Praise the Orc! Chapter 24:

Chapter 24 – Orcrox Warriors (3)

The orc warriors passed through the giant door, which led into a deep tunnel .

The true dungeon raid started .

The first enemies they met was a group of skeletons at the very beginning of the tunnel . Bones were scattered here and there . There were skulls embedded in the walls, rib bones on the ground, thigh bones, and various other bones strewn about . The orcs passed them without thinking .

However, soon the sound of bones moving could be heard .

The orcs warily looked around . The bones were moving by themselves and assembling together . Dark magic power appeared between the bones to hold the dead bodies together .  They became bony skeleton warriors .  They were the poor undead who died, but couldn’t rest and became the dolls of a necromancer .

Ian raised his greatsword . The skeletons holding weapons started to walk forward .  However, something else caught Ian’s eyes .  The other orcs became silent as they noticed it as well . Their hands were shaking . Ian also had a death grip on his greatsword .

Those bones .  They were revived orc skeletons .  Among the human skeleton soldiers, orc skeleton soldiers approached with axes and halberds, their fragmented helmets sticking to their skulls . It was a miserable appearance without any honor .

The furious orc warriors rushed out at the same time .  The majestic magic of the shamans echoed throughout the cave .

Ian also wielded his greatsword . The movements of the bony warriors were bizarre, but their strength and speed were fearsome . His sword bounced off the ribs of a human skeleton soldier  while the skeleton soldier’s sword aimed at Ian’s neck .

Ian ducked and swung his sword again .  It hit with a loud clang, causing no damage to his opponent .  At that moment, an unknown power nestled in Ian’s body and his greatsword shone with a blue light .

A shaman’s blessing! If this was the case, his attacks would now work .

The blade slammed into the skeleton soldier and its arm was broken . The skeleton soldier reached out to Ian with its remaining hand .  Ian stretched out his hand and grabbed it, his greatsword striking its skull .

The skull cracked into pieces and its strength disappearing from the skeleton’s hand .  All contact between bones was lost as the skeleton soldier collapsed .

One skeleton was taken care of .  Ian wanted time to breathe, but another attack flew towards him .

It was an orc skeleton soldier with its huge axe aimed at Ian’s head . He ducked forward and narrowed the gap .

Ian shouted as he swung his greatsword . The orc skeleton soldier avoided his attack and their weapons collided with each other . Ian wasn’t a match when it came to a battle of strength . The muscular strength of the skeletons soldiers was of a different caliber, due to the dark magic . Ian couldn’t push him away and was instead pushed back .

In the moment that Ian was about to give up the battle of strength…

‘Rest…’ Someone whispered .

Ian raised his gaze .

‘Give me rest…’

It was a faint whisper, like the wind . He didn’t know if he actually heard it with his ears or if it was inside his head, but it gave him a ray of hope .  The eyes of the orc skeleton soldier turned towards Ian . Something was staring at him from the dark hollow where the eyes should’ve been .

The orc skeleton soldier twisted his body, the axe tearing past Ian’s arm .  Blood splattered all over .

“Ugh!”

Red blood covered the face of the orc skeleton soldier .

‘Warrior, for me, honorable rest…’

Ian’s blood ran down the skull of the orc skeleton soldier .  His blood, which fell on the orbital bones, was like the blood of the orc skeleton soldier .

Ian nodded .  Unknown emotions coursed through him .

Ian didn’t know much about Elder Lord .  He didn’t know what type of system it was, nor did he know the reality of Elder Lord . He didn’t know about the artificial intelligence that caused their emotions to resemble humans .

But to Ian, Elder Lord was another world .  Everything that he encountered in Elder Lord seemed like it was living in reality .

The orc warriors around him roared as they fought .  Lenox’s voice in the front encouraged the warriors .  The solemn shamans recited spells for the undead orc warriors .

In front of Ian, the orc skeleton soldier shed bitter tears as he asked for a honorable rest .  If this wasn’t real, then what was reality?

Ian swung his greatsword . He had to cut down this shame of the orcs . The shaman’s spell was nestled in his blade, casting a blue glow over the face of the orc skeleton soldier .

Lenox’s shout rang through the tunnel .

“An honorable rest──────!”

“Rest!”

Ian and all the orcs shouted at the same time .  Ian and the orc skeleton soldier collided .

 

***

“Team Leader-nim, the system is locked . ”

“What, again!?”

“It is in Protect Mode . ”

“What is it this time?”

“This is a new situation . It says that access is temporarily unavailable due to system synchronization . ”

“Dammit!”

Park Jujin threw away the documents that he had been reading .

He looked at the huge white structure floating in the centre of the system control room .  It was a smooth surface with no cracks or openings . This white sphere controlled all of the systems . No, that wasn’t right .

It was ‘Elder Lord’ .  That sphere was the world of Elder Lord itself .  To be precise, it was the main core system, ‘Albino’, that computed and controlled everything in Elder Lord .

Elder Lord was run by the core system Albino .  Nobody knew what logic it operated on, what programs were built into it, and what exactly it was .

This was all the legacy of the genius scientist Yoo Jaehan .  However, he disappeared . Today, there was no one who knew exactly what Albino was . Park Jujin, who inherited control as the genius after Yoo Jaehan, just watched everything as the manager, not the controller .

Those who were called operators and the affiliate of the Myeongsong Group called Elder Saga Corporation didn’t understand what controlled Elder Lord .  They could only use some surface cosmetic features .

“Yoo Jaehan, that bastard…”

Jujin muttered the name of the man he was always following behind . It was no longer envy or jealousy .

“What did you do…?”

Nobody knew how Elder Lord had achieved such a perfect virtual reality .  The roughness of the previous generations of virtual reality games had all disappeared from Elder Lord .  Even Park Jujin couldn’t distinguish if it was the world real or virtual when he first connected . He couldn’t fathom how it was created .

