--Lorne Fortress--

As a frontier fortress for the empire to defend against the orcs in the west, there are nearly 20,000 regular troops stationed in the fortress, most of them archers and infantry, and the military camp not far from here has four or five thousand cavalry, which is the first class of the empire and maintains an important checkpoint for the entire western border.

In the past ten years, Lorne Fortress has always maintained a [good] tacit understanding with the orcs, and although the two sides are constantly harassing, the number of people is basically controlled below three or five hundred, and it is definitely not easy to go to war.

Although this not-so-peaceful peace has continued for several years, the commander of Lorne Fortress, Count Brian Elvis, has never let his guard down on the orcs, and as a commander in his thirties, it is clear that the orcs do not intend to live peacefully with humans, they are gathering strength.

In the past few years, the orcs have built the Ancestral Altar on the ruins of the small town of Set, and built a stone city around this ancestral altar, all of which were quarried from distant mountains, and with the backward civilization of the Orcs, it is hard to imagine that they will be able to build a fortress even more majestic than Lorne Fortress in just a few years, which makes Count Brian Elvis feel very threatened.

He sent dozens of troops to disturb the orcs in building a fortress, after all, he couldn't watch the other party set up a base outside Lorne's fortress, but, because he didn't want to go to war, the orcs still managed to build a fortress.

And once the fortress was built, the attitude of the orcs towards Lorne Fortress changed, and it was no longer a small knock as before, but a large-scale frontal attack.

Now, seven years later, the Orcs are becoming more and more ferocious, and in the face of human bows and crossbows, the Orcs seem to be not afraid of death, rushing forward and backwards to rush to the walls of Lorne Fortress, especially the last few times, the Orcs even built catapults.

Although the craftsmanship of the catapults was crude, they were no more powerful than the magic crystal cannons of Lorne's fortress, and worse still, the orcs could drive even powerful and ferocious beasts, some of which were as old as horned lizards.

For this reason, both sides suffered heavy losses, the human side still had a fortress as a barrier, while the orcs on the besieging side had nothing, and the ratio of deaths between the two armies even reached one for two.

On average, two human soldiers can be exchanged for one orc infantry, which is a very remarkable feat, you know, if it is on flat ground, a single orc infantry can take out a small team of human soldiers.

In just a few battles, the orcs lost at least more than 20,000 elite infantry, such losses, if they were a thousand years ago, they were simply not worth mentioning, but now...... As the sun went down, another day passed, and even the attack with the orcs slowed down, and to the cheers of the human soldiers of Lorne Fortress, the orcs picked up their fallen comrades and withdrew without saying a word.

For three months in a row, the orcs stormed the fortress of Lorne, this kind of battle at dawn, retreat at dark, dignified and even almost stupid tactics, has not changed to this day, to be honest, if you put aside your identity, Count Brian Elvis does have some admiration for these orcs.

You know, in the past few years, Count Brian Elvis has never seen a single deserter among the orcs.

Suddenly, Count Bryan saw the orc warrior who was nearly three yards tall, much taller and stronger than the others.

Count Brian knew that it was the son of the orc chieftain and the warrior among the orcs, Yabutu, in the past few years, every time he led the orc army, the two could be regarded as old friends.

Over the years, Earl Brian gradually learned that the other party was not a blood-drinking race, but had its own civilization.

Tell the truth, do orcs eat people?

But what they eat the most is not humans, but their own people in their tribe, but it is definitely not to fill their stomachs, but because they worship and admire each other, if a powerful warrior in the tribe unfortunately dies in battle, the orcs will choose about ten strongest men in the form of gladiatorial fights, and divide the warrior to eat, mainly limbs and hearts, etc., and the rest are respectfully buried.

Because they thought that by eating the flesh and blood of that warrior, they would gain his strength in life.

And if an elderly shaman dies, the younger shaman who succeeds him will eat the brain of the predecessor, because it means that he has inherited the knowledge and experience of the predecessor, and the rest is respectfully buried.

Even the corpses of human warriors that they snatched away will be treated and buried by warriors after [dividing] the power, of course, it is not the same thing from the human side, this is the difference between civilizations.

Yabutu was the last to leave.

