Heart of the Castle

Chapter 497 Allies or enemies, barbaric or cunning

Kalmos, the ruler of the Eastern Gulun orc tribe, is tall and has a thick chest. His muscular arms are thicker than the waist of ordinary humans, and his legs are like the trunk of an old oak tree; The facial skin has been exposed to the sun on the Moon Language Plain for a long time, and it has become as tight as dark green steel. Countless scars cover every part of this face; Karmos's facial features are extremely tough, with the appearance of an orc. His fierce and irritable features, especially the resolute mouth that was born with scowls and never smiled, the fangs sticking out of the lips gleamed with an almost metallic luster, making anyone who saw him feel terrified.

When Li Wei walked into the tent, Kalmos also raised his eyelids from the Wakao throne covered with mammoth skin, and his eyes, like bloody wounds, shot two sharp gazes, staring firmly at the face of the Griffin Lord .

Li Wei tried his best to look calm and turned a blind eye to the East Beast King's gaze.Sir Rodriguez followed closely with his hands on the hilt of his sword, and the last ones were Si Er, a knight of secret rhyme with his chest folded, and Mr. Dish, who was dressed as a butler. The bullet was taken out of his arms, and the latter took the trouble to remind him again and again not to be nervous.

Kalmos' tent is made of thick cowhide and sheepskin, and each piece of leather has been fully tanned to block the cold wind mixed with fine snow.A firepit was dug in the middle of the tent, inside which was smoldering red campanula charcoal. The charcoal made of this kind of small shrub special to Yueyu Plain does not produce a lot of choking smoke when burning, so in Wang Dufei The aristocratic family of Ermeyer was popular and, of course, quite expensive.

The leaders of all the large tribes gathered in the tent, and they sat on their respective seats. Those so-called seats were actually piles of leather mattresses, and the heights were different according to the strength of the tribe. The tribal leaders near the tent door were actually almost equal to Sit directly on the ground.Most of these tribal leaders are dressed in fishy and tattered animal skins, exposing their rough and strong arms and chests after being exposed to the wind and sun; only a few leaders wear armor or chain mail, because the orcs have poor metal smelting and forging skills. , Most of their armors don't fit very well, and it's really not an easy thing to wear every day.

Li Wei and his party walked between these barbaric orc tribe leaders, the eyes cast from both sides were full of ferocity and bloodthirsty, it seemed that they only needed an order from Carmos, and these tribe leaders would rush up to kill Li Wei. Waiting for someone to tear it into pieces, if the legend is correct, this orc overseer nicknamed Bloody Rage really killed the envoy who came to negotiate in this way.

"Are you the leader of those humans? Young boy?" Seeing Levi walking in front of him, Karmos? Bloody Fury asked in a common language far higher than the standard of ordinary orcs.

"Yes, I am." Li Wei replied forcefully, "I am the Patriarch of the Ston family in the Kingdom of Arthur, I am the Guardian of the North, the Viscount of the Kingdom, and the Lord of Griffins. I am Levi Ston. I have just given You three-time setbacks!"

Kalmos listened quietly, his cast-iron face remained unchanged. When Li Wei's voice fell to the ground, he stretched out his hand to the side, stroking the long-handled giant ax next to the throne.This fearsome weapon had two razor-sharp blades, and the flames danced and flickered on the blades, as if soaked in blood.The giant ax is obviously not something that the orcs' poor forging technology can produce. When Kalmos noticed that Li Wei's eyes had noticed this weapon, he showed a satisfied expression on his face.

"This battle ax is called the Slayer, and it is my best and most loyal comrade-in-arms and partner. I have used it to cut off the heads of three dozen strong men, including human knights, and some stupid enough to dare to challenge and resist me. The leader of the orc tribe." He easily lifted the heavy battle ax with one hand and swung it around his head, "Young human lord, do you want to be the next person to be kissed by the slaughterer?"

"Lord Kalmos, is this your only answer to this negotiation?" Li Wei looked at Kalmos without blinking, as if he didn't care about the ax blade less than ten centimeters in front of him, the giant ax Just move forward a little and you can chop his head in half.Sir Rodriguez took a step forward, the giant iron star sword slid out of its sheath with a clang, and then pushed the Slayer away with the blade.

There was only the slightest trace of surprise in Kalmos' eyes, "Human, you are very strong. There are not many orcs who can compete with me in strength, and humans are unique."

Sir Rodriguez listened to the orc king's admiration expressionlessly, without showing any emotional changes from the beginning to the end, and the star iron giant sword firmly blocked in front of the giant axe.Kalmos' eyes flickered, and he retracted the giant axe, the Slayer, and put it next to the throne again, then crossed his hands in front of his chest, "Human lord, that bloody road has proved that you are qualified enough to negotiate with the orcs. , what do you want from Kalmos? Bloody Rage?"

"Lord Kalmos, humans have never asked for anything from orcs, and it's the same this time." Li Wei said while looking at the expression of the orc king, "I'm here this time to give you a gift. It is—peace."

