I leaned against the cold stone wall, arms crossed, eyes half-lidded as I chewed over the scraps of meat left in my mouth.
Ori was curled up beside me, digesting his stolen meal with an air of smug satisfaction.
Damn, selfish wolf.
The cavern stretched endlessly, its rocky ceilings lit by dim, flickering torches that barely illuminated the grotesque settlement of goblins and orcs scurrying about.
The deeper parts of this underground city were shrouded in darkness, but I had been here long enough to know that the orc lord’s true base was somewhere beyond.
Just as I was about to let my thoughts drift, the heavy creak of the portal at the far end of the cavern pulled my attention back.
My eyes snapped toward it, watching as a group of goblins and orcs stepped through.
It wasn’t unusual for new arrivals to come in, every day, more were dragged in from the outside, their terrified faces barely distinguishable in the dim light, but something about this group felt... different.
There were more of them than usual.
I sat up slightly, narrowing my eyes as they poured in.
Most were orcs, their hulking figures stomping across the cavern floor with that usual air of dominance, but there were a surprising number of goblins mixed in.
Their small, wiry bodies slithered through the gaps between the larger orcs, their beady eyes darting around the cave like they were scouting the area.
My fingers tapped idly against my knee as I continued watching them.
Normally, the numbers were more controlled, just a few stragglers trickling in every now and then.
But this?
This felt more organized.
Why?
My mind worked through the possible reasons.
Then, like a puzzle piece clicking into place, a memory surfaced.
Three days ago.
Almost all of the goblins and orcs stationed here had packed up and left.
Trucks had rumbled out of the cave, engines coughing as they carried off hordes of warriors.
The ones who couldn’t fit had marched on foot, their massive forms vanishing through the portal like a grotesque army heading for war.
It had been a mass exodus, leaving only a handful of creatures behind to guard this underground hellhole.
And now, some of them were coming back.
But not in the same numbers.
That was what made me uneasy.
My gaze lingered on the creatures filtering in.
There were fewer of them than when they had left.
Not by much, but enough to be noticeable.
A raid?
A failed attack?
Had they lost?
I kept my face blank, but inside, my mind raced.
If they lost, against which city?
The humans had been struggling against them for a while now, but I hadn’t seen any signs that they were strong enough to drive them back like this.
And if they had won, then where were the rest?
I exhaled slowly, tilting my head toward Ori, who was watching me with his usual unreadable expression.
His mist-like form curled lazily around himself, but I could tell he had noticed the same thing I did.
Something had changed.
As I watched the orcs and goblins enter, the pieces of the puzzle finally clicked into place.
I had read about this before.
The Fifth Orc Lord’s army had marched against Vesper City.
That was what this was.
The battle had been massive.
Awakened, soldiers, and every last ounce of resistance had been poured into stopping the invasion.
And from what I remembered, they had actually succeeded in nearly wiping them out.
That explained the numbers.
The orc lord had been forced to step in.
If he hadn’t, his army would have been reduced to nothing but corpses littering the battlefield.
The humans had held their ground long enough, bled the orcs and goblins dry until there were barely any left to continue the fight.
The fact that the orc lord had personally intervened told me just how desperate the situation had become for them.
But what really made me uneasy, what really set off warning bells in my mind, wasn’t the fact that the battle had happened.
It was who had been there.
Amber.
Beth.
Edward.
Sergeant Thomas.
They weren’t just any awakened and soldier.
They were monsters in their own right.
Amber especially.
She had always seemed kind, her soft expressions and gentle demeanor making her look almost harmless.
But that was just a mask.
A cover for what she really was in battle.
A beast.
A relentless, overwhelming force that tore through enemies like a storm of destruction.
In the novel, there had been a particular fight where she had taken down an entire orc squad by herself, unarmed.
She didn’t just win battles.
She devastated the enemy, leaving nothing but fear in her wake.
And right now, I wasn’t sure if I could even stand a chance against her.
I exhaled slowly, the weight of realization settling over me like a heavy cloak.
These weren’t just random fighters caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They were the worst possible enemies for the orc lord to go up against.
And yet, despite all that, despite knowing how strong they were... we were still here.
Captured.
Which meant that even with all their power, even with the massacre they had unleashed on the battlefield...
They had still lost.
And that was the most terrifying part of all.
They weren’t strong enough yet.
They’re not at the peak of their powers.
I kept my eyes fixed on the entrance of the cave, watching as the orcs and goblins trudged in.
There weren’t many of them, and the ones that did enter moved sluggishly, their bodies heavy with exhaustion.
They were drained.
Even from a distance, I could see the way their shoulders sagged, their steps uneven, their movements lacking the usual aggression and confidence they always carried.
It was clear they had just come from a brutal battle, one that had cost them dearly.
But I wasn’t focused on them.
I was searching for him.
The Fifth Orc Lord.