Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Pitfalls were being created on the ground with the bones of the beasts used as spikes, and poison bogs being enlarged. Basically, everything that could slow down the ogre army's march, was being done.

Behind the enormous wall, was a large camp where all of the manpower of the orcs was gathered in. It didn't matter which faction they belonged to, the entire orc army was present here at this moment.

Inside one of the tents, where all the higher-ups of the orc tribe were gathered in, a meeting was being held. Whether it be the orc generals or the orc commanders, all were in attendance except for the dead.

No, it wouldn't be right to say all since the orc king was also not there.

"When will his majesty be coming?" Berimond asked, the decisive hour to fight with the ogre army was already upon them. At this moment the absence of the orc king who was their leader and the commander of the entire army, was a big factor of uncertainty.

It was not only him, each and every orc present inside the camp was thinking the same thing.

"There is no need for you all to be anxious. His majesty told me that he would be arriving here any moment. He gave me the authority to be his stand-in for the time being. When he comes I will brief him about the situation so let us start this meeting" Berirock said in an attempt to calm the masses.

However, not everyone bought what he said especially Berigard who knew the true face of the orc king. He had a gut feeling that the latter wouldn't be arriving here and the words said by Berirock earlier were just empty words.

Nevertheless, he didn't raise this issue as there was a far more pressing concern for him to address. With Berirock urging them, the Diluvian High Orcs that went ahead to scout out the blackfield, reported.

They told about the distribution of the ogre army, their levels and the number of brown horns and above present. Although they couldn't see as far as the backlines of the enemy where their camp was located, they could at least guess that a crimson horn was present that was leading the ogre army.

The moment the report came in, a heavy silence descended onto the place making the orcs unable to breathe. The numbers of the ogre army aside, the presence of the crimson horn already put a heavy pressure on them.

The Diluvian High orcs were aware of the power structure amongst the ogres and knew the colour of their horns represented their status and power.

A fully grown ogre with a crimson horn was so powerful that only a disaster class could match them. In their tribe, only the orc king had reached that realm. So if the enemy had a crimson horn amongst them, they could only be stopped by the orc king.

"I don't understand what everybody is so concerned about. Doesn't our opponent only have forty-five thousand soldiers? Compared to that, our tribe of orcs have around double that number. If we all attacked the ogre army together, wouldn't it be an easy victory for us?".

An orc who recently became an orc commander, said unable to understand why the higher ups inside the camp were so concerned about. According to him, they heavily outnumbered their enemy with the orc army being seventy-five thousand orcs strong.

This was just counting the number of the Diluvian High orcs, if they include the high orcs and the ordinary orcs the number went up as high as three hundred and thirty-five thousand.

The numbers were absolutely in their favour, just the number that was.

The orc commander who has newly risen to his position, cannot be blamed for thinking that. Perhaps considering that the ogre tribe only sent forty-five thousand ogres to subdue their entire tribe of orcs, many of them might be thinking in the same line that the tribe of ogres were underestimating them who had gathered their entire army on the Blackfield.

However, that was not the case. In a war, one cannot just look at numbers they also have to account other factors. For example, the beasts each of the ogres were mounted on.

All of the beasts were a force on their own and could easily contend with a high orc or even a Diluvian High Orc. That was not all, unlike the orcs who specialised in fighting in groups thanks to their inborn [Coordination] skill, the ogre's speciality lied in fighting individually.

They were trained in ways that increased their efficiency when fighting alongside their mounts. If the orc army were like an infantry unit, then the ogres would be a special cavalry unit.

Plus one cannot just assume that if one side has higher numbers that side will prevail, after all, one also has to look at the quality of each of the individuals.

Due to the disparity of strength that has been growing marginally between the two tribes, the orcs have fallen far behind. Even the weakest ogre of the black ogre army was above level 350 while some individuals were powerful enough to match the likes of Berirock.

Adding in the 250+ level beasts, the black ogre army was by no means a weak army. On the contrary, they were on a level which would even make the surrounding kingdoms raise their guards against them.

Then there were ogres like the brown horns and crimson horn leading the army. From this, one could tell that the king of ogres really wanted to subdue the orc tribe once and for all.

It was natural for those orcs that understood that to be wreathed with worry. This war was related to the survival of their tribe. If they lost here, their tribe was bound to be doomed. They could only give it their all and fight with every last bit of their strength.

If they showed enough resilience who knows they might even turn it around. At this moment when the tension was palpable inside the tent, an orc came running inside with a message.

"Reporting to general Berirock, the ogre army have divided themselves into three divisions and have started marching. The one leading those army seems to be the Gir brothers".

The Gir brothers had an infamous reputation that even reached all the way to their orc territory. They were said to be so brutal that they bathed in the blood of their enemy every time they showed up on the battlefield. Obviously, they had a factor of fear associated with their name now.

"Any signs of a crimson horn?" Berirock asked in an apprehensive tone.

The messenger shook his head making the orcs inside the tent a little relieved. However, the fact that they were missing their orc king, the leader who was supposed to lead them, weighed on their minds.

"Alright then, we will also divide ourselves into three groups which will be led by us three generals. I believe you guys don't have any qualms with that?" Berirock's question was directed towards the two other generals, Berigard and Berimond who nodded their heads in agreement.

"Since that is the case, I will count on you guys to stop the Gir brothers. You and your army would be managing one side of the wall. As for the possible crimson horn that might be leading their army, we can only leave them to the orc king. Aside from that, we will also have another unit ready in our base to assist any side that needs help" Berirock started giving commands.

Since the other orc generals had no problems following Berirock's command the orc commanders under them also did not say anything and simply obeyed the orders.

The orcs true to their race, quickly got into formation and exited out of the camp. The [Coordination] skill was in its full effect.

The sheer size of the orc army, even when divided into three divisions and more standing in reserves, was a magnificent sight to see.

The orcs rushed into their formations on the commands from the various orc captains and orc commanders.

Huge crossbows and Catapults that were mounted on the wall, took their aim at the approaching ogre army. The numerous amos and arrows loaded into them were ready to rain down upon their enemy.

On the other side, the ogres had no such weapons, they were an army that was clearly focused on more mobility and taking down their enemy with the quality of their soldiers.

RUMBLE… the ground trembled as the numerous mounts tread through the Blackfield. The black ogre army divided into three divisions looked like three arrowheads that was trying to pierce through the wall that was the orcs.

"ATTACK!!" the orc commanders shouted the moment the ogre army was within the range of their siege weapons. Although typical siege weapons wouldn't be able to hurt even a mere footsoldier ogre, it was enough to slow them down for a while.

Plus, the siege weapons made by the orcs were created from the bones of monsters that they hunted and was further enchanted by the orc shamans. Thus they had the potential to hurt even a being above level 300 given that they were caught off guard.

WHOOSH... WHOOSH… Hundreds of arrows more than three meters long, came falling down from the sky. Some of it hit the mark, while some were just duds falling on the ground not accomplishing anything.

However, it was just the start, the orcs have prepared a large batch of ammo for this war that would decide their fate. It wouldn't be wrong to say that they have emptied their entire armory just for this day.

Apart from the ernchanted arrows, there were also the boulders and pile bunkers being dropped on them. The ogre army did not bother to dodge the attacks and kept on rushing forward. Although they did get injured in the process, that was after taking on numerous attacks.