Chapter 218

Chapter 218

Orca, the Orc Great Chieftain, stood on top of a sand dune and looked down over the desert.

Where his gaze rested, there were thousands of Orcs.

Even now, Orcs from all across the desert were joining them one after another. For the moment, they numbered only a few thousand, but in just a few days, that number would swell to tens of thousands.

With tens of thousands of Orcs together, there was nothing they could not do.

“We will bring down the humans’ city and claim it. The masters of this world are we, the Orc race.”

He bore the responsibility of making the Orc race the masters of the world.

That was the reason he, the Orc Great Chieftain, had been born.

At that moment, the priest approached Orca.

“What is it, Priest?”

“The connection to Gangkara has been severed.”

“Gangkara is...... dead?”

“It seems so.”

“What of the Steel Orc Tribe who went with him?”

“I can sense no energy from them either.”

At that instant, Orca’s expression hardened.

“They were all defeated?”

“It appears so. The energy of the tattoos I carved into them has completely vanished.”

Through the tattoos he had carved into the Steel Orc Tribe, the priest could tell whether they were alive or dead.

A moment ago, the flow of mana connected to the Steel Orc Tribe’s tattoos had been completely severed.

The severing of that mana flow meant the Orcs bearing those tattoos had died.

“Who killed them?”

“I cannot know that much.”

“So the Red Hammer Tribe was annihilated, and now the Steel Orc Tribe has been wiped out as well.”

“I apologize.”

The priest bowed his head and apologized as though it were his own fault. But Orca did not even glance at him.

His gaze was turned west.

“The Red Hammer Tribe and the Steel Orc Tribe were annihilated there. There is someone there who threatens our Orcs.”

“Great Chieftain.”

“I can feel it. He is the archenemy of our Orc race.”

“Archenemy?”

“Yes. As long as he exists, there is no future for the Orc race. We must kill him.”

No one had told him that.

Orca’s instincts were telling him so. And the priest trusted Orca’s instincts deeply.

Orca had a sense that could not be explained in words.

Orca’s intuition, almost like prophecy, had been the driving force that allowed the Orcs to expand their power until now.

“We head to the place where the Steel Orc Tribe died immediately.”

“Understood.”

The priest gestured to a nearby Orc. Then the Orc blew with all his strength into the horn he was holding.

Bwooooo!

When the sound of the horn echoed across the desert, the Orcs who had been resting rose and looked at Orca.

Orca pointed west and said,

“There is one there who threatens the Orc race. Let us go! To kill our enemy.”

“Woooooh!”

“Kill him. Kill our enemy.”

The Orcs shouted in unison and raised their weapons.

Their roars stirred up thick clouds of sand and dust.

The Orcs’ march began.

Orca stood at the head.

Orca muttered,

“Wait for me, archenemy of the Orc race. This Orca will eat your flesh and drink your blood.”

Orca believed that by drinking the flesh and blood of a powerful enemy, he too could grow.

In truth, he had grown and become strong that way.

“I will kill you and bring down the humans’ city.”

---

Rapyuna reached the entrance of the village with her subordinate and spoke with difficulty.

“Invisible light, veil of illusion, door that does not open, water flowing backward. Door of truth hidden by deception, show me your true form.”

Flash!

The moment her words ended, an entrance appeared leading into the village protected by the magic circle.

The moment she entered the village with her subordinate, Seina greeted her.

“Are you all right? What about the other Rangers?”

Rapyuna shook her head weakly.

Seina’s face turned deathly pale.

She had known they had gone to carry out a mission of death from which they could not return, but when only two of them actually came back alive, her mind went blank.

That was because all the Rangers had been close to Seina as well.

When she thought that all of them had died because of the elders’ decision, grief and anger filled her chest.

It was then.

“What happened? Has the Orcs’ route changed?”

“The humans must all be dead, yes?”

The dwarf and elf elders approached them.

The elders had no interest in whether the Rangers who had gone with Rapyuna had lived or died.

Their only concern was the result of the battle between the Orcs and the humans.

“That is......”

“Why are you hesitating? Stop stammering and speak.”

“The operation...... failed.”

“Failed? What do you mean? Failed?”

“We succeeded in luring the Orcs to the humans.”

“Then why?”

“The Orcs were annihilated by the humans.”

“Impossible! How could mere humans defeat Orcs......?”

“The other humans were strong too, but especially that Sandmancer......”

Rapyuna could not continue speaking.

Even now, when she thought of Zeon, her heart pounded madly. That was how intense the memory Zeon had left behind was.

She felt as though she would never be able to shake off the fear he had planted in her for the rest of her life.

“You hid the village’s location properly, didn’t you?”

“Why did he let you live and come back? Could it be some trick to discover our village’s location?”

“Hurry and check outside. The humans may have followed you.”

The elders made a great fuss.

At the sight of those elders, Seina and Rapyuna felt disgust.

Not one of them asked after the safety of the Rangers who had not returned with them.

The reason the village had been maintained until now was thanks to the Rangers’ sacrifices. But seeing the elders like this made them wonder what those sacrifices had been for.

