The Author's POV

Chapter 169: Gud Khodror [2]

Gud Khodror was located 3,000 meters above sea level, on top of a large desolate mountain on the southern hemisphere of Immorra.

After the demons invaded Immorra, the orcs had no other choice but to migrate to the south of Immorra where the land was drier and the soil was more infertile.

…the orcs weren't a united race as they would always tend to fight against one another due to their personalities.

However, with their race on the verge of extinction, they had no other choice but to unite.

As a result of this, after searching for a while, the orcs managed to find the perfect spot to set up a city and created Gud Khodror…the last remaining orc city in Immorra.

An impenetrable fortress that hid between a cluster of large mountains.

Marching with the other orcs, lifting his head up and staring into the distance, Kevin's voice softened a little bit as he said.

"…so that's Gud Khodror?"

"Yeah…"

From the way he was speaking it was evident that he was overwhelmed by the sight before him, however, I couldn't blame him as I too was overwhelmed by what I saw.

On a different mountain than the one we were currently marching on, another enormous mountain appeared in the distance.

Its peak was majestic, and the mountain's topography seemed steep and perilous. From a distance, the mountain appeared to have three sides that stretched upward vertically, forming a semi-circular natural barrier that stretched all the way to the sky.

An ocean of clouds drifted above the mountain ridges making the place look even more majestic and mysterious.

Reaching one-fifth of the height of the mountain ridges, enclosing the natural semi-circular mountain barrier, was an enormous artificial wall that blocked anything from passing through.

By the side of the gates stood two enormous statues depicting two orcs looking down towards the ground beneath them holding onto two large axes that interlocked with one another.

The statues looked extremely intimidating creating an oppressive and menacing feeling.

In the middle of the wall stood a large wooden gate connected to a long and wide flat bridge that linked two mountains together. The one Gud Khodror was on and the one we were currently marching on to get there.

As we marched across the stone bridge, looking below the bridge I couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva as I muttered.

"How deep is that?"

Utter darkness.

What was below the bridge was utter darkness that I could see no end of…

If I dropped a rock down the bridge, I'd estimate that I still wouldn't be able to hear the sound of the rock reaching the bottom a couple of minutes after dropping it…it looked bottomless.

"huuuu…"

As we neared the gates, taking a deep breath, I tried to calm my heart down. At the moment my heart was beating faster…and that was due to the two statues at the front of the gate.

Those two statues created a natural sense of fear towards anyone that looked at them for too long. It felt as though the real orc was standing and looking down on me.

…and when I mean orc I didn't mean a regular orc, but one that was at a league of his own.

"Open the gates"

Arriving before the large gates, walking out was Silug's figure. Glancing left and right and raising his large axe in the air, he shouted.

"I, Silug, third legion commander of Gud Khodror is waiting to report. Open the gates and let us in."

As he spoke, his powerful voice echoed across the mountain range.

Not long after Silug's voice faded, the loud sound of chains falling resounded across the mountain range as the enormous doors slowly opened up revealing the insides of the city.

As the gate reached the top, staring at the vast city before me, I couldn't help but mutter in a low voice.

"So this is the true Gud Khodror…"

…the last orc stronghold in Immorra.

As I looked at the city from behind the gates, I noticed that the city itself looked somewhat crude as the infrastructures weren't created with the finest craftsmanship.

With its black wooden rooftops, faded marble walls, and what seemed to be the bones of fallen comrades and demons, Gud Khodror had a frightening atmosphere.

…the atmosphere was especially stifling as bones could be seen everywhere around the city either out as decoration or as materials itself for the houses.

"…hey Ren, look over there"

As I was observing the buildings around us, feeling a slight bump next to me, and hearing Kevin's voice, I turned my head around and noticed Kevin staring towards the distance.

"What?"

"Check out that building"

Looking in the direction of where Kevin was looking at, I soon spotted an enormous infrastructure standing in the middle of the city.

…as I was too busy admiring the area around me, I only noticed the enormous building now.

Seven lean, circular towers made out of black stone surrounded the building that Kevin was pointing at. The infrastructure was twice as tall as the towers and was the tallest building that I could see…overlooking the whole city.

