Rise of the Horde

Sakh'arran led the horde and their new Ereian friends to the northwest instead of directly going west. He doesn't want to go through the marshes that they went through before to get to the Ereians, since the odor from that place was irritating to the nose.

They cut through a small forest and finally arrived at the paved road that links the Fortress of Vir to the City of Yohan to the north. The paved road cut down the amount of time spent on traveling back and forth between the Fortress of Vir and City of Yohan to just twelve days instead of more than a month.

Confidently, the warriors of Yohan stepped on the paved roads like it was the most natural thing to do. Their sandals created soft metallic sounds as they marched through the concrete road. The Ereians behind them paused for a few moments, unsure of what to do, but they soon followed afterwards and stepped on the foreign thing on their path. Some of them even curiously touched the concrete road with their hands and knocked on it.

Adhalia can't help but shake her head at the actions of her people. If not for her knowing the orcs earlier than her people, she would also be doing the same thing. At least for her, she witnessed how the concrete road was made and the materials used to make it, and she also saw how the materials were created from raw resources.

"It's just a concrete road..." Adhalia muttered, to which her people responded by turning their gazes to her in a unified manner. The only ones who weren't curious about the concrete road were Dylan, who was busy observing the orcs up ahead and Glas, who was obviously still daydreaming.

"My lady, what is a concrete?" Zaraki questioned, as it was the first time that he heard the word. "It's basically what the path that you are stepping on is made of. It is a mixed of cement, gravel, sand and water." Adhalia explained as she pointed a finger at the road. "Cement... What is a cement, my lady?" Zaraki once again questioned as he can't help but satisfy his curiosity and looking around him, his fellow Ereians were also curious of the alien words that the noble lady was saying.

"Ah... Cement is one of the inventions of the chieftain. If you want to know more about it, you should visit the City of Yohan and witnessed how it is made, if you get the chieftain's permission." She continued to explain, but she sound frustrated by explaining things to them.

*****

They continued on their march and silently followed after the orcs, who were marching ahead of them. To their rear were the cavalry unit of the orcs, who sometimes disappears only to appear after a few hours with blood all over their bodies. They were dealing with those who were shadowing them, who are also being shadowed by the Verakhs who would show themselves up from time to time to report their discoveries.

The Ereians didn't know it just yet, but there were many who were eyeing them in this danger filled lands. In almost every corner of the Orcish lands, there would be some hostile creatures that are ready to pounce on them at any given time. The battles that they experienced with the natives of the Orcish lands were nothing but like just an appetizer, they haven't experienced a full scale battle against them yet.

*****

The sun has already set when the Yohan First Horde, Ikarush returned to the Fortress of Vir and following behind them were their new comrades who would surely experience something that they haven't experienced before if they decided to join their chieftain's army.

Dylan was curiously looking around the outer walls that were slowly being built by the kobolds who paid no heed to them while they were passing by them, unlike when the orcs were passing by, wherein they stopped what they were doing. He saw some ogres mixing gravel, sand and an ash looking powder together before adding in water and continuing to mix them together, which resulted in a paste looking mess.

He wanted to find out if that is the concrete that Adhalia mentioned before, but when he turned his head to look at the noble lady to ask her about it, he saw her fast asleep while leaning at the back of the female orc. She was slumbering peacefully, and he didn't have the courage to wake her up just go ask her a question.

*****

Xiao Chen was atop the inner walls and was observing the return of his warriors. Looking at their faces and their body gestures, it looked like they didn't engage with the Ereians, which is a sign that Adhalia's mission was a success. He leaned on the walls while hiding behind a tower, as he didn't want them to know where he was at the moment.

"Here you are chief... Aro'shanna is looking for you to have a rematch." a voice caught Xiao Chen off guard as he flinched before slowly turning around and saw Gur'kan, who was panting heavily. The skinny orc had his hands on his knees as he tried to control his breathing. A few moments later, he raised his face up and stared at the chieftain with a sorry looked on his face.

