Chapter 92: Chapter 92 Goblin Shaman (Part 2)
Arkanis felt no sense of certainty. For him, pulling up a pile of small hill-like stones was as bewildering as asking him to get pregnant.
He became more stimulated, his heart racing, and a sly smile appeared on the faces of the other goblins around him.
Just the thought of possibly failing and having his identity exposed in public made him want to laugh out loud.
So, Arkanis let out a laugh:
“Hehehehe!”
The orc shaman, with his eyes hidden behind a wooden mask, watched him with great interest, nodding as if he appreciated the performance.
This guy must think I have something up my sleeve.
Arkanis laughed even harder, continuing his “hehehe” giggle.
The orc shaman scolded loudly, “You snot goblin! Hurry up! Or I’ll throw you into the spider’s mouth!”
Arkanis didn’t stop laughing, staring at him while dancing wildly, shouting out, “Gao Mao Er Ge! Show yourself! Show yourself…”
In contrast to the dancing with the orc shaman, not a single green-skinned goblin joined in.
The brutal orcs that were initially dancing with the shaman crossed their arms and stared at him. The drumming greenskins stopped and did not touch the drum. The onlookers pointed at Arkanis and laughed heartily.
As expected, the pile of stones, as high as a small hill, remained completely still since the orc shaman had stopped.
Arkanis jumped even harder, waving his arms vigorously. The spider’s body on his bone staff fell off, rolling to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust, but that was all.
The goblins were rolling on the ground, clutching their stomachs in laughter, or pointing at Arkanis with one hand while saying:
“I’m dying of laughter, not even a little reaction!”
“Quick, feed him to the giant spider!”
A group of goblins and greenskins were also arguing over the betting pool.
“Settle up, settle up! I won the bet!”
“That’s mine! Mine!”
Several goblins fought over the bloody fangs that Arkanis had bet, punching and kicking each other. The greenskin kids joined in, and before long, the bloody fangs increased in number, with only the greenskins able to produce “wealth” through fighting.
Arkanis continued to jump energetically: “Gao Mao Er Ge, quickly show yourself! Gao Ge is brutal and cunning, Mao Ge is cunning and brutal!”
The orc shaman laughed, then turned around, gesturing forcefully at the black orcs: “Throw him to feed the giant spider!”
He did not notice that in turning around, he had his back to Arkanis, just two and a half steps away, which was exactly the ambush distance Arkanis preferred, just as he had expected.
“Good!”
“Good!”
The first voice came from the black orcs in response.
The second voice was Arkanis’s, as he moved like a shadow towards the orc shaman’s back, lunging as one shadow with him.
The orc shaman’s battle instincts told him something was wrong, his hand, which had just raised the wolf fang club, was still in motion.
A shadow and a person charged at him from behind, holding a shadow blade, stabbing forcefully into his lower back. The battle markings on the orc shaman’s skin glimmered, like a tough membrane trying to block the attack, but it was as flimsy as cardboard, pierced through at once; the shadow blade went deep, stirring violently within, shattering his internal organs.
Having dissected greenskins before, Arkanis knew that if this had been a human or an elf, a shot to the kidneys like this would certainly cause them to lose consciousness, even if they were a transcendent being. But with greenskins, it was questionable whether they even had kidneys to begin with.
Sure enough.
“Waaagh!”
The orc shaman roared in fury, turned his head, and kicked. From behind the mask, his eyes exploded with green light, exploding outwards at the man and shadow, sending both flying. Then the wolf fang club came crashing down on the flying Arkanis, intending to smash him in mid-air.
But the wolf fang club hit the ground instead.
Arkanis had vanished, appearing behind the orc shaman, along with a runic curved dagger, its blade aimed directly at his throat. Arkanis had tightened his legs around the broad back of the orc shaman, gripping the dagger’s hilt with all his strength, closing it around the shaman’s throat.
The sharp edge sank into the throat, splitting the windpipe in two; the muscles in the orc shaman’s neck tensed, and finally, the dagger lodged itself between the vertebrae. Blood sprayed out as if a pipe had been cut.
The orc shaman opened his mouth to scream but could not make a sound; he became increasingly furious, reaching back for Arkanis, trying to pull him off, but could not dislodge the seemingly frail Arkanis; he only managed to rip off a black pointed hat.
The orc shaman’s vitality was extraordinarily strong; although the artery was cut, blood gushed forth, and though the dagger was caught between his throat’s vertebrae, it was slowly penetrating deeper. Yet he didn’t collapse; in fact, he seemed even more vigorous.
