Chapter 162: The Empire’s Counterattack (1)
“By the way, that’s incredible,” said one of the Praise the Orc members who was stirring a large pot of stew. His name was Alex.
“He abandoned his country to reach a higher level of swordsmanship...”
Adantadore glared at him, and Alex carefully chose his words, “What I mean is that you are diligently practicing your swordsmanship to the point that you are putting your country behind for a while. Haha.”
Adantadore was a named NPC. He was known as the strongest knight even in the southern region, which had the largest number of human players. The one who defeated Adantadore in a duel was the most famous of all named NPCs, the Northern Conqueror—Crockta. Those two were sitting around the pot with the other members of Praise the Orc. It was the greatest luxury an Elder Lord player could enjoy.
“Is it because you grew up taking everything for granted?” Crockta suddenly said.
“Huh?”
“Look at you. You abandoned your country and came here just because your swordsmanship faced a little hurdle. As a noble, you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, so you became someone who does everything their way.”
Hearing Crockta’s biting remarks, the members of Praise the Orc glanced at Adantadore warily. Adantadore sat still, but his hands were trembling with anger.
“In addition, he is also quite talented and he knows how to put in the effort. That’s why he turned out to be this arrogant. Because there is no one stronger than him around.”
“You bastard!” Unable to hold himself back, Adantadore jumped to his feet.
“Do you want to go for another round?”
Crockta grinned and tapped on his greatsword. Adantadore sat back down, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
“...”
“Did you enjoy the show?” asked Crockta as he glanced at the members of Praise the Orc.
“This is what we call resocialization, a process of relearning the lost ability to control anger and socialize with others...”
“I won’t hold back any longer!”
Adantadore drew his sword and stepped back while pointing at Crockta.
“Let’s fight again!”
Crockta shrugged.
“It seems like you haven’t regained your sociability yet.”
Crockta stood up, positioning himself for battle.
It didn’t take long for their fight to end, and Crockta was soon dragging Adantadore’s drooping body back to the crowd around the pot.
“Hehehe,” laughed Crockta.
Adantadore slowly raised his head as he came back to his senses.
“...Urgh.” He grabbed his head and whined because his head hurt.
“It smells good.”
Crockta looked at the food inside the pot without paying any attention to Adantadore. It was a stew made with the meat that Crockta had hunted and herbs foraged from the forest as well as spices they brought along. It was a stew made without skimping on the meat, with chunks of meat floating on the oily and glossy stew.
“It will be difficult to have this kind of meal again, so enjoy it while you can.”
The members of Praise the Orc tensed up at Crockta’s words. They had sent a letter to the Emperor, incurring his wrath. Now, the empire’s army was approaching them. Crockta purposely did so to make the enemies come to him.
In other words, other regions had become safer, but they got to a critical point.
“You can leave whenever you want,” Crockta said.
“No, it’s okay.”
Crockta nodded. The Heaven and Earth Clan were among the enemies they would be facing. If they discovered that members of Praise the Orc, all of whom were players, were here, they would immediately start attacking. Even though they knew the lurking danger, they still decided to join Crockta.
Adantadore, who was silent, suddenly asked, “Do you really believe you can win?”
He knew the ins and outs of the empire, and he also told Crockta what he knew. The empire was too big a stronghold for them to topple on their own. In addition to their well-trained army, the empire had an endless food supply since they had abundant grains from their fertile soil. They also had a thorough system in place to train knights and wizards for warfare.
No matter how strong Crockta was, he would not be able to deal with the enemies with their current numbers. He could have stood a chance if he had been able to manifest the unknown light at will, but in his current state, he wasn’t enough.
“It doesn’t matter whether we win or lose.” Crockta smiled widely.
Crockta looked at Adantadore, a knight who learned nothing else except pursuing the path of the sword, and slapped him on the shoulders.
“I am a warrior. A warrior pays back grace and vengeance.”
***
Rommel looked at the assembled troops and smiled. It was the biggest army he had ever commanded. Well-trained elite soldiers and knights, and members of the Heaven and Earth Clan acted like his hands and feet, all of them were at his beck and call.
He took the lead at the front of the formation on horseback. The flag bearers followed behind him while waving the imperial flag.