The whole world was going crazy over Elder Lord, but the reality was that it was a mystery .

“Albino . ”

Park Jujin said .  Albino didn’t answer .

“Albino, what is this situation?”

Albino was the system, but it wasn’t under their control . Albino usually ignored their questions and only occasionally answered when it thought that they needed it .  Albino stayed silent .

“Dammit…”

Park Jujin grabbed his head . It was at that moment .

–It is temporarily unavailable due to system user synchronization .

Then Albino opened its mouth .  Her voice was heard . Park Jujin looked at Albino’s white body .  The white system core replied with a distinctive female voice .

-A user’s assimilation rate has temporarily exceeded 90% .  For both the system and the user’s protection, system access is temporarily blocked .

Park Jujin’s mouth dropped open .

“What…?”

Park Jujin fixed his glasses . , confusion flashing across his eyes .  Albino didn’t say anything else .

Park Jujin shouted, “Okay, everybody get off the system and start monitoring!”

“Y-Yes?”

“Check out any user who has this ability! Find the user with an assimilation rate of over 90% . 90%!”

“The number of personnel is lacking…”

“Look for them! The high level kids! Rankers! The ones who originally have a high assimilation rate! Find out if any of them are fighting or are in an urgent situation!”

“Y-Yes!”

“Now find them!”

At Park Jujin’s shout, all of the people in the control room jumped up and ran out .  Now only Albino and Park Jujin were left in the room .

Park Jujin looked up at Albino .  It was a white spherical machine . The system Albino was once again silent . As always, she seemed to be inside her own world .

Park Jujin sighed and picked up the papers that he had thrown away earlier .  The contents of the document entered his eyes .

 

[Request form]

[The above VIP requests detailed information on whether this person is playing Elder Lord and what character he is playing…]

 

Park Jujin threw away the paper again .

“We can’t do that…”

 

***

The orcs descended into the depths of the dungeon .  All of them were reduced to silence .  Among the various undead revived by the forces of darkness, such as zombies and dullahans, orcs were occasionally included .

For orcs, the most important thing was ‘life’ .  Their very greeting involved the topic of life, and their motto, ‘Bul’tar’, was also about life .  For that reason, death was even more sacred to them .  Their lives had to be completed by their deaths .

Now their dead brethren were being insulted by an evil magician . Cold anger filled the hearts of the orcs . Laughter subsided from the orcs’ face and a sharp momentum filled them . The orcs thoroughly crushed the undead in order to give rest to their brethren .

There were occasional injuries among the orc warriors .

“Kuooh…”

An orc warrior who had his arm cut off by an undead mantis sat down and groaned .

The other warriors sprinkled potions on him and fixed the cut section . Finally, the shamans cast a spell of recovery . The wounded area was corrupted, so it was unknown as to how it would heal . Maybe he wouldn’t be able to use his arm again .

Lenox approached .

“Arctar, are you okay?”

“I’m okay Lenox . ”

“Go back to the entrance and wait with the other warriors . ”

“I can still fight! I will keep fighting, even if I die here!”

“Arctar . ”

Lenox grabbed his shoulder .

“This isn’t where you will die . ”

“……”

“Like you always said, it should be in a fair fight against a dragon . ”

“…Kulkulkul . That’s right . ”

“Believe in us and wait . ”

“I understand . I’m sorry Lenox . ”

The wounded orc hugged Lenox and walked towards the entrance of the dungeon .  The orcs who couldn’t fight anymore would wait at the entrance where the death knight had been killed .  There weren’t any dead orcs yet, but their fighting power had already decreased by a third .

“M-Me too…”

“…?”

Grom reached out to Lenox, showing off his injury .  It wasn’t a severe wound . Lenox’s eyebrows went up .

“You are still able to fight . ”

“Well…”

“Apprentice, believe in yourself . ”

“Y-Yes…”

Grom crumpled and returned .

Ian asked Grom, “Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes . Yes . ”

“I saw you fighting well . Go until the end . ”

“Yes…”

Ian cocked his head .

As this dungeon raid progressed, Grom was acting strangely depressed . At first Ian thought that he was just scared of the death knight, but the death knight had been beaten up by the orcs . His mind just seemed to be elsewhere .

Grom followed behind the orc warriors .  Ian walked alongside Grom .

Hoyt spoke from where he was standing in the front with Lenox, “Gather your strength . There isn’t much left . ”

The dungeon capture had just reached the final stage .  They arrived at the end of the tunnel, coming before a huge, spooky door .

There were three death knights standing in front of the door .  They were different from the death knight at the entrance .  A black haze was visible around them and dark energy was being exuded from them .  The entire tunnel shook due to the dark power .

“Fooooooooooooolish ooooooooooooooooooorcs… . ”

It was obvious that they were much stronger than the previous death knight .  The eerie whispers of two voices overlapped and spread out . The noise was loud enough to cause them to forget what they were thinking and gave them goosebumps .

The death knights picked up their swords .  Only three death knights!

However, just one of them gave off an incomparable pressure . Ian forcibly controlled his muscles and headed to the frontline .  The orc warriors also raised their weapons, while the shamans started to chant spells .

The death knights walked forward .  Their legs moved, but with a strange gait, like their legs were slipping along the ground . They narrowed the distance in an instant thanks to that .  The death knights’ swords clashed with the orc warriors .

The orcs were simultaneously thrown back .

Ian avoided the body of an orc warrior and firmly grasped his greatsword, swinging it at a death knight .  Strangely, his body was really light .  The enemy’s attack became really clear .

At that moment, Ian didn’t need anyone else’s support .  Ian’s greatsword shot towards the death knight .