Chapter 17: The War (1)

Orcs have a very strict standard. Strength meant everything, age or gender, nothing matters to them. Only powerful orcs are respected and have the right to have a say in everything. When I saw how the orcs who couldn’t fight were treated and how the said orcs have no complaints against it, that day, I yet again learned another unspoken rule of monsterdom.

The orcs who couldn’t fight, although Logier generalized their gender as females, I could see the ratio of male to female in that group was actually 3:1, meaning, three males to one female. Meanwhile, the females who could fight were ferocious and had a temperament almost similar to males in the group. They were rude and loved to look down on others weaker. I have also been a target of their scorn on these few hours they stationed in the hallway.

Due to the example set by that orc, none dared to disdain me openly in fear of angering me. From the bits and pieces of rumors I heard, these orcs were treating me as a dangerous shaman. Therefore, even though currently I was from a lesser race than them, physical strength-wise at least, they didn’t dare to openly oppose me. They had developed a healthy fear of my illusions. Speaking of fear, the guy I used this skill on, he was suffering from the trauma it seems. Every time he sees me, he would either pretend like he didn’t or walk the long way around.

Heeding my advice Logier and his merry band rested for some time. I have said this before, there was no concept of time inside this dungeon. In this perpetual darkness, neither could I see day or night, nor was there any to calculate time. I was just speaking under the assumption that only some time had passed.

“Little friend, we are ready.” Sometime later, while I am resting after another blank fire of Nightmare Manifest, Logier came and shouted from the outside of my hole. Recently, I have taken up this habit of blank-firing my higher MP consuming skills. This way, in just a day(?) I was able to increase my max MP all the way to 60.

“Oh are you?” I came out of the hole and looked at the group of four orcs standing in a neat line. The one who became my victim was also among them. The moment our eyes met, he avoided looking at me. Well, it can’t be blamed. After going through that kind of torture, anyone would be afraid. From this small episode, I understood how great of a tool the ability to manipulate someone’s fears was.

“Alright, tell me how many orcs are perfectly healthy without a scratch?” I asked out of blue. There was a certain plan cooking in my head, at the same time I wanted to keep the casualties to a bare minimum. I am not naïve enough to think that a war could be fought with zero deaths, that’s only possible in books and fantastical movies.

“Around fifty or less. Fighting without wounds is considered a shame in our tribe.” Logier announced proudly. Well, what can I say? It just how it is. Even if they aren’t wounded in a fight, they will go out of their way to get a scratch or two just to display it. As expected of a savage tribe with single-digit IQ.

“Alright, those with light to no wounds, have them stand in the front. They will be the main tanks. As for moderately wounded ones, they will stand at the back. Since we will be testing the waters in this battle, you guys can fight in any way you think is right. Understood?” I commanded. I am no commander or a general, I am just a random dude with higher intelligence than the ones around me. Earlier, I thought, we would just snowball our way into the goblin territory and claim everything forcefully. However, after knowing the existence of unique classes and these goblin’s strange behavior, I abandoned that idea.

“Are you sure about it, little friend?” Logier seemed to have been taken aback by my declaration. Since the moment he made that deal with me, he mentally prepared himself to fight on my terms, not as freely as they used to do. Orcs are a proud race and love to fight on their terms. They never listen to someone else. If not for the extinction he was faced by the hands of Bloodyvores, Logier would have never allowed me to command his army.

“Yes. I have said it now, aren’t I? This is just me testing the waters. I want to gauge these green shits’ reaction to such a troop. Therefore, you guys can go as wild as possible, but… only a hundred warriors are to participate in this battle. Logier, you are not allowed to go as well.”

“What? Why can’t I?” As expected, this dumb chief raised his voice. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. I could even see the muscles of his face twitching, showing how dissatisfied he was with me.

“You. You are the leader of the tribe. If you go right from the start, what good will that do? I also have different plans for you. In this dire situation, have you ever imagined what will happen to your tribe if something happens to you?” I am normally a mild-tempered guy. No matter what difficulties I face, I would never bang my head or show extreme reactions. But, the responsibility of a huge tribe’s survival was just too heavy. A single misstep and many would die. I am not that cold-hearted to shrug-off such a thing. Besides, this Logier, these few days we spend together, a form of the bond was created between us. It can’t be identified as friendship yet, but more like, allies fighting for the same cause.

