Chapter 201
Thud! Thud!
With every step the creature took, the ground trembled violently, and thick clouds of dust billowed into the air.
A bipedal monster towering well over six meters from foot to head.
Its physique resembled that of a human, but the muscles covering its entire body were incomparably more imposing. Like a volcano on the verge of eruption, its muscles writhed, swollen with rage.
The creature’s name was an ogre.
An incarnation of violence—so fearsome that even a fellow bipedal magical beast, a cyclops, would hesitate to face it.
The ogre now walking alone through the desert was a rare spotted ogre. True to its name, large blotches were scattered across its upper body.
A spotted ogre possessed far greater brute strength than ordinary ogres. It boasted terrifying power—enough to rip apart most magical beasts in an instant.
The spotted ogre wandered the desert alone.
Its overwhelming strength had caused it to be ostracized by its own kind.
It had torn apart and killed all five of the kin who had cast it out.
Though it had taken considerable injuries fighting five at once, such wounds meant nothing to it.
For an ogre, injuries of this level were routine.
Though not quite comparable to a troll, an ogre still possessed a certain degree of regeneration. These wounds would heal within a day or two.
Thud!
The spotted ogre suddenly came to a stop.
Something stood about a hundred meters ahead of it.
“Gruh?”
The spotted ogre tilted its head.
It could not understand the situation.
Blocking its path was a bipedal magical beast barely reaching the ogre’s chest.
Its name was an orc.
Among bipedal magical beasts, it ranked high—but compared to an ogre, it was far inferior.
It might inspire fear in other creatures, but to an ogre, it was no more than a packed lunch.
The ogre knew this. The orc knew this as well.
That was why orcs would normally flee in panic at the mere sight of an ogre. And yet, the orc before it did not run. Instead, it stared at the ogre with a provocative glare.
This orc, too, was extraordinary.
Its body was nearly twice the size of a typical orc, reaching up to the spotted ogre’s chest—large enough to rival even some ogres.
As if to prove its exceptional nature, its entire body was covered in severe wounds and scars.
Each one looked close to fatal.
And yet it still lived—proof of its abnormal strength.
The orc opened its mouth.
“My name is Orca, Great Warchief of the Orc Tribe. I will defeat you and prove my strength to the entire world.”
A Great Warchief is the hero of the orc race—
A being born with the mission to prove itself.
Orca had chosen the spotted ogre as the target of that proof.
The tyrant of the desert—the spotted ogre.
A being just as exceptional and savage as Orca himself.
Though the ogre could not understand a single word, it didn’t matter.
It could sense Orca’s intent through the fighting spirit radiating from his body.
In truth, even that wasn’t necessary.
The spotted ogre never allowed anything that blocked its path to live—
Especially not an orc.
No matter how large Orca was, he could not compare to the ogre.
“KUWOOOAR!”
The spotted ogre let out a thunderous roar.
As the roar echoed across the desert, Orca’s fighting spirit surged even stronger.
“I’m coming, Orca!”
Orca charged forward.
The spotted ogre also lunged, intent on tearing the insolent orc apart.
BOOM!
The two massive beings collided in the middle of the desert.
No technique. No tricks.
Only pure physical strength clashing head-on.
The victor of the collision—
Surprisingly, was Orca.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The much larger spotted ogre was pushed backward, its heavy footsteps pounding the ground.
It tilted its head, unable to believe it had been forced back.
Orca spoke.
“Orca… strong. Stronger than you…”
“KUWOOOAR!”
As if denying those words, the spotted ogre roared again and charged.
Orca grabbed both of its arms.
The two titanic beings entered a contest of raw strength.
By all logic, the spotted ogre should have had the advantage.
In nature, size differences are absolute.
The bigger, more muscular one should win.
Yet Orca defied that logic—matching the ogre’s strength evenly.
Veins bulged like ropes across both their bodies.
Their faces flushed red with exertion, breaths growing ragged.
Muscles swelled, hearts pounded wildly.
It seemed as though their bodies might explode at any moment.
Still, neither yielded.
Both poured every ounce of strength into overpowering the other.
The tense stalemate did not last long.
Soon, the balance tipped—
And once again, the victor was Orca.
The massive spotted ogre dropped to its knees, defeated in the struggle.
But Orca did not stop.
Creeeak—!
The ogre’s tree-trunk-like waist bent backward.
For the first time, fear flickered in its eyes.
At this rate, its back would snap.
The ogre gathered every last ounce of strength to resist—but no matter how hard it tried, the crushing force did not lessen.
“Die!”
Orca’s strength surged explosively.
CRACK!
