The Orc Lord's Breeding Ground
There is a reason why the angels choose Orc settlements for the 2nd stage. During the 24-hour survival mission against Goblins in the 1st stage, the prospective heroes come to a chilling realization: they must survive in this other world. And once they clear that first stage, they are filled with nothing but rage.
It’s unfair enough that they died in sudden accidents, but now they’re being hunted by monsters? They decide to take that anger out on the monsters themselves. Since they can be resurrected if they kill the monsters and eventually slay the Demon King at the end of this path, there is no reason to hold back. Even though their opponents are the terrifying Orcs, the heroes pour everything they have into killing them, fueled by the human disgust and fury they feel at the acts the Orcs commit.
'It’s the perfect place to gain experience for the war against the Demon King's army.'
Orcs are one of the most basic enemy units. They are the easiest to deal with once you know the method, but they are also one of the monsters the Demon King's army uses most cheaply, knowing they will be slaughtered, because they are the most cost-efficient. If they catch a human woman, they can immediately breed and mass-produce troops, and they can sustain themselves on the rest of the captives, excluding the fertile human women. That is why the heroes must first learn how to deal with these monsters. Whether it’s a method the heroes devise themselves or with the help of mercenary groups they can contact in the villages here.
"Men, forward!!"
Han Jeongho, the leader of the raid party attempting the Orc Lord raid, shouts. The men clad in leather armor step forward with spears, and three of them thrust their weapons together at the Orc charging from the opposite side.
Screeeech!!
The Orcs, pierced by the spears, cannot get any closer. Thanks to the men on the front line who plant their feet firmly and skewer the Orcs, the monsters drop their weapons and die.
Squelch!
But another wave of Orcs rushes in behind them. A fair number of Orcs, as if they don't care about their fallen comrades, charge like madmen, seeing the humans before them as nothing more than prey.
"Women, forward!!"
Han Jeongho shouts immediately. Spears shoot out from behind the men, turning the newly charging Orcs into honeycombs.
Men on the first line. Women on the second line. It’s not the time to argue about gender roles regarding who stands in front and who stands behind; that formation was more efficient than I had imagined.
"Senior. We’re... definitely doing well, right?"
"You are doing well, indeed."
Watching Han Jeongho’s group from the shadows as they proceeded with the Orc Lord raid, their combat prowess was certainly enough to justify their loud claims that 'we will obtain the hidden piece.'
"I suppose so. They have enough confidence as a group that they’d think about clearing a sub-quest."
The system is well-established. It must have been awkward and frustrating the first few times, but they seem to have found their rhythm, maintaining their formation against the Orcs. They have no shields. All they have is leather armor covering their shoulders and hearts. It looks like they would suffer serious damage if arrows or magic flew from a distance, but the enemy doesn't have that kind of troop composition anyway.
"Shin Yuhee. Among the Orcs, were there any special types? Aside from the ones running around naked."
"No. They were all just like those. Even in the areas that served as breeding grounds."
"That’s fortunate. If there are no special types, we can clear this stage easily."
Just pure, pot-bellied Orcs running wild? As Han Jeongho boasted, it wouldn't be a problem to deal with all the hatcheries, breeding grounds, and settlements in this stage, let alone the Orc Lord.
"Senior. It feels... much easier than the arena, doesn't it?"
"It will be easy in reality, too. The Orcs we are facing now can be defeated as long as a human has the will to kill."
The Orcs' physical strength is definitely on the high side. They possess power far exceeding the average adult male, but no matter how strong they are, it’s hard to fight bare-handed against someone wielding a spear—a weapon. Especially when they aren't fighting alone, but in groups of three, thoroughly attacking the enemy, with women backing them up from the rear.
"Halt! 20-minute break, then move to the Orc Lord's location! Squad 3, maintain the perimeter!"
As Han Jeongho gives the order, those on the front lines sit down on the ground one by one. They don't just carelessly throw their spears on the ground; they catch their breath in a posture that suggests they are ready to prepare for an enemy ambush at any moment. And the remaining squads, excluding those who fought the Orcs head-on just a moment ago, form a circle and stand guard.
They call it Squad 3, but if the ones who skewered the Orcs with spears are the 1st and 2nd divisions, the ones currently guarding against the possibility of approaching Orcs are the 3rd division. Even those 3rd division members had the aura of people who had all killed Orcs, perhaps even having cleared the 'Kill 100 Orcs' mission.
"They’ve certainly got a good system going."
"Right? They’re still a bit clumsy compared to those who fought in the arena, but that’s just a matter of lack of experience. They all fight well."
"How does it look to the Dark Elf’s disciple?"
"...I see a lot of weaknesses, but what can you do."
Shin Yuhee lightly lifted the bow she had received from the village. If they were all our enemies, more than half of them would have been wiped out by Shin Yuhee’s secret sniping by now. But this isn't a stage of that difficulty, and there are no monsters of the caliber of the fighters from Chekhov’s Arena here.
Just.
Screeeech!
There are only Orcs charging without any intelligence, and young men who dodge those attacks and suppress them by stabbing them with spears.
"Die, die!"
