Chapter 28
#28. The New Chieftain
"You've really smeared shit all over the wall. That fellow's magic stone should cover the cleaning costs."
Kylan, standing atop the rampart, muttered indifferently.
He truly regarded the orc before him as no more than an annoying stain he had to wipe away.
And orcs were the sort to fall easily for this kind of simple provocation.
Though that had not been Kylan's intention.
"You insolent human bastard…!! Become a lump of meat beneath my axe!!"
Krok let out a beastlike roar and raised his enormous wyvern-bone axe with both hands.
Kwoooong!
A red aura erupted explosively from Krok's entire body.
Though he was stupid, his combat instincts were more than good enough to make him an orc chieftain.
He was not merely strong—he could wield aura as well.
"Kurrk…! Dieee!"
Krok brought his bone axe down with all his might.
The heavy blow fell directly above Kylan's head.
But Kylan did not dodge.
He merely raised the greatsword in his hand, Frost Fang, with ease.
Kaaang!
A powerful shockwave spread in every direction with the clash of metal.
"……K-Kurrk!?"
Krok's eyes widened as though they might pop out of their sockets.
The all-out blow infused with all his strength and aura—
Kylan stopped it with one hand.
And he did so lightly, without so much as a change in expression.
"Not bad. I thought you were just a brainless pig, but you can handle aura."
Kylan muttered as though intrigued.
'If the rampart kept taking attacks like this, it wouldn't remain completely unscathed. Was this guy really this strong in the original?'
He should have been nothing more than Extra 1.
But Kylan soon understood.
The man named Kylan had been far too strong in the original story from the very beginning.
Compared to him, anyone short of a boss-level monster would seem like a mere passing extra.
'Thinking he's stronger than Tarkan is an absurd delusion, but he's respectable at this level.'
Of course, a respectable level was nowhere near enough to face Kylan.
Kylan chuckled and infused Frost Fang with aura.
"You have to pay for dirtying my wall."
Fwoooosh―!
A chill burst from Kylan's entire body like a storm.
***
Crack-crack-crack!
"K-kwaaaagh!?"
The ones screaming were not Krok, but the other orcs climbing onto the rampart.
The aftereffects of Kylan's aura alone caused the orcs' feet to begin freezing solid against the rampart floor.
They could not even lift their feet, let alone swing their axes, and could only scream in place.
"Kurrk…! My feet…!"
"C-cold…! It's freezing my bones!"
The area around the rampart rapidly transformed into a blue glacier.
Was the sun in the night sky favoring the humans?
Or had Kylan's mastery of aura reached the realm of the gods?
Only the orcs were freezing.
"Kurrk…! How dare you!! My brothers!!"
Krok's eyes turned bloodshot as he raised his red aura to its limit.
He intended to use his own aura to push Kylan's aura back.
When even that failed, Krok swung his bone axe and attacked Kylan directly.
Clang! Kaaang! Boom!
Sparks and shards of ice flew in every direction.
Krok's attacks were so sharp and heavy that every nearby knight broke into a cold sweat.
But.
"Is that all you've got?"
"K-krrgh…!"
Kylan did not retreat even a single step.
With an impassive expression from beginning to end, he merely deflected Krok's storm of consecutive blows with ease.
It was like an adult indulging a child's antics.
Most frightening of all, every time Krok's weapon clashed with Kylan's sword, Krok's weapon and body gradually froze.
Crack… Crack-crack…!
"Kurrk…!!"
Krok's red aura was being devoured by the piercing cold.
The chill that had traveled up his bone axe had already swallowed Krok's right arm.
"Don't think you've won… yettt!!"
Krok clenched his left fist, with his right arm frozen.
Just as he was about to punch Kylan in the face.
Slaaash.
A blue arc swept across Krok's field of vision.
"……Kurrk?"
Krok's body stiffened.
His gaze slowly moved downward.
A cold blade had already slashed across his abdomen.
Rapid freezing that began at the wound instantly spread across Krok's entire body.
Without shedding a single drop of blood, Krok became a massive ice statue on the spot.
"K-kurrk…."
An overwhelming disparity in physical strength. A gap in aura he could not even hope to bridge.
Krok had been utterly defeated, both physically and mentally.
He slowly closed his eyes and collapsed unconscious.
***
Once Chieftain Krok had been subdued, a heavy silence descended over the rampart.
Kylan indifferently looked down at the fallen Krok, then turned his gaze to survey the area inside and outside the rampart.
There appeared to be a good two hundred orcs, frozen in place and trembling because they could not flee.
'At least one gold per orc magic stone… Oh, 200 gold. I easily earned enough for tonight's group dinner.'
Kylan smiled contentedly and adjusted his grip on Frost Fang.
It was just as he was about to cut the throat of the nearest orc.
"……Kurrk!?"
"Kurr-rrrk!!"
Clang! Clunk!
The orcs all threw the weapons in their hands onto the ground.
Then, with their legs frozen stiff, they collapsed forward.
