Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

He couldn't count on the orc king since he knows the true face of the latter, an opportunist who only thinks of himself. The orc king was sure to abandon them, in fact, he might even be thinking of running and deserting this territory right about now.

Whenever he thought about how such an orc became their king, Berigard felt unrestrained anger well up inside him. At this moment, when he felt like all doors had closed down upon their tribe, the numerous white jade like objects on his locket started clattering and shaking.

"What is it you all?" Berigard asked. It might look strange that he was talking with some objects, however, he was actually holding a conversation with them.

The jade fragments on his locket were no ordinary objects but bone fragments from the orcs that once used to be his friends. After they had died, a portion of their spirit resided inside it. It is also because of them that he was able to use skills and abilities that did not belong to him.

"What?! Reveal your existence to the demon?... there is no way I would do something like selling my friends out" the spirit of the orcs residing inside those bone fragments were telling him to use them as bargaining chips to gain the help of the demon. After all, knowing what they are, even the demon wouldn't be able to help but covet them.

However, Berigard was against that, even if his friends that were together with him in that laboratory were dead and only a portion of their spirit resided here, it was still hard for him to let go of them.

​ They were the first true friends he was able to make after he was trafficked away to a foreign human kingdom and brought to a place that subjected cruel experiments on them.

The first humans that Berigard had seen, were a savage bunch of fellows who wore white hazmat suits and kept them inside a container.

The reason why he called them savage was because the laboratory not only had foreign races, but also humans, the race that these people belonged to. These humans had no conscience when experimenting on their own people.

Berigard would see numerous orcs being dissected and used for experimentation where they would become something else entirely. Many orcs died like that and the place was a nightmare for him, a sickening sight that he had to see every day.

Amidst those nightmarish days, Berigard met with other fellow orcs like him who were too nice to him. They all quickly became friends and shared stories from their land.

Berigard could see that their bodies had become something else after being experimented upon; however, they never brought that up when conversing with him. Those days didn't last long and soon it was Berigard's turn to be subjected on.

He was brought to a different sector of the laboratory to be experimented upon and that was the last time he had seen them before they were still themselves.

The cruel fate that fell upon every orc in that laboratory, Berigard was no exception to that. In fact, Berigard who supposedly had a rare physique amongst the orc was a precious test subject for them.

They would inject numerous kinds of fluids inside him and change the organs in his boy with something else that made him feel like dying was much better than living.

However, even the luxury of death wasn't available to him. The days of torture continued and Beirgard found himself getting stronger every day. But at the same time, the grasp he had on his self, was also slipping away slowly.

Perhaps if things continued the way it was Berigard would no longer be himself. However, due to a certain incident that occurred on that laboratory that day, Berigard and many other subjects were able to break out of their container and run amok inside the facility.

Using this chance, Berigard tried to find the first friends he made. Although he did find them, they weren't as lucky as him and had long lost their mind and any resemblance they had to their previous self. They even forgot who he was and attacked him.

Naturally, their commotion attracted the attention of the personnel there and they were soon subdued. Due to this incident, most of the test subjects were sent for elimination or dissected to be used as materials.

For Berigard and the orcs, it was decided that they would be sent for elimination.

The laboratory disposed of their failed materials by selling the test subjects to a merchant company who bought them and put them in the coliseum where they would be used as an entertainment for the people there.

They were pitted against human adventurers who would try to kill and draw their blood out in a spectacular showmanship so as to set the audience in exhilaration.

One by one, all of his friends were killed until it was Berigel's turn. The orc warrior was a talent who even by the standards of those human adventurers was exceptional.

Blood was shed, but the one that died this time was the adventurer himself, a sight that was unexpected and unusual for the audience.

The atmosphere in the coliseum was sent into an upheaval with Berigel who had lost his mind running rampant. He was attacking anyone and everyone that he saw, even the other orcs that were brought over with him to be eliminated.

Berigel compared to his other friends, was many times stronger. He was so strong that there was no comparison. If he had to be classified, he would outright be judged as a calamity class. That was how strong the orc warrior was after the experimentation.

One could imagine the ensuing bloodbath after most of the adventurers that came to subdue Berigel died one after the other. It was as if all hell broke loose.

Berigard was somehow able to survive the chaos due to Berimist who just like him was also a orc shaman and perhaps the only orc capable of contending with Berigel.

The other orc shaman had somehow come to his senses after seeing the bloodbath while Berigel ran rampant like a mindless beast.

The latter even attacked Berimist with all of his power decimating the entire coliseum and the surrounding lands in the process. Their fight was so fierce, that it was starting to attract the other big powerhouses living in that city.

Berigard was too low-levelled to contend; however, even he knew that if the fight went on, sooner or later there was bound to be strong adventurers arriving to subdue them.

Fortunately for them, Berimist was in his sane mind to understand that and thus utilising his space magic, he teleported the three of them somewhere outside the city.

Nevertheless, Berigel continued to rampage and it didn't seem like he would snap out of it soon. Thus Berimist had no choice but to engage Berigel in a duel and put him down.

The power of a two calamity class beast can be imagined, the fight lasted for a few good hours and just like what they had feared the most, they had attracted a strong bunch of adventurer who came here all geared up to eliminate the 'threat' that was them.

The three of them fought the adventurers but were subdued in the end. Berigel was beheaded and Berimist was exhausted from the fight earlier. Out of the three of them, Berigard was the only one who wasn't exhausted; however, he wasn't powerful enough to protect himself from those adventurers at that point.

To him and even to the adventurers it seemed like they had everything under their control. That was when something unexpected happen, Berigel who everybody thought was dead, started moving.

His head which was detached from his body, rolled towards his comrades. Berigard instinctively caught it and that was when he realised that his friend who was right near his deathbed, had finally come to his senses.

Right before the light of life dimmed down from his eyes, he instructed Berimist to use his last bit of mana to teleport them somewhere else as this place was going to blow up in an explosion soon.

It finally dawned on them that, Berigel had burst his core stone to reverse the flow of mana in his body. Doing so, would create a huge eruption of mana comparable to a powerful AOE advanced magic.

Berimist immediately reacted to this opportunity that his friend had created and squeezing every bit of mana out from his mana pool, he along with Berigard teleported out of there. Though in the process of invoking the space magic, he suffered serious damage from the attacks of the adventurers which left his arteries and heart exposed.

BOOOMMM… a huge explosion echoed out wiping everyone that was present there. Berigard and Berigel had already teleported out by then.

The next time they appeared, they were dozens of kilometres away and could see the explosion going off.

"GUGA… it's good that you were able to get away… sorry for not being able to help" Right after leaving his last words, Berigel closed his eyes.

Berigard tried calling out to Berigel a few times but even he knew that the latter was already dead. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Berimist falling down on the ground and into the pool of his own blood.

It looked like the attack he suffered right before teleporting was too severe.

Puff… throwing up a mouthful of blood, Berimist gathered his remaining stamina to sit back up. "Berigard—listen to me… I don't think I would be able to heal from my injuries. So I want you to destroy my core stone after I die and take my soul bone".