Lair

Chapter 018 - Orcs

By Skalsar

The humans did something stupid again.

Seems like they are out for war.

And with a strong enemy that is.

"Hivemind" told me they raided an [Orc Camp].

And they failed terribly.

The [Scouts] were found and killed.

Some [Vanguards] fell to fear and deserted, leaving their [Archers] open to be attacked.

They had to retreat.

The leader of the [Orc Camp] is a [Stormcaller] with good intelligence.

He send his scouts to follow and was led to the [Mafay Village].

Now the village is under siege.

The humans are holding up, but orcs are quite strong.

As long as the siege is upheld, there won't be much prey for the hive.

Orcs don't have much magic power and taste terrible.

I ate one myself, so I know.

"Hivemind" dislikes them too.

Nonetheless I tried creating one core from them after studying their bodies.

Trying to keep their features of strength.

The creature born is not really as strong as an orc, but nearly.

I don't really like it. We won't make many of them. They look fat and sluggish.

But I get why they are that strong.

Their muscles are much denser than most species.

I wonder if I can change my muscles that way someday.

>I'm Hungry.

Behind me, Lily talks again, using her voice.

Annoying.

She isn't crying anymore at least.

Instead, she tells me when she is hungry or thirsty.

But I'm not really interested right now.

I throw her a rabbit, but she has to kill it herself.

After opening a [Black Gate] I leave the hive.

The orcs have already surrounded us.

[Goblins] and other weak hivecreatures that were killed by the orcs are lying around.

But even they look at me doubtfully.

One stares at me and raises his claymore, but I use the obsidian thorn to cut his legs.

He reacted to slow.

In the same motion, I pierce the head of a charging warrior.

By now they are more vigilant.

My body is more agile than it looks like.

I avoid an orc that tried to jump on me. He was in my blindspot, quite dangerous.

Lucky for me, my [Hiveworkers] and [Drones] are in the air and monitoring everything.

A [Guardian] is spawned right before me in order to stop the charge of an orc.

The [Guardian] is thrown over. Two other orcs join the fight and kill it.

I use the commotion to behead one of them.

After finally slaughtering four more, they finally start to panic and sound alarm.

More orcs join the brawl.

I slaughter three more by throwing a chestnut that I borrowed.

All of this took me two hours and I'm quite exhausted by now.

I draw a line at the entrance to the hive, the small part in the wall that is kept open as a gate.

Many more orcs are watching, but I guess they get the gesture and stay away for now.

When I return to the [Lair], the human is crying again.

[Hiveworker] tells me that she broke the neck of the rabbit.

Afterwards she handed it to the [Blazing Hellhound] and ate some of the roasted meat.

The problem is, she didn't eat much. What a waste.

Maybe I should slap her again?

'Please don't.'

She looks at me afraid but stops crying.

'Can you hear me?', I ask with my mind.

As always I get no reaction.

I don't get it.

Without knowing she might understand the situation and talk to me.

But when I react to it, she doesn't seem to hear me. Just what is that supposed to mean?

She only uses her voice.

Well, I don't have time for that right now.

Slaughtering these orcs with a obsidian blade might sound easy, but I took quite some damage myself. Orcs hit hard. My carapace is broken on many spots as well as my other arm. I bleed from a leg. Even an organ was pierced. A spearhead is still stuck in it. Didn't even notice it till now.

I start with repairing the organ and stopping the bleeding.

Patching up the flesh while I'm at it.

The carapace will regrow if left alone.

As long as my core is undamaged and my body not too hurt, I won't die.

"Hivemind" says it was good like this.

Because I slaughtered them mostly alone, they will see great strength in me and be vigilant.

If a problem had occoured, "Hivemind" would have transported creatures to the surface to save me.

But what will happen now?

If we go outside and help the humans against the orcs, the humans will see us as a threat.

More dangerous than orcs is a hive that is able to send a swarm of monsters to kill off the orcs.

They would surely send a [Hero] if that happens.

A terrible thought.

'We might help them in some other way.'

A few hours ago, a new [Queen] acquired a consciousness, after consuming enough magic power.

Now she is finally able to think for herself. She is the fourth [Queen] to do so.

'If we attack the supportline of the orcs with weak creatures, the humans won't notice.

And if they notice, they will just believe it's because we are using cheap tricks.', she explains even more.

Ah, I see.

'You mean to poison their food, right?'

I get what she is saying.

If we poison their food, the orcs will weaken and the humans will have it easier.

Since they are locked in the village, they shouldn't notice.

'I already looked into it. There is an animal called a rat.

Humans hate it for easily spreading illness.

You should have eaten it before.'

Yes, I remember it.

It wasn't bad, but not good either.

'Alright.', I nod.

The other [Queen] will create a creature similar to a rat and give it the ability to create poison.

Afterwards I will transport them to the outside of the wall.

The orcs would notice otherwise and we don't want them to attack the hive.