Chapter Ninety-Five: Closing In

“An immensely powerful weapon like this, and yet it is called the Heart of Freedom. Truly unexpected.”

Sun Licheng gave a wry laugh and lifted the dagger from the metal case. The blade was entirely silver-white; the grip felt excellent in the hand, and the blade itself was engraved with dense runes in an ancient goblin script, lending it a strange and mysterious beauty. From the memories in Rett’s mind, this was the activation code used to set the Heart of the Deity in motion.

Of course, entering the code was only the first step, only the outward form. What truly triggered the Heart of the Deity to detonate was the bloodline of the Goblin Empire. In simple terms, it was a suicide dagger: after entering the password, one was to stab it into one’s own body.

The power of the gods was simply too great, and their wisdom was far beyond the reach of any other creature. To kill such enemies, one had to resort to unconventional means.

After countless attempts and failures, the goblins discovered that only suicide attacks could effectively lure the gods into a trap and ultimately trigger the bomb, and so they created this absurd detonator.

There were three such daggers in the underground fortress, but unfortunately two of them had already been damaged, leaving only one in relatively good condition.

Though those two daggers had lost their activation function, they were still peerless blades that could sever gold and jade alike. In Rett’s memories, when the Goblin Empire made these daggers, it used a mysterious formula that made their strength almost comparable to divine artifacts. Unfortunately, despite going through all the underground fortress’s records, Mister Clever could not find that formula.

Sun Licheng had no interest in suicide, naturally, but he would still take the intact dagger with him. The other two daggers were hung at his waist and became his close weapons.

After examining the Heart of the Deity, Sun Licheng and the others returned to the underground fortress and enthusiastically continued searching through the other storage rooms. Far away from there, several thousand kilometers off, on the orc plateau, a traveler tightly wrapped in linen cloth was riding a tall horse at an unhurried pace under the guidance of a half-orc guide.

Perhaps they were tired, or perhaps the endless sweep of grassland was simply too monotonous to look at for long; neither the traveler nor the half-orc said a word. Only the chirring of insects and the steady clop of hooves on the ground broke the silence.

After a while, a lazy yet magnetic baritone came from beneath the traveler’s hood. “You sent the message long ago. Your accomplices should be here by now, shouldn’t they?”

The half-orc, dressed in plain linen like an ordinary commoner, jolted violently and turned to stare at the traveler, his eyes full of shock.

“Little one, when I was fifty, I was much better at this sort of thing than you are.”

The traveler lifted the hood from his head, revealing the handsome face of a half-elven man. He was the half-elven lute player who had come north after hearing the oracle.

Seeing the mockery in the half-elf’s eyes, the half-orc’s ugly face flushed red at once, his gaze turning fierce.

At that moment, the thunder of footsteps trampling the grass drew both of their attention. Seeing more than a dozen tall figures appear in the distance, the half-orc’s lips curled into a smug and cruel grin.

“Haha, so what if you saw through the fact that I tipped them off? You’re dead soon enough. Don’t worry, before you die, I’ll make sure you have a proper taste of pleasure.”

As he spoke, the half-orc licked his lips, his eyes sliding toward the half-elf’s body atop the saddle, and he wore a lewd smile.

The more than ten figures quickly drew near. They were a band of true orcs, their bodies far taller and sturdier than the half-orc guide’s.

The orcs’ gear was crude. Only their leader had a thick leather cuirass protecting his chest; most of the others wore nothing but a leather skirt. Nor did they carry any respectable weapons, only clubs and broken iron blades, but judging by the size of those weapons, their lethality was far from small.

Seeing that his companions had arrived, the half-orc pulled out two hand axes from behind his waist and slowly retreated into the center of the orc party, then looked up at the leader and said, “Big brother, this is the fat sheep. He came from the south. Confirmed: he’s alone.”

The orc leader greedily eyed the half-elf, his fine horse, and the bulging baggage sacks hanging from the saddle, then nodded. “You did well. When we deal with this fellow in a bit, you can have first turn.”

The half-orc was overjoyed at that and hurriedly expressed his thanks.

Facing more than a dozen bandits, the half-elf still wore a smile, showing not the slightest hint of tension. Indeed, his smile only grew brighter, as though he were watching an especially splendid performance.

After hearing the half-orc’s flattery, the orc leader also sensed that something was off. In his rough voice, he asked the half-elf, “Pansy, aren’t you afraid?”

“Ha... why should I be afraid?” the half-elf replied, and that left the not-very-bright orc leader unable to answer.

“Ah, this assignment is already troublesome enough, and now I have to clean up your trash along the way. My life is truly a bitter one.”

Having said that, the half-elf leaped high from the horse’s back and then pounced down upon the orcs like a great bird of prey.

Though the orcs were straightforward, they were not stupid. Seeing the half-elf advance instead of retreat, they immediately launched an attack. Two flashes of white light cut through the air as the half-orc hurled out the pair of hand axes. Their force was so great, carrying a whistling wind, that in an instant they reached the half-elf’s face.

Just as everyone assumed the half-elf would scream and fall, two dull thuds rang out, and the hand axes were rebounded to the left and right. At that moment, a short sword had appeared in the half-elf’s hand.

As an excellent ranged fighter, the half-orc’s reflexes were quite swift. Immediately afterward, four more hand axes were thrown in two waves. By then, the other orcs had also rushed up brandishing their weapons.

“Attack Reflection!”

With the half-elf’s shout, the two hand axes that had clearly already struck his head instantly flew backward. Two miserable screams followed from within the orc formation, and the axes smashed brutally into the foreheads of two orcs.

The orcs, losing men at the very first exchange, were startled. Before they could recover, the half-elf had already slipped into their midst like a phantom, swinging his slender sword in slashing arcs.

Screams rose one after another. From time to time, an orc would drop his weapon, clutch his wound in agony, and fall to his knees before slamming his head hard into the grass.

In only five or six minutes, aside from the half-orc who was so terrified that he had collapsed onto the ground, the eyes of all the other orcs, including the orc commander, had lost their life’s light.

The half-elf stepped over the muddy grass stained by the fight and slowly walked toward the half-orc.

“No, don’t kill me, my lord! I was wrong. Please spare my life.”

The half-orc, covered in mud, was utterly terrified. He kept scraping himself backward across the slick grass, pleading for mercy without pause, his eyes full of panic.

“I can let you go, of course. But I’m going to take something from you first.”

The half-elf stopped, considered it, and snapped his fingers as he spoke.

The half-orc’s face lit up with joy, and he immediately ceased retreating. But the very next instant, a flash of light swept beneath him, and a heart-rending scream tore across the grassland.

The half-elf casually held the short sword. A bloody mass of flesh was impaled on its blade, and behind him the half-orc was rolling on the ground, clutching his lower body and howling.

“Hmph.”

Coldly watching the half-orc gradually fall silent as his blood drained away, the half-elf gave a disdainful snort, flicked the filthy thing off the short sword, wiped the blade against his riding boot, sheathed it once more, and then turned his reins north.

The tall horse neighed sharply, reared its hooves, and galloped toward the northern horizon.