Chapter 60: The Young Warchief and the Lord of Death

In the northern part of Idmon's country, Un Deth lies Gargan.

It's the former capital of the Goblins. It was gigantic enough to house tens of thousands of goblins.

However, right now, its like a ghost town. The city is accommodating only 500 inhabitants and 200 guards.

Repair and renovation works are ongoing to improve and "clean." the fortress of goblin filth.

On one of the watchtowers, a dwarf Berserk-General stands guard.

His full helm made of magic steel covered his face while the full plate armor on a dwarf makes him look much bigger than the usual dwarf.

In his hands, he held two hand-axes. Judging from the energy it was emitting, it was enchanted weapons.

It was Dolf. The Berserker who stood firm against thousands of goblins in the great "Defense of Horgen."

Dolf: "Who are these guys?"

A group of orcs around 200 or 300 was approaching Gargan.

It was a good thing that Lord Idmon was in front of the group, or else the defenses of the fort would have opened fire.

Dolf hurriedly went to the front gate to meet Idmon and his group.

Dolf: "How may your servant help you, Lord Idmon?"

Idmon: "(t) I am going to take in these Orc refugees. They said Paladins had invaded their homeland."

Dolf: "Please come inside. We have already prepared a meeting room inside the fort. In case of emergencies."

Idmon: "(t) Thanks. Everyone, please go inside first."

The Orcs and the rest of Idmon's group nodded. They all went inside the fort except for Idmon.

Idmon: "(t) Dolf. Please get King Wargh's opinion in going to war against the humans."

Dolf: "But all of us are indebted to you! We would fight without a second thought."

Idmon: "(t) I know, and I am grateful for that. However, he is still king of the dwarves, and he will decide the action that the dwarves will take."

Dolf: "..."

Dolf just nodded in response to Idmon's order.

After the conversation, Dolf quickly made his way to relay the message to the Dwarf King.

(Idmon POV)

I went inside the Fort.

It's almost a certainty that we would clash with the Paladins after they have finished invading the Orclands.

As I was walking towards the meeting room, I feel something different with my negative energies.

It's as if something is expanding inside of me.

I can guess what's the cause of it — third Skeleton King.

He did something to me.

Right now, I decided to ignore it. The feeling is not that bad, anyway.

Idmon entered the meeting room. The Young Warchief Noel Warbreaker and some of his officials are present.

The rest of the Orc refugees are resting in some of the abandoned houses in the city.

Bon, The Searcher, King Yalk, and Lina are also here.

As for Souta's group, I sent them back to the capital Un Deth.

Idmon: "(t) Let me introduce myself to everyone formally. I am Idmon, the lord of Un Deth. It is a country of the undead. However, we have different races as subjects. Ents and Dwarves are examples."

The Orc officials stared at me wide-eyed. They could not believe it.

Noel (Young Warchief): "You are not kidding? Did you use magic? Are they all mind controlled?"

Idmon: "(t) No, my friends, they all have free will. And the others are our formal allies."

The orcish officials are giving nods of approval. However, one of the Orcish officials is wary. He has the looks of a veteran warrior.

Orcish Official: "How can we be sure that you are indeed the Lord of this country."

He must be a very wary person.

Idmon: "(t) Ah, I get what you mean."

Idmon took out his broken Void Spear from a small Void Portal and displayed his negative energy as an aura.

Everyone froze in place. Tremendous pressure was coming out of Idmon, and even his closest advisors looked scared from the viewpoint of the orcs.

Orc Official: "I-I believe you now. I am very sorry. I meant no offense."

Idmon: "(t) None taken."

A few moments passed in awkward silence. The Young Warchief was the one who broke the silence first.

Noel: "Amazing. To think that we Orcs had such a hard time in uniting tribs of the same race."

Lina: "The undead serving Lord Idmon is a given. And because of his greatness, the Dwarves and Ents also serve him."

Bon was nodding vigorously to what Lina said.

What is she thinking? That's too much.

Idmon: "(t) They don't serve me; they work with me. Don't make me look like a tyrant."

The Searcher: "You certainly look like one. With the power to match it."

Once again. Nods of approval are everywhere in the room.

Idmon: "(t) Okay, enough about this tyrant thing. Let me explain further what I meant in saying that I want your Eternal Alliance, Noel."

Noel and the orc officials look nervous now. Their fates are about to be decided by a Skeleton. Who wouldn't be worried?

