Festival (1)

Meat roasted in great quantities amid towering flames. Dwarves, elves, and orcs alike had gathered, all digging into the food.

“Chwik! Pork delicious!”

“Ahh! Canned beer, was it? This stuff is absolutely incredible!”

Nearly eight thousand people ate and chattered to their hearts’ content, yet the food never dwindled. Kim Minwoo was chewing on some meat beside a bonfire himself.

'Not bad.'

He had brought plenty of seasonings like salt and pepper, so the meat was thoroughly seasoned.

He looked over at the elves. They did eat meat, but by nature, they preferred fruit and vegetables. Perhaps that was why every one of them was holding a banana or an ear of corn. Fortunately, they seemed to be enjoying the food.

Just then...

His eyes met Elise’s as she nibbled on some corn. She stood up and approached him.

“This is delicious. It makes me want to try growing it once the weather warms up.”

“Then take a look at this.”

He handed her a book explaining how to grow the seeds he had brought.

Gates were fragments of other worlds. Naturally, their languages and writing systems were entirely different, yet people could still understand one another. The same applied to the writing in books. Aside from a few special cases, most speech and writing were interpreted and translated automatically.

This particular book was even packed with annotations in simple language to make it easy to understand. Elise opened it and nodded.

“Fascinating. There are so many seeds I’ve never seen before.”

“They’re from another world, after all.”

“Is your world peaceful?”

“To a degree?”

“... I’m a little envious.”

“This world will be peaceful too.”

He would clear it, after all.

Elise’s face darkened slightly at his words.

“We may be able to defeat the Apostle. But the Witch and the Ice Dragon... They’re on an entirely different level.”

“I know.”

“Can we defeat beings like that?”

“There’s a saying in my world. Nothing is impossible.”

He meant that literally. Every gate had a way to clear it, and there wasn’t necessarily just one path to success.

[“Cold dragon wants cold land. Evil Witch wants fresh corpses. Ice Dragon freezes. Witch gets corpses.”]

He recalled what Bektar had told him.

The Witch wanted corpses. The Ice Dragon wanted cold land. With their interests aligned, how could they not be all smiles? They must have adored each other.

'Until now, it’s been a win-win.'

But what about now? With the entire land frozen and living creatures dying off, could the Witch really be happy? If the cold continued like this, all life would be wiped out.

'The benefits are getting lopsided.'

The Ice Dragon was still making out like a bandit. But the Witch would start finding the arrangement less appealing. The supply of corpses itself would dwindle.

'That must be why she started disposing of them.'

With no other source of corpses left, she wanted one final haul.

Desire was where every rift began. And right now...

'The stage is set to try playing on the Witch’s desires.'

The Witch and the Ice Dragon. If those two joined forces, things would obviously become extremely difficult. But if he could face just one of them...

'That would be much more manageable.'

First, though, he had to take down the Apostle.

* * *

“Wh-what is going on?”

Belitas blinked, utterly bewildered.

The news of the festival had convinced him victory was assured. He had thoroughly reinforced the fortress’s defenses.

Day three.

They should be running out of food by now.

Day four.

Surely they’ll come today.

Day five.

The festival is still going?

Day six.

They’ve already gathered over fifteen thousand orcs? If we march out now, we’ll be the ones getting surrounded and devoured!

Day seven.

'How much longer are they going to keep partying?!'

They were lunatics. Word came that the orcs now numbered over twenty thousand. And they weren’t even being stingy with the food. They were feeding those voracious orcs until their bellies nearly burst. Yet the festival was still going!

With every passing day, the horde of orcs swelled like mad.

'Now we can’t even leave.'

Belitas broke into a cold sweat.

The orcs might be far lower in level than the fortress’s troops, but no amount of strength could overcome sheer numbers. Without the fortress’s protection, defeat was certain.

'If the festival lasts just two more days... we won’t be able to stop them.'

Now five or six thousand more were flocking there every day. Once the orcs exceeded thirty thousand, even the fortress wouldn’t save him from destruction.

Damn it!

Asking the other Apostles for help posed too many problems. Every one of them was a rival vying for the Witch’s favor. Even if he humbled himself, they would never give him proper assistance.

'There’s no other choice.'

He would have to ask the Witch in the central region for help. That was far better than letting the fortress fall.

He took a crystal ball from inside his robe. Light poured from it as he infused it with dark mana.

“G-great Witch. Your humble servant Belitas has contacted you with something to report.”

“What is it?”

Her playful reply sent a shudder through him. The Witch had a colorful personality. In other words, she was a fucking nightmare. She would often be chatting with a smile one moment and abruptly rip off a subordinate’s head the next.

Remembering that, he desperately wished he didn’t have to tell her this, but...

Belitas squeezed his eyes shut and spoke.

“The orcs are stirring. They already number twenty thousand. Marching out to subjugate them is beyond us.”

“And what have you been doing all this time?”

“... My apologies. It is entirely my fault. If you could lend us just a little of your power...”

“I’ll send the Order of Undead Knights. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?”

The Order of Undead Knights. One of the Witch’s finest knightly orders, they were widely rumored to leave nothing but corpses in their wake. Such was the strength of that elite force.

Hope filled Belitas’s eyes.

“Yes! More than enough! I shall sweep away the orcs and offer you the glory of victory!”

