The soldiers were not human but rather pig-headed humanoids wearing armor and wielding weapons: Orcs.
They were all members of the Orc Tribemore than two hundred thousand of them, lined up in neat, silent rows.
They were the cause of all the animals and monsters in the Great Forest of Jura fleeing in every direction.
This entire outskirts region was already under their control.
All living things had been devoured by the Orc Tribe's army. The place had been turned into a wasteland of death.
At the center of the Orc Tribe's vast forces stood one individual whose massive size set him apart from the rest: a giant pig-head well over several meters tall.
His physique was huge and muscular, his bulging muscles covered in thick, intimidating veins.
His enormous tusks gleamed with a terrifying light.
He could no longer be called just a Orc Tribe member, for this chieftain was in the midst of evolving into a Demon Lord-type being.
"Orc Lord," one might call him.
"Excellent, excellent. Geld, prepare to continue the march. Devour every living thing you encounter!"
A sharp voice echoed in the Orc Lord's ears. The speaker was a 'person' floating beside the Orc Lord, wearing a tailcoat, a tall top hat, holding a staff, and wearing a birdlike mask that covered his face. He was tiny compared to the giant pighead
In other words, a Majin (Higher Demon).
He was Gelmud, a High Majin who had struck a deal with the Orc Lordgranting him the name "Geld" and the power to evolve.
The Orc Lord's evolution had progressed more smoothly than Gelmud could have hoped.
Leading his army deeper into the Great Forest of Jura, Gelmud was sure it wouldn't be long before the Orc Lord fully evolved into a Demon Lord-type.
At that point, Gelmud's mission would be complete.
"Obey my orders. Become a Demon Lord-type as quickly as possible."
Gelmud tapped the Orc Lord's head with his staff.
"Beginlet the gluttonous feast commence!"
At the command, the Orc Lord Geld's eyes glowed crimson.
He had nearly lost all sense of reason, left only with an almost slave-like obedience to Gelmud's power and a singular drive: to evolve into a Demon Lord-type as soon as possible!
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Gelmud noticed something odd.
He lowered his gazeand saw that his body was clamped in the Orc Lord's massive right hand.
Just as he turned in confusion, about to demand an explanation, crack!
Darkness swallowed Gelmud's vision.
Squelch!
Blood sprayed in a massive arc as the Orc Lord bit off Gelmud's upper body.
In one loud slurp, all the blood was sucked into his mouth.
The Orc Lord thus devoured the very High MajinGelmudwho had created and empowered him.
This scene shocked not only Futaba and Rion, who were watching from the sky, but also everyone in the chat group.
Frieren: "What just happened? Weren't that person and the giant pig on the same side? Why did the pig suddenly devour its ally?"
Stella: "He atea person?"
Rei Ao: "He wasn't human; he was a High Majin."
Stella: "Um, whether it's a human or a Majin, why did that big pig monster sneak-attack and eat his own ally?"
Rei Ao: "He devoured that Majin to become stronger."
Saeko Busujima: "Devoured?"
Rei Ao: "Simply put, by eating, he gains power. That's connected to his special abilities"
Rei Ao's eyes glinted.
Because Gelmud had ordered him to become a Demon Lord-type as soon as possible, the Orc Lord's remaining scrap of reasoning told him that devouring a High Majin was the fastest way to reach that goal.
Generally, when a monster devours another Majin or monster, it doesn't mean much.
But he's different.
The Orc Lord, leader of the Orc Tribereferred to as the 'Beastman King'is a special individual among his kind.
He appears once every few centuries, possessing formidable powers of leadership and combat.
Under his rule, the Orc Tribe rapidly expands into a catastrophic force.
More importantly, he wields two unique skills, "Starved" and "Corrode-and-Consume."
"Starved"
causes the entire Pighead tribe to be consumed by hunger, increasing their combat strength and aggression, and even influencing their evolution to become closer to a Demon Lord.
"Starved" can influence his entire army, allowing them to inherit the abilities of any prey they consume.
This doesn't just mean magical energy and skills, but also physical traits.
In other words, after devouring Lizardmen, the Orc Tribe could potentially grow new feet adapted for moving freely in mud, as well as scales for protecting their bodies.
~~~
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Chapter 234: Orc Lord
The "Starved" skill also has an indirect effect.
It keeps the Orc Army in a constant state of hunger.
Under this condition, they no longer fear death.
All they do is act on their urge to fill their stomachs.
