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‘Isaac!’

At that moment, Hesabel’s warning reached him. Isaac quickly adjusted Nel’s movements and ascended sharply, narrowly avoiding a projectile.

The cannonball that streaked across the sky crashed somewhere in the forest with a thunderous roar.

‘They’re firing anti-air cannons? Are they insane?’

When the cannon fire missed Isaac, angry curses echoed from the orc horde. Isaac unleashed another round of thunderbolts at them, but again, it did not deal as much damage as he had hoped. The orcs’ tough skin and robust constitution were typical traits of their race. Moreover, they were not overly concerned about death.

Boom! Boom!

As several sharp cannon shots targeted Isaac, it became difficult to execute precise attacks from a low altitude.

‘They’re using magic. Is the cannon blessed by their ancestors…’

While it might sound ridiculous, it was no joke. The Olkan Code attaches ancestral blessings to their cannons through shamans. Isaac instructed Nel to move independently and jumped off when his altitude was low enough.

“Captain Katawal! The demon has landed!”

“Oh, he came down on his own. Bring me his head! I’ll fire it from our cannon!”

An orc with elaborate headgear roared and swung his sword. Several orcs armed with curved blades charged at Isaac.

There was no need to use his sword aura. The sharp blade of Kaldwin cut through the orcs’ swords and bodies simultaneously. His fighting speed was equal to his running speed.

This meant the orcs could not even slow Isaac down to the extent of air resistance.

The orc captain, named Katawal, realized Isaac was just as formidable on the ground as he was while riding a dragon and urgently pulled his horse back, shouting,

“Fire the net cannon!”

Boom! Despite still fighting orcs, a cannonball was fired with a loud noise. However, this time it was a cannonball bundled with iron nets. The orc in front of him was sliced into small pieces the size of the net’s holes, and the net flew toward Isaac.

Isaac finally unleashed his sword aura and slashed through the net.

The iron net was roughly sliced, brushing past Isaac, but he couldn’t avoid getting drenched in the orcs’ blood. Even though the orcs had fired the cannon at point-blank range, Isaac’s unscathed appearance made them realize the gravity of the situation.

Isaac, dripping blood and flesh, charged at them again.

Only then did the orcs, even before the captain’s orders, know what to do and mounted their horses with precision.

It wasn’t out of fear. For them, the battle truly began once they were on horseback. The captain had already mounted his horse by then.

“He’s no easy foe! Commence the delaying retreat!”

The orcs around Isaac began to retreat like an ebbing tide. Isaac pursued and cut down several orcs, but he couldn’t match the speed of their horses.

At that moment, an arrow pierced the horse of the fleeing Captain Katawal. It was a shot from Hesabel. Katawal fell with a scream, and the orcs briefly hesitated before fleeing without looking back.

Katawal struggled to his feet and glared at the approaching Isaac.

Knowing he couldn’t capture all the orcs, Isaac aimed to interrogate at least one of them.

Katawal grabbed a torch and dashed towards a nearby cannon.

“I’ll kill you!”

Cannons in this era were advanced technology, and the orcs were remarkably accurate marksmen.

But no matter how skilled, hitting a person with a cannon was not easy unless they were charging directly at it. Even for an ordinary person, it would be challenging.

Isaac frowned and halted.

“Stop it.”

Katawal, seeing Isaac actually stop, twisted his face.

“Let’s just talk. You have a strong body and good equipment. Don’t you value your life? I know killing you is pointless. Just talk and I’ll let you go. Put down the torch.”

Isaac spoke in a way that matched the Olkan Code’s perspective, trying to persuade Katawal.

For the first time, Katawal’s eyes, burning with anger, wavered.

It wasn’t because he was swayed, but because he hadn’t expected Isaac to say such things.

“You… You seem to know a lot about us.”

“I know a bit.”

The Olkan Code believed in reincarnation. Actually, they did reincarnate, even retaining their memories.

When followers of the Olkan Code died, their souls temporarily left their bodies and immediately moved to the nearest shaman of the cult. The shaman would determine the order and family for their rebirth.

Although there were rare cases where souls were lost for unknown reasons, most orcs born into the cult were reincarnated this way. Some had reincarnated dozens of times. Therefore, the Olkan Code had a weak sense of family but a strong sense of community. Children were raised communally, of course.

This system had its problems, but raising issues wrongly could lead to being ‘reincarnated.’

The Black Empire had this common feature of being an alliance of those who enjoyed ‘immortality’ in some form.

“Are you interested? Then let’s exchange one question each.”

At Isaac’s suggestion, Katawal sneered.

“Not interested. Go to hell.”

Katawal immediately thrust the torch into the cannon. The cannon was filled with remaining gunpowder and charges. He had intended to blow it up when Isaac got close, but now that Isaac had figured it out, there was no use.

Isaac quickly retreated.

Before he could take a few steps, a tremendous explosion obliterated the main street of the forest.

***

It was only by morning that Isaac confirmed the orc horde had completely retreated.

The officials and nobles, who had been cowering in fear inside the city hall, crawled out, trembling. Soldiers roamed the ravaged city, assessing the damage.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. If the Holy Grail Knight hadn’t come, we would have been….”

