Baator Hell Promotion

Daluk listened quietly until he had heard everything Mateusz said, then he turned his head to look at Kukkuk, and then turned his head to look at the battlefield.

"Kuk-Kuk, you disappoint me." Daluk's voice was old and weak, but it was loud enough for Hopper to hear. Surprisingly, the old orc spoke human language, even with a hint of the southern continent's accent.

"But I am willing to give you a chance to prove yourself to the undefeated One-Eyed God." Daluk gathered his colorful cloak. Even in the fire, he still looked very cold. "Go and join the warriors below and capture the humans in that building. I can forgive your sins."

Before he could finish his words, the sturdy door of the cave finally gave way and exploded into pieces under the violent blows of the double-handed hammers.

The shards exploded with the gleam of a sharp blade. Before the orc swinging the hammer could even attempt a block, he was beheaded, his blood spilling out.

"Yes," said Cook.

Chapter 132: Single Fight or Gang Fight

Kukkuk bandaged the wound, which had not yet healed, drew his longsword from his waist, and walked steadily towards the battlefield. In orc society, mercy did not exist. Their world had only two classes: warriors or slaves, and the strongest and most brutal warriors naturally became leaders.

However, just as he was about to reach the door, Daluk's old but unquestionable voice sounded again: "I want it alive, and all the humans inside must live!"

Cook Cook did not respond. Even in the face of the sudden increase in difficulty, he did not show any emotion on his face, as if everything was under his control.

Besides the unfortunate man on the ground, who was spurting blood everywhere, there were three other orcs who participated in breaking the door. Judging from their half-body armor and uniform gray skin, their status was probably higher than Kukkuk or Mateusz, and they were likely the personal guards of Daluk.

Perhaps it was because of this that the flash of sword just now frightened them and made these elite soldiers hesitate.

When they heard Daluk's order, they exchanged glances with each other, tacitly dropped the hammers in their hands, took the nets and halberds from other orcs, and took the initiative to make a gap for Kuk Kuk.

The defenders inside were clever. The room was pitch black, devoid of any light source. Even for a race like the orcs, who could see in the dark, it would take time to adjust from the bright light of the fire outside to this complete darkness. And those few seconds were enough to cost them their lives.

However, this trick had no effect on the devil, who was naturally blind to darkness. Although the transformation into an orc made Hopper unable to fly, his powers that did not rely on the flesh remained intact.

Cook Cook could see what was going on inside from even outside the door.

This cavern was probably a meeting hall, as it was quite spacious. At the deepest part of the cavern, several children huddled together, their mouths tightly covered, afraid of making even the slightest sound.

Hopper knew the only two people who seemed capable of fighting - Edim and Judith.

Edim had gone out without armor today, which had clearly taken a toll on him, as he already had several wounds. But judging by his shining eyes and the steady, unwavering grip on his sword, his strength seemed to be well-preserved, and he still had the strength to fight.

In contrast, Judith worries Hopper more. On the one hand, she needs to abide by the original contract she signed with Judith and cannot directly attack the contractor; on the other hand, she also hopes to obtain Edimu's soul through Judith, so she must ensure Judith's safety.

"Kuk-Kuk, enjoy the glory bestowed upon you by Daluk," growled the orc closest to the door, clearly beginning to feel dissatisfied with his behavior of stopping and observing.

Cook Cook snorted and swallowed the sarcasm in his mouth - Hopper didn't know the real Cook's usual style, so it was better to say less to avoid revealing any flaws.

Without further hesitation, he kicked out with his left leg and rushed towards Edim like a cannonball fired from a catapult, chopping off the knight's head with the long sword in his hand.

Edim was so shocked that he didn't even have time to think about what went wrong with his original ambush plan. He instinctively held the sword with both hands and swung it upward with all his might.

Empty.

The orc was not coming for him at all. The long sword changed its trajectory halfway and slashed diagonally towards the poet.

Judith had apparently also cast some kind of magic called dark vision on herself. She screamed and fell backwards, looking at the blade of death coming towards her in despair.

Edim had no time to be afraid. He twisted his waist and swung the sword in his hand, causing a whistling sound, and tried his best to block the path of the long sword.

Cook Cook showed a sinister smile. This time it was still a feint. He changed the direction of the long sword again and slashed at the knight's arm horizontally.

The knight had used up all his strength to match the diagonal blow, and couldn't change his moves at all. Quickly thinking, he drew his sword and fell backward, rolling awkwardly on the ground, narrowly avoiding the blow that nearly sliced ​​his arm.

