Praise the Orc! Chapter 109:
Chapter 109 – Great Northern War (5)
Emeranian completely defeated the enemy . At Juora, the leader of the orc forces, Akhu was defeated and killed in a one-on-one fight, causing the morale of the orcs to drop catastrophically . The progress slowed and the orcs waited for the main army without further attacks
Nuridot was devastated . Some survivors fled to other cities or the Luklan Mountains, but most lost their lives there .
In another city called Yekator, located on the outskirts of the dark elf territory, street fighting was taking place .
***
“Hopeless,” said Jaluten the dark elf as he cut one of the orc’s necks . “We have to join the main forces at Juora . ”
“There are still a lot of citizens remaining . ”
“There is nothing we can do . ”
The dark elves following him had already reduced in number . Their fighting spirit was lost and their morale was at an all-time low . It was the same for him as well .
“But how can we leave them alone?”
Jaluten looked at the face of a young dark elf . It was a person who still had his sense of justice .
“I’d rather die fighting . ”
Jaluten shook his head . “It is a dog’s death . Remember what happened today . Then later on, we will get a bigger revenge on them . ”
He looked back . The city was burning . The landscape that their ancestors had lived in for generations had now become distorted and turned to ashes . Their friends, family, and neighbors had been split apart by axes .
Jaluten grabbed the young dark elf’s shoulder .
“Jaluten…”
His hands were shaking . Jaluten stared into the eyes of the young dark elf and said,”Through any means, get revenge . ”
He closed his eyes and nodded .
Yekator had fallen . The dark elves resisted using the city’s buildings as shields, but the orc’s axes broke their heads without any mercy . They slaughtered and looted like it was a game .
They asked a question . Execution or slavery . Those who chose slavery were cut in the ankles and forced to crawl . Execution literally meant their heads being split apart .
Hell was currently occurring . The dark elf Jaluten and his followers resisted to the end, but eventually had to watch the whole city burn .
“Go out from the rear wall . There will be caruks in the old barn behind the garrison . Go to Juora or Emeranian . ”
They moved quickly . Jaluten knew better than anyone else . They ran while voiding the eyes of the orcs . It was towards the back road leading outside the walls .
At that moment .
“Rats still remain!”
An orc stood blocking them . Jaluten gave strength to the hand holding the long sword . He couldn’t waste time . He had to kill this orc at once . But he sighed as he saw more soldiers emerge from behind the orc .
“Are they the last ones?”
They were warriors of the Great Clan .
The one in the front was a monster who wielded his axe and defeated any dark elf . It was far above the attack power of any other orc here and he had a strong commitment to victory .
He stared at Jaluten . “You are moderately interesting . ”
Jaluten whispered to the one behind him, “I will block them, so run away . ”
“But…”
“It isn’t enough . ”
Jaluten looked at the dark elf following him . It was a peaceful age . But Jaluten had known that such a day would come . He raised warriors hoping it wouldn’t happen in his era . They were his heritage . They were young people who insisted on committing themselves to a penance that no one wanted to do .
“For my sake, go,” whispered Jaluten . “Keep this in mind . Never die a dog’s death . Take revenge with all your might . ”
It was his last testament . That determination was passed onto the dark elf . It was enough .
Jaluten rushed towards the warriors with his sword . Meanwhile, the dark elf received his signal and ran away . Orcs tried to chase after him but Jaluten stopped them with his sword . The long sword danced through the air . But it didn’t last for long . A big spear pierced his abdomen . Blood emerged . An axe cut his shoulder . His whole scapula was removed .
Jaluten staggered with his eyes wide open . Now his body wasn’t listening to him . His legs cramped . He was bleeding from the nose and the mouth .
“Kulkul, I admire your effort but it is over . I’ll show you . ”
A warrior grabbed his hair and pulled him . Jaluten’s spirit was plummeting towards death . A black curtain was coming down from above his head .
“Look at that . ”
Jaluten opened his eyes . The runaway dark elf had been torn down by the orcs waiting . Screams were heard from far away .
“You didn’t do anything . ” The orc smiled . “It was all in vain . The whole thing . ”
As he said that, he twisted Jaluten’s neck .
Crunch .
Jaluten died .
124 years old . From an early age, he had held a sword behind his father . As a young man, he had no opponents in the city then he became a teacher to the young dark elves when he became older . He needed strength in order to protect the peace and watched out for the orcs . On the day that Yekator was captured, he died with his followers .
His eyes failed to detect it .
***
“His eyes didn’t see it,” Crockta said .
He closed the elf’s eyes . He didn’t know who the dark elf was . Based on the long sword, he seemed to resist until the end . He was a corpse on the outskirts of the city, along with another dark elf holding a sword .
Crockta prayed for him .
“We were too late . ”
They had come from Emeranian towards Juora and then Yekator . Nuridot had already been completely destroyed and a defensive line was established to fend them off . They heard that Yekator was still fighting, but only found a ruined city and many dark elf corpses when they arrived .
The orcs occupying this place retreated without a fight . They were waiting for reinforcements . The orcs of the Great Clan were heading north . Two cities had been devastated by just an advance vanguard . The main army led by the great chieftain had much greater numbers . The real war hadn’t started yet .
