"Soaring Bird City has sent another new caravan on its way to Stoneheart City."
This news did not catch Delilah's attention at first. However, the shadow's next words made her rise abruptly from her seat.
"Your Majesty, in the human caravan, we've discovered a succubus slave."
A flash of killing intent crossed Delilah's face, her gaze cold and chilling.
"Is she one of the scouts we sent out—a mber of our own tribe?"
Delilah's voice was frosty as she pressed for more details.
"No, she isn't, Your Majesty."
"Not one of ours?"
That unexpected answer made Delilah look back at the shape in the darkness.
"Your Majesty, that succubus slave does not belong to our particular bloodline. She's from a different, entirely new branch."
Silence fell. The shadow's words shocked Delilah into a long pause. After a while, Delilah's slightly excited voice broke the quiet.
"You're telling
there's another succubus bloodline out there?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Where is their tribe located?"
"We don't know yet. Our scouts couldn't get too close to the succubus slave—the humans were guarding her closely."
Delilah was clearly dissatisfied with this answer.
"Find out. Put all our efforts into tracking them down."
"Your Majesty, the caravan is currently on its way here, and as you know, we have priority purchasing rights for any slaves. That includes this succubus."
The shadow's words made Delilah's eyes light up. She imdiately understood his ssage. By using the Stoneheart Horde's priority purchase rights, they could buy that succubus openly and avoid a lot of trouble.
"Excellent. Still, keep searching for the rest of her tribe's whereabouts."
"Understood."
Only when the silent figure disappeared did Delilah's expression of excitent fade a little.
Among the original four core races of the Stoneheart Horde—giants, succubi, buffalofolk, and obsidian golems—giants and succubi had always been the most nurous.
Of course, that was only in the context of what used to be the Black Forest.
As Orion's power grew and his territories expanded—and as new races joined—the status of these four races within the massive faction gradually beca less pronounced, limited mainly by their small populations.
The giant tribe was doing fine; after absorbing the southern Starveil giants, their numbers soared, and they also boasted the highest number of Alpha-level beings, securing their place as the Stoneheart Horde's leading race.
However, the succubi, buffalofolk, and obsidian golems found themselves overshadowed. Their inherent advantages were less noticeable. Although these three races had also been trying to grow their numbers over the past few years, real results take much longer to see.
For the succubi and buffalofolk, birth rates were not too low, so they could gradually expand. But as for the obsidian golems, their low birth rate and slow maturity made any short-term population growth nearly impossible, keeping them extrely rare even among the four major races.
At present, other groups like gnolls, beastfolk, orcs, and bearn boasted far larger populations under the Stoneheart Horde's banner. Even the Blackstone tribe—Orion's own group—remained in a long growth phase despite heavy resource investnt. After all, newborns need a significant amount of ti to mature.
Now that their scouts had potentially located another group of succubi, Delilah was convinced that if they could absorb these new succubi, the status of her own race could rise within the Stoneheart Horde.
"A new succubus lineage… Where are they hiding?"
…
On the Radiant Continent, the fighting erupted once again; beasts were swarming like an unstoppable tide.
"Squeak, squeak—devour them!"
"Yes, just like that! Surround them all and tear them to pieces!"
"You idiots… shoot silk webs… trip him up…"
Lorelia was perched high on her nest, enthusiastically commanding the battle with a bow in hand, occasionally firing a poisonous arrow herself.
A million spiderlings swept forward like a flood, repeatedly encountering resistance from wicked mages and vile beasts along the way, all of whom ended up devoured down to the bone.
"Esteed Orion, in no more than seven days, we'll reach the central region."
Gandalf's voice had beco more respectful and more energetic. It had been a very long ti since he'd witnessed such a one-sided battle. Since joining Orion's expedition, Gandalf had barely needed to lift a finger; every foe was simply overwheld.
"Seven days? Sounds about right."
Orion muttered, extending his right hand. In a flash, the trident Fla of Will appeared. Flas danced at the tip of the spear, and together with his wind-whipped cloak, Orion looked even more imposing and fearless.
"Gandalf, keep an eye on Lorelia. The army should keep moving forward. I'll go deal with the troublemakers myself."
With that, Orion transford into lightning and zood away. Gandalf was alard; he imdiately guessed what Orion intended to do.
He wanted to caution him, but it was too late.
"That's too risky! Lord Orion, are you really that confident?"
Gandalf couldn't bring himself to stop Orion—after all, Orion was the true commander of this army. Charging ahead by himself, Orion's plan was obviously to settle scores with Corvinus, Alaric, Thornas, and Elowen before the main force arrived.
It was a straightforward idea: defeat the four of them early to avoid heavy losses.
His reasons were many. One of them was that battles between Legendary-level combatants lead to massive collateral damage.
The enemy had four Legendary-level mages, and Orion couldn't contain or kill all four at once if they fought simultaneously. If he didn't handle them beforehand, a single large-scale spell from any of these foes might decimate the spider swarm or even Lorelia herself.
Even though a million spiderlings sounded impressive, they were still relatively fragile against powerful magic. Orion wanted to minimize losses by taking the initiative now with his current strength.
...
Elsewhere, outside the World Tree's barrier.
The already unstable barrier, weakened by the combined corrosive efforts of Corvinus, Alaric, Thornas, and Elowen, stood on the brink of shattering at any mont.
"Just a little longer—no more than half a day—and we'll succeed!"
"Once we extract the world essence, we'll be picked up and taken away!"
Corvinus's voice was both excited and eager. He was on the verge of leaving this hopeless world, planning to join the new faction from another realm. It would be a fresh start.
Just then, Corvinus sensed a formidable presence headed swiftly toward the central region.
"Oh shit. That giant from the other world is on his way!"
"Alaric, Thornas, Elowen—stick to the plan. You three go stall him!"
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