Beneath the vast landscape known as the Wasteland, under the fathomless yellow sand and stone, three figures slowly made their way through a dark cave – the Orc Nest they had discovered.
As they reached several hundred meters into the nest, the cave became humid and the air gave off a musty smell. The entire surface of the cave was covered in clusters of fungi, causing the walls and floor to become much more grimy.
It was a very different sight than the vast desert outside.
The group walked through several intersections with increasingly smaller entrances that led them a mile further, before they eventually arrived in front of a huge opening. Two rows of burning torches were present on either side of the cave, seemingly stretching for miles into the planet’s core.
Chiwiikkk chiwiikk
The rattles and screams of the orcs could be heard clearly as the place was swarmed with them.
Even so, without the slightest hesitation, Emery, Klea and Chumo walked down the crowded path, using their respective concealment spells to fool their sights.
They cautiously made their way through, further into the cave passing through hundreds of orcs, who all seemed to be busy working on the cave walls. It was a bizarre sight, especially considering there were hundreds of them in this section alone.
“What are they doing?” Chumo asked in a whisper to his two companions.
It only took a second before he realized these orcs were actually splitting something on the muddy walls. His eyes couldn’t help but widen when he saw the creature pull out a large humanoid figure from the wall, as if it was opening a cocoon of a newborn baby but in full adult orc size.
“Rrrghhh!” Chiwwikk!”
As soon as one was brought out, it instinctively let out a deafening scream and attacked the one who took it out of its cocoon. The outburst lasted for a while, before it suddenly came to a stop. It then calmly followed its other brethren heading into the deep cave.
“What the hell is this madness!?”
While Chumo was completely dumbfounded by what he had just seen, Emery and Klea both had surprised yet thoughtful expressions on their faces. They had actually read about this before however, this was the first time they got to see them in person.
This was what the alliance deemed an Orc Lair – where the orcs were born like mushrooms.
Apart from their high battle power and ferocious nature, what made the orcs known to be the best weapon for the elves against the humans was their ability to reproduce quickly and easily.
These creatures were able to naturally bred in the bloodstained ground left by the battlefield between the two sides, just like an infestation of cockroaches. The larger the scale of the battle and the higher the number of orcs slain, the greater the chance a lair would spawn several or dozens of years later.
Hence the reason why finding Orc Lair on a planet that was said to be part of the old battlefield between humans and elves was not so uncommon.
However, this kind of massive lair was certainly a different matter.
“There’s no way a lair of this size was naturally formed,” Klea said as she cautiously walked down the path, avoiding the orcs that were walking towards her.
At the moment, Emery was silent as his attention was completely spent paying attention to where he was going and his Spirit Reading which was still incessantly scanning the underground cavern.
Even after they had reached this deep inside, he was still unable to sense the end of this Lair. It extended at least dozens of miles further than their current location, which meant that his assumption was most likely correct – that the number of orcs could be in the millions.
“It’s been almost an hour already… Why is there still no reply from Julian?” Klea said after checking the time.
“Should we head back?” Chumo asked in response.
Even though they had not spent 24 hours in this place, what Emery had found was quite worrying. Therefore, he quickly agreed to the idea. “Yes. I think we should go back and tell the Nexus faction about this.”
Emery’s words made Klea’s face change, “Emery, a lair of this size must have existed here for at least a few years. There’s no way the Nexus faction with their technology doesn’t know this place, unless…”
Realizing what Klea was implying, Emery was immediately worried for Julian and Thrax. Coupled with the fact that a reply still hadn’t arrived from the two of them, he was very restless to check their situation.
“We should head back now!”
Wasting no more time, unconcerned about the surrounding orcs, Emery opened up a [Spatial Gate]. The swirling portal quickly caught the attention of the nearby orcs, but before they could do anything, it closed without leaving a trace.
Meanwhile, three figures were seen appearing in the Wasteland from empty air.
“We should head back to the colony as fast as possible. Emery, your portal should be faster than my summo–”
Klea’s words caught in her throat as she saw the slightly troubled look on Emery’s face.
“Someone’s coming.”
On the southern horizon, two figures were seen flying at breakneck speed – both were magus-level individuals.
Seconds later, the two descended on the ground from the high air like gods. The first was a large man with long brown hair, while the other was a thin, bald middle-aged man. Both were wearing the blue robe attire the same as the person guarding the Principal, Nexus Magus.
The two of them had slightly awkward expressions on their faces upon seeing Emery, Klea and Chumo. The awkwardness in the atmosphere lasted for a while before the skinny one finally decided to say something.
“The three of you must be envoys sent from the Magus Alliance. My name is Jorah, and this is my partner Conleth.” The man said, gesturing to the bulky person. “We are two of the ten Nexus magus. Tell us, what are you three doing here?”
It was Klea who stepped up and immediately responded, “We are just exploring this rather nice wasteland. It is, after all, quite a rare scene.” With a smile on her face, she continued, “What about you two? Is there anything interesting south of this place?”
It was certainly quite strange for these two people to come from the south, when the nearest colony was supposed to be a thousand miles to the north. This question made the large magus anxious.
“That is not your business, this place is restricted!”
Emery realized the two Magus were agitated, there was something they were hiding.