Realizing he had the wolf fang club in hand, the orc shaman swung it round, preparing to knock Arkanis off directly. The shadow seized the moment, grabbing his wrist with one hand, while the other plunged the blade into his elbow pit, severing the tough tendons.
The orc shaman’s muscles relaxed, and the dagger finally passed through his throat, decapitating him. The headless corpse collapsed to the ground with a dull thud.
Arkanis wiped the blood from his face, lifted the head of the orc shaman, who was not quite dead yet and glared at him with hatred, green light erupting from his eyes. Arkanis quickly aimed the shaman’s face at a nearby rushing black orc.
“Bang!”
A pair of green lights exploded from the orc shaman’s eye sockets, striking the crude armor of the black orc, resulting in a powerful explosion that dented the black orc’s chest armor; he flew backward several meters and fell to the ground, unable to get up.
“Snot… snot goblin…”
The black orc stared wide-eyed, too late to curse, he took his last breath, falling victim to the dying curse of the orc shaman. This very greenskin, the one who first called Arkanis a snot goblin, died even faster than the orc shaman.
The arena was silent.
Not a single greenskin could believe that Arkanis had launched a surprise attack and murdered in front of everyone, and had succeeded.
Arkanis felt very weak now, having used the “Explosion” skill to empower himself comprehensively in a short time, the after-effects left him weak for a period. Now, his limbs felt soft and powerless, and the places where the orc shaman had hit him faintly ached.
But Arkanis maintained a facade of light injury. The black orcs and wild orcs looked at each other, not daring to advance, watching him step onto the chest of the greenskin shaman, inserting the head of the orc shaman onto his spider staff, which had neither spider nor skull.
There, not a single greenskin was laughing at his “broken bones” anymore.
Arkanis raised the spider staff—now it should be called the shaman’s staff—shouting loudly, “Mao Ge is cunning and brutal, Gao Ge is brutal and cunning!”
The shaman atop the staff looked over at the greenskins. The greenskins suddenly realized, and began to chatter among themselves, saying, “Columbus must be Mao Ge’s little brother! That’s why he won!”
Arkanis jumped down from the headless corpse of the shaman, lifting the shaman’s staff while dancing, singing, “Mao Ge is cunning and brutal, Gao Ge is brutal and cunning!”
The orc kids began to drum forcefully on the skin drums, and the previously crossed-arm wild orcs began to dance, singing along, “Mao Ge is cunning and brutal, Gao Ge is brutal and cunning!”
All the surrounding greenskins began to sing together: “Mao Ge is cunning and brutal, Gao Ge is brutal and cunning!”
The goblins, clutching the stolen fangs, chased after Arkanis, shouting, “You won the bet! You won the bet! The great Columbus! Great!”
In the noisy atmosphere, the greenskins’ song formed a wave, crashing against Arkanis’s eardrums.
Arkanis felt that greenskins were truly wonderful and simple. There were no twists and turns; as long as one killed the top dog, one became the top dog, unlike humans.
In the midst of the wave, Arkanis’s body was exceptionally exhilarated, dancing as if he was addicted to the moment; a surge of enchanting power rushed to his head, threatening to explode.
To prevent his skull from blowing off, Arkanis directed this power to his eyes, causing everything in front to turn an emerald green. He glared at the mask of Gao Mao Er Ge that had piled up like a small hill of stones.
Green light shot from his eyes, landing on the mask of Gao Mao Er Ge, but instead of exploding, it sank into it, causing the hollow eye sockets of the mask to emit a green glow.
“It worked! It worked!”
“I always thought he could do it!”
“I wasn’t wrong; he is indeed stronger than the big shaman.”
Amidst the cheers of the greenskins, the stones that had originally shown no signs of life suddenly began to move by themselves. The stones piled up on top of each other, forming a gigantic orc-shaped “statue,” with the last stone carrying the mask of Gao Mao Er Ge flying on top.
A colossal Gao Mao statue, nearly four stories tall, appeared before the greenskins’ eyes, and it stepped forward on its own, walking toward Arkanis.
“Rumble.” The footsteps sounded like thunder, showcasing the miracle of Gao Mao Er Ge.
The ground trembled, causing nearby goblins to fall directly to the ground.
The Gao Mao giant stopped in front of Arkanis, who looked up at it. Thinking of his half-elf heritage, he couldn’t help but laugh maniacally, his laughter resembling a true goblin shaman, as if he had also partaken of psychedelic mushrooms.
