As dark clouds enveloped the sky and blocked the sunlight from shining down upon the land, on a mountain range, rumbling sounds echoed across the surroundings.

-Rumble! -Rumble!

Marching through the large rocky terrain were over a thousand orcs wearing thick metallic armor that weighed over a couple of tons. With each step they took the ground beneath them shook.

"Randim gal"

Walking at the front of the army of orcs were two orcs that stood out from the rest.

A white orc and a red orc.

Presently, both of their faces were incomparably dark as their chests heaved up and down unevenly.

The legion commander, Silug, had an especially terrifying expression as the large scar on his face became even more glaring.

As we walked, a boundless bloodlust exuded from his body.

The bloodlust was so powerful that the orcs standing next to him were trembling uncontrollably.

...Almost as if they were staring at death itself.

Watching the scene from further back, with my head straight I softly said in a deep voice.

"How long do we have left?"

Walking next to me, wearing a large metallic armor that covered most of his body was Kevin who coldly said.

"Ten more kilometers..."

"Hm?"

Turning my head to the side, and noticing Kevin's attitude, I realized that he was still holding a grudge against me for the potions thing.

Rolling my eyes inside of the large metal mask I apologized.

"Alright, I'm sorry about the potions thing, you don't need to be so mad about it"

...I do understand that I was at fault here, but it's not like something would've happened.

Let's exclude his perks as the protagonist, I also had the book with me. With it I knew Kevin was going to be fine.

I wasn't dumb enough to make him do something that would end up killing him.

"Not mad? I was almost caught because you didn't tell me what they did"

"No you weren't, stop exaggerating"

He only startled a nearby orc, nothing much happened. Since the orc was too busy fighting a demon, there was no follow-up.

Turning his attention towards me, Kevin frowned inside of his mask and said

"...and how do you know that?"

From what Kevin remembered, Ren left on the opposite side of him...he shouldn't have seen him.

Without skipping a beat I responded.

"Since I got lucky and an orc died next to me, I was able to quickly change and thus saw you on the way"

Squinting his eyes, Kevin proceeded to nod his head.

"...I see"

Nope, I was actually quite far from him, but he didn't need to know that.

That aside, I finally found out why the orcs and the demons were fighting. After the count-ranked demon left, Angelica finally told me what had happened.

To summarize it

...in short, the demons ambushed the orcs.

Normally this wouldn't have been that much of a surprising event considering the fact the orcs and demons fought all of the time...however, this time, things weren't the same as usual.

In fact, a big problem happened.

...and the problem was that the food supply the orcs were carrying was directly targeted by the demons and as a result were destroyed.

This was a massive blow to the orcs.

With how scarce food was, any loss dealt towards their food supply meant that they were dealt a devastating blow. Especially since food was what kept their soldiers alive till now.

The less food the orcs had...the lower the chances of them surviving were.

Kevin also understood this, and so as we marched with the other orcs, we discussed what happened.

Although Kevin somewhat had gotten the gist of what had happened since he could understand their language, only after I relayed to him what Angelica told me that he fully understood what was going on.

He was a bit surprised about how I was able to know this information since I couldn't speak the language before...but fortunately, he didn't pry too much.

...in the end, as he found out what had happened, he couldn't help but sigh and say

"What a pity"

Glancing at Kevin for a brief moment, I softly said in a low voice

"What is?"

"The fact that orcs can't use dimensional storages, else this situation would've never happened"

Pausing for a second, I scratched the back of my head and nodded my head.

"Ah...I guess you're right"

What Kevin said wasn't wrong.

Orcs couldn't use dimensional storages like humans could, and that was because of one specific reason.

Orcs couldn't use mana.

...more specifically, because orcs couldn't use mana they weren't able to use dimensional storages as they required mana to activate them.

Had they been able to use dimensional storage, protecting the food supplies would've been a breeze as Silug alone could've done the job.

Unfortunately, this was not the case as orcs didn't use mana but instead used something called 'Aura'

...a completely different energy system compared to mana and was only unique to orcs like demonic energy for demons.

The reason orcs used aura instead of mana had to do with how they evolved and how they mainly focused on brute strength and their bodies.

Unlike mana which enabled users to channel elements, aura was a force that was hidden within the bodies of the orcs and allowed them to stimulate every single muscle and fiber of their bodies. In doing so it helped them grow stronger by regrowing their muscle fibers to be stronger and more durable.

...the end result was their massive bodies that contained boundless raw power hidden within. I didn't need to elaborate on how strong they were...as I had seen Silug's power first hand.

Terrifying.

Therefore, because of how they were biologically designed, orcs couldn't use mana. This also explained why the orcs wore crude and heavy armor. It was simply because artifacts were useless to them as they couldn't use mana.

Going back to Silug, the reason why he was especially furious was quite obvious.

...since he was the leader of the expedition, all responsibilities were going to fall on him for the failure.

-Thump! -Thump!

Suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts, were the sounds of footsteps halting as every soldier stopped moving.

Standing on top of a rock, overlooking the orcs below him, Silug's powerful voice resounded across the area.

"Lewira laun Sawiiick! Comy tun lareon von-"

Listening to Silug's voice echoing across the surroundings, frowning, I called for Angelica inside of my mind.

'Hey Angelica, is there a way for you to make me understand?'

After a brief moment, Angelica's voice entered my head as she said.

