Throne of the North.

Chapter 696 The Beastman Emperor (Part Two)
Ryan's words clearly displeased Volvo.

Very dissatisfied.

He had already seen the dawn of victory, so how could the war not have started yet?

However, Volvo did not show it; it remained humble, like a listener, making people feel comfortable.

“But Ryan, the orcs may not be unified. They have always been like this internally, for thousands of years. We are very familiar with the orc invasions.”

Ryan shook his head and asked in return:
"Your Highness, do you know how long it took the orcs to identify their targets during the last full-scale invasion?"

"Ten days!"

"In just ten days, the werewolf king, leading his werewolf army, drove out a great being of evil god in the north of the Northwind Province. And, similarly, their unified will stemmed from the will of the god they served."

"This time, however, the problem of resolving the internal conflicts among the orcs did not occur within ten days."

Volvo was puzzled and said:

"Isn't this a good thing? It means that there is no divine will involved, and they cannot reach a consensus, so we can easily achieve victory."

"No, that's not the case."

"Death and war, even extreme emotions, are a sacrifice to great beings."

"Below the North, great beings slumber, but with each sacrifice on the battlefield, the great beings that the orcs serve may awaken."

Volvo's expression turned worried, but he quickly relaxed again.

"It's alright, Ryan, the Empire also has the favor of the light."

"No, the awakening of a great being will unify the will of the orcs, and that is what you should be worried about."

"Perhaps, Twilight Keep will resemble the scene from the last war."

Ryan looked at Volvo and continued:

"Your Highness, if you want a glorious victory, the construction of Twilight Fortress must be even more robust than the last one."

"Moreover, you now have the means. The empire's resources are converging on the northern border. Perhaps this time, you can cut off the orc king's head and bring it back to the capital city yourself."

"I think that in that case, everyone will praise your glorious deeds."

Ryan said this because he didn't want Volvo to keep thinking about returning to the capital, as this would cause the war in the North to escalate too much and could easily lead to trouble.

As a nobleman, Ryan had his own agenda and interests in this war, but on the big picture, all the nobles in the empire shared the same goal: to defeat the orcs' invasion once again.

This is the prevailing trend, the entirety of political correctness; the interests of the nobles themselves are at most a side issue.

Upon hearing this, Volvo calmed down considerably and was no longer in such a hurry to return to the capital. Of course, this desire hadn't completely disappeared, but it had simply subsided considerably.

This manifested itself in the fact that, north of the Twilight Fortress on the front line, the army began to retreat, converging within a ten-mile radius north of the fortress.

This result reassured Commander Harald considerably. He had been extremely worried these past few days. Volvo was unaware of anything behind the scenes, but Commander Twilight on the front lines knew perfectly well that the army was able to hold off the orcs thirty miles north of the fortress, suffering heavy casualties every day.

To Volvo, it's just a number, but on the front lines, it represents every single second of defeat and madness.

Those political nobles could hardly see the ferocious faces that erupted from humanity in dire straits on the battlefield, faces more terrifying than beasts or demons.

However, Harald hopes the battlefield can remain at the foot of Twilight Keep.

Volvo did not immediately agree to his proposal.

In his war reports sent to the south, he warned that if there were two retreats in a short period of time, the nobles would think that the war was starting to turn against them.

The nobles in the capital city couldn't even read numbers clearly. They could only judge the outcome of the war by seeing the army's location today and tomorrow from the simple and exaggerated battle reports.

Volvo doesn't want its newly established reputation to be tarnished by this incident.

Ryan didn't say anything more. He was now very busy, not only serving as a military advisor in Twilight Province, but also dealing with troubles from his own territory.

The threat posed by the orcs is rising day by day, and the Northwind Province and the eastern border of the kingdom, which were originally well defended, have begun to suffer serious damage.

Ryan, far away in the Twilight Province, also began to receive many inquiries. Because many matters involved different nobles of the Empire, they could not make decisions on their own.

Looking at the news from his own home and the state of Twilight Province before him, Ryan looked north with deep concern.