Cook Cook was very satisfied with his series of feints. Judith had been cornered and was no longer a threat. He only needed to focus on dealing with Edim.

Edim didn't know why the orcs didn't pursue him. He only knew he was in deep trouble. The orc before him was no mere brute force beast like those he had slain before, but a vicious, venomous snake.

"I demand a duel with you!" The knight stood up straight, holding his sword in front of him. "One on one duel. If I win, I will let these people go, but I will still be at your disposal!"

"Kukukuk, Daluk didn't agree to your negotiation!" Before Kukukuk could answer, he was sternly warned by the orcs who followed in.

"You see, Knight, I can't promise you that," Kuk Kuk shrugged, flashing a ferocious smile at the children in the corner. A little girl burst into tears out of fear, only to be immediately covered by her older companion.

The knight sighed helplessly. He knew in his heart that this was just a fight between trapped beasts and there was very little hope.

The three orcs who came in later did not wait for Cook's order, but rushed directly towards the knight, the poet and the people in the corner.

The orc who rushed towards the knight was the most cunning. He carried a table as a shield and used the cover of the table to repeatedly try to stab the knight with his spear.

This despicable tactic left Edim helpless, and the suppressed sobbing from the corner only added to his restlessness. And to his greatest despair, the venomous orcs, just moments before, had also joined the fray. His situation suddenly became dire, and he could only use his longsword to parry left and right, barely holding on, exhausted.

"Ah!" Judith suddenly screamed. Edim looked over and saw that she had been covered by the orcs' net.

It was this moment of distraction that caused the spear to pierce his lower abdomen. The pain aroused the knight's bloodiness, and he grasped the spear tightly with his left hand, ducked his body, dodged the long sword, and stabbed the orc behind the table with the sword in his hand.

The orc stood there like an idiot, and Edim put the sword into his mouth almost effortlessly.

"Edim!" Judith yelled from the corner, and a rose-scented breeze blew across the room, centered around her. The orc who had grabbed her rolled his eyes and fell straight to the ground.

The knight did not give up the precious opportunity fought for by his companions. He shouted loudly and made a majestic forward gesture. The holy mark on his shoulder instantly burst into a brilliant silver light. A loud bell rang in the void, directly shocking Hopper back three steps.

"Damn it, if I had known Judith had this skill, I shouldn't have used magic to control that stupid orc just now." Hopper held his sword horizontally vigilantly to prevent the knight from taking the opportunity to chase him, and just in time he saw the situation behind the knight.

The orc who had captured the child shook his head, unaffected by Judith's spell. He leaped high into the air, and with a tremendous force, he smashed the shield in his hand into the back of the knight's head.

He was met with a blazing sword, and the orc, along with his fine steel armor and shield, was split in two by the blazing blade like a candle.

After dealing with the attacker, Edim let out a long breath and turned to face his last enemy.

The orc stood upright, tilting his head, and looked at him inquiringly. His eyes and posture were very familiar to Edim.

"You are not affected by the sleep spell. You are not an ordinary orc," the knight asserted. "Who are you?"

What responded to him was the orc's long sword.

The angle of the longsword's attack was erratic, but the knight already knew how to respond. He abandoned all defense and charged forward, more than twice as fast as before, white flames burning from the longsword to the arms holding the sword.

The orc decisively threw his weapon at the knight. The long sword turned red before it even got close to the knight, and was then easily cut off by the knight, without even causing a second of hindrance to the knight, whose half body was almost burning.

The orc retreated quickly, but Edim knew he could not escape his charge.

Then, the knight suddenly felt his footing stumble and his body instantly lost its balance. Then, before he could correct himself, he felt dizzy and the whole world turned upside down.

A clang echoed through the cave. Even the bravest knight couldn't remain silent under the excruciating pain of a broken nose. Edim howled, his body ablaze with flames that shimmered into the air. The agony was so intense that he didn't even notice when his sword was taken from him.

With tears in his eyes, Yidimu watched the orc casually throw the thick-bottomed pot aside, and the sword he had taken away had been burned into black scrap metal by the holy flame.

"Spell interrupted, little knight," the orc taunted, a length of black rope emerging from his shoulder. It was the culprit that had tripped and hung the knight. Like a snake seeking credit, the rope rubbed against the orc's face, enjoying the tickle of his thick fingers.

The knight, who was in pain and anxious, saw this scene, his brain became congested, his eyes went dark, and he fainted.

