The Lord of Myriad Flesh Disconnected

After stepping down from the Pumpkin Carriage, Isaac adjusted Rat Rat on his shoulder, then strode toward the council hall.

Before long, Isaac entered the council hall. At a glance, aside from his father and Eldest Brother, he saw four people—three men and one woman—seated across from Second Brother.

These were the four barons under Solomon.

They were Mad Sword Alitos Hol, Demon Wolf James Allen, the strongest Great Knight, Black Snake Barry Edward, and the Witch Snake Woman Barbara Cook!

There was nothing much to say about the first two. Both were at the Knight level, and their ancestors had followed Solomon's ancestors to achieve tremendous merits. Their baronial titles had been inherited.

Black Snake Barry Edward was different. He had relied on his own formidable strength to fight his way to the title of baron, one sword stroke at a time, in Solomon Fortress!

His own strength had already reached the peak of the Great Knight level. As long as he obtained the cultivation method and resources for High-level Knights, he could begin breaking through at any time!

Of course, this was not the orthodox High-level Knight path of faith, but another path to becoming a High-level Knight—transforming into a monster!

That meant refining a monster's bloodline into one's body and completely fusing it with oneself through a specialized Bloodline Fusion Method, casting off one's human identity and evolving toward a higher existence!

It was a choice no weaker than the orthodox High-level Knight path, and its threshold was lower. One could cultivate without the Power of Faith.

However, the so-called low threshold was only relative. To everyone else, the Bloodline Fusion Method and its accompanying cultivation resources were extremely hard to obtain!

Of course, the Solomon Family had made preparations for this. After all, the territory was only so large, and there were limits to how many High-level Knights it could support. If the remaining people had no talent, that was fine—but if they did, wouldn't it be a waste?

Even the Solomon Family had only managed to gather one complete set of cultivation resources, however. So if Barry wanted to break through to the High-level Knight realm, he would have to find the rest himself.

Of course, that had been the situation before...

Isaac glanced at the somewhat excited Barry and the dejected Second Brother Remington, immediately understanding that Second Brother's punishment had not officially ended.

That made sense, too. After thinking about it briefly, Isaac understood. Putting aside the fact that he had neglected Isaac's safety and failed as an elder brother, merely colluding with the enemy was enough to land him in serious trouble.

The reason he was still alive now was, first, that the war with the Black Orcs was about to begin. If word got out at such a time that the second son of the Solomon Family had colluded with the Black Orcs, the impact on morale would be unprecedented!

Second, Remington was of noble birth. No matter how much Gaia loved the people like his own children, they were still only like children, not his actual sons. Remington, however, really was his son, so he did not have to die.

Of course, a death sentence could be avoided, but punishment for his crimes could not!

It was foreseeable that once the war with the Black Orcs ended, he would inevitably be held accountable. The severity of the reckoning might be determined by his performance in this war, or it might be completely unaffected by it.

After all, the one truly making the decision was Gaia, not Isaac and the others.

Still, it probably would not be lenient. He definitely had no hope of obtaining the resources to break through to the High-level Knight realm. Judging from Barry's expression, he had clearly been given quite an amount of encouragement.

Of course, it might not really have been mere encouragement.

Barry was a retainer of the Solomon Family, so there was no need to worry about his loyalty. To put it bluntly, as far as Caesar was concerned, Barry might even be more loyal than Remington...

So barring any surprises, it was basically certain that the resources were meant for him.

Unless Barry performed disastrously in this battle—or simply died.

But that was unlikely. Great Knights had extremely powerful vitality, and their recovery rate far surpassed that of some modern-day strongest man. Even if they were cut in half, they could still survive!

Isaac's gaze only lingered on Barry briefly. What he was most curious about was the Witch Snake Woman Barbara Cook, seated at the far end.

Barbara wore a loose black wizard's robe. At a glance, there was no visible curve to her figure. On her head was a witch's hat with a brim even wider than Isaac's, and from Isaac's direction, he could see only the delicate, fair curve of her chin.

Witches were a group of people born with powerful spellcasting abilities!

Their childhoods were usually accompanied by fear and loneliness.

Most witches were feared and cursed by the ordinary people around them from a young age. Their childhoods were extremely miserable, and they often lost everything while still very young.

But...

This was not born from ordinary people's fear of the unknown.

