Chapter 229: Surging Undercurrents

City Lord Sendra looked at the young, armor-clad general sitting to the side of the hall. This was the supreme military commander of Blade Fortress—General Loski.

At this moment, the promising young Loski wore a grim expression. He carefully examined the thick, two-meter-long crossbow cannon bolt in his hands, its shaft still stained with dark red blood.

When City Lord Sendra saw that massive crossbow cannon bolt, his pupils contracted, and cold sweat broke out across his forehead.

Don't let me catch whoever did this!

City Lord Sendra felt both terrified and resentful. With an incident like this, the higher-ups would definitely investigate to the bitter end, and the smuggling caravans would be their primary target.

When that happened, his enemies and anyone coveting his position would never let such a golden opportunity slip by. His time as city lord would be over.

Sendra lifted the white cloth, revealing the pale face of a young man. He remembered this youth; he was a city guard and a local resident of Blade Fortress.

The poor soldier's fatal wound was a massive hole in his chest. One could even see the stretcher beneath him straight through the bloody gap.

Sendra frowned and pulled the white cloth back over the body.

"Carry the body out, notify his family, and deliver them a pension."

Although City Lord Sendra was greedy for wealth, there was no questioning his competence or character.

Otherwise, as merely the second son of a Count, he would never have stood out among so many competitors to secure the seat of city lord in Blade Fortress.

General Loski handed the bolt to the approaching City Lord Sendra.

City Lord Sendra took the weapon. It was over two meters long and weighed nearly twenty pounds. Its shaft was as thick as an adult's wrist, and the cold gleam of the arrowhead made it obvious at a glance that it was forged from high-quality steel.

Suddenly, City Lord Sendra's pupils contracted. He stroked the bolt, feeling not a single sign of deformation, and a look of sheer disbelief washed over his face.

"This! This! This is impossible! With this level of craftsmanship, even bolt heads manufactured by the Empire wouldn't remain completely undamaged after an impact."

General Loski took a deep breath. As a military man, he understood weapons far better than a civilian official like Sendra.

"This is not a weapon forged by the Empire."

General Loski's expression flickered with uncertainty.

"In fact, this bolt wasn't crafted by humans at all. With our current craftsmanship, we simply cannot produce something like this."

Hearing this, City Lord Sendra felt a complex mix of emotions. On one hand, he no longer had to worry about the higher-ups investigating the smuggling operations. On the other, he was deeply anxious about where the Orcs had acquired such equipment.

The Orcs themselves?

What a joke!

If those terrifyingly strong brutes possessed such forging techniques, humanity would have gone extinct long ago!

City Lord Sendra finally spoke.

"General Loski, can you tell the origin of this bolt?"

Although the young man in front of him held the same official rank, his true status was something Sendra couldn't even compare to. Loski was the heir to one of the Empire's three grand dukes; he had only come to Blade Fortress to pad his resume.

Backed by the foundation of a ducal family with a legacy spanning thousands of years, Loski possessed an immense reserve of knowledge. He voiced his suspicion.

"In the entire Madilan World, only two races possess this level of craftsmanship. One is the long-lost Dwarven Race, and the other is the legendary Titan Giants."

City Lord Sendra couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Dwarves? Titan Giants? Aren't those just legends?"

Loski shook his head.

"I don't know about the Dwarves, but Titans are real. Thousands of years ago, humans were still slaves to the Titan Giants, building their palaces and herding their livestock. Later, unable to endure the Titans' tyranny, our ancestors rose in rebellion and ended their rule."

Thinking of the massive Titan skull resting in his family's collection room, Loski felt a heavy weight in his heart.

Whether it was the Titans or the Dwarves, they were now standing on the side of the Orcs.

City Lord Sendra also realized the severity of the problem.

"I will write a letter to His Majesty immediately!"

With that, Sendra hurried to the desk and picked up a pen. When he finished, he rolled the letter into a small scroll, stuffed it into the bamboo tube strapped to the leg of a nearby messenger hawk, and let the bird fly.

After doing this, City Lord Sendra let out a breath.

"Your Excellency Loski, before His Majesty issues any orders, I ask that you send out scouts to investigate the situation. Also, just in case, the city defense battalion will need support from the army."