……

What exactly happened within the orcs' ranks? And what happened in the North?

He was incredibly curious.

To humans, the situation is confusing and unpredictable, but to beastmen, it's a thrilling and action-packed anime.

They rubbed their fists together, punching each other until blood and flesh splattered and water splashed, bones became brittle, and the flames exposed fragrant chunks of meat. Only then did the orcs slowly stop and begin to feast.

Ryan wondered when the orc family would be able to achieve unity of will, but in reality... the orcs had no such idea at all.

Neither the six major orc royal families nor the newly added orc races that invaded the south had considered that these orcs with countless backgrounds should first unify before invading human lands.

They don't have that brain at all.

So, what are the beastmen thinking about?

They are thinking about eating.

After arriving at the southernmost, icy land from the depths of the North, there was only one thing on my mind: what to eat.

Naturally, it will eat anything, even other orcs.

The invaders of human territory today are actually the weak orcs who can't find food in this snowy land. They are no match for the powerful orc tribes and may even become their food. Because of this fear, the weak orcs keep going further south, which is why humans are talking about the full-scale orc invasion.

So why don't these powerful orcs participate?
That's obvious. Although orcs are stupid and barbaric, they, like wild beasts, have gradually come to know the power of humans.

In the orcs' understanding, powerful enemies should be avoided, just like wild beasts, who know to hunt the weak and avoid the strong when hunting.

A lion might prey on a tough-skinned cow or horse when hungry, but it would never provoke an elephant, whose internal organs could be dislocated by a single kick.

As long as there's food, it's not like we're starving.
This is what the orcs are like now. Powerful orcs aren't hungry, and they have their own territories, so there's no need for them to provoke the powerful human civilization to the south. They're content with what they have today; if they don't have food tomorrow, they'll worry about that tomorrow.

"Hiccup~"

A tall, elephant-like beastman rubbed the bone against his rump, then swung his trunk and swallowed the bone whole. He then turned around, found a sheltered spot, and boldly lay down on the dry grass to sleep.

Several bear-men trembled in fear, roaring and trying to threaten with their voices, but to no avail. Several elephant-beastmen nearby awoke and immediately attacked the grain reserves with deadly force.

They were the losers in a battle a few days ago, and became food for this group of elephant-beastmen who migrated south from the depths of the North.

These tall creatures seemed to be looking for some of their relatives, but the orcs weren't very bright and knew absolutely nothing about the mammoth-like people they were talking about.

"Brainless beasts should be food."

One of the elephant-beastmen, whose size was smaller than that of the other elephant-beastmen, said this, and so these bear-men became food reserves.

As darkness fell, many of the elephant-beastmen went to sleep. They had no habit of keeping watch at night, and in the darkness, only the sharp grinding of their teeth could be heard, so loud that it was hard to fall asleep.

Oh, there are no humans here, but this sound still keeps the fox-people awake.

The small, red-skinned elephant-beastman, sleeping in the very center, was wide awake. It couldn't sleep, watching its kind around it all fast asleep and unable to wake up. Then, the elephant-beastman's head split open, and a red fox-man crawled out. It then went to the pile of fruit on the ground, picked up the fruit, and began to swallow it in small bites.

It glanced disdainfully at the half-rotten fruit on its paw, then tossed it into the mouth of a nearby elephant with its mouth wide open. The elephant, completely oblivious, swallowed the half-fruit as its mouth twitched.

“Great master, the power you have bestowed upon me is incomparably strong.”

The fox-person prostrated himself before the sky, muttering incantations. In the moonlight, strands of bright light fell and merged into the fox-person's body.

Half an hour later, the red-skinned fox-man climbed back into the crack in the elephant-man's head, and the crack disappeared in an instant. The next day, the other elephant-beastmen around looked at this guy with some doubt. They felt crowded, and he seemed to have grown much stronger.

They quietly retreated a little; this guy had become powerful, and they needed to make room for him—this was the most basic rule among the orc race.

