Chapter 429 - Episode 412: Bait
(T/N: Contains some grotesque expressions)
"Alright, Claymore, advance."
Noein spoke after a simultaneous attack of magic and crossbows. Receiving those instructions, Gustav and Alain ordered the two platoons they each led, and the golems began to advance.
The subjugation force led by Noein and the others had set three lures over the past few days. Those had all ended in failure, but through those three attempts, the orcs had learned that "humans who enter the forest do not attack."
Because of this, the initial strike by the assault force entering the forest became a completely unexpected event for the orcs, succeeding in unilaterally slaughtering several and inflicting wounds and shock on other individuals. By the time the golems began to advance, the orcs were completely intimidated and on the verge of fleeing.
"The rest of you, follow behind! The enemy's main force isn't here! Push through all at once!"
As Count Marcel, who commanded the assault force alongside Noein, raised his voice, the human soldiers and mages also advanced, alongside the golems. As the golems crushed the heads of fallen orcs to finish them off and scattered the surviving orcs to secure the path, the group of humans moved in.
Following behind the mages and the guards surrounding them were the soldiers holding crossbows. Mixed among them were several individuals wearing leather gloves that covered up to their elbows, clutching small jars.
Inside the jars was the undiluted essence of Angel's Honey. Furthermore, several arrows were stuck into the mouths of the jars.
The crossbowmen received those arrows from the soldiers holding the jars and loaded the arrows, their tips coated in the essence, into their crossbows.
By the time the golems had secured the front and the crossbowmen had completed their firing preparations, the assault force had reached the entrance of the village and the lumber processing plant, which had now become an orc nest.
Just as the scouts led by Radley had first confirmed, the main force of the horde, including the Orc Kaiser, seemed to have gone hunting deep in the forest. Lacking a leader and consisting only of wounded individuals and children, the orcs were unable to act in a coordinated manner; they attacked the assault force in a disorganized fashion, fled deep into the forest, or ran frantically back and forth within the nest.
"Listen up! Capture as many as possible!"
"Target the children as much as possible! Shoot them as they jump out of the houses being used as dens!"
"You can let the wounded individuals escape! Let them return to the Orc Kaiser and let them remain a burden to the horde!"
As officers shouted instructions from various points, the orc hunt proceeded.
The crossbowmen fired arrows coated in the essence of Angel's Honey at the children, who were either similar in build to humans or smaller than humans. The orc children struck by the arrows let out short screams and tried to flee, but the essence quickly circulated through their bodies, causing them to collapse and become unable to move.
Among them, some orcs tried to help the fallen children, but the golems obstructed them. Faced with multiple golems, the orcs had no means of fighting and fled, letting out frustrated growls.
Orcs that tried to target the assault force directly were either finished off by the onslaught of the shield-bearers and mages formed in ranks and the magic items for attack magic, or they gave up their attack and fled.
The battle ended in less than ten minutes, and the orcs in the nest were divided into those who fled deep into the forest, those who died, and those paralyzed by the essence of Angel's Honey.
"Your Excellency, reporting. We have captured seven children and five adults. Additionally, seven orcs were killed in combat. On our side, there are four dead and nine seriously injured."
"Good work. You may step back... I suppose this is a sufficient result with losses within the acceptable range."
As Count Marcel spoke, dismissing the soldier who came to report, Noein nodded beside him.
"That's right. It's unfortunate that there were deaths, but as long as the opponent is an orc horde, a certain amount is inevitable. We captured more than the target of ten, and more than half of them are children. With this, we can proceed to the next operation."
Around where Noein and the others spoke, the paralyzed orcs had their limbs bound by the soldiers and were carried away by golems.
Having swiftly completed the transport of the dead and the wounded, as well as the transport of the captured orcs, the assault force returned to the camp outside the forest.
.....
The day after assaulting the orc nest and capturing a total of twelve orcs. In front of the camp of the orc subjugation force, the captured orcs were lined up.