A sickening snap rang out as the ogre’s waist broke.
It died instantly, without even a scream.
“Chiit… I am the victor.”
Orca grabbed the spotted ogre by the neck and twisted.
With shocking ease, the ogre’s head tore free from its body.
Standing atop the corpse, Orca quenched his thirst with the blood flowing from the severed head. It felt as though the ogre’s soul and strength were flowing into him.
A crimson aura flared up around his entire body.
He had achieved a rise in rank.
Overwhelmed by boiling power and surging exhilaration, Orca roared.
“GRAAAAAAH!”
His roar thundered across the desert.
All the magical beasts in the area felt fear and burrowed underground to hide.
At that moment, an old orc who had been watching the battle from afar cautiously approached.
“Congratulations on your victory, Great Warchief!”
“An obvious result, Priest.”
“I cannot express how joyful I am at your birth, Great Warchief.”
The old orc—the priest—spoke with a trembling voice.
The birth of a Great Warchief was the wish of all orcs.
The moment one was born, the orc race would rise and sweep across the world.
And indeed, from the moment Orca was born, the orc race had expanded rapidly.
Orcs with special talents began to appear, growing into powerful adult warriors.
All of them followed Orca with absolute loyalty.
The old priest had no doubt that the orc race, led by Orca, would become the rulers of the world.
Orca spoke to him.
“It seems there’s no longer any need for me to prove myself.”
Through countless battles, Orca had grown.
Now that he had reached the pinnacle of growth, there was nothing left for him to gain through combat.
“That is correct, Great Warchief.”
“From now on, we begin the war of conquest.”
Orca’s gaze turned toward the direction of Neo Seoul.
He knew.
That in the middle of the desert stood a massive city built by humans.
Until now, he had not dared approach it.
An inexplicable fear had gnawed at his heart.
But now that he had risen in rank, things were different.
Though that fear still lingered deep inside him, he now felt it was worth challenging.
Even at this moment, orcs scattered across the desert were gathering under his command.
Once the full orc army assembled, he was confident that even Neo Seoul could be destroyed.
At that moment—
A voice broke Orca’s pleasant thoughts.
“Chiit! I have a report!”
An orc rider hurried over.
“What is it?” the priest asked irritably.
He did not appreciate such a moment being interrupted by a mere rider.
“Ch—sorry!”
The rider bowed at the priest’s displeasure.
Orca spoke.
“That’s enough. Report.”
“The young orcs who were on their way here… have all been killed.”
“The young ones? You mean the children from the communal care group?”
“Chiit! It appears they were killed by humans.”
“Humans dared to kill our children?”
“Yes.”
The rider trembled under Orca’s rising fury.
A terrifying crimson aura surged from his entire body.
“Which humans dared to kill the children of our orc tribe?”
“We… are currently tracking them.”
“Tracking? By whom—orc riders?”
“Yes.”
Orca frowned briefly, then called out loudly.
“Ashanka!”
“Did you call, Great Warchief!”
Soon, an orc nearly as massive as Orca appeared.
He was Ashanka—the second-in-command of the orc tribe.
An orc powerful enough that, had Orca not existed, he might have become the Great Warchief himself.
“Find the humans who killed our children. Kill them.”
“Understood. Ashanka will find them and kill them without fail.”
“Take the Red Hammer Tribe with you.”
“Understood.”
Ashanka bared his yellowed teeth in a grin.
The Red Hammer Tribe was the most warlike among the orc tribes—Ashanka’s own.
It was an immense force, with over a thousand pure combat warriors.
“I will head to Neo Seoul. You deal with the humans who killed our children and then join me.”
“Understood. Ashanka will follow your command.”
Ashanka slung a massive war hammer over his back as he replied.
That day, more than a thousand orcs set out to hunt the humans who had killed the young orcs.
***
“Incredible…”
Urtian muttered as he looked around the transformed interior of the Steel Fortress.
In such a short time, it had changed at an astonishing pace.
All the broken houses had been repaired, and the streets were bustling with people.
Smiles filled the faces of those passing by, chatting cheerfully with one another.
The women of the Red Storm Unit and the original residents of the Steel Fortress mingled together, laughing.
It was a scene that would have been unimaginable before.
Urtian stared blankly at it.
He never imagined that the smiles on people’s faces could make him feel this happy.
Without realizing it, he murmured—
“I… now have land to protect.”
“Does it feel like a burden?”
A voice came from behind him.
A faint smile formed on Urtian’s lips.
“A burden? Of course it is. But… it doesn’t feel bad.”
He turned around—
And saw the man who had handed him his only defeat.