Chapter 168: Miracle and Fate

The reflection of the holy sword was crystal clear; under Li En's Dragon Eyes, he could even see the ugly warts on the ogre's face.

First glance.

"This bone helmet is so cool—it's even glowing blue fire! Uh, that ogre looks terrifying—doesn't it burn?"

Second glance.

"Damn, there's a lich on his head! How is this guy still alive?!"

Third glance.

"Uh, this lich seems off—the skull's been split, with only the upper half remaining, while the lower half has been inserted into the ogre's skull and somehow connected. And that ogre's gaze… it's wrong too."

The ogre wielding the massive spiked club was ugly, yet strangely clean (unusual for a wild ogre).

Beneath his polished leather armor, the exposed flesh was bound with white towels; most absurdly, his gaze—supposedly bloodthirsty and dull—was eerily calm toward other life forms.

An ogre who controls its appetite? Impossible!

"We want money, not lives! Pay the toll, and we'll let you pass. We have no interest in going to war with Morzodilka."

The moment he spoke this fluent Orcish, Li En went completely numb.

No accent, no slips, logical speech—was this even an ogre?!

"Kill them! Eat them!"

But the helmet atop his head seemed to disagree.

He adjusted his helmet, his eyes growing clearer.

"It's my equipment and advisor, but ultimately, I, King Momor, make the final call. Pay the toll, and I'll let you pass. You can ask around—my reputation as King Momor is well known. If you're not honest, my boys get extra dinner tonight."

Li En was utterly baffled. Was this really an ogre with an IQ below three, whose belly replaced its brain?

"Fascinating—it's formed a symbiotic bond with the lich. Huh, activated the Two-Headed Ogre trait? Using half of the lich's soul as a second head."

The snake slithered onto the windowsill, watching leisurely, unseen by anyone.

Even with countless years of experience, it had never seen such a bizarre scene.

So strange. Look again—it's even stranger. Look once more.

With the snake elder's words, Li En suddenly understood.

The lich's soul was incomplete to begin with, and ogres are special creatures with multi-threaded cognitive potential—so in reality, they'd stitched together a Two-Headed Ogre?!

So the ogre king, fed by the lich's residual energy, now possessed human-level intelligence?

"Don't ask me how I did it—I don't know either. Weird. Look again."

Honestly, this weird thing made the snake oddly intrigued.

Fate's favor and coincidence always produce things beyond theory and logic—this "one-of-a-kind," "defective and limited edition" item was a super collectible no collector could resist.

"Uh… I kinda want to collect it. Li En, preserve them intact. I'll find a way to exploit a bug and give you a bonus." The snake made no effort to hide its earlier lie.

"You want me dead."

Li En shot back, unimpressed.

"Hah, true—you're basically dead already."

Both the snake and Li En reached the same conclusion: the bandits systematically extorting the caravan were slowly cornering Li En.

Even against an intellect devourer's hive-mind or the Prince of Beasts, Li En still had a chance—but now he had no allies, no reinforcements.

"What are my odds? Can you say?"

"Zero. Certain death."

"Tch. Matches my assessment."

Li En sighed. Should he go pray to a goddess of luck? How could he possibly run into something this absurd?

The group hadn't forgotten the lich, but all had tacitly accepted it as irrelevant—a lich without its phylactery was, under normal circumstances, nothing but a slowly decaying corpse.

The phylactery had become part of the automaton apprentice Ophelia. Without it, the lich was like a kite with its string cut, or a car without an engine. No one doubted it would die—only how many pieces it would shatter into.

A broken vessel without a soul source would steadily lose power, emotion, reason, and memory.

It was destined to end in madness. That was Kuku and Violet Rose's judgment—and theoretically, it was correct.

But now, it seemed the ogre king had become its soul source, halting its natural decay and even restoring some of its reason.

That was terrifying—a high-huan lich with even a shred of reason was now the enemy ahead.

"Can we escape?"

