Margel Island Battle (2)
But Owen soon dismissed it as a mistake and turned his attention away.
'Orcs are swarming us right now—what does some damn rock island matter?'
Moreover, recent typhoons and foul weather had persisted.
It wasn't strange at all that they hadn't spotted a single small island in the distance.
Owen frowned as he watched the orcs massing.
'Already too many, and now reinforcements have doubled their numbers...'
In this situation, even Owen, who had been brimming with confidence since his reincarnation, felt his heart tighten.
On the other hand, Kaladashyr, the Hybrid Lord and great chieftain of the orcs, laughed uproariously again and again.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
"Krahahaha! You fools. Out of gunpowder and helpless!"
The humans and dark elves huddled in the fortress, watching the orcs land without lifting a finger.
They wanted to sally out and block the landing, but the numerical disparity was too vast—they had no choice but to give up.
Over 20,000 orcs had already crossed to Margel Island.
The bridge of linked ships crawled with them like ants.
And an even greater horde waited on the mainland shore.
The total force exceeded 60,000.
Against the roughly 1,300 defenders on the island, it was an overwhelming difference.
The entire island rang with the orcs' war chants, as if it might float away.
"Bring mops instead of swords! The enemy’s about to puke from fear—!"
The orcs' rhythm was atrocious, which only made it more terrifying to hear.
They swarmed toward the island, laughing ferociously like hyenas.
The great chieftain was already fixated not on the battle's victory, but on the ritual to revive Tanares.
One charge order, and the island would fall—it was a foregone conclusion.
A few orc deaths in the meantime? He couldn't care less.
It would all be spun as heroic and noble anyway.
So he left the attack to his generals and focused on transporting his vital cargo.
"Move it carefully! Shake it even a little, and I'll snap every one of your necks!"
The great chieftain rode in a palanquin across the bridge, followed by a load borne by twelve orcs.
It was a heavily locked iron box.
Six orcs front and rear shouldered the wooden poles connected to it.
No one but the chieftain knew, but inside was the key material for the ritual.
A fragment of the true dragon Tanares's dragon heart.
It was a substance so mystical it hardly seemed like a living heart.
Like a massive crystal or gem, it had shattered and scattered the moment Tanares died.
The chieftain had gone through hell and high water to secure one large chunk.
A lump of immense mana, essential for this undertaking.
Soon, the chieftain's palanquin and the heart-laden box reached Margel Island.
"Kuhuhuhu! We've crossed the sea at last!"
Kaladashyr brimmed with triumph.
Nothing seemed left to stand in his way.
Owen had no intention of letting this happen.
He decided to risk it all and launch a night raid with the dragon knights.
"To think a typhoon would tangle everything like this..."
Things had been going well.
Then the ships shattered in the storm, and it all went to hell.
Owen cursed the heavens.
But ironically, that same typhoon had brought his savior to Margel Island.
"Hm? What’s that?"
Scanning the sea for Surpuk Duke's reinforcements, Owen noticed something.
'The rock island's gone...?'
It had definitely been there before he spoke with Betshel and the dwarves.
Now, it had vanished clean away.
Owen rubbed his eyes in disbelief, but it was still gone.
'What the...?'
As panic set in, a sudden realization hit him.
The turtle dragon he'd met recently.
"No way?"
He hadn't entirely dismissed the possibility.
But such a massive turtle dragon was exceedingly rare—he hadn't expected to see it again.
The missing island changed his mind.
Orcs bellowed war chants just hundreds of meters from the walls, but Owen closed his eyes and focused. He extended his hand forward.
Kuaram Kam, the King of the Great Ocean, was not yet a being Owen could command.
But communication was possible.
If it was here, he could surely sense it.
"Hmm..."
Yet it eluded him.
Perhaps the distance.
Owen kept concentrating, and moments later, his mouth fell open in shock.
"My God... it really came?"
A vast mental world like the ocean depths, familiar from before.
Unmistakably the same turtle dragon.
Kuuuung!
A low rumble echoed from afar, shaking Owen's mind like a reply.
The turtle dragon had come to these waters.
It was surely approaching slowly from underwater.
'Why come back after leaving?'
Owen couldn't fathom why, but this was a gift from the heavens.
The turtle dragon's appearance would deal devastating damage to the orcs.
Excitement prickled his skin.
Then someone laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Heroicus?"
"Hm?"
Half-tranced, Owen whirled around in surprise.
There stood a beautiful dark elf, face etched with worry.
Arwen.
"Heroicus. I called you over and over with no response. Are you all right?"
"Ah..."
"What on earth are you thinking?"
Arwen had come to discuss troop placements and grown worried seeing him motionless with eyes shut.
But Owen said something out of left field.
"Arwen. If we win this battle, will you truly accept me as Heroicus?"
Alone, he dropped the formalities.
Arwen shed her polite pretense too.
"I'm already calling you Heroicus. What nonsense with that dazed look?"
"No, I mean truly accept me as Heroicus."
"Hah! Cut the crap. I have zero intention of taking orders from you."
She tossed her long hair back with a cold retort, but Owen's earnest face silenced her. After a pause, she replied.
"Fine, whatever. If that happens, I won't deny it."
"Don't forget you said that."
