Ch.277277. The Orc’s Counter-Attack (1)

The Empire of Humanity consists of nine Electorates and hundreds of thousands of free cities. One of these is the Bulga Electorate, ruled by the Elector of Bulga.

The most distinctive characteristic of this Electorate, located in the eastern part of the Empire of Humanity….

Well, it would be that it’s a frontline city particularly plagued by external invasions, even within the Empire.

Orc and Centaur warlords from the Eastern Great Plains, all manner of beasts and monsters from the adjacent Great Forest.

Add to that the troublesome Rus Khanate in the northeast, and the Soviet Holy Republic, with whom communication is at least somewhat possible.

It’s a dangerous region with at least four major threats along its borders, and in reality, among the Elector armies, the Bulga Elector’s army is renowned for its strength.

Originally founded by nomadic peoples, the Bulga Electorate maintains deep cavalry traditions, and thanks to the presence of sizeable limestone mines and volcanoes in its territory, its gunpowder production is overwhelming.

Especially since the people of this region have northern bloodlines mixed in, making them large in stature and physically strong.

As a result of these characteristics, in the Bulga Elector’s army, it’s not uncommon for regular infantry to carry and fire hand cannons as personal weapons.

Thanks to this, despite the disgusting annual raiding attempts by those foreign barbarians, they have stood firm and taken pride in their solid combat prowess…

The Empire of Humanity had no doubt that this latest orc warlord’s raiding attempt would also be firmly repelled.

This was the general public opinion exactly one month before the Bulga Elector’s army was defeated.

※ ※ ※

Currently, the Great Plains were, naturally, territories dominated by descendants of the remnants of the old Orc Empire and various Aman tribes.

Among them, two forces particularly stood out.

One was the Orc Horde, established by remnants of the Orc Empire and continuing to this day, and the other was the Nomadic Empire composed of Centaurs, each one a natural-born cavalry.

But while the Centaurs leveraged their unique physical structure and abilities to trade with the Eastern Continent via land routes and earn substantial wealth,

The Orcs, true to their race whose thoughts are dominated by violence, couldn’t even conceive of such a lifestyle.

Therefore, this primitive horde of 800,000 sustained itself in two main ways.

One was raiding neighboring countries, and the other was population control through this process.

Of course, the second condition wasn’t so much intentional as it was a result of frequent internal divisions due to the loose tribal confederation nature of orcs.

Anyway, because of this, these orcs, though appearing to be a powerful force on the surface, were in reality no more substantial than scattered beans…

But recently, the situation had been changing rapidly.

“I! Karkul Madwinger, apostle of the War God, declare! I shall bring back the glory of the Orc Empire to you!!!”

“””””””””WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH─────!!!!!”””””””””

“””””””””Karkul! Karkul! Karkul! Karkul! Karkul!”””””””””

An apostle of the War God—one of the three Orc deities (War God, Hunter God, and Shaman God)—and rare among orcs for knowing how to use methods beyond mere strength.

The great Orc Khagan, Karkul Madwinger, had emerged and unified the surrounding orc tribes into one.

With overwhelming charisma, the divine axe bestowed by the Orc War God, and his personal might that had reached superior levels, he was a powerful figure comparable to Bükle Khan of the Orc Empire.

And after forming a massive alliance based on his tribe and consuming surrounding medium and small-sized tribes…

“My brothers! From now on, we attack those human bastards! Kill them! Take from them! Devour them!!”

“””””””Kill them! Take from them! Devour them!!”””””””

Finally, he decided to attack the most tempting prey, the Empire of Humanity.

More precisely, the Bulga Electorate, one of their territories.

The first place Karkul Madwinger’s Orc Alliance needed to capture was none other than their fortress located at a strategic point.

This fortress, with at least 2,000 regular troops permanently stationed, had stockpiled about half a year’s worth of food and enormous military supplies.

Thanks to the employment of mages and dwarven labor for its construction, it was the greatest barrier standing against orcs attempting to attack the Empire of Humanity.

Especially since this place was also where gunpowder weapons developed in the Empire were first experimentally deployed.

It boasted terrifying defensive capabilities that could easily repel tens of thousands of attackers, but…

“Muhahahahaha───!! Wingers, it’s our turn!”

