Ch.139Chapter 139: The Decisive Battle in the East (7).

Bwooooooooo-

Bwooooooooo-

So many horn sounds echoed across the vast plain that not a single person or orc among the 1.6 million gathered failed to hear them.

As previously mentioned, the forces of the Oscar Kingdom had divided their troops into two units.

They had precisely split their elite force of 20,000 soldiers into two equal groups of 10,000 each.

Mercenaries were excluded from this arrangement.

No matter how good the pay, nobody wanted to venture deep into enemy territory where the Orc King resided.

However, the Oscar Kingdom had hired skilled magic mercenaries like Raindhee and Martina, paying them extra for their proven abilities and experience.

Valt stood beside King Lient, gazing at the distant horizon.

With his abnormally sharp eyesight, he could see the orcs advancing.

“They’re coming. In tremendous numbers.”

King Lient, though his eyesight wasn’t as good, confirmed this through an expensive telescope.

“Indeed… It’s chilling to see such an enormous force.”

In truth, everyone present knew the orcs were charging toward them, even without directly observing like Valt and King Lient.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-

The footsteps of a million orcs made the earth tremble.

Amid this, Valt had an amusing thought.

‘The earth is truly remarkable, isn’t it? Supporting such vast numbers. Don’t you agree, Noise?’

‘Indeed, Valt. Life cannot exist without the earth.’

Valt smiled at the subtle pride in Noise’s tone.

In this battle too, Valt would need significant help from the earth spirit.

Noise constituted a major portion of Valt’s combat power.

Once, he had wondered if he was relying too much on Noise when creating techniques, but after asking Noise about how long spirits maintain contracts, he stopped worrying about conserving the spirit’s power.

A spirit’s lifespan was essentially that of nature itself.

Valt’s entire lifetime was but a fleeting moment to a spirit. Therefore, spirits never break contracts as long as their contractor lives.

Or rather, they cannot break them—that would be a more accurate description.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-

The sound of approaching orcs grew louder, and magical commands began to be transmitted among the allied forces.

[Commander-in-Chief Zerdin announces! Everyone prepare for battle!]

Since several orders had already been relayed, people weren’t particularly surprised.

Zerdin’s command was primarily directed at the eight countries forming the core of the Eastern Alliance, who were eager to earn merit.

Although more than twenty countries had joined the coalition, only the eight strongest eastern nations were granted the right to stand at the front and claim glory.

[Just manage the mage units properly! I trust everyone knows what to do! All forces! Chaaaaarge!]

Zerdin had delegated even the organization of mage units to the leaders of each country.

Each nation’s magical practices differed subtly in their application.

For example, the Oscar Kingdom preferred supporting with attack magic rather than buffs, while Zerdin’s Lucas Kingdom favored buffing their aura users, who were individually powerful.

This decision was made because each country had different preferred magical systems and commonly used spells.

While this appeared to be an efficient way to deploy magical troops, how effective it would be in such a large-scale battle remained to be seen.

“””WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”””

With a thunderous battle cry, the vanguard of the allied forces began charging forward.

Normally, soldiers might be terrified in such a situation, but those at the front line showed no fear.

This morale was possible because they had brought only the most elite of the elite to earn merit.

In reality, none of them believed they would fall to the orcs.

And the leaders of each country thought that while these were elite soldiers, their sacrifice was justified if it contributed to earning glory for their nation.

The soldiers themselves believed there was no greater honor for themselves, their families, and their countries than to give their lives in loyal service to earn merit.

Valt couldn’t understand this perspective.

Gerungtu stood at the front lines because of his personal desire and need for self-validation.

The primal desire to fight strong opponents—that’s what drove Gerungtu to the front.

But these people were different.

They moved not for personal desire but for collective ambition.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even truly collective ambition.

Perhaps it was the desire of the royal families of the kingdoms?

If so, this could still be considered an individual’s desire.

From that perspective, Valt thought the Empire and Gerungtu might actually be better than these kingdoms.

But the war had already begun and couldn’t be stopped.

Many thoughts crossed his mind on the battlefield, but now he simply had to do what needed to be done.

“Tweek! Kwak KROAAAK!!”

“Die!! You monsters!! KYAAAAH!!”

