Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

'Damn it. An Orc Lord right off the bat. I'm confident in running away from her if I use my Domain of Wrath. That is if she cares enough about her tribesmen. But winning against her is impossible.'

Eren thought of his contingency plans even before there was a sign of conflict. Then, all of a sudden, the sinner of lust took over the paranoid Eren as he looked at Sharog's seductive walk.

'Hmm. Although monster slaves were available in some cities, I never did it with them. Heh! But that was when I was human, if only barely.

Maybe it's about time I changed that and lost my monster V card.'

Eren thought and nodded at himself. But then he thought of the difference between their ranking status and assumed that the chances of that happening with Sharog anytime soon were almost zero.

'Never mind. My chances with Sharog are low, but they are never zero. I need more samples to test my Sins ability anyway.'

Eren thought before looking at Ulag who was also walking beside him. Since the guy had invited him into his tribe, it seemed like it was his responsibility to see things through.

'What's with this doofus Ulag? Addressing an Orc Lord casually like that with no respect? He could have at least told me. I might have lost my shit meeting that bodacious monster woman if I didn't have Domain of Wrath to rely on.'

Eren had come to realize that he didn't feel any threat coming from Sharog even when she was an Orc Lord. She looked and seemed like an Orc Soldier, the very beginning of the monster ranks.

But that made the butcher even more apprehensive. Usually, monsters were not known for masking their powers for any reason. That made him realize that Sharog was not only powerful but highly in control of her powers as well.

Alephee chuckled when Eren had this thought. She clarified a few things for him.

'Monsters don't follow rankers' code of conduct, Eren. They have their own set of rules. Most of them are skewed towards individual and group strengths. But almost all of them convey one thing– simplicity.

Way of address might be a big issue for humans and other sentient races. But for monsters, it is something they use for convenience. As long as Ulag doesn't outrightly start bashing an Orc Lord or challenges them in a formal duel, he can address them normally.'

Only now did Eren realize that he was looking at monster society from a human perspective. He nodded internally at Alephee's statement before concentrating his focus on Sharog's seductive stride.

***************************

"Beat him Nurbag! Finish him."

"Nurbag is going to win today as well. Damn it. I should have bet my money on him instead of this weak-ass Borul. I wonder how much refund I will get if I pull back from the bait now."

"Borul, you pathetic man. At least land a punch on Nurbag before you get knocked out. Aaaaargh"

"Nurbag is indeed a true orc. Someone that could give a fair challenge to other races. I'm rooting for him in the coming Oni Festival."

A battle ring was formed amid a bunch of two and three-story buildings at the heart of the orc camp Eren was in. Orcs of all genders, ages, and professions crowded the venue.

This was the time of dawn break. The sky was just beginning to light up with an orange hue. Yet, the crowd looked like they wouldn't start doing their work unless this match gets wrapped up.

Some orcs had climbed the two-story buildings and were sitting atop the wooden ceilings to have an uninterrupted view of what was happening inside the battle ring.

There was a bulky-looking orc beating a frail-looking orc with his gauntlets. The frail-looking orc's body was getting thrown about in the air or forcefully dragged across the ground as he kept on receiving mana-imbued punches.

The frail-looking orc's name was Borul while Nurbag was a gauntlet wearing monster. Whenever Nugbag threw a punch, a gust of wind would be generated along with it. It would give his punches more force. As a result, Borul's body seemed to drift along with the wind and got thrown all over the battle ring.

"Lady Sharog is here. Make way."

An orc shouted after he saw Sharog walking towards the battlefield with a stranger orc and Ulag in tow. Everybody greeted Sharog by nodding or calling out her name. Then they made way for her of their own accord.

'Well, what do you know? The low ranked orcs do respect the Orc Lord after all.'

Eren said to Alephee who then clarified the same thing using a serious tone.

'Of course, Eren. What I meant to say earlier was that the monsters don't care about titles and etiquettes. Titles such as Orc Soldier, Orc Leader, Orc Lord, Orc Overlord, Orc King, and Orc Emperor are created by you guys. Monsters don't address each other this way.

That being said, they do respect individual strength. You will not find a monster that is an exception to this statement.'

Eren nodded once again before sighing. He realized that the rankers' code of conduct was only a euphemistic take on 'might makes it right. The monsters had approached the same concept directly, ignoring anything that did not need to be included.

Sharog stopped just at the edge of the battle ring that was protected by the mana membrane and watched the fight from afar. Other spectators returned to their previous roles and started to either cheer for Nurbag who was renowned for his Fist Arts or jeer at Borul who was known to be a newbie and an unreliable performer.

The fight continued for a while. Strangely though, no matter how many times Nurbag beat Borul up, the latter kept on standing up, even if with wobbly feet. This pissed off Nurbag even more. So he decided to KO the guy once and for all.

Nurbag got close to Borul who was busy casting his earth-element defence armour and grabbed his shoulder all of a sudden with his right hand. He threw a punch in his face with his right hand the next moment.

Swish! Thomp!

Borul's face was thrown backwards after Nurbag's punch seemed to have connected with its mark. Nurbag released his grip over the guy's shoulder and lifted his hands to indicate that he had won.