‘We should have been honest with the humans and asked for help. If we had, they wouldn’t have died.’

It was then.

The elves who had gone out to check whether the humans had followed them came running back in a hurry.

“We have a serious problem.”

“Why? Did the humans follow us?”

“N-no, it isn’t that......”

“This is suffocating. Hurry and speak.”

“Orcs have appeared.”

“What?”

“A great Orc army is heading toward our village.”

“A great army?”

“Yes! There seemed to be at least several thousand.”

At the elf’s report, the elders’ faces turned white.

“Good heavens!”

“To think a great Orc army would head toward our village.”

The elders hurried to the village entrance.

They opened the magic circle slightly and looked outside. Then they saw a great Orc army approaching from far away.

“It’s true. What should we do?”

The elders looked at one another.

But there was no sharp move they could make.

Until now, the elders had been too busy hiding the village. They had never fought against a threatening existence.

In the end, they took out the worst possible card.

“Rangers, deploy.”

“What?”

“I said lure the Orcs elsewhere. Yes, lead them to those humans.”

“But that operation has already failed.”

“Then do you intend to sit still and let every villager die? We must save the village somehow.”

“Under......stood. All Rangers will deploy.”

In the end, Seina and Rapyuna led every Ranger out of the village.

The Orc army had drawn even closer.

Seina gave the order.

“Go! We must lure the Orcs as far from the village as possible.”

“Yes!”

With their answer, the Rangers moved in a way that caught the Orcs’ eyes.

Naturally, the Orcs discovered those elf Rangers.

“Elves.”

“Snrrk! Let’s kill them.”

The Orcs shouted in excitement.

The priest gave the order.

“Chase them and kill them. Do not leave a single elf alive.”

“KRAAAAH!”

“Kill them!”

Some of the excited Orcs immediately chased the Rangers.

Orca watched the pursuing Orcs for a moment, then turned his gaze away.

His eyes turned toward the direction from which the elf Rangers had appeared.

While the other Orcs blindly chased the elf Rangers, he wondered why the elves had suddenly jumped out from there.

When he looked closely, he noticed something strange.

“The flow of mana is odd.”

“It is a magic circle.”

“So it was.”

“Let me see.”

The priest looked ahead and murmured.

“No supernatural ability shall deceive my eyes. Hidden truth, reveal your true form before me. Eye That Sees Mystery!”

Red light burst from the priest’s eyes.

As he looked at the place where the flow of mana was twisted, the true form of the magic circle was revealed to his eyes.

“It is a protective magic circle that conceals its true form.”

The priest’s lips twisted, revealing yellow fangs.

Orca laughed.

“So they were hiding a village in a place like that.”

He had already been in a foul mood because the two tribes that followed him had been annihilated.

Right now, Orca needed somewhere to vent his anger.

And a perfect target had appeared.

Orca held out his hand. Then a nearby Orc Great Warrior respectfully offered him a massive spear.

It was a huge spear made to hunt large monsters.

The enormous spear, capable of piercing a monster over ten meters long in a single blow, filled Orca’s hand.

Orca gripped the shaft tightly and bent his arm back.

His back and arm bent like a bow.

When he felt the pain of his stretched muscles almost tearing, Orca swung his arm with all his strength.

SWISH—!

Like a meteor, the enormous spear split the sky at terrifying speed.

In the blink of an eye, the spear reached the far side of the land and struck the magic circle protecting the village.

CRASH—!

The magic circle that had protected the village of dwarves and elves for more than a hundred years shattered into pieces with a single spear thrown by Orca.

Once the protective magic circle broke, the true form of the village was revealed.

In the middle of the desert, hundreds of houses were huddled together above a large sunken basin.

Between the houses, countless elves and dwarves could be seen.

Their faces were covered with terror and fear.

The magic circle that had protected the village until now had vanished, and even the Rangers who had protected them for so many years had left the village to lure away the Orcs.

The mere fact that they had been exposed to danger defenselessly made their minds go blank.

Orca grinned and gave the order.

“Kill them all. In this desert, there is no place for elves or dwarves.”

“ROOOOAR!”

“KRAAAH!”

At his command, the Orcs let out monstrous cries and charged toward the village.

“D-damn it!”

“Attack! We have to stop them from entering the village.”

The elders came back to their senses too late and gave orders.

Among the elves in the village, there were quite a few who knew how to use magic Skills.

“Wind Cutter!”

“Magic Missile!”

The elves hurriedly cast magic, and the dwarves fired large crossbows made for hunting monsters.

Several Orcs took their attacks head-on.

“Snrrk! It tickles.”

“Is that all, pointy-ears?”

The Orcs’ powerful bodies deflected most ordinary attacks.

A few Orcs fell, but the rest charged without caring.

In the end, the Orcs poured into the village, and what remained was merciless slaughter.

“Aaagh!”

“Kuhk!”

Elves and dwarves died beneath the weapons the Orcs swung.

The elders were no exception.

The Orcs killed everything they saw.

Elves and dwarves alike.

That was the end of the village where elves and dwarves had coexisted.

Orca looked west.

“Next is your turn, human!”