"The Lizardmen have arrived."
On the cliff, Ogerpon and the others, standing at a high vantage point, spotted the figures of the Lizardmen.
"Ah, they've walked straight into the burial ground prepared for them by the Orc Tribe."
Hakurou's hand, stroking his beard, paused slightly, but it was only a brief hesitation before he calmed his emotions. "Maintain a good balance."
Swish!
As his voice fell, a vertical eye appeared on Hakurou's forehead.
The Heavenly Eye, belonging to Hakurou, was an Extra Skill with functions like high-speed thought, Appraisal, and illusion piercing.
"The main force is 8,000 strong, all gathered around Gabiru."
"They seem to be his trusted unit."
Hakurou's gaze pierced through the thick fog and darkness, landing on the scattered Lizardmen in the rear. "The rest, around 20,000, mostly don't even have decent equipment."
"Hmm, I see."
Hakurou said, "Although Gabiru succeeded in his rebellion, he clearly hasn't earned the approval of his race."
"These 8,000 elites don't need to be kept."
"As for the rest..."
He paused slightly, then spoke in a low voice. "I just hope my lord's anger can be appeased with this..."
"Pon?"
"My apologies, Ogerpon."
Hakurou chuckled. "When you get old, you start getting sentimental."
"Hmm, I've understood the situation."
Hakurou marked the targets that could be directly eliminated for Ogerpon. "Once these 8,000 are mostly dead, you and Shion can enter the battlefield."
As for how many of the remaining 20,000 Lizardmen would die or be injured before that happened—
That was no longer Hakurou's concern.
"Hakurou, you're too soft."
According to Shion's judgment, at least two-thirds of the Lizardmen here should die.
"Shion, huh..."
Hakurou showed a teasing expression. "Regardless, I'm the supervisor appointed by Rin-sama."
"You!!"
"You damn geezer!!"
"Hahaha..."
Ignoring the fuming Shion, Hakurou stroked his beard and laughed heartily.
They weren't worried that the commotion here would be discovered by outsiders.
With their power, setting up a few Multilayer Barriers was nothing.
---
"They're here?"
Inside the wetlands, Gelmud received Gabiru's message. He suppressed his excitement and quickly went to meet him.
"Gabiru!"
"Gelmud-sama!"
Gabiru stepped forward and saluted. "As per your orders, I have brought most of my race here!"
"Ah, good. Very good."
"You did well, Gabiru."
Gelmud patted Gabiru's head with his hand, like a human praising a pet. "It wasn't in vain that I spent so many magicules naming you."
"Then..."
Gabiru asked, "What should we do next, Gelmud-sama?"
"Next?"
"Heh heh..."
Just as Gelmud let out a sinister chuckle, a massive explosion erupted from the canyon mountain pass they had just crossed.
"What?!"
Gabiru and the other Lizardmen quickly turned around.
But the thick fog blocked their vision. They could only vaguely hear the Lizardmen in the rear shouting that "the mountain pass had been blown up."
"Gelmud-sama?"
But it wasn't Gelmud who responded to Gabiru's confusion.
Thump thump thump thump~
With thunderous footsteps, a massive figure emerged from the fog.
The figure, clad in full-body armor and wielding a massive axe, stood nearly four meters tall. With a powerful downward swing, as if splitting a mountain, he hacked toward the completely unprepared Gabiru.
"What?!"
Gabiru hurriedly raised his trident to block.
But the overwhelming brute force sent him flying in an instant.
"Ah!"
"Gabiru-sama!"
"Help!!"
The next moment, the giant figure rampaged through the Lizardmen formation like an unstoppable force, cutting down all those gathered around Gabiru.
The sudden assault plunged the Lizardmen army into chaos. They were completely unprepared.
Cough, cough cough...
Gabiru propped himself up and looked at the massive figure wreaking havoc. "How is this possible... it's an Orc General?!"
An Orc General was an A-rank monster, second only to the Orc Lord.
Even in a one-on-one fight, one could match Gabiru in power.
But now—
Seeing four or five Orc Generals emerging from the fog, Gabiru's heart trembled.
And this wasn't the end.
Rumble~
From silence to full-on charge, it all happened so fast that Gabiru and the Lizardmen didn't even have time to react.
A black torrent-like surge of the Orc Tribe suddenly poured in from the west, instantly swallowing the 8,000 elite Lizardmen at the front.
"Why?!"
Watching the scene unfold, Gabiru's entire body trembled. "Gelmud-sama! Why would you do this?!"
No matter how arrogant or foolish he had been, Gabiru finally understood.
The Lizardmen had walked right into a trap.
And the one who led them into it was none other than Gelmud.
Everything made sense now.
"How pathetic, Gabiru."
Gelmud's voice came from above. Gabiru looked up to see the majin wearing a bird-face mask, looking down on the blood-soaked battlefield.
"You still don't understand?"
Gelmud no longer hid his true intentions. "You're just sacrifices."
"Sacrifices?"
"For our king. Devour everything, trample everything!"
Suddenly, the Orc Tribe, who had been in the middle of slaughtering, stopped pursuing the fleeing Lizardmen and began devouring the corpses.
"What is this?!"
The horrifying sight left many Lizardmen completely stunned.
"They're eating us..."
And that wasn't all. As more and more Lizardmen were consumed, fine scales began appearing on the Orcs' bodies.
"Those... those are our Lizardman scales!"
"Why is this happening?!"
"They're stealing our powers!"
Before long, even the Lizardmen's final advantage, their adaptation to the wetlands and their natural defensive scales was stripped away.
This was the power of the Orc Lord's Unique Skill, Starved.
Any Orc Tribe member that devoured prey had a chance to acquire that opponent's Intrinsic Abilities.
And the power gained would be shared with the entire Orc Tribe.
"Gabiru-sama!"
"Ah! Gabiru-sama, where are you?!"
"Save me, Gabiru-sama..."
The cries came from his once-familiar comrades. Gabiru's breathing grew ragged.
"Ahhh!!!"
He picked up his trident, manipulated the surrounding water, and began attacking the approaching Orc Tribe while shouting, "Tell the ones in the rear to clear the collapsed rocks and escape!"
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)