Chapter 137
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 137
He gave the order, glancing back at the shamans in the Orc camp.
A battle between mages was a simple contest of skill. Just three mages who surpassed A-rank could neutralize every spell cast by the numerous Orc shamans. And considering Orc shamans weren't particularly bright, it might even be possible to toy with them.
If they won the arcane duel and destroyed the Orcs' few siege engines with a magical bombardment, those creatures would never set foot inside the castle.
Fortune favored this battlefield.
In a situation like this, who could possibly imagine defeat?
“There are no allies as reliable as you. If you contribute greatly to this defense, I will do my utmost to ensure you receive a fitting reward.”
Among the men claiming to be Paladins, a white-haired young man who appeared to be their leader offered a thin smile.
He was a handsome man with a gentle demeanor, looking so delicate it seemed he could barely hold a sword. Yet, the heavy armor he wore suited him surprisingly well.
It wasn't just him; all the Paladins exuded a mysterious aura.
They looked as if they were hiding some ulterior motive. Though suspicion lingered, Count Carlyle and his defense captain had no choice but to trust them.
They were the saviors of this siege.
Winged phantom beasts circled the sky, shrieking. The longer one listened to their bizarre cries, the more lightheaded they became, as if possessed by a ghost.
Shaking off the feeling, Count Carlyle shouted to the defense force lined up along the battlements.
“Hold out for just one week!”
If they held out for a week, reinforcements would arrive—that was the promise from Riaze.
The reinforcements they were promised was the "Red Spear of Roa," the finest blade of the Imperial Family. The arrival of the "Red Spear of Roa" meant that hundreds of elite subjugation squad members would follow.
“If we hold out for just one week, we can turn those filthy Orcs into roasted pigs!”
The elites from Riaze were said to be worth a hundred men each. With the geographical advantage and their support, victory was as good as guaranteed.
“Woooooooaaaaah!!”
The soldiers roared, their morale soaring. Every one of them was dreaming of nothing but victory.
To maintain the momentum, the Count summoned a mage and ordered an amplification spell cast.
Once the spell was active, he bellowed toward the spot where Kurak stood.
“You Orcs! You will regret touching Felschtail, and you will regret touching me, Count Carlyle! This place shall be your grave!”
His voice echoed across the territory, and cheers erupted from all sides. The Orcs, however, remained silent, seemingly unprovoked.
“For Orcs, they have more patience than I thought… or not.”
Just as the thought crossed his mind, there was movement in the Orc camp. A moment later, Kurak, using his own amplification magic, made a declaration toward Felschtail Castle.
“Half a day.”
Understanding the meaning of that short phrase, the Count burst out laughing.
“Puhahaha! What a joke! It doesn't matter if you're the boss of a Great Evil Cave, how could you possibly take this castle in half a day—”
—take it? Huh?
Suddenly, his words caught in his throat.
His lungs felt as if they were shriveling. He couldn't draw a proper breath, let alone speak.
Only then did the Count register the cold steel buried deep in his gut. His hearing, which had been drowned out by his own laughter, belatedly caught the wet sound of tearing flesh—squelch.
“Keugh… ugh…”
Barely enduring the searing pain, he twisted his body to see the white-haired Paladin standing behind him, his sword piercing straight through the Count’s back.
“What… why… cough.”
The Paladin smiled silently. It was the same gentle smile as before.
The Count tried to pull the sword out, but his limbs refused to obey. The blade had pierced his heart with pinpoint accuracy.
The Lord let out a final, wheezing gasp and went limp.
As the Paladin withdrew his sword, the staggering Count plummeted from the battlements.
The wall was so high that the sound of his body hitting the ground never reached them.
“What just happened…”
The defense captain’s face was just as pale with shock. He stared blankly at the falling Lord, but when he snapped his gaze back to the Paladins, they had already vanished.
Immediately after, a low hum of immense power echoed from below.
Without fully grasping the situation, the defense captain whipped his head toward the source of the sound.
…Another Paladin was casting a spell within the town, inside the castle walls.
“Teleportation magic…”
They were the fools.
They should have been suspicious.
