Chapter 36: Night Whisper Fores

At the edge of the Night Whisper Forest, towering flames and thunderous roars, like the most stirring war drums, pounded heavily against the chest of every orc warrior.

“Look north! What is that?”

“It's firelight...”

“Could that be Liko's signal?!”

An orc centurion with ocher war paint on his face narrowed his eyes as he saw the commotion in the distant city. He immediately raised his bloodstained battle-axe and let out a roar from his throat: “That must be Liko's doing! Everyone! It's time!”

“Comrades imprisoned in chains are still waiting for us! Now it's time to make that damned human lord pay!”

“For the tribe! Kill!”

“For the tribe——!!!”

The earth-shattering war cry rose to the heavens, drowning out the forest's sobbing.

Countless eyes burning with rage in the darkness fixedly stared at the south wall of Black Cliff Territory, where the lights flickered ahead.

Crude but heavy battering rams were pushed by thick arms; rusted scaling ladders were hoisted onto shoulders. The orcs, like a flood bursting through a dam, surged out of the forest's shadows, charging toward the city wall that symbolized oppression and slavery in their eyes.

War, at this moment, had fully erupted.

---

Almost at the same moment that the dazzling “firework” exploded in the north, Xing Yue, hidden in the shadow of some eaves, the faint crimson gleam under her black mist flickered in astonishment.

‘...Huh?’

‘I'm a bit stunned.’

‘The magic array I set up seems to have been triggered?’

‘Damn... This is different from what I expected. Originally, the formation at the north wall was meant to be a backup, so that when I was surrounded, I could remotely detonate it, create chaos, and help myself escape.’

‘Not like now, becoming the opening firework of tonight's chaos.’

‘The plan has taken an unexpected deviation.’

‘But at this moment, the towering flames, the rumbling sounds, and the intense agitation and panic throughout the entire town had already far exceeded expectations.’

‘Forget it. While this commotion is going on, I'll just sneak in first.’

‘Anyway, there's a “dangerous element” at the north wall to draw attention. At worst, after dealing with Baron Jiefulun, I can go back and check the situation.’

Xing Yue did not dwell on it too much. She made her decision directly, her gaze turning to the lord's mansion still brightly lit in the distance.

‘The opportunity is now!’

Taking advantage of the chaos and diversion caused by the explosion across the town, Xing Yue quickly closed in on the lord's mansion.

The journey went so smoothly that it made her a little suspicious. The watch posts and patrols she'd seen earlier had all vanished without a trace.

Not a single guards in iron cans, not even a watchdog.

Xing Yue climbed over the outer wall and slipped into the courtyard, then hid in the shadow behind a stone statue. Her eyes scanned the silent front yard, and her doubts deepened.

‘Where are the guards here?’

‘Could they all have been drawn away?’

Although it was good to be smooth, being too smooth put her nerves on edge again.

Could it be... an empty fort strategy? A trap to lure me inside?

Xing Yue didn't think the commotion in the north would make Baron Jiefulun dispatch all his guards. He was a lord after all—how could he make such a rash decision?

In her estimation, although Baron Jiefulun would deploy forces upon learning of the unknown assassin in the north, he wouldn't call away all his men. He would leave at least some to defend the mansion.

But judging from the current situation outside, that wasn't the case, so there was one possibility.

Baron Jiefulun realized that there might be more than one assassin in the north, and maybe one of them was here to assassinate him, so he had increased the number of guards around him, ready to ambush his would-be killer.

‘Forget it.’

Xing Yue steadied herself, a hint of resolve flashing in her eyes. ‘I'm already here. Let's find the target first.’

Whether this was a deeper trap or simply good luck in catching Baron Jiefulun at a moment before he could redeploy his troops, she had to act.

Xing Yue's gaze locked onto the tightly shut windows on the side of the main building.

Inside, the lights were bright. Through the expensive glass windows, she could vaguely see moving shadows and silhouettes, but not clearly.

‘If I go in through the main door, I might get “killed on entry”—chopped down by a bunch of big guys with knives.’

‘Better play it safe and check the situation from outside first.’

She made up her mind. Suppressing her aura, she darted swiftly through the shadows of stone sculptures and plants until she reached the side of the main building.

Then, using a levitation spell, she flew close to a window on the second floor.