In fact, in this world filled with Transcendent Power, if you were born with supernatural abilities, not only would you not be disliked, you would instead become the treasure of a family, a village, or even an entire city!

Because as long as such a person did not die prematurely, they would inevitably become a major figure in the future!

Witches were the exception. It was not because their power was evil as the legends claimed. On the contrary, many witches' powers had nothing to do with evil. So why did they suffer such miserable fates?

Because their powers were too strong, too easy to control, and awakened too early...

In Isaac's previous life, many people grew tired of hearing the phrase, "He's still a child."

But the phrase itself was not wrong. Children's worldviews had not yet taken shape. In their worlds, they could have many ideas that adults found horrifying, and they would recreate them.

For example, many children would point toy guns at people and cheerfully shout things like, "I'll shoot you dead!" In their minds, they were merely imitating this unknown world.

Thus, in the country across the ocean from Isaac's previous life, there were even absurd incidents of one- and four-year-old children accidentally shooting themselves or killing their parents.

But witches were even more frightening than children holding guns!

From the moment a witch was born, before she could even speak, she could already use magic...

That was far simpler than firing a gun. Often, all it took was a chaotic thought, and her magic would follow her will and destroy everything around her...

So it was actually difficult to determine whether their tragic childhoods were truly their fault...

Witches who grew up under such circumstances inevitably developed abnormal mindsets. Every one of them was a complete lunatic—crazier even than the Mad Wizard.

Barbara's situation was somewhat better than that of ordinary witches. Her ability was relatively weak. Supposedly, she could only summon snakes and did not possess particularly strong destructive power.

Unfortunately, she had been born into a noble family—and one locked in fierce struggles for power. Her mother had been killed by the First Madam when she was six, and Barbara herself had nearly been murdered. Fortunately, she had burst forth with power at the critical moment, summoned a powerful magic snake, and let it swallow the assassin whole, allowing her to escape!

She had then wandered alone outside. By the age of sixteen, she had grown into a qualified Witch and was on the verge of breaking through to become a Great Witch.

So she had returned for revenge...

Isaac had no idea what she had done after returning. He only knew that Barbara Cook had replaced her father and become a baron under the Solomon Family!

Caesar had told Isaac about her experiences.

A Witch suspected of being a Great Witch...

"Hiss~"

Sensing Isaac's gaze, a Green Snake suddenly emerged from Barbara's shoulder. Its pair of vertical pupils stared coldly at Isaac as it flicked its tongue.

"Rrrip~"

As though sensing the Green Snake's provocative aura, Hamon, who had been sleeping inside Isaac for three days, instantly awakened. Amid everyone's astonished gazes, it crawled out from the back of Isaac's neck and stretched its five sharp claws in a sinister posture!

Hamon had not forgotten why it had awakened, however. After stretching, it spread its five claws, aimed its palm at the Green Snake, and abruptly opened a scarlet eye!

In an instant, everyone was frightened into a defensive stance!

There was no helping it. The scene looked far too bizarre. They had acted entirely on instinct, and even Gaia, seated at the head of the table, could not help reaching toward the Longsword beside him.

"Hamon, don't be nervous. It's one of us." Isaac was also very curious about the eye on Hamon's palm, but he knew this was not the time to inspect it. He merely gave a calm command.

Hamon moved the eye from its palm up along its arm until it reached Isaac's face. The bloodshot scarlet eye was filled with confusion.

Within Hamon's limited understanding, the Green Snake's behavior was provocation. It was a declaration of war!

It did not understand why its master said the snake was not an enemy.

Although it did not understand its master's thoughts, that did not stop it from obeying Isaac's command. It closed its eye and returned to Isaac's body.

Only then did everyone relax slightly, though their gazes toward Isaac had already changed somewhat.

Whether they were stronger or weaker than Isaac, their eyes now held a trace of wariness.

This was the human instinctive reverence for the mysterious!

After Hamon returned to Isaac's body, Barbara also reached out with her small, fair hand and gently tapped the Green Snake on her shoulder, making it return as well.

Only then did she look at Isaac and say apologetically, "Sorry, Young Master Isaac. Raven is just particularly sensitive to danger. I hope she didn't startle you."

Isaac casually pulled out a chair and sat down. "It's fine. I understand. Hamon is the same."

