"Hmph!"
"Foolish fellow."
Gelmud ignored Gabiru.
It was already too late. The Lizardmen here would soon make his Orc Lord even stronger.
"Hahahahaha…"
Days of pent-up frustration exploded in this moment, making Gelmud seem completely deranged. "Kill them all, Orc Tribe!!"
Boom!
In the wetland, Gabiru once again clashed with a Orc General.
"Ahhh!!"
He desperately resisted, pouring all his strength into the fight, but he could only manage a stalemate.
The more he fought, the colder Gabiru's heart grew.
After all, within the entire Lizardmen race, he was already the strongest.
Yet not only did the Orc Tribe vastly outnumber them, there were also more than a dozen Orc Generals.
Such an overwhelming disparity left nothing but despair.
It's over…
The Lizardmen race is finished!
Without Rimuru's assistance as in the original timeline, Gabiru was utterly unable to break out of this dead end.
"No, there's still a chance!"
"As long as, as long as I can defeat the Orc Tribe's king…"
Gabiru remembered the legend of the Orc Lord. The ones in front of him matched the catastrophe described in that tale.
In other words, a new Orc Lord had emerged.
And if that king could be defeated, then the Lizardmen might still have hope.
"Hahhh!!"
"Vortex Crash!!"
At a critical moment, Gabiru unleashed his ultimate technique, managing to repel the Orc General.
"Where is he?!"
"Orc Lord, where are you?!"
Gabiru charged into the Orc Tribe's ranks, frantically searching for the Orc Lord's location.
"It should be about time."
On the cliff, Hakurou watched the Lizardmen's utter collapse, estimating the number of casualties.
"We can begin, Ogerpon."
Ogerpon had long been itching to move.
"Charge with me!!!"
However, before Ogerpon could make her move,
Shion, who had been waiting just as eagerly, charged in with around 20 members of the Purple Corps.
Boom~
The overwhelming power kicked up a fierce gale, forcing Ogerpon and Hakurou to cast magic to shield themselves.
"…"
Hakurou was a bit speechless. Ogerpon looked up and said, "Hakurou, you might be unpopular."
"Heh heh."
Hakurou let out two dry laughs. "Never mind. Let's go too."
Ogerpon didn't bring many Onis this time. Only 30 total.
Among them, 10 were from the Shadow Squad and 20 from the Purple Corps.
But don't underestimate that number.
With Rin's awakening, the Oni race's upper-end combat power was no longer what it once was.
Every one of them was Special A-rank.
To deal with several hundred thousand Orc Tribe soldiers, not to mention 30 Special A-rank warriors, even just three would be more than enough to cut through them.
At most, only the Orc Lord might pose some trouble.
Rumble!
As expected, with Shion's arrival, waves of Orc Tribe soldiers were sent flying into the air like debris in a nuclear blast.
Swish!
Shion, wielding Gourikimaru, slashed down.
With one strike, a massive chasm tore across half the battlefield, cleanly separating the Orc Tribe from the Lizardmen.
"What was that?!"
"What happened?!"
"What terrifying magic! Are we Lizardmen truly finished?!"
"No, my child was just born. I can't die here!"
"Damn Gabiru!"
"He led us into this!"
The Lizardmen, already shattered by the Orc Tribe, completely lost the will to fight in the face of Shion and the Onis' devastating power.
They could only desperately dig at the fallen rocks behind them, trying to escape through the blocked passage.
But this was expected.
Every race had civilians and warriors.
Those with fighting ability had mostly followed Gabiru. They were the majority of the 8,000 elite.
As for the rest, they were either dissenters opposed to Gabiru's power grab and thus imprisoned, or noncombatants with no desire to fight.
Only a small number remained among the other 20,000.
Seeing this, Rin judged the time was right.
The ringleader had been trapped. Most of the accomplices were dead.
The other Lizardmen had nothing to do with it. Rin wouldn't punish them for Gabiru's arrogance.
Let Souka and the others deal with the rest…
"What's going on?!"
The sudden shift on the battlefield caught Gelmud's attention.
Roars thundered through the forest wetland, tearing apart the terrain.
The mist shrouding the battlefield was forcibly dispersed, and the silhouettes of the Onis became clearly visible.
"O-Onis…"
"Why are the Onis here?!"
Gelmud was utterly baffled.
But what mattered now was ensuring the Orc Lord devoured enough Lizardmen.
"Go!"
"Go, Orc Generals!!"
Gelmud shouted, "Kill all those damned Onis!!"
Thump thump thump!
Several Orc Generals surrounded Shion.
They had seen the destruction caused by her casual strike. Ordinary Orcs were no match.
Even without Gelmud's command, they had already targeted Shion and the others.
"Die, Onis!!"
In the blink of an eye, several Orc Generals, clad in heavy armor and wielding massive axes, attacked Shion at once.
"Heh."
Shion only let out a cold sneer.
The next moment, her greatsword Gourikimaru moved lightly in her hands.
Swish!
With a clean sweep, the wind blade tore through the armor of three Pig Head Generals, slicing their torsos clean in half.
One strike. Three A-rank Orc Generals were effortlessly cut down.
Clatter~
Meanwhile, Hakurou's figure flitted through the Orc Tribe ranks like a phantom.
Ding~
He stopped. Slowly sheathing his sword, the old man straightened his back.
Poof~
Behind him, countless Orcs exploded in bursts of red mist, as if firecrackers had gone off.
This horrifying spectacle caused even the hunger-maddened Orc Tribe to involuntarily back away, widening the gap between them and Hakurou.
"Oh my, oh my."
Hakurou stroked his beard. "It seems my swordsmanship hasn't dulled. I really can chop them into fine mincemeat, just as Rin-sama instructed."
Bang!
Not far away, Ogerpon punched through a cluster of Orc Tribe soldiers.
She wasn't even trying.
They were too weak.
It completely killed her enthusiasm.
The little one still had the Oni's battle-hungry nature.
But Ogerpon had no interest in the weak.
What she wanted was a powerful enemy.
Only a worthy opponent could let Ogerpon savor the thrill of battle.
(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.)