Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Simon believed that they were probably taken out by the adventurers who had arrived in the town from the surrounding cities after hearing the distress call.

Two days passed by in the blink of an eye and on the morning of the third day.

Blackfield—the Blackfield was a vast wasteland with sparse dead trees, swamps, poisonous bogs and dead bodies of monsters that involuntarily wandered here. The reason why the place was called Blackfield, was because the colour of the land here was black and aside from that, the place was associated with death, thus the name.

No monsters lived here since the place was unsuitable for living conditions and was an unterritorial land. It spanned for hundreds of kilometres and separated the lands of the two tribes like a border.

Usually, the place would be shrouded with an eerie silence all year long, but this time the place was filled with activity. A black army like a carpet that was sprawled on the ground, could be seen slowly marching forward. They were riding ferocious beasts and were emitting a brutal aura that only a warrior that has survived numerous life and death encounters would give.

They had ash grey skin, towering frames and a single horn protruding from their foreheads. The black army numbering in the thousands was none other than the ogre tribe also known as the black ogres by many.

As they marched forward, they cut down all the trees, filled the poisonous bogs barring theirs paths in an organised and orderly manner.

Far in the backlines, a camp with numerous tents erected could be seen set up, guarded by ferocious beasts and groups of black ogres.

Inside the biggest tent, two ogres with a single crimson horn protruding out of their foreheads could be seen talking through a transmission orb. Both of these ogres were wearing armours made out of bones and pelts of monsters and were comparatively smaller than your average black ogre who had a towering height of three or four meters.

Although they were small around two meters in height, they were releasing far more berserk and brutal aura than any black ogre could.

In the black ogre tribe, one's status and power was decided not through one's height or frame but by the colour of the horn that one possesses.

In the black ogre tribe, one's position and power is decided based on the colour of their horns. An ogre possessing a black horn is considered your foot soldier and does not have much authority, while [pressing a brown gives you high status and position in the ogre tribe.

In the ogre tribe, the colour of one's horn changes as they level up. Normally, an ogre possesses a black horn from birth which changes to brown when they enter the Super beast class. Similarly, when an ogre levels up to become a disaster class, their brown horn changes into a crimson horn which is much rarer in that not even one in ten thousand ogres may have a crimson horn within the tribe.

A crimson horn not only shows one's might but it also establishes your status in the ogre tribe to be high above all others. However, to reach crimson horn one's talent and aptitude should be far above other ogres.

A black ogre with a crimson horn is destined to become extraordinary and have a power that no ordinary ogre could match. Above the crimson horn, there is the indigo horn which is said to be rarer than even the crimson horns.

Perhaps if you search the entirety of the black ogre population, you might not even find one. The chances of an ogre levelling up to an indigo horn are so low that it might not even be one in a hundred thousand.

Needless to say, if an ogre with an indigo horn appears, they are considered a being equal to a king as they possess power and talent of that of a one. The level and the ceiling that they could reach was so high that not even dozens of crimson horn can defeat them if grouped together.

When an ogre with a crimson horn appears, it is a matter of celebration for the entire ogre tribe. However, when an indigo horn shows up, it is like a sign of prosperity for their tribe. An event that may not even come for hundreds of years.

The status of an indigo horn is unparalleled; however, there is another colour of horn that is even above indigo and that is the purple horn. But the existence of a purple horn is like a myth within the ogre tribe as there hasn't been anyone born within the history of their tribe with a purple horn.

Thus it has been mostly forgotten by the people of the black ogre tribe who consider the indigo horn the ultimate ceiling a black ogre could be born with.

Aside from that, the entirety of the black ogre's power and mana is also concentrated within their horns. Thus the higher the colour of their horns, the more humanoid they look.

"We understand, we will do our best to secure the thing that lord Gil-Garna wants" the crimson horns named Giz-Bozo and Giz-Mogo said.

"You better… you know the consequences of disappointing our lord don't you? Also, take care of that orc king who has been getting on our lord's nerves lately. Do not kill him, break all of his limbs and bones if you must but bring him alive to me. His core stone would make a fine jewel on the crown of my king".

On the transmission orb that displayed the image on the other side, was a black ogre with a humanoid appearance. What was special about that ogre was that it had an indigo horn on its forehead.

With the way the crimson horns were so respectful to him, it could be guessed how high the status of the person on the other side of the transmission was.

"Rest assured Sir Gish-Bagh we will bring that orc to you alive" Giz-Bozo thumped his chest and said with certainty.

The call ended here and the pressure that the tent was engulfed in, dissolved.

"Bozo, do you think there are more individuals on the level of the orc king o the side of the orcs?" Giz-Mogo asked.

Hearing his question, Giz-Bogo snorted derisively "How can that be, Sir Gish-bagh has already informed me of the power structure within the orc tribe. That orc that sir Gish-bagh wants, is the strongest there. Grururu… how funny that an individual like him can become a king when he is weaker than you Mogo".

"Grururu… they are the orc tribe, you cannot expect much from them. It is already a great fortune for them to have lived freely so far. Now that lord Gil-Garna has his eyes on them, they have no choice but to submit.. grururu" Mogo mocked.

"That's true, however, what I don't understand is why Lord Gil-Garna wants to subdue the orc tribe. They are so weak, other than being used as our slaves, they aren't worth anything. why does he want them so badly?" Bozo asked curiously.

"You idiot, it is not our place to judge the intention of our lord. He must have some great reason for that, we just need to follow his orders that's all" Mogo responded shutting Bozo up. It was a taboo in the ogre tribe to speak even a word against their king, those who were found doing that, were severely punished or even killed to make an example.

From this, one could say that Gil-Garna was the kind of king that ruled with an iron fist. He was a tyrant who used might to establish his place within the black ogre tribe but at the same time, he had the ability and the qualities to lead them.

"Now that our orders are clear, let's call the Gir brothers," Bozo said.

A few minutes later, three ogres around three meters in height entered the tent. They each had a brown horn on their head and were releasing a powerful aura that was not any weaker than Berirock's.

They were called the Gir brother because they were triplets and almost looked the same.

"Gir- Rago, Gir-Rego, Gir-Rugo command your armies to march forward from three different sides. Rago, you take fifteen thousand ogres and march from the right. Rego, you will be commanding twenty thousand and march from the middle. The rest ten thousand will follow Rugo from the left".

The three Gir brothers immediately fell to their knees and nodded at those words from Mogo. For them who were lower in status, the orders from the crimson horns were absolute.

"There will be some resistance from the orcs, but don't think much about it and press forward. I don't want to extend this war needlessly and swiftly accomplish our mission. Of course, you must at least maintain the bare minimum of guard against the orcs and prevent any needless sacrifice. Though there is bound to be some losses on our side, it cannot be helped".

"We understand" the Gir brothers nodded in affirmative.

Bozo took out a crudely made paper and handed it to them "Written here are names of some of the orcs you should be careful off. If possible take care of them yourselves".

With that, the Gir brothers exited the tent and climbed up their mounts to carry out their orders. The Blackfield might be a field of death, but to an army of this size who were already aware of the dangers of this place, it was unable to halt them.

On the orders of the crimson horns, the black ogre army divided themselves into three divisions with Rago, Rego and Rugo leading each of them.

On the opposite side of the Blackfield, one could see dozens of siege weapons being installed on the fortifications made by earth magic. Thousands of orcs busily running around and carrying out orders.