“I see. All right. I will listen to you.” Thankfully, Logier wasn’t that hard-headed. He backed away easily after hearing me. I guess, he wasn’t that careless after all. Even monsters with their limited IQ could be responsible when their survival is at stake.

Pointing my leathery finger towards the one whom I used as an example, his name, I still haven’t asked, “You will lead this expedition. Remember; don’t let a single of your tribesmen die. Don’t bother about honor; you must prioritize your survival first.”

“Y, yes” he stammered and I could see his shoulders shaking a bit when he answered me. I guess, the trauma was more severe than I thought.

“Good. Now go wild!” I shouted while waving my hand across.

“YES!!” they shouted loudly and ran towards the goblin’s habitat with their respective weapons in tow.

I followed behind with Logier, as a spectator to this first clash. The appearance of so many orcs on the hallway seems to have alerted the goblin tribe. They have stationed some powerful looking goblins together with a huge number of small and mid-sized goblins, naked, with poles of varying shape and size behind their backs.

It seems I have never fully gone into details about the goblin's habitat. Allow me to explain the first floor fully in detail here. Right after the entrance to the first floor, there would be a huge hall-like room. To one end of the hall, directly opposite to the main gate, was the entrance corridor that marked the pathway to goblins’ habitat. Right beside the entrance corridor was the stairs to the second floor. Now going through the corridor, after walking a certain distance, another two hallway doors would appear. The place I was reincarnated into happens to be inside one of those dead-end hallways. Going further ahead, the goblins’ habitat and the true first floor would appear.

The first floor was nothing but a huge humid forest with damp grounds. This also served the best place for goblins to fester. Although I haven’t seen lands beyond the mouth of the forest, I am sure the rest would be exactly like a typical rainforest. In any case, due to various considerations, I didn’t go with my earlier plans of all-out confrontation.

The orcs marched into the forest and faced the first obstacle. The troops stationed at the mouth, although looked strong and intimidating, their formation was all over the place. They were like a group of thugs standing wherever they wish to. In comparison, perhaps due to a race with a higher affinity towards war, the orcs were walking in a neat maintained line.

Leading them was Gyuk, the orc whom I used to make an example out of. He looked very happy to go fight and his ability to lead was good. At least, he was better than me. Gyuk led the group of hundred and charged directly into the enemy territory like an unstoppable force. They trampled through the enemy barricade, killing and smashing everything in their way. Even the stronger looking goblins, who gave Logier so much trouble, were no problem for this group. They were easily taken care of.

The battle didn’t even last for more than an hour before the goblins were toppled over, and, orc force successfully had a foothold in their new territory. It was a very happy occasion and the orc force celebrated by feasting on goblin flesh.

However,

I was not happy. Not in the slightest!

We were fighting in the enemy territory where they had all the advantages. Yet, they only sent around a thousand goblins led by fifty bulky ones. That’s it! Even when the goblins were pushed back, they still didn’t send reinforcements.

Why is that?

Either, goblins weren’t as united as I have thought, or, this was the work of a ‘unique class’ monster. Both the possibilities I couldn’t put out of the table, thus, I was not in the mood to celebrate. Among these two possibilities, one was good while others were bad news.

“You are not gonna celebrate with us?” Logier came walking towards me, holding a huge piece of goblin skewer in his right hands. Taking a bite out of it, he looked at me, “if you are not going to join us, its gonna spread negative rumors.”

“Say, Logier. Today’s fight, didn’t you find it strange?” I asked. I didn’t have the slightest interest in the party that comprised of eating raw meat and rutting in a corner. Of course, how could I forget about howling madly while rutting?

“You mean about no backup, right?”

“So you also have noticed it. What do you think about it?” Although I wasn’t expecting anything from him, I still asked about it. Sometimes, even talking to a tree would bring people comfort, and this was a monster with some amount of intelligence.

“I don’t know. Perhaps they had something else to attend to.” Logier’s simple answer was very much within my expectations. Hell, I wasn’t expecting anything else than this.

“Haha! You say all the funny things, Logier.”