“End the call.”

The crystal ball’s connection went dead. Only then could Belitas breathe a sigh of relief.

'If the knights ride through the night, they should arrive in about three days.'

However numerous the orcs were, holding out that long would be no problem. At last, a smile spread across his lips.

* * *

[The number of orcs under your command has exceeded 30,000!]

[Your title, ‘Baby Commander,’ has changed to ‘Professional Commander’!]

The commander title. Earned by commanding large numbers of subordinates, it boosted the morale of the troops under his command.

'The effect’s pretty good, probably because I’ve got thirty thousand.'

A 15% boost to morale. This title would shine in large-scale battles.

That wasn’t the only change.

[‘Takunda’ has been appointed the third commander of ten thousand!]

[Takunda has grown from an orc chieftain into an orc high chieftain!]

For every ten thousand orcs gathered, one chieftain grew into a high chieftain. The growth followed seniority: first Urkan, then Dekum, and finally Takunda.

Every one of them grew larger, their muscles swelling monstrously. Urkan’s growth was particularly striking, as he was the only boss monster among the chieftains. He truly deserved to be called a fighting machine.

Preparations were complete.

“The festival ends here! Now, we attack the fortress!”

“Orc! Orc!”

Having eaten until they were fit to burst and received ample equipment, the orc army’s morale was sky-high. Thirty thousand orcs stood ready, with a small contribution from the elves as well: one hundred archers had joined them.

BOOM! BOOM!

Several orcs beat their drums vigorously, and the vast army set off toward the fortress.

After six hours on the march, an enormous fortress came into view in the distance. Its walls stood roughly fifteen meters high.

Chimeras, Wraith Knights, dark mages, and necromancers swarmed atop them. Minwoo set up a temporary camp and examined the enemy’s composition.

'About three thousand in total.'

But that excluded the troops the enemy necromancers could summon. Including those, the fortress’s defenders would easily exceed five thousand.

The enemy also held an overwhelming advantage in quality, since the orcs’ average level was currently only 151.

'Doesn’t matter.'

There was no victory without sacrifice. He had come prepared to bury around ten thousand of them in the assault on the fortress.

The orcs carrying the many ladders snorted fiercely. They looked ready to charge even into fire the moment he gave the order.

Just then...

“You vermin! Do you think you can defy the Witch and live?!”

A tremendous voice boomed from atop the walls. A human with a long, snow-white beard was shouting at the top of his lungs.

“... That is Belitas. An evil necromancer who killed thousands and earned the Witch’s recognition for his abilities,” Elise whispered as she approached.

'So that’s what he looks like.'

Outwardly, he looked like an ordinary old man. He must be a necromancer with a trick or two up his sleeve. Then the man shouted triumphantly.

“Even vermin like you must have heard of the Order of Undead Knights! Soon, those knights of death will come to take your heads! Hahaha!”

The orcs merely snorted, their demeanor unchanged. The elves, however, were another story.

“The Order of Undead Knights...!”

“The Order of Undead Knights is coming?”

The elves’ eyes darted wildly in apparent terror. Only Elise managed to maintain any semblance of composure.

“Is this Order of Undead Knights strong?”

“... They are one of the knightly orders directly under the Witch. Whenever there was a difficult battle, they would take the field themselves. No one survived their blades.”

So they were that formidable an opponent. He chuckled.

'This is getting interesting.'

A gate’s difficulty was variable. That was especially true of hidden gates, where a single choice changing the difficulty was an everyday occurrence.

If the Order of Undead Knights was that powerful, the difficulty should naturally change as soon as they headed here. Yet the gate’s difficulty was still B-rank. Even the alert level remained unchanged, holding steady at 31.

'It has to be one of two things.'

Either the Order of Undead Knights hadn’t even set out, or they were on their way but had no intention of fighting.

Either way, one thing was certain. The Witch intended to use the Apostle as a disposable pawn.

Until now, he hadn’t been sure just how close the Ice Dragon and the Witch were. But now he had his answer. Those two weren’t particularly close at all.

It was obvious when he considered what surrendering the fortress would mean. If the fortress fell, the north would warm up. The Ice Dragon’s power would weaken. Living creatures would flourish again, setting the stage for a renewed supply of corpses.

If theirs were truly an unbreakable alliance, she would have no reason to act like this. Ultimately, they were only loosely connected by shared interests. That was why she could stab her ally in the back without hesitation.

'Still, she’s keeping within certain limits. Looks like she’s wary of the dragon’s reaction.'

She hadn’t withdrawn the fortress’s troops. She was also sending reinforcements. Those would be her excuses to the Ice Dragon: We tried our best to stop them, but there was nothing we could do. Something along those lines.

'Perfect for driving a wedge between them.'

In any case, unfortunately for Belitas, who was shouting so triumphantly, there was a very good chance no help would be coming.

“Assemble them!”

“Orc!”

They brought out what they had prepared in advance: catapults the dwarves had built by hand from blueprints.

The orcs, who had carried every component with them, began assembling the machines. Five enormous catapults appeared on the battlefield.

They didn’t necessarily have to bring down the fortress with these. Simply draining the defenders’ mana would more than justify the effort.

“Fire!”

Enormous boulders hurtled toward the fortress.