When he returned to the fortress, the old shamans of the tribe were standing at the gate, including his father, the chief of the entire orc tribe.

When they saw the corpses of these warriors who had died in battle, the atmosphere of the orcs standing here was very heavy, but they didn't say anything, didn't cry, didn't scold, just stood silently.

Yabutu, an orc warrior more than three yards tall, knelt down on one knee in front of his father and bowed his head.

The old chief nodded silently, beckoned, and told the living to bury their dead companions and lift up their sons.

While no one was paying attention, Yabutu whispered, "Humans, they have become stronger, they have weapons, magic, and they are very powerful......

"Well," said the old chief, sighing, leaning on a wooden cane, "we have lost a thousand years of time......

Yabutu was silent for a moment, and said, "Even if we can conquer many, many lands of the human race, we will pay a heavy price, the warriors of the tribe...... Moreover, among them there were several apostles, powerful apostles......"

"I know," the old chief nodded, and said in a deep voice, "the power of the ancestors has told me everything that is happening in the world, but for the sake of the continuation of the tribe, I have to do it...... I grieve for the sacrifices of the warriors, but I grieve even more for our compatriots in our homeland, the land, the fertile land, the vast fertile land, for this, no matter what the price is paid, it is worth it!", he paused, and said earnestly, "The continuation of the tribe is more important than the sacrificed warriors, even if we lose all the warriors who can fight, but as long as our race has not perished, and she continues, then all the sacrifices are worth it—— Including you, my most valiant son!"

"For the sake of the tribe, I will do what you say!" Yabutu silently lowered his head, his eyes glowing with a bloodthirsty red, and behind him, the phantom of a fierce beast with fangs faintly appeared.

-- Kasalis Region, Windy Valley - Windy Dale, is home to elves who have lived here for hundreds of years.

However, the elves did not originally live here, but near lakes and rivers, where they would build their castles.

Speaking of which, the castle of the elves is very interesting, there is not a single stone in the whole city, and their house is directly inside the giant tree.

However, they never destroy the woods, and even when they want to build a dwelling, they use a vine-like and tree-like plant, which grows extremely fast, especially after casting life magic, it can turn into a huge tree in the blink of an eye, and the elves use this plant to build their own cities.

In the first alliance battle, they were the real victors in the decisive battle against the orcs, however, due to several civil strife, the elves who suffered heavy losses completely lost their status as the overlord of the eastern continent.

By the time of the Black Iron Period, humans gradually formed lords and principalities, and at that time, there were also some small and medium-scale confrontations between humans and elves, and the elves thought that they could defeat humans with their life magic, but unfortunately, they failed.

When it came to the time of King Sassoon, countless large and small principalities were gradually unified into two countries, the north was dominated by black magicians, and the south was controlled by white magicians.

Gradually, the disheartened elves faded out of the eyes of human beings and chose some remote places to live, and at that time, King Sassen was busy fighting with the Holy See and did not care about them, so that now if you see an elf in a human city, people can be surprised for a long time, to change to the golden age, this is nothing at all, you know, there were some elven tribesmen, and some lived in the same city as humans.

Perhaps, all highly intelligent races cannot escape civil strife, and this is the case for humans, and the same is true for elves.

A month ago, the elves suddenly appealed to the allied humans for help, for the simple reason that civil strife broke out again and again, and the rebels attacked the empress's palace at one point.

At the same time that the elven envoy arrived in Sassen, the elven queen's escort was routed by the rebels, who took over the palace and imprisoned the elven queen and a large group of high elves.

And the leader of this rebel army, called Chriss, turned out to be only a medium elf, a ranger, and it is hard to imagine that a rebel army of only a few hundred men led by him could defeat all the Empress's guards and detain the Empress.

This was the first civil strife among the elves in a hundred years.

"Why did you do that?" asked the Empress, looking angrily at the rebel.

The empress does have the qualifications to ask such questions, after all, in the past hundred years, this generous empress has not made any mistakes, under her rule, although the elven race can no longer return to the hegemony of the eastern continent a thousand years ago, but the race has been preserved intact.

Under the angry gaze of the detained empress, Chrissian smiled faintly and said softly, "I don't want to offend you, but I don't think you are suitable to lead the people as a leader to restore the glory of a thousand years ago!"