The red-skinned elephant-beastman was the leader of this orc tribe with only a dozen or so members. As a new day dawned, the elephant-beastman, still unwilling to open his eyes, was forced by the roars to put the leftover bones together and form an unfamiliar pattern.

They looked at their red-skinned kin in the middle, calling out in confusion, then trembled inexplicably, looking at the sky with fear. They sensed that a great being was watching them.

All the elephant-beastmen began to kneel on the ground and kowtow frantically, swinging their long trunks and scattering the snow from the ground into the sky, making the surroundings murky.

At the heart of the ritual, the red-skinned elephant-man sensed a great divine oracle.

He needs more believers.

It was terrified, sensing the displeasure of the great god, for after so long, there were only so few orc followers.

The red-skinned elephant-orc prostrated himself on the ground, his trembling body a testament to his piety, and he promised that it would bring more orcs into the ranks of believers.

A dozen or so elephant-beastmen began their work for the day. They used to have enough food for a month, but recently their workload had increased.

In the calm snowfield, a giant elephant-beastman leaped out of the thick snow. The towering elephant-beastman was like a deep-sea shark bursting out of the water, pinning two frost lizard-beastmen beneath him. With a flick of its trunk, it broke seven or eight bones in the frost lizard-beastmen. Just as it opened its blood-red maw to store fat, a threatening voice came from behind.

Turning its head, it looked at its red-skinned counterpart with a puzzled expression. Was there anything more important than eating? The other's obstruction angered it. In fact, it had never fought with this red-skinned fellow before, and it was furious that the other was preventing it from eating.

But the next moment, the aura of the great being appeared faintly. The elephant orc had not forgotten the great terror just now, and his whole body began to tremble. He prostrated himself in front of his red-skinned brethren and released the frost lizard orc.

"Death, or the sacrifice of one's soul."

The red-skinned elephant orc simply issued a threat, and the frost lizard orc began to beg for mercy without any thought. The elephant orc felt that they had chosen the second option.

As a result, several Frost Lizard Orcs appeared in this Elephant Orc tribe, and in a very short time, these Frost Lizard Orcs became loyal lackeys, leading the Elephant Orcs to their own Frost Lizard Orc tribe.

These elephant-beastmen were incredibly powerful, beyond measure. A dozen or so elephant-beastmen routed hundreds of frost lizard-beastmen. The dead beastmen became sacrifices, and the living beastmen offered their souls in the ritual, becoming believers.

The great divine power slowly descended, and the orc felt as if he had become stronger again, and he felt even greater awe for his red-skinned kin.

"A name? I have a name!!!"

At the center of the sacrificial ceremony, the red-skinned elephant-man finally felt the recognition of a great being and was bestowed with divine favor and a name.

Broken bones.

The great gods bestowed upon it a name, Broken Bones, and with the arrival of this name, it felt its mind was no longer clouded, but incredibly clear.

"You damned bastards, submit to me!"

The red-skinned elephant-man roared loudly, and the surrounding orcs stared at him in shock, their eyes wide like lanterns.

It can actually speak fluently.

……

Beyond the Wall in the North, a group of werewolves looked around in confusion.

The number of cannon fodder orcs around them seemed to have decreased.

"Were all those disgusting scum killed?"

Why are the six royal families royal families? It's not just because of their large size and powerful strength, but also because these six royal families possess the most fluent minds in the entire orc family.

Some orcs are indistinguishable from wild beasts, while others have already developed the outlines of civilization and learned how to present themselves in a sophisticated manner.

Werewolves are undoubtedly among the best. Although they seem to be falling out of the ranks of the six great kingdoms recently, this will not affect their individual strength.

They are natural-born skilled hunters of their kind.

At the same time, they have extensive leadership experience and are able to perceive changes around them.

Soon, a werewolf report came in.

"Boss, a group of migrating elephant people have kidnapped all our men!"

"what?"

"Damn things, I'm going to send them to attack human fortresses!"

(End of this chapter)