Chapter 741: Rise! (Asking for Monthly Tickets)

The setting sun sank slowly beyond the flank of the valley, its blood-red beams draping the once-emerald basin in a crimson shroud.

"Roar—!" A tearing shriek rent the air, eyes burning scarlet.

"Monsieur De!" The old Beast King bellowed, tearing himself from the grasp of several generals, and roared, "Comrades, we have no retreat!"

"Holding this valley is merely struggling to survive a few days longer." The orc king wore a silver visor, and though his features were hidden, his aged voice remained vigorous and potent. "The warriors of our orc race would rather stain the earth with their blood than leave comrades to cover the rear while we flee alone!"

"We would rather die in battle than live on in ignominy!"

"Our strength comes from blood and thunder, and my power shall turn to wrath and death!"

"We... fear nothing!" The old orc raised his greatsword high, facing an army of shadows like mountains and oceans that completely blocked the valley's exit.

"We fear nothing!" The remaining orcs likewise raised their weapons high.

"A pack of... fools." Monsieur De roared, wrenching himself free from that shadowy palm by sheer brute force.

Call them heroic, or call them reckless; perhaps... even if they built a civilization of their own, they could never shed certain instincts—the primal courage buried deep within their bones!

Not a single orc retreated; instead, they charged back into the shadow army before them!

Within that emerald valley, that small band of orcs plunged in like a razor-sharp blade.

"Combat technique, Focused Will." Monsieur De gripped his greatsword, growled low, and thrust violently forward.

An invisible force, like a cannonball, blasted forth along the massive blade.

Rumble!

The trees in the valley collapsed in its wake, and the ground vegetation was plowed away for dozens of yards, while the shadow warriors in front of him were blasted just as far, crushed together tightly like a human pyramid.

Against ordinary soldiers, this single thrust could pierce right through a ten-thousand-man legion, but these terrifying shadow warriors before them, knowing only slaughter, were clearly no ordinary foes.

Soon, the dense crowds swarmed forward once again.

"War Stomp—!" The tauren beside Monsieur De roared, stamping fiercely upon the ground.

The earth cracked and caved, pushing outward in ripples as a terrifying shockwave swept away everything in its path with the massive tremor.

Countless warriors fell, yet even more surged forward to replace them.

In the sky, shadow knights mounted on fierce black giant birds plummeted like falling meteors, their lances thrusting down with the full momentum of their descent.

Dozens of knights thrust in an orderly, successive barrage, like a black meteor shower!

"In the way!" The old orc king raised his greatsword, and none could imagine how, with a mere flick of his wrist, he transformed that blade—thicker than a pillar—into hundreds of afterimages!

The sword was clearly just over two meters long, yet the blade-edge loomed like sudden, hundred-yard peaks!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amidst the sound of clashing steel, the knights in the sky who had not yet struck were, in the blink of an eye, turned into a rain of blood!

But at that very moment, a subtle, sharp whistle cut through the air!

"Pfft!" A pitch-black spear, coming from nowhere, pierced through the armor and impaled the old orc king's entire shoulder!

The old orc stumbled back a few steps, barely leaning on his sword for support to keep from falling.

Cold sweat trickled down his face inside the visor.

No one could see his expression beneath the metal, but they could still feel his face contorting and spasming in agony.

"I cannot fall, I absolutely cannot fall!" Watching the finest elite warriors of the Orc Kingdom fall one after another, the old king's heart bled.

"Because you are all a bunch of fools, you shall all die here!" The voice carried a warped malice as a patch of black mist coalesced in mid-air, turning into a pitch-black cloak that revealed only half of a hawkish face. "And then I will slaughter your people one by one, until they learn to beg for mercy in terror!"

"When that time comes, I shall see if you still possess such courage!"

Immediately after, across the sky, lances pierced the eardrums with shrieks as more knights fell like countless meteors.

The last remnant of the setting sun vanished, and the sky grew darker still.

In the later memories of these orcs, they would only faintly recall:

On this day, we plunged into darkness and despair; we fought with all our might, but... we still failed.

Eyelids grew heavier and heavier, hands could no longer grip the sword, and the body felt as though it were filled with lead...

From light... to darkness, and from darkness... they seemed to glimpse that distant eastern thread of pale-gold dawn.

As if hearing someone call out, as if shouting their names.

