The Indomitable Martial King

Kalken, a highly esteemed warrior among the orcs, lent significant weight to his message. The Dirt Boar Clan, belonging to the Green Orc lineage, and the Grey Hawk Tribe, of the Grey Orc lineage, were the first to respond and gathered at the Gloten Mountain Range. Following them, most of the orcs living in Deathland, including the White Wolf Tribe and the Black Coyote Tribe, converged on the Gloten Mountain Range in search of new, fertile lands.

As the orcs began to move in large numbers, the humans of the Central Fetland Plain quickly reacted.

At first, they treated it as a routine occurrence. It wasn’t unusual for large groups of orcs from Deathland to appear in the Fetland Plain. Therefore, they contacted the nobles of the nearby Crovence and Vasily Kingdoms as usual.

– A lot of orc slaves are gathered here. Come and collect them.

Typically, this would result in the nobles of the kingdoms arriving with plenty of knights and mages to eliminate the orcs and take them as slaves. During this process, the nomadic tribes of the Fetland Plain could also earn a tidy profit, even celebrating the opportunity to make money.

However, this time the situation was different. All the nobles uniformly rejected the proposals from the nomadic tribes.

– Those are not slaves. Didn’t you see the flag, the flag?

Although the response was elegantly and elaborately written, befitting nobles, its essence was summarized as such. It was then that the humans of the Fetland Plain realized that the current situation was different from usual.

Those orcs carried a flag bearing a single emblem.

Unlike the usual emblems that featured lions or dragons, the emblem on that flag was quite peculiar. The four corners were divided into green, grey, red, and blue, with a golden fist (!) planted firmly in the center. It was truly an emblem of utmost tackiness.

However, it made it easy to recognize. Even the slow-witted people of the Fetland Plain had heard the story that Fist King Repenhardt had founded the Duchy of Antares.

Unlike before, the disturbance caused by those orcs was clearly a territorial war waged by the Duchy of Antares.

Naturally, from the perspective of the nobility of the Kingdom of Crovence, they could not intervene.

There was no noble who did not know how much the current King of Crovence, Yubel II, favored Repenhardt. They had also clearly witnessed how many Aura Users were in the Duchy of Antares during the civil war. It was not a force that a single lord or two could dare challenge.

The nobles of the Vasily Kingdom felt the same.

If the orcs had been causing trouble as before, they could have at least had the justification of dealing with a threat to humanity, but this was clearly a war of territorial expansion, wasn’t it? The risks were great, while both the gains and the justification were nonexistent.

Meanwhile, the orcs steadily expanded their influence. All the mountain tribes of the Gloten Mountain Range had already fallen under the control of the Duchy of Antares, and their reach extended to the Fetland Plain.

As the situation grew dire, even the nomadic tribes of the Fetland Plain were jolted awake.

A grand council was held. The chieftains of the various tribes scattered across the plain gathered to discuss countermeasures.

Those who were familiar with the stories of the Fist King and were close to the Gloten Mountain Range suggested surrendering. Those who were farther away insisted on gathering their strength to fight.

In the end, the war faction prevailed, and all the nomadic tribes united. Their number was a staggering ten thousand, an unprecedented large army in the history of the Fetland Plain.

* * *

“Under the banner of Antares, surrender! Those who swear loyalty will be promised good treatment!”

At Sir Azrael’s voice, Langot shouted back in fury.

“Don’t be ridiculous! We are the free people of the plains! We will never submit to anyone!”

Langot turned his head and shouted at the soldiers of Fetland.

“Fight! Sons of the plains! For our freedom!”

The soldiers, too, raised their voices in high spirits.

“For our freedom!”

“For freedom!”

Their resounding cries shook the plains. Russ, watching the scene from atop his horse, nodded.

“A noble cry.”

Those shouting for freedom certainly appeared to be standing against oppressors.

“Noble indeed… but it’s not something for those who’ve been oppressing others’ freedom and selling them into slavery to shout.”

Russ laughed abruptly as he spoke. He found it strange how he now had no difficulty thinking of other races as people. He marveled at how much he had changed.

Standing in front of the orcs, Kalken drew his greatsword and shouted.

“Brothers! Are you ready?”

A thundering roar responded.

“We are ready! Karuga Kalken!”

Countless orcs shouted in unison. Among the howling cries of the orcs, Kalken raised his voice.

“It has been long years of humiliation! Now is the time to turn those years back!”

Vwooong!

A bright green aura flowed along his greatsword, illuminating the surroundings. Following that, other blade auras began to rise from various places in the vanguard.

Kinzir, the chieftain of the Dirt Boar Clan.

Hadatoum, the chieftain of the Grey Hawk Tribe.

They were chieftains of orc tribes blessed by the spirit of combat.

Russ also drew his sword. A clear blue aura, like the sky, flowed brightly along his longsword.

Piercing the sky of the plains, Kalken declared the commencement of battle.

“Charge!”

With battle cries, the orc warriors began to bravely rush towards the battlefield.

Five hundred orc warriors on direwolves charged at the Fetland army with a force that seemed capable of sweeping the earth. Behind them, thousands of orc infantry followed. Though they had yet to master Spirits Weapons and were not recognized as warriors, each possessed strength comparable to an average human knight.

Leading the charge were three orc champions, Kalken, Kinzir, and Hadatoum. Each displayed their distinct blade auras, advancing relentlessly towards the enemy lines.

Watching the ominous lights of destruction, Langot involuntarily swallowed hard.