"Peace?" Kalmos let out a wild laugh, the sound was like the howling wind that often blows on the Moon Whispering Plain, and the tribal leaders also let out a savage laugh, which echoed endlessly in the tent.The laughter didn't last long, and then gradually subsided. Kalmos stared fiercely at Li Wei, "Peace? You want to give us peace, give peace to the mighty orcs?"

"The defense force of Fort Kaidar is strong enough, and today you have had two encounters with blood. I don't think Lord Kalmos' memory is so bad?" Li Wei said in a slightly sarcastic tone. . "If you continue to fight, you will suffer more losses and more tenacious resistance! In this way, isn't the request for an armistice negotiation the peace we sent?"

"You guys played very tenaciously, unexpectedly tenaciously, which caused us to suffer a certain loss. I fully admit this." Karmos nodded slightly and said, "Your retinue knight is a fighter who can compete with me. Strong, I am even more surprised by the appearance of a magician in the stone tower." His voice suddenly became threatening, "But you have no chance of winning, because we have seen the secret hidden in the stone tower!"

"Giant eagles are our eyes in the sky. What they can see, every mountain eagle tribe can see!" The leader of the orc tribe who was second from the right of Kalmos scratched the fiery red hair on top of his head, Speak the common language bluntly.

"So we all know." Carmos told Li Wei, "We know that there are less than a hundred guards in the Stone Tower, and we know that you are completely unprepared for a war, whether it is food or bows and arrows. The reserves are not enough; We still know a lot, including what you didn't know we knew!"

Li Wei was a little dizzy by this string of knowledge, "Lord Kalmos, what exactly do you want to express?"

"What I want to say is that I fully understand how fragile you are now. You have too few people, and the orcs are a hundred times your number! Your weapon reserves are not abundant, and the orcs are also a hundred times yours! Like today Such an attack, the orcs can organize a hundred or two hundred times, how many times can humans resist with the stone tower?"

Li Wei took a deep breath, suppressing the irritability and apprehension in his chest, "Since that's the case, why do you agree to negotiate with us?"

"Because I don't want to continue to bleed." Kalmos sighed, his eyes were tired, and the hard lines on his face seemed to soften a little because of this tone, "Orcs are not afraid of bleeding, but they never like unnecessary blood. Not a single drop of blood should be shed in vain at a time when stronger enemies are sweeping from the west."

"Is it a demon?" Li Wei asked him sharply, "Have you ever encountered an army of demons?"

"There are countless demons, several times more than the orcs. Even with the addition of goblin slaves and half-orc wolf cavalry, the orcs still cannot match the number of demons. And they can throw big and hot fireballs, Just like what you did not long ago, but more, several times more, dozens of times!" Karmos? None of the warriors can resist their charm; there is also the abyss alchemist, which is taller than the mammoths of the Giant Plains tribe, and the head of the mammoth can be chopped off with a single swing of the beheading sword; The horses, manes and hooves are flames, burning and burning and burning, turning our lush pastures into red deserts, and our cattle and sheep into black ashes."

"Sounds like the orcs have lost a battle? Isn't it?" Levi said without letting up.

"That's right, we lost the battle." Admitting this made Kalmos have a bitter taste in his mouth, as well as unspeakable resentment and hatred. "Orcs hate magic, orcs can't resist magic, and the magic of demons is terrible. If there is no magic, I am not afraid of the abyss refining demons. I killed six of them and hung their heads in the tent. My brother who was killed by demons."

Even ordinary abyss demons are powerful enemies who have the melee ability of Lord with Sword or even Baron with Sword, and also possess several kinds of terrible fire magic. Hearing the news that Kalmos killed six in a row, let Li Wei was quite pleased. "Since this is the case, we have a common enemy, Governor Kalmos, why don't we join hands to deal with the invasion of demons?"

"Hand in hand, what are we doing hand in hand with the weak human shrimp?" Rody, the giant of the Juyuan tribe, said loudly. His body, which is more than twice as tall as Li Wei, was extremely oppressive when he stood up. "Weak human shrimps will only hide and tremble in stone houses. Strong giants and orcs will be used as pawns to destroy the demon army."

"The human shrimp in your mouth has frustrated you three times, and if necessary, there will be a fourth time, a fifth time, and more." Li Wei's unceremonious answer aroused a burst of anger among the tribal leaders The screams of the tribe, the iron feet of the Hardfoot tribe, the dog gnawing the canines of the tribe, and the tuft of hair of the mountain eagle tribe all threatened and cursed at the griffin lord.However, due to the lack of vocabulary in the orc language, those curses have nothing new except for their loud voice.

Sir Rodriguez put his right hand on the hilt of his sword, and his eyes showed a cold and sharp threat. Except for Karmos, no tribal leader dared to look directly at the pair of emotionless and indifferent eyes of the cursed black sun.Si'er, the leader of the goblins, nervously took out several smoke bombs. If Mr. Dish hadn't patted him on the shoulder to calm him down, he would have almost thrown those things that exploded at the touch.

