Even after Bugitas had usurped the throne, the Noble Orc empire still had a strange order to it.

During the few days following Bugitas and his vassals’ successful coup d’état, they had employed violence. They had killed those who disobeyed them and committed the previously-forbidden cannibalism. They confined the priests of Mububujenge, the evil god of degenerate corpulence who had provided many blessings to the empire up until then, as well as the flesh-wives that had been given for the Orcs to marry, in the churches.

However, after those few days, large incidents stopped happening. A number of women had been gathered, and some of the upset citizens and Orcs had been killed. This was indeed tragic, but on the whole, the damage and number of casualties hadn’t been enough to shake the empire.

That was because Bugitas had sent generals like Budirud and Bufudin out to lead armies in various other regions, so there were less rulers in the empire. Most importantly, Bugitas had restrained his subordinates to some extent.

He couldn’t inflict great damage to the empire that he himself ruled, and if he cornered Mububujenge too hard, there was no telling what she would do in desperation.

The evil gods who had once been a part of the Demon King’s army were not involved in the maintenance and control of Lambda.

The gods of Lambda needed to hold back a certain amount of power to maintain the world, but the evil gods could wield their power as they wished.

They could even descend upon the world and go on a rampage until they were extinguished.

That was true for both the gods who had joined Vida’s side like Mububujenge, and for the gods on Vida’s side who had been forced out of their positions as gods.

Such an act was equivalent to self-destruction, and not something that a sane god would do. But for the evil gods, insanity was sanity.

As Mububujenge and the other gods maintained the barrier that protected the southern region of the continent from Alda, they were unlikely to lose themselves to desperation so easily, but caution was still needed.

If Mububujenge was alone, Ravovifard would be able to defeat her, but if the other gods were to sympathize with her and join her in her desperate act, Ravovifard would be at a disadvantage.

Thus, it was necessary to make them realize that nothing could be done even if they were to perform such desperate actions.

Ravovifard’s objective was to take the other gods of the southern region of the continent into a religious system where he, the evil god of release, was standing at the top.

He would bring the gods over to his side, one by one. Ravovifard’s power of release had weak effects on other evil gods, but there were many classic methods to employ, even without his special ability. Intimidation and persuasion were effective, even against gods.

But even this goal was nothing but a checkpoint. He would take in gods that obeyed him, seal away gods that disobeyed, increase his power, defeat Alda, the god of law and fate who was slowly but surely exhausting his power, and hold this world in his own hands.

This was Ravovifard’s ambition, and the ambition of Bugitas who worshipped him.

An army was marching towards the empire that was working towards this ambition.

As the scout on the watchtower reported this news, the Noble Orcs looked and cheered at the sight of the army.

“Those are the flags of General Budirud, General Bufudin and General Bugyap! They’ve returned!” one of the Noble Orcs cried. “Hurry and open the gate!”

But another Noble Orc stopped him. “Wait!”

“Why?! If we show disrespect to the generals by making them wait, there’s no telling what kind of punishment we’ll receive!”

“You fool! Leaving aside General Budirud, as his army was sent to attack the Ghoul nation, why are General Bufudin and General Bugyap’s armies here as well when they were supposed to have been dispatched to the High Kobold and High Goblin nations?!”

Having this pointed out, the first Noble Orc looked more closely at the armies led by the three generals.

Budirud’s army might have returned after successfully conquering the Ghoul nation, but there was no way that Bufudin and Bugyap’s armies would return from the nations they had been dispatched to unless Bugitas, the emperor, were to call them back.

No, if one thought about it, it was strange for Budirud’s army to return as well. Even if they had succeeded, a large amount of it should have remained behind with only messengers being sent to deliver the news of success unless they had slaughtered every single Ghoul.

And the three generals were supposed to have been in separate places; why had they joined together to return to the empire?

And then the Noble Orc realized.

“R-rebellion! It’s a rebellion! The generals have betrayed us! Report this to His Majesty Bugitas and Chief General Buzazeos!”

“It seems that they’ve noticed. Well, then… Hold up the true flags! Hold up the flags of Prince Budarion and Talosheim, and deploy the army!” Budirud commanded, seeing that there were no signs of the gates opening and realizing that the rebellion had been seen through.

The generals’ flags that had been held up high were thrown to the ground, and the flags of Prince Budarion and the empire were raised in their place.

