Chapter 16

“What’s better than watching enemies fight?” he muttered as he retreated back. “A fight that pays dividends.”

He didn’t feel the slightest guilt about pulling the trolls into the fight, as even after the end of the Second War, they had been a consistent source of pain due to constant raids, never accepting the peace Terenas offered.

It wasn’t that he blamed the trolls. Even before the sudden orc uprising, it was clear that the compromised mercy that Teneras tried to offer to orcs and trolls was stupid. He either needed to take a hard stance and push a truly merciful peace to the orcs and see if they could be changed, or he should have killed them all.

The middle way Teneras tried angered the other kingdoms and weakened the alliance, yet still kept the orcs and trolls as enemies.

But, geopolitics of a world that no longer existed in any meaningful way was pointless. Instead, he focused on the clash, aware that it wouldn’t take forever for trolls and undead to realize they had been played.

He had a small window of opportunity. However, before he tried to save Darrowshire, he activated his reward.

[Select one!]

[Rivers of Blood]

{Uncommon Item: Elden Ring – An old katana that has been used to the blood of countless, used by a champion of Mohg. The blade is incredibly durable and sharp despite its appearance. Whenever this blade scores flesh, the target will begin haemorrhaging unnaturally fast.}

[Linguist]

{Uncommon Trait: You are able to understand all mundane languages and are very good at learning non-mundane ones too.}

He picked Linguist. While the sword seemed like a good weapon, a sword designed to bleed enemies was hardly the biggest priority when his enemy was the undead. Having the ability to speak Thalassian would be extremely helpful; especially if he kept his knowledge hidden from the elves.

Well, all elves except Sylvanas. After all the help she had provided, she deserved his help.

However, having the ability to eavesdrop on what elves were talking about wasn’t the most immediate benefit. No, that honor went to the guttural shouts of trolls. He could suddenly decipher them.

Curious, he tested whether he could speak it as well. He could, though his voice was somewhat accented. “Oh, the opportunity,” he suddenly realized as he went near the scout location he had dealt with. “Help, undead attack!” he shouted gutturally, adding a gurgling sound like he was stabbed to explain his silence.

He then cut off a few scout teams, adding different shouts, warning them about death knights, abominations, and invasion forces.

However, he pulled back after repeating the same thick thrice. The more he repeated, the more trolls would realize it was a setup.

“I should thank paladins,” he muttered as he moved along the mountain ridge, staying below the skyline, using Bloom to track others rather than showing himself. He suspected that the reason trolls fell to his plan was because most of the armies they fought against was led by paladins.

Paladins preferred … directness, meaning trolls wouldn’t expect a deception of such scale from the humans. He was still stuck between two armies, Momentum proving vital to avoid both.

The only problem was that the troll armies were still hesitating to engage, preferring to harry the undead army. Too bad he couldn’t just —

His eyes widened as he stole a warhorn from one of the scouts he killed, retreated to some distance, and temporarily removed Bloom, confident that he could stay hidden for ten minutes without revealing himself.

Five minutes later, his other ability was ready to be used. “For Zul’Aman! For the troll empire!” he shouted in troll language, loud enough to echo off the mountains, and blew the warhorn.

Trolls responded with their own cries, the sudden burst of excitement was enough to turn the careful army berserk.

Arvis smiled as he used Momentum to vacate the battlefield as quickly as he could manage, keeping Rally active for the moment. Rally affecting trolls came as a welcome surprise. He suspected it was a combination of his intent, and the fact that trolls assumed the voice to belong to another troll.

At that moment, the exact mechanism didn’t matter. What mattered was his plan, even more successful than he had expected.

One that came with confirmation.

[Feat Achieved! Trigger a war between two hostile factions

+1x Platinum Advantage Random Gacha ticket]

A war. It was certainly a grand declaration, one that offered him a chance to truly take advantage and break the siege. He kept Rally and Momentum active, temporarily deciding to go without Bloom.

Bloom wouldn’t help in what he was about to do.

As he retreated, he activated his reward.

[Select one!]

[Safeguard Ring]

{Rare Item: “Safety is paramount.” This ring, when worn by a person, will protect them; if it detects considerable danger to the person, it will cover them in a Rare Rank Barrier and will teleport them to the safest location within a twenty-mile radius. This ring breaks after use. Restock Timer: 168 hours}

[Spirit Affinity]

{Rare Trait: You are talented in the art of everything spirits, spiritual creatures, and objects take a liking to your and soul-based abilities are easier to master.}

He was tempted to select the Spirit Affinity to see whether accessing to Twisting Nether was included in the definition of soul-based abilities; however, a possibility was not equal to Safeguard Ring.

Having the ability for instant teleportation was simply too amazing … at least against the kind of opponents that he was fighting. He had no idea whether an archmage or an equivalent enemy would have the ability to block teleportation.

Against the kind of enemies he was fighting, it should work wonders, especially since the description made it clear that the destination would be the safest place rather than a blind jump that might dump him into the center of the enemy.

That would allow him to operate far more freely.

Including jumping into the middle of an undead army recklessly to hunt undead. Especially since the ring apparently replenished after use. A week was not a short time, but it was incredibly long compared to the years he would spend as a mindless undead if he died.

He hummed as he took the long path, this time aiming to approach Darrowshire from the east. From a distance, he could see that the siege had changed greatly, even a third wave of undead rushing into the mountain to engage with the troll army.

Maybe the System wasn’t exaggerating when it called triggering a war.

When he arrived, he found the undead army in chaos, though the form was different than he expected. Ghouls and abominations were moving with their usual mannerism, and even their coordination hadn’t been lost despite the absence or the panic of the death knight.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Either the remaining necromancers and acolytes took over the command of the remnants while more than three quarters of the undead army had moved into the troll territory, or they were still following the latest orders they received, their limited interpretation capability enough to fill the gaps.

In that way, they were much better than how a human army would react to an unexpected second battle ruining their siege.

He watched their movement carefully, trying to see which case was likelier.

At this point, the way the undead army operated wasn’t as critical for the success, all due to the location of the necromancers and acolytes; both moved to the north to keep themselves safe from any possible troll counter-attack, unwittingly putting themselves an excellent spot for him to repeat the same trick with the siege engines.

Even better, as the hundred-thousand strong army had been reduced to less than thirty thousand. It was still overwhelming against the force Darrowshire, but the supposed quick and overwhelming victory they were supposed to have was already gone.

The existence of the Safeguard Ring on his finger gave him the safety net he had been lacking all along. It didn’t mean he would suddenly start fighting recklessly. The difference was like fighting with armor and without it.

He was surprised that just how long his approach had gone unnoticed by the necromancers and acolytes, but maybe he shouldn’t be. Necromancers and acolytes were working together to build more siege engines, their desperation apparent.

“Interesting,” he muttered as he continued to close the distance. It was becoming clear that their mission wasn’t just to take Darrowshire, but to take it quickly and continue rolling.

It made sense, as Darrowshire was a relatively small town, merely a gateway toward the eastern part of Lordaeron. There were far more important towns and cities to the east. Corin’s Crossing was the closest city that mattered, sitting right at the center of eastern Lordaeron, perfectly positioned to block all meaningful travel between cities that were still standing.