Chapter 77
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 77
Chapter Title: Deception (2)
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“Hurry... keep moving!”
“But Captain, if we go this way, we won’t be able to link up with the main force.”
“We have to survive first!”
The exhausted captain of the orc mobile unit bellowed in rage at his subordinate’s words, his breaths coming in harsh gasps.
This was the western edge of the great plains, the path the migrating orc hordes had taken.
“We shake them off first, then regroup with the main body.”
He glanced back with fearful eyes and muttered under his breath.
It was true that the Lukadia Empire, advancing its magitech civilization under Astragon’s control, could now stand toe-to-toe with the ants.
But that was only because the massive empire allowed them to rapidly secure intervention forces. Others couldn’t do the same.
The reconnaissance unit under his command had clashed with the ant hunting detachment purely by accident—a fleeting mishap.
Instantly accelerated beyond horses and steppe wolves by the pathfinder abilities grafted onto variant gale ants, they’d been caught in a flash. After a brutal fight, only a handful had escaped alive.
“Pick up the pace!”
He urged his subordinates onward.
Any delay, and the relentless ants trailing them would catch up, dismantle them in seconds, and turn them into meat dumplings.
Bellona is prohibited from deeply pursuing the enemy's scattered remnants.
Fortunately for them, the ants stopped chasing after a certain distance.
Instead, they mercilessly slaughtered and devoured the wounded the orcs had abandoned.
Bellona, leading her nomadic horde across these vast plains in pursuit of the orcs, didn’t push her speed beyond what was necessary—whether the main horde toppled the Holy Kingdom or struggled against the empire.
To sustain her colossal nomadic horde—a massive disaster devouring every living thing above a certain size—she needed time to consume.
Unlike the main horde, which didn’t farm, they secured all resources through hunting alone. Naturally, Bellona evolved her individuals and colony in a far more combative direction than Asmora.
The orcs, sick to death of fighting ants even at this trailing distance, had no choice but to keep fleeing nonstop toward safer lands.
Bellona gradually realizes the environment is changing.
And so, this process had led them here.
The queen, Bellona, twitched her antennae as she scanned her surroundings.
They had long since traversed hundreds of kilometers with ease.
Both the orcs and Bellona’s nomadic horde had pressed on without rest until the plains ended and a new environment began.
The world was vast.
The world they had known before was still just a handful, and despite the immense data their collective consciousness had amassed, mountains of the unknown remained.
Bellona desires more food, stronger foes.
Naturally, Bellona craved more food, just like Asmora.
But unlike Asmora, who was gradually awakening to knowledge, Bellona was learning the thrill of violence and slaughter through direct clashes with the strong.
A changing environment meant new food and enemies.
Bellona anticipated it.
“???”
Bellona is bewildered by an environment filled only with orcs, no matter where she looks.
Yet Bellona’s hopes were dashed easily.
The orcs under Urmark’s command, fleeing in terror from Bellona and her swarming legion, began indiscriminately attacking and driving off local forces in a panic.
“The demonic legion led by the wicked Outer God, Belzahad, is coming! Will you fight with us or die?!”
Furious steppe orcs forced locals to fight the ants alongside them, slaughtering any who refused.
Human or fellow orc—it didn’t matter.
They needed only one thing: escape from the ants.
“Orcs are coming!”
Local forces, who had maintained a balance of power, were horrified by the massive incursion from the east and tried to resist—but it was futile.
The steppe orcs under Urmark were battle-hardened.
Above all, their combat prowess, forcibly honed through endless fights with ants over the years, was overwhelming.
To the local forces without a deity’s blessing, these orc refugees became another unstoppable calamity.
“My king. Contrary to the legends, the western forces are weak and fragmented. If we unite and rule them, we might stand against the demons.”
“Hmm...”
Gorzan, lord of the steppe orcs, perked up at his subordinate’s hopeful words.
They couldn’t keep running forever.
But in their recent indiscriminate wars, they had razed small domains, kingdoms, and tribes in their path, enslaving many.
In that process, Gorzan realized their superiority over the locals.
Growing their forces this way could let them face the ants.
Besides, expanding like this pleased their deity, Urmark. Two birds with one stone.
“The great progenitor has permitted it. The time has come to forge a sublime empire once more!”
Urmark wouldn’t refuse.