“It is hard to stay here for a long time . The gates are destroyed,” Caska said . She was the dark elf commanding the troops . Crockta’s party was under her command as a type of mercenary .
“The nearby villages have evacuated… Now what?”
Caska sighed . The more she thought about it, the more impossible victory seemed . The dark elves weren’t a match, both in numbers and the quality of the soldiers . Orcs were used to battle and seemed prepared for war . The only hope for the dark elves was hiding behind the walls and enduring a siege .
“How horrible . ”
They wanted to collect the bodies of the dark elves to be burned, but it was too much . There were no intact bodies . Rather than corpses, it was more like body parts scattered all over the city . Some dark elves were nauseous .
Crockta’s face stiffened as he looked at the dead . Most of them weren’t carrying weapons . Young children, women, the elderly, all of them were dead . Some of them had their ankles cut off and were crawling somewhere . It was a thoroughly devastating trail .
That wasn’t the end . All the dark elves didn’t have ears, like they were taken as souvenirs . There were no bodies with their ears intact, and sometimes there were a bunch of ears on the ground .
It was a slaughter just for slaughter .
Crockta decided not to think of them as orcs . They weren’t orcs . It was totally different from the orcs living in honor on the continent .
“Where is the great chieftain?”
Crockta asked Caska . She flinched and opened her map . “According to the reconnaissance, he will reach the defense line a week later .
Crockta nodded .
Removing the great chieftain was the most important task . The source of all of this was the great chieftain . He was the one who brought together the orcs of the Great Clan and decided that they would take control of the north .
After unifying the north, they would strike at the continent . After he came, the real battle would take place .
“Caska . ”
“Yes . ”
“I would like to suggest an operation . ”
“What is it?”
Crockta thought with his arms folded . They must attack the enemy . Hit a point that the enemy could never imagine . It was the most important point . And he was a man who had always been mobilized for such an operation .
“A raid consisting of a small number of elites . ”
“The goal?”
“The great chieftain . ”
Caska’s eyes widened . “What?”
“The dark elves are basically just trying to survive . Who would’ve imagined that we would hit the great chieftain with a surprise raid?”
“No . ”
“The enemy will never think about it . ”
“Do you know why? The success rate is low! Don’t even think about it . It is ridiculous . Nonsense . ”
“Then the dark elves will be ruined . ”
“……”
Crockta closed his eyes . Then he opened them again .
[Grey God’s Eyes (Outside the Ratings) has been activated . ]
He didn’t like this skill . There was a sense of repulsion in seeing someone’s lifespan . It was natural to live and die . It was unnatural to force it . It was presumptuous to try and counteract it . So he had sealed it after he first used it at Nameragon .
But,
Crockta closed his eyes again after seeing the numbers floating above their heads . He didn’t want to see anymore . The numbers above the heads of the dark elves were all different, but they pointed to a similar future .
A massacre . They would all be slaughtered .
“Caska, do you have a way to contact Zelkian?”
“Zelkian?”
“I have something to say to him . ”
Crockta’s eyes sunk .
His instincts were telling him . There was only one method to win this war . Other operations and tactics would lead to defeat .
It was the only way .
Assassinate the great chieftain .
***
“Grr… . ”
A beastlike sound emerged from the mouth of an orc .
“How are you feeling?”
“Good . ”
He got up . His body, which was originally big, had become larger . He was big enough to make other orcs seemed like a kid, and powerful enough to swing his axe with one hand . The word monster suited Calmahart, great chieftain of the orcs .
“We march again tomorrow . Increase the speed . Arrive as early as possible . ”
“I understand . ”
“As quickly as possible . Within 5 days . ”
“Yes . ”
He sat on a throne . It was a newly created one in order to accommodate his larger size . It was decorated with the skulls of the enemies he killed, and the slaves were forced to carry it during the march .
Calmahart smiled .
“Shaman . Your fate reading?”
“Huhuhu, my reading of your fate is always the same . ” The shaman bowed his head . “You will win the north . Everyone will be killed before your armed forces . ”
“Kuk kuk, is that so?”
The great chieftain grabbed his armrests .
“That…haha . ”
He used strength and tore off the armrests . Then he threw them . The armrests rolled to the side of the shaman .
“There is no one who will entertain me . ”
“Let’s see…”
“I want something unexpected . ”
He grinned .
“Yes, like now . I hope someone will open that door in a surprise attack . No, tomorrow would be good . I want someone to swing their sword towards me neck while I’m sleeping . When I arrive at the dark elves, I want all my troops to be destroyed . ”
“……”
“Do you know why I want to go to the continent?”
“How can I know?”
“I have no opponents in the north . ” Calmahart buried himself deep into the throne . “I hope to find an opponent . An opponent who can make me struggle . ”
The shaman laughed . Then he bowed deeply .
“I’m sure you will find it . Of course, you will always win . ”
The shaman closed his eyes . The future of Calmahart that he saw was always the same .
Death, killing, slaughter, and victory . He never saw defeat in his future .
Calmahart was the brightest star he knew . There were no doubts about the future .