This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

They didn't understand why Ramon wanted to establish a so-called nation like the humans, and why he listened so much to the black-robed aliens around him, and even "bewitched" many respected old shamans to join him in doing this nonsense.

What these traditional orcs found even more unacceptable was Ramon's advocacy of interbreeding with humans. While the resulting half-orcs were indeed more intelligent, they were also significantly weaker and thinner than pure-blooded orcs. Big size and muscles were the foundation of an orc's strength; could intelligence possibly outsmart fists?

Faced with these fellow tribesmen who were too stupid to be easily persuaded by words, Ramon, at his wit's end, adopted the suggestion of his black-robed advisors: to shift the internal conflict outwards.

Thanks to Ramon's strong suppression, the orcs had not raided the human race in the south for seven years. This was originally intended to lull the human race into a false sense of security. Now that the time was right, they launched an unprecedented invasion on the largest scale.

Lamont called upon the tribes that opposed him, organized them into the same legion, and after entering human territory, he led his own forces to attack the pass fortress, while allowing the sweeping legion composed of the opposition to plunder extensively.

At first glance, this arrangement seems like Ramon is taking on the tough challenges himself while his adversaries revel in the easy gains. However, Ramon is well aware of the human race's strength; after overcoming the initial chaos, they will quickly regroup and begin to organize an effective resistance.

The traditional orcs, without strong suppression from above, will soon scatter in their original tribes, becoming scattered groups of soldiers, and may even fight each other over spoils.

Therefore, the current situation is basically within Ramon's expectations. Let the traditionalists and fools wear down the human resistance forces. Their sacrifice can be considered a contribution to the establishment of the "Great Wilderness Khanate".

However, the resistance from the human race was somewhat unexpected by Ramon. It seemed that they not only quickly organized an effective defense, but also had the strength and courage to launch a counterattack.

The human cavalry that launched the counterattack had already eliminated more than three thousand orcs. Their biggest battle was a frontal assault on a tribe of two thousand, killing most of them. The tribe's chieftain was also beheaded in the battle.

In Ramon's view, their performance was a bit too over-the-top!

If he weren't busy attacking the fortress, Ramon would have loved to personally meet these tenacious human knights.

Ramon was discussing siege strategies with his advisors when a bodyguard led in two disheveled men. Ramon stared at them for a full five seconds before recognizing them.

"Neg, Shahu, what are you doing here?"

Nege and Shahu exchanged an awkward glance. Since escaping from the camp that day, they had not joined up with the other troops of the sweeping legion, but instead had traveled over mountains and rivers to reach Ramon's main force.

Neg pondered for a moment, then honestly recounted his experiences to Ramon, with Shahu occasionally adding a comment or two. Especially on the west bank of the Nie River, Neg, having arrived early, witnessed firsthand how the humans built a giant city in just a few days. He even went up close at night to observe it, personally confirming that it wasn't a magical illusion.

After listening, Ramon pondered for a long time, then suddenly asked Nege with great interest.

"Neg, what did you learn from this?"

"The strength of the human race lies not in brute force, but in wisdom. I have often heard you and my teachers say this before, but I never had a direct understanding of it. Now I have seen it with my own eyes."

"Humans are weak, but they are aware of their weakness, so they will try every means to make up for it. Many of our orc brethren, however, think that being big is strength, and that they can fight against the steel of humans with their fists and bone clubs. Nege, it is commendable that you can recognize this. I am now giving you a task. I will give you three thousand men to escort the humans we have captured back to the wasteland. Among these prisoners are many talents we desperately need, such as farmers and various craftsmen, so we should treat them gently and try to escort them back safely."

It was rare to hear Ramon refer to himself as "father" and assign him such an important task. This made Neg, who thought he had been abandoned, feel flattered for a moment, but he quickly came to his senses.

Since their goal is to occupy the northern territory of the human race, why bother sending the prisoners back to the wasteland? Ramon explained with a smile.

"Always be prepared for both possibilities, especially the worst-case scenario."

