Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Do not worry about that, when the time comes, I will do something about it. But before that, we cannot fight divided like our enemy. We must fight unitedly and use our advantage against them. That is the only way we stand a chance against the ogre army".

Berigard said looking towards the faction led by Berirock. As the stand-in for the orc king, the tribe of diluvian high orcs trusted him the most. Although Berigard hated to admit it, that guy was no doubt the one with the most command right now.

If he refused to join and fight as a single unit, there is no way the orcs underneath him would join them. That is why they needed him to join them.

Berimond understood that—"It will be difficult but I shall talk with him. I'm sure that if it concerns the lives of our tribe members he is going to agree with it".

Saying so, the orc general was about to walk off to where Berirock was only to see the latter take the initiative to come over by himself. He glanced at Berigard and Berimod without uttering any word for a while.

"What are you guys discussing about?" he opened his lips only to question them.

"We were just…"

"Before that, don't you have something to tell us, no to the whole orc tribe?".

Berimond was just about to explain when he was cut off by Berigard mid-sentence.

Berirock locked his brows in a frown and asked "What do you mean?".

"Isn't there something you ought to inform us by now… about the orc king and whether he has run away or not?" without beating around the bush further, Berigard clarified.

"Be careful of your words, you are talking about the orc king" and as expected, Berirock was instantly incensed.

"GUGAGA… to hell with your king. You know it by now don't you, the orc king that you revere and serve like a dog, has already abandoned you and the entire tribe? If he was the benevolent king that you make him out to be, he would have arrived here already".

"It's time that you tell all of us the truth. Like that, at least we wouldn't have to keep putting our hopes in something that will never occur and risk our lives for nothing" Berigard reasoned.

"Shut up… the orc king hasn't abandoned us. He will never do something like that" Berirock denied frantically. Somewhere in his heart, he was still clinging to the hopes that Belgarious would show up on the battlefield and lead the army to victory for them.

"Is it really the case? Do you really from the heart believe that Belgarious would show up? Why don't you ask yourself, where he is now? Is he even picking up your transmission call anymore?"

"Don't fool yourself, your constant denial to accept the reality will not only lead you to doom but it will also drag the entire orc race with you. The orc tribe deserves to know the truth, they should at least know who they are fighting for".

The orc general Berigard was silent for a while, the war after a temporary pause had resumed once again. Sure the ogre had suffered a loss in the last bout, but it was nothing to these killing machines who were raised in one of the most brutal environments where death was just a daily occurrence.

Although a powerful ogre died, it was not like the ogre army did not have any more powerful individual other than him. They quickly got over the fact that a number of them had died and quickly resumed their battle which was like a sport for them.

Berirock struggled internally and after surveying the war which was still tipped in the favour of the ogres, he finally came to a decision.

"It would completely demoralise the army. Do you still want me to tell them that?".

Berigard unhesitantly nodded his head—"Instead of putting our hopes alive in some miracle that will never happen, it is better for us to embrace the truth. Although it might break their spirits, nevertheless, they would at least die while fully knowing everything".

"Besides if we do not tell them the truth, these people will continue to have false hope and will be unable to fight at their full strength. I want to win this war, I want my tribe to survive and for that, I need them to fight with more than hundred per cent of their strength".

"Berirock you are the only person who is close to the orc king here, only you can do it. I'm sure that every orc is doubting or having such thought in their mind, if it's you saying it then they are sure to believe it".

Berirock sighed, he looked deeply into the eyes of his fellow general before asking a question that has been on his mind for a while now.

"I shall do as you say… but answer this for me. Was it really the orc king that was selling his own tribe members to a human kingdom?".

Berigard did not answer, he simply matched Berirock's gaze with his own. Which seemed to have been enough for the latter to arrive at an answer.

Berirock turned around, climbed on the highest platform that was in their camp and addressed the army that was busy fending off the enemy.

"Everyone, I believe I owe you all an apology. Some of you might have still held on to the hope that the orc king would be arriving soon to lead you. I'm afraid I must break this bad news to you all, the orc king is not gonna come. He has deserted our tribe and left us all to die here".

There was absolute silence the moment, Berirock finished speaking. Even with the noise from the war that was raging all around, each and every orc fighting on the frontlines were able to hear his words.

"Y-you are kidding, right? Sir Berirock"

"Gugaga… please don't joke like this at this time. The others would really believe it".

The one to throw their denial first was none other than the orc commanders under him.

"I'm not joking, this is the truth. The Orc King is not coming, the faster you accept it, the better it is for you" Berirock stated once again backing his earlier words.

"Th-that cannot be, the orc king cannot abandon us. You also said that he was held up by some important work and is on his way. What about that?" Belsea asked trying to cling to the last straws of hope.

Berirock lowered his head and apologised. His actions seemed to have made the orc commander angrier as he lashed out.

BANG…

Berirock was hit by a skill called [Greater Force] that produced a fist-size compressed air that bursts apart instantly when in contact with a solid surface. Its power was enough to match a unit target intermediate tier gale magic.

Anyways, upon contact with Berircok, the compressed fist size air burst apart sending him crashing down from the pedestal.

Even though he could have dodged the attack if he wanted to, Berirock decided to take on that attack as he felt that he got what he earned.

TAK..TAK.. TAK… something fell off from his armour and rolled towards the angry Belsea.

"Transmission Conch?! That's right, we can just call the orc king and ask him directly" looking at the transmission conch lying in front of him, the orc commander thought. He quickly picked it up and inserted his mana.

The complex runes inside the transmission conch did it work and sent a transmission to the other end. The call rang for a while; however, the person at the other end never picked it up.

Belsea tried a few more times but it was the same every time. "No…" Finally, the truth dawned and his spirit couldn't help but take a tumble.

Looking at this sight, Berigard breathed a heavy sigh. Belsea was someone who was from his camp, that is before he betrayed him. When the latter joined him, he had informed about all the disgusting deeds the orc king had committed.

But looking at the face of the orc commander now, it seemed like the latter did not believe him at all.

"Berirock did well-informing everyone about the truth. But I don't understand something… aren't you angry at him? If not for him standing in your way, you might have been able to bring the truth in front of everyone that day" Berimond asked, it was also somewhat his fault for not helping Berigard that day.

"That is unlikely…" However, Berigard shook his head. Even if Berirock did not stand in his way that day, he would still been unable to bring the truth in front of everybody. After all, even he didn't expect the orc king to be able to do something to the evidence (the human) when he brought it to the meeting.

The endeavour was going to fail at the end anyways.

"What?! You are telling me that your king is not here?" while the orcs were reeling in shock and the orc commanders trying to rally the army back, an unfamiliar voice sounded from very near them.

Needless to say, Berigard, Berimond and those that were near them, were immediately alerted. They looked all around them and spotted an ogre lazily lying on top of a seat behind in their camp.

Nobody had noticed when that ogre had sneaked behind them which also told the orcs that the ogre that they were looking at, wasn't an ordinary one.

But even without that, the orcs wouldn't dare underestimate the ogre. After all, the ogre that had sneaked behind them had a crimson horn on his forehead. That is to say, the ogre was a disaster class being.