28

The Witcher: The last King of the elves

Chapter 28 - The World in My Hand

After searching for hours, Thranduil found nothing else of interest for himself or his people. However, even so, this journey had not been a waste of time.

Once he found nothing more, Thranduil left the treasury and stepped outside.

Looking at the Scepter of the Solar Elf King in his hand, which seemed to be made of very ancient white oak, he felt increasingly satisfied.

The scepter was engraved with elven patterns all over, and a green emerald magic gem was embedded at the top, which appeared to be an extremely rare life gem.

The entire staff looked very beautiful and exquisite.

“Besides being able to greatly enhance the power of my magical abilities, it also has an extremely important symbolic meaning for my people.”

This was the symbol of the elves, something that represented their empire. It was like a jewel to the dwarves, representing the highest elven power and the authority to judge evil and the forces of darkness.

“Now the only thing I lack is strength!”
A Solar Elf King with his current power was truly not very impressive.

At the very least, he needed the ability to travel between worlds.

The Solar Elf King of that time was a god who could fight against the ancient demons.

Although he was eventually defeated, he also displayed a powerful strength unmatched in this world.

If Thranduil wanted to become the true Solar Elf King and command all the elves, he naturally could not be weak.

…

“It’s time to hunt.” Thranduil held the staff in his hand and walked toward the ruins in the distance.

His other staff, which had been a replica of this one, was put away.

Until he obtained a more powerful or more suitable staff, this Scepter of the Solar Elf King would be his magic weapon.

As for repairing it, he would think about that later.

Thirty million magic crystals— even his entire territory combined did not contain a fraction of that.

…

Among the ruins.

Boom!

A blazing dragon dozens of meters long coiled in the sky. Amidst the roars, bursts of the dragon’s cries echoed as if it had come to life.

Beneath the Fire Dragon was a sea of burning flames that spread for hundreds of kilometers.

In the sea of fire, a large number of monsters struggled and were soon burned into ashes.

The lethality and range of the Fire Dragon’s Roar had increased at least fivefold since the last time it was used!

“It truly is a devastating attack that will crush any army!” The magic Thranduil focused on was destructive in nature.

Although his magic was incomplete and his power less than a thousandth of what it could become, it was still incomparable to any wizard or warlock.

Thranduil tested other magical abilities again. Thanks to the amplification of the Solar Elf King’s staff, the power of each of his magical skills increased drastically. Even the low-level magic skill Fireball was now nearly as powerful as the previous Fire Dragon’s Roar.

“As the quality of this equipment improves, my prowess will naturally increase as well.” Thranduil smiled and continued clearing out the monsters in the ruins.

After an unknown amount of time, an imposing city wall suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The entire city wall was a dark bluish-black.

It stood more than a hundred meters tall and its surface was covered with countless vines. Many parts of the wall had collapsed, revealing breaches that led to the outside world.

“That is the wall of the city center!”
Thranduil walked forward until he reached the lowest area. Soon he found a stone staircase and climbed to the top of the city wall.

Since he was only focusing on destructive magic, he had not yet devoted himself to other types of magic, and flying was still impossible for him.

“After all, this is a world of swords and sorcery…” The quality of this wall was truly remarkable. It had remained unchanged for thousands of years. Even the cracks were not caused by erosion over time, but by past wars.

The walls that remained were still incredibly strong!

Thranduil knew that the enormous stones used to build this city wall could not have been ordinary stones, but had been forged by magical means, with a large number of magical materials added.

Both their physical resistance and magical resistance were extremely high. He had struck the wall with a fireball more than ten meters in diameter, yet the wall suffered no damage.

If it had been ordinary stone, it would have melted long ago.

Before making any other move outside, Thranduil wanted to turn the ruins into his own empire, so elements like the city walls were naturally indispensable.

Once he cleared the ruins of the city center and the forces of his territory expanded, he would find the opportunity to repair this wall.

This would not only protect his territory but also defend his race from the attacks of the evil forces outside the city.

And it was not only about the city walls. He also needed to find a way to establish a magical barrier covering the entire city center without risking his life in the process like last time.

“After all, city walls can only protect against monsters that cannot fly.” Thranduil was aware that they were only partially protected, since only city walls combined with magical barriers could provide comprehensive protection for the territory.

Therefore, Thranduil’s mind turned to finding a solution.

…

Thranduil looked out from the city wall.

Only dense forests could be seen, countless ancient, tall, and sturdy trees, and mountains of bones.

There were hardly any ruins of buildings outside the walls. However, in the dense forests, one could vaguely see scattered structures that looked like villages.

“There are many monsters in the dense forest.”
The Mountains of Bones were the bastion of the undead. Even during the day, there were large numbers of undead in those areas.

“As for those village fortresses… they were established by an intelligent race of the evil side— orcs…”

Long ago, when Thranduil had used his power to survey all the ruins of the ancient city, he had already discovered the general situation of the outer city.

That was why he was not surprised to see completely different scenes between the outer city and the inner city.

Right at this moment.

Suddenly, countless birds burst out of a dense forest in the distance.

Thranduil looked up and soon discovered many figures moving in the thick forest. After a few minutes, those figures emerged from the dense woods and headed directly toward a breach in the distant city wall.

“It’s an orc!” After seeing those figures clearly, Thranduil muttered angrily.

Orcs— intelligent creatures who had once tried to invade this world but had been expelled back then by the armies of the elves.

But some had remained and bred outside the continent, growing their strength without the foolish humans ever knowing. And now, these orcs were near the inner city.

“There are so many of them…”

They advanced from the hills, massive figures forged of muscle and fury. Their bodies were colossal, broad as oak trunks, their skin stained a coarse green that glistened with the sweat of battle. Their faces were portraits of savage war: square jaws, long tusks jutting like daggers beneath tense lips, and eyes burning, yellow or red, glowing like embers in the dusk.

Their hair, dark as night and gray as ash, hung in heavy braids adorned with bones, beads, and fangs torn from ancient beasts. Each bore uneven armor, forged from twisted iron, hardened leather, and bone plates, crafted more to intimidate than to protect. In their hands, they wielded broad-bladed axes and hammers so massive that a common man could hardly lift them.

Under Thranduil’s watchful gaze, hundreds of orcs began clearing the rubble piled in the breach of the wall. An orc with a wooden staff shouted: “Damn bastards, hurry up! We must reinforce the tribe’s wall before the blood moon arrives. Anyone who dares slack off now will be the first to be killed!”

“Blood moon?” Thranduil’s expression grew serious.

In truth, he had forgotten about this. At that moment, he recalled the rat tide from two months ago.

The Blood Moon Disaster was a calamity that affected the entire Continent. Every time a blood moon appeared, the evil power of the abyss spread across the land, causing countless creatures to fall into madness.

The lower a beast’s intelligence, the greater its madness. Especially those magical beasts— they were the most susceptible to the effects of the blood moon.