“””””””””WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH───!!!!”””””””””

The orcs attacked the fortress with Wingers, a special unit composed of intermediate warriors mounted on flying beasts.

A total of 30 intermediate warriors riding Grassland Wyverns, along with Karkul Madwinger, used the simple method of inserting themselves directly into the fortress.

The prowess of intermediate and higher aura awakeners was particularly spectacular in such urban settings, and Karkul Madwinger, after capturing the forward fortress, led the plains orc cavalry to ravage the Bulga Electorate.

The orc cavalry, mounted on tamed animals like Horned Wolves or giant boars from the plains, were mostly light cavalry.

Far from wearing armor, they merely wrapped themselves in animal hides, making their role completely different from the Empire’s medium cavalry.

“Boys, eagles are coming! Scatter!!”

“Don’t run! Stand and fight!! You cowards! Cowardly bastards!!”

Split into units of roughly 200-300, they repeatedly raided and retreated, gradually eating away at the Bulga Electorate, making it impossible for the pride of the Electorate, the Half-Hippogriff medium cavalry, to keep up.

The off-road adaptability of those boars and wolves, which charged through mountains and forests indiscriminately, was too much for the Half-Hippogriffs, which were fundamentally closer to horses.

Moreover, they minimized their baggage and wore only light armor, at most iron plates attached to leather.

Thus, while humans were helplessly suffering before these nomads’ overwhelming mobility…

“Your Majesty, please make a decision.”

“We march! Imperial Guard, pull the reins!!”

The Emperor of the Empire of Humanity and his Imperial Guard troops led armies from neighboring electorates to support the Bulga Electorate.

A force of at least 30,000 pure combat troops, plus over 100 intermediate-level combatants, set out to subjugate the orcs.

Even including the Empire’s Sword Master, the Chancellor of the Magic University, and the High Priest of the War God Chronima the Bloody Sword’s temple.

These forces, including a total of three superior-level combatants, advanced quickly to subjugate the orcs.

“Here we kill those weak human bastards!!”

“””””””””Madwinger! Madwinger! Madwinger! Madwinger!”””””””””

Karkul Madwinger, quite intelligent for an orc, had already learned this through infiltrated informants and made a desperate move to counter the human army.

He had modified that fortress he first captured with orcish magic and crude technology.

He installed gunpowder weapons looted from humans, modified in the orcish style, and in the process of repairing collapsed walls, he used druid magic to make the walls out of living trees.

In addition, he deployed the abundant orc light cavalry to disrupt supplies.

The original purpose was to transport the plundered goods to their home base in the Great Plains while buying time.

And indeed, the goal of buying time was admirably achieved.

“Fire! Fire!”

BOOM!! BOOOOM!!

They lined up various gunpowder weapons looted from humans, and whenever the fortress walls seemed about to collapse, they immediately used magic to continuously repair and restore them.

“Hahaha!!! Ravage them───!!!”

“”””””””Ravage them───!!!””””””””

Additionally, whenever the slightest gap appeared, Karkul Madwinger’s Wingers immediately attacked.

While time dragged on, Karkul Madwinger had the plundered goods transported.

With this, this historic raid seemed to be ending in victory for the Orc Horde.

“Kh-Khagan?!! Big trouble, big trouble!”

“…What is it?”

“Those red bastards have appeared!! Our Karakorum is burning!”

If only the notorious Wolf Riders of the Soviet Holy Republic hadn’t attacked the rear of the Orc Horde.

The damage to the orcs from the Soviet Holy Republic’s massive invasion was enormous.

Their capital Karakorum burned, many slaves who were the core of their economy were rescued, a considerable amount of plunder was counter-looted, and livestock were slaughtered.

And decisively───

“The, the holy site has been plundered!”

“The remains of the great Bükle Khan have been lost!”

The orcs’ holy site, the sanctuary of the three Orc Gods. The fact that it had been plundered was unacceptable to Karkul Madwinger, an apostle of the War God.

“We will have revenge on those red bastards! Let’s go kill them!”

Burning with rage, Karkul Madwinger immediately shouted to his subordinates and began preparations to leave the Bulga Electorate.