Behemoth Appears

The Ogre who had drunk Demon Blood had greatly increased his strength, but at most he was only Silver Tier. How could he possibly contend with Gold Tier Leolox?

Leolox charged out of the tunnel straight at the Demon Ogre. With a swing of his great axe, he unleashed a Cleave, splitting the Ogre idol in whom Saiyba and the other Ogres had placed such high hopes cleanly in two.

Seeing their idol reduced to this state, the Ogres charging behind the Demon Ogre were dumbfounded and halted one after another. They finally recognized him as one of the people who had slaughtered their kind atop the city walls, and they immediately began backing away.

Seeing the morale he had worked so hard to raise crushed once more, Saiyba stopped holding back and hurled a barrage of Fireballs at him.

Garona and Saxi, watching the battle from the rear, saw this and hurriedly shouted at Leolox.

Having killed the Demon Ogre and boosted morale, Leolox was turning to head back when he heard Saxi and the others shouting. Without looking back, he rolled forward and narrowly dodged a Fireball.

But Saiyba had gone for the kill. Leolox had just breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a sudden burst of heat behind him. He was sent flying forward and lost consciousness. The last thing he saw was Garona and Saxi shouting with their mouths wide open, but he could no longer hear what they were yelling.

Seeing Leolox brought down, the Ogres needed no further urging from Saiyba. They roared and charged forward of their own accord, crashing into the Pebble warriors who had come to retrieve Leolox.

At close quarters, bang—bang—bang! The sound of bodies colliding filled the air.

Pfft—pfft—pfft! Blades pierced flesh, and blood sprayed everywhere.

Saxi and twenty Black Iron Tier elite soldiers stood at the very front. Holy light glowed in Garona's hands as she healed Leolox. The group fought as they retreated, and by the time they reached the tunnel's blockade, Saxi was covered in blood, while only ten of the twenty Orc elites remained.

But their sacrifices had not been in vain. Apart from the corpses carpeting the ground, the warriors in the tunnel continued thrusting out with spikes, temporarily holding back the Ogre assault.

If someone had looked down from the sky, they would have seen spikes constantly shooting out and retracting from the tunnel. The Ogres at the front fell without end, yet the Ogres behind them trampled over their companions' corpses and continued madly charging the tunnel.

"Garona, is Lord Leolox all right?" Saxi asked as he stabbed with a spike, glancing at Garona beside him as she continuously treated the wounded warriors.

"I can only ease his injuries. Without my lord's treatment, Lord Leolox probably won't last much longer." Covered in sweat, Garona swayed unsteadily. The aura beneath her feet had faded until it was almost invisible.

"Roar! It's breached! It's breached!"

Before long, through the relentless efforts of the charging Ogres, a gap was torn open in the tunnel defenses. The Pebble warriors no longer had cover and could only engage the Ogres head-on.

"Garona! Garona!" After killing an Ogre, Saxi realized he could no longer feel the aura's enhancement. Turning around, he saw Garona kneeling on the ground, her face deathly pale, drenched in sweat and gasping heavily.

"Damn it!" Knowing Garona had reached her limit, Saxi no longer counted on her. He shoved the Ogre in front of him away with all his strength, raised his weapon, and shouted, "Brothers, our clansmen are behind us! We absolutely cannot retreat! Kill!"

"Kill!"

Though Saxi's encouragement had worked, there were simply too many Ogres. The warriors Leiluo had recruited in his first batch had all fallen, and the remaining warriors were all wounded. Just as the final line of defense was about to collapse, cries of battle suddenly rang out behind Saxi.

Saxi stole a glance and immediately cursed, "Delong, you bastard! Who told you to bring laborers onto the battlefield? This is a warriors' matter!"

The person Saxi was cursing was Delong, the laborer foreman under Leiluo. Leiluo placed great importance on technological research, and Delong had talent in that area, so Leiluo had made him the leader of the "new clansmen" to ease tensions.

"Saxi, you're the bastard! We aren't laborers! We're just like you—we're clansmen of the Pebble Clan! The Chieftain himself acknowledged it!"

Saxi had not expected the usually timid Delong to curse at him, and he froze for a moment.

While he was distracted, an Ogre swung a spiked club at him, nearly striking him—only for a shovel from the side to block it.

"What are you standing around for? Kill!"

Hearing Delong's words, Saxi snapped back to his senses and cleaved the attacking Ogre apart with one swing of his axe.

"This isn't a place for you to show off. Go back!" The two stood back-to-back, fending off the Ogres' attacks as Saxi found time to speak to Delong.

"At a time like this for the clan, why can't we come onto the battlefield? Without me and these Shadowmoon Clan brothers, you'd have been finished long ago," Delong replied as he dealt with the Ogres.

"Hey, Brother Delong, we're not from the Shadowmoon Clan. We're people of the Pebble Clan. Back in Shadowmoon, we were only laborers." An Orc overheard Delong and refuted him, but as soon as he finished speaking, a spiked club smashed his head apart.

"Damn it! You'll pay for that!"

Watching Delong charge at the Ogres like a madman, Saxi's eyes grew moist. Because of the "new clansmen," he had even complained to Leiluo before. Yet he had never expected that they had already come to see themselves as members of Pebble.

"Bastard! Anyone who kills my brother, even an outsider, must die!" After killing the Ogre behind Delong, Saxi once again stood back-to-back with him.

"That's right. You're my clansman, my brother. Let's kill all these Ogres together." With that, Saxi glanced at Delong—the laborer he had once disdained, now his clansman. They nodded to each other and charged into the fray side by side.

Though fresh forces led by Delong had joined the battle, they were not warriors after all. The scales of victory gradually began tipping toward the Ogres.

"Hahaha! Lord Gul'dan, I'll soon help you take back the Behemoth."

Watching more and more Orc corpses pile up on the ground, Saiyba thought joyfully.

But at that moment, an earthshaking roar came from ahead, and a massive figure appeared before Saiyba.

Looking at the Behemoth staring at him with wide eyes, Leiluo, standing on its shoulder, said helplessly, "All right, all right. We agreed on ten Pigger Beasts, and I'll roast them myself. Go deal with those Ogres first."

Having received Leiluo's answer, the Behemoth roared toward the sky and charged at the Ogres.

Leiluo, meanwhile, leaped down from the Behemoth's shoulder and rushed straight toward Saiyba.

"Bastard, you again! How could you possibly command a Behemoth? Have you advanced in rank?" Saiyba demanded sharply as he watched the Behemoth harvest his Ogre subordinates like cutting grass, then turned toward Leiluo rushing at him.

"Whether I'm Heroic Rank or not, you'll find out if you try!"