They shouldn't have been so intoxicated by the promise of an easy victory.
—The Orcs never intended to conduct a proper siege from the start.
“Stop the warp! Stop the waaaaarp!!” the defense captain screamed at the top of his lungs.
A warp gate doesn't open instantly.
But once it fully formed, there was no way to close it unless the caster was attacked directly, severing their mana supply.
They had to stop the spell before it was complete.
The defense captain threw himself over the battlements, aiming for where the teleportation magic was being cast. Even with magically reinforced sabatons, the fall was high enough to kill an ordinary man. He knew he couldn't absorb the full impact, but he didn't care as he hurtled toward the town.
“Nooooow! Stop that warp right nooooooow!!”
Soldiers who had shaken off their shock followed their captain. The Paladins vanished from sight the moment they finished casting the warps, disappearing like elusive ghosts.
“Damn it… damn it!!”
It was obvious that tens of thousands of Orcs would pour through the moment the warp opened. If that happened, the outcome was certain.
Despite running with all his might, the warp had already expanded to a size where one person could just barely pass through.
And through that shimmering portal, an Orc poked its head out.
The defense captain flinched.
That armor. That aura.
The first Orc to step through the warp was the very entity he had looked down upon from the battlements…
It was undoubtedly Kurak, the Legion Commander of the Orcs and the boss monster of the Great Evil Cave Nilkumbal.
It was his first time facing the boss of a Great Evil Cave from such a close distance.
Nevertheless, the defense captain did not stop.
He’s just an Orc.
His size wasn't much different from the others. He held a simple red axe. The way Orcs swung their axes was always predictable.
Kurak, now inside the town, raised his head to look at the charging defense captain.
Huff, huff.
It’s a vertical strike. It has to be.
It would be easy to dodge with a twist of his body. The moment he dodged, he would counterattack… no. He had to ignore him and keep going. Stopping the warp was the priority.
The Lord has fallen, but this is an opportunity for victory.
Only one Orc, Kurak, had crossed over.
If they could close the warp and isolate him inside the castle, it wouldn't matter if he was the boss of a Great Evil Cave. He would never survive.
Turn this crisis into an opportunity… somehow, I have to make it an opportunity!
“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
As Kurak prepared to swing his axe, the sprinting defense captain ducked low.
It was a textbook maneuver, a flawless response. It was a perfect execution, proof that the defense captain was a veteran of real combat.
And yet.
Slash!
Kurak’s axe split the defense captain’s head in two. A fountain of blood erupted from the gash.
“Hi-hieek!”
Kurak advanced without breaking stride, not even giving the following soldiers a chance to turn back as he swung his axe in all directions.
He left a trail of screams in his wake.
“…Three weeks.”
Kurak muttered softly, recalling Swallow’s words once more.
He didn't have time for a leisurely siege—and he never intended to conduct one in the first place.
Even a single day was too long to waste on toppling one castle. He couldn't waste time on a place like this.
He would have done this even without Swallow's advice.
In his determination to conquer the Empire in an instant, there was not a shred of pretense or compromise.
The warp gradually grew larger.
Hundreds, then thousands of Orcs poured into the town.
Kurak issued a single command.
“Kill them all.”
*
Epilogue, 1
“Deputy!”
It had been only five hours since the first report of the enemy army stationed outside the castle.
“Felschtail… has fallen!”
—News of the defeat arrived.
An emergency of unprecedented speed struck Riaze.
Ar, the Acting Commander-in-Chief of the Dungeon Subjugation Union Headquarters, didn't have a moment to catch his breath amid the chaos.
As soon as his audience with the Emperor ended, he headed straight for the headquarters' grand conference room.
More than half of the subjugation squad representatives had already gathered before Ar’s summons was even issued. The atmosphere was murderous and chilling, like walking on thin ice.
There were those who thought Felschtail might fall, but no one had imagined it would be overrun in just five hours.
Even Ar had expected it to hold for at least two days. It wasn't that he underestimated the Orcs, but that he had that much faith in Felschtail’s defenses.
“This makes no sense! How is it possible for mere Orcs to take a castle in five hours!”