All twelve orcs had been hit by the essence of Angel's Honey in yesterday's battle, so paralysis still remained in their hands, feet, mouths, or two or more of those locations. Additionally, since their limbs were bound with sturdy ropes and their bodies were pinned down by golems, they were unable to even stand up, let alone escape.
Furthermore, because they were bound with thin ropes from the tip of their long noses to their jaws, they could not even let out a cry.
While watching this scene, Noein turned toward Edelgard beside her.
"Now then, Commander-in-Chief, may we begin?"
"...Yes. Please proceed."
Facing this scene, which was bizarre as an opening to a battle, Edelgard nodded with a somewhat complicated expression. In response, Noein turned toward Radley in the front.
"Knight Bachelor Nordheim."
"Yes!"
Radley saluted and, together with his subordinates, moved to the front through a gap in the moat and obstacles in the center of the camp.
While the golems held the orcs firmly down, Radley and his subordinates approached their mouths and cut the ropes sealing the orcs' mouths with short swords.
"Guoh!"
"Goah! Gobuah!"
"Bugoh! Bugoooooh!"
Having gained the freedom to make sound, the orcs first barked as if to intimidate Radley and the others who were close to their faces. Once Radley and the others stepped away from their faces, the orcs began to let out loud, howling cries as if appealing to something in the forest.
"Alright. For now... let's try one adult."
The operation entered the next stage. Noein ordered the start of the operation, and Yuri conveyed it to the puppet mages.
Of the sixteen golems, four faced the forest to maintain vigilance, and the remaining twelve each pinned down one orc. One of them, the golem pinning down a female adult orc—grabbed the orc's left arm and snapped it with brute force.
"Bugyaaaaaah!"
Since the part of that orc that was paralyzed was the leg, it felt the pain of the broken arm exactly as it was. It let out a sorrowful scream from the intense pain and the terror of being tortured while unable to move.
"Bugoh!"
"Goah! Gogaaaaah!"
"Buuuu...!"
Seeing their comrade suffer such a cruel treatment, the other orcs also became noisy. Knowing they were in the midst of a terrible crisis, they trembled, and their ferocity increased out of fear.
However, no matter how ferocious they became internally, they were not a threat if they could not move properly. While the orcs made a commotion, the violence against the orc with the broken arm continued.
The other arm was broken, the legs were broken, and as the orc became a wretched sight, it continued to let out sorrowful shrieks. Even so, the violence by the golem did not stop, and a thick arm was raised above its head.
"Bu, bugyuuuuu...!"
From above the head of the orc, who was even shedding tears of terror, the golem's fist swung down. That single blow split the orc's skull and crushed its brain.
The eyeballs popped out, the contents of the split head were exposed, and that orc was finally released from pain and terror.
"If they make this much noise with just one, it seems it will go well. Now then, next, let's do one child. More cruelly."
"Yes... Gustav, do your individual."
At Yuri's instruction, Gustav nodded and began the violence against the child orc pinned by his golem.
Perhaps only a few years old, the golem pinned down one leg of the orc, which had a physique only as large as a small human, with its foot and grabbed the other leg with its hand. The golem, in a position that looked as if it were splitting the orc's legs vertically—stretched the hand holding the leg upward.
Even as the orc was forced to open its legs to the limit, the golem did not stop stretching that leg. It was a golem-splitting, rather than a cattle-splitting.
"Pugyaaaaaaaah!!"
A scream higher-pitched than that of an adult orc, like the death throes of a piglet, echoed around.
"...This is unbearable to look at,"
Edelgard muttered as if unconsciously, and beside her, Count Marcel frowned while remaining silent.
The officers and soldiers of the Northwest Faction also showed various reactions to the utterly cruel sight, some turning pale and others averting their eyes.
"I feel sorry for the orcs, but this is a struggle for survival between them and humans. They'll just have to resign themselves to the fact that they were unlucky."
Amidst this, Noein and the others remained composed. Noein and Yuri watched the tragedy before them with cool faces, Matilda and Pence concentrated on their job as guards, Radley and Rick watched the forest intently, and Gustav and Alain concentrated on operating the golems.
