Chapter 173: Chapter 173: The Iron Assembly
Chapter 173: The Iron Assembly
The heavy iron brakes of the Mana Train shrieked loudly as we ground to a halt.
We were in the northern industrial sector. The sky was thick with gray smog and the smell of burning coal. Directly ahead of the locomotive, a massive barricade of stacked logs and rusted iron blocked the tracks.
Standing behind the barricade was Lord Vulg. He was a massive, heavily scarred Orc chieftain wearing traditional armor crafted from direwolf pelts and jagged bone.
He was flanked by three hundred of his seasoned, veteran Orc warriors. They gripped crude axes and heavy broadswords, their eyes filled with deep, primitive resentment.
Gathered on the muddy slopes surrounding the tracks were thousands of terrified human refugees and local workers.
They clutched their canvas bags, entirely frozen in fear by the aggressive monster warband blocking their path to the factories.
I stepped out of the royal train car. My S-Grade Hive Chitin armor hissed as my heavy brass boots hit the gravel.
Ramona stepped out right behind me. She wore her black fur cloak, her elegant obsidian horns pulsing with faint, contained heat.
She did not draw a weapon. She simply folded her arms, her golden eyes watching with intense curiosity to see how her King handled his unruly subjects.
Lord Vulg stepped forward. He sneered, pointing a thick, green finger at the huddled masses of humans.
"You bring shame to the ancestors, Sovereign," Vulg barked, his deep voice carrying over the wind.
"Look at them. They are soft. They are weak. In the old days, they were our prey. Now, you give them our steel. You give them our coin. You put them in houses of brick while true, blooded monsters are forced to toil in the heat of the foundries! I will not let these cattle take the wealth of the north!"
The human workers shrank back, absolutely terrified.
I did not yell. I did not unleash my Domination Aura. I simply walked forward.
My heavy brass boots crunched loudly against the gravel. I walked directly up to the barricade, stopping mere inches from the massive Orc chieftain.
"The ancestors lived in the dirt, Vulg," I stated, my baritone voice perfectly calm.
"They died of disease. They were enslaved by human mages for thousands of years because they relied on brute force instead of strategy. I am not the ancestors. I am the Forge."
Vulg snarled, gripping his massive, two-handed bone axe. "The strong take from the weak. That is the natural law!"
"Then let us test your law," I replied coldly.
Vulg roared. He swung his colossal bone axe in a devastating, horizontal arc aimed directly at my neck. He poured every ounce of his Level 40 kinetic strength into the blow.
I did not draw a weapon. I simply raised my left hand.
CRUNCH.
I caught the blade of the axe perfectly in my brass palm. Vulg’s eyes widened in absolute shock.
The kinetic shockwave kicked up a cloud of dust around our boots, but my arm did not move a single inch. My 4,100 Aegis Rating completely neutralized his strength.
I closed my fist. The thick, enchanted bone shattered into brittle splinters.
Before Vulg could even drop the broken hilt, I stepped into his guard.
I drove my right fist directly into his stomach. I did not use the Flame of Death. I just used pure, concentrated mechanical force.
The heavy armor plates of his direwolf pelt violently buckled.
Vulg gasped, the air completely blasted from his lungs. He collapsed to his knees on the gravel, clutching his stomach and violently coughing up blood.
His three hundred Orc warriors instantly tensed, raising their weapons.
Ramona took a single step forward.
The Level 90 Calamity allowed a microscopic fraction of her ancient, apocalyptic pressure to leak into the air. The temperature spiked.
The three hundred Orcs immediately froze, dropping their weapons as their primal instincts screamed at them to submit.
I stood over the gasping chieftain.
"I do not kill my own labor force," I declared, my voice echoing off the sheer rock faces of the valley.
"Execution is a waste of a good pair of hands. But you are no longer a Lord of the Imperium, Vulg."
I turned my red visor toward the human workers and the monster mechanics watching from the slopes.
"Strip him of his armor," I commanded the Vanguard soldiers stationed near the train.
"Give him a basic iron hammer and a canvas tunic. He hates seeing humans work the foundries? Then he will work right beside them. He will load the furnaces for twelve hours a day. He will earn the exact same standard wage as the humans. If he refuses to work, he does not eat."
Vulg looked up at me in absolute horror.
Stripping him of his warlord status and forcing him into manual labor alongside the very people he deemed "prey" was a humiliation far worse than death in his primitive culture.
The Vanguard soldiers immediately hauled the broken Orc to his feet and dragged him toward the factory gates.
I turned fully to face the massive crowd of terrified human workers and monster citizens.
I unleashed my Domination Aura, letting the heavy, stabilizing weight wash over all of them.
"Listen to me," I projected, my voice rolling like thunder.
"There is no prey in the Velkrath Imperium. There are no slaves. There are only subjects of the Forge. Look at the train tracks beneath your feet. Look at the iron foundries in the distance. The holy army across the sea wants to burn all of you to ash. They do not care if you have green skin or pale skin. They just want you dead."
I pointed my heavy brass gauntlet at the massive factory doors.
"We survive by the strength of our industry," I declared.
"Human hands will build the gears. Orc hands will pour the steel. Beastman hands will load the trains. You will work together. You will bleed together. You will build an armada of iron that will make the heavens tremble. The Velkrath Imperium protects its own."
For a moment, there was dead silence.
Then, a single human worker raised his dirty canvas bag and cheered.
An Orc mechanic standing next to him slammed his wrench against his shield. Within seconds, the entire valley erupted into a massive, unified roar.
The racial divide was officially broken. The Sovereign’s Law was absolute.
I turned back to Ramona.
The Half-Dragon was staring at me, her chest heaving slightly, her golden eyes completely dilated with pure, unadulterated worship.
"Efficiency," Ramona purred, linking her arm through mine.
"It is a terrifying thing, Husband."
