Chapter 706: Green Mane Tribe

DOOM, DOOM-DOOM, DOOM......!

A tremendous drumbeat.

The drumbeat that had been coming faintly from far away had now grown so massive it was drowning out even the sound of artillery fire.

And.

“KWOOOOOOOOR!!!”

A tremendous roar rang out in time with that drumbeat.

The unit members who heard that shout took up guard positions.

It was, no matter who heard it, the roar of a monster.

Perhaps monsters the Legion had failed to clean up had used the chaos to approach from the rear.

But.

“......Wait. That sound.”

“No way.”

A few of the Legion soldiers.

The soldiers who had belonged to the Legion for a long time reacted a little differently.

“Squad leader?”

Far from taking up guard.

The veteran soldiers blankly turned their gazes toward the direction the sound was coming from.

“I know that sound.”

“Sir?”

If their guess was right.

What was there was probably—

“The one I knew, that......!”

That was what they thought.

However.

“......Huh?”

When the veteran soldiers actually looked that way, they blankly opened their mouths.

“......Squad leader? Why are you suddenly acting like that?”

“No. It’s just.”

Because.

The force that had suddenly appeared with that booming sound was.

“Those guys.”

Unlike what they had expected.

“Who are they?”

“......?”

They looked like something they had never seen before.

***

“Forward! Brothers, descendants!”

Those who had appeared with the sudden drumbeat and roar.

They ran across the earth at tremendous speed.

—Kieeeek......?

Zombies had been infiltrating through holes in the encirclement that the Legion had failed to block.

Those figures approached the zombies.

CRUNCH!

And cut their bodies apart in a single stroke.

SHWAAAAK—

The zombie’s body and the parasite inside it were severed at once.

The weapon that cut down the enormous zombie in one blow was a huge blade.

A weapon shaped like what was called a glaive.

“For the glory of the tribe.”

They found and eliminated enemies with tremendous momentum.

The zombies digging into the rear were dealt with in an instant.

Then they rushed to the areas the Legion members had failed to defend and blocked them off.

“Eliminate every enemy that burrows through!!!”

The number that appeared across the entire battlefield was.......

A full hundred thousand.

And.

As I watched them, I thought.

'......Green skin.'

Their way of fighting and the sound I was hearing.

It was definitely familiar.

How they had managed to come here was a mystery, but I had a clear guess about their identity.

The problem was.

'......They are, but......!'

Their appearance.

Was very different from the one I knew.

The ones I knew were a little different from them.

The green skin and the tusks jutting from their faces did look similar.

But the ones I knew were monsters much larger than them.

The grotesquely swollen muscles and the flesh covering those muscles were so huge they sagged down to the ground.

Their thick hides were terribly rough, and grotesque tumor-like growths had bloomed here and there.

They had looked like what you might get if you inflated a wild boar suffering from some horrible disease until it became enormous.

But.

Right now, how should I put it?

'Strong warriors.'

Rather than grotesque beasts, they looked closer to brave warriors.

Their faces were closer to humans with extremely fierce features than monsters, and their height, though greater than humans, was about the same as the warrior-class members of the unit.

While I was confused by how different they looked from the giants I remembered.

“Legion Commander!”

A voice came from somewhere.

When I turned my head toward that voice.

“Borjin......!”

“I apologize for arriving late!”

There stood.

An old man with the familiar appearance of the “Green Mane” I knew.

“Seeing you like that...... I knew it.”

And.

Beside Borjin were green humans who were at least two heads shorter than him.

“This is the very person I told you about. All of you, offer your greetings!”

“......!”

Borjin, who had reached me, spoke while looking at those green humans.

Then the green humans widened their eyes as they looked at me.

“Greetings to our godfather!”

With those words.

They bowed deeply to me.

***

“......What is this?”

“Haha. I studied human culture very hard. I also learned that lowering one’s head like this is how humans show respect.......”

“No, no. That’s not what I mean.”

The bowing was not the surprising part.

The title godfather was...... no, that was surprising, but it was not what mattered right now.

“Who exactly are these people......?”

What mattered right now.

Was the identity of these green humans.

“What are you so surprised about?”

Seeing me like that.

Borjin chuckled and said.

“Are they not people the Legion Commander has already seen several times?”