A cheer erupted among the greenskins high above.
Underneath a cloud.
Jima hovered in the sky with her wings spread, her face slightly pale. She withdrew her gaze and muttered to herself, “This guy really hit the jackpot.”
She hadn’t expected Arkanis to proceed so smoothly. The rumors that incited the orc shaman’s wrath had been sown by her; she didn’t care about Arkanis’s life or death—rather, she never cared about anyone else’s life.
Jima became visible, flapping her wings as she left, resembling a great bird from the ground.
She flew and flew, heading towards the obsidian pass, towards the direction of the imperial army camp. As the imperial forces were marching swiftly, no one was asleep, and no one dreamed, making it impossible for Jima to teleport—she had to fly.
The black pass receded slowly beneath her, the heat from the lava rising to support her.
This flight lasted an entire day. By evening, Jima finally saw Saintess Jenna.
She was sitting sideways on a horse, her demeanor noble, and everyone naturally kept a distance of at least three meters from her. Upon seeing Jima, whose neck was dripping with sweat, she immediately dismounted, stepping onto the muddy path, and walked toward Jima asking, “Is there something urgent?”
“Yes.” Jima hugged Jenna tightly; the softness of her chest eased Jima’s fatigue. “We need to discuss this privately.”
This drew the attention of the surrounding knights.
Jenna took Jima’s hand and walked to the side, where people were everywhere. She said, “Why don’t you wait until tonight? After we have dinner and set up camp, we can talk?”
“Right here.” Jima cast a “Secret Tranquility Spell” to isolate the surroundings. She said, “I just went to scout the greenskins, and their numbers are too many. Flying in the sky looked like seeing a green river; it took me about half an hour to get past the greenskin army, much larger than any green tide I remember.”
Jenna smiled, “It’s okay; no tide is bigger than what we encounter at the founding of the Empire.”
If you knew I had three hundred years’ worth of Demon Lord memories, you wouldn’t be so optimistic.
Jima grasped Jenna’s wrist and said, “Promise me, if the situation looks bad, escape immediately.”
“There’s no need to worry so much,” Jenna said seriously. “Besides, I have already promised the Emperor. Jima, I am in military service; resisting to the last moment on the battlefield is my responsibility.”
Jima understood Jenna’s character—Order and Benevolence were like that. She pondered slightly; if she told Jenna to flee directly, it wouldn’t convince her, and she must strike at her character traits.
“You’re not being cowardly; it’s just that me, George, and your father don’t want to receive news of your death.” Jima said, “Though they’ll be proud that you fought to the death for them, if they knew that you not only resisted to the end but also survived, they would be even happier. Don’t you think?”
Jenna nodded, “You’re right.”
Jima handed Jenna a vial of reddish-brown potion, saying, “This is a very strong hypnotic potion. If the situation collapses and you fight to the very end, drink it.”
“I understand.” Jenna took the reddish-brown sleeping potion, “You can pull me into the Dream Palace to hide from a disaster, right?”
Unless the orcs were blind and couldn’t see the entrance to the Dream Palace appearing out of thin air, of course, I would come to rescue you to avoid losing such great assets in this wasteland.
Jima, however, did not speak honestly, but said, “Yes.”
She was worried that due to Jenna’s personality, if the situation truly became dangerous, she would refuse to drink the potion, putting Jima in danger too.
“Thank you, Jima.” Jenna hugged Jima, pressing her chest gently against the other, “You really are my best friend.”
“Yes, best friend.” Jima casually added, “After this battle is over, let’s sleep and chat together, how about that?”
“Sounds good.”
Jima released her hand, “You must tell me before the battle starts.”
“I will remember.”
“Then goodbye, I have other matters to tend to and must leave first.”
Jima turned around, not looking back as she lifted the “Tranquil Secrecy Spell,” leaving with an imperial knight who introduced her to Saintess Jenna.
Behind the long line of the entire Empire, the blood-red sunset gradually sank, the stars illuminating the night sky, and the weary soldiers were finally allowed to rest.
They had to occupy a high ground at the obsidian pass before the greenskins arrived.
“Your Majesty! That rogue has gone four whole days without any information in return! You must use the contract marked on him to teach him a lesson.”
The armored and bearded Emperor of the Empire gazed towards the obsidian pass, hands clasped behind him, and said, “There is no contract; how can there be any contract that restrains a platinum-level powerhouse? He knows that too.”
“The ungrateful wretch; he must have run away!”
The Emperor, with his back to them, said without anger or joy, “Perhaps.”
