Resistance Force (1)
“Snort! There’s the Dekum tribe!”
A village of tightly packed huts came into view, much like the one they had seen before. At the sight of a hundred orcs striding proudly toward them with tools in hand, the village’s orcs came out to meet them.
'Looks like about a hundred and fifty.'
Apparently, the orc villages all had fairly similar populations.
A large orc stepped forward and demanded, “Snort! What brings you here?”
“Are you the chieftain here?”
“Snort? A human?”
The orc looked quizzically at Kim Minwoo as he stepped forward, then nodded.
“... That’s right. I am Dekum, the chieftain!”
“Join our resistance force.”
“Resistance force? What’s that?”
“A group out to kill the Witch.”
A murmur swept through the orcs, their eyes widening.
Kill the Witch?
To the orcs, who had suffered oppression for so many years, the Witch’s very name was synonymous with terror. And now someone had shown up out of nowhere saying this—not even an orc, but a human. Naturally, they were bewildered.
Just then, Urkan stepped forward.
“This human is a true warrior who defeated me, Urkan! And he is my senior!”
“Snort? How can a human be your senior?”
“He said the weaker one is the junior!”
“Snort! I only believe what I see for myself!”
Dekum raised his axe.
'Just as I thought.'
When it came to subjugating orcs, proving your strength worked better than talking. And this one didn’t even seem to be a boss like Urkan.
“Come at me.”
He would make this quick.
“Squeeeal!”
A pitiful, piglike squeal soon rang out.
* * *
The Dekum tribe, the Twin Axe tribe, the Stonehead tribe...
He brought every nearby orc tribe under his control.
It wasn’t particularly difficult. He simply arrived with his band of orcs, challenged the chieftain—the village’s finest warrior—to single combat, and defeated him in front of everyone. Then they would swear loyalty. Thanks to that, he already had twelve juniors.
They were everywhere!
What a sight it was, more than a thousand orcs trailing after him like baby birds!
'... I’m going to be seriously busy.'
The sheer amount these guys would eat in a day was already making his head spin.
He checked the faction status.
[Current Resistance Force Status]
[Leader: Kim Minwoo]
[Members: 1 human, 1,322 orcs]
[Level: Clueless Primitives]
[Average Level: 118]
[Food Situation: Very poor]
[Morale: Not bad. Enthralled by their powerful leader.]
[Enemy Alertness: 0 (They do not yet even know the resistance force exists.)]
In just one day, the number of orcs had increased by over a thousand.
Their numbers were still growing even now. News that a great tribe had formed to unite the orcs had brought all the nearby wanderers flocking in.
“Urkan. Gather all the juniors.”
“Snort! Understood!”
Before long, twelve orc chieftains had assembled.
“Snort! Chief Senior! What is it?”
“I heard there’s a flock of cockatrices nearby. Anyone know where?”
Maktun, ranked twelfth among the twelve orcs, raised his hand.
“Snort! I, Maktun, know!”
“Right, youngest. Lead the way.”
“Understood!”
The mass of orcs set off.
“Snort! Meat! Chief Senior said he’d feed us meat!”
“Snort! Cockatrice meat is delicious! I’ve eaten it before!”
“I’m eating some too! I’m hungry!”
An army with no discipline or order, but savage ferocity to spare!
Thanks to that, their morale was overflowing despite heading out to hunt cockatrices at least a hundred levels above them.
Before long, a flock of monsters came into view, roaming the snow-covered land.
They had chickenlike heads and bodies well over three meters tall. Their sharp beaks and pointed talons glinted in the sunlight.
Even at a glance, there were more than a hundred cockatrices.
'A lot of them are going to die today.'
These weren’t monsters they could hunt without casualties. That would hold true even with him joining the battle.
'Survival of the strongest.'
Only the strong would survive. Their ranks would be thinned out, again and again.
“Let’s feast on meat! Charge!”
“Orc! Orc!”
The orcs, who were nothing without their courage, charged forward with axes in hand.
[Summoning Cedric!]
[Summoning Skeletons...]
The skeleton army mingled with the orcs and rushed toward the cockatrices.
