Axel

Chapter 346: The King of Rapid Mobilization

Added 2025-03-27 16:06:01 +0000 UTC

Tumisan, renowned as an assassin, roamed the world unrivaled, having even assassinated Saint ranks. However, as a military commander and leader, his decisions were disastrous. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fathom why his actions always seemed wrong, nor could he discern the correct course of action.

This was why Menielman sent him to assist Charlot Mecklenburg. Charlot needed the support of a Saint rank, and naval battles required an adept commander—especially since Menielman only had one magical alchemical warship at the time.

The orcs had occupied all the cities along the Red Dragon Sea, but most of them had retreated to a central camp within the sea, leaving only a few stationed in Dubrovnik.

Charlot personally led the Labyrinth Guardians to attack Dubrovnik. The few thousand orcs stationed there collapsed within half an hour, surrendering after a few hundred casualties.

Wasting no time, Charlot initiated the labyrinth transformation of Dubrovnik. To his surprise, the labyrinthization conditions for Dubrovnik were identical to those of Cappadocia: the acquisition of 18 warships.

As a port city, Dubrovnik already possessed numerous vessels. During the orcs' occupation, they hadn’t destroyed the ships, as seafaring wasn’t their forte. Instead, they used the vessels to transport their forces across the Red Dragon Strait.

Now, the ships were on the far side of the strait, and Charlot had to wait for their return.

However, Charlot didn’t remain idle. He sent messengers to Cappadocia to request a fleet from Menielman.

Dubrovnik was a beautiful city. Unlike the sparsely populated Cappadocia, Dubrovnik once boasted a population of over 50,000 before the orc invasion. It was a hub of trade and fishing, rivaling the Empire’s famous coastal resort city, Cynes. Unfortunately, its proximity to the southern continent, where orcs frequently threatened residents, had made it unappealing as a tourist destination.

After all, the greatest advantage of a resort city is safety, not scenery.

With over a thousand Labyrinth Guardians and 5,000 knights from the West Wind Knight Order stationed there, the city felt eerily empty.

Charlot, eager to return to Strasbourg, had no interest in managing Dubrovnik.

Within two days of the West Wind Knight Order occupying Dubrovnik, a militia of orcs approached from their central camp.

Charlot deployed Herolf of the Golden Rams and Tumisan, the Leopardman, to cut off the militia’s retreat from the air. Surrounded by overwhelming forces, the orc militia quickly surrendered.

Interrogation revealed that the orc camp had long been fractured by internal power struggles, with several Saint ranks leading their own factions in constant infighting. This explained why Charlot had encountered so few orc scouts along the way.

The orcs were also suffering from severe food shortages. Occupying the northern shores of the strait, a barren region with little production, they had to rely on supplies from the southern continent. Yet even the southern orcs faced food scarcity, creating an unresolvable crisis.

The local orcs had consumed everything edible in the surrounding area, leaving no options for plundering.

The disarray of the orc camp meant they failed to notice the human forces occupying Dubrovnik.

The orc militia had come seeking food. Situated near the Giant Whale Sea, Dubrovnik had a relatively abundant supply of fish.

Charlot imprisoned the first group of orc militiamen. Within a day, another militia arrived with the same purpose.

After surrounding and forcing this second group to surrender, Charlot began to feel troubled. The number of orc prisoners now exceeded the forces of the West Wind Knight Order.

These orcs, who adhered to the tenets of the Fleshless Creed, couldn’t simply be sent to Cappadocia to join Menielman. Orcs who consumed human flesh were irredeemable, but the Fleshless followers posed a moral dilemma.

Charlot also lacked the resources to feed so many prisoners. His initial plan had been to transform Dubrovnik into a labyrinth and convert the captives into Labyrinth Guardians to bolster his forces. However, with the fleet’s return delayed and more orcs arriving daily to demand food, the situation grew increasingly dire.

Charlot debated whether to execute a portion of the prisoners. Releasing them wasn’t an option, as it could provoke the orc armies into a retaliatory frenzy.

At that moment, Dubrovnik’s fleet returned.

Overjoyed, Charlot selected orcs from the Labyrinth Guardians to board the ships. The fleet comprised over fifty vessels, some belonging to other orc tribes, and carried over 10,000 orcs.

Seeing their kin bustling on the docks, the arriving orcs let their guard down. Most disembarked without hesitation. Charlot gave the command, and the West Wind Knight Order launched a full-scale assault.

With two Saint ranks and over twenty transcendent Labyrinth Guardians leading the charge, the battle quickly ended in Charlot’s favor. The orcs surrendered en masse, allowing Charlot to capture over 10,000 prisoners and seize the entire fleet of more than fifty ships.

Dubrovnik’s labyrinth transformation was completed swiftly, opening passages to other labyrinths.

Charlot didn’t rush to withdraw. Among the 10,000 orc captives, he conducted a rigorous selection process, ultimately choosing fewer than 500 adherents of the Fleshless Creed to send to Cappadocia. The remaining nearly 20,000 orcs were converted into Labyrinth Guardians.

Charlot’s Labyrinth Guardian forces now exceeded 20,000.

Witnessing this, Tumisan sighed deeply. He understood that humanity could never tolerate orcs who had consumed human flesh. Even Charlot, who bore no prejudice or hatred toward orcs and even counted some among his friends, couldn’t make exceptions. Yet, seeing nearly 20,000 orcs transformed into Labyrinth Guardians left the Leopardman feeling uneasy.

Still, Tumisan’s pragmatic nature allowed him to accept the outcome. To him, the Labyrinth Guardians, while undead, were not truly dead. After all, the vampires of the Old Continent, the largest undead community, were thriving.

With over 20,000 Labyrinth Guardians under his command, Charlot now had a fallback plan and wasn’t in a hurry to leave.

Dubrovnik’s strategic location was immensely valuable. If secured, it could serve as a hub for Charlot’s merchant fleets to access more destinations.

Though he couldn’t directly confront the orc camp’s five or more Saint ranks alone, Charlot could seek reinforcements.

He quickly penned a letter, dispatching a messenger to Menielman to request her aid.