Chapter 493: Enemy

Chapter 493: The Enemy

The City of Ice and Snow.

Under the command of the Ice and Snow Queen, the people within the city worked day and night to construct the altar for the ritual of divine worship.

With her own power, the Ice and Snow Queen directly created a massive ice altar with a diameter of a thousand meters.

This spared everyone the most time-consuming process of building the main body of the altar from scratch.

All that remained was to arrange the ritual formations and offerings required for the ceremony upon the ice altar.

Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, smoothly and efficiently.

Suddenly, Monis came to report an emergency to the Ice and Snow Queen.

"Your Majesty, one of our Valkyrie squads sent out this afternoon for patrol and vigilance has not returned. I have dispatched people to search their patrol route but found no trace of them."

Upon hearing this, the Ice and Snow Queen's gaze slightly sharpened. She nodded gently and said, "Mm, I understand."

Within the City of Ice and Snow, she had ice sprites as her eyes and ears, allowing her to clearly know everything happening inside the city.

Outside the city, however, there were no omnipresent ice sprites, so she could only rely on the Valkyries and Ice Guards for patrols and protection.

She closed her eyes and perceived the ice sprites existing throughout heaven and earth. All the ice sprites eagerly responded to the queen's thoughts.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and said, "There are enemies outside the city."

Monis' gaze also slightly sharpened, though he was not surprised.

If there were no enemies, the Valkyrie squad would not have vanished without reason.

It was impossible for the Valkyrie squad to betray the Ice and Snow Queen and flee.

A hint of solemnity appeared in the Ice and Snow Queen's eyes. "Orcs."

"Orcs?" This time Monis was somewhat surprised.

Orcs lived on the barren wilderness lands on the other side of the snow mountains. To them, the Far North Ice Plains were an even more desolate place.

For hundreds of years, no orcs had attacked the City of Ice and Snow.

Why would orc traces appear at this time?

The Ice and Snow Queen commanded, "Strengthen defenses. Currently, the divine worship ritual takes priority. Be vigilant against orcs attempting to disrupt the ceremony."

"As you command."

Monis bowed his head in response.

The next day, multiple attack incidents occurred.

Some survivors discovered that the attackers were orcs.

The City of Ice and Snow was thrown into chaos, temporarily halting the progress of the divine worship ritual.

What angered the Ice and Snow Queen even more was that rumors about the city's destruction had begun spreading within the city at some unknown time.

"I heard the legendary Ice Emperor has awakened and will soon destroy Furleid. We should flee quickly!"

"That's impossible, right? Isn't the Ice Emperor just a legend? Could he really exist?"

"Recently, Her Majesty the Ice and Snow Queen suddenly wanted to worship the gods. Could it be to gain divine protection?"

"Run quickly, leave Furleid! The Ice Emperor will destroy everything here!"

...

Rumors spread throughout the city, causing panic among the people.

Out of necessity, the Ice and Snow Queen personally appeared to calm the populace.

"Furleid City will not be destroyed. Everything is just rumors. Some people harbor ill intentions and deliberately spread falsehoods to disrupt peace."

Meanwhile, the Valkyries and Ice Guards also moved swiftly throughout the city and its surroundings.

They arrested those spreading rumors and discovered they were all orcs and half-orcs living in the City of Ice and Snow.

Under intense interrogation, some admitted they had been paid to spread these rumors.

Monis wished he could simply behead these people.

To establish the City of Ice and Snow as a peaceful neutral city,

the Ice and Snow Queen had allowed people of any race to reside there and enjoy equal treatment.

Yet these orcs were helping outsiders destroy the peace of the City of Ice and Snow.

But from a racial perspective, the orcs outside the city were truly their kindred.

The Valkyrie forces searching for orc traces outside the city made little progress. They were repeatedly ambushed by the elusive orc forces, suffering considerable casualties.

The Ice and Snow Queen's powers were limited to the range of the City of Ice and Snow, having little effect on the outside world.

She had no way to find traces of the orc forces across the vast snowy plains.

That they had discovered the missing Valkyrie squad had been attacked by orcs was already fortunate - it just so happened that ice sprites were passing by when the orcs attacked the squad.

As matters escalated, news reached Gusewei, who was carefully preparing for the divine worship ritual.

She volunteered to go outside and search for the orc forces, resolving the Ice and Snow Queen's pressing concern.

The Ice and Snow Queen rejected her offer, telling her that the divine worship ritual was currently most important.

To ensure the smooth continuation of the ritual, the Ice and Snow Queen had to pay a greater price to reassure those responsible for preparations.

She offered higher compensation to the workers.

People die for wealth, birds perish for food.

The Ice and Snow Queen presented stakes they could not refuse.

Monis was so busy he was dizzy, simultaneously rushing to prepare for the divine worship ritual while searching everywhere for the orc forces causing disruption.

"Damn it, if only we could find their lair."

Monis felt quite helpless in his heart.

He also knew that Her Majesty was troubled by this matter.

The orc forces attacking the City of Ice and Snow clearly understood the extent of the Ice and Snow Queen's abilities.

They stayed hidden beyond her range, preventing her from discovering their traces.

Out of helplessness, the Ice and Snow Queen sought Li Wei's assistance.

Li Wei was waiting while sitting with the saint transformed into human form, roasting meat.

Saint Xi took a bite that included the wooden stick, cackling as she chewed both the roasted meat and wooden stick together in her mouth.

Li Wei looked at her speechlessly, "Why are you eating so hurriedly? No one's going to take yours."

"Mmm mmm, it's really delicious."

Buzz buzz buzz, the communication crystal vibrated. Li Wei stuck the wooden stick with the roasted meat into the ground and took the communication crystal from his pocket.

Saint Xi's eyes darted around, eyeing the roasted meat Li Wei had placed beside him.

The mission to monitor the Ice Emperor initially seemed dangerous and difficult.

After half a day, Li Wei discovered that this task was quite easy.

All he had to do was watch from a distance—that was it. There was no need to get close, and there was no danger at all.

Right now, Li Wei and Saint Xi were waiting along the Ice Emperor's path of advance, waiting for the Ice Emperor to approach, and then they would relocate.

Li Wei took out the communication crystal and saw a message from the Ice Queen, his expression turning to one of surprise.

He hadn't expected such tremendous changes to occur in the Ice City.

There were actually beastmen appearing outside the city walls.

From appearances, it seemed these beastmen had come prepared.

The Ice Queen also shared her concerns with Li Wei—she feared that these beastmen had arrived at this moment specifically to sabotage the sacred ritual ceremony.

If the sacred ritual failed, the Ice City would be destroyed by the Ice Emperor.

That was the beastmen's objective.

The Ice Queen hoped Li Wei could help find the hidden beastman forces lurking outside the city.

After reading this, Li Wei couldn't help but give a bitter smile. Where would he find any spell for locating people?

Just as he was about to reply to the Ice Queen, something suddenly occurred to him. After pondering for a moment, he agreed to give it a try.

Thinking carefully, he realized he wasn't entirely without options.

Li Wei happened to have an item on hand that could prove useful.

If things went smoothly, the crisis facing the Ice City could be resolved with ease.

(End of chapter)