The cockatrices had been watching the orcs warily, but their eyes now turned vicious.
COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!
CAAAW!
They were every bit as battle-crazed as the orcs.
The moment the two sides collided—
“Squeal!”
CRUNCH!
CRACK!
Orcs began dying in droves. Each jab of a pointed beak punched a hole through a body, and each kick from those massive legs sent them flying dozens of meters.
But the orcs weren’t taking it lying down.
Urkan’s axe slammed into the head of a cockatrice with a bloodstained beak. Its neck cracked sideways as it thrashed, and orcs swarmed it from every direction.
COOOCK!
With a mournful shriek, the monster disappeared beneath the wave of orcs.
Kim Minwoo was taking on a cockatrice himself.
The orcs did the tanking.
'And I deal the damage.'
The monster looked positively thrilled to death every time he stabbed it in the ass.
'I deserve at least this much of a free ride.'
Otherwise, what was the point of raising an army?
After thirty minutes of fierce combat, they finished hunting the flock.
[Your level increases by 2.]
[The skeleton army’s average level rises to 20!]
[The skeleton army’s combat experience increases greatly!]
[Accumulated combat experience creates a new skill!]
[Your skeletons can now use Melee Weapon Proficiency (F)!]
[The skeleton mage army’s combat experience...]
'Huh?'
He rubbed his eyes.
There was nothing particularly strange about them accumulating combat experience. That was thanks to the effects of Death Lord and Cedric’s title.
But...
'The skeletons created a skill?'
That was a benefit he had never imagined. After all, skeletons were bottom-tier summons available at level one.
Hunting would raise their levels, but they were still just skeletons. With no real ability to learn, their combat instincts remained terrible.
That was why they were usually used as meat shields.
Swarm the enemy and flail away.
Something was bound to land eventually.
That was more or less their purpose.
And yet these things had created a skill?
That was a feat he would only expect from high-level awakeners.
“O great Death Lord...”
Just how far did your powers go?
Kim Minwoo made up his mind. From this day forth, he and the Death Lord would be one.
He inspected Summon Skeleton.
[Summon Skeleton (F) +9]
[This skill has been enhanced to its limit.]
[Consumes 10 mana to summon 2 (1+1) LV20 skeletons.]
[* Possesses Melee Weapon Proficiency (F).]
[Melee Weapon Proficiency (F): Increases damage dealt with all melee weapons by 10%.]
'Oh, hell yes!'
This was insane.
Giving them all those different weapons had paid off.
Still...
'Being happy is one thing.'
At times like this, a gamer couldn’t merely celebrate. He had to analyze the underlying cause.
Why had the skill appeared?
'Because I summoned so many?'
Collective intelligence was a frightening thing.
Even if each skeleton could only learn as well as an ordinary person, hundreds of them together would be more efficient.
Hundreds of skeletons swinging and thrusting their weapons. If all that experience had been pooled and turned into a skill in one go, it made perfect sense.
'Wait a second.'
Suddenly, a staggering possibility occurred to him.
“This ability to learn... does it have to be limited to combat?”
Learning ability.
Literally, the ability to learn.
He had thrown the skeletons into battle because he associated them with meat shields. But there was no reason that had to be their only use.
'What if they learned crafting skills?'
Smithing, alchemy, whatever. Anything would do.
If they learned through collective intelligence, wouldn’t the relevant skills develop quickly?
'It’s definitely worth trying.'
Their current situation was a perfect example.
The orcs’ equipment was sorely lacking. He had handed out spare equipment from his inventory as a stopgap, but equipping over a thousand orcs remained a distant prospect.
Most had a single axe and a pair of leather underpants. Those with a bit of rank at least had whole hides wrapped around their bodies.
It was no wonder they had been rated Clueless Primitives.
Orcs wearing nothing but underpants.
If his skeletons had possessed even one crafting skill, they could have avoided this sorry state. They could have made something out of the hides, feathers, and other materials they had just acquired.
But as things stood?
They didn’t have a single crafter.
All they could make from the hides was ragged equipment without a single bonus effect. At best, it would offer a little defense and do a crude job of keeping them warm.
