Chapter 52: Summoning in Front of the Formation (1)

After examining the Soul Ball fragments, Donald found that ordinary orcs left behind only three or five soul fragments upon death, which, when absorbed into the crystal ball, added only a little bit of soul energy. Even elite orcs as powerful as those at the Bronze Initial stage—those who had grasped the essence of qi—yielded only two to three times more soul fragments after being slain. Yet when this orc shaman-priest died, hundreds of strands of soul energy immediately appeared within the Soul Ball fragments, condensing into a clearly visible column of misty vapor. This shaman had acquired nearly 700 units of soul energy.

“Could it be that the souls of orc shamans are different, a hundred times stronger than those of ordinary orcs? And this is just a low-level shaman-priest. What about intermediate or even high-level ones?”
With this thought, Donald wished he could find another shaman-priest to kill in order to prove his theory!

However, orc shamans-priests were even rarer than human mages, and under normal circumstances, they never left orc territories. It was even harder to encounter them outside than rare races like elves or dwarves.

Donald ordered his summoned creatures to clean up the battlefield as quickly as possible. Before the main orc force arrived, he waved his hand to recall all the summoned creatures into energy. Aside from the owls still circling in the sky, only two lightning lizards remained as mounts. Together with Uther, he rode these lizards back on their journey.

The lightning lizards were as fast as fast horses, though slightly less durable. But since Donald wasn’t going very far this time, it took only a short while for him to return to the Holy Sword Fortress. In his storage space now lay the corpse of the shaman-priest, hundreds of orc heads, along with weapons and other loot.

When Donald arrived at the entrance of the Holy Sword Fortress’s command post, soldiers had already reported his return. The nobles, professionals, and officers of all ranks from the Holy Sword Legion were already waiting inside.

Before Donald could even enter to report and hand over his tasks, the crowd who had heard the news blocked his path. Aside from those who had a grudge against him, the rest wanted to watch the spectacle. It seemed that the tendency to gather around excitement wasn’t unique to his previous race!

Among the first row of nobles in front of the command post, Bolton, the eldest son of Lord Macbeth, the governor of North County, gave a subtle signal to the man beside him. Lord Sodo, who had a long-standing grudge against Donald, immediately stepped forward and said in a shrill voice, “Isn’t this our North County’s top genius mage? How did you return so quickly from completing your mission? Did you sneak out and come back without encountering any orcs?”

As soon as Sodo spoke, the noble youths led by Bolton immediately joined in mocking him. If it were anyone else, they would likely be too ashamed to show their faces. But Donald paid no attention at all and shouted loudly into the command post, “Donald has completed his mission and comes to report. Please send someone from the general to verify!”

This time, Bolton and the others could no longer stop Donald from handing in his report. Hearing the commotion inside, the senior officials of the fortress, led by the young general of the Ansel family and the second prince, stepped out. “Mage Merlinar, you’re back!”

Ferdinand didn’t ask about the details of the mission. Seeing Donald return safely, he felt relieved. He had already assigned someone else for the reconnaissance task, so as long as this young genius mage was unharmed, that was enough. Prince Duri beside him thought the same, but he was taken aback when he saw Uther behind Donald. “Mage Merlinar, who is this man?”

It was hard not to notice Uther in his silver holy knight armor. However, this prince was no ordinary noble fool. Though he rarely showed off in front of others, his strength was on par with that of the young general of the Ansel family, his cousin Ferdinand. Moreover, the unique heritage of the Celt royal family granted him mysterious abilities, allowing him to sense a person’s approximate strength. It was difficult for professionals below the gold rank to hide their true strength from him.

It made sense—how could a royal family maintain stability and suppress ambitious noble lords without strong capabilities?

Ferdinand clearly understood his cousin’s abilities. After hearing this, he gave Uther a deep look and realized that this tall man dressed as a knight had a strength comparable to his own. “This man is extremely powerful. To be able to come and help in times of crisis for the kingdom, he must also come from an extraordinary background.”

Ferdinand was puzzled by his own discovery. Putting aside his family’s powerful swordmaster heritage and other secret techniques, the fact that he had reached the mid-bronze level in his early twenties already made him a genius among his peers. Yet the man before him seemed to be in his twenties or thirties, only a few years older than him.

When had such a young and powerful warrior emerged in the kingdom, and yet remained so unknown? How could his family not have any information about this man?

Donald, prepared for this situation, bowed slightly and said, “Your Highness, General, this is my family’s guardian knight. Although the Merlin family has declined, it still has a heritage of several hundred years. Our ancestors were knights who followed the great founding monarch of Celt and King Seven. We still have some strength left!”

“Uther, a knight of the Merlin family, greets Your Highness and General!”

At Donald’s signal, Uther performed a knightly salute to the two. With Donald’s explanation, Uther’s background was immediately clarified. Almost all noble families had secret forces like guardian knights, with some even possessing hidden knights or shadow knights.

Apart from Viscount Macbeth, who knew quite a lot about the Merlin family, no one else doubted Ferdinand and Prince Duri’s words. They began to reassess the strength of the Merlin family.

Unaware of the unexpected benefits of his actions, Donald moved his right hand, lifting the body of the suddenly appearing shaman priest, then waved his left hand to release the other spoils. In an instant, the open space in front of the command post was filled with heads of orcs, as if it were raining.

The appearance of these spoils immediately shocked all the humans in the fortress.

“Ugh! Gah!” Some pampered nobles were nauseated by the strong smell of blood and covered their noses and mouths with handkerchiefs.

Even the officers who had fought against orcs for years were shocked by the scene in front of the command post.

Prince Duri was astonished and incredulous: “Merlin mage, did you kill all these orcs?”

There were probably no less than two hundred orc heads here. For one person to venture deep into orc territory and achieve such feats moved General Ferdinand as well, but he was mostly skeptical.

Donald replied calmly, “Exactly! Among these orcs, there are about two hundred Orc Vanguard members, fifty elite Orc Axe Warriors, and one junior Orc shaman priest. General, please send someone to verify!”
The commander was stunned by Donald’s mention of these numbers—two hundred Orc Vanguard members, fifty Orc Axe Warriors, and even a Black Iron shaman?
Not to mention the mixed quality of the Orc Vanguard members, he was well acquainted with the Orc Axe Warriors, as they were true elite troops. Although they didn’t possess the energy manipulation skills of human Bronze Warriors, their formidable physical strength and unique bloodline powers made them comparable to or even superior to human warriors of the same rank.
To deal with fifty Orc Axe Warriors, one would need at least a hundred elite swordsmen from the Holy Sword Legion, along with multiple Bronze Swordsmen to lead them in order to have a chance of victory—yet they would still suffer losses. Let alone achieving a decisive victory like this young mage did!