[...Yes, I didn't use this before because my brethren was there but now that I no longer feel his presence, I can share a bit of my power]

Seeing that Angelica could help me understand, I grew excited.

'Alright, perfect'

Honestly, I found the fact that I couldn't understand a thing quite troublesome. Fortunately, I had Angelica with me who knew how to speak the language.

'...actually, Angelica, how many languages can you speak?'

I was genuinely curious, since she knew Lartvian, which was the orc's main language, she definitely knew other languages.

[All of them]

Taken aback by her response, I couldn't help but ask once again to make sure I didn't hear incorrectly.

'All of them?'

[Yes, we demons are born with the ability to know every language out there]

Listening to this fact, I was slightly taken aback.

...interesting.

I never knew this.

Especially since I was the creator of the novel.

I guess there were still some technical things I didn't know as the author of the novel...interesting indeed.

[Focus your mind]

Hearing Angelica's voice in my mind, snapping me out of my thoughts, I closed my eyes and concentrated as Angelica told me.

...though I was surprised with what Angelica told me, my mind was more preoccupied with other things like wanting to understand what Silug was saying.

[Alright, I'm about to share with you my skill so try to not lose focus]

Nodding my head, I solemnly said.

'Alright'

[Good...]

-Fuwa!

As soon as Angelica's voice faded from my mind, I suddenly felt a stabbing sensation hit my brain resulting in my face winching in pain.

"khh..."

A small groan escaped from my lips, but because it was faint no one heard it.

...Moreover, I had a mask covering my face which helped quite a bit.

After a couple of seconds, feeling the pain in my brain disappear, opening my eyes I looked towards Silgus in the distance.

'Hopefully, I could now understand...'

Fiercely staring at the sea of orcs beneath him, Silgus shouted as his powerful voice echoed across the surroundings.

"The flames of war are upon us..khrrr"

"By igniting the first sparks, the inevitable clash for the sovereignty of this planet has been pushed forward..."

Pausing for a second as he stared at the orcs beneath him, extending his hand forward and clenching it into a fist, Silgus shouted.

"...and I swear upon my name Silgus third legion commander of Gud Khodror, that I will personally end them in the war that they oh so seek..khrr"

"Only upon the smell of those vermin's blood blanketing this world will I finally be able to rest in peace"

-Thump! -Thump!

Karum! Karum! Karum!

Hearing Silgus's speech, a lot of the orcs standing felt their blood boil as they chanted their war cry as they thumbed their weapons onto the ground.

Satisfied with the reaction, with his face becoming incomparably serious, Silgus shouted.

"So...now that we are about to enter Gud Khodror, I want to know...who will stand by my side and who will leave me?"

Instantly the surroundings became quiet.

Listening to the speech thanks to Angelica's skill, I instantly realized what was going on.

...Silug, the orc leader, was trying to unite the troops by making them take his side so that when we arrived at Gud Khodror, he would face a lighter punishment due to his failure.

If he had substantial backing, his death or punishment would have an adverse effect on the orcs overall

...and so by taking full command of this legion, Silug was trying his best to make himself more important in the eyes of the higher-ups.

He wanted to exert dominance over everyone here, before going back to Gud Khodror. Moreover, judging from the fluctuations in the air, it seems as though he was using a skill that forcefully exposed people that were planning on betraying him.

Fortunately, Kevin and I were not affected by this as we didn't use aura...couldn't say this for the rest of the orcs.

...and I was right.

After a couple of seconds, seeing that no one had responded yet, Silgus shouted out loud once again as the fluctuations in the air intensified.

"Say it now!"

Suddenly, an orc stepped out of the line and shouted

"I would like to leave"

As soon as his words came out, silence prevailed in the surroundings as everyone stared at the orc that stepped out.

"Oh?"

Jumping off of the small cliff, walking towards the orc that had just shouted, Silgus asked.

"Why are you leaving me?"

Trembling all over, the orc responded

"I-I just feel like there isn't much to do...we were ambushed by the demons and yet we weren't able to even defend the food supply which we desperately needed to def-

Cutting the orc off mid-sentence, Silgus's deep voice once again resounded across the area.

"I don't want excuses"

Looking at Silug directly in the eyes, the orc pleaded as he said.

"I fought with my life on the line...I almost died multiple times during the fight...I've served you for over thirty years...please let me go, I've served you faithfully for so long, I don't want to do this anymore..."

Staring at the orc before him for a couple of seconds, Silug nodded his head.

"I understand, don't worry"

Patting the orc by his shoulder, Silug smiled. However, the smile soon disappeared and Silug grabbed the orc by his neck and lifted him in the air as a pained scream resounded across the area.

"Kyeeeek!"

Staring at the orc in his hands, Silug apathetically clenched it, and the loud sound of bones breaking resounded across the surroundings.

-Crack!

-Thump!

"Anybody else?"

Flinging the lifeless body of the orc to the side, Silug looked towards the orcs before him. After seeing that no one was daring enough to leave, Silug smiled and said.

"Good, let's go"

Karum! Karum! Karum!

Subsequently, as he turned around, the orcs all once again chanted their war cry as they followed along. This time, everyone stood with their back straight without daring to be negligent.

...it was evident that his display of power had won them over.

Not long after, turning right of the mountain path, my footsteps halted for a moment as I stared at the enormous city in the distance.

After a while, as I regained from my stupor, I couldn't help but mutter.

"We're here...we're finally at Gud Khodror"

...the place where everything would begin.