"In this wilderness, evade a lich who might be ninth-huan? Heh, go ahead, try."

A lich suspected to be ninth-huan was far beyond Li En's current capacity.

They weren't even on the same level. Even if Li En's strength multiplied several times, it would still feel like a beginner trapped by a demon lord blocking the village gate. Earlier, he could flee because the lich was brain-dead—now it had regained some sanity.

Li En was numb. Others paying up was fine, but himself? It would kill him without hesitation.

"Invisibility ambush." Li En flipped through his spellbook—he did have an invisibility spell. If he pushed himself to learn it, could he land a holy strike?

"Look at the blue fire in its eye sockets—that's a constant True Seeing. You think top-tier mages don't carry anti-invisibility gear? And that ogre isn't easy to handle either." The snake shook its head with a wicked grin—one that felt strangely familiar to Li En.

The logic held: liches naturally possessed spectral sight (or a constant spell to pierce illusions), and as top-tier spellcasters, they were hyper-sensitive to magical energy. You might walk past unnoticed if you did nothing—but if you carried magic, you'd be spotted immediately.

"Can't hide, can't avoid, can't fight—hah, kid, you're cornered."

Someone's reckless action confirmed the snake's assessment.

Several brutish dark elf mercenaries in the caravan, thinking a few ogres and goblins wouldn't be hard to handle, charged forward.

"Disintegrate!" A green flash erupted from the "Crown," and the lead dark elf warrior instantly turned to ash—his race's famed natural magic resistance meant nothing against this foe.

"Damn, instant-cast? Forget it—we can't win."

But this was only the beginning.

"Command: Stun!"

When the eighth-huan charm spell manifested, every mercenary froze in place.

"Finger of Death!"

"Finger of Death!"

The deranged lich crown used precious seventh-huan spells to pick off each of these weaklings one by one.

The four who charged either turned to ash or became zombies (the side effect of Finger of Death)—the caravan fell silent.

An eighth-huan or higher mage? Are you insane? You came here as a bandit? Targeting low-tier caravans? You could be an elder in any noble family or a noble in any city!

"See? We only want money. Otherwise, killing you all would be easy." The self-proclaimed ogre king beamed proudly at this overkill.

Li En took a deep breath and finally gave up.

This was not a foe he could face now.

"Is there a way?" He felt this wasn't pure chance—but he had no proof.

"Is there? Or isn't there?" The snake smiled cheerfully.

It didn't care if Li En lived or died—but if he died now, the snake would likely have to return. It had only been a few days—too bad.

"I can help you."

"What's the price?"

"No price." The snake, strangely, became remarkably reasonable.

"State the price. Make a promise. Without a price, I won't trust you." Li En responded coldly.

He was certain—no devil was as cunning as this snake. Any help must come with a clear cost, or he'd be screwed. At least, not too badly.

"Tsk tsk tsk—don't trust good intentions." The snake flicked its tail, its eyes gazing at the "distance."

". hen you reach Huicheng, embrace the first person you meet and lift them high."

"That's it? Fine." Li En agreed.

He knew this was a classic scam—start with an easy condition to make you comfortable, then raise the stakes until you lose everything.

But facing the ogres and goblins knocking on the caravan doors, Li En had no choice but to bow his head.

"Just once. Just this once."

At that moment, the snake smiled happily.

Fate was truly amusing—the encounters between "people" always brought new entertainment.

Wasn't that why he stirred fate and causality to come into this world? To witness this?

Li En's guess was slightly off—it wasn't the snake acting deliberately. Rather, its mere existence made fate brim with variables and coincidences, triggering countless improbable events.

Was it his subconscious craving for more amusement? Or the world's special favor, trying to satisfy him so he wouldn't create even more chaos? He himself couldn't say. It had always been this way.

"Then worship me. Believe in me—as my priestesses do." The path the snake pointed out seemed fraught with problems too.

(End of Chapter)