With Urmark’s approval—brushing off protests from other deities on the verge of losing the prey they’d slobbered over—Gorzan dreamed of rebuilding the orc kingdom and launched a rapid expansion.
“Ladan! Snap out of it. The orcs are almost here!”
“...Yes, sir!”
Ladan, a rookie knight of the Skalen Duchy, had been spacing out. He jolted at his superior’s shout and hastily adjusted his helmet.
They had received prior intel and were ambushing at a forest pass near the Great Mountains where the orc unit would pass.
Steppe orcs...
Ladan gripped his sword hilt, cold sweat trickling down.
Unlike forces near the plains who clashed often with steppe orcs, the vast wasteland between made them legendary to his people.
Now, those legends were invading by the tens of thousands, smashing everything.
From the east came horrific demons, they said—surrender and fight together, or else.
Resist, and you die; your family becomes slaves.
Surrender, and you’re forced to fight those Belzahad demons anyway.
In the end, Ladan and his comrades chose to defend home and family against the rampaging orcs.
Demons? Does that even make sense?
Most in the Skalen Duchy still thought like Ladan.
The orcs’ “demons” were fiction—just exaggerating another enemy for justification.
A pretext for invasion.
“...Everyone’s tense, but steel yourselves. If we lose here, our duchy, our land, our families—everything ends.”
Aware of the heavy responsibility, the ambushing commander rallied his men in a somber voice.
Finally, the mage detected a massive movement nearby.
“Orcs incoming. B-but something’s off!”
The mage recalled his crow familiar and urgently reported.
The mage’s eyes shook violently, cold sweat pouring.
“What did you see?”
“They’re charging into this forest like routed remnants!”
The commander, skeptical of such a reaction from a veteran mage over sixty, pressed for details.
And the answer justified it.
“The orcs are really fleeing?!”
“Stay calm. We have to fight them anyway! Good—they’re coming right to us!”
Their eyes caught a group of orcs sprinting desperately into the forest.
Steppe demons who tore knights barehanded, smashed magic with fists, and ate human flesh.
Yet now, these orcs—far from the savage beasts born for war—ran pale-faced, disorganized, straight into the woods.
“Fire! Draw swords!”
“What the hell is this?!”
Finally, the duchy soldiers collided with the orcs.
Unaware of the ambush, orcs tumbled under arrows and spells.
“Charge!”
Ladan and the knights rushed in, striking the panicked orc warriors.
Ladan’s gritted-teeth slash pierced a weary orc’s chest.
I can do this...!
Catching his breath over the orc’s wide-eyed corpse, Ladan ignored his pounding heart and aimed at the next foe.
“S-surrender! If you do, we might spare your—”
“You stupid humans! Don’t you get what’s important right now?! Didn’t that fancy mage see anything?!”
A ragged-breathing orc warrior screamed like a madman.
Ladan didn’t comprehend at first.
“Didn’t you see what’s coming from behind?!?!”
Ladan faltered at the desperate orc’s plea—raw sincerity in his face and shout.
“What are you even—gah?!”
Something pierced the orc’s back, bursting from his chest.
A sharp venom stinger like a spear, clad in black chitin, withdrew from the foaming orc.
What is that?
Ladan’s mind reeled. Beyond the gaping hole, a massive monster revealed itself, shedding its grafted chameleon camouflage.
The nomadic horde’s scorpion ant—refined through several iterations—crushed the fallen orc and flashed crimson eyes from its head armor at Ladan.
“C-Captain.”
Ladan turned to the knight captain beside him, words failing.
The captain, who’d just been barking orders, had his head crushed in a predator ant’s jaws, being devoured.
The rumors were true.
Only then did Ladan realize it all.
The orcs were truly fleeing demons—Outer God subordinates bringing apocalypse.
And they were real calamities, incomparable to orcs.
“Ugh?!”
A deafening boom shattered the air. Something streaked in, smashing the scorpion ant lunging at Ladan.
Ladan collapsed, whipping his head around.
The boom didn’t stop. Cannonballs flew amid continuous roars, indiscriminately striking ants attacking orcs and humans.
Bellona detects a new type of enemy.
Bellona saw what Ladan saw.
“Keep firing!”
Amid thick smoke, a force hauling cannons descended from the Great Mountains side.