Chapter 487: Inferences and Discussions

Lord Sikuqi wore a cloak made from the hide of an astral creature, covered in ornaments fashioned from Warpstone, and large chunks of Warpstone were embedded into his flesh everywhere to provide him with energy.

The Greater Daemons under the Great Horned Rat are divided into four sequences, each representing one of the four primary Authorities of the horned dark god. In most cases, it is the "Bringer of War" who descends upon the Mortal World, bringing endless conquest and slaughter—a simple and brutal dimensional strike against lower-level worlds.

After clarifying the situation, Sikuqi understood why he, a "Deceiver," had been sent—under the weakening of the Great Vortex, brute force would not prevail, so one must win through wit. Compared to warblades and Warp-spells, the poisoned daggers in his claws and the schemes in his brain were more likely to pry open the Dwarf Realms.

"As you command!"

"Understood!"

"I guarantee it with the status of the Great Clan Skryre!"

"For the age of the rat-folk!"

The Councilors responded one after another; the cost of the Decaying Lord descending was immense, and beyond serving as a powerful combat force, it was more important to suppress infighting and temporarily integrate the rat-folk. As an envoy of the Great Horned Rat, any rat who dared to question him would have their neck snapped on the spot.

"Listen up, you runts! I, the Fifth Greater Daemon under the throne of the Horned Rat, the Venerable Deceiver! A seat has opened up in Clan Mors, and it shall belong to the clan that fights most bravely and earns the greatest merit!"

Pushing open the window, where the thick toxic fog of the Withered Swamp prevented the sunlight from entering, Lord Sikuqi gave a brief mobilization speech to all the rat chieftains gathered beneath the tower who were not qualified to attend the council.

"That is a major matter. The positioning of Baikushenmiaogang itself is not that of a free port; you cannot open Highland Fortress. If that is not enough, Weifengbao will do—it is the freest city in the Qunshan."

When the surrounding attitude shifted from admiration to skepticism, I could only maintain my status through arrogance and tyranny, which exacerbated the flaws in my personality brought about by the Kaenchuzhou. It formed a state of "treating the rank and file well but being arrogant toward the nobility."

"When you were still a Prince, you were committed to restoring the connection between the Asur and the Old World, and before ascending the throne, you established small embassies in many important cities and opened Sikuqigang."

Finubar chuckled; I visited Dwarf settlements during my travels in the Old World, and having ruled Ulthuan for so long, my vision and spirit would only be greater than in the past.

"The Great Horned Rat walks among us!"

"Your open and inclusive attitude and your determination to resist Chaos have never changed; there is nothing you cannot say directly."

Gaochuike brought back Grimnir's understanding of the portal, which confirmed Lothern's judgment. Resurrecting the master Keluoka would also be an excellent opportunity to probe exactly how many resources the Seven Gods were willing to invest in this world.

"What I want to hear more is your plan to resolve the Chaos threat; closing the portal in the Far North Wastes, how is that to be achieved?"

After the preamble, the Phoenix King opened the topic I cared about most. As the saying goes, "The great affairs of a state lie in sacrifice and warfare," and Finubar discovered before his ascension that he was not adept at the former, while the weight of the latter was constantly increasing. Compared to being exhausted by dealing with the symptoms rather than the root cause of reinforcing the Great Vortex, solving the problem once and for all deeply interested me.

"The Sea King of Sikuqi—Finubar, I have heard of his name and have dealt with his people."

"Fulisisike! Hear, did you hear? Assemble your fleet and send me and as few, as few runts as possible to where the toads are!"

"What 'you' this and 'you' that? Speak more politely to the Elf, otherwise I don't mind teaching you the principle that silence is golden."

"Go to Lustria, the remnants of the Old Ones are sum, summoning the soul of the old toad! Stop, stop them! You must stop them!"

The claws that Lord Tyrion rested on the ground were trembling slightly—his mission had changed from "difficult" to "extremely difficult." But what was the use of fear? If he went, there was still a chance to be resurrected in the Warp; if he disobeyed orders, only his soul being eternally calcined by the Ziyuanmohuo awaited him.

Just as the Councilors were rising to leave their seats, the totem pole bloomed with a hideous green light once again. Despite his surprise, Lord Tyrion still bowed respectfully before it—could it be that the Great Horned Rat realized the difficulty of his mission and was going to allocate extra resources?

"Heh, compared to a defeated foe, I believe Chaos is the greatest enemy."

"Hero, it is rare to have such a neutral third-party venue; why not stay and chat?"

The one matching me had suddenly changed from a peer to the Witch King Malekith—a tough character configured at the level of a final boss. The gap between me and this living fossil who had lived from ancient times to the present could not be bridged just by spending the time I had spent cultivating in Awalong on practicing swordplay.

The Skaven cried out the divine name; the resurgence of the Dwarfs put great pressure on these fellows, and the arrival of the Decaying Lord boosted their morale. The grain and wealth in Shanbao were tightly hooking their noses.

"Calm down, Yinxiongshun, what His Majesty Lothern said is not wrong in essence."

To the psychologists of later generations, Sinuoli would be a very good typical case study; he climbed to the peak amidst endless praise in his early years, but after becoming the guardian of the High Elves, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

"I have heard of your views on many things from Taigetaisi and Afazeer of Liming Yaosai. Unlike your father, you focus more on the present and the future compared to the past."

The Dwarf King sighed and turned to face this High Elf who was all smiles on the surface and made one feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze. There was never any harm in saying a few less words when communicating with a master diplomat.

"Sizzle!"

Although it was inferred that the priority of Tongshanbao and even the Dwarf race was not high for the Great Horned Rat, an inference was, after all, just an inference. After Lord Mazdamundi announced the end of the meeting, Lothern rose to leave but was stopped by Finubar.

Engaging in trade was undoubtedly a mutually beneficial matter; since the Phoenix King had given me enough face, there was no reason not to agree when he spoke personally. I could imagine how much courage it took to open Sikuqi back then.

"That thing can be understood as an extremely large, solidified Chaos Rift. What we need to do is a northern expedition, pushing all the way to the door, and then prepare a ritual or something else to use the energy of the portal to destroy it. Of course, this is a grand task that requires integrating the full strength of the Order side."

Before the words had even faded, Sinuoli pressed his hand to his sword hilt and stepped forward. Seeing this, Lothern smiled inwardly; he knew that although it was their first meeting, his understanding of "Brother Tai's" personality was clearer than the man himself.

The anxiety of the Horned Rat god was transmitted to every one of His subjects through the roars from the Warp—just as Lothern had speculated, He needed the secrets and energy hidden in this world more than the Seven Gods did.

"You!"

If they were only polite Elves like Finubar and Taigetaisi who knew how to assess the situation, the Dwarf King would not mind talking plainly. But many Elves, represented by Yinxiongshun, remained obstinate and self-opinionated, failing to realize that their own strength could no longer support their arrogance.