“Damn… so it’s true that there are orcs in the Duchy of Antares who can use aura.”

Like mercenaries, the people of Fetland, though rugged, lacked systematic martial arts and had no aura users.

Langot shouted in fury.

“Bring forth the mages! Quickly!”

Soon, ten mages appeared at the front of the Fetland army. Each mage began casting, forming hand seals.

“Wor Lagas Efre Apein…”

“Sands of sleep, flow through the void…”

“Fall here at my touch…”

These were mages hired by the Fetland army. Unable to receive cooperation from the kingdom’s nobility, they had paid a large sum to the Magic Tower to summon them. Unlike the kingdom’s citizens beyond the mountains, the people of Fetland, who often clashed with orcs, knew well how vulnerable orcs were to magic.

“No matter how much of an aura user they are, an orc is just an orc. They won’t withstand magic.”

Langot watched the unfolding situation with hopeful eyes. The mages simultaneously unleashed their spells.

“Mass Sleep!”

The wide-area sleep spell spread, covering the three leading orc champions. At that moment, a resonant prayer echoed through the battlefield.

“Al Fort, your servant beseeches you to protect their minds!”

A faint silver light flickered across the army, and an invisible anti-magic force permeated throughout. The activated spell was blocked and dissipated by the anti-magic force.

Langot shouted in alarm.

“What, what is this?”

Only then did Langot notice another race among the orcs.

Dwarves.

Serving Al Fort, a dozen dwarven priests from the Grand Forge were interspersed among the army, bestowing their blessings. The dwarven priests continued their prayers, extending the anti-magic barrier widely.

“Al Fort, your veil wraps the void, freeing us from this deceit…”

The blessing of Al Fort slowly spread to all three thousand orcs.

Though there were only about ten dwarven priests, they didn’t provide some overwhelming magic immunity, just an ordinary level of magic resistance akin to that of a human. Even a small number of them could sufficiently support the entire orc army.

The mages shouted in confusion.

“Hey! This isn’t what we were told!”

“They said a simple Mass Sleep would easily take them down!”

Langot’s expression turned to one of sudden realization.

“Th-this can’t be!”

They hadn’t considered the fact that they had never experienced a large-scale war before. This was not just a mere horde of orcs but the army of the Duchy of Antares. There was no way Repenhardt would be unaware of the orcs’ weaknesses and, naturally, he would have prepared countermeasures.

“Eek!”

“Help!”

The terrified mages quickly turned their backs and began to flee. Despite being hired at great expense, they were merely 4th or 5th circle mages. High-level mages wouldn’t come to such a remote place no matter how much money was offered.

“Raaaargh!”

With battle cries, the orcs rapidly overwhelmed the Fetland army like a tidal wave. The sound of clashing metal echoed everywhere.

At the forefront, diving into the enemy lines, Kalken shouted.

“Go! Descendants of brave warriors! Our great ancestors are watching over us!”

The orcs swung their weapons, each invoking the name of their ancestor.

“Mautum watches over me!”

“Balut! I offer their blood to you!”

Orcs did not originally worship any gods. They followed the teachings of their great ancestors, believing that the spirits of their forebears watched over them from the heavens.

Therefore, orcs had no priests, and due to their constitution, they could not become mages. Having no anti-magic power, they naturally couldn’t handle magic. Even if they had anti-magic power, it would still be impossible for orcs to wield magic due to their mindset.

“Batala! Protect your son!”

Invoking the blessings of their ancestors, the orcs ravaged the Fetland army. Human soldiers of Antares, led by Sir Azrael, provided support with arrows. Hundreds of Spirits Weapons sliced through the air, and arrows rained down like a storm. Though the Fetland warriors fought bravely, risking their lives, the tide of battle gradually turned in favor of Antares.

The battle that began when the sun was at its zenith ended before it set.

As the number of corpses grew and the ranks collapsed with an influx of deserters, the Fetland army eventually raised the white flag after the death of Langot and most of the commanders.

Holding Langot’s severed head, Kalken declared to the entire battlefield.

“Raise your voices! We have won!”

The orc warriors simultaneously threw their weapons. Hundreds of weapons, guided by the Spirits Weapons, floated into the sky and remained suspended in midair.

The orcs puffed out their chests and roared.

“Uraaah!”

Under the brilliant sky filled with swords, endless victorious shouts erupted.

* * *

The darkened plains of Fetland were illuminated by hundreds of military tents. These were leather tents, uniquely orcish, made from the tanned hides of monsters.

Adorned with the symbols of each tribe, these tents appeared incredibly sturdy despite being temporary. In fact, they were no different from the orcs’ regular homes.

As nomadic people, orcs usually lived in such portable houses. For them, a house was merely another piece of furniture that could always be carried, making the concept of a temporary dwelling non-existent.

Though made of leather, the tents’ strength and comfort rivaled that of human homes. The softly tanned leather effectively blocked the chill of the plains and efficiently retained internal heat. Their durability was also exceptional, allowing most leather tents to be passed down through generations. Human tanners couldn’t hope to match this level of craftsmanship.

Just as dwarves excelled in handling stone and metal, orcs possessed unparalleled skills in working with leather. Not only were these leather tents impressive, but other leather-crafted items also boasted remarkable quality. While dwarven-made steel armor and weapons were unmatched, no one could rival the orcs’ expertise in leather armor and other leather goods.

In this enormous encampment, resembling a small village, orc and human soldiers of Antares celebrated their victory with drink and song.