“People I’ve seen...... wait, no way?”

“You are probably thinking correctly.”

At those words.

I shouted in shock.

“Those eggs from back then......!?”

When we first met.

Borjin had broken away from the Green Mane tribe and was acting alone.

Because his goal lay in a different direction from the other Green Mane tribe members.

'The tribe’s children he was protecting by order of the Great Chieftain.'

When he encountered us.

He decided to cooperate with the Legion in order to protect the ten eggs he held in his arms.

The translucent eggs had a texture like wood or soil.

Inside them, forms that looked like fetuses were wriggling.......

“Those are them?”

Green skin, nearly two meters tall, sharp teeth.

Aside from those parts, they looked like handsome men and beautiful women with somewhat strong features.

“Yes. These children are.”

And.

Borjin looked at them proudly as he spoke.

“The pure form of the Green Mane before its fall.”

“......Ah.”

Only after hearing that.

I understood their appearance.

The Great Chieftain of the Green Mane had entrusted those children to Borjin.

Of course, it had not simply been because children’s lives were precious or anything like that.

'Facing destruction...... the Green Mane tribe made a contract with a demon.'

In exchange, they gained power and became strong.

At the same time, they had become twisted in form.

At that time.

The Great Chieftain, who had remained skeptical of that contract until the very end, predicted that the contract might drive the tribe to ruin.

And so, the Great Chieftain had tried to leave behind blood free from the influence of that contract.

That prediction proved correct.

The corrupted Green Mane tribe was ultimately destroyed.

And like this.......

“We were told that, thanks to our godfather’s help, we survived and were able to continue our lineage.”

“We have heard the story countless times. Thank you......!”

The pure, uncorrupted children the Great Chieftain had left behind.

Had become able to carry on the true Green Mane tribe.

'No, I knew that much.'

That was not why I was surprised.

If these ten were all there were, I would not have been this shocked.

The problem was.

“What is that number......?”

“Ah.”

In the past, I had once seen information about the Green Mane tribe.

A species with short pregnancies and fast growth.

It had said they boasted tremendous numbers because of that.......

'Even so, didn’t it say growth still takes one or two years......!?'

It had only just been a month since I gave them land where they could live.

The fact that those children had grown like this in that one month was already absurd enough.

“KRWOOOOOOGH!!!”

“Victory or death!!!”

Far away.

What was I supposed to make of the countless Green Mane cutting down monsters?

“......Hm? Now that I think about it, I forgot to explain that part.”

“What?”

“Ah...... I was so busy that I thought I should explain, but I must have carelessly skipped over it.”

As I stared at them in shock.

Borjin said “Ah,” and continued.

“As the Legion Commander knows, these children were created to shoulder the rebuilding of the tribe. Because of that, the Great Chieftain placed a special spell on them.”

“I did hear that much.”

Although they were not originally a species that laid eggs.

When I first saw them, those children had been trapped inside eggs.

I had heard that was also the Great Chieftain’s spell.

“One was a spell to maximize each child’s talents.”

“Each child’s talents......?”

The many children born from the Great Chieftain, who had been the most outstanding orc.

And among those many children, the most outstanding ones.

“There would have been little meaning in merely letting the species survive. If our Green Mane were to truly survive and preserve our culture, many talents were needed. A tribe with only many warriors cannot truly be called the Green Mane tribe.”

Looking closely.

There were men and women carrying weapons, men and women holding staffs, men and women holding instruments, and more.

Each of them held something different.

The Great Chieftain had chosen children possessing the talents necessary to preserve the tribe’s culture and tried to maximize those talents.

“And the other one was.”

What seemed a little strange.

Was that they were grouped in male-female pairs.

“A spell to accelerate their growth and make them bear children quickly.”

“......What?”

“Is that not obvious? They are the ones meant to rebuild the tribe...... and I am far too old to protect these children until they grow and flourish normally.”

At the point Borjin took on the Great Chieftain’s mission, he had already been an old shaman.

These children had not had the luxury of growing under Borjin’s protection.

And so.

“Before we made the contract with the demon...... the Great Chieftain poured all the power granted one final time by the Prairie God into a spell that would accelerate their growth and prosperity.”

“......!”