"Millennial ......" the empress was stunned, her original angry expression gradually receded, and she asked suspiciously, "What are you going to do?"

"Betrayers must be punished!" Chrissis said.

The empress frowned slightly, as if she didn't understand the other party's words for a while, but after a few turns of thought, she understood, showed a shocked expression, and said in shock, "You...... Are you crazy?"

Betrayer, that's what the elves call for humans.

Before Chrissis could speak, several High Elves who were escorted next to him scolded angrily, "You are a rebel, you are just a damn inferior servant who dares to detain the Empress!"

Chriss's face sank suddenly, and he glanced at the high elves, as if an incomparably powerful momentum had enveloped the entire palace at once.

And what is even more shocking is that a hazy phantom looms behind Chriss, the phantom slowly opens a pair of pale red eyes, and all the elves who come into contact with his gaze involuntarily kneel down, even the empress, can not help but feel fear and surrender from the depths of her soul.

"Who gave you the courage to interject, who gave you the right to look up to me?"

In the indescribable gaze of Chriss, everyone involuntarily lowered their heads, as if under some coercive force.

"Only death can forgive your sins, and die!" Chrissis said lightly.

In the shocked gaze of everyone, those high-level elves suddenly stopped cursing, raised their right hand, and cast a magic spell through their chest.

And what was striking was their expressions, their frightened, fearful expressions that meant they didn't want to do that at all.

It is this force, the irresistible force, the power of the demons...... It was this demonic force that completely disintegrated the entire palace guard...... The Empress's heart was half cold, because she realized that even the entire elven race, no one could resist this demonic power.

Include yourself...... Under the empress's trembling gaze, Chrissis walked up to her, leaned down and pinched her chin, and said in a deep voice, "Go and gather all the people of the people, and ...... in your name"

"No......" The Empress shook her head with the shiver in her heart, and exclaimed, "You don't know how powerful humans are now......

"Hmph!" Chrissis smiled coldly, let go of his hand and said lightly, "I know the power of humans better than you, but...... But so what?"

"You will lead our entire people to destruction!"

"Since when have the proud elves become accustomed to surrendering to mankind?What about our glory??'s pride?" As he spoke, Chriss's eyes gradually glowed with a reddish light, and he said in a deep voice, "Everyone listen, mankind, shamefully stealing the glory and victory that belonged to us, they are our enemies, and if they blindly retreat, sooner or later our entire race will be destroyed......!" Go to war!"

"Yes!" all the elves except the Elven Empress knelt respectfully, even the High Elves who had been scolding angrily before.

The Elven Empress suddenly felt an illusion of surrender welling up in the depths of her soul, and it was an irresistible force.

This clan, no, is the demon behind this clan, as if he is the only king of heaven and earth, and all living beings must submit to him.

--Van Dow--In the evening, Beria finished his affairs at the Reochs Academy early, and stood alone by the fountain in the square, looking at the water in the pool.

"I'm so interested, it's the first time I've seen you here!" Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

Beria turned her head and saw Dia standing behind her with Soth's hand, snorting softly.

Dia understood Belia's temper and left under the pretext of going to see the shop on the side, giving the two time to talk alone.

"Wait for Lilith?" Soth asked, smiling.

Beria's face suddenly sank, and he snorted coldly, and then as if he thought of something, he said in a deep voice, "Do you feel it, the last two ancient wills have also awakened......

"Really?" Soth was stunned, shrugged, "I'm not an astrologer, how would I know about such a thing?"

"It's just a feeling...... Belial was silent for a moment, then frowned, "[Gluttony] and [Arrogance], these are two very difficult guys......"

"You've fought against them?"

Beria shook his head, looked at the water in the city and whispered, "In my world, only [Greed] and [Laziness] have awakened, and several other guys have not awakened in their sleep, but this world is ......"

"How difficult is it?"

"The literature in the ruins records that [Arrogance] is the second born ancient will, only one second slower than [Greed], you should know that greed is the brother of all ancient wills, in other words, arrogance is the first to be born**, symbolizing the original authority, [Gluttony] is the last to be born, compared to gluttony, I am more worried about [Arrogance]......"

"What do you mean......"

