Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The look in Beroigard's eyes changed to that of anger and hatred as he called out—

"I know you are observing all of this from somewhere. I hope that you are pleased with the result. With this, we orcs have no other way out, we have completely run out of all options as you have said. The ogres have given their ultimatum and that is to enslave us after reducing our numbers".

"A life like that, can you even call it a life? I would rather die than agree to be enslaved by them. However, I cannot allow that fate to befall my tribe members. Thus I ask you demon, if I were to submit to you, will our tribe have a better future than the one right now?".

His words were carried by the wind and were heard by ogres. They couldn't help but mock him and wonder if the orc had somehow gone insane due to the shock of losing.

Berirock and Berimond were baffled by the actions of Berigard too. At this point, nothing that he did would matter, so what was he screaming all that for?

The Gir brother and Giz-Mogo laughed at the desperate orc general. It was only Giz-Bozo that narrowed his eyes feeling a little uneasy all of a sudden.

A few seconds passed by with nothing happening when suddenly, there was this weird chill in the air.

CHIIII… something very unsettling and disturbing was slowly creeping near. Within seconds, the air started taking a violet-black hue and the sky got covered by dark looming clouds.

Finally, there was even a miasma slowly seeping out of the ground that made others feel revolted by it. Those that accidentally got exposed to it, started behaving peculiarly. They clutched their head and banged them on the ground before cutting themselves with their own weapon.

Alarmed, all the ogres hurriedly distanced themselves from the seeping miasma. An eerie atmosphere was starting to arise on the battlefield and that was when he appeared.

-----

A few hours ago, at the centre of the Orc territory, right at the entrance of the underground chamber. A Diluvian High orc could be seen coming out. They were wearing superior-looking fur and pelts as armour and a crown on top of their head.

Who could the orc be other than Belgarious? At this moment he was looking in the southern direction where the Blackfield was, intently.

"Judging from the waves of mana coming from there, it looks like the war is in full swing. GUGAGA… what a bunch of idiots, even until the last moment they thought that I would be arriving to lead them on this war".

"Now that I have stored the ancient inheritance, I should leave this place. There is no way those bunch of orcs could stop them for long on their own, I must escape before the ogre army arrives here" Belgarious muttered.

"Oh right, I need to destroy this before I leave" saying that, he took out a transmission conch from his space ring and stomped on it.

"Alright, this should stop any possible tracking. Now then, my destination is the Great Tundra Desert" Belgarious was just about to walk out when suddenly something came dropping down on the ground with a boom.

"I knew that you would choose to escape at the first signs of danger. It's a good thing that I came early" a voice came from amidst the dust.

Hearing that familiar voice, Belgarious couldn't help but yell out their name—

"Gufardus?!!".

The figure that had just dropped down from the sky, was none other than the person that was backing Belgarious up until a few days ago, his patron.

One of the seven kings of the forest was here.

Gufardus was a four meters tall hulking fellow, he had a head of a lion, lower body of a minotaur, the tail of a serpent and wings of a demon. His body had multiple stitches and he looked like some kind of a lab experiment.

"It's been a while… Belgarious" Gufardus greeted with a smile that displayed his sharp canine teeth.

Looking at Gufardus, Belgarious was not the least bit happy. Instead, he was on his guard by this unexpected visit from the latter.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a not-so-friendly tone.

"What's this? Are you not happy to see me again after such a long time? The patron that has been supporting you from the shadows since you were just an ordinary diluvian orc, is here. Have you forgotten already how I manipulated the previous orc king into choosing you as his successor?" Gufardus said melodramatically.

"Stop your nonsense and get to the point".

"GURARA… it looks like you are in no mood for a joke. Well, in that case, I'll come to the point. The reason why I appeared here, I believe you already know it" Gufardus laughed, a sly smile appearing on his face.

"You bastard… so you too were aiming for this?" Belgarious cursed, how could he not know what Gufardus wanted? For a being like him, there could be only one item in the entire orc territory that could entice him and that was the inheritance left behind by the ancient beast.