'And we’re in a situation where we have to settle for even that... '
He looked at the orcs.
“Strip off the hides and feathers, and collect them along with the bones!”
“Orc!”
The orcs began skinning the cockatrices with their axes, drooling at the thought of eating meat. Nearly two hundred of their kin had been wiped out in a single battle, but their fighting spirit was undiminished.
“All the chieftains, gather round!”
“Snort! Urkan is here!”
“Dekum is here!”
The chieftains hurried over.
“Where’s the youngest?”
“Snort. Maktun is dead! Now I, Palkun, am the youngest!”
“... Oh. Right.”
“Snort! Don’t be sad, Chief Senior. Dying in battle is a blessing. To us, sorrow is an insult!”
He nodded.
Just as they said, dying in battle was a blessing to orcs. What they feared instead was growing weak and dying of old age.
“Roast only half the meat. Wrap the rest in hides and store it.”
“Snort! We’re hungry! That won’t fill us up!”
“Hey. Talking back to your senior?”
“... Understood. We’ll store half!”
Urkan, his second-in-command, immediately turned meek. The other chieftains bowed their heads one after another like dominoes.
He wanted to let them eat their fill, but that would be a shortcut to ruin.
There were only so many monsters. If they stuffed themselves every single day, they would soon be starving.
'I need to get their average level up to at least 150... '
And he would need at least ten thousand of them, too.
That was the bare minimum if they were going to stand a chance against the fortress’s monsters.
He looked at the average level on the faction status. This battle had raised it from 118 to 122.
'... Still a long way to go.'
As the meat sizzled and the smell of roasting flesh wafted through the air, small figures began appearing in the distance.
'Hmm?'
He narrowed his eyes and focused.
“... Dwarves?”
A group of small dwarves was approaching them.
The orcs’ eyes filled with wariness, suggesting the two races weren’t on friendly terms.
“Snort! It’s the runts!”
Some of the more hotheaded ones were already tightening their grips on their axes.
“Enough!”
“...”
“I’ll go talk to them. Keep eating your meat.”
He rose to his feet.
Soon, he was close enough to make out the dwarves’ faces clearly.
“Human! We wish to speak with you!”
“State your identity and purpose.”
“I am Turon, chieftain of the Black Rock tribe! We heard you clashed with the Corpse Collectors. Is that true?”
“It is.”
A brief commotion broke out among the dwarves. It soon subsided, and Turon walked forward.
“They said there was a mad human resisting the Witch. So that was you?”
“How did you find out?”
Turon grinned and pulled a telescope from inside his clothes.
“A device for seeing far away. We’ve been keeping an eye on the orcs’ movements. A scout told me a human had not only slaughtered the Corpse Collectors, but was rallying the orcs as well.”
“...”
Minwoo held his tongue.
The party in need would always state their business first. Right now, that was the dwarves who had come looking for him.
Then Turon’s expression grew serious.
“The Witch has begun disposing of us. Refugees told us three tribes have already been wiped out. They also said an army would be coming our way soon.”
“I know. The same thing nearly happened to the orcs.”
Turon nodded.
“Our business is simple. If you truly are resisting the Witch... we would like to stand with you.”
“You don’t seem to get along with the orcs. Will that be all right?”
Turon smiled bitterly.
“What race can afford to be picky when faced with hunger? It’s true we’ve clashed over food. But that’s not what matters now. We’re willing to cooperate fully.”
“Cooperate how?”
“To be honest, fighting isn’t our strength. But we’re damned good at making equipment. We’ll supply arms and armor. In return, we want protection and food.”
“That sounds like a good offer.”
Minwoo smiled.
The orcs were courageous, but poorly equipped. The dwarves were terrible fighters, but specialists in crafting arms and armor.
A symbiotic relationship in which each could compensate for the other’s weaknesses.
They even shared the same enemy.
There was no reason not to join forces.
'And besides... '
He could use this opportunity to have his skeletons learn crafting skills.
From the finest teachers imaginable: dwarves.
He clasped Turon’s hand.
They grinned at each other.
