The Sixth Research: Great Chieftain Belkan (6)
Great Chieftain Belkan could hardly believe the sight unfolding before his eyes. The crimson noble was Lucifeles, Archduke of Gehenna. He was the Fourth Prince of the Seven Hells and one of the most formidable powers among all devils.
Summoned a being like that with no restraints at all?
Of course it had to be a fragment rather than his true body. And since this was the type of fragment that used silver-tongued temptation to lure mortals onto the path of evil, its combat ability would be negligible by the standards of a great devil.
Still, it will be far stronger than any of us. The great devils stand on equal footing with demigods, after all.
The unholy choral hymn ringing out carried an overwhelming sense of pressure. Even Belkan, whose studies ran deep, knew the truth in his head: devils could only kill mortals when proper justification existed.
But does a bug ever feel safe simply because the giant follows the law?
Belkan had encountered countless elementals in his time, yet he had never met one as powerful as Lucifeles. And yet there stood Tellorian, calmly biting down on his pipe with an indifferent expression. It was bizarre.
“Lucifeles.”
The Grey Sage spoke.
“Speak, my friend.”
To a mighty great devil, no less.
“Turn off the BGM.”
Huh?
“BGM?”
“Read the room.”
“How cruel! I spent years composing that masterpiece…”
“Turn it off.”
“…Tsk.”
The unholy choir fell silent. The crushing hellish power that had weighed on Belkan vanished.
At the same time, Lucifeles transformed into human form, shifting from the imposing devil archduke into the shape of a charming human noble.
“You have no appreciation for art!”
“If you want art, go bother the bards.”
“You really do live the most boring life imaginable…”
Yet the truly shocking sight was the conversation the two were having. The Grey Sage was treating the tyrant of Gehenna like an old childhood friend.
What kind of harmony is this?
Belkan had lived many long years and walked every corner of the continent as a seasoned traveler. Even so, the current situation felt far too surreal.
“Truly, the world is vast…”
“I have brought him.”
Hoo.
Tellorian exhaled a plume of smoke.
“An immortal whose status rivals that of an Elemental Lord.”
“Can I trust this?”
“If you trust me, then yes.”
“Then I shall form the contract.”
Devils were the demons of contracts. Given proper compensation, it should be possible for him to summon Hargash in place of the Elemental Lords.
“Heh heh.”
Lucifeles burst into laughter.
“And what price will you pay, slave master?”
“Before that, I have a question I wish to ask.”
Despite Lucifeles’s arrogant attitude, the Great Chieftain paid it no mind. Instead, his eyes gleamed with curiosity as he posed his question.
“You devils, including yourself, have always called us orcs ‘slaves.’ It is true that many of our kin have fallen into slavery in this age. But all of you are immortals who have witnessed the long ages, are you not?”
Belkan’s golden eyes, blessed by the sun, shone with clarity.
“You must remember the brilliant civilization our race achieved at its zenith. Even so, I wish to know why you still call our kind slaves.”
Pfft!
The great devil sneered.
“Do you truly wish to know the truth?”
“I do.”
“This is something you yourselves agreed to.”
Kihihi!
Then I shall tell you!
The unbearable truth!
“First of all. The golden age of your race is a lie.”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed. Your race may have ended the golden age of the elves, but your own race never had one.”
Belkan was not surprised.
It was a suspicion he had harbored for a long time.
The possibility that history had been tampered with was high.
“Furthermore, orcs hate elves.”
“Because of a long-standing enmity.”
Unlike the elves of today, the ancient elves had possessed overwhelming power. With their near-immortal lifespans and innate talent for magic, they had driven back even dragons and ruled the world. Ancient lore recorded that the humans of that era had worshiped the mighty elven lords as their chief gods.
“We were the ones who ended their golden age.”
But.
At the same time, he continued.
Their golden age had been ended by the orcs.
“Because they made us their slaves.”
