Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The Valkyries too joined the fight as they dived amidst the ogre army. Their attacks even when restrained to only ten per cent were powerful and when combined with their [B] tier weapons, it was a walk in the park for them.

Alice used her bow to continuously snipe down the ogres from the distance. She was so skilful that a single arrow from her hit more than one ogre and was powerful enough to puncture a hole in their bodies.

That was not all, she was so quick on her feet and her finger that arrow kept on flying even though the enemy pursued her continuously. Judging from the way she never got cornered, her situational awareness was second to none amongst the valkyries.

Bianca just like her class [Imperial Aegis knight] stood her ground and mowed through the ogres with sheer brute strength and defence. She was like a bulldozer mowing through a land unmatched in strength and power.

A few ogres tried to attack her from the distance using their magic and skills; nevertheless, all of it bounced back to them due to the [B] rank shield. The longsword on her other hand efficiently cleaved through their bodies without any resistance.

The eldest of the sisters (not counting Mercedes), Annette skilfully used her magic. She found a perfect combination of attack and defence. She never allowed any enemy to get too close to her or let their attack land on her.

She moved like a lithe fairy continuously chanting her magic and skilfully using her staff. She never used anything above novice-tier magic. However, because of her sheer mastery and understanding of that element, her magic was comparable to other's intermediate or even advanced magic.

What would probably take a couple of seconds for others to invoke the same kind of magic, she did it in just one-tenth the time. Not only that, her control over mana was so beautiful that perhaps only Irene and a few others Simon knew would be able to outmatch her.

Sprawled on the ground, Berigard who was watching all of that couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. The number of enemies was in the thousands and the war was far from over. However, given how skilful they were, it was enough to give him a sense of assurance.

"This is them… only using one-tenth of their power?" Berigard murmured. He who was lying on the ground behind Simon, heard their whole conversation and truthfully, he was more than surprised when he heard the demon command them to use only ten per cent of their power and restraint them from using all of their skills.

At first, he thought it was absurd for them to fight the ogres like that but it seemed like he the one who was being absurd was him.

Additionally, when he looked at Annette and her mastery over her elements and how she used her magic, even he was impressed. Though he was not among the ones that boast their strength to others, he believed that when it came to magic he had attained mastery and comprehension far beyond others around him or even above him.

But looking at Annette who was easily taking care of hordes of ogres with nothing but just weak novice magic, he felt like he was living in a well all this time. She had shown him that the staff on her hand was not just for casting spells but can also be used for deflecting, defending and even attacking enemies.

"Berigard are you alright?".

At this moment when he was lost in thought, the other two generals came over and supported him.

"Yeah, I'm fine… my [Ultra Regeneration] skill juts kicked in" Berigard explained. His external wounds were starting to close and his hazy vision was slowly returning to normal.

"Berigard… who is that demon?" Berimond asked looking at the demon and the maids he commanded.

"Haha… that demon is going to be our new ruler in the future" Berigard answered in a calm and peaceful manner. There was no hesitation nor any dissatisfaction in his tone.

Now that he had sworn his oath of loyalty to the demon and became his subordinate, it was as if a huge weight weighing him down for the past few days had been removed from his shoulders.

"Berigard are you serious? You cannot possibly bow your head to someone who is not even an orc and become their subordinate" Berirock argued unwilling to accept what had happened.

"Then you guys tell me what other ways did we have left?" Berigard questioned making the two orc generals silent.

With his defeat, the orcs were all out of options. They either had to submit to ogres and allow their number to be cut down to mere seventy thousand or accept the help of the demon and become his subordinates.

The demon did not show them a golden future; nevertheless, if they bent their knees to him at least they would be able to keep the lives of their tribe members intact.

"Even if that is the case, we can't possibly expect that demon to keep his words?" Berirock pointed out.

"Isn't he keeping his word right now? Was there any need for him to take on the whole ogre army for himself? Yet he has sent his subordinates to help us out. Even if we forget about that, just the fact that he showed up now rather than later when we would be in a more desperate situation to save the lives of our remaining tribe members, tell us that he is the kind of leader who protects his subordinates. Believe me, I haven't taken this decision without thinking things through".

Berigard explained. Nevertheless, Berirock was still unwilling to accept that their race will now have to bow towards that demon and listen to all of his orders.

"Even then… let's believe that the demon does indeed keeps his word, do you expect the orcs to follow your oath and take the demon as their new lord?".

Hearing the self-centred remarks of his fellow orc commander, Berigard had a scornful look on his face. Now that his backyard was not on fire anymore, Berirock was trying to put off all the responsibilities.

Berigard did not involve himself in a debate with Berirock and answered him dismissively—"Those orcs that want to, will do so. Those that don't, I won't be responsible for what happens to them".

From what he could tell, the demon was not some Samaritan that would help others without any strings attached. He was helping them because he had seen some profit in them.

The battle between the Valkyries and the ogre army, intensified. Seeing that the black horn ogres were no match for them, Gir brothers turned up to face the Valkyries. On the other hand, the fight between the Andromedas and the ogres was an insipid one.

The main job of the Andromedas Mk 11 in this fight was not to win the war but to collect information. Even if they weren't able to match an ogre they were still able to gather quite a bit of data before being destroyed.

"It looks like the army of golems you brought is far too inferior against my army" Giz-Bozo stated, he could see that his army had a clear advantage against these golems.

Their attack pattern might be peculiar than any of the monsters that the ogres had ever faced inside the ghastly winding forest. Nonetheless, the golems weren't an opponent for them. Soon, the numbers of the Andromedas started dropping, smashed and destroyed into bits.

However, since they were inanimate objects and had no blood, the ogres weren't quite satisfied with their victories.

"It is too soon to say that… won't you agree?" Simon smiled and silently released the miasma from the finger of Ozymandias.

As the [inventory] was a part of his [Main Menu] and not an external pocket like the space ring, the miasma came out of his body. It slowly covered the entire Blackfield and painted the air a peculiar violet black.

The curse energy was filled with negativity and abhorred the living. The moment this energy made contact with the ogres, they started behaving unusually and attacked one another. It was as if they had suddenly lost their mind and turned into a mindless beast who only knew how to kill.

Seeing this, the other ogres tried to avoid the energy but like a magnet, the energy kept on following them. In actuality, the miasma wasn't following them but was being manipulated by Simon who had gained a little more understanding of the curse energy to follow them.

Unlike the mystical energy which felt like clear water from a stream, curse energy was stickier, polluted and had a stench of the dead. It had a decaying attribute and was an energy that was not from this realm.

Of course, Simon did not know why and how he was able to manipulate a foreign energy; nevertheless, it was a far more powerful weapon currently in his arsenal than the mystical energy whose essence was yet to be grasped by Simon.

With the interference of the curse energy, the ogre army started faltering which gave way for the andromedas Mk 11 to advance. T

he andromedas weren't your living being but drones controlled by wisp thus they were unaffected by the curse energy. The ogre unable to mount any resistance against the energy at all, fell one after another from the attacks of the andromedas and soon—

<strong>DING...</strong> [You have levelled up]

The notification that Simon was waiting for, soon arrived.