"In ancient texts, the earlier the ancient will was born, the more powerful it was to have the power of the gods, and the less ambitious the ancient will, the more powerful it was......"

"You mean, [arrogant] ......"

"Ah, maybe it's strong enough to rival the existence of Sloth, or even more powerful than Sloth, even [Gluttony] should have the power to surpass [Jealousy], you should know that the battle of the ancient will, in fact, there are only four ancient wills that really fight, [Greed], [Jealousy], [Anger], and [Silver Desire], and [Gluttony] quit halfway, and like [Arrogance] and [Laziness], they didn't plan to participate in the ...... from the beginning."

"Is it the embodiment of **?"

"Well, the stronger the ancient will that represents, the stronger its own strength will be, in my opinion, the most powerful is probably not [anger], but [arrogance], and the second is [laziness], Sloth......"

"What about ability?"

"I don't know!" Beria sighed slightly.

"Are you worried?" asked Soth, curious.

"Worried?" Belia sneered and said lightly, "You have to figure it out, no matter how this world becomes, I don't care, on the contrary, I am quite looking forward to the battle between the seven ancient wills......"

"You......" Soth shook his head speechlessly.

At this moment, suddenly a woman's soft voice came from the side.

"Say what?"

Soth subconsciously turned his head and saw Lilith walking over in a black evening dress, a strange smile suddenly appeared on his face, he glanced at Belial, smiled at Lilith and said, "Good evening, Lilith!"

"Hello, Soth!" Lilith bowed politely, and looking at her virtuous appearance, it was hard to imagine that she was actually a short-tempered, capricious woman.

"Well, I won't bother you!" Soth smiled and left, leaving only Belial, with a dark face, facing Lilith alone.

"What kind of expression do you have?" Seeing the expression on Belia's face, Lilith's smile suddenly disappeared, and she whispered, "You invited me here!"

"Yes, yes!" Beria frowned and shook her head.

Seeing that Belial's expression was a little wrong, Lilith looked at her outfit in surprise, and looked around again, but saw that everyone else nearby was just wearing ordinary civilian clothes, and some were even a simple magic robe.

"You wait a little longer, and I'll go back and get a new outfit!" Lilith said.

"Forget it......"

"Well," Lilith said with a giggle, looking at Belial, "I don't want you to be laughed at, you're my man......"

"Who are you......" Belial subconsciously retorted, but before he could finish speaking, Lilith turned into a dark aura and disappeared in place.

Speaking from the heart, Beria knew very well that Lilith had not treated herself badly after these years, and she could let her, who had always been domineering, treat herself in such a low voice, and Beria sometimes felt a little uncomfortable, so he invited Lilith.

But guilt is not love...... No matter what Lilith does, she can't replace her in Belial's heart, this point, Belia knows it, and Lilith knows it, but neither of them said it, Belia is taking into account the other party's apostle status, and Lilith doesn't dare, is she unwilling...... Just as Beria sighed, a man rushed to the crowd in the street and slammed into him.

Before Beria could speak, the man bowed his head and apologized repeatedly, and then hurried away.

Beria didn't see the person's appearance, but listening to the other party's crisp voice when he apologized, he took into account that it was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl.

Looking at the back of the other party running away, Beria subconsciously touched his waist with his left hand, and sure enough, his money bag was gone.

But he didn't have any anger, just laughed coldly, and slowly raised his right hand, only to see that there was clearly a bulging bag of money on his right hand.

"Playing this with me, huh!" Beria swiped her purse and smiled strangely.

Just as he was about to leave, there was a sudden "stop", and then, the girl who had hit him came back, hurried up to him, hatefully threw an empty money bag into Beria's arms, and then raised his hand and said indignantly, "Give it back to me!"

"What ...... will you return?" said this, Beria's voice stopped abruptly.

Looking at the girl's face, looking at the unusually familiar face, he was stunned.

The girl glared at Beria fiercely, snatched the money bag from his hand, snorted, turned and ran away, looking at her departing back, Belia's face showed an inexplicable knowing smile, a sincere smile he had never had in years.

Maybe one day, we will meet again...... Meet somewhere in the world...... I hope that at that time, we will still be able to recognize each other...... "It seems that nothing can be said to make those ancient wills mess around in this world...... Huh!"

『End of the book』