That was why ancient history remained a proud legacy for orcs. It was the history of liberation, in which their ancestors had shattered their chains and overthrown their oppressors.
“For a slave race, your scholarly depth is impressive!”
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Lucifeles answered in an exaggerated, theatrical tone.
“However, the weight of the true truth is far harsher.”
The corners of his mouth curled upward.
A great devil’s smile was always ominous.
“The pointy-eared ones are your creators.”
“!”
“The pointy-ears were clever and beautiful, but they were not a strong race. Therefore, they needed a slave species to handle their physical labor.”
The first candidate for slavery had been the giant race, but they were rejected for their low intelligence. The next candidates were the humans who served the elves, but they were rejected for their high intelligence. There was a risk they might steal the elves’ techniques.
“It was then that the Moon Elf King made an interesting proposal.”
“…”
“Let us mix humans and giants.”
“!”
The elf kings had attempted crossbreeding between humans and giants. Most attempts failed, and even the successful cases were insufficient to create a distinct new species.
“Then the Sun Elf King offered a different solution.”
Humans and giants belonged to separate subordinate lineages, making hybrid breeding difficult. In that case, why not extract only their essences and create an entirely new race from scratch?
“The elf kings succeeded in their experiment.”
“…”
“To craft an entirely new species through magic! It was a feat unique to Elven High Magic. Even the dragons had never advanced beyond magic that merely evolved existing creatures! Hahaha!”
Belkan’s mind came to a halt. If Lucifeles’s words were true… then from the very beginning, they had been created as a slave race. The old songs about the birth of the orcs were either deliberate fabrications or the product of ignorant imagination.
…We are simultaneously a hybrid of both giant and human bloodlines. Even though humans and giants themselves cannot produce viable crossbreeds.
The circumstances fit perfectly.
Above all else.
He turned his head to look at Tellorian.
The sage remained utterly silent.
Had it been a devil’s lie, he would surely have refuted it.
Orc Origin Lore Acquired!
Experience +20
Lore Points +2
Level Up!
10/100 until Level 19
Lore Points: 26
“Therefore you were born a slave race and remain a slave race to this day. So bow your heads before Lucifeles, the rightful master of this world!”
Gahaha!
Lucifeles roared with laughter, clearly expecting Belkan’s spirit to shatter.
“…”
In truth, the Great Chieftain’s expression did look as if his soul had left his body. The foundation of the proud history he had known had been completely overturned, replaced by an ugly, dark truth.
“Thank you, Lucifeles.”
But.
In the end, Belkan found wisdom.
Thus he raised his head and smiled.
“Thanks to you, the unknown stretches of history have become clear.”
“…What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Now we can simply walk toward the future.”
In his younger days, when he had devoted himself to scholarship, Belkan had pondered the origin and identity of the orc race. Were they truly the impulsive, merciless monsters other races claimed? Or, as their ancestors had taught, were they a people who had once possessed a strangely brilliant past, only to be ruined by wicked and cowardly foreign races?
“I now understand the path we must take.”
It was neither.
Orcs were warriors.
“The great war of liberation raised by our earliest ancestors was a sacred struggle to discover the meaning of our birth. We were created as slaves, but we have been reborn as free warriors!”
He erased the false memories of a glorious past that the old shamans had invented. They had been fabricated memories meant to forge tribal pride.
Yet.
It had not been deception.
It had been teaching for the sake of their descendants.
“We are beings who deserve to live.”
“Which is why you and I must form a contract—”
“We are not ferocious monsters born with an instinct for destruction! Our creators may have intended that, but it does not matter!”
The lowliness of one’s birth.
It meant nothing.
As long as it was not allowed to define who one was.
“We orcs shall become free and honorable warriors! We shall become beings who carry proud dignity and pursue glory!”
At last.
An ancient grudge was released.
…I can hear it.
At the same time.
As a shaman,
He ascended to a new realm.