Loski nodded.

"I will go arrange it right now."

General Loski left the room.

City Lord Sendra paced back and forth across the room with his head lowered. After a moment of thought, he issued an order to a nearby guard.

"Notify the city defense battalion to deploy more men and keep a close eye on the Orcs' movements at all times. The patrols on the City Wall cannot stop, even at night."

After seeing the bloody hole in that soldier's chest, Blade Fortress's thirty-meter-high City Wall could no longer bring Sendra any sense of security. They had already brought out crossbow cannons; heaven only knew if the Orcs had other lethal weapons.

...

The messenger hawk flew through the white clouds, crossed majestic snow-capped mountains and dense forests, and soared over villages with curling smoke and emerald plains. Finally, it arrived at a bustling city and landed within a luxurious imperial palace.

The white-haired old man who tended the messenger hawks casually pulled the letter from the bamboo tube. Seeing the glaring red mark on the paper, his pupils contracted. He turned and hurried toward the heart of the kingdom.

The Imperial Emperor of the Luonan Empire, Payatikai, was awoken from his afternoon nap. Upon hearing news of an urgent secret report, he quickly got up, went to the palace hall, and found the letter placed on his desk. He broke the seal and began to read.

The nearby guards noticed that the Emperor's expression had suddenly turned grim, and their hearts tightened. The Luonan Empire was already the strongest power in the Madilan World. Just what could trouble this man who stood at the absolute pinnacle of the world?

The Imperial Emperor lowered the letter and held it over the flame of a nearby candle, setting it ablaze.

As the paper turned to ash, the Imperial Emperor fell into deep thought.

Before long, the Imperial Emperor turned around, picked up his pen, and wrote three letters, handing them to an attendant.

"Have the messenger hawks deliver these three letters to the kings of the three great kingdoms."

The Imperial Emperor turned back and wrote one more letter.

"Have a messenger hawk deliver this letter to Blade Fortress."

"Send orders to Grand Duke Singhasa to carefully guard the Subterranean Eye of Earth. Damn it, could there be other Eyes of the Earth?!"

"Pass down my orders! Tell Commander Laqianhan to lead a hundred thousand troops and rush to Blade Fortress immediately!"

One after another, the heralds hurried out of the palace to pass down the Imperial Emperor's commands.

Soon after, the leaders of the Kingdom Alliance—the kings of the three great kingdoms—all received the Imperial Emperor's letter.

A certain king read the contents of his letter by the glow of a candle.

"The Orcs have received the support of an unknown faction, possessing an unverified number of excellent weapons and large siege equipment... Humanity must unite to face this external threat."

The king's expression flickered with uncertainty. He pinched his chin in thought and muttered to himself.

"Is it true? Or is this a trap?!"

Most of the kings from the three great kingdoms held a skeptical attitude and maintained a wait-and-see approach.

Later, through their respective channels, they verified the reliability of the news and withdrew the massive armies they had stationed near the Luonan Empire.

Inside the Luonan Empire's imperial palace, the ministers were gathered together.

"Your Majesty, the Kingdom Alliance is clearly planning on watching tigers fight from the mountain. We must absolutely not fall for their treacherous scheme!"

"But the number of Orcs gathering outside Blade Fortress continues to grow. Intelligence shows they are well-equipped and came prepared!"

"When we start fighting the Orcs, and the Kingdom Alliance stabs us in the back, will you take responsibility?"

"If we don't dispatch soldiers, we won't even need the Kingdom Alliance to play dirty—the Orcs will chop your head off first!"

...

Looking at the ministers below, who had split into two factions and were arguing fiercely, the Imperial Emperor rubbed his temples and spoke.

"I have already made my decision. We will draw half of our military forces from every city and send them to Blade Fortress."

The Imperial Emperor's words brought an end to the argument.

Soldiers from all across the Luonan Empire continuously converged on Blade Fortress, entirely unaware that the enemies they were about to face were beyond imagination.

The Imperial Emperor's actions played right into the White Dragon Lord's scheme, which was to gather the elites of the Luonan Empire together and wipe them all out in one fell swoop!