The mayor of Seor, elected by the merchants and nobles, repeatedly expressed his gratitude while gripping Isaac’s hand. Although Isaac had much to say about a city as large as Seor being decimated by a mere hundred orcs, he couldn’t completely blame the mayor.

The Empire had rarely encountered the Olkan Code, and even within the cult, cannons were cutting-edge secret weapons.

More importantly, the city’s defenses were weakened by the withdrawal of troops to join the Dawn Army, leaving the soldiers to focus on internal security rather than external threats.

“No need to thank me. As a fellow believer, it was my duty to help. But the orcs might return at any moment. Have you recovered all the cannons?”

“Yes, um, yes. The soldiers reported that those terrifying fire-breathing iron lumps? Cannons, I think? There were only three in total. But they were all destroyed…”

Isaac was disappointed to see the state of the recovered cannons. The ones he had struck with lightning and the one Katawal had exploded with gunpowder were obviously unusable, and the remaining one had been rendered useless just before the orcs fled. They were thorough.

The mere sight of the cannons made the mayor’s knees buckle as he murmured tearfully.

“Where did these savages get such weapons? Do they have master blacksmiths?”

Isaac let out a long sigh and muttered,

“Olkan, the god of the Olkan Code, is said to wander the afterlife, plundering heavens. He whispers the secrets and knowledge of the afterlife to his followers.”

“Plundering gods? Is that even possible?”

“It’s typical of an orc god. However, the only things they can convey are technology and miracles, not unique philosophies, culture, or arts. They are truly barbarians.”

Fantasy techno-barbarians.

This was the most accurate description of the orcs in this world.

While practical, they progressed slowly unless Olkan conveyed additional knowledge.

‘Why study when you can steal knowledge?’

Their entire race operated on a completely different set of principles from typical civilizations.

Therefore, the faith that had the worst relationship with the Olkan Code was the World’s Forge. The Olkan Code’s most distinctive feature, ‘reincarnation,’ was a secret stolen from the Forge of the World. Since they had stolen the sacred concept of ‘rebirth,’ the dwarves wanted to tear orcs apart whenever they saw them.

The orcs had stolen the most technology and didn’t even show respect for it.

“The cannon was originally created by the Forge of the World… The Empire kept it a secret, but the Olkan Code brought it out, so there will be an uproar.”

***

While Isaac was organizing his thoughts, a soldier who had roughly finished assessing the damage approached to report. The mayor, hearing the report, sighed in relief.

“Thankfully, the damage isn’t as bad as we feared.”

Despite the Olkan Code ravaging nearly half the city, there weren’t many places burnt or collapsed. The walls, watchtowers, and city hall suffered, while many houses outside the walls burned.

“I’m really relieved. Cannons could have demolished the entire city…”

Since cannons consumed a lot of gunpowder, there was no reason to use them just to destroy the city. Isaac realized the orcs had moved efficiently and targeted key objectives.

‘This wasn’t a simple raid.’

Such pinpoint attacks were groundwork for occupation. They didn’t set fires to prevent the flames from spreading quickly in the city.

Isaac quickly grasped the significance.

‘Those were just scouts or an advance party.’

The orcs probably scouted a few houses while raiding, but seeing Seor’s weak defenses, they judged they could capture it themselves.

If Isaac hadn’t come, they might have succeeded.

Isaac’s expression grew serious.

‘Is the Olkan Code starting a major raid?’

Having experienced endings involving the Olkan Code, Isaac considered the situation potentially severe. A butterfly effect from one of his actions might have set the Olkan Code in motion.

“Just to confirm, there aren’t any captured orc prisoners, right?”

“Ah, yes. Not a single one. Those bastards. They either committed s*****e or were killed by their comrades to avoid capture. How do they do that… They’re not afraid of death at all.”

‘That’s because they’d rather reincarnate than be captured.’

The Olkan Code was a tricky enemy. The orc race was physically robust, their technology superior to the Empire’s, mostly light cavalry due to their nomadic nature, and they didn’t fear death. Even their accumulated experience remained through reincarnation.

They were the worst adversaries.

Their only weakness was a short lifespan, but even that was negated by reincarnation.

An invasion by the Olkan Code was always a significant threat to the Empire, especially during internal and external turmoil.

‘Well… They do have weaknesses.’

Particularly for Isaac, who had repelled several major invasions by the Olkan Code. It wasn’t difficult for him, as long as certain conditions were met.

“Rebuild the walls and prepare for an invasion. In the worst case, a large force from the Olkan Code could arrive.”

At Isaac’s words, the mayor looked terrified.

“Wh-what? Then wouldn’t it be better to evacuate until the Church or Imperial Army arrives?”

“Don’t expect the Dawn Army, and if the Imperial Army arrives on time, that’ll be lucky. But there is a way to defend. If this is a full-scale invasion by the Olkan Code, there are people who will definitely help.”

Isaac looked toward the northern sky.

The proud dwarves, who hid like hermits of the world.

They would surely be interested if they knew their sworn enemies were coming.

But it was uncertain if the dwarves would act swiftly enough.

‘…Until reinforcements arrive, I’ll have to spread some terrifying rumors.’

_____________

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