The second day was destined to be long. Unas regretted setting the meeting time too late. He was somewhat restless all morning and almost whipped a lazy Gnoll to death.
With over fifty Gnolls helping with the mining, Luther selected a group of able-bodied young men from among the miners to expand the guard to one hundred men, just enough to form a standard hundred-man squad, which greatly pleased Unas.
Around noon, Bas finally brought new news, but it wasn't about Keira; it was an invitation from the South District boss.
The leader of the South District is Firerock, a Two-Headed Ogre. Everyone calls him "Honest Lincoln," but if you actually believe he's honest, you'll be torn to pieces.
High-ranking slaves like Two-Headed Ogres are generally not thrown into the Black Furnace. Lincoln wasn't originally Two-Headed Ogre, but one day he mutated and grew another head. His intelligence exploded, and his talent awakened. He naturally learned some magic and, through luck, completed the process of cultivating both magic and martial arts.
Even though the Ogre's intelligence exploded, it didn't necessarily make him any smarter. As long as he was smarter than other Ogres, that was enough. Currently, most of the Ogres in the Black Furnace have been brought under his command, which is why he can dominate the area.
He would come to invite him to a meeting, Unas could only think of one possibility: the female Orcs had joined forces with Lincoln.
This is highly illogical. The female Orcs who betrayed the Blackrock Clan should be a thorn in the side of the Dark Horde, so how did she suddenly become entangled with one of the Dark Horde's main forces?
Was Lincoln merely offering her refuge, or was he also involved in the prison break plan? These questions will only be answered when we meet them.
Since they had been invited, the talks should naturally take place on the Ogre's territory. Unas wasn't going to venture in alone this time, so he ordered, "Luther, take half the men and come with me to the South District!"
Although this number of people might not seem like enough to feed the enemy, Unas was confident that under his leadership they would unleash ten times their fighting power.
Luther loudly obeyed. The training these past few days had yielded excellent results. The fifty men quickly lined up and followed Unas, who was radiating murderous intent, as they set off.
An operation of this scale naturally did not escape the eyes of the observers. Halfway there, a tall figure wielding a spiked club caught up from another side path. "Us Human, wait, Isaac with the new club is here!"
Unas stopped in his tracks, waiting for his nominal subordinate to catch up. "What brings you here?"
"Half... Isaac heard that the humans of Us are going to the South District to see the upright Lincoln, so he wants to go with you. Isaac and Lincoln have a good relationship, so... so..." The Ogre stammered, unable to finish his sentence.
"Introduce me?" Unas added for him.
"Yes, yes, introduce the Uss humans."
This was probably taught to him by Half-Face, but he didn't remember it all. Half-Face's intention in sending him was actually quite easy to guess. His newly recruited underling suddenly went to see another boss, so of course he wanted to find out what was going on.
"Thank you very much. If this helps, I'll return the spiked club to you."
"No, no, no, Isaac already has a new club," the Ogre brandished his weapon, "This one's made of steel, and it's even better than the old one!"
"You don't understand. A single one is nowhere near as good as two. Two spiked clubs will give you unparalleled pleasure."
"Really? Have you tried it, Us human?"
As they spoke, the group arrived at an abandoned mine. After passing through a passage, they reached Lincoln's territory, where two ogres wielding iron Ogre stood guard.
"Only those invited by the chief may pass; everyone else must remain here." The Ogre guards blocked the entrance to the cave ahead.
"Isaac and Lincoln are friends, you two idiots get out of the way!" Isaac, who was much bigger than the two guards, immediately stepped forward.
The guards raised their iron bars and swung them down, but Isaac didn't retreat; instead, he charged forward, brandishing his Ogre club. Ogres don't seem to have any concept of defense when they fight. Relying on their thick hides, the two sides exchanged blows more than a dozen times. The two guards couldn't withstand the blows and retreated step by step, eventually turning back to fetch reinforcements.
"I never expected Isaac to be so amazing!" Unas clapped and cheered.
"Those two idiots' clubs didn't hurt as much as a human's hammer. Isaac could take on ten of them!" The victorious Ogre pounded his chest excitedly and howled.
But soon, heavy footsteps came from the passage, and one after another, Ogres carrying various weapons emerged; this time there were definitely more than ten.
Unas immediately ordered, "Form ranks! Prepare to fight!"
The fifty spearmen behind him immediately formed a wedge formation, crouching down in a horse stance, their round shields held in front of them, and their spears propped up. The entire formation resembled a beetle covered in thorns, baring its fangs and claws, making it impossible for anyone to approach.
A total of forty-odd Ogres emerged, making the once spacious mine cave crowded. The last one to emerge was a man taller and stronger than all the Ogres present, with two heads, one large and one small, on his broad shoulders. This must be the upright Lincoln.
"Humans! Delicious humans, Lincoln, eat them!" the smaller head cried out in a shrill voice.
"Shut up, Link, those are my guests, how can you eat them?" The tone and voice were normal, coming from the larger head.
"Human flesh, delicious, sob sob..." Link's voice gradually faded; he always listened to his younger brother.
Isaac showed no fear of this display and stepped forward to greet them, "Hey! Linklink, do you remember Isaac?"
"Of course I remember you, son of Ulak. You've come uninvited. Have you and your father finally decided to escape that rotten-faced Dwarf and come to follow me?"
"Waaaah! Don't you dare insult Half-Face! Isaac's going to get angry!"
"Haha, how is that an insult? That Dwarf's face was already half rotten."
"What you said... is right!" Isaac thought about it and realized that it did seem to be true.
"Ha ha!" Lincoln's maniacal laughter immediately echoed in the Cave. Whenever he had outwitted these dull fools, a sense of intellectual superiority would always well up within him.
The serious confrontation between the two armies was disrupted by this farce. Unas interrupted his laughter, "Chief Lincoln, you wanted to see me? I'm here now. What's the matter?"
"I heard you killed a lot of Smolderthorn Trolls, and I happen to have an old grudge against them, so I wanted to thank you in person," Lincoln said, subtly and quickly pulling open his collar to reveal a large blue crystal hanging on his chest. "I've prepared a thank-you banquet and would like to invite you to attend."
The female Orcs actually handed over the Communication Crystal to him! Unas cursed inwardly, thinking, "This is like asking a tiger for its skin! And the reason they gave was too far-fetched."
"Ogres and Trolls have a grudge? Forgive my bluntness, but you both belong to the Dark Horde. Compared to you, the Smolderthorn Trolls are so weak, what life-or-death feud could you possibly have?"
"That's all in the past. It's precisely because we're on the same side and far apart that I couldn't easily take action against them. It's wonderful that you've helped me resolve this," Lincoln waved to him. "Come and join my banquet. You can bring all your men, no problem."
This was an expression of sincerity. Unas thought for a moment, and decided that rather than bringing his men in, it would be better to leave them here to provide backup. So he said, "Alright, then I won't let the chief's kindness go to waste. Isaac, how about coming to the banquet with me?"
"Feast, meat, Isaac loves feasts!" the Ogre exclaimed happily.
Unas instructed Luther and the guards to stay there, ready for battle at any moment, and then he and Isaac followed Lincoln into the passage ahead.