And the air around Budirud was filled with tragic cries.

“I can’t run, I can’t run, I can’t run, I can’t run.”

“I want to run, I want to run, I want to run, I want to run, I want to run.”

“Impossible, impossible, impossible! We’re done for!”

“This is the end! There’s nothing but despair for me! Mommyyyyy!”

Bufudin, Bugyap, as well as Gargya who had usurped the throne of the High Kobold nation and Gido who had been ruling the High Goblin nation, were wailing with expressions of despair on their faces, their teeth chattering.

“You people… Nothing will change by being frightened and crying,” Budirud told them.

“If nothing’s going to change, let us do as we want! This is already the end for us!” said Bufudin.

“That’s right! Look at the other soldiers, too!” said Bugyap.

The Orcs, Noble Orcs and the lookouts of the empire’s gates hadn’t noticed, but at the back, there were the High Kobolds and High Goblins that had been Gargya and Gido’s subordinates. They were so frightened that their fear would be clear even to those not familiar with other races.

There were deep wrinkles in their faces and they were crying loudly. They looked as if they were about to go and die meaningless deaths.

… Though there were more than a few of them who were letting out broken laughter, too.

“See! We’re not the only ones crying!” Gargya said, fully open to how pathetic he was.

“Bufuh,” Budirud sighed, not looking particularly shaken. “You and I are commanders. Even if our soldiers are crying, how can we cry with them? Morale will drop, order will be lost and the army will stop functioning as an army. That would be like walking into a death that is right in front of our eyes,” he said rationally.

“Our deaths, you say… we’re already dead. We’re dead, and so are you,” said Bugyap with dull, lifeless eyes.

Indeed, the army marching upon the Noble Orc empire was made of Undead that Vandalieu had created from the corpses. A Zombie army.

Only the Magic Stones had been taken from the corpses of Bugitas’s subordinates that had been killed in the various places, with no further dismantling carried out on their bodies, so that this Undead army could be created.

However, at first, Vandalieu hadn’t intended to use almost all of the defeated enemies. In addition to the formerly important figures like Budirud, creating several hundred Undead and spreading them across sparsely in front of allied forces would have been plenty to use as a meat shield. That was what had been intended at first.

Recently-created Zombies have considerably lower Ranks than the abilities that they possessed while alive. By becoming Undead, these Zombies had lost the effects of Bugitas’s False Guidance: Beast Path and, in Gargya and Gido’s case, Ravovifard’s divine protection… Of course, using Familiar Spirit Descent was impossible, too.

And their current master Vandalieu had no intention of guiding them, so they received only minimal effects from Guidance: Demon Path.

Thus, they had become far weaker than they were while alive. There would be no point in moving such a large number of such weak soldiers, increasing the time it took to move.

But things had changed when Vandalieu acquired the Corpse Demon Commander Job and the Group Binding Technique Skill.

Up until now, Vandalieu’s Plant Binding Technique and Insect Binding Technique had allowed him to equip plants and insects inside his body and transport them, but with the restriction that he couldn’t transport large numbers of them for long periods of time.

This was because of a limitation of the Skill’s effects – living creatures took the nutrients they needed from Vandalieu while they were equipped.

Even if they were fine for short periods of time, Vandalieu wouldn’t be able to provide enough nutrients for large numbers of living creatures, and he would die of starvation if he kept them equipped for more than half a day.

That was why Vandalieu always equipped insectoid and plant monsters that were resistant to hunger, such as Pete, Cemetery Bees, Eisen and the Slime Kühl.

Isn’t there a Demon King’s hump that can store large amounts of nutrients like a camel’s hump?

he had thought from time to time.

And then he had become able to equip Undead.

Of course, Undead didn’t need nutrients. They could eat, but it wasn’t a necessary act to maintain their own existence. Thus, Vandalieu wouldn’t starve to death even if he equipped as many as it was possible to equip for long periods of time.

Thus, he had relied on the effects of the Zombie Maker Job and his vast amount of Mana to create Zombies from all of the intact enemy corpses, equipped them and then released them in a place some distance away from the Noble Orc empire.

Of course, as Vandalieu hadn’t been present when the enemies in the High Goblin nation died, he had failed to gather a lot of their spirits, so Bugyap’s and Gido’s armies had much less Zombies.

