Chapter 224: Desires and Worries

Feeling the might of Settra and the two War Sphinxes beside him, Sinuoli felt sweat trickling down his temples. He knew what Settra was talking about.

Two thousand years ago, a Holy Hammer War broke out between the Dwarfs of Karak-Azul and the Tomb Kings, sparked by the Dwarfs seeking to reclaim the holy relic, the Hammer of Algrim, from the city of Mahrak east of Coffin Canyon.

After winning the skirmish and reclaiming the Hammer of Algrim, the Dwarfs returned to Tiefengbao and considered the matter closed. However, this hammer contained a copper plate belonging to King Akharad, and the Tomb King immediately raised an army to take it back.

In the years that followed, the Holy Hammer changed hands more than thirty times. The names of the Tomb Kings were also constantly added to and crossed off the Book of Grudges.

"Your Majesty, pray hear me!" Sinuoli steadied himself and spoke; he knew Settra had not invited him here just to settle old scores from over two thousand years ago.

"You view Mahrak as your territory, but King Phar there does not acknowledge you as his master!"

King Phar was a king from the same era as Settra; he had once ambushed Settra's army in Coffin Canyon and driven them back, but after he passed away, Settra quickly conquered Mahrak.

When King Phar awoke from his slumber, he was furious to find his descendants had submitted to Khemri. Consequently, he dragged the mummies of all the subsequent Kings of Mahrak out of their pyramids to destroy them, then poured all his strength into opposing Settra.

"Counting it up, my kin and I are also punishing the insubordinate on your behalf. As for those riches, with thousands of years passing, who can clearly calculate the ownership? Why should an immortal monarch take it to heart?"

Settra was merely posturing; he sat back down, and the two War Sphinxes also quieted.

"Your Majesty, I know what you desire in your heart today, and I also know what you worry about!"

"Oh? Your predecessors were not as eloquent as you. Speak; My court has been silent for thousands of years. If you speak well, the King of Kings has his own rewards!" The blue light in the eye sockets of Settra's mask flared brightly.

"What you desire is nothing less than to regain your immortal golden body!"

Settra realized the brevity of life in his middle years, and for this, he established the Mortuary Cult to unlock the mysteries of eternal life for himself. These Priests found ways to extend the Great Emperor's lifespan beyond the limits of a normal human, but it was still not immortality.

To this end, Settra had the Priests bind his soul within his flesh through incantations to remain in the Mortal World, waiting to be awakened once technology advanced enough to resurrect him perfectly. All subsequent Kings of Nehekhara sponsored the Mortuary Cult for the sake of eternal life, and the strength and power of those Priests swelled.

Nagash was a member of the Mortuary Cult; after he awakened the Tomb Kings, he was ambushed by Alcadizaar, and the Tomb Kings began to wage war against one another because of this.

Just imagine, if this were Sinuoli's past life, taking Zhu Yuanzhang as an example, what would he do? The Yuan Dynasty that ruined his family must be beaten; the Aisin Gioro clan that snatched his Zhu family's foundation must be beaten; the fourth son, Zhu Di, who snatched the empire from his dear grandson, the Jianwen Emperor, must be beaten; and the Ming Baozong, who lost all face for the Zhu family, must be beaten even more.

Nehekhara was thus turned upside down, and the intensity of the War of the Dead was several orders of magnitude greater than that of the living. The leader of the Mortuary Cult, the Grand Vizier Khatep, decided to solve the problem; these Priests were already between life and death and were not affected by Nagash's magic.

His method was to awaken Settra. The Immortal Emperor's pyramid had powerful spell protection and was not directly awakened by Nagash. Settra was extremely furious after being awakened; he was still just a skeleton, and even if inlaid with gold, it was not an "immortal golden body."

He banished Khatep and defeated the other Tomb Kings, bringing Nehekhara back under his rule, but none of this could make Settra happy. He only had a skeleton; he could not enjoy fine food, wine, or beauties, so what joy was there?

"And what you worry about is nothing less than the return of Nagash!" Sinuoli continued immediately.

"I could defeat that unworthy descendant of Khemri once, and I can defeat him a second time!" Settra responded this time.

"Every time the Lord of Undeath returns, his power grows stronger! His servant, Arkhan the Black, is preparing to resurrect him at every moment!" Sinuoli hit the nail on the head.

"Arkhan, a stray dog, nothing more! A minister without wisdom, a general without talent!" Settra was extremely disdainful.

"That's just bragging!" Sinuoli secretly muttered to himself. That Grand Vizier, chief disciple, and general of the Lord of Undeath possessed heaven-defying magic; in the process of resurrecting his master, he had killed many heroes, and even after Settra defeated his army, he could do nothing to the man himself.

"Nagash's Black Pyramid still stands outside Khemri, and the Lord of Undeath's magical barrier is hard to break!" Sinuoli followed up with facts. This time, Settra could not refute it; he had tried to destroy that Black Pyramid by physical and magical means, but all were to no avail.

"Heh! I didn't expect a Dwarf to have such a nimble tongue. I just wonder, a thousand years from now, when you have turned into dry bones in a grave, whether this tongue will still remain!" Settra's heart was touched by Sinuoli, and his interest grew.

"Speak, the Breaker of the Bonds of Djaf allows you to offer your wisdom! If it is useful, there shall be a place for you in the court of the Lord of the Desert; it is not impossible to be granted land and titled a king!"

Djaf was the God of Death of Nehekhara, and the Breaker of His bonds was one who had broken through the boundaries of life and death.

"Your Majesty, I cannot immediately solve what you desire or what you worry about!" Before Sinuoli finished speaking, the soul-fire in Settra's eye sockets surged.

"I have no way to regain life for now, but I can promise that once I find a method in the future, I will surely bring it before your throne at the first opportunity! As for Nagash, I—and almost everyone in this world—do not wish to see him descend upon the Mortal World again to desecrate the dead! I am willing to join you in opposing him and his minions!"

What Sinuoli offered were two empty checks, but he did not need much either; he only needed military passage rights.

The soul-fire in the eye sockets of Settra the Imperishable flickered; in the long wait, he had long since lost confidence and patience in the Liche Priests under his command, so perhaps having one more person to rely on was not bad.

"Present the gift to the Tamer of the Lich King!" Sinuoli decisively raised the stakes. His two Hammer Guards opened the chest, revealing a set of masterwork golden armor, and carried it to the foot of the steps.

"Enough! I shall grant your request!" Settra spoke while tapping the lid of his sarcophagus. "My unworthy descendant wrote his blasphemous arts into nine dark scrolls; do you know of this?"

"I know; we call them the Nine Books of Nagash."