The author says:

Author's note: I've had a high fever for three days, and I've only managed to keep my brain from getting damaged thanks to taking two ibuprofen pills a day to bring down the temperature.

Chapter 135: Welcome to My World

Because Ramon deliberately let things slide, the sweeping army advancing eastward has now fallen into a very delicate situation. The various tribes that have been scattered have almost no communication with each other. It's like playing a team-based competitive game where you go solo without even using your microphone, and then you get caught one by one by the enemy's "jungler"!

The cavalry has achieved considerable success in the recent battles. Although they have also suffered some losses, the exchange ratio between the enemy and themselves has reached an astonishing 12:1.

This is not only due to the excellent quality of the cavalry itself, but also to the double boost in combat power and morale brought about by the overwhelming advantage in troop strength.

Apart from encountering an orc army of two thousand on the first day of their attack, subsequent battles were fought against scattered soldiers ranging from dozens to hundreds, who could not withstand a single charge from a cavalry force.

It's worth mentioning that every time the troops launched a charge, Dick would unleash a high-level explosive spell on the enemy before the vanguard even engaged them. Furthermore, Dick was an excellent horseman; he could charge alongside the troops and, while bouncing on horseback, quickly and accurately execute high-level spells with considerable difficulty—a feat few other mages accompanying the army could achieve.

This amazing skill of using a "mobile turret" made the knights in the team who didn't know much about Dick start to look at him with new respect.

At first, people inevitably judged him by his appearance. Seeing that Dick had a fair and delicate face and a short and thin build, they thought he would be a more delicate and difficult burden than other mages. But it turned out that he was a rather strong and hardworking small man. He had been fighting alongside the army for so many days. Other mages who were not physically active had already been unable to take it and had been transferred back to the rear for rotation. But he remained calm and did not complain at all.

He believed that such a performance earned him the unanimous respect of everyone.

On the tenth day of the operation, those familiar with the local climate noticed a change in wind direction, a sign that a cold front was approaching, indicating an upcoming round of temperature drops and snowfall. Dick and Old Banner discussed the situation and decided to call it a day and retreat to avoid the snowstorm.

They have eliminated more than four thousand orcs in the past few days. In addition, they also killed more than four thousand in the previous raid on the camp. In total, they have wiped out about a quarter of the orc sweeping army.

Of course! There were many more humans whose families were destroyed and who died because of these orcs. They did save many refugees along the way and even guided them to the allied camp, but there were still many more corpses.

Many villages and towns were massacred, and some manors and castles were also breached. The soldiers sent in to search for survivors came out looking as if they had suffered some kind of mental trauma.

The cavalry also lacked the resources to search for the hidden survivors; they could only try to kill the orc troops who were raiding everywhere.

"Even if this battle drives the orcs away, the entire north will be severely weakened."

On the way back, the troops planned to spend the night in a deserted town. Old Banner gazed at the withered tree in the center of the village and murmured to himself, seemingly lost in sadness.

Upon hearing this, Dick stepped forward to offer words of comfort.

"Things will get better. We will rebuild everything from the ruins!"

"I hope so. I just hope this winter won't be too cold."

As night fell, the snow arrived as expected, carried by a fierce northwest wind that made it difficult for people to stand.

Even with such harsh weather, sentries and patrols are still essential to prevent orcs from sneaking up and attacking at night.

However, even though the sentries were on high alert, they still failed to notice in time that something intangible was quietly approaching in the darkness.

At this moment, Dick was meditating in his room. Meditation is one of the common methods for magicians to train and restore their mental strength, but for Dick, it is actually less efficient than "dual cultivation". Moreover, with Dick's current cultivation level, meditation no longer has any effect on him. In fact, it is troublesome to enter a meditative state every time. However, the current environment is somewhat unsuitable, so he did not call anyone over.

Because a mage's mental energy becomes highly concentrated during meditation, which leads to a significant decrease in their external perception, meditation is generally conducted in a relatively safe and undisturbed environment.