To them, the death of an ally or an enemy just means a fresh source of meat.
But devouring this "food" does not sate their hunger; it only makes them stronger.
This is one of the reasons the Orc Army has been so overwhelmingly powerful in the Jura Great Forest.
Not only does "Starved" allow the Orc Lord to recover instantly from injuries, but it also grants the same ability to his 200,000-strong army.
In other words, the Orc Lord and his forces are practically immortal in battleso long as they're still breathing, they can rapidly regenerate.
The skill "Corrode-and-Consume" is what drives the Orc Lord to devour the Majin.
This ability enables him to consume anything, including his own kin.
Not only does it boost his strength, it also allows his army to grow without limit.
During combat, the Orc Lord can keep devouring enemies or his own fallen allies to continually enhance his own power.
After Rei Ao explained these two abilities, the chat group was stunned.
Frieren: "My assessment is that this is a fearsome war machine."
Just those two skills can transform hundreds of thousands of troops into an invincible engine of wartruly staggering.
If the Demon Lord in her own world possessed such power, humanity would likely stand no chance against the demons.
Yukinoshita Yukino: "Aren't you going to stop him? He looks like he's getting bigger."
Saeko Busujima: "That's quickhe's already starting to evolve?"
Izawa Shizue: "I've never seen a monster like this, either."
Rei Ao: "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
He didn't mind waiting for that creature to complete its evolution.
Once it had fully powered up, defeating it would yield even more experience.
As long as it couldn't surpass him or Velzard and Velgrynd, it was just a big sack of XP.
A High Majin's body contains enormous stores of magic energy.
At the instant the Orc Lord consumed his prey,
Boom!!!
A massive surge of black-red magic energy engulfed him completely.
Thump, thump, thump!
A thunderous heartbeat echoed.
That black-red aura radiated outward, assimilating the Orc Army.
In an instant, the once-still Orc warriors went berserk, eyes gleaming blood-red, saliva dripping from their mouths in ravenous hunger.
"Urrgh!!!"
With a frenzied roar, the Orc Lord emerged from the swirling magic energy, his body further refined and radiating an even more oppressive aura.
He had evolved.
Now, the Orc Lord had truly become a Demon Lord-typethe Orc Demon Lord.
[Monster]: Orc Demon Lord "Geld"
[Level]: 38
[Abilities]: "Starved," "Corrode-and-Consume,"
"How interesting the servant has eaten its master," murmured Velgrynd and Velzard from midair, clearly intrigued by this turn of events. Even she was surprised that the 'pawn' had, because of a poorly phrased order, killed and devoured its own 'master' to evolve. What a dramatic reversal.
""
Futaba and Rio were both dumbfounded at the sight of tens of thousands of these inhuman monsters below.
It was their first time seeing a completely non-human creature, and they couldn't tell if they felt fear or curiosity.
"It seemsstronger now," Treyni said worriedly.
"That's right. After devouring a High Majin, it's become a true Demon Lord-type," Rei Ao replied, eyes gleaming.
This world's concept of evolution really did have its merits. Of course, one needed special opportunities or abilities to achieve it.
In the original sense, the subordinates who gained Rimuru's blessing kept evolving as Rimuru grew stronger, each one eventually surpassing or nearing the 'Calamity Level.'
Now, this Orc Demon Lord was indeed Demon Lord-classbut only a newly ascended one, putting its power at roughly Calamity Level.
In this world, power levels tend to follow certain standards, broadly determined by strength and magic energy. They range from F-rank up to Special-S-rank in ascending order:
F-rank: Nearly no combat ability.
E-rank: Weaker than an ordinary adult.
D-rank: Could threaten multiple people's lives at once.
C-rank: Stronger than a typical trained soldier.
B-rank: Capable of destroying a village alone.
Beyond that, there are specific threat designations:
Disaster Class (A-rank?): Poses a severe danger level, potentially causing catastrophic damage to towns.
Catastrophe Class (Special A-rank?): Due to the secret manipulations of High Majins or high-ranking demons, entire nations may face collapse.
Calamity Class (S-rank?): Typically refers to Demon Lords. Small countries cannot handle this threat; great nations must commit all resources.
??? "Super-Calamity" (Special-S-rank?) ???: Refers to certain extremely powerful Demon Lords and Dragonkind. A single kingdom cannot withstand them alone; the survival of an entire race may be at stake, requiring total isolation or joint alliances.