Cainz, who was also on horseback beside him, said, “Rommel.”
“Yes?”
“Did you check the quest?”
Rommel nodded.
“It’s really starting now.”
Cainz looked excited. The moment the emperor issued an imperial order, the quest appeared. Moreover, it was a large-scale linked quest that had never appeared on Elder Lord before.
[This is a large-scale linked quest with the continent as the stage.]
[Sow the seeds of a war between species!!]
[Unify the southern regions that are resisting the empire, and eliminate all rebellious parties.]
[The conditions for completion are as follows.]
[Eliminate the empire’s common enemy–Crockta.]
[Occupy the Espada region that defies the empire.]
[Unify the whole southern region under the name of the empire.]
[There are only three conditions.]
[There will be appropriate rewards upon completion. Good luck.]
It was a quest that was assigned to everyone belonging to the Heaven and Earth clan. The scale of the quest was the biggest they had ever seen, all the clan members were excited. Given the empire’s forces, it was a quest that was easy enough to complete.
“We can resolve it in order one by one,” Rommel said, staring into the air, perhaps because he was checking the quest window.
“Let’s first get rid of Crockta. After that, we will advance to Espada. Then, the southern region will become one.”
“Hmm...” Cainz smiled.
“Is there a need to do that?”
“What?” Rommel tilted his head.
“He’s trying to lure us into his territory, so we should show him that it was a foolish idea.” Cainz continued.
Rommel nodded in response.
“Understood.”
“Let’s clearly show the arrogant orc who has the upper hand.”
“Will the NPCs follow our lead?”
“We have the imperial order.”
It was an imperial order delegating full authority to them.
“If they pulled aggro[1], we should also do the same.”
As Cainz gestured with his chin, Rommel raised his hand. Following that, the flag bearers lifted the flags. The throbbing sound resonated toward the entire army. Then, Rommel and Cainz galloped their horses.
With every step they took, the army behind them followed suit. The army began to march. The knights took to the wings of the formation, protecting it. The soldiers walked toward the battle with a spear in hand.
The scouting party moved ahead of the marching army and agilely advanced. They formed groups of twos and threes, spreading out.
“Will he come?” Rommel looked at the back of the scouting party and asked.
“He will.” Cainz grinned.
“You can tell from his track record. There is no need for us to go looking for him.”
“Understood.”
Rommel and Cainz turned directions, and the army followed behind them. They made their way toward the opposite end of Natalya Forest.
One of the White Lion Knights approached beside them on horseback. He was the vice-commander leading the White Lion Knights on behalf of Adantadore, who supposedly was not in good shape. He was an experienced veteran.
“This isn’t the direction of Natalya Forest.”
Cainz replied with a smile, “We are not going to Natalya.”
“But Crockta is in Natalya.”
“You should know very well, don’t you, Sir Betrong? Crockta is no ordinary fellow. We cannot look down on him, and doing what he wants is the last thing we should do.”
“Then?”
“You said to the knights last time, didn’t you? Do not enter the enemy’s trap, instead, lure the enemy to the trap.” Cainz said confidently.
“You remembered that?”
“Because those words struck home. As you said, Crockta is trying to lure us, but instead of falling for it, we will lure him to where we are.”
Betrong nodded as Cainz paid homage to what he said previously. Betrong was convinced.
“I see what you’re trying to do. But are you sure he will come?”
The direction they were heading to was not Natalya. It was Espada.
“Of course. He is a man of righteousness.”
“Hmmm...”
Betrong looked up to the sky.
“If he was born a human, he could have become a knight. What a pity.”
“Instead, we have Sir Adantadore, don’t we?”
“The commander is still far short of being regarded as a knight, and so am I. In any case, I understand your plan now.” Betrong laughed and steered his horse back to where the White Lion Knights were.
Cainz chuckled as he stared at Betrong’s back.
“How repulsive.”
“...”
“They know we are the bad guys, but they are defending themselves, insisting that they are not the same. Knights? They are just mercenaries wearing armor.”
“Still, what he said was true. Crockta truly resembles a knight.” Rommel recalled the image of Crockta and said.
“Yes, that’s right.” Cainz shrugged.
