NSE-Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Resistance Army

After finishing his talk with Turon.

He gathered the Orcs in one place.

To the Orcs standing there blankly, as if listening to a principal’s sermon, he said.

“We’re going to join hands with the Dwarves.”

―Snort! Why! Orcs strong! Shorties weak!

A fierce backlash burst out.

But he had already expected this much.

He continued calmly.

“They’ll protect us and even give us food.”

―Snort! Eldest Brother crazy!

―Must have caught sickness!

―Snort! Orcs hungry! Not even food for us!

Thud!

He stamped his foot on the ground.

“Orcs no gear. Bodies weak. Two hundred already dead.”

―Snort! Dying in fight is blessing!

“No! It’s not a blessing!”

―……?

To the Orcs tilting their heads, he said.

“Is dying while fighting a weak enemy a blessing? That’s just being feeble! Only one who dies fighting a truly strong enemy is a brave warrior!”

To the silent Orcs, he continued.

“The Apostle and the Witch who tormented you! Only if you die after burying an axe in their skulls is it a true blessing!”

―……!

“Dwarves give gear! Orcs get strong! Can kill Apostle and Witch!”

―Snort! Kill Apostle and Witch?

―Snort! Shorty gear good! Possible!

Even with Dwarven gear, it was doubtful they could do more than cut open an Apostle’s body, let alone reach the Witch’s skull.

But that wasn’t what mattered.

‘Dreams and illusions.’

In other words, a vision.

Planting that was precisely the goal of this speech.

“If we join hands with the Dwarves, we can become truly brave warriors! Is there any feeble coward who still opposes?”

―Snort! Orcs not cowards! Get gear!

―Orcs get strong! Smash Apostle’s skull!

―Snort! Eldest Brother genius!

From the chieftains to the ordinary warriors.

The Orcs’ fervent response followed.

And so the Dwarf group slipped right into the middle of the meat party.

―Snort! Shorty, eat meat here! And give gear!

“Heh heh, sure. Whoa! Stop stuffing it in my mouth!”

Perhaps because of their hearty nature as a race, the Dwarves blended in with the Orcs in an instant.

The atmosphere heated up quickly.

Soon…….

[532 Dwarves join the Resistance Army!]

A message appeared.

Wasn’t it a sign that the Orcs had finally opened their hearts and accepted the Dwarves as one family?

He looked at the message with a satisfied heart. Turon sidled up and tapped his arm.

“You’re not only good at fighting, your speechmaking is quite something too. I think I see why the Orcs follow you. They’re simple, but by no means a stupid race…….”

“You flatter me.”

“But why are you suddenly speaking politely? It doesn’t suit you.”

“Because we’re on the same side now.”

He smiled broadly.

There was plenty to squeeze out of the Dwarves.

On top of that, unlike the Orcs, they weren’t completely reckless in style, just somewhat hearty in nature.

Unless they were enemies, there was no need to spout casual speech at them.

Kim Min-woo was someone who could change his way of speaking hundreds of times for the sake of a clear.

“Heh heh. A young friend who knows his manners, I see.”

“Not at all.”

He shared a few pieces of Cockatrice meat with Turon.

“So, how large is the force heading for the Black Rock Tribe?”

“……It will be a hard fight. From what the refugees say, there are ten Wraith Knights and as many as twenty Corpse Collectors.”

Wraith Knights, fallen souls clumped together and given form. Each one of these guys was a monster stronger than a Chimera.

‘Tricky to deal with.’

Since their bodies were souls, weapons didn’t bite well. Unless weapons were coated with Holy Water or silver-plated, the damage was usually reduced by more than thirty percent.

And twenty Chimeras on top of that.

‘That is a lot.’

It wasn’t hard to understand.

It was true that Dwarves were worse at fighting than Orcs.

But they had outstanding construction skills and weapon-making skills.

They were experts at building fortified dwellings and firmly establishing defensive facilities.

