Winter arrived, and this year's winter temperatures were exceptionally low. Not only did vast swathes of Ryan suffer blizzard disasters, but even the Emerald Dream Forest and the Silvermoon High Court—two realms that rarely saw snow—were struck by fierce snowstorms.
Yet in an age where magic flourished, snowstorms alone did not cause much disruption.
As long as a realm's upper echelon was willing to spare no expense in manpower and resources for disaster relief, all it took was dispatching a multitude of mages and clerics across the land to cast spells.
Clearing ice and snow, rescuing stranded citizens, and transporting grain could all be easily resolved in realms with a sufficient number of spellcasters.
Ryan was famous for treating its commoners well, so when the blizzard hit, the clerics of light mobilized en masse, swiftly alleviating the calamity before it could spread.
The druids and elves had even less cause for worry; their proportion of spellcasters exceeded even Ryan's.
Only the Dwarf Kingdom declared a state of emergency. Having just migrated from the desert, their food supplies could barely keep up. However, the Alchemy Association had put on a couple of acts on Anbaixiu's behalf, fleecing quite a few perks from the druids.
Druids naturally possessed little gold, so they settled the debts entirely in grain.
Once the grain from the Emerald Dream Forest arrived, the Dwarf Kingdom's winter crisis was similarly relieved.
In his palace, the dwarf king showered praise upon Anbaixiu, proclaiming that the lich was truly infallible in his calculations—he had even factored in the Dwarf Kingdom's grain shortage, resolving the problem using druid grain and leaving them utterly grateful.
While Ryan, the elves, the dwarves, and the druids could all weather the winter smoothly, things were far more problematic for the orcs.
Normally, the mountainous region where the orcs resided did not enter winter so early; it lagged behind Ryan by three or four months. But this year was bizarrely anomalous. The plunge in temperature swept across the entire continent at the exact same pace. The Orc Mountains plunged into deep winter as well, and suffered far more severely than the other realms.
The Orc Kingdom was currently waging aggressive wars, pouring all its strength into the border conflict, leaving the elderly, weak, women, and children back home barely able to withstand such freezing cold.
Scores of the elderly and young perished from freezing temperatures and lack of food.
Across the entire Orc Kingdom, only their royal capital could still maintain warmth and sustenance. Endless lightning in the sky was converted into magical power to heat the entire city; though food was tight, famine was never going to reach the capital's nobles.
The Orc King didn't even glance at the disaster reports submitted to him. Lately, he did only one thing every day: brandish the greataxe named "Bloody Wedding."
On the surface, this artifact greataxe had been purchased at immense cost by the Ryan people, yet what the Ryan people didn't know was that this artifact was actually a pair.
From the very beginning, Bloody Wedding had been a pair of axes.
While it looked like a massive greataxe, to the Orc King, it was merely one axe of a pair—for he was born far taller than ordinary orcs and possessed boundless strength.
In the middle of the blizzard, the Orc King brandished the massive axe with one hand, cleaving toward the towering mountain before him with all his might.
The axe chopped through the wind and snow. Though it had not yet touched the mountain, it felt as though it had struck a solid object; the axe came to a halt in midair as crimson radiance coalesced along its blade.
One strike, two strikes... The Orc King swung the battleaxe frantically. Every single strike cleaved empty air, yet every strike was delivered with all his strength.
Until the red radiance upon the axe could pierce the blizzard, dyeing the surroundings in a bloody hue.
Only then did the Orc King turn into an afterimage, lunging toward the mountain before him. This time, he slammed the axe heavily into the mountainside.
Blazing red light erupted at that instant, and a colossal shockwave detonated directly before him.
With a tremendous boom, a gigantic fissure split across the peak—which stood taller than city walls—before the mountain began to wobble and swiftly collapse.
Tens of thousands of tons of boulders crashed down, reverberating through the valley with dull roars louder than thunder, the relentless shockwaves even altering the direction of the raging blizzard.
The Orc King carefully inspected the axe in his hand. Confirming that the edge was completely undamaged, he burst into boisterous laughter. "Truly worthy of an artifact blessed by Talos! Finally, a weapon capable of enduring my might! With this axe, I shall lop off that Ryan Emperor's head!"
The gale howled and snow raged wildly, yet nothing could obscure the Orc King's towering, imposing figure.
"Now that Your Majesty possesses this artifact, you will surely slay the Ryan Emperor. This time, our Orc Kingdom will establish an incomparable legacy!"