During his meditation, Dick's consciousness seemed to reside in a pure white, boundless space, symbolizing the ethereal state of his spiritual world after entering a meditative state.

However, at some point, darkness began to encroach on the originally pure white space. Dick sensed something was wrong and was about to exit meditation when he found himself trapped in his own mental space. A moment later, a lump of black mud-like object crawled in front of him, slowly transforming into a humanoid phantom that emitted a sinister laugh.

"You little brat trying to run away? No way!"

"Who are you? How did you get into my mental space?"

"Hehe, you're not worthy to know my name. All you need to know is that you're going to die soon."

Looking at the dark figure in front of him who was constantly spouting trash talk, Dick guessed that it was some kind of mind control spell, a kind of evil magic that couldn't be seen in the light of day.

These kinds of evil arts are very useful. They can infiltrate other people's souls and steal secrets buried deep in their hearts. Even more powerful ones can control consciousness and even possess the other person's body.

At this moment, Dick suddenly realized that, according to the intelligence they had gathered before, many lords like the Goodman family, who were not weak and had strong castles to defend, were breached by the orcs because of "traitors" within their ranks.

Old Banner was quite puzzled by this. How did those orcs manage to plant so many spies among the humans?

Now it seems the real reason is right in front of Dick.

What puzzled Dick was that these mind-control-type evil spells usually targeted those with weak mental strength, because they were easier to deal with.

As a magician, Dick's mental strength is dozens of times that of an ordinary person. To gain a clear advantage in mental strength, the opponent would have to be a demigod!

So Dick quickly figured out what the other party's real purpose was.

"You're here to stall me, aren't you? With your abilities, you can't possibly devour me, but you can temporarily trap me in your mental space."

“You guessed right, I can’t possess you, but keeping you trapped for a day and a night is no problem. But your comrades, they might not be able to hold out until dawn. Just wait here, wait for your defenseless body in the real world to be pierced by spears, and my people will take good care of you.”

"Ha! You think you can hold the four of us for a whole day and night? Are you sure you can hold the four of us?"

Dick's lips curled into a classic Dragon King smile, and as a powerful but inexplicable piece of music rang out in the mental space, three more figures emerged from behind Dick one after another!

Chapter 136: The Disturbed "Monster"

Dick is unwilling to meditate because now, every time he enters a meditative state, he has to find a way to suppress his three "subconscious" aspects based on different bloodlines, namely Dick of the human, elf, and succubus races.

As subconscious beings, they all hope that Dick, as the subject, will choose them, and therefore they will jump out and harass him on a mental level when he enters meditation.

Therefore, in order to achieve the serene state of mind required for meditation, he had to suppress the three of them first.

But at this moment, these three annoying things that were like distractions to Dick were actually powerful allies that he could rely on in this mental space!

The shadowy figure opposite, who refused to reveal his name, was utterly bewildered to see that Dick had suddenly multiplied from one person to four, each of different races. Even though he couldn't see Dick's face clearly, he could sense that Dick was completely confused.

"What's going on? Are you schizophrenic?"

"I'm too lazy to explain the details to you, just watch out!"

Inside the mental space, the four dicks fought side by side, fiercely beating up an unknown shadowy figure. Meanwhile, in the real world outside, a deafening explosion startled the soldiers who were on high alert. As soon as they rushed out of their rooms, they saw a large group of orcs charging into the town, and the two sides immediately engaged in a fierce and chaotic battle.

Normally, even with the effects of darkness and heavy snow, this environment would indeed affect the visibility of the naked eye. However, Dick issued a kind of alchemical potion called "Night Owl" to the sentries in key positions, which could give the user night vision and hearing comparable to an owl.

With these special sentries in place, it's not right to let the orcs break into the town before calling the police.

But the truth is that five of the six special sentinels were silently murdered, and the killer was the sixth special sentinel.

Fortunately, Bai Qiangdai was leading a patrol when the incident occurred and happened to run into the mole. Seeing that his actions had been exposed, the mole recklessly rushed forward to fight, but Bai Qiangdai cleanly and swiftly subdued him with his bare hands, as easily as if he had just picked up a chicken.

