Chapter 65: Powerful Reinforcements
Within the Blazing Land, Central Area.
Magma flowed through the cracks in the ground, the scene before him was all dark red fire, the scorching air mixed with the smell of sulfur, this was the strongest feeling the Blazing Land gave to people.
Su Xiao looked around. Although he didn't see any Flame Orcs, he could sense many auras within the surrounding magma. These auras were not emitted by living beings.
Flame Orcs were not intelligent creatures; they only acted according to orders or instinct. The Betrayer, Ocam, was an extremely special individual among the Flame Orcs.
Su Xiao held the Soul Crystal in his hand. He released a strand of Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, forming it into a faint blue thread-like shape, then pierced it into the Soul Crystal.
Thump~
It was as if an invisible wave of air spread out. On the surface of a magma lake over ten meters away, a large hand stained with magma reached out from within the lake and slapped onto the rock at the shore.
A Flame Orc crawled out of the magma. It had eyes with flames burning inside them, its body was a bright red color, and the dull impurities clinging to its surface looked like oxides formed after forging iron.
The Flame Orc was over three meters tall, generally humanoid in shape. At the center of its chest was a circular pattern formed by magma.
After this Flame Orc appeared, it raised its hand. A stream of magma surged from the nearby lake, forming a giant sword made of magma. This magma greatsword was extremely thick and heavy, nearly 20 centimeters wide and 1.6 meters long. Although it had no blade edge, this thing carried high temperature and was very heavy.
At this moment, the Flame Orc was indeed like a beast, devoid of reason. Their shells could move because they contained the souls of Grey Orc soldiers inside.
The final thoughts of these souls prevented the Flame Orcs from fighting like beasts. Using weapons was the last dignity of the Grey Orc souls.
There was another reason for the Flame Orcs being this way: Agamemnon no longer trusted his former subordinates. He wanted to forge an army that would completely obey him and never betray him.
As for Agamemnon handing over control of the Flame Orc army, this was a lower-tier strategy he chose because he was sealed and had no other options.
Even so, Agamemnon kept a backup plan. He was the first-tier controller of the Flame Orc army, while the Flame Mark he gave Su Xiao was in the second tier.
Not only that, the Flame Mark itself was problematic. Once branded on the body, after Agamemnon broke free, this would be a hidden danger, potentially fatal, or allowing Agamemnon to control the bearer.
Therefore, Su Xiao sacrificed a Soul Crystal, injecting a trace of Life Force + Blood Qi + his own energy into it, thereby misleading Agamemnon. The fact that Agamemnon hadn't directly recalled the Flame Mark earlier showed the deception was successful.
Agamemnon's plan was actually not complicated. First, let Su Xiao use the Flame Orcs to defeat Doin, then capture King Doin alive and bring him to the Blazing Land to help Agamemnon break the seal.
After the seal was lifted, Agamemnon would immediately take back control of the Flame Orc army and immediately turn against Su Xiao, having the Flame Orc army surround him, or personally kill Su Xiao.
This was not Su Xiao's speculation. The conflict between Agamemnon and the War Demon had reached an irreconcilable point before. However, before they completely fell out, they were all sealed. Hence the current situation, each pretending to cooperate. In the evil faction, this was standard procedure.
The Soul Crystal in Su Xiao's hand floated up. He made a grasping motion with one hand, fully activating the Flame Mark on it.
Whoosh! A huge crown of flames formed above, and the surrounding ground began to shake.
Rumble...
The rock layers on the ground cracked, magma splashed everywhere, leaving scorching temperatures in the air in thread-like streaks.
One by one, Flame Orcs crawled out of the magma. They didn't need to eat; as long as they were in the magma, they could continue to exist by absorbing fire-type energy.
Before long, within a few kilometers around Su Xiao, Flame Orcs stood everywhere. They held various heavy weapons made of magma, all with magma rings on their chests, which housed the souls of Grey Orcs.
Flame Orcs couldn't exist forever. When the Flame Orc souls inside them collapsed, they would revert to magma + molten rock, and the flame energy within them would dissipate.
The surrounding Flame Orcs gathered more and more. Before long, the number exceeded one million, and they continued to converge.
Su Xiao leaped onto the dragon's back. After Barbatos flew up several dozen meters, the view became open.
After about an hour of gathering, the number of Flame Orcs exceeded 5 million. In reality, many elite Flame Orcs were still hidden deep in the magma.
With Su Xiao's current Flame Mark, he couldn't awaken these elite Flame Orcs, let alone command them to fight.
This was Agamemnon's backup plan. Thinking about it, given his relationship with the previous War Demon, not having a backup plan would be asking for death.
