After taking Herewaruk's soul and body, Ed didn't dare stay.
'Nobody else should be coming in here' He would take his time to analyze the arrays and examine the knowledge at a later time. Priority lay in saving his orcs.
Ed left promptly after thinking so, only taking the liberty to block the hatch on his way out. There was a chance that a secret tunnel existed but he obviously wouldn't take the time to find it.
'I need to hurry' That was the main thought that plagued Ed's mind. Realistically, there was no reason for this.
He had only bonded with Sharog, knew the name of Nag, and lost pretty much everyone else. Why did he care?
Was it because he was making a city, or was there a hidden reason? Did he want their souls perhaps? Did he want the manpower?
It didn't matter. What mattered was that he wanted to save them.
Ed continued to run through the plain and simple hallways while keeping his ears perked and his senses heightened. It didn't take him long to hear a commotion with his speed and senses.
The sound of crumbling walls, the pained roars of unwillingness. Bodies thumping and rolling across the ground after being thrown. They were the sounds of a one-sided battle. Ed knew it wasn't his side doing the trashing either.
His body was reinforced by wind mana. His steps grew swift and determined. In front of him flew a body that crashed against the wall.
[Bolar (Sanctuary Orc)]
A quick scan proved their allegiance and Ed wasted no time making a rapid turn.
There he saw an image that boiled his blood. A tall orc with a meaty body, it was as if they were half-ogre hybrids. Its hefty fist hovering over a robed orc woman. The woman was Sharog.
Ed shot into action, almost literally, his speed was astonishing. As the heavy fist started its descent, Ed rapidly controlled the elements of the earth he had recovered on his way back to form a strong and sturdy dome.
He brandished his axe, it was in a poor state from the extreme battle conditions, but Ed trusted it would get the job done anyway.
As the racket of a large collision sounded, Ed hopped to reach the giant orc's head and swung his axe. The sent up dust and debris from the earlier collision was not enough to obscure the view of Ed as his axe loomed closer to the orc's neck.
"You Bit-" The lumbering orc, unaware of the danger, didn't even get to finish its words. Ed's axe dug into its meaty neck and sliced right through the fat as if it were butter. By the time it slid away from its body the head was already sliding off the burly body.
Ed landed. The lumbering orc fell simply. There was no fanfare, it thudded without elegance under the silence of the watching eyes.
He undid the dome of earth and noticed Sharog's grisly appearance. Her arm was out of shape and bloodied. Her robe in that area was particularly tattered and her pale face had suggested she lacked sunlight.
Having survived the immediate calamity, Sharog was greatly relieved. That was until confusion settled.
"E-Ed?!" She stuttered in surprise.
"Yeah" Ed replied solemnly before casting a glance at the main culprits. Under his eyes, the earlier boisterous noise and intoxicated expressions were replaced with utter terror and fear. It was as if they had forgotten of the terrifying creature they had allowed into their barracks.
"Wh-Wh… why?" One of the orcs collapsed to his knees looking up at the empty night sky and its brilliant moon. With tears in his eyes he asked himself that question.
"Why!?" His earlier excitement had been doused by the existence of a single orc. Had their prayers and pious beliefs led to nothing, was the magnanimous existence that resided in his mind nothing more than that. Imagination.
Or… Did it truly exist, did it turn a blind eye to the suffering of its children? Did it ignore their desperate cries of pain and passion as they lost their lives following ideals set forth by its apostle? Was such a God worth serving?
The orc suddenly felt lightheaded. The revelation of these thoughts had messed with its mind. They were something that went against their core beliefs. Things that had been instilled in them since young.
Of course, only the magnitude of the massacre that occurred that night could open his eyes. But it wasn't the same for every orc. Some still felt slighted. Not by God but by the existence, the orc, that stood victoriously in front of them.
Some felt it was unfair!
Why did such a strong thing exist?! What did they do wrong to offend such a being? Were they not following their righteous ideal? No! They were!