So it wasn’t strange for them to dispatch a far larger force than for Orcs.

“We need gear.”

“So we do. Come to our tribe.”

After tidying up the spot, he followed Turon.

* * *

An entrance leading underground.

Going inside, a huge cavern came into view. And within it, even the sight of a fairly large Citadel.

“Bring out the gear!”

At Turon’s words, the Citadel gates opened and several carts rolled out loaded with gear.

Armor, gloves, shoes, lower garments, even helmets.

Gear made of steel came into view. He looked over the gear.

[Dwarven Steel Armor]

[Grade: Magic+]

[Level Restriction: 110]

[Armor made by hammering steel. Its appearance is crude, but its performance is fully intact.]

[Effect 1. Impact force reduced by 20%.]

[Effect 2. Strength +20, Health +20]

[Dwarven Steel Axe]

[Level Restriction: 110]

[Grade: Magic+]

[An axe with a vicious blade. It seems like it would split your head if it hit you.]

[Effect 1. Smash damage increases by 20%.]

[Effect 2. Strength +30]

Kim Min-woo’s eyes lit up at the gear.

‘Plus Items? As expected of Dwarves, huh?’

Plus Item.

A special feature that mainly attached to crafted goods, it was one of the effects that made an item of the same grade deliver better results.

Naturally, it didn’t attach easily to ordinary crafts. It was a mark that only occasionally appeared, one at a time, when something was made extremely well.

If it was Dwarves, it wasn’t strange for them to produce items like these.

“Ahem! What do you think?”

“Dwarven skill truly lives up to its name. Impressive. However, it’s a pity the number of pieces is a bit small. It looks like arming about two hundred Orcs would use it all up.”

Turon nodded.

“I know. But that’s all we currently have. Everything’s been taken out, starting with the gear the refugees brought and including the goods stored in our tribe.”

Kim Min-woo nodded.

‘Well, yeah.’

They’d said 500 Dwarves had joined. Among them would be the elderly, women, and children. If you narrowed it down to those who could fight, it might not even reach two hundred.

If anything, it was impressive that they held this much gear.

“Armaments like these. How many sets can you turn out in a day?”

“……Even counting the refugees, the number of blacksmiths is about fifty. We have plenty of materials, but let’s see…… even if we ran the forges all day, more than 100 sets would be hard. We have to put in real care when making things like that.”

“You saw it too, Sir Turon. On the way here, wandering Orcs kept joining.”

“……I did.”

“The more we bring down the Witch’s side, the more will join. That’s far from enough.”

“Haah…… what can we do? We lack hands. If only we had enough apprentices to help with the groundwork, but right now it’s hard to do anything. The number of people who can work is itself small.”

Turon sighed and looked at the Orcs.

“Not that I’d leave the apprentice role to those Orcs over there…… I trust you know how that would turn out.”

Kim Min-woo grinned.

He had already expected the conversation to flow in this direction.

“What if there were plenty of excellent apprentices? Then how much could you produce?”

“……If there were truly plenty of apprentices, even 200 sets a day wouldn’t be a dream. Our bodies would be ground down, but that’s not what matters right now…….”

“There are. Apprentices like that.”

“……There are?”

“Yes. Friends who don’t complain at all even working 24 hours a day, who have loyalty enough to jump into fire, and who have plenty of will to learn.”

“If you have friends like that, please do introduce them to me! In my day, there were plenty of apprentices like that, but kids these days…….”

Just then.

A scout came running, out of breath, and said urgently to Turon.

“Chieftain! They’re coming! They’ll probably arrive in an hour!”

“……They’ve already approached this far?”

Turon looked at Kim Min-woo.

He nodded with a grin.

“I’ll introduce the apprentices a little later.”

The battle came first.

* * *

The Wraith Knights and Corpse Collector group approached the Dwarf Citadel.

Even with the advantages of walls and gear, if you couldn’t fight, you’d die all the same.

They had already wiped out three tribes.

Nothing hindered their steps.

Just then.

