The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 17, Section 16: Intervention by the Orcish Pantheon

Seeing that his plan had succeeded, Elion snapped his fingers lightly, ending the "Detection" spell.

In the golden basin, ripples spread out on the surface of the water, and the original colorful image faded away.

"Orcs are bloodthirsty and reckless, skilled in combat but lacking in strategy."

"It couldn't be easier to make these simple-minded and bloodthirsty guys fight each other."

Gather extensive intelligence to understand the long-standing feuds and core conflicts among the orc clans...

By launching a preemptive attack on some orc patrols, inflicting casualties with non-lethal attacks, and keeping the orc priests in the tribe busy treating the wounded, the few orc spellcasters who might notice something amiss were diverted, laying a covert foundation for subsequent magical intervention...

Releasing an orc scout whose memories had been altered by a "memory-altering" spell back to the Frost Dragon tribe sowed the seeds of distrust with false information...

Beforehand, use "Advanced Invisibility" to approach some of the orc guards, and apply "Group Suggestion" to them. In their drunken state late at night, ignite the hatred that already existed in their hearts, and naturally steer the discussion towards the conflict between the orc tribes of the past...

Use mind control magic to manipulate an orc soldier who is likely to participate in negotiations beforehand, so that at the crucial moment, he will be the first to swing his weapon...

All these actions, combined with a series of other maneuvers, naturally led to a major internal conflict between the orc tribes.

El-Erian turned his head, recounting the previous actions in a calm and measured tone:

"Gentlemen, we have made the three orc tribes fight each other without suffering any casualties. This is because we have successfully used our enemies to wield weapons against other enemies."

"For a true mage, everything is a resource that can be utilized."

"Whether it's calm lake water or earth and rocks on the ground, whether it's living creatures or dead corpses, whether it's elves, orcs, and goblins from the material world or demons, devils, elementals, and fairies from other worlds, whether it's our allies or our enemies..."

"Water can be manipulated, earth and stone can be shaped, sentient beings will succumb to mind-distorting magic, mindless constructs will be misled, the dead will rise from the ground under the influence of necromancy, and demons and otherworldly creatures will succumb to the bondage of true names and supernatural contracts..."

"Any environment or enemy that may be unfavorable to us can be forged into a sharp blade that helps us overcome all obstacles..."

Thor and the other mages nodded, pondering His Majesty's words.

"For a mage, everything is a resource that can be utilized..."

The mages of Eldoron will experience the meaning of this statement time and time again in the future.

……

In the "Valley Negotiations," which ultimately turned into a bloody battle, nearly half of the elite warriors of the three orc tribes were lost.

Of the three orc chieftains, Chief Flame Axe was killed by the other two chieftains.

This orc berserker, who was close to becoming a legend, ultimately could not withstand the siege of the two rival tribes' warriors and was torn to pieces in the melee.

Chief Frost Dragon died from his injuries and excessive blood loss before he could return to the tribe after the great battle.

The Blood Wolf Chieftain paid the price of losing an eye, making him more visually similar to the god he worshipped.

Naturally, the negotiations broke down and eventually escalated into a war between the three orc tribes.

For the next month or so, the three major orc tribes, with more than 10 orcs, almost forgot about the existence of humans and launched dozens of wars, large and small, against each other.

Whenever the conflict showed the slightest sign of easing, Elion's mages would quietly intervene, fanning the flames once more to ensure the orcs' war did not cease.

Furthermore, the two tribes that had lost their chieftains were embroiled in internal power struggles for the chieftainship, further exacerbating the chaos. Many powerful orc warriors perished in these battles for the chieftainship.

Many goblin tribes in the wilderness and kobold tribes in the caves were originally vassals of the orc tribes. In order to escape the fate of becoming cannon fodder in the great war, they were forced to migrate and leave the Eldoron region, thus staying far away from human lands.

Little Gret and the other villagers of Rolling Stones also witnessed all of this.

"Have you heard? Those orc tribes are fighting amongst themselves!"

"Yes, yes, so many orcs have died. Now, orc corpses can be seen everywhere in the wilderness, and vultures are hovering in the air."

"How did those orcs start fighting amongst themselves? Even my grandfather said he had never seen orcs fight so fiercely."

"Who knows? Anyway, the more of those damned, ugly orcs that die, the better!"

"They'd better all die so they never come to invade our village again!"

"..."

The humans in the village gathered around the campfire, singing loudly to the accompaniment of the lute, celebrating the infighting among the orcs.

Under the moonlight, little Gretel asked his teacher curiously, "Teacher Joseph, these past few days, the orcs have been fighting each other for no apparent reason. Does this have anything to do with His Majesty Emperor Elion and the mages of the floating city?"

Joseph took a sip of ale and shrugged:

"I don't know either."

He was merely a low-ranking mage of ordinary status in Eldoron, and was not yet qualified to understand the military operations of His Majesty the Emperor and the elite battle mages.

"There must be a connection. Magic is so powerful. It must be His Majesty Elion and other powerful mages who used amazing magic to make the orcs fight each other!" Little Gret thought. "Otherwise, why would the orcs start fighting each other right now?"

At this time, young Gretel believed that magic was omnipotent and could solve all problems. Anything that could not be explained could be attributed to "magic".

At this moment, Mr. Joseph finally finished the ale in the bottle, his flushed, tipsy face reflecting the bright firelight:
"By the way, little Gret, after these two or three months of instruction, you have already completed the basic part of the academic curriculum."

"The remaining academic subjects can be learned while you are exposed to magic."

"Yes, starting tomorrow, I will be teaching you real magic!"

Little Grete nearly jumped up in excitement:
"Can I really start learning magic tomorrow?"

He has taken another step closer to becoming a true mage!

He had been waiting for this day for far too long.

At this moment, young Greta felt both excited and apprehensive.

The excitement lies in the anticipation of encountering real magic.

The anxiety stems from knowing the fact that "most students will never become true mages," and the worry that one will not be able to learn magic, and that all previous fantasies were just empty dreams.

……

In contrast to the excitement of the villagers in the various surface villages, El-Erian remained objective and calm.

He knew the battle was not over yet.

Just as his mage troops were about to celebrate their victory prematurely, Elion promptly reminded them:

"It is not time to celebrate yet; we have not yet won."

"The orcs' internal strife could end at any time, and they could reunite."

"Then it will be time for us to make our official appearance and engage the orcs in direct combat!"

Other mages might think that, as the war intensifies, the conflict between the three orc clans has become irreconcilable.

Even if they do nothing from now on, this orc war will not stop for a very long time.

But El-Erian thought of something deeper:
"If any member of the orc pantheon were to notice this infighting and issue a divine decree, the conflict would surely cease."

In the beginning of time, the earliest group of ancient gods formed groups.

In a game among the gods, each divine group created a mortal race—

Dragons, elves, orcs, dwarves, goblins...

Therefore, the beings on earth refer to these groups as: the Dwarf Pantheon, the Elf Pantheon, the Orc Pantheon, etc.

Although the great gods don't care much about insignificant mortals, they still have a slight preference for their own created races and occasionally issue one or two divine pronouncements.

All races in the world have their gods, but humankind is humble and without gods.

This is why, according to the original history, for several centuries after the destruction of Eldoron, humanity was a small, weak, and endangered race.

……

More than two months after the war between the three orc clans began.

On this day, the high priest of the Blood Wolf clan prayed as usual, asking the orc god of the outer plane to grant her divine magic.

Suddenly, the priest opened his eyes.

"The gods have issued a divine decree, demanding that we immediately cease the war!"

(End of this chapter)