The other soldiers and puppet mages also did not overtly change their expressions, though their eyes occasionally twitched or the corners of their mouths moved before the shocking sight.
"Bugyuuuuuuu!! Pugiiiiii!!"
Covered in its own blood, the orc continued to cry and scream, unable to die yet.
"D-damn it, even if it's for the sake of the orc hunt, this is..."
"Do we really have to go this far?"
"That Grand Duke really is a demon. Those people are a demon's army."
Facing the cruel acts performed solely for the sake of cruelty, which would be impossible in a normal battle or hunt, some of the soldiers spoke. Murmurs criticizing the army of the Grand Duchy of Arqvist leaked out from various places in the ranks. Those leaking them were mainly young soldiers, conscripts, and retainers of lower noble territories without their own army.
"Stop it, they are reinforcements from a friendly nation."
"It's better than failing to finish off the horde here and having humans suffer damage someday."
"In the first place, it's our fault for not having the strength to enter the forest and fight head-on."
The officers and veteran soldiers admonished the murmurs of criticism. Even the complexions of those who spoke from their reason as professional soldiers were not very good.
The orc continued to cry and scream for a while longer, and finally died.
"...Hmm, they're still not coming. In that case, next, let's do three or four all at once."
"Then, one adult and three children."
"Yes, that's fine. Ah, since it would be boring if it were only golems, let's have Radley's squad handle two of the children."
Yuri conveyed Noein's instructions, and the members of the Grand Duchy's army moved.
At the same time the golems pulled up one adult and one child, Radley's squad, who had moved to the front of the camp, surrounded two child orcs.
Soldiers with swords approached the face of one orc, and soldiers with spears approached the rear of the other orc.
"Alright, begin."
The gruesome acts began simultaneously for the four orcs. The terrifying death screams of the orcs echoed, and the orcs who were still safe also screamed in terror. Loud, muddy shrieks spread throughout the entire area, and among the soldiers watching, some became dizzy and unstable, and some even vomited.
Without caring for any of that, the acts by the army of the Grand Duchy of Arqvist against the orcs continued.
Just as several people among the inexperienced conscripts and the young sons and daughters of noble houses sent to gain experience fainted and were carried away to the first-aid station in the rear—several howls echoed from within the forest.
"!"
"Radley! Everyone, return inside the camp! Claymore, prepare for battle!"
While Noein was startled upon hearing it, Yuri ordered. Radley hurriedly rushed back into the camp leading his subordinates, and the golems operated by Claymore abandoned the orcs and lined up in a row, facing the forest.
"All personnel, prepare for combat! The orcs are coming! Get ready!"
Count Marcel, Baron Oggoren, and Viscount Ludo conveyed Edelgard's order to each squad. The officers assisted them. Crossbows, ballistas, magic items for attack magic, spears, swords, and shields were all pointed toward the forest.
The orcs had come to form a horde by obeying their leader, the Orc Kaiser. They had acquired a sociality to the extent that they cared for each other beyond the framework of mates or parents and children.
That sociality was the orcs' new weakness. Originally, orcs were monsters that lived according to their emotions. Having been forced to listen endlessly to the death screams of their comrades, especially the children, being tortured, they would not be patient enough to remain still in the forest forever.
Probably, even the Orc Kaiser was the same. Rather, the Orc Kaiser, who had leaped out alone during the first surprise attack to help the retreat of its comrades, would be unable to endure the sight of comrades who could not resist being killed miserably.
This cruel operation was carried out based on Noein's idea, who thought as such. The patience of the orcs, who were shown endlessly the sight of their precious comrades and cute children being slaughtered and tortured, exceeded its limit. Noein's strategy succeeded brilliantly.
"Gogaaaaah!"
"Bugyaaaah! Bugah!"
"Bugooooooooh!"
The subjugation force, having made perfect preparations, intercepted the horde of orcs as they leaped out of the forest one after another in a blind rage.