The orc king lowered his head and robes, knocking his knuckles on the oak door carved with ancient totems.
A dull sound echoed in the silence, but the heavy door opened silently in an instant, as if it had foreseen his arrival.
The moment I stepped through the door, a chilly mist, tinged with the scent of moss, blew in. Seven or eight behemoths, as massive as mountains, stood still in the shadows, their bodies covered in dark green scales, and lightning flashed beneath their closed eyelids.
The orc king held his breath, his boots rolling over the floor tiles inlaid with meteorite iron, and every step felt like stepping on his violently beating heart.
Passing through layers of spell barriers, a simple stone chamber suddenly appeared before his eyes—the rough stone walls formed a stark contrast with the gilded dome, and only the bone candles burning in the corners emitted a faint blue flame.
After straightening his royal robe, which had been wrinkled by the journey, the king bowed and stepped in. On the animal hide mattress in the center of the stone chamber, two old men sat like two weathered statues.
On the left, the old Behemoth Uchala, wearing a robe with a crescent-star pattern, has glowing silver threads wrapped around his withered fingers; on the right, the old Orc King, with white hair hanging down to the ground, holds an ancient obsidian scepter in his arms, and the rise and fall of his chest is as faint as a candle in the wind.
"Shaman Uchara, I beg you to use your astrological vision to discern the hidden secrets behind this alliance between the elves."
The king knelt on one knee, his forehead almost touching the cold ground. "Does the olive branch they suddenly extend hide fangs that will bite your bones?"
Before he finished speaking, the old Behemoth nodded and suddenly opened his eyes. Deep within his amber pupils, the stars swirled backwards, and countless images exploded in the king's mind like shattered mirrors: elves had opened a secret realm amidst a mountain of crimson rock. Upon entering, they discovered countless elves petrified for unknown reasons.
Beside them were countless elven magic items, armor, potions, and gold coins used for trading in the elven empire thousands of years ago. In the elven princess's anxious eyes...
When the last image faded, Uchala coughed violently, then took out a potion emitting terrifying energy and drank it.
"So that's how it is..." The king suppressed his severe headache and uttered a hoarse whisper from his throat, kowtowed deeply three times to the two elders.
As he exited the room, he deliberately slowed his breathing. It wasn't until the stone door behind him slammed shut that he realized his back was already soaked with cold sweat. The behemoths in the palace corridor remained in a meditative posture.
The Orc King returned all the way to the palace from the secret realm, and then went straight to the room containing the huge magic military map.
After taking a recovery potion, the Orc King opened the magic circle on the map. His gaze slowly locked onto the northern region of the Kingdom of Charlemagne. As his eyes focused, the magic map began to change continuously as if sensing instructions.
The map's scene shifted rapidly as light and shadow flickered. Finally, the map's changes stopped, and the scene froze in a place called Red Rock Territory.
The orc king narrowed his eyes slightly and continued to stare at the map intently, and the map then zoomed closer again.
He searched the map carefully, trying to get more information about the Red Rock Territory. However, the scene that came into his eyes made him frown slightly.
After all, this map was drawn using a magic projector during the previous raid into the northern border. So much time had passed since then, so the actual topography was bound to be slightly different.
Afterwards, the Orc King called the ministers of the parliament. After they arrived, the Orc King came out and after he sat down, he began this secret meeting.
On Martin's side, after a period of hard work, the four new sky knights who needed to consolidate their cultivation finally successfully completed the stabilization stage.
Following Alton's instructions, the four of them put on the S-class knight armor that Martin had prepared in advance. Wearing it not only added a bit of majesty, but also gave them powerful protection.
After getting dressed, they went to Haikang Castle together to meet Martin.
Upon seeing them, Martin immediately issued new instructions: "The four of you, plus Alton, must immediately head to the territories of the fourteen nobles. Act quickly, accept their knights as quickly as possible, and sign slave contracts for everyone."
"Since they're too far away, let them remain in the castle and barracks and start plundering their property. Wait until I'm done integrating them. Then I'll take the knights from Loyal Valley and go over to integrate them."
As he spoke, Martin handed over several high-level space rings and asked them to collect the valuables.
[Host: Martin]
【System level: Level 2】
[Current Level: Peak Knight Squire]
[Sworn Guards: 2,003]
[Contracted Dragon: 3]
[Energy Reserve: 323,500]
After everyone set off, Martin immediately took out his communication crystal and contacted the Dragon Knight Betan and the other Sky Knights stationed at the four Viscount Castles. He solemnly instructed them, "You continue to garrison where you are. I will return to Yulong City first."
After explaining the relevant matters, Martin turned over and rode on Hefna, heading towards the Dragon City with the dragon knight Eric.
During the flight, Martin and his crew were assassinated. The assassin was hiding in the clouds high in the sky. Fortunately, the dragon's perception was extremely sharp and it immediately sensed the hidden danger.
The giant dragon Eric was riding suddenly raised its head, and a sharp, cold dragon breath gushed out like a torrent. The sudden attack really scared Martin, who was leisurely enjoying the scenery along the way.
Almost at the same time, Hefna was not to be outdone and immediately spit out a breath of dragon's breath.
Under the impact of the two powerful attacks, two embarrassed figures flashed out from the clouds. After appearing, they turned around and fled without any intention of fighting.
Seeing this, the dragon knight Eric unhesitatingly urged his dragon to soar into the clouds like an arrow. Martin watched Eric disappear into the depths of the clouds. Not long after, Eric returned with the two corpses. He came to Martin and handed him two space rings.
Martin took the ring, took a look at it, and told Eric to dispose of the body. Then the two continued their journey.
During the subsequent journey, Martin encountered two more assassination attempts. Thanks to the powerful strength of the Dragon Knight Eric and Hefna, each assassination attempt was successfully averted.
After these two assassinations, Martin obtained five more space rings. After converting all the items in the space rings into energy, Martin actually obtained a full one million energy.
After all these twists and turns, Martin finally arrived at Yulong City. Recalling the assassination experience along the way, Martin suddenly felt a strange feeling in his heart, and even missed the "patronage" of those assassins.
After all, although these assassinations were extremely dangerous, they also brought him great rewards and contributed a lot to his energy improvement.
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