A man from Squad 3 stabs a fallen Orc repeatedly with his spear. The people from Squads 1 and 2, who were resting, didn't seem to care much even when Orc blood splattered on the floor. They seemed quite accustomed to it already. Killing Orcs.
And—
"Jeongho hyung! Hatchery ahead!"
"Status?"
"The Orcs abandoned it! They’re still carrying the young, though..."
"Is there anyone who hasn't filled their hatchery quest stack yet? Come out. Fill your stacks. You aren't going to say you can't kill them like the kids left back in the village, are you?"
"Hyung. I’m at 2/3 now. If we blow up the hatchery now, I’ll fill the stack."
They were even swinging their spears at the village maidens the Orcs had abandoned—women who were no longer maidens or ladies, but had become monster factories giving birth to Orc spawn.
"I feel a bit sorry for them. They seemed to have been hunting well at their own pace, but I’ve gone and accelerated things."
"It’s not just that."
"Hm?"
"I arrived about two days before you, didn't I, Senior?"
"That you did."
"There was a bit of a preparation period, but... things started moving in earnest once I began destroying the hatcheries and breeding grounds. After I realized that those who survived the arena’s losers' bracket were killing Orcs better than I thought."
"So you only felt the heat once a competitor appeared?"
"Yes. Once Yujin unnie crossed over and the group called the Corpse Band was formed... that’s when the large-scale hunting began in earnest. It was only for about a day, though."
"Still, they’re quite good. Good enough that they don't need any extra help."
There didn't seem to be an immediate need for me to provide secret support from a distance—though they would have noticed anyway.
"...They wouldn't want help, would they?"
"Yes. They’d raise hell later. If they somehow lost the hidden piece, they might actually try to kill us."
"...Are we going to take it?"
"No, no. Hidden pieces are attractive, but if you take them openly in a game like this, you’re fucked. A party can fall apart just because of a mistake in landing the last hit on a boss monster."
A hero hyung I knew once said that. In a life-or-death virtual reality boss raid, the protagonist landed the last hit, but since there was only one item dropped by the boss, the party members all resented the protagonist or something like that. Even without such an analogy, I had seen many arguments break out over the distribution of spoils. Last-hit stealing was quite common even among heroes. Especially if a dispute arose over a single treasure between heroes from different zones who hadn't reached an agreement.
...Since heroes were killing each other—or more accurately, causing each other to die—there was no need to say more.
"Forget the hidden piece... Shin Yuhee, so how is it fighting against the Orcs? Is what Shemily is teaching you useful?"
"Yes. Thanks to her pinpoint advice, I’ve been able to hunt with ease."
Since the prospective heroes seem to be fighting quite well, if I were to focus on Shin Yuhee, she had realized how to deal with them very easily thanks to the teacher dwelling in her soul.
"She said that since their flesh is full of fat, you have to stab places with less fat, like the neck or the heart. And if you’re going to kill them by cutting, you have to make sure the blood gushes out."
"You know well. I don't think I even need to mention what I realized when I came here."
"It’s all thanks to Shemily unnie."
Perhaps this is the power of the hidden piece. They learned how to deal with the enemy with their bodies through life-or-death battles, but Shin Yuhee knew the strategy immediately.
"Was it... a bit much to share it with the Corpse Band?"
And Shin Yuhee didn't hoard that information for herself; she released it to the Corpse Band immediately.
"You didn't tell them Shemily told you, did you?"
"No. I told them I found out after fighting them myself."
"Then that’s fine. Hidden pieces... aside from things related to Goddess Points, you should spare no information with each other. You can build favor by sharing and bestowing things you can obtain through experience or knowledge, rather than elements that would truly invite jealousy."
That must be why Kim Chaerin followed Shin Yuhee around for a while.
"Move out again!!"
20 minutes had passed before I knew it. The raid party, having finished their final rest, passed through the forest and emerged onto a wide plain where a river flowed.
A collapsed village fence. On top of a wooden altar piled up in the square, a giant Orc that looked to be at least 3 meters tall was raping a naked woman.
"That is..."
"It’s the Orc Lord."
"Everyone, combat readiness!!"
Han Jeongho shouts loudly, aiming his spear forward. The area around the Orc Lord was full of ordinary Orcs, but—
"Shin Yuhee. Did Shemily say anything else? About Orc ecology."
"That Orcs grow as fast as Goblins?"
"And, also. If it has something to do with that thing over there?"
"...If Orc breeding is repeated, a stronger individual than a normal Orc is born?"
Where I pointed, and where Shin Yuhee looked, stood a heteromorphic Orc, clearly different from the other pot-bellied Orcs. A muscular Orc. It looked nearly 190cm tall, and it was an Orc 'warrior' that seemed to belong to a different genre than the other pot-bellied ones.
"That’s almost an evolved form."
Groooaaar!!
"...The real problem is the Orc Lord who keeps thrusting his hips even though the enemy has openly invaded."
The moment they fail to break through that single Orc warrior, several Orc warriors will be born in the bellies of the village women, grow rapidly, and swing their weapons at the prospective heroes. Just like troops pulled out in a real-time strategy simulation game. That is what the Demon race is.
"Now..."
Then, now.
'The angle for them to die has appeared perfectly.'
Very appropriately, they just need to sacrifice themselves willingly for the prospective heroes.