"What the hell happened to your face?" Xiao Chen confusedly asked as Gur'kan's face was swollen and he was like a panda with those black circles adoring the surroundings of his eyes. Looking carefully at the body of the War Chief, his body was covered with bruises and slight cuts.

"Aro'shanna happened...chief... After she woke up after you knocked her out, she went around looking for you... And when she can't find you anywhere... She went on a rampage and dragged many of us to fight her... And this is the result." Gur'kan explained as he pointed at his face that was messed up. Xiao Chen scratched the back of his head while smiling wryly, but then he saw Aro'shanna in the distance, which forced him to duck down to hide.

"What are you doing,chief?" Gur'kan was confused on why the chieftain suddenly squatted down. "Shhhh..." Xiao Chen tried to shush him down as he put a finger upon his mouth in a shush gesture then pointed at Aro'shanna in the distance. Gur'kan turned around and when he saw the figure of the grumpy female orc, he too crouched down on the ground and even went as far as to lay on his belly, just for Aro'shanna not to locate him.

"No... No... No... I don't want to fight her again. She is as reckless as ever and doesn't know how to distinguish a friendly spar from a real battle. Many times I have seen my life flash before my very eyes with how closed she was to decapitate me many times already. There is no way that I will spar with her again." Gur'kan covered his face with his hands and muttered like he was almost begging the heavens to spare him.

"Keep your voice down or she'll discover us..." Xiao Chen whispered to which Gur'kan responded by shifting the place where his hands were at and covered his mouth with them. Right down below, the warriors that accompanied Adhalia on her mission gathered on the grounds near the command center as they waited for the Ereians.

Draegh'ana nudged Adhalia with her elbow and woke her up. "We are now inside the fortress... Wake up..." she muttered. Adhalia was aroused from her slumber as she lazily opened her sleepy eyes, then released a small yawn before stretching her limbs.

The Ereians continued to look around the fortress curiously, as they have seen nothing like it before. All the places that they have been to were only the towns, cities and villages of Ereia, which were nothing like where they are now. The fortress looks like the cities of Ereia, with its layout, especially the two sets of walls, one outer and one inner wall.

"Where is she?" Glas excitedly approached Adhalia, who just dismounted from the back of Ulfrus. Groggy, Adhalia looked around and saw Aro'shanna with a displeased look on her face, which made her smile. 'Lucky' she thought, then pointed her finger at her, "There she is... Good luck..." she informed Glas who was smiling from ear to ear and patted him on the shoulder before going away. Draegh'ana, who was still atop the back of Ulfrus, was tempted to stop the nonsense of Adhalia, but she thought otherwise, 'Not my problem.' she thought.

Draegh'ana silently dismounted from the back of Ulfrus and patted its neck before heading towards the command center to look for the chieftain as she chased after Adhalia, who went ahead of her.

Upon seeing Aro'shanna, Glas excitedly run up to her and stood in front of her. She was beautiful, just like Adhalia had just said, but she was a woman with muscles, albeit not as big as other orcs. despite that, she was a beauty. Glas smiled at her with what he considers his most handsome smile, "Hey there...I....." his words were cut short as a sudden impact forced him off the ground and sent him flying away.

"Pheeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww....."

"Bang!!!"

He crashed against the walls of the command center and was clearly unconscious, with his eyes showing full white. Aro'shanna snorted loudly as the actions of the human annoyed her. His smile annoyed her. That's why she gave him an uppercut directly in the chin and sent him flying away. "Tsk... Weakling..." she muttered before turning away and headed towards her quarters. The growling of her stomach reminded her that she hadn't anything for the entire day as she was consumed by finding the chieftain and having a rematch with her.

Atop the walls, Xiao Chen witnessed what just transpired. He shook his head as he pitied the Ereian who tried to strike a conversation with Aro'shanna while she was in a foul mood but he was also thankful to him as he somehow managed to annoy the grumpy female orc a lot that she had given up looking for him. "Phew... She's gone...." he muttered as he patted his chest then looked at Gur'kan who also had his eyes watching the back of Aro'shanna who was headed towards her quarters.