The orc lord, a pig-headed monster who redefined ugliness, came to the front. He had two orc generals with him, both clearly a level above the orcs from before. Their dull, yellow eyes were brimming with hatred, and I could see their auras all the way from up here.
Benimaru, Shion, Hakuro, and Ranga were now lined up together to engage them. Even Soei was there, now next to Benimaru. They were clearly ready to rock.
So how strong’s this orc lord, then? I had no idea, really, but it seemed that all the powers he gained were starting to make him lose control of his own sense of self. Maybe that was why he was so late to react to us. I wasn’t so sure I needed to worry much about him.
Either way, though, we couldn’t let him get any stronger. Now that Benimaru and everyone else had arrived, I figured the sooner we took him down, the better. I took my mask out from my pocket and put it on. Time to teach him a lesson, I thought as I descended to the ground.
Just as I was about to touch land…
Tiiiiiing.
…there was a sharp, ear-piercing sound. As it rang in my mind, my Magic Sense noticed something flying toward the area at high speed—aimed right at the middle of the marsh where the two armies were fighting away.
It was a man, dressed rather oddly and with a distressingly strong aura. One of those upper-level magic-borns I’d been hearing about. I landed on the ground, following his trail, Ranga and Benimaru sidling next to me.
The man gave us a sideways glance. “What in blazes is going on here?!” he shouted, wearing his emotions on his sleeve. “Who dares to disrupt the plans of the great Gelmud himself?!”
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I think I had an idea of what we were dealing with. This was the bad guy, wasn’t he? I knew it. And the way he revealed who he was without anyone asking indicated he might be a bit of an idiot, too.
He looked minion level, but I didn’t want to read this book by its cover. His clothes were odd, but each component seemed to be magical by nature. I’d best not let my guard down, I thought. If I had to guess, this was the guy setting the orc lord on the general populace. And now that his plans were going awry, he looked seriously pissed.
“L-Lord Gelmud!” Gabil stammered as he ran up to him. “I never would have expected you to come to my aid at a time like this!”
Gelmud just looked at him the way someone would look at a giant pile of garbage. “You worthless wastes of space!” he spat out at the orcs all around him. “If you had just eaten these stupid lizards and other fodder and evolved into a demon lord, then I, the great Gelmud, wouldn’t have to be here right now!!”
Well, that’s kind of mean. Does he understand what he’s saying, really? He means that the lizardmen and goblins were just meant to be food for the orc lord? Not that it matters to me, but…
…Wait, haven’t I heard the name Gelmud before?
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Understood. My information indicates the magic-born that gave the goblin called Rigur his name was himself named Gelmud.