The octopus-headed mind flayer standing to the side applauded vigorously, even though this freezing, snowy weather was an agonizing ordeal for a mind flayer.
Wiping the blade lightly without looking up, the Orc King asked, "Any news lately?"
"Your Majesty, the Southwestern Seven Peaks have sent another plea for help regarding food shortages. Half of the ropeways have snapped due to the heavy snow..."
Urbano Pacheco was just about to report when the Orc King cut him off roughly. "That's not what I asked! I asked about news from the lich! What winter doesn't see people starve to death? Do I need to be told about trivialities like that?!"
Urbano Pacheco felt helpless. This Orc King had no fondness for reason. His own identity was far too precarious; should the Orc King ever abandon him, his death was guaranteed. Thus, Urbano Pacheco acted as the Orc King's "diehard loyalist." Whether His Majesty was a fatuous ruler or a tyrant, Urbano Pacheco had no choice but to stand firmly by his side, willing even to play the role of a sycophantic flatterer.
"Our lich ally has sent good news. The wedding proceedings have been properly arranged to guarantee Your Majesty an opportunity to challenge the Ryan Emperor to a duel. However, he sent another warning: the power of the Dragon Tyrant Armament is more terrifying than anyone imagines, and he hopes you will be well prepared. If necessary, I'm afraid..."
Urbano Pacheco hesitated, prompting the Orc King to demand impatiently, "Afraid of what?"
"I'm afraid it may be necessary to join forces with others to subjugate the Ryan Emperor together. He hopes Your Majesty can cooperate with champions from the other realms."
The moment Urbano Pacheco finished speaking, the Orc King let out a roar. "I need to join forces with others?! Against that useless Ryan trash who was sent fleeing in panic by the Githyanki?!"
Urbano Pacheco sighed inwardly. The Orc King was truly an idiot who knew nothing except how to swing his fists.
Yet there was no helping it; among the orcs, might makes right.
The current Orc King's fists were truly massive—so much so that not a single suitable weapon for him could be found in the entire kingdom.
The Orc King's legendary talent allowed him to store up every attack he swung into empty air and unleash them in a single burst upon hitting a target. Theoretically, as long as the weapon could withstand the strain, the Orc King could stack it infinitely until he could cleave a deity to death with a single strike.
In the past, even the sturdiest weapon in the Orc Kingdom could not bear the force unleashed by five stacked swings; maces forged of pure steel would shatter under the stress. Furthermore, the Orc Kingdom was not particularly adept at forging magical weapons, leaving the Orc King unable to unleash his full power for all these years.
The Orc King had always believed the only reason he couldn't defeat the Silvermoon Knight was the lack of a suitable weapon; otherwise, he wouldn't have feared that geezer with one foot in the grave at all. And after obtaining this artifact axe, he felt that the Silvermoon Knight had died too soon, or else he would have chopped off the old man's head on the battlefield.
Facing the Ryan Emperor who had thoroughly humiliated himself on the battlefield, the Orc King didn't take him seriously at all.
Yet Urbano Pacheco knew full well that for the lich to prepare as though facing a formidable enemy, this Ryan Emperor was definitely no simple figure. The Orc King being so careless could easily lead to disaster.
Unable to openly contradict this irritable king, Urbano Pacheco could only say tactfully, "Your Majesty, your valor is unmatched under heaven. But if the Ryan people discard martial honor and gang up with those legendary paladins, I fear it will be difficult for you to kill all the paladins before he flees. Therefore, allies are essential—we cannot simply stand by and watch the Ryan Emperor escape, can we?"
The Orc King pondered for a moment and found some sense in that. He said to Urbano Pacheco, "Then go tell that lich: if the Ryan Emperor is a coward who fears death and doesn't dare duel me one-on-one, I won't mind cooperating with others. But remember to warn those useless weaklings not to get in my way."
"Certainly, I will definitely remind him."
Urbano Pacheco breathed a sigh of relief, though in his heart he was contemplating: if the Orc King fell in battle, should he surrender to Ryan, or prepare an escape route in advance to live in seclusion?
Better safe than sorry. The Mind Flayer Empire was already gone; preparing for the worst had always been his race's motto.
Urbano Pacheco looked up at the sky filled with whirling snow and couldn't help thinking: *Master Ultraman, I hope you truly have made foolproof preparations. If you fail, far too many people will be dragged down with you.*
Chapter 505