Su Xiao planned to let all these 5 million plus Flame Orcs perish on the battlefield. These war machines without self-awareness were different from the Wolf Cavalry Legion.
Su Xiao had led the Wolf Cavalry Legion in battle all the way here, and the loyalty of the Wolf Cavalry was not an issue.
The Flame Orc Legion was a different concept. The highest control authority of these war machines was in Agamemnon's hands.
No matter how many victories Su Xiao led the Flame Orc Legion to win, the betrayal of this legion only required a single thought from Agamemnon.
Therefore, Su Xiao planned to use this 5 million plus scale Flame Orc Legion to launch a decisive battle against Doin.
"Roar."
The Demon Flame Dragon, Barbatos, roared at low altitude. The Flame Orc Legion below began to march towards the eastern side of the Blazing Land. As for the Wolf Cavalry Legion, they had already set out first to prevent any enemies from escaping.
Looking down from above, the Flame Orc Legion below was a chaotic mess. They ran in large strides. If a Flame Orc accidentally fell, it would even be trampled half to death.
Su Xiao fully activated the War Lord title. The marching speed of the Flame Orc army below noticeably increased. The surrounding magma quickly surged towards them, merging into their bodies, causing their height to increase from about 3 meters to over 3.5 meters. Their torsos became stronger, their arms thickened by a circle, and some Flame Orcs even had two horns made of magma growing from their heads.
These soldier-type units, which weren't exactly living beings, after receiving the War Lord's boost, temporarily evolved from Flame Orcs into Flame Demons.
Name: Flame Demon
Strength: 142 (True Attribute)
Agility: 132 (True Attribute)
Endurance: 140 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 54
Charm: 1
Skill 1, Fire Life (Passive, Lv.50+10): Increases HP by 3200 points, reduces fire damage taken by 50%, increases ice damage taken by 32%.
Tip: In low-temperature environments, all attributes of the Flame Demon decrease by 25%, body defense decreases by 47 points, and max HP decreases by 1200 points.
Skill 2, Scorching Pain (Passive, Lv.42+10): Attacks deal an additional 107 points of fire damage (final damage intensity depends on the enemy's defense resistance).
Skill 3, Symbiotic Weapon (Passive, Lv.53+10): Can form a symbiotic weapon, weapon strength depends on the strength of the 'Grey Orc Soul'.
Skill 4, Lord's Authority (Title · Passive): Increases max HP by 45%, body defense +30 points.
Skill 5, Lord's Authority (Title · Passive): Increases all ability levels by Lv.10.
Skill 6, Blood · Soul Power (Title · Passive): Weapon is imbued with Soul-Burning Power, attacks deal an additional 120 points of True Damage.
Tip: Due to Flame Demon characteristics, the 'Blood · Soul Power' life force absorption effect cannot be triggered.
...
With the War Lord's boost, even with the temporary evolution, the combat power of the Flame Demons was still a notch below the Wolf Cavalry. However, compared to ordinary soldiers, the Flame Demons were still very strong.
Large enough bodies, huge weapons, HP comparable to elite individuals, and attacks that dealt fire damage + True Damage.
After the Flame Demon army marched at full speed, they finally reached the eastern side of the Blazing Land. Using the Flame Mark as a medium, Su Xiao ordered 150,000 Flame Demons to continue advancing, while the remaining 4.91 million stayed put, to avoid scaring the enemy away.
Continuing deeper east, after an hour, this 150,000-strong Flame Demon force was detected by the enemy.
Under Su Xiao's mental command, 150,000 Flame Demons began charging en masse towards a low hill.
Boom!
A silver-white beam of light fell from above, engulfing two Flame Demons, blasting them to pieces.
"Enemy attack!"
Shouts rang out. Various types of familiars surrounded the low hill. Judging by the scale, there were about 10,000 Moon-type familiars.
Some Moon-type familiars were tall Minotaur giants, some were humanoid with moon patterns on their foreheads, floating half a meter above the ground, and some were simply elemental creatures.
Inside the low hill, Yueshitu was looking at a projection. This projection was a map, showing a large number of fiery red dots, each representing a fire-type enemy.
There were quite a few dots on the projection. Yueshitu activated the scanning function and quickly got the exact number: 150,192 enemies were approaching.
After an initial assessment, Yueshitu decided to fight. Just over a hundred thousand Flame Orcs. No matter how many weaklings there were, they were still weaklings.
"Lord Yueshitu, this is terrible, we're about to be surrounded."
A girl-like familiar ran over. She had very pointed ears and a long tail.
"Don't panic, everything is under control."
Yueshitu said with a smile. Her slender fingers tapped lightly in the air, and a summoning array appeared behind her.