"GURARA… you are misunderstanding me Belgarious. I only came here to retrieve the item that would supposedly be stolen by the demon noble after you are killed" Gufardus explained.

Belgarious looked confused for a moment, he was about to ask what nonsense the latter was talking about when he was suddenly hit by a powerful attack that came at a speed that was hard for him to even perceive.

BANG…

Belgarious was knocked back by the force and rolled on the ground a couple of times. Smoke could be seen coming out of the palms of Gufardus that was pointed at the orc.

"Ugh, you… you were behind all of this from the start huh?" Belgarious managed to speak out some words amidst his pain.

"GURARA… it looks like you finally realised it. Yes, I was after the beast inheritance that your tribe had from the start. However, I couldn't just snatch it from you guys as that would be attracting too much attention to me and at the same time revealing the position of the inheritance to the rest of them".

"So I had no choice but to find a gullible orc with an over-the-top ambition and raise them to the position of the orc king to guard the inheritance for the time being"…

The gullible orc with an over-the-top ambition, Belgarious gritted his teeth when he heard that.

Gufardus continued—"While I was waiting for a perfect opportunity to arise that was when Gil-Garna came to me with a proposal. Honestly, it was quite hilarious that the guy only just realised that. Nevertheless, his proposal gave me the opportunity that I was looking for".

At this moment, Gufardus suddenly revealed an ugly smile.

"Belgarious, do you know why I asked you to attack that dungeon located in the eastern region of the forest?".

The latter had a lost look on his face… when suddenly the realisation struck them.

"Yes, to drag the demon in this war too. Being one from the demon noble race, I am sure he would not sit still after being tangled in such a mess without his concent. With the involvement of the demon, the war would become even more chaotic".

"It's all okay if he is strong enough to kill the crimson horns sent by Gil-Garna. If not, his death would drag in the higher-ranked demon noble he is serving out making this war even more exciting".

"The ghastly winding forest is right next to the demon continent. Who is to say that the inheritance of the ancient beast that Gil-Garna is looking for, is not taken by the demon or his master? Whatever the case may be, nobody would be able to connect the disappearance of the inheritance with me".

Gufardus explained his schemes causing the eyes of the orc king to widen in shock.

"This.. this was—from the start this whole war was your plan?" Belgarious asked.

"That's right, I revealed the location of the inheritance of your tribe to Gil-Garna in exchange for the Six Nether Flowers. That fool easily fell for my trap and started a war with your tribe believing that he would be able to get the inheritance while covering up the whole incident in a ruse of personal vengeance. GURARA... Now that all of the attention of the seven kings is diverted to the war, I'm free to snatch away the inheritance I wanted for so long".

Belgarious took hurried breaths of air, his blood boiling with anger and he was barely able to stop himself from lashing out at Gufardus.

He had always thought that he was a cunning person to have deceit the entire tribe of orcs and grabbed the position of the orc king. It never occurred to him that he was playing in the palms of someone else. It appeared that he was just a pawn in the end too.

"You don't have to be so disappointed, that inheritance of your tribe will be safe in my hands. Wouldn't you also prefer it falls on my hand rather than Gil-Garna who your tribe has a blood feud with?" Seeing the aghast face of Belgarious, Gufardus commented.

"Youu!!…" Belgarious could no longer take the taunts coming, he activated his numerous skills and attacked Gufardus.

[Mana Aura], [Bile], [Greater Force], [Bulk Up], [Overpower], [Ultra Enhaced Strength], [Ultra Enhanced Defence], [Longsword Mastery], [Rage], [Extreme].

Using his longsword, Belgarious sent a sword slash empowered with all of his skills towards Gufardus. The latter simply stood in his place and took on the attack head-on.

BOOMM… the orc king was a disaster class with a level of 563. The sword slash that he dished out which was also enhanced further by his skill, was deadly enough to even cut a mountain in half.