Humans, demons, monsters, and dragons each have their own progression:
Humans: Immortal-grade, Saint-grade, Divine-grade.
Monsters: Monster, Demon Lord-type, Awakened Demon Lord.
Demons: Lesser Demon, High Demon General, Demon Duke.
The Orc Demon Lord's power was at Calamity Level, basically the weakest sort of Demon Lordhe had only just evolved, after all.
"Want me to wipe this thing out with a single breath of dragonfire?" Velgrynd offered eagerly. She felt a mere 'calamity-level' threat wasn't even worthy to tie her shoesshe was a dragon, after all.
"No need. I'll go deal with it myself. You just keep an eye on these two," Rei Ao said, gesturing toward Futaba and Rio.
With that, he descended straight down. In the blink of an eye, he stood before the Orc Demon Lord.
""
The Orc Demon Lord, upon seeing Rei Ao, made no immediate movebut the surrounding Orcs quickly closed ranks around their leader.
"Huff"
Hot breath hissed from his nostrils. The Orc Demon Lord's eyes were a bloody red.
It was incredibly difficult for him to maintain any semblance of reason while grappling with this sudden surge of power.
He raised his hand.
A mass of blackish-green magic energy coalesced above it.
"So he's past the point of conversation?"
Rei Ao sighed softly.
Personally, he had no real grudge against this Demon Lord who pushed himself to such extremes for the sake of his race.
But if there was no point in talking, he wouldn't waste words.
Whoosh!!!
Before the Orc Demon Lord could even unleash his attack, a red dragon's tail ripped straight through his heart.
~~~
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Chapter 235: Burning Soul... (Bonus Chapter)
Tears, tears, tears, tears!
Blood gushed from the stiff body of the Orc Demon Lord.
Yet in the next moment, his blood began flowing back, and his wounds began to heal rapidly.
This was the "immortal" level of regenerative power granted by his abilities.
But since Rei Ao intended to finish him off, he certainly wouldn't let him recover!
Boom!
Flames ignited from his dragon tail at the Demon Lord's chest.
Compared to his massive body, however, that small blaze seemed little more than a tiny spark.
"Ugh"
At first, the Orc Demon Lord didn't pay it any mind.
A surge of living energy behind him burst forth, trying to envelop Rei Ao. He intended to use Corrode-and-Consume to devour Rei Ao, just as he had devoured Gelmud.
Unfortunately, the gap in their abilities was insurmountable.
The skill barely activated before collapsing in the next instant.
"What!!!"
The problem wasn't the skill or the magic energy. It was the Orc Demon Lord himself.
Suddenly losing balance, his giant body dropped to its knees.
"Gah!"
The dragon tail withdrew from his heart, flicked behind Rei Ao, and disappeared.
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
The Orc Demon Lord let out a soul-rending howl, for that tiny spark in his heart had, in the blink of an eye, spread to engulf his entire body.
"All done."
Rei Ao watched calmly as the Orc Demon Lord writhed in agony.
His body rapidly turned to ash under the flame. Though there were faint signs of healing, they were no match for the intensity of the true crimson fire.
And his real torment wasn't physicalit was the burning of his soul.
Initially, Rei Ao expected it to be over just like that.
But there was still a slight twist.
Already riddled with incoherent thoughts, as his soul was partially destroyed, the Demon Lord slipped deeper into madness.
"Iwant power!!!"
Instinctively, he unleashed all of his remaining strength.
The scarlet Corrode-and-Consume aura once again spread over the entire Orc Army. But this time, it wasn't sharing his power with them.
"Huh? Chief?"
In an instant, the Orc warriors realized something was very wrong.
Their bodies began to shrivel; their magic power drained away.
Flesh and magic flowed en masse toward the Orc Demon Lord.
He was consuming his own troops!
"Aaaah!!!"
"Chief!!!"
Over two hundred thousand Orcs screamed in agony.
"Oh?"
Rei Ao didn't blink as he watched this happen.
Frieren: "Wh-what's happening now?"
Akame: "I have a suspicion."
Saeko Busujima: "Me too."
Mabel: "What are you guys talking about? I have no clue."
Yukinoshita Yukino: "Because you're an idiot."
Mabel: "Huh?"
Rei Ao: "Heh, he's devouring his own tribe."
Having lost all reason, only the base instinct to survive remained in the Orc Demon Lord's body and soul.
And what better nourishment than the two hundred thousand troops around him?
Stella: "Ughhow disgusting."