“Funnily enough, that orc is the most knightly. That is why he became the Empire’s common enemy and a hindrance to our cause.”
The one acting according to a knight’s honor became a common enemy of the knights. The ones currently referred to as knights were now under the command of those who pride themselves on being the villains.
“It just means that God does not exist.”
Rommel turned around and waved his hands. Then, from the side where the members of the Heaven and Earth Clan gathered, a player came running on horseback. It was the clan member whose face is most known after Rommel in the Heaven and Earth Clan. A chatterbox in charge of the Heaven and Earth Clan’s public image—Heaven and Earth Streamer.
“Hey, Streamer.”
“Yes!”
“Turn on the live broadcast.”
“Huh?”
“We are proceeding with the large-scale quest; the goal is to unify the southern region. Show the people why we are known as the Heaven and Earth Clan.”
“Ah, understood!”
“If the viewership rating comes out well, we will make sure to take care of you. Do your best.”
“Thank you. Well then, hyung-nims, allow me to show you a proper live broadcast.” the Heaven and Earth Streamer grinned from ear to ear.
***
“It’s so boring.”
Baek Han-Ho rolled around on the sofa in the instructor’s office and picked up a tablet.
“Is there anyone interesting...?”
He was hooked on internet broadcasting these days. Whenever he was bored, he would turn on the broadcast page, and various streamers would start live streams, talking with people in real time by playing games or committing bizarre acts. It was best for killing some time.
He searched for a famous female player, Elizabeth. She was an Elder Lord player who became popular with her beautiful looks.
“She’s not live now.”
Baek Han-Ho rolled around again.
“Hmm?”
Recently, there was a broadcast that always ranked first. It was that Heaven and Earth Streamer’s broadcast—Heaven and Earth TV. He started a live stream just then and viewers gathered in an instant. Baek Han-Ho frowned.
“These bastards...”
He scratched his chin and clicked on Heaven and Earth TV.
“If I start streaming, guys like these would be nothing... Should I try doing it too...? Hmmm..."
Baek Han-Ho began to dream about being a streamer himself after he started watching internet broadcasts. Women would cheer if Andre showed up.
“Oh?”
When the screen was displayed, Baek Han-Ho whistled. It was large-scale, befitting of the first-ranked streamer. A huge number of troops filled the screen. They marched with discipline on the plains. The presence of knights around the troops was an exciting sight for guys.
Baek Han-Ho opened the chat window. His nickname was ‘White Tiger’.
「*White Tiger: Guys,,, What,, is this about~? *excited*
Jirisan Peregrine Falcon: It’s an old man...
I’m Hungry Sobsob: The Heaven and Earth Clan received a large-scale quest and are going to war~
Orcs are the Best: The Heaven and Earth Clan is getting screwed by Crockta. The Heaven and Earth Clan is getting screwed by Crockta. The Heaven and Earth Clan is getting screwed by Crockta. The Heaven and Earth Clan is getting screwed by Crockta. The Heaven and Earth Clan is getting screwed by Crockta. The Heaven and Earth Clan is getting screwed by Crockta.
<Orcs are the Best-nim has been blocked due to spamming.>
I’m Hungry Sobsob: Still, he can’t possibly go up against an army~
Jirisan Peregrine Falcon: It seems like the legend of Crockta is finally coming to an end
*White Tiger: They’re “fighting against Crockta”!?
A Passing Swallow: Yep yep. They’re going to kill Crockta and spark a war between species.
*White Tiger: Omg~~!?
A Passing Swallow: They don’t seem to start fighting right away... They will probably encounter Crockta during the war.
Saddummy[2] Dream: Heard they are going to destroy some village. 」
Baek Han-Ho’s hands trembled. A huge army, and even knight NPCs too. It was a great crisis even for someone like Crockta. He suddenly got up.
“Heaven and Earth Clan? Those bastards...!”
He threw the tablet and swung open his office door. The Baek Han-Ho Gym’s members stared at him. However, he did not care and quickly left the gym.
Crockta was the prey of Andre the White Knight.
1. Aggro refers to attention from in-game enemies, often relating to the distance at which an enemy will notice the player character and engage in combat. ?
2. Saddummy is a famous streamer in South Korea. ?
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