Author's words: I originally wanted to update twice a week, but my inspiration has dried up and I feel like the transition chapters I wrote are really mediocre.

I'll just write a long chapter.

Chapter 133: Captured

It was pitch black all around, and when Edim woke up, he thought he was blind. The stinging pain from the broken part of his nose, and the tightness of the dried blood on his skin, made him realize that he was still alive.

He tried to move his head and found himself resting his head on someone's lap. As if sensing his movement, a small hand gently touched his face. Someone leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Mr. Knight, it's me. Are you feeling better?"

Edim wasn't exactly familiar with the voice, but he guessed it was one of the kids in the council hall.

"Where are we now?" the knight whispered back. "Are you all alright?"

The girl sobbed softly for a few times before answering him: "The orc took us all away, Lina, Kevin, and Ms. Judith. I don't know where we are. It's terribly dark around here."

Edim hadn't expected a child to understand much after being frightened by the orcs. He struggled to get up, careful not to injure his fragile nose again.

Although his sense of smell and vision failed to provide him with any useful information, he could still hear the heavy breathing of the orcs among the footsteps of the livestock and the collision of wheels; he could also feel the floor beneath him constantly shaking - they were all locked in a prison car.

The prison van swung around a corner, and suddenly a light appeared overhead. It turned out they had been traveling in a tunnel deep in the mountain. No wonder it was pitch dark.

The lonely, proud crimson moon hung high in the sky, looking down indifferently upon the world. By the light of the crimson moon, Edim finally saw his own situation clearly.

He and a dozen other children were tied to a prison cart pulled by two huge goats, so that the prisoners could not turn around without bumping into each other, let alone sitting down.

What made him sad was that there were only three similar prison vans with living people on them, and many more trailers hidden in the dark corridors were piled with layers of bodies, some incomplete and some intact.

The murderers who caused such a tragedy - fifty orc cavalrymen riding argali were now leading and supervising the convoy.

The knight was trying to find Judith, but when he turned around, he saw the orc who had knocked him down. The orc had a smirk on his face, watching the knight's every move coldly.

"You woke up, little knight, just in time. We will soon reach the Eagle's Nest. I guess you never thought that you would walk alive into the stronghold that Emerald Harbor has always tried to destroy?" The orc's voice was not loud, but full of sarcasm.

The orc pointed to the distance. The knight squinted his eyes and was surprised to find that high above the black silhouette of the distant mountain, there was a light source flickering like a swarm of fireflies. He thought that must be the orcs' lair - the Eagle's Nest.

The knight ignored the orc. His feet were tied to the prison cart. Even if he tried to fight, he would only die in vain.

Hopper, who was disguised as Cook Cook, was planning to tease Edim again, but the orc in front of him slowed down. It turned out that he had reached the first checkpoint after leaving the cave.

She spurred the sheep forward, quietly approaching the wolf of Daluk. Orcs had never had any rules, and expecting them to always form an orderly formation was simply a fantasy. Because of this, Hopper's forward move did not arouse any suspicion from the orcs.

The outpost was built at the mouth of a canyon, with two tall stone towers and a retractable drawbridge. Hopper also believed that behind the dense observation holes in the stone towers, there must be many crossbows pointed warily at the team.

"...very unhappy." As Hopper approached, he happened to catch up with three orcs coming out from behind the drawbridge. They saluted and replied to Daluk, "Daluk, he doesn't like others to act on their own, you know."

The leading orc peeked at the caravan filled with both living and dead bodies, and said in a low voice, "I especially don't like to rob the pink-skinned people without permission."

"Tirula, this is Daruk's business. You just need to fulfill your duties." The gray-skinned orc riding on the right side of Daruk drove his mount forward a step and growled in a low voice.

Tirulla, who was guarding the gate, hurriedly lowered his head and exposed his neck to show his submission.

Daluk did not get angry like other orcs. He just raised his hand and signaled them to make way for the convoy to pass.

The suspension bridge slowly lowered, revealing the canyon behind the gate. After crossing the suspension bridge, Hopper discovered that the gate was actually located at the mouth of a valley. Two roads extending from the gate meandered along the mountain walls on both sides in completely opposite directions.

"Skullclub Clan, send these 'food' to the warehouse," ordered the gray-skinned orc who had just scolded Tiruula. It seemed he held a high position under Daluk. "Suspended Rope Clan, send the living ones to the 'Deep Pit'. Don't kill them. Daluk still has use. Stonerunner Clan, count all the property."

