This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 571 - 508: The Disgrace of the Empire

Chapter 571: Chapter 508: The Disgrace of the Empire

Not a single person from the Laine Empire could have anticipated that the wedding, so lively just moments ago, would turn into a battlefield of life and death the next second.

When that long-anticipated strike of destruction descended, the small villa where the Laine people were gathered was completely engulfed in red light. For an instant, the red light even overshadowed the thunder in the sky.

Old William sighed and, without time to chat with the young man Allen, he raised his shield and leaped out of the window.

The golden Holy Light morphed into a huge shield, enveloping the entire villa.

Seeing the Holy Light Shield, everyone’s worries dissipated.

The strength of the Shield of the Empire was such that even the Silvermoon Knights would struggle to shake it, let alone mere orcs.

The weight of this shield was comforting enough... until the red light fell.

An indescribable tremor passed through the air, yet no sound of collision could be heard. It was as if a muffled bomb had gone off with a quiet thud, leaving no sound behind, but the ensuing shockwave was terrifying.

The vicious wind howled, scraping off several layers of the surrounding ground.

When the dust settled, the Shield of Holy Light was shattered and tattered, and the small villa was riddled with cracks, looking like it was on the verge of collapse.

Ultimately, the Shield of the Empire couldn’t completely block the full force of that terrifying strike, but it fared much better than the apocalyptic scene around it.

Luckily, everyone inside the villa was a strong fighter and had evacuated to a safe place before the building could collapse.

Old William, his face pale, looked at the huge orc before him with a very grave expression.

Standing over three meters tall, this fearsome orc had skin of a crimson color and wielded a giant axe in each hand. For an ordinary person, these would be two-handed axes, but in this orc’s hands, they became single-handed axes, easily twirled with skill.

Orc King Loga, there was no second orc that looked like this.

Why had he suddenly appeared and attacked the Laine people so recklessly?

Did the Lich dare to use his long-established reputation to trap the Laine people?

Was it to kill the Emperor of Laine?

It seemed a desperate gamble, but in reality, it was meaningless. After all, they could leave at any moment. The Laine people were capable of installing a Teleportation Circle on a ship, so to create a smaller, single-use personal teleportation circle was not a technical challenge.

Allen blinked to the side of the Young Emperor and said, "Your Majesty, please leave first. I will go and ask the Lich what exactly he is doing."

The Young Emperor looked at Allen and, instead of following his suggestion, turned to gaze into the distance.

In the depths of the black night, where thunder clashed, it seemed many dark figures were rapidly approaching.

"Your Majesty!"

Allen wanted to advise further, but noticed that several of the Laine Paladins had approached, subtly surrounding him.

The Young Emperor looked at Allen carefully and then said, "Allen, are you really completely clueless?"

Allen, seeing the formation around him, couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. He took a few steps back and responded, "Your Majesty, if I say I know nothing, would you believe me?"

The Young Emperor didn’t answer, but the other Laine people had already given their reply.

From the start, Allen was not trusted, and now, he was the first suspect.

But the Orc King didn’t care about the internal issue among the Laine people. He swung his left-hand axe backward and then hurled it with force.

The explosive power sent the giant axe spinning at high speed, creating a piercing whistle as it cut through the air, heading straight for the Emperor.

The Shield of the Empire’s Old William hadn’t recovered yet, but still lifted his shield to block the axe for his Emperor.

The massive impact forced Old William several meters back. Although the strike was far less powerful than the one before, the consumption of Holy Light had been so great that it was still somewhat difficult to block.

The giant axe flew off, repelled dozens of meters away.

Seeing this, the other Laine Paladins immediately rushed toward the Orc King, intending to besiege him now that he was down to one axe.

What shocked everyone was that the Orc King merely raised his right-hand axe. The one that had flown out reappeared before him in a blink.

This was a pair of Divine Artifacts, and the other axe could still be summoned from miles away through its twin. However, the Laine people were entirely unaware of this fact.

The two attacking Paladins couldn’t react in time and were forced back by the Orc King’s wildly swinging axes, suffering some injuries.

However, as soon as they landed, Healing Spells fell upon them, along with the Chain of Guardianship, Sword and Shield Defense, and a series of other supporting spells, making the two Paladins shine like light bulbs.

This was the Laine people’s combo technique, a Paladin plus a Light Priest was essentially invincible.

Bolstered by a series of spells, the two Legendary Holy Warriors attacked from both sides. One swung a Giant Sword of Light as thick as a pillar, while the other held a five-meter Holy Light Spear, unfazed by the orc towering over three meters tall.

The Orc King howled as he barely held back the two Paladins, his strength steadily draining.

