Chapter 963: A Fucking Joke

Torin was furious. And he was hurt.

He wanted to scream out every humiliation he had suffered in the human kingdom over the years, but all he got in return was not pity, not sympathy.

It was ridicule.

Contempt.

Disgust.

The truly great nobles of the human kingdom—which one of them wasn’t of noble lineage, their titles passed down for generations? For Torin to climb to the peak of power was an impossibility; it would threaten the interests of too many people. And so, he was never accepted. He was always an outsider.

That’s the look, he thought, his head bowed. The same look as always.

“You all think I’m weak,” he muttered, his voice a ghostly rasp, terrifying and lonely. “You all think I’m an easy target, so you ignore me, you exploit me, you crush me.”

His voice began to rise. “Isn’t it pathetic? As a human, as a lord, I have to pay tolls and protection money in my own goddamn territory! I’m treated with more respect doing trade with the stoneheart horde than I ever was in the human kingdom!”

He lifted his head, no longer caring if the other lords of the coalition heard his past. He roared the question at King Harold and the gallery of great nobles.

“Tell me, isn’t that a joke?”

“ISN’T IT?!”

“HUH?!”

“ISN’T IT A FUCKING JOKE?!”

King Harold’s eyes held a flicker of pity, but the rest of them looked at him with the same old disdain, now mixed with a healthy dose of revulsion.

“You look down on me…” Torin’s voice dropped to a seething whisper. “All of you… all of you… will die.”

“KILL THEM!” he bellowed.

A vile, supernatural power erupted from within him, coalescing into a spectral, crocodilian beast that lunged at the lords of the Five-Race Alliance.

With Torin’s charge, the Legendary-level battle exploded into chaos. With so many lords joining the fray, the sky erupted into a kaleidoscope of destructive energy, a storm of power that was every bit as intense as the clash of the two arch lords moments before.

The lords’ battle was the signal for a true, all-out war. From Alpha-level to hero level down to the rank-and-file elites, a new war between north and south was being waged across the land.

Hordes of satyrs wielding massive stone hammers charged bravely into the tide of cave spiders, hoping to slow their slaughter with sheer numbers. From another flank, mixed armies of giants and ogres rushed forth, their massive clubs and iron hammers joining the fray against half-dragons and satyrs.

Elsewhere, puppets flew from the crowds, their swords and scythes reaping a bloody harvest on the battlefield. They were cold and emotionless, their eyes seeing only targets. Every time they broke through to the human army’s rear, they brought nothing but chaos and death.

The draconic roars from the sky, the bestial howls from the ground, the clash of weapons, the snapping of bone, the shattering of claws… the cacophony of sounds rose and fell, a symphony of life and death. And a dirge. For with every note, countless lives were extinguished, their bodies and souls erased.

“Go, if you want to.”

Delilah’s voice was calm. She and her companions had reached the heart of the battlefield. The abyssal dragon remained hidden within its own magical mist, and any creature below Legendary level that blundered in simply became its food.

“But…” Saelen hesitated. Her mission was to protect Delilah. If she left now, she would be failing her duty.

“Go. The worry is practically falling off your face,” Delilah said gently. “I’ll be safe with Lorelia and the dragon.”

Saelen didn’t reply. Now that they were closer to the fighting, she could sense the battle between the Legendary-level powerhouses. She could feel that her Grand Elder, Lireesa, had already had several close calls. She was deeply worried. Grand Elder Lireesa was too important to the blood elf race. They couldn’t afford to lose her.

“Go. They need the support.”

“Your Excellency, please do not leave this spot. I will return as quickly as I can,” Saelen finally said. After entrusting Delilah with that last plea, she drew her longbow and shot into the sky, streaking toward the lords’ battlefield.

“Ah, to be young,” Delilah sighed, shaking her head as she watched Saelen’s receding back. Worry clouds your judgment. Grand Elder Lireesa has forgotten more about surviving than Saelen will ever know. Do you really think she wouldn’t know how to retreat from danger?

“That blood elf was sent to us to gain our protection, wasn’t she, Sister Delilah?” Lorelia asked. She was still effortlessly commanding the spiders across the battlefield, yet still had enough attention to spare for a chat.

“Oh? You figured that out?” Delilah’s eyes widened in genuine surprise as she looked at Lorelia. The girl’s mind had clearly sharpened since her ascension.

“Of course! Who am I? I am the smartest, prettiest, and greatest Warden of our stoneheart horde!” Lorelia declared with unshakable confidence. Besides Mistress Lilith, she was the greatest spider queen of them all. Elara and Pallas didn’t count, of course. She didn’t compete with kids.

“I’m the treasured jewel of the stoneheart horde. To protect me, my master even assigned this big guy to be my bodyguard,” she said, stomping a foot on Xalathar, which earned her an annoyed rumble. “Hehe. In their eyes, my location is the safest place on the battlefield. Because they know that either on me, or on this big guy, there is sure to be one of my master’s will projections standing guard. I have to admit, that blood elf elder has a good eye.”

Delilah narrowed her eyes, watching Lorelia with a strange light dancing in their depths.

Honestly, she felt a sense of crisis.

She had felt it once before, the first time she met the Horde’s first daughter, Elara. From Elara, she got a sense of overwhelming, almost omniscient intellect, as if nothing could ever be hidden from those eyes.

And now, Lorelia was giving her a similar feeling. It was easier to accept from Lorelia, because her Intelligence was something that had been built up over time, an unconscious growth from learning at her and Lilith’s side. But because of her status as a broodmother, she also possessed a strategic perspective and a capacity for learning that surpassed normal beings.

Is it possible, Delilah thought with a jolt, that the stoneheart horde’s future will have two geniuses I can’t outwit?

Legendary level. Delilah felt the craving for that power once more. Sometimes, when intellect was not enough to dominate, overwhelming power was the only way to crush all obstacles.