Bai Qiangdai didn't kill the traitor on the spot, intending to capture him for interrogation. However, at that moment, a sizable orc army suddenly attacked from outside the town under cover of night. Bai Qiangdai had no choice but to first carry out a simple "harmless treatment" of the traitor, and then shout loudly and lead his troops to meet the enemy.

Although they were caught off guard by a sudden attack, fortunately, everyone on the human side, from top to bottom, never removed their armor, even when they were sleeping. Therefore, as soon as they heard shouts of battle outside, their bodies could react faster than their brains. They would open their eyes, grab their weapons, and rush out to fight.

As one of the first to engage the enemy, Bai Qiangdai knew that an enemy raid on the camp was like a breach in a dam; the enemy could not be allowed to flood into the camp like a torrent. The breach had to be plugged first to buy time for the main force.

Therefore, with only ten soldiers by his side, White Lancer Artoria could no longer hide her strength. She directly used her ability as a Heroic Spirit to summon her mount on the spot and then fired "The Spear That Shines at the End" at the charging orc.

Although the Holy Lance of White Lancer Artoria was stripped of its divinity when it was summoned to this world, resulting in a significant decrease in its power (the advantage is that it does not erode the original body, allowing White Lancer Artoria to return to her true nature), and is not as devastating as it was in the original world, it is still an absolute Noble Phantasm. Therefore, the effect of this shot is no less than that of a 500-pound aerial bomb, which completely stunned her personal guards.

"Huh? Is our boss really that amazing?"

"Holy crap! This level of strength must be at the Saint-level warrior level!"

It was White Gun's "light cannon" that woke up almost everyone in the town, and the only one who didn't wake up was Dick, who was meditating in his room.

Hearing a loud bang outside, followed by shouts of battle, Joel, who was guarding the door, noticed that Dick hadn't come out yet. Even though she was a bit naive, she realized something was wrong and hurriedly pushed the door open. She found Dick sitting there with his head down, not saying a word, which terrified Joel.

"Young Master, Young Master Dick! Don't scare me, what's wrong with you!?"

Seeing that Dick was not responding to him, Joel panicked and wanted to push him, but he was afraid that his superhuman strength would hurt Dick again. He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

Fortunately, Black Saber arrived at this moment, and Joel quickly pulled her over to check the situation. As a Heroic Spirit, Black Saber was very sensitive to magic power, and she could sense that Dick was still in a meditative state, but it seemed that a strange force was trapping him, which was why he could not wake up.

In other words, something ambushed Dick while he was meditating.

Coincidentally, Dick's personal bodyguard today was Joel. One of the three female ninjas who could sense evil power had run back to the rear of Laguge to deliver a message, while the other two had been sent out to carry out reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. This allowed the enemy to seize the opportunity to exploit the situation.

Black Gunner didn't have a good solution for Dick's current condition, but she could sense that Dick's magic and life force were still very strong, which meant that Dick was not at a disadvantage in the mental space.

What they need to do now is protect Dick's body before he is freed.

At this time, the battle outside was already very intense. Although Bai Qiangdai was a one-man army and managed to block one gap by himself, there were far more gaps than that. The number of enemies was greater than expected, and they were surrounding the town from all sides. The key was that there were also traitors mixed in with the crowd who would jump out from time to time to launch suicide attacks on the officers who were organizing the defense, making it difficult for them to cope.

Amidst the chaos of battle, Old Banner, along with his eldest and third sons, hastily organized his personal guards to set up a defensive line on the north side of the town, forming a hedgehog formation with spears and shields to withstand the orcs' fierce onslaught.

The two sides engaged in close combat on the street, with longswords and bone spears clashing. The faces of both men and beasts were filled with madness and ferocity, and the blood flowed like a river!

At that moment, Count Banner saw his second son, covered in blood, carrying an orc's head and hurrying towards him. The old man was about to tell him to go