And as the ones in the right, they couldn't give up. They had the moral high ground! They had the backing of God, they had the glorious ancestry of the dawn tribe. Failure was a sin on its own.
"Aaah! You damnable devil! If I don't die fighting tonight then I don't deserve to live!" One of the orcs declared with a seething expression as they tightened the grip on their axe.
Hearing this, Ed was disappointed. After seeing one of the orcs fall to their knees in teary contemplation, he thought that it was perhaps possible for the others to follow suit.
But unfortunately... when one's thoughts were affected by their ideologies when that dictated their actions and personality when those ideologies were all they had to hold on to. They weren't themselves, they were hopeless. It wasn't a religion, it was a cult. You couldn't change the mind of a cultist.
Soon other orcs mustered their courage for the last stand. Even if they were meant to die it was surely as God willed it. They just had to do their utmost to reach heaven with accolades.
"Those that drop their weapons and sit down quietly will be spared" Ed said with contempt. People like this didn't make one feel only pity, but also disgust.
"Shut it you devil!" One of the orcs yelled as they pointed their weapon at Ed. Others seemed more hesitant but the angry expressions of their fellow tribesmen made them hesitant to heed Ed's demands.
"You! Get up! Fight!" One of the orcs addressed the kneeling and teary-eyed orc.
"No…" The orc replied with a muffled voice.
"Get up!" The orc's wrathful expression somehow managed to contort further, their brows became capable of cracking open a nut.
"It's wrong!" The orc responded in defiance.
"You- You are a lost cause!" The orc's warped expression showed hints of disgust as they lifted their sword and swung at the neck of the kneeling orc. The hate-filled swing seemed to cut through the air leaving no time for the other orc to respond.
However, It broke apart. The great sword of crude orc iron was stopped by a well-timed skinny earth wall.
"You are a lost cause" Ed declared in rebuttal. He dashed forward frightening some of the hesitant foes.
The main speaker however was still being blinded by their hatred and wrathful emotions. They shot a glare at the incoming freight train rather than fear.
"Come at me you f*ck-" Their words were cut short as Ed's palm sunk into their face at full force. The momentum carried over and their body was flung backward. They rolled on the dirt ground for a couple of seconds before laying motionlessly, like a puppet that had its strings cut.
"Wh- what…?" the other orcs that shared similar emotions but hadn't acted upon them were dumbfounded at the scene.
Ed's powerful thrust left a clear palm imprint on the orc's face. But that alone wasn't that scary, the scariest part was how that strike alone had seemingly killed the orc. They died with their face frozen in wrath.
Ed didn't dally anymore, he had allowed that one orc to spew enough nonsense, and his orcs were injured.
'You all had your chance' Ed transmitted with pure animosity towards the orcs that showed furious expressions.
That was thereafter replaced by a fright following a jolt of pure shock mixed with regret.
"How…? Why…?" One of them asked audibly in response.
Others fell backward in fright feeling as if they were seeing their worst nightmare come to life. But Ed no longer stood by and watched these reactions.
On the contrary, as soon as his transmission ended, he ran over to one orc.
Their body fell lifelessly on the ground.
He approached another.
The same spectacle.
One after the other the orcs fell. Some tried to offer resistance and others gave up, their hearts full of despair and misery.
The orcs, the few, that had actually noticed something was wrong and showed more despair than anger were skipped. They noticed this after Ed passed next to them without minding them. They gulped nervously feeling as if they had narrowly escaped death.
The dropping of bodies started to sound like music. Some would try to run away but the earth beneath their feet would betray their expectations. They would be dragged back to their spots or even brought closer to Ed.
"Please! I am sorry! Great God, please forgive me!" One of them seemed to have gone mad in the head and begged Ed as if he were the god himself.
Nonetheless, he still felt the cold hand of Ed being placed on top of his head.. With nothing but the lingering feelings of remorse, his life faded to black.