“It was a powerful blessing spell that would allow them to pass through three generations within one year at the latest.”

Three generations in one year.

The Green Mane tribe gave birth to dozens of children at once.

Even if they started with ten at first, after three generations that number would become tens of thousands...... perhaps even exceed a hundred thousand.

“It is a miracle that would have been impossible without the power of the Great Chieftain and the Prairie God. After that, there is a side effect where births decrease considerably for several generations...... but what matters most for prosperity is the initial expansion.”

No.

I understood that much.

I understood it, but.

“What do you mean, one year!?”

If a year had passed and they had reached that number, I would not have said anything.

The time this guy had been given was only one month.

Even if that incredible spell existed, the period had been shortened by more than a factor of ten.

“......I am actually the one who finds it absurd that the Legion Commander is so surprised.”

“What?”

At my words.

Borjin grinned and said.

“The reason a blessing that would normally have taken a year reached its goal in only one month...... was neither my ability, nor because the Great Chieftain’s and the Prairie God’s blessing descended.”

“Then how?”

“Why.”

Borjin and the children beside him.

Their gazes turned toward me.

“Is it not thanks to the Legion Commander?”

“......Huh?”

“The essence of that blessing was removing the limit on their growth speed across three generations. But even if the speed limit was removed, it should normally have taken three months for one generation to grow. Just because there was no limit did not mean the elements required for growth disappeared. They still needed nourishment to physically cause that growth.”

As he said that.

He looked into empty air.

“But.”

The old shaman stretched out his hand.

I could not see it, but what lay at the end of that hand was probably.

“If they become awakened, the story changes.”

“......!”

Only after hearing those words.

I understood what Borjin meant.

“The trait the Legion Commander shared with all awakened. That authority was far too powerful.”

Children did not grow just because they were given time.

If there was one greatest factor that determined a child’s growth...... it was not time.

It was sufficient nutrition during the growth period.

“The tribe’s secret elixir meant to help the children grow...... worked to an absurd degree.”

“Ah.”

“It was enough to fluster even me. The reason I could not send word to the Legion Commander was because I was busy caring for children who were growing rapidly.”

Through the blessing, the limit on their growth speed had disappeared.

But just because there was no speed limit did not mean that speed would rise infinitely.

What raised that speed was nutrition.

And.

[Absolute Taste] was a power that maximized the effects of everything placed in the mouth.

'It pulled their unrestricted growth speed...... up to a ridiculous degree.'

On top of that.

“Our tribe is closely connected to the earth spirits. And...... the owner of this land is the ‘System’ and the ‘Legion,’ victor of the Conquest War.”

Borjin stroked the ground.

Then the shape of the earth changed and swelled upward.

“Ozrok.”

The shape the swelling earth took was that of a giant stone titan.

It was a form I had seen in the past as well, but.......

“......That’s Ozrok, right?”

“It is.”

Its size.

Had grown incomparably larger than before.

“This is Ozrok’s original form. The true form of an earth spirit that can only be seen when enough land has been secured.”

“......!”

At those words.

I remembered the Green Mane tribe I had fought in the past.

One of the few forces the Legion had been forced to struggle against.

That Green Mane tribe, and those called the Great Warrior and the Great Shaman.

All of them had certainly been powerful, but.......

There was something both the System and Borjin had testified to.

'The Great Warrior and Great Shaman were weakened by the seal of this world, and the Green Mane tribe could use almost none of the earth’s power because the territory they controlled was narrow.'

Even though they had been an enemy we struggled so much against.

It meant the Green Mane tribe we fought had been absurdly weakened compared to its prime.

And.

“Not anymore.”

Those who had decided to live together on this land.

Through the “patch” I had carried out, they had been incorporated as part of the System.

In other words, the land the System had conquered.

Not only South Korea, which the Legion had conquered...... but every land somewhere in the world where awakened stood had become, in effect, an ally of the Green Mane.

“The newly born Green Mane swore never to forget the Legion Commander’s grace.”

RUMBLE.......

Far away, the earth moved.

“It seems the time has come to fulfill that oath sooner than expected.”

Countless spirits resembling the Ozrok Borjin had summoned appeared.

The great conquerors who had once freely roamed the vast prairie.

It was the moment the true power of the Green Mane tribe rose to its feet.