"You despicable, shameless white-haired dogs! You’re no warriors after all! Come out, what’s the use in just watching?!"

As the Orc King roared, thunderous booms echoed through the night.

A massive shadow burst forth, its body ablaze with purplish-red flames!

A flame-engulfed longsword swung by the figure’s side, forming a dazzling circle. Purple flames shot out from the shadow like cannonballs, hurtling toward the white-haired old man.

A young Paladin blinked in front of Old William, raising his shield towards the purple flame longsword.

Upon seeing the purple flames, Old William opened his mouth to shout a warning, but it was too late. The longsword, blazing with purple flames, had already pierced through the young Paladin’s shield, impaling his body straight through.

The shield enhanced with Holy Light was like paper mache, and even his magic armor and more than a dozen defensive divine arts could not withstand the longsword.

"No!"

Old William’s voice finally came, but alas, the Paladin could no longer hear it.

He couldn’t understand how he could possibly fail to block even one blow!

With the clanging of chains, the purple flame longsword that had pierced through the chest was withdrawn, and the towering shadow was finally seen clearly by all.

It was a Headless Knight mounted on an Eight-Legged Giant Horse, clad in pitch-black heavy armor.

Gareth turned to Old William and said in surprise, "Eh, I think I’ve seen you before, many years ago, in Mercury City of Gloomyland..."

Recognizing the newcomer, Old William threw the critically injured young Paladin to a Priest, then roared, "Retreat immediately! Protect His Majesty and get out of here! I’ll hold him off!"

Old William’s hands were shaking, and not just with fear. He had recognized the Headless Knight before him, a disgrace to the Laine Empire, who once slaughtered his way through the Laine Army single-handedly!

He knew this because his ancestors had been part of the campaign to hunt down Gareth, only to die at the hands of this Headless Knight.

Every generation of the Garrisons had been Paladins, each regarding Gareth as the family’s greatest enemy.

Today was the second time Old William encountered this Headless Knight, the first being decades earlier when he joined the Silvermoon Knights to attack that powerful Lich in Gloomyland.

It was a Lich who reversed life and death, defying ethics by turning Undead into true life. This was an affront Laine couldn’t tolerate, so the Silvermoon Knights led the Empire’s elite into Gloomyland to kill the Lich.

Everything went smoothly at first. With the Silvermoon Knight leading the charge and Old William supporting, the two swept through Gloomyland.

Later, to ensure the Lich had nowhere to escape, Old William and the Silvermoon Knight split up to attack Mercury City.

On one side was the Silvermoon Knight alone, and on the other, Old William with thousands of elites, including the Silvermoon Knight’s most prized student.

The Silvermoon Knight faced the Undead Army of Gloomyland, while Old William only encountered one person – the Headless Knight before him now.

And with a single charge, he broke through the Laine Army.

Old William had been too slow to react, himself and his shield pierced by the longsword, unable to block even one strike from the so-called Shield of the Empire.

Old William clearly remembered the feeling of the purple flame longsword piercing his chest, and the recent ordeal felt like a replay of the past.

Eventually, the survivors used Teleportation Magic to send everyone away, allowing Old William to survive.

The battle was a devastating loss for Laine, not just because of his own grievous injury, which took years to recover from. The Silvermoon Knight’s student died at the hands of the Headless Knight, trampled into a pulp by his Eight-Legged Giant Horse, with no chance to fight back.

At last facing this figure again, the nightmare-like shadow made Old William shiver all over.

It was a mix of fear and excitement.

Old William raised his shield, separating Gareth from the Emperor with his aged body. He swallowed a potion resembling a starry sky, and his pale hair quickly darkened, his aged body once again turned firm, regaining the appearance of a man in his thirties from the brink of death.

Priests behind him layered numerous spells onto his body, amplifying his strength manifold. Intense Holy Light radiated from his shield, forming into a Holy Light Iron Wall, charging toward Gareth.

Back then, he had only his robust body, lacking this powerful Holy Light. Now, bolstered by the Fountain of Youth, he was rejuvenated.

It was time to settle both family vengeance and a debt of blood from years past.

The Holy Light Iron Wall charged at Gareth, transforming into hundreds of lances, sworn to pierce Gareth’s body.

However, Gareth showed no sign of dodging, instead spurring his horse forward toward the Holy Light Iron Wall.

This time, he didn’t throw his Flame Longsword but gripped the hilt tightly, slashing with all his might at the Holy Light Iron Wall.

The purple flames, intense enough to turn dark, collided with the Holy Light Iron Wall.

In an instant, the Holy Light Iron Wall, which had concentrated all of Old William’s power, was split in two.

Old William watched the dark aura slashing towards him, unable to react.

Holy Light, shouldn’t it be the bane of Dark Magic Power?