Clang!

Slash!

Bang!

Crunch!

The sounds of flesh tearing, bones breaking, and magic exploding against enemies.

The battlefield filled with the roars of orcs and humans as the fierce clash began.

The initial advantage was with the humans, as expected.

The orcs had red eyes like those encountered on the supply route, but unlike then, the soldiers here were truly elite.

They began efficiently reducing the orc numbers with magical support and under the command of powerful aura users.

Even in a battle of 1 million versus 600,000, the initial contact area was limited.

So the human forces, with their superior strength, better weapons, skills, and magical capabilities, inevitably had the advantage.

The Oscar Kingdom’s forces watched this from behind.

Valt was quite surprised.

The troops brought by the kingdoms were much stronger than he had anticipated.

‘Indeed, in large-scale battles like this, moving as one body is far more advantageous than Gerungtu’s free-style approach.’

A battlefield performance must be organic.

Attack and defense, changing direction, positioning, and more—when groups from a few people to hundreds or thousands move as a single entity, that unit becomes even more powerful.

An individual cannot face a large unit moving with a unified purpose.

The kingdom’s elite troops were slaughtering orcs with cavalry, while spearmen with shields, archers, and mages were positioned behind them, organically suppressing the orcs.

The cavalry would cut down enemies, and when they risked being surrounded, the spearmen would protect them while archers and mages provided covering fire to prevent additional enemy support.

A simple tactic, but in such a large-scale battle, even a moment’s hesitation meant death.

“Look!! The orcs are nothing!! Everyone advance!! Advance!! Today we will eradicate every last orc from the East!!”

The morale-boosting shout from someone who appeared to be a commander further encouraged the soldiers, and as the situation seemed more manageable than expected, the allied forces began to gain momentum.

“Hmm… honestly… impressive. As expected of the Eastern Alliance.”

King Lient nodded at Valt’s admiration.

“The East is not weak. Comparing it to Gerungtu might be unfair, but even in the East, we’re used to fighting. Haha.”

With the allies’ advance, King Lient seemed to have gained some peace of mind.

Indeed, the troops were handling the orcs remarkably well, and while the orc mages were casting buffs, they didn’t seem able to apply debuffs to the allied forces.

‘Their range must be insufficient. Well, it wouldn’t make sense for spells to cover this vast battlefield. Even magic has its limits.’

Valt’s assessment was accurate.

While it might be possible with just 20,000-30,000 troops, the orcs couldn’t cast spells that would cover the entire ground where forces of this magnitude stood.

Swoosh!!

A knight on horseback who had just cut down two orcs simultaneously shouted again.

“Fight!! They may be stronger than ordinary orcs, but they’re no match for us!! Soldiers of Zebrin, dedicate your loyalty for the glory of the kingdom!!”

“For loyalty!!”

While some kingdoms advanced with such grand declarations…

“Kill them all!! Kill them!! Hahaha!! With this, we won’t have to worry for the year!!”

“Perlik, what vulgar talk is that!! People are listening! Just focus on killing orcs!!”

“Shut up… don’t use that annoying formal speech.”

“Right? Hahaha!! These orcs are money bags! Let’s collect them all!!”

…skilled but rough mercenaries were also fighting vigorously.

“Those low on mana, rotate out!! Recover your mana at the back before casting again!! Don’t worry too much about power!! In a place like this, multiple small spells are better than one big one!!”

Even the mage units commanding the allies…

The battlefield was filled with seemingly bright expressions, as if victory was assured.

At least until a massive presence made itself known from a distance.

Shiver-

“Ah… what a monster.”

The Orc King entered Valt’s field of vision.

Despite the distance, Valt could see it more clearly than anyone.

With a body so enormous that even Orc Lords would look like children in comparison, it was so bizarrely huge that calling it an ogre rather than an orc wouldn’t be inappropriate.

But even an ogre would be just an ordinary monster before this Orc King.

Elsewhere, Luktan and Grace also sensed the Orc King’s presence and looked in its direction.

“That is… the Orc King…!”

With its mere appearance, the attention of all the powerful beings among the 1.6 million gathered forces converged on a single point.

At the center of this attention, a gigantic monster was smiling.

“Grrrrrrrr… tweek….”