A strange sight appeared in front of the Citadel.

Orcs, swarming thick!

Their numbers alone went well past a thousand.

The Wraith Knights’ faces stiffened. One or two Orcs were nothing. But if it was over a thousand, that was a different story.

―Orc! Orc!

The guys’ fierce war cries were resounding thunderously through the cavern.

―……To think the Dwarves would draw in the Orcs…….

That wasn’t the only problem.

The Orcs, who had been torn apart here and there and living as scattered villages, had united.

It must be that a special individual to serve as a focal point had been born.

And on top of that, one cunning enough to join hands with the Dwarves!

The race that once ruled this continent, the Orcs. The Witch had invested much power into tearing apart the Orcs’ strength.

Because their reserve of power when they began to unite was that formidable.

‘To think those guys would stir in a remote frontier like this…….’

If left alone, becoming ten thousand, a hundred thousand would happen in an instant. On top of that, an Orc commanding individual grew explosively stronger the more subordinates he had.

‘Dangerous. We can’t let another guy like Mutakta appear.’

―……Aldren. I’ll assign five Corpse Collectors to you. Get out of here. This news must be delivered.

A Wraith Knight called Aldren nodded.

He began leaving the cavern together with the Corpse Collectors.

―Brothers! Second Brother Urkan commands! Kill them!

―Kraaaah!

With a giant Orc at the front, Orcs armed with steel gear charged in. Seeing that, the Wraith Knight group drew blades made of spectral form.

Only the one to deliver the news needed to get out.

Their role was to buy time.

They had resolved to die.

But, belying that resolve, just before Aldren and the five Chimeras emerged from underground.

“Where are you guys going?”

―……A human?

A human was blocking the way at the entrance.

Soon, behind him, nearly a hundred Orcs revealed themselves.

―Snort! Eldest Brother really genius.

―Snort! I kill those guys!

What’s more, this wasn’t the end of the force. Because a horde of well over several hundred Skeletons was with them too.

‘……There was an ambush.’

The faces of Aldren and the Corpse Collectors stiffened.

The human smiled glibly.

“Trying to deliver word, by any chance? That won’t work.”

―……We break through.

“Welcome to your grave.”

―Orc! Orc!

Six monsters sank into a swamp of Skeletons.

* * *

[Your Level increases by 3!]

.

.

The battle ended with a flood of messages. Every Wraith Knight and Corpse Collector who had come here had died. By comparison, the Orcs’ sacrifice wasn’t even a hundred.

Because the armed Orcs had served reliably as shields in the front line.

‘Life really is all about gear.’

He looked at the guys’ corpses.

A force of this scale was one the Fortress would pay attention to.

If word was cut off for a few days, they would surely try to find out what was going on.

From here on, it was a true race against time.

He gathered the chieftains.

“Pick the fast-footed guys and spread the word. Say we’re recruiting brave warriors to stand against the Witch.”

―Snort! Understood!

Before those guys began to move in earnest.

In this golden window, he had to gather as many troops as possible and build up a force. After sending the Orcs off like that.

He met Turon.

“You’ve really worked hard!”

Perhaps because they’d gotten through a crisis together.

The touch of Turon patting his shoulder carried a stronger goodwill than before.

“I said I’d introduce the apprentices, remember.”

“So you did.”

“I’ll show you now.”

He gulped down a Mana Potion.

Feeling the Mana fill rapidly, he held out his hand.

“Come out, apprentices.”

[1,064 Skeletons are summoned!]

The bargain Skeletons, costing half the Mana of Mages. Perhaps because of that, over a thousand were summoned.

“……?”

Turon looked back and forth between the Skeleton horde and Kim Min-woo’s face.

“Right now, are you saying these Skeletons are the apprentices?”

“Yes. They’re perfect apprentices, so to speak. Trust me and try them just once. What are you doing, not greeting your teacher with a bow?”

Clatter!

The Skeleton horde snapped off a salute to their teacher.