"Go ahead."

I averted my eyes from the Prince-ranked demon and took a few steps to the side.

"He's all yours."

When I saw Brutus swallow his pride and ask me for a chance to fight, despite the fact that I wanted to participate in the action, I decided to take a step back instead.

Because of the nature of our partnership, I didn't want to put unnecessary strain on our alliance over something like this.

In addition, I was aware that orcs had their own sense of pride, and I imagined that he must still be resentful toward the Prince for what he had done just a few moments earlier when he had ambushed him.

They were very proud of their power and had a deep-seated hatred for those who plotted or engaged in underhanded practices.

"Cough."

I suddenly felt like coughing.

Not sure why…

"Thank you."

Brutus gave me a single nod of his head, and then quickly turned his attention back to Prince Kuzma who was standing above us.

Cra…Crack―!

His calf muscles contracted, as did the muscles on his upper body, and like a bullet, his figure shot through the air and materialized next to the Prince ranked demon.

Swooosh!

A whistling sound swept through the air, and a pressurized wind force swept through the area beneath.

My clothes flapped, and my hair became a mess.

Booom―!

His fist came hurtling toward Prince Kuzma, who had long since forgotten his presence, and the two of them began to clash in the air above me.

'I don't think there will be any problems from here on out.'

Seeing how the situation was, I turned my gaze away from them and shifted my attention toward the dozen or so demons that were surrounding me.

I smiled at them.

"Hi, I-"

"Attack him together!"

Swoosh! Swoosh!

I didn't even get a chance to finish my sentence before they all pounced on me together. My brows furrowed, and time slowed down at that moment.

'One, two, three… twelve?'

I made a mental tally of each and every one of the demons that were coming closer to me. They all seemed to be in the Duke rank―although some of them were on the weaker side―and they were all reaching out with their claws for me.

Even so, they were not a threat in my eyes, as their figures moved at a snail's pace within my vision.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head, and as I continued to look at them, I scrunched up my eyes.

'Should I just kill them?'

That'd be the most logical answer, but…

'Hm, I think sparing them can have its use.'

There were a lot of things I could do with their cores, and I was also short on manpower back in Immorra.

This was a perfect opportunity for me to find some new workers.

They could be great additions if tamed properly.

'I guess the decision is made.'

Making up my mind rather quickly, I placed my hand against the sheath of the sword. A white film covered my palm, allowing it to move through the slowed-down space at the same speed at which my brain was processing things, and I positioned my thumb directly beneath the hilt.

I quickly scanned the demons that were in front of me and measured the angles at which they were coming from before slightly increasing the amount of pressure that was being applied by my thumb over the hilt of my sword.

Click―!

A familiar clicking sound echoed within my head as time returned to normal and over a dozen heads came rolling on the ground in front of me.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

"Did I overdo it?"

I had to squint my eyes a couple of times to get used to the scene that was in front of me.

Although I had seen my fair share of gore, what lay before my eyes was still not pleasing to the eye.

"Let's get this over with."

Trying my best to keep myself composed, I moved toward their bodies and collected all of their cores.

"That should be all of them."

The procedure was completed in a relatively short amount of time, and once I had collected all twelve of them, the demons disintegrated into dust, and I inserted the cores into my bracelet.

"That's that done."

I patted my hand in satisfaction. With them gone, a major force of the demons was gone, and what was left were merely the left overs.

C..crack…

The sudden cracking sound was a testament to my thoughts.

When I turned my head to look in the direction from which the sound was coming from, I noticed that a large crack had formed on the barrier that was surrounding the entire city.

'It's starting…'

Cr..crack!

Its size grew by the second, and within a couple of seconds, the entire barrier shattered like glass. Fragments of the barrier fell from above and crashed against the ground beneath.

Crash―!

"Attack!"

"Attack!"

"Kill as many demons as you can!"

As the orcs charged headlong into the city with all of their strength, their deafening shrieks reverberated through the air like thunder.