And as though bowing, they slammed their foreheads against the ground and placed their palms on it.
"The one… who defeated… Krok…!"
"The new… chieftain…!"
"Kurrk…! We submit… We submit…!"
At the rare sight, the adventurers lowered their bows with bewildered expressions.
"Oh. The orcs surrendered."
"I've never seen anything like that before, Big Brother."
At that moment, Cedric approached Kylan's side, cleared his throat, and explained.
“Your Highness! That is an old orc custom. Whoever defeats the strongest leader of the group one-on-one is proclaimed the new leader of the remaining group.”
Kylan's eyebrow twitched.
Of course, he knew that. It was simply his first time seeing it in person.
"They submit to the strong… They sure do live easy lives."
Kylan stroked his chin and surveyed the prostrate orcs once more.
'Wait. If I simply kill them and extract their magic stones, it ends as one-time income, but…'
Kylan's gaze lingered on their bulging pectorals, muscular thighs, and forearms as thick as logs.
Kylan smiled wickedly.
"Cedric. I've decided what to do with them."
"Yes, Your Highness! Just give the order. Shall I behead them all cleanly and extract their magic stones?"
"No. Don't kill them."
"……Pardon?"
Cedric asked again with a bewildered expression.
"Bind them all tightly with ropes and confine them in the underground prison. Tie their arms and legs securely, and give them only enough food to keep them from starving to death. If any of them attempts to escape, you may execute them on the spot."
Kylan added, pointing his chin toward the fallen Krok.
"And keep that Krok fellow alive too. I'll decide what to do with him later."
Cedric's pupils shook violently.
"M-my lord… giving up the magic stones? Isn't this the first time that's happened this year?!"
Kylan chuckled and sheathed Frost Fang.
"Because I think they may be useful alive."
"Aah…!!"
Kylan had merely stated a fact.
But Cedric and the retainers were too overwhelmed with emotion to do anything but marvel inwardly.
Cedric clenched his fist and trembled.
Hot tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.
'He is even willing to spare the lives of these heinous monsters…! Just how far does my lord's vision extend?!'
The knights also shouted excitedly.
“His Highness the Grand Duke has even made the orcs submit!"
The orcs were obediently bound with ropes and dragged to the underground prison of the Grand Duke's castle.
***
Deep in the northern mountain range, far from Winterwald.
The cave of Great Chieftain Tarkan.
The shaman Gur trembled as he gripped his skull staff.
"G-great… Great Chieftain…."
"Report, Gur."
Gur knelt and began his report.
"Krok… has been defeated. The five hundred elites he led were defeated before sunrise."
"……."
The orc officers filling the cave gasped.
No matter how stupid Krok was, losing in half a day while leading five hundred elites was beyond common sense.
"Did he fall into a human trap?"
"The difference in strength was too great.”
Gur swallowed hard as he recalled the horrific scene he had witnessed through the crow's eyes.
"That human ruler named Kylan… Merely by releasing his aura, he froze the legs of dozens of elite orcs. He blocked even Krok's aura-infused attack with one hand and felled him with a single blow……!"
Gur's voice trembled.
The officers exchanged tense looks.
There were strong ones among humans, too. But someone who could freeze elite orcs merely by releasing his aura?
Could a war even be waged against such a monster?
The orcs fell silent.
Anxiety began to spread.
"……Heh heh heh."
Then Tarkan's shoulders began to shake.
"Kahahahaha!!"
It was Tarkan's booming, almost insane laughter that shattered the silence.
"G-great Chieftain!?"
Karak shouted in confusion, but Tarkan did not stop laughing.
His red eyes were filled with unprecedented delight.
"At last…! I've finally found a worthy opponent."
Tarkan slowly rose from his seat. The cave vibrated faintly under the pressure radiating from his massive body.
"Yes. That's more like it. Anyone who would face the great chieftain Tarkan must be that strong."
Tarkan walked behind the throne.
There stood something enormous wrapped in black leather. Tarkan pulled the leather away with a rough hand.
Srrrk!
What was revealed was a massive battle axe.
It was Tarkan's alter ego, forged from the sharpened fangs of the 'Black Dragon,' the apex predator of the Northern Mountains that had once been defeated by the Demon King and met its death.
Dark, ominous demonic energy continuously poured from the axe blade.
"Gur."
"Y-yes! Great Chieftain!"
"Stop the catapult construction."
Gur raised his head in surprise.
"What? B-but, Great Chieftain. The humans' rampart is far sturdier than before. Without siege weapons…"
"Unnecessary."
Tarkan lifted the massive Black Dragon bone axe high with one hand.
Wooooong―!!
The black aura that burst explosively from the axe enveloped the entire cave.
Under the tremendous pressure, even Karak and Gur could not breathe and staggered backward.
The corners of Tarkan's mouth twisted ferociously.
"I'll destroy that pathetic wall myself."
Tarkan, who had mocked the brainlessly charging Krok as a fool, had just offered a very simple solution.