Idmon: "(t) I already said that I would have your race raise armies in my name, but I would not demand this right away. I would protect your people until they can repay me in the form of loyal service."

Noel and the Orc officials all knelt.

Orcs: "Thank you very much for your kindness! We will strive hard to pay this debt as long as our race exists."

Idmon: "(t) That's very good to know."

We made a written agreement, and it was signed with the blood of the orcish officials and Noel. And some of my bone powder.

It's great that the Orcs would accept me as their lord. However,

Someone suddenly rushed inside the meeting room.

Skeleton Soldier: "Lord Idmon!"

Idmon: "(t) What is it?"

Skeleton Soldier: "A small army of Paladins coming from the north were spotted near the border of the Deadlands!"

Damn it. Why now? Shouldn't we have more time to prepare because the Paladin's main force is in the Orclands?

Confused, Idmon left the Orcs at Gargan and traveled to the capital with his group to plan their next action.

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(Tob POV)

There was a certain tension in the capital, as you can see that everyone was in a hurry. It could only be a sign that something big was about to happen.

The child skeleton who inherited the Dark Lord's Fists and his group are in the Adventurer's Guild looking for a request.

Tob evolved into a unique variant of the Skeleton Warrior. "Skeleton Brawler."

Beko (Ent) and Claire (Skeleton Mage) are still the same, though. However, they are always training hard to improve their skills.

Tob: "Sir, why are there no more new requests on the board?"

Skeleton Clerk: "I am sorry. There is an emergency right now, and most of our resources are redirected to that."

What happened? It must be very dire because they have never done this before.

Claire: "Can we ask what was the emergency?"

Skeleton Clerk: "A considerable force of enemies is spotted at the borders."

Tob: "Can we help?"

Skeleton Clerk: "I wouldn't suggest it since we can't assure you that you would be paid. Also, the strength of the enemies is not known to us yet, so it is not rare to die right away."

Tob looked to his two companions for advice.

Beko: "I would go with you."

Claire: "Me too. We are also a part of this country. We have a responsibility. Although I am a bit scared that we might get blown away in seconds."

Tob thought hard about their next action. If he makes a decision now and it's wrong, they would pay with their lives.

Tob: "We will go. I will protect the two of you."

Beko & Claire: "Yes!"

I hope that my power is enough to protect them. Even though we are young, I don't want to risk everything. I still want to live too.

Although "live" might not be the right word for it.

Tob: "Mr.Clerk, how do we volunteer?"

Skeleton Clerk: "Please go to the local Skeleton Officer to get assigned into a group that would help in the defense."

Tob: "Thank you very much."

In Tob's mind, he is still worried. However, he does not know that something unexpected would happen in this mission.

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(Mel POV)

Somewhere around the border of Deadlands and South Region, an advance force is going to harass the approaching Paladin army.

Mel is the leader of this group.

He is a Skeleton Dread Captain now. Ran and Mag is also with him. They also evolved. Ran is now a Skeleton Sniper, and Mag is a Skeleton Wizard.

Author Note: (If you cannot remember them, Mel is the commander of all Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Officers, Dread Knights. Ran the Sniper commands the Archers and Marksmen. Mag controls the mages when Bon, the head wizard, is not around.)

Mel: "Are the archers ready? Release the arrows on my command."

Ran: "Hmm. (nods)"

The group's goal is to slow down the advance of the Paladins so that reinforcements would have time to form a proper defense.

Mel: "Mag, are those frost spells ready?"

Mag: "Definitely, Wonderfully! It would be a beautiful snowstorm."

The archers also have some frost arrows.

The plan is to harass them with slow spells and attacks while slowly retreating to our regroup point.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the Paladins are finally in range.

Mel: "Release!"

The arrows and spells hit the marching line of the Paladins. However,

Mel: "Spellshields!?"

The spells were all deflected by defensive spells that were cast ahead of time. The Paladins are well prepared.

At least the arrows hit some of the Paladins. Also, some Holy Knights that came along with the army.

Mel: "Slowly back down now."

Mel gave the order, and his group is slowly backing up.

Even though Mel's group doesn't have a proper look at the entire army, they estimate that the enemies could easily number 8000.

Mel's group of 40 won't last long against those numbers.

As his group started to retreat, a small group of Paladins suddenly appeared from behind.

It must be a scouting party.

Paladin: "Where are you monsters going?"

Damn it. We need to get out of here as soon as possible, or we are sure to lose.

Mel's operation is supposed to be hit and run only, but right now, I don't think they'll be able to do the "run" part of it.