This was a common problem among high-intelligence Magic Pets. They made you feel very safe when guarding against danger, but they were rather troublesome in everyday life.

Isaac, whose Magic Pet had an especially bizarre appearance, knew this all too well.

After all, unlike the Green Snake's silent appearance, Hamon's entrances usually came with an extremely shocking sound effect and terrifying aura!

Moreover, both of those traits seemed to have grown slightly stronger as its mysterious attribute increased...

What a nuisance~

Thinking of this, Isaac shook his head. He had no good solution either. Hamon did not know how to control itself.

"Thud~"

Once everyone had taken their seats, Gaia gripped the sheathed Longsword with both hands and struck it against the floor, drawing everyone's attention.

"All right. Enough idle chatter. Let's discuss serious matters, Caesar," Gaia said calmly.

After Gaia finished speaking, Caesar immediately distributed documents to everyone. As he handed them out, he said, "These are all the intelligence we've gathered about the Black Orcs during this period. According to the reports, the Black Orcs have assembled approximately fifteen thousand troops this time!"

Caesar's expression was solemn, because that was nearly three times their own strength!

The Solomon Knight Order had around three thousand members. The four barons had brought roughly fifteen hundred soldiers combined, and with the landed nobles' forces added in, the fortress currently had only around five thousand troops.

Their soldiers' quality was not enough to make up the difference, either. He had no choice but to take the matter seriously!

Compared with the other three, Barry, who had the most experience fighting the Black Orcs, immediately furrowed his brows and asked the question Gaia had asked before: "Have they given birth to a king?"

Black Orcs with a king were completely different from Black Orcs without one. Not only could they summon more Black Orcs, but the king's existence would strengthen ordinary Black Orcs, making them far more powerful in battle and giving them a much stronger fighting spirit.

In short, they were extremely difficult to deal with!

"No." Caesar shook his head, but his expression did not relax in the slightest. Instead, he said gravely, "They have given birth to a High Priest!"

At that, everyone's brows furrowed.

Even Isaac, who did not know much about the Black Orcs, understood the importance of a High Priest to them...

In a word, a High Priest was equivalent to a Legendary Wizard on the human side—and a Mad Wizard at that!

A Mad Wizard completely controlled by the Outer Gods!

With the help of a High Priest, the Black Orcs could unleash power no weaker than that of Black Orcs ruled by a king!

More importantly, a High Priest was a powerful spellcaster. His appearance would close or even erase Solomon Fortress's magical advantage!

"Hiss~ Whoosh!" In the end, the experienced Barry was the first to recover. He quickly glanced at the intelligence in his hand and asked, "Have you notified the Truth Association and the Church of Light?"

The Truth Association and the Church of Light were the organizations on the continent most hostile toward the Outer Gods' servants. Once they learned of the news, they would pounce over like rabid dogs!

So although the current situation was terrible, things would still be manageable if they received aid from those two organizations.

However, to Barry's disappointment, Caesar shook his head...

"Unfortunately, we did notify them, but they can't come. It isn't just here—High Priests have appeared along nearly every border adjoining human kingdoms!"

Caesar's words struck everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer, leaving them speechless. They silently sat in their chairs as the atmosphere gradually sank into gloom...

"Hm? That doesn't seem right." Isaac was not greatly affected, however. He merely furrowed his brows slightly and said, "According to what I know, the Black Orc High Priests serve three Outer Gods."

As he spoke, Isaac tugged at the brim of his hat.

"They are Lord of Myriad Flesh, Lord of Thousand Stars, and God of Black Orcs. As far as I know, Lord of Myriad Flesh has already fallen asleep and refuses all communication with the outside world. Can Lord of Thousand Stars and God of Black Orcs alone support so many High Priests?"

Isaac's question left Caesar stunned. How was he supposed to know?

Of the three, he only knew God of Black Orcs...

So he decisively turned toward Eldest Sister. Sure enough, when it came to this, Eldest Sister was as reliable as ever.

"On their own, they indeed cannot support so many High Priests. Otherwise, the experts of our world would be able to locate them, and their losses would be even greater. But how can you be certain... that one cannot be contacted?"

Cheryl was not Isaac. She did not dare directly call Lord of Myriad Flesh by its divine name.

"It's simple. I contacted it before coming here, and it didn't respond."

"???"