests mobilized collectively, quickly mitigating the emerging disaster.

The Druids and Elves had even less to worry about, as their proportion of spellcasters was higher than that in Laine.

Only the Dwarf Kingdom declared a state of emergency, since they had just migrated from the desert and were slightly behind in food supplies. However, the Alchemist Association helped Amberser stage two plays, extracting many benefits from the Druids.

Naturally, the Druids had little gold, so they had to settle their debts with food.

Once the food from the Emerald Dream Forest arrived, the winter crisis in the Dwarf Kingdom was alleviated as well.

The Dwarf King praised Amberser highly in the Royal Palace, saying that the Lich was truly insightful, having even calculated the food shortage in the Dwarf Kingdom and solved it with Druids’ food, just in time for them to feel profoundly grateful.

Laine, Elves, Dwarves, and Druids could all get through the winter smoothly, but the Orcs had a bigger problem.

Normally, the region where the Orcs resided would not enter winter as early as Laine, usually starting three to four months later. But that year was bizarre with temperatures dropping abruptly as rapidly across the continent; even the Orc Mountains plunged into a harsh winter, suffering more severe disasters than other kingdoms.

Because the Orc Kingdom was currently overzealous in warfare, all their strength was focused on border conflicts, leaving their elderly, women, and children struggling against the cold.

Many of the elderly and children died due to low temperatures and lack of food.

The entire Orc Kingdom only had their Royal Capital which could still maintain warmth and food. The endless thunder in the sky was converted into magic power, providing heating for the entire city. Although food was scarce, the nobility within the Royal Capital were never starved.

The Orc King ignored all the reports of the disaster, focusing solely on one thing every day—wielding a two-handed axe known as "Crimson Wedding."

Officially, this Divine Artifact, a two-handed axe, was purchased by the Laine People at a great price. However, the Laine People did not know that this artifact was actually a pair.

From the beginning, the "Crimson Wedding" was a set of axes.

It appeared to be a giant two-handed axe, but for the Orc King, who was naturally much taller and vastly stronger than a typical orc, it was essentially a pair of axes.

In the midst of the snowstorm, the Orc King swung the giant axe single-handedly, striking fiercely at the mountain ahead of him.

The axe, slicing through the snowstorm but not touching the mountain, halted mid-air as if it struck a solid entity, while crimson light gathered around the blade.

One strike, two strikes... the Orc King frantically swung his battle axe, slashing at the air with full force for every strike.

Only when the red glow on the axe could penetrate the snowstorm, turning the surroundings into a blood-red color, did the Orc King transform into a blur, lurching towards the mountain. This time, he cleaved his axe forcefully against it.

A fierce red light erupted at that moment, and the powerful shockwave exploded right before him.

With a loud bang, a giant crack appeared in the mountain, higher than a city wall, and it began to shaky and swiftly collapse.

Thousands of tons of boulders fell, releasing a thunderous boom in the valley, louder than thunder itself, with consecutive impacts that even shifted the direction of the fierce snowstorm.

The Orc King carefully checked the axe in his hand, ensuring that its blade edge was completely undamaged, and then he burst into loud laughter.

"Indeed, it is worthy of being a Divine Artifact blessed by Talos. Finally, there’s a weapon that can withstand my strength! I will use this axe to chop off Emperor of Laine’s head!"

The howling wind and raging snowstorm could not obscure the majestic figure of the Orc King.

"With this Divine Artifact, Your Majesty will certainly be able to slay the Emperor of Laine. This time, our Orc Kingdom will establish an unparalleled great achievement!"

The octopus-headed Heart-stealing Demon also clapped vigorously, even though the icy weather was a harsh torment for it.

The Orc King gently wiped the blade of the axe and asked without looking up, "What’s the latest news?"

"Your Majesty, the Southwest Seven Peaks have sent another request for food aid, and half of the cableways have been broken due to the heavy snow..."