Xing Yue pressed her face against the glass pane, peering through the narrow gap in the heavy curtain.

It was a study. Spacious and luxurious, but empty.

She withdrew her gaze and continued to examine other windows along the wall.

Most rooms were either dark or showed only the fleeting silhouettes of servants.

Until one window.

Finally, in a window where the curtain wasn't fully drawn, letting out warm light, Xing Yue spotted her target for this operation.

There was no need for careful identification.

Among the figures of “normal” build—some standing at attention, some bustling about—the bloated silhouette in an ornate robe, lounging half-reclined on a huge soft couch, stood out like a lighthouse in the dark.

It had to be Baron Jiefulun himself!

But as soon as she arrived, Xing Yue heard a furious roar.

“Beasts are beasts after all! Ungrateful mongrels!”

The shout made Xing Yue shrink back half her head, leaving only one eye to peek inside.

Inside the room, Baron Jiefulun was pointing at a servant kneeling on the ground, cursing angrily.

The servant wore coarse cloth clothes and was much larger and more robust than the human attendants around him. The pair of gray-furred wolf ears on top of his head were extremely conspicuous.

An orc servant.

‘Although it's a wolf-eared guy, those twitching ears look so satisfying to ruffle! Ah~ Adorable~ (Pointing at the animal ears)’

‘My wolf-ear addiction is acting up again.’

But she didn't forget her purpose. She indulged in a little spasm of delight, then began to observe the layout of the room, noting places where someone might be hiding.

At that moment, Jiefulun seemed to have tired of yelling. He suddenly turned around, pulled the ruby dagger from the head of the bed, and strode over to the wolf-eared orc.

Even though the orc was kneeling, his back still held a final spark of defiance. A low, warning growl rolled in his throat, and his fangs were faintly visible in the candlelight.

Seeing this, Jiefulun didn't get angry but laughed instead.

He reached out, grabbed hold of the two trembling wolf ears on top of the orc's head, and pulled them upward roughly, as if appraising the quality of some livestock.

The orc froze. The growl stopped abruptly, replaced only by suppressed, heavy breathing.

“Still baring your teeth at me?”

The baron's voice was light, but more chilling than a roar.

A flash of cold light!

The dagger stabbed deep into the base of one wolf ear, then twisted and cut without mercy.

Not a clean cut, but slow, with a brutal force that ground through flesh and cartilage.

“Urgh—ah!!!”

A shrill, distorted scream exploded, then was instantly cut off by even more intense pain, turning into hoarse gasps.

Warm blood gushed out, soaking the gray fur of the wolf ear and splashing the baron's robe and the back of his hand.

The first severed ear was thrown casually onto the carpet.

Jiefulun didn't pause. The bloodstained dagger moved to the other intact ear, repeating the slow and cruel cutting.

The second scream died halfway. The orc servant's body collapsed heavily to the floor.

Two bleeding wolf ears lay like scraps of cloth on the luxurious carpet, utterly out of place against the exquisite decorations.

Jiefulun flicked the sticky blood off his dagger. Looking at the orc on the ground, who was convulsing from the intense pain and making faint whimpers, the cruel smile on his face didn't diminish in the slightest.

He kicked the severed parts into the fireplace, where the flames briefly burst into a puff of scorched, stinking green smoke.

“Hmph, with such a traitorous dog, I can't sell you for a good price anyway.”

Looking at the orc writhing in agony on the ground, disgust flashed in his eyes, and he raised his dagger again.

“Ha... So you want to run, huh, amass an army, try to siege the city, huh? Worthless beasts like you... all of you die!”

With Jiefulun's words, the dagger first stabbed into the thigh, then pulled out and stabbed into the shoulder again.

Jiefulun wasn't aiming at any vital point. He was simply and willfully venting his malice, even with a kind of spectacle-like slowness, deliberately prolonging the victim's suffering.

The orc servant's convulsions gradually weakened. The blood on the carpet spread into a dark red pool, reflecting the particularly pale moonlight tonight.

That moonlight should have been cold, but at this moment, it seemed to be quietly soaked and assimilated by the blood.

And in the shadows that the bright moon failed to illuminate, black mist rolled silently like a night tide. Within the mist, the faint crimson gleam, once faint, had condensed into substance at some unknown moment.