Li Wei seemed poised between malicious threats and curses. He was very confident, not only because of his courage, but also because although the waves of curses from the tribal leaders were higher than the waves, the light shown in the probing technique was not deepen in the direction of hostility.The orcs don't want to fight, more than humans. They are not afraid of the blood flowing under Kaidar Castle, but they are afraid of the huge haze that is approaching.

The name of that haze is demons—an extremely large army of demons, comparable in number to the two armies that attacked the kingdom's northern border and the four southern counties.There are Heihe natural barriers and the Great Wall of Ice in the north. Li Wei led the army and the people to usher in victory through bitter battles; although the four counties in the south fell, the Sword Blade Rift and the Holy White Stone Fort firmly blocked the demon army until the Griffin bombing troops crush it.But there was nothing in Xifeng County, the county town fell, the roads were blocked, and the human defenders retreated repeatedly under the attack of the demons.

The orc tribes that originally lived on the Moon Whispering Plain were also devastated. Although the orc roaring warriors were brave and good at fighting, they were vulnerable to the overwhelming flame magic of the demon army. Te? Night Buster was killed on the spot, and more than a dozen large tribes were destroyed; the surviving tribes escaped across the Oath River and joined Karmos' tribe.They knew that there was no way to stop the advance of the demon army, so they fought and retreated, and finally came to the eastern edge of the Moon Whispering Plain, which is the human territory near the glorious capital of Fermeyer.

That's why the Orc Horde is here.These orcs were not ordinary invasions, but retreated here, and their purpose of driving the villagers away from their homes became clear. As Li Wei had guessed before, they just wanted to occupy this extremely barren land for the orcs, because Their own homeland has been destroyed by demons.

Seeing that the threats and cursing did not have the desired effect, Kalmos? The thick black eyebrows of the bloody rage slightly frowned. He felt that although the human leader in front of him was young, his will was as firm as a rock, and he would not be defeated. The orc's bravado frightened him.This is the most difficult kind of opponent to deal with, Kalmos sighed silently in his generous chest.He had an urge to jump up and swing the long-handled giant ax? The Slayer, and cut down all the humans in front of him to the ground.

However, he also knows that this matter is not easy to do. Although this human lord is young, the power contained in his body cannot be underestimated, and Kalmos also has a faint feeling that the young human's The strength is stronger than what he showed.And behind the young human lord, the gloomy middle-aged human always holds a giant sword, and the sense of deterrence exuding from his body is not inferior to his own.And even if it succeeds, the bloodshed between humans and orcs will continue until the demon army sweeps in and destroys both sides.

"Human lord, your proposal is reasonable, but I can't agree to it now." When Kalmos? Roddy, the fist-waving giant like Li Wei, is no exception.

"The orcs can't believe in the promises of humans, and I'm afraid the same is true for humans. At least the bloodstains between each other are too fresh, and the scars are still painful, so we can't join hands." Karmos said to Li Wei seriously, "What the orcs want is land, enough The land for the survival of dozens of tribes. Fort Kaidar and the surrounding [-] square kilometers belong to the orcs. If you agree, I will give you peace."

"This kind of peace is worthless to us!" Li Wei answered him in a strong tone, "Lord Kalmos, please think clearly, it is the orcs who are occupying human land, plundering human wealth, and burning human beings." village! If you want peace, the orcs must leave this land first!"

"Now the orcs have the upper hand. Young human lord, I'm not going to reason with you. The orcs admit the invasion, but so what? You can only choose to accept my conditions and give up the land." Carmos narrowed his eyes, There seemed to be frozen flames hidden in the blood-red eyes.

"What if I refuse?" Li Wei asked calmly.

"If you refuse, then tomorrow morning, Kalmos will personally lead the roaring orc warriors to launch a fierce attack." Kalmos declared with a bloody rage, "Humans are not weak. Among you are powerful iron knights and magicians. , but too few to hold that stone tower. Orcs will bleed, but humans will perish along with the stone tower." He looked down at Levi menacingly from the throne covered with mammoth skin, the scars on his face The roots are red, like countless sharp blood daggers. "Young human lord, is this the result you want?"

Li Wei did not answer right away. Logically speaking, human beings are the ones who have been invaded and injured. If a peace agreement is concluded, it is obvious that the orcs should compensate for their previous looting behavior, or at least apologize.However, the orcs not only did not apologize and make compensation, but also demanded that humans give up their homes as a condition for concluding a peace agreement.

This condition can be called outrageous and unreasonable. Governor Kalmos did not deny this, but he also stated that the orcs had no other choice. Before the serious issue of survival needs, neither law nor reason was too weak.

Li Wei's hand subconsciously held the hilt of the knight's sword, but he still didn't speak to make a final answer.His body was stiff because of the fierce ideological struggle, honor, law, war, death, peace, survival... finally converged into a simple choice between the two.

Compromise, accept the conditions proposed by the orcs, lose their homeland and honor?Or refuse, and engage in a bloody battle with the orc army in Fort Kaidar with no hope of victory?
(End of this chapter)