NOVEL NEXT Chapter 98: Ogre Tribes 1
Maria logged back into the game and quickly asked Lilah for the map data of her faction's surroundings.
When Gerald logged into the game after he finished his business, Maria quickly sent him the map data.
"Thanks, Mary."
"I gotta go now, big bro. Just message me when I should stream again~"
"Yeah, alright, but it'll be David who'll message you! He'll also be the one moderating and controlling your stream," Gerald replied.
"Okay."
She sent her brother one last reply before turning her attention back to the battle she was currently in.
While Ash and Orh'bankhur were preparing for the tribe's integration with the Dire, Maria had rounded up a few of the ogre warriors and ordered them to follow her into the mountains. She didn't bring all the ogres since she needed to leave some behind for Ash and Orh'bankhur to use as scouts and guards for the village.
"Alright, let's go!"
Maria said as she raised her ax.
"GROOOARR!"
"RAHHH!!"
"URAAHHH!"
All the ogres she selected to follow her all raised a war cry before they began following their new chieftain. Maria picked the largest one in the group she selected and jumped onto its shoulder and sat down.
She pointed a finger and said, "Let's head that way...uhhh..."
Maria frowned when she noticed that the ogre didn't have a name. The label on top of its head was only [Ogre Berserker Lv. 80]. She noticed that this particular ogre was the only one amongst his peers that had 'berserker' in its name. It was most likely a unique mini-boss.
Maria decided to just name the Ogre Berserker. She didn't want to keep calling it 'you' or 'hey'.
"Hmmm...I'll call you Berserker!"
[Name Lv. 80 Ogre Berserker, Berserker? Y/N]
"Oh? Well... Yes, sa~"
It was the obvious choice for Maria. She only said it offhandedly and was only going to make a mental note of this particular monster but the system actually gave her the option to name the monster.
[Name: Berserker has been applied!]
[Great achievement acquired! You have named a monster subordinate for the very first time! Title: [Monster Commander] has been unlocked!]
Maria skimmed through the effects of the new title and just set it at the back. There wasn't anything outstanding about the title's effects and she much preferred the current titles she had equipped.
"Berserker, let's go! Head that way!"
"Yes, Queen!"
"Oh! You can talk?"
"Yes, Queen!"
"Ohoh~ that's nice!"
Berserker rushed forward and led the way for the other ogres. The ground rumbled as the group of ogres trudged their way through the mountain range. Any monsters in their path were exterminated with extreme prejudice, turning into precious experience points for Maria and her subordinates.
Back at the village, Ash was stating the requirements and goals he had for the village to Orh'bankhur. The twin-headed ogre had two heads, two brains, but neither of them was really bright.
Thankfully, there was an ogre shaman in the village who acted as the chieftain's advisor so Ash discussed the arrangements with the shaman instead while the shaman would talk with Orh'bankhur using short sentences and easy to understand words.
"I will be bringing a few craftsmen and officials here from the Queen's faction to manage and renovate this place. You are a race of warriors so just stick to fighting and regularly train your soldiers."
"Train soldiers, why?" Orh'bankhur asked.
Ash thought for a moment before deciding to answer. Orh'bankhur was strong and he would most likely be appointed as one of Maria's leading generals. He had the right to know this classified information about the war they were going to be waging.
"We are preparing for war."
"War?! Me like war! Warrior's proving grounds! Ogre proving grounds!"
Ash smiled and said, "Good. I want you and your people to be ready for when our Queen raises the flag to war!"
"GRAAAHH!!!"
Orh'bankhur responded with an excited howl while the Ogre Shaman began casting a few bones before suddenly cackling in elation.
Ash stepped out of the large chieftain's tent and began looking around the tribal-themed settlement. Everything looked a bit too rustic for his taste and decided that once the engineers finally arrived, they should rebuild this place into a mountain fortress for his Queen.
There were many buildings in the settlement that needed repairs and renovations. From what Ash saw, not all of the ogres even had homes. Some would just sleep on the ground anywhere within the settlement's perimeter or on the walls of the settlement.
"Well, these ogres aren't a civilized race in the first place. However, they are a race consisting of only warriors they'll undoubtedly be a great asset to my Lady's cause..." Ash smiled in satisfaction.
There were enough intelligently-capable people around his Lady. They needed more warriors and fighters at this point. Training up people from scratch to become battle-hardened soldiers wasn't easy.
It was great that Maria had somehow subdued the ogres and assimilated them into the Dire. Their battle power and brutality were what their faction needed at the moment, more than anything now since they planned on attacking the nearest vampire noble to expand their faction's territory and influence.
To Ash, this was a great stroke of genius from his Lady. Rather than just focusing on ruling over the more civilized creatures of the territory, it would be easier for them to assimilate all of the more intelligent creatures within or around their faction's influence.
Their faction didn't need to constrain themselves and limit their recruitment to only a select few species or races. As long as they were intelligent and useable, it wasn't a bad idea to assimilate them through force or negotiation.
Maria's 'broadmindedness' expanded Ash's horizons. Though, it was all just coincidence since Maria only wanted to fight the large ogre in order to recruit it because she was amused by the large creature and found him interesting.
She acted on instinct and her intuition which in the end brought her the one thing her faction, the Dire, needed, a larger number of raw battle power.
Ash returned to Orh'bankhur's tent and asked him, "Orh'bankhur, is your ogre tribe the only tribe within the mountain range?"
The shaman was the one who answered Ash's question, "No, sire. We aren't the only ones. There are 5 more ogre tribes, totaling 6 in all including ours. Our tribe is the smallest but we're second in terms of battle strength. That's because of our half-ogre half-giant leader, urrahh!"
"Urrah, me strong! Stronger than anyone!"
"Mhm...well, it looks like it's about time to unite all of the ogre tribes under my Lady's banner..."
Orh'bankhur heard this and smelled a fight incoming. He couldn't help but ask excitedly, "War?"
"Yes, war," Ash replied with a smirk.
"Ouh, ouh, ouh, ouh, ouh!"
Orh'bankhur began stomping on the ground when he heard Ash's confirmation. Ash only needed to wait for his Lady's call on this. Once she received this information from Ash, there was no way she would let up on such an interesting idea.
However, unbeknownst to Ash and Orh'bankhur, their Queen was already roaming through the mountains, getting closer and closer to one of the other 5 ogre tribes of the Blood Rock Mountain Range...
"Oh, there's another village down there!"
"They look like ogres, Master," Lilah said after she looked down at the village and strained her eyes a bit.
Alexa stepped forward and began observing the village. As a vampire, she had a better vision than everyone else there, well, except for Maria. Maria's eyes were already able to see what kind of monsters were roaming around the village.
"Queen Sister, it's another ogre settlement, however, they seem to be a different tribe than the ones you recruited earlier," Alexa answered. She already knew that Maria could see what was down there, however, her Queen Sister probably wanted to know whether they were part of the ogres she had just recruited earlier.
"Hmm, I had a feeling they were different. The tattoos on Berserker and the rest are different than theirs...no matter, let's go down and attack them. Either they submit, or die~"
Maria figured that because she was able to recruit the Mountain Blade Ogres, she'd be able to do the same for this ogre tribe, however, since she already had one tribe under her control, she didn't really need this one.
They could submit to her and join her faction, or they could just die under her blade for all she cared. Either way, it'd be a win-win situation for her. If she could recruit them then more battle power for her faction, if she couldn't then they'd still just turn into her experience points.
"Berserker, head down there! If they're hostile...then you're free to attack them, all of you!"
The ogres roared before heading straight towards the ogre village.