"Akkkhh!"

"Arghh!"

Clank! Clank!

As the two opposing forces collided with one another, sparks erupted into the air, and dark blood splattered into the air.

"Good… It looks like my investment in Immorra wasn't for nothing."

If there was one thing that stood out as a significant disadvantage for orcs, it would have to be the fact that they did not make use of mana.

In spite of the fact that their use of aura gave them a distinct advantage over the other races in terms of their physical prowess, one of the most significant drawbacks of their use of aura was the fact that it was a rather uncommon source of power in a universe that was predominately made up of mana.

Keeping this in mind, I turned my attention to the rotting remains of the orcs that were scattered across the ground.

'If not for the lack of Aura on earth… the orcs wouldn't be in the state that they are now.'

The only reason the orcs were in a situation where they requested backup was because they lacked aura.

Orcs, in contrast to the other races, stopped progressing the moment they arrived on Earth; as a direct consequence of this, a great deal of their forces were now noticeably weaker than they had been in the past.

This was in stark contrast to the other races, which were able to grow in the time they spent on Earth.

Since we were now allies, I wanted the best for them since we were soon going to be fighting against Jezebeth.

I didn't want to see them in such a state.

…It was a pity, but there was nothing I could do about the situation. At least, that was what I thought in the past.

'Looks like I'll soon have to reveal to the orcs about Immorra.'

There was no way I'd be able to explain the sudden appearance of Silug and the others without telling them about Immorra.

In fact, they probably already knew about the planet but were rather clueless about its current state.

"That's that."

Patting my hands once more, I stretched my back and shifted my attention toward the city walls in the distance.

"Let's end this as quickly as possible."

Casting a quick glance in Brutus's and Prince Kuzma's direction, I made my way toward the city.

As they were fighting among themselves, I made the decision to take advantage of the situation and eliminate as many demons as possible.

While I didn't really care about the lives of the orcs that belonged to Brutus… I did care for the ones that belonged to Immorra.

It took a lot of resources to nurture just a single one of them, and I didn't want my investment to go down the drain like that.

"Now, now…"

I licked my lips.

"…Who should I kill first?"

***

"We've looted everything. There's nothing left in the treasury."

"Got it."

Ta.Ta.Ta.

Ryan's fingers danced across his keyboard.

Lazily leaning his back against one of the pillars of the treasury, he sorted out all of the inventory that they had just received and divided them into many categories.

He'd normally be fine with this type of job since it was a lot easier than what he usually did, but when taking into account that the sheer number of items that came from the treasury numbered in the five digits, Ryan's already large dark circles, started to expand and the energy drained from out of his body.

"I hate my job."

"Listen to yourself. If someone passed by, they'd think you were a middle aged man in your mid-life crisis."

A rough voice commented, and Leopold soon appeared in front of Ryan.

He had a beer in his hand, and his expression seemed rather relaxed.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's handling all of these boring tasks."

"I'm not talented in that regard."

"Ugh."

Ryan ruffled his hair.

He had previously been very proud of his smarts, but ever since meeting Ren, he started to believe that his genius was more of a curse than a blessing.

It seemed like to him, talent equaled greater workload.

"It's alright Ryan."

Ryan felt a hand press against his shoulder. When he turned around, he found Hein staring at him with a friendly smile.

"Don't beat yourself too much. I, out of all people, know just how much you're struggling, and I feel your pain…"

"H,Hein."

Ryan felt tears build up in the corner of his eyes.

Out of all people, he hadn't expected Hein to sympathize with him

…He felt touched.

"Don't worry about a thing."

Hein patted him once more.

His subsequent words, however, prompted Ryan's smile to freeze, and all the previous goodwill he felt for him disappeared into thin air.

"…Ren just told me that there's going to be more treasure to loot in another city, so there's no time to rest. Chop! Chop! Let's get to work!"

"You fu― "