Similarly made out of black stone, the tall infrastructure resembled a pyramid as its peak reached all the way towards the clouds in the sky. However, contrary to a regular pyramid its infrastructure was circular rather than squared.

By the side of the circular pyramid-like structure, enormous blood-red flags fluttered in the air adding further grandeur to the infrastructure.

"Move along!"

Entering the city, Silug once again shouted towards his army. Next to him, two more orcs appeared leading him towards the distance…more specifically the tall building in the distance.

As we marched forwards, standing next to me, Kevin frowned. Thinking of something, looking at me, he asked.

"…so how do we get out of this situation?"

Now that they were in the city, how were they going to get out of the army?

This was especially so considering the fact that they were basically stuck in between hundreds of orcs.

"Hm?"

Hearing Kevin's question, I didn't answer immediately as I hesitated. I soon took out my red book and opened it.

…well, I did in fact have a plan, but it would probably piss someone off.

Not hearing my response, repeating again, Kevin said.

"Hey, how are we supposed to separate ourselves from the other orcs?"

Still looking at the red book, I vaguely said.

"…ah, that, we just do it"

Seeing how vague I was being and looking at me incredulously, Kevin exclaimed.

"Don't tell me that you still haven't thought about it"

Shaking my head and closing the book, I immediatly responded.

"No, I do have a plan"

"…and?"

"Well, you're probably not gonna like it…"

Pausing for a second as he squinted his eyes beneath his mask, Kevin had an ominous premonition as he carefully asked.

"How am I not going to l-huh?"

"Sorry"

Smiling beneath my mask, putting both of my hands on Kevin's metal armor, I pushed him. As I pushed him, I made sure to apologize to him.

"You—!"

"Who dares?!"

Crashing against a nearby orc, carrying the momentum with him, Kevin crashed against multiple other orcs. Without looking at what was happening, turning around, with a couple of rocks on my finger, I flicked them towards a couple of more orcs standing before me.

"Who?"

"Who dares?"

As the rocks hit the two orcs I aimed at on their helmet, turning around the orcs shouted out loud as they glared at their surroundings.

Shortly after, the two orcs that I hit looked at each other. Pointing towards each other, they shouted.

"Was it you? You disgusting bastard!"

"So it was you?"

"You want to have a go?"

"I'll fight you!"

Within a minute, both sides raised their weapons and slashed towards one another, and a small shockwave appeared as a result of their clash.

"How dare you!"

Pushed back by the collision of the two orcs, another orc shouted out loud as he raised his axe and slashed down.

"I'll kill you!"

…soon a massive brawl ensued as more and more orcs joined in on the fight creating massive mayhem.

Fortunately by the time the fight got serious I had already left, else I might've found myself in a pickle.

"ooof…"

If I had to be honest, this strategy wasn't something I had come up with on the spot. I remember seeing this in a movie so I just tried to imitate it.

Create chaos amongst the orcs and use the opportunity to slip out whilst everyone is distracted.

Since orcs weren't the brightest creatures and were easily provoked, this strategy proved to be rather effective. Had they been even a little bit smarter, this plan would've never worked.

Plus, I knew everything was going to be fine…

Staring at the book in my hands which no one else could see, I leisurely walked away from the orc army.

Fortunately, I had the book with me. With it, I could pretty much see if my plan would've failed or not. Of course, even though I saw that the plan I was planning on using worked, it didn't mean that the future depicted in the book was correct.

…had I missed my shot towards the two orcs everything wouldn't have gone as the book had depicted.

Therefore, even if the book showed me that everything was going to be fine, it didn't mean that it was going to guarantee success…there was always a chance of failure.

Had I messed up, none of what the book showed me would've happened.

'…Well, since everything is fine now, I shouldn't dwell too deeply into it'

Putting the book away and turning around, I soon saw Kevin sneaking out from the army of orcs.

Soon his eyes interlocked with mine.

'Well, someone doesn't look too pleased'

Staring at him for a couple of seconds, I lightly waved at him as I sneaked my way into the depths of the city.

…as I moved, recalling Kevin's angry face, a smile appeared on my face and I softly mumbled to myself.

"…ah, sometimes I can't help but marvel at how trashy I can be"

Though not often, it happens…and when it does, well, couldn't say I was the most pleasant person.

Melissa and Smallsnake probably knew best.