Hopper sensed something was amiss. Orc clan names were generally closely tied to their beliefs, often evolving from deity symbols. The skull club, suspension rope, and stone rune likely derive from the orc goddess of livestock, the god of slavery and greed, and the Orc Father's consort, the Flesh Pot Witch Mother.

The problem is that few clans use the symbols of these relatively weaker orc gods as their clan names. Is the presence of these clans under the command of Daeruk just a coincidence? Or does Eagle's Nest hide a secret unknown to the outside world?

And, more crucially, Hopper didn't know which clan his character, Cook Cook, belonged to.

"You! Follow." Fortunately, the gray-skinned orc pointed at Hopper and asked him to follow Daluk and his group, saving her from trouble.

After the various clans departed with their loot and people, the entire caravan shrank significantly. Hopper silently estimated that, including the three orcs killed by Edim, the actual guards led by Daluk were only a team of ten.

Hopper knew the orcs, and they were no less chaotic than demons. They acted solely on violence and desire, lacking foresight or a sense of obedience. In battle, not only were they stealthily attacking other clans, but internal strife within their own clans was also common. Was Daluk so confident in the orcs of other clans? That was uncharacteristic of the orcs.

Eagle's Nest was renowned for its formidable terrain; the tunnel and sentry post were merely the outskirts of the stronghold. Hopper suppressed his doubts and silently followed Daluk's guards, climbing the mountain road for nearly ten miles before stopping at a mountain village.

It was past midnight when the orcs left the burned-down Chuiyan Village. By the time they set up camp in the mountain village and prepared to rest, the sun had already passed over the eastern peaks.

Daluk and his guards naturally occupied the best stone houses, while outsiders like Hopper could only make do in the firewood pile next to the stove.

Because of this, she was the first to notice a black shadow resembling a giant bird flying from afar.

The giant bird was obviously heading towards the mountain village. When it flew close enough, Hopper realized that it was not a bird, but a deer eagle that looked like a giant eagle but had huge horns on its head.

The stag-eagle flapped its wings and descended with a sharp cry, which almost woke up all the orcs. It was not until it landed that the orcs could see clearly the passenger on it.

Hopper stared with wide eyes at the orc who was sitting high on the deer eagle. He had bright red skin, a pair of short horns and a long tail.

A tiefling of orcish descent? That's incredibly rare.

Chapter 134: Eagle's Nest

In Hell's lore system, Tiefling is actually a rather broad term. Any child born under the influence of the power of the lower planes can be called a Tiefling.

However, as far as Hopper knew, tieflings in a narrow sense usually referred to demonic humans. The reason was simple: among the common inhabitants of the Prime Material Plane, only human society was so inclusive that it could barely tolerate their existence.

Tieflings among the orcs are called Tanarukk. Most chiefs and shamans quickly discover that the brute force of the Tanarukk causes far more damage to the clan than the military protection they can provide. Therefore, these demon-born orcs are often used as suicide squads or sacrifices before they reach adulthood.

The demonic orcs started shouting loudly, calling out Daluk's name, without waiting for the deer eagle to land.

"Shut up, Orhan." The first to respond was one of Daruk's gray-skinned guards. He shouted, running out of the stone hut, weapon tightly in hand. "Respect Daruk!"

"Orhan has an urgent message for Daruk. Kolog said that Orhan can kill all the little guys who stand in his way." The demonic orc didn't take his warning seriously at all. He pulled out his battle axe from the saddle, tightened the reins, and was about to drive the eagle forward.

The deer eagle let out a shrill cry, flapped its wings, and aimed its antlers at the gray-skinned orc, ready to attack.

However, before Orhan could launch a charge, the stag-eagle he rode let out a mournful cry, its legs giving way, and it collapsed to the ground like a sick chicken, beginning to convulse. The demon-born orc was thrown off his mount, but thankfully, his skin was thick and he simply rolled in the mud before getting back to his feet.

"Kellogg, if you have anything to say, you can tell me now." Daluk slowly emerged from the room, holding an orc skull with a bright red rune carved into its forehead. "But you'd better finish before my patience runs out, or you and this sick chicken will both suffer next time."

For a moment, Hopper thought Orhan would rush over and strike Daluk with his axe. But he finally loosened his grip on the axe handle, pounded his chest twice with his right fist, saluted Daluk, and bowed:

"Respected Daluk, the Great Chief requires you to reach the Eagle's Nest as soon as possible."

"what is the reason?"

"Orhan doesn't know."

Daluk didn't say anything. He didn't even look at the demon orc. He just reached out and touched the rune skull in his hand.