Urbano Pacheco was about to report but was rudely interrupted by the Orc King saying, "That’s not what I asked about. I’m asking about the news from the Lich. Which year doesn’t people starve to death in winter? Do you really need to tell me about such things?!"

Urbano Pacheco felt helpless. This Orc King didn’t like to reason and his own status was too awkward. Once abandoned by the Orc King, he would surely die. Thus, Urbano Pacheco was the "loyal servant" of the Orc King, whether the king was a foolish tyrant or not, Urbano Pacheco could only firmly stand by his side, even if it meant being a sycophantic villain.

"Our ally, the Lich, has sent good news, the recalling procedure has been properly arranged, ensuring that you, Your Majesty, will have a chance to challenge the Emperor of Laine to a duel. However, he has sent a reminder again. The power of the Magic Dragon Armament is more terrible than anyone imagines; he hopes you will be prepared. If necessary, it might be..."

Urbano Pacheco hesitated for a moment, and the Orc King impatiently inquired, "It might be what?"

"It might be necessary to form an alliance with others to jointly attack the Emperor of Laine, and I hope, Your Majesty, that you can cooperate with the warriors from other kingdoms."

As soon as Urbano Pacheco finished saying this, the Orc King roared loudly, "I need to join hands with others? Just based on that Laine, a weakling who was beaten to a pulp by the Githyanki?"

Urbano Pacheco sighed inwardly, the Orc King was really just a fool who had nothing but brute strength.

But there was no helping it, on the side of the Orcs, brute strength was the ultimate truth.

The fists of the current Orc King were indeed huge, so much so that it was hard to find a suitable weapon for him to wield anywhere in the country.

The legendary talent of the Orc King allowed him to accumulate the power of each swing in the air and unleash it all at once upon hitting the target. Theoretically, as long as the weapon could withstand it, the Orc King could stack it almost infinitely until even a Deity could be struck dead with a single axe blow.

Even the sturdiest weapons of the Orc Kingdom couldn’t withstand the force he produced after five accumulations, and maces of solid steel would shatter as a result. And since the Orc Kingdom wasn’t particularly adept at forging magical weapons, he had been unable to utilize his full strength for many years.

The Orc King always felt that he couldn’t defeat the Silvermoon Knights because he couldn’t find the right weapon, otherwise he wouldn’t be afraid of that aging old man. Now that he had acquired this Divine Artifact axe, he felt the Silvermoon Knight had died too soon; otherwise, he would have chopped off the old man’s head on the battlefield.

Facing the disgraceful Emperor of Laine on the battlefield, the Orc King didn’t consider him a challenge at all.

But Urbano Pacheco knew well that for the Lich to be prepared as if facing a formidable enemy, this Emperor of Laine was no simple adversary. The Orc King’s complacency could easily lead to problems.

Urbano Pacheco couldn’t contradict this irascible king, so he tactfully said, "Your Majesty, your valor is unmatched under heaven, but if the Laine People lack martial honor and attack with those Legendary Holy Warriors, it might be difficult to eliminate all the Holy Warriors before the others could flee. Thus, allies are necessary; we certainly cannot just watch the Emperor of Laine escape."

The Orc King thought for a moment and seemed to accept this reasoning. He then told Urbano Pacheco, "Then go tell that Lich that if the Emperor of Laine is too cowardly to face me in a one-on-one duel, I won’t mind cooperating with others, but remind those fools not to get in my way."

"Certainly, I will be sure to remind them."

Urbano Pacheco breathed a sigh of relief, yet he thought, If the Orc King fell in battle, should he surrender to Laine or should he prepare to flee and hide?

Better safe than sorry; even the Heart-stealing Demon Empire was gone, preparing for the worst was the motto of their race.

Urbano Pacheco looked up at the blizzard and couldn’t help but think, Master Ultraman, I hope you truly are fully prepared. If you fail, too many will suffer this time.