The screams of the bound Elemental Lords.
Thanks to that,
He could see.
The Queen of the Abyss imprisoned the Elemental Lords and schemed for a bloodbath between us and the humans. But we will not fall for the Abyss’s insidious plot!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Shouldering the red hammer that symbolized the authority of the Great Chieftain, Belkan strode out of the tent. Outside, hundreds of thousands of desert orcs waited only for the order to march. They were exhausted, starving, and parched.
They would quench their thirst!
With the blood of humans!
They would fill their stomachs!
With the flesh of humans!
“My brethren.”
The Great Chieftain’s voice rang across the wasteland.
“Behold.”
Rumble—!
“Who we are.”
When Great Chieftain Belkan stretched his left hand toward the burning sky, immense power gathered in the red hammer. The fierce winds, the solid earth, the hot flames, and even the exposed riverbed all offered their strength. It was the call of the primordial world.
“And what we must fight against!”
Crash!
Boom!
The heavens tore open in every direction as a storm descended. Black clouds gathered in the previously scorching sky and unleashed a torrential downpour.
“O Elemental Lords of the primordial world!”
BOOM!
Lightning struck.
“I, Belkan son of Nergal, beg to become the emissary of the Elemental Lords! Grant me the primordial flame and appoint me as your agent, or reduce my soul to ashes!”
Crack!
A massive flash of light descended.
Like the spear of an enraged chief god.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah?!”
“Great Chieftain?!”
“The heavens are angry!”
…
Everyone fell silent.
At the sight of the elementals’ fury raining down.
Hssssss—!
Thick black smoke slowly rose from the scorched earth. Within it stood a charred figure like a lump of coal. His entire body was covered in hideous burns, and the hammer symbolizing the Great Chieftain’s authority had snapped in two.
Yet.
He did not fall.
He stood tall.
“I cannot see before me.”
From the eye sockets of the orc-shaped charcoal figure flowed a bloody, viscous fluid. It had once been what people called eyeballs.
“But thanks to this, I can see far more.”
He could see.
The hearts of the people.
The prison of the elementals.
“Storm! Lightning! Thunder!”
BOOM!
The sky tore open and a blazing thunderbolt formed. Belkan’s hands, which gripped the flames of heaven, burned, but the Great Chieftain’s body—already burned to cinders—could easily endure the heat of the sky.
“Pierce the enemies of the Elemental Realm!”
Wrath of Thunder
The thunderbolt Belkan hurled drew a parabola as it pierced the firmament. The charging lightning absorbed the energy of the atmosphere and grew massive, then split into dozens of separate bolts that formed a single coordinated swarm!
“?!”
Belkan was no longer merely the leader of the orc race. He had become the emissary of the Elemental Lords who ruled the spirit realm, and thus he wielded the most primal elements created at the dawn of time.
You have awakened Belkan!
Lv45 Shaman → Lv55 Elder Shaman
Experience +20
Lore Points +2
30/100 until Level 19
Lore Points: 28
Thanks to this, Belkan’s lightning shattered the abyssal barrier that had imprisoned the Elemental Lords. The freed Elemental Lords answered Belkan’s call.
Because of that.
A tremendous downpour began to fall.
Carrying the essence of primordial life.
“Hargash! Hargash has begun!”
“We’re saved! We’re finally saved!”
“Belkan! Belkan! Belkan! Belkan! Belkan! Belkan!”
The moment the desert orcs witnessed the oasis filling with water, they threw down their weapons and tore off their clothes. They danced naked beneath the rain, letting it soak their entire bodies. Their desperate fighting spirit and thirst for war were forgotten. They had survived.
Good.
Research Complete: Great Chieftain Belkan
Experience +20
Lore Points +2
50/100 until Level 19
Lore Points: 30
Please select your research reward!
As planned.
Now.
It was time to strike at the mastermind behind all this.
The true opponent he had been aiming for from the very beginning.