The meeting was a mess.
Agitated voices erupted from all sides. It was understandable; the situation defied all common sense.
Unless the defenders had lowered the drawbridge and charged out from the start, how could such a sturdy castle fall so quickly?
—Furthermore, no one knew the full details. The castle was lost before they even understood the cause.
“Let’s dispense with the off-topic chatter.”
It was Ar’s role to cut through the meaningless conversations.
“Analyzing the cause is important, but that is not the purpose of this meeting.”
Even amidst the chaos, Ar’s voice remained cold. Everyone in the room fell silent.
As Ar said, the priority was to decide on an immediate response.
“We must send reinforcements.”
However, it was impossible for all the subjugation squads stationed in Riaze to depart.
Their opponent was no ordinary Orc. A force led by Kurak of Nilkumbal would surely be anticipating human movements and countermeasures. Since they didn't know what kind of deceptive tactics might be hidden, they couldn't move their forces recklessly.
Moreover, with Orcs swarming from all directions toward Riaze, the capital's defense had to be the priority.
Ar held up two fingers.
“It would be problematic if too many subjugation squads left Riaze.”
Considering the capital's safety, they could spare two subjugation squads at most.
But no matter how skilled they were, two squads couldn't possibly stop tens of thousands of Orcs.
In fact, they would have to set out prepared for total annihilation.
Everyone knew that.
An unspoken understanding settled over the room. No one readily raised their hand.
“My squad will go.”
Kart, the captain of the Nixir Red Dragon Subjugation Squad, resplendent in his red armor, raised his hand without hesitation.
The Nixir Red Dragon Subjugation Squad was one of the few S-rank squads in the Empire. As such, they had absolutely no reason to take such a risk.
“To put it bluntly, you will have to be prepared for death,” Ar stated.
“Deputy… you’ve looked down on us for far too long. The Nixir Red Dragon Subjugation Squad is a first-class unit that has survived countless battlefields. Did you think we wouldn’t understand that much?”
Ar looked up at him. He had expected Kart to volunteer, but he felt a flicker of genuine respect at the man's utter lack of hesitation.
“Personally, I can’t stand you, Deputy, but I acknowledge your skill and judgment. That’s why we’re going. Our squad has no intention of dying to the likes of Orcs.”
“…This is not an operation for a full-scale war. The main objective is to slow the advance of the Orc main force. You must hold out until the conscription across the Empire is finished and a foothold for a counterattack is prepared.”
“If you’re sending us, I wish you’d send the Hero, too,” Kart laughed boisterously.
Despite his bravado, the chilled atmosphere showed no signs of improving.
The meeting ended in that frozen state. Even afterward, reports of Orcs approaching various parts of the territory continued to pour in.
The next day, more than a hundred members of the Nixir Red Dragon Subjugation Squad departed Riaze to intercept the advance of the Orc main force.
* * *
Just as he was thinking the days were getting shorter, it was already complete darkness by the time he finished his work and returned to his office.
Ar leaned back in his chair. It wasn't just his imagination; he was growing weaker ever since the black entity had taken root in his body.
As he relaxed and sighed, the concealment spells Garot had cast on him vanished, revealing his true appearance.
He wiped his face with both hands.
The black encroachment, which had started around his eye and consumed it, had gradually expanded its radius and was now reaching his cheek. Half of his face was devoid of sensation.
…The speed of the encroachment was increasing.
There were times when his consciousness flickered, times when he felt nauseous for no reason. There were also times when his head filled with noises that were utterly incomprehensible by human standards.
A little more.
I have to hurry.
After staring blankly into the darkness outside the window with his one good eye, he turned and picked up a long pipe. He lit the tobacco and brought it to his lips.
“…Whew.”
Only after inhaling the pale smoke with his parched lips did his troubled mind feel a measure of relief.
The leaves in the pipe, called Himofnil, were certainly effective. Himofnil was a painkiller and, at the same time, a powerful hallucinogen.
Ar normally didn't even touch alcohol, let alone tobacco, but the irregular waves of pain were not something he could endure while sober. Now, he was dependent on the drug just to function.