I do not wish to fall... I do not wish...

Within the Emerald Valley, this beautiful basin once filled with vibrant green, the last remaining orcs were seen—some standing amidst the valley, surrounded by countless corpses and chaotic troops, as if they had fallen into a deep sleep, before being cut down to the ground, never to rise again.

Some leaned heavily against their greatswords, breathing heavily, as if they too could no longer hold on.

...

"Kill them!" The dark figure floated in mid-air.

Just then, a voice suddenly shouted, "There are people here!"

A figure dropped down.

Then, with a flash of white light, the scene flickered as several mages abruptly appeared before them.

Everyone present froze for a moment.

Immediately following, dense ranks of the shadow army heavily surrounded this group of sudden intruders.

"Have you come to beg me to grant the remaining orcs a chance at life?" The entity floating in the air, bearing little resemblance to a human, stared coldly at the plain-looking young man who had arrived first.

Boss Fang's face darkened.

"Do you know who we are!?"

"I don't need to know who you are," Boss Fang spoke.

"Hmm?" The figure floating in the air, radiating an suffocating, powerful aura more terrifying than a demon, froze once more.

"You're affecting my shop business."

"Hahahahaha!" The demon spirit Thrall laughed wildly. "I thought you were going to say something about avenging them. Shop business? So you're a madman after all?"

"Aren't you overestimating yourself?" Even Helen, the oldest customer in the new shop, had never seen Boss Fang's face so grim, so cold. "There has never been any grievance between us, nor do I need to avenge anyone."

"I killed them, and you aren't angry? Aren't you here to save them?" The fellow before him, completely hidden in the black cloak with only half a hawkish face exposed, extended a withered claw and pointed at Fang Qi, questioning coldly.

"Yes."

"Can we... really do this?" On the other side, with immense trepidation, Commander Evan, Helen, Dix, and the rest of the paladins and priests walked up to the orcs.

Each held a Token of Life in their hands.

"What are you trying to do?" Thrall finally showed a suspicious look.

"Redemption."

"!!??" Whether because he couldn't react or because he was stunned, the master of that voice did not attack, but watched helplessly as the power of the holy light was released from those few Tokens of Life.

That warm glow was like the morning sun rising in the bitter winter.

"Resurrect!"

The demon spirit Thrall and all the shadow warriors present witnessed gold light falling, beam after beam.

In the very next instant, they bore witness to a spectacle so unforgettable, so terrifying and impossible, that it would haunt them for the rest of their days.

Even through countless eras of endless warfare, they had never encountered a situation so utterly horrific.

Before their very eyes, the Orcs who had long since drawn their last breath suddenly stirred, their wide, staring eyes trembling.

Bathed in that radiant, golden light, they gave a sudden violent jolt as if abruptly roused from sleep, and slowly began to crawl up from the earth.

Forthwith, the fatal wounds upon their bodies began to mend at a pace visible to the naked eye.

"How... can this be!?" nearly every single one of them shrieked in a chorus of absolute, terror-stricken disbelief.

Men who had already been slain could actually be brought back to life?!

This had completely shattered the boundaries of their understanding!

To say nothing of the enemy, even Helen, Tix, and the other casters who had invoked Redemption stared with wide eyes, pressing their hands tightly over their mouths; though the Elves had prepared themselves mentally, they still stood frozen in sheer shock.

Then, tears cascaded uncontrollably down their cheeks, borne of a profound, visceral gratitude and awe; only in this fleeting moment did they truly realize the sheer grandeur of life.

"Ah—!" Their souls were screaming within, yet their chests felt so choked by a wave of complex emotions that they could not utter a single sound.

Beholding the bewildered, lost expressions of the Orcs, the holy paladins and priests allowed pure, innocent smiles to grace their faces.

Amidst that valley of stained crimson, where corpses piled high like a vision of hell itself, the slaughterers of the Shadow Legion had never before seen anyone wear a smile so genuine and heartfelt.

Was this the Holy Light? They burned with pride for it!

Across the vast expanse of the ruined Orc kingdom, amidst the pervasive debris of utter destruction, their eyes brimmed with tears, fueled solely by the discovery of one soul after another who could still be saved.

...

"How is this possible!"

"How can this be! How can they resurrect!?"

"Kill... kill them all for me!" Suddenly, a succession of maddened roars shattered the long-standing silence of the valley.