And the reason the Zombies other than Budirud were in sorrow and despair was because of the words that Vandalieu had spoken to them as he released them.

“You are acting as a decoy and meat shield. Please draw the Noble Orc empire’s eyes to yourselves, act as a wall for everyone from Zanalpadna and the Ghoul nation behind you, and fight the enemies. But don’t cause harm to the empire’s citizens or defensive installments such as the walls. And those who have not performed to my satisfaction and those who have disobeyed my orders will have their souls broken later,” he had told them.

Since they were Undead, they hadn’t really cared about the first part of these orders. They had already died, and their sense of pain was much different from the pain they had felt while they were alive. They wouldn’t go out of their way to choose to experience a second death, but with Vandalieu ordering them, they didn’t feel particularly reluctant about it.

After all, they had only just become Undead, so they hadn’t spent effort to increase their Levels or Skills. Even if they died, they would just return to being spirits. They had nothing to lose.

But if their souls were destroyed, they would be annihilated in the truest sense of the word. With that said, having their souls broken wasn’t the only thing they feared.

“We’ll be neglected by him, thought of as nuisances and stepped on and broken like pieces of trash!” cried Bufudin.

“Ah, I want to end this, I just want to end it… how nice would it be if death was the end!” said Gargya.

Vandalieu had been their enemy while they were alive, but now, they perceived him to be charismatic.

Gargya in particular hadn’t had anyone he considered precious to him other than himself while he was alive, so Vandalieu was now the only one that was more important to him than Gargya was to himself.

Vandalieu wouldn’t even recycle his spirit to use as a power source for Golems; he would simply decide that he was unnecessary and dispose of him. The fear and despair at that thought was far more than the fear and despair of a second death.

But Budirud didn’t look sorrowful at all. “Is that what you’re worried about?” he said with a laugh.

“Is that what, you say?! Has your fear driven you mad?!” Bufudin shouted.

“What are you saying? I am very much sane. And thus, I shall tell you that if we achieve greatness during this battle, our souls will not be broken, even though we did all of those terrible things.”

“Wha–?! How easy do you think that is?! We no longer have the Guidance or divine protection, and our Attribute Values have decreased! Many of our subordinates have even lost their Skills from the severe damage to their spirits! We’re essentially papier-mâché soldiers, you know?!” Bugyap pointed out.

“And our enemies are the elite soldiers led by Chief General Buzazeos! Even with our joined forces, there is no way that we can defeat them!” said Bufudin.

Buzazeos was the general of the Noble Orc empire with the highest rank among those who had followed Bugitas. He was a powerful individual who had thus been given the rank of Chief General, and while Budirud and Bufudin had been dispatched outside the nation, he had remained to protect the empire along with the elite soldiers he had raised himself, acting as Bugitas’s right-hand man.

He excelled not just as a commander but in his own fighting strength as well, and there was such a difference in physical strength between him and the other generals like Budirud that they wouldn’t be able to defeat him in one-on-one combat. Now that they had become Undead with lower Attribute Values, it was possible that they wouldn’t be able to defeat him even if they all fought him together.

And since he was behind sturdy walls, they wouldn’t even be able to cross swords with him unless they approached and climbed over the walls.

There was an enormous pile of unfavorable circumstances in front of their eyes.

But Budirud spoke to Bufudin and Bugyap once more. “It’s exactly as you say, and there is no path of escape for us. Even if we beg for our lives, even if we lick the feet of the families of those we have killed and press our foreheads against the ground to beg for forgiveness, it will all be meaningless to that person. In fact, it would only anger him more,” he said. “With that being the case, we have no choice but to fight as we have been ordered. If you think that, your head will feel lighter and you will feel cheerful. Don’t you think so?”

Bufudin and Bugyap exchanged looks.

“Now that you mention it, that’s reasonable. You’re right that we have no choice but to fight.”

“There is no other way to make a favorable impression on that person now… we have to fight.”

The fear and despair vanished from their faces as if melting away, replaced with the flames of insanity.

“That’s right, we simply need to fight with everything we have,” said Bufudin. “Raise your spears and fight! If your spear’s tip is broken, then fight with the handle, and if the handle is broken, then with your fists and fangs. If your arm is torn off and your fangs are pulled out, grasp your arm with your other hand and