"God, I hope it does. Owen Leire. I'd kneel myself."
In this desperate strait, Arwen would grant even more for victory.
"Hell, I'd accept you making me your cleaning maid."
Arwen prodded his forehead with her index finger, high-handed as ever.
As if to snap him out of it.
"But that won't happen, so let's discuss unit deployments." https://booktoki469.com/data/file/novel/5895/41976/16549827703301.jpg
"No, look over there."
Owen shook his head and pointed to one side of the sea.
"What?"
Arwen scowled, then froze solid.
An enormous shadow glided through the water toward them.
Like an impossibly huge turtle.
Its silhouette clear near the surface.
Arwen's arms trembled.
"Kuaram... Kam?"
To dark elves, Kuaram Kam was a divine messenger—no wonder she was stunned.
Owen smirked at her frozen form.
"Skip the kneeling. Just clean my house. Ben lives there too, and that old man's hopeless at tidying."
He patted her shoulder once and extended his hand again.
This time, the mental link connected smoothly.
'Got it!'
Likely closer now.
Owen mentally implored the turtle dragon.
To utterly smash the orcs' pontoon bridge.
Kuuuung—.
A rumble like assent echoed. By then, the orcs sensed something amiss.
A 100-meter-plus creature shoving near the surface inevitably raised massive waves.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Tsunami! Tsunami incoming!"
"Run!"
The orcs crossing the bridge panicked.
They packed the 500-meter span; the towering wave sent them into chaos.
"Move! Get out of the way!"
"Push forward, you trash!"
Orcs shoved, trampled, crushed one another in frenzy.
But the massive wave soon engulfed the bridge's center.
Shwaaaa!
The turtle dragon's wave wasn't quite enough to sweep the entire pontoon at once.
But plenty to hurl the mid-bridge orcs into the sea.
"Guaaaak!"
"Kreeek!"
They tumbled seaward with no resistance.
Most wore thick, crude armor—survival unlikely.
They flailed with their signature strength despite it, but soon sank under the weight.
"S-save me!"
"Kraaa!"
One wave claimed nearly 2,000 orcs, turned to fish food.
The engineers' pontoon, built with desperate effort, shattered at connections and shook wildly.
Teetering on collapse.
But it didn't last.
The turtle dragon surfaced its massive head and chomped the bridge.
Crunch!
The span snapped instantly.
Not content, it thrashed to demolish the full 500 meters.
Each motion sprayed huge plumes; seawater rained like downpour.
Shwoooo!
Dark elves in the fortress cheered in rapture.
"Kuaram Kam!"
"The gods watch over us!"
Nothing frightened the dark elves now.
The divine messenger aided them.
Orcs, helpless before nature's fury.
Bridge quaking like an earthquake, countless plummeted seaward.
Thousands dead in moments, link to the mainland severed.
The great chieftain tore at his hair in outrage at this absurdity.
"What the fuck is that crazy turtle?!"
He'd been having his lavish tent pitched on the island.
Siege as good as won, he'd lounged awaiting follow-ups.
Now this turtle dragon ruined everything.
Kwaaaang!
A massive orc transport ship launched skyward amid the din.
"Damn it all!"
Of course, the chieftain tried to intervene.
Couldn't dive in and fight, so he summoned mana in both hands.
Son of an ogre mage, he wielded formidable magic.
Plus demon-granted power made him a top-tier shaman in this world.
"Grraaaaa!"
Bloodshot eyes, black aura exploding from his body.
A potent fear spell, taught by the demon itself, to drive off the turtle dragon.
Killing that life-mass would take days of battle.
Scare it away—best option.
But soon he realized his power fell short of instilling fear.
'Impossible!'
His fear spell was devastating.
On humans, it'd drive dozens, hundreds to self-harm and suicide in despair.
Crushing the mind utterly.
Yet it failed against the turtle dragon.
Its mind was profoundly deep, simple.
Even mighty spells vanished into the abyss like the deep sea swallowing them.
"This is ridiculous..."
The chieftain gaped, dumbfounded.
But that wasn't the end.
When Owen once linked mentally and peered into its depths, he'd felt the depths peering back.
Same here.
The turtle dragon reacted to the chieftain's magic.
Unaware of "magic" per se, but sensing intrusion into its mind.
Unlike Owen's, this was repulsive, infuriating.
Kurrrr rumble!
It roared fiercely, turning toward Margel Island.
Its massive yellow eye locked precisely on the chieftain.
Kaladashyr clenched his fists against the crushing pressure, grinding his teeth.
His body chilled to the bone.
Even he couldn't stay detached before the King of the Great Ocean.
"Grk—! A mere sea beast!"
Rage soon boiled over.
He'd once critically wounded even the true dragon Tanares with vile tricks.
Yielding to this turtle's presence in fear? Unbearable.
But then he noticed its gaze slide past him.
"What’re you looking at?"
Puzzled, he realized—and paled.
"No... no, impossible..."
He denied reality.
But the turtle dragon stared fixedly at the iron box holding Tanares's dragon heart.
As if it knew exactly what it was. https://booktoki469.com/data/file/novel/5895/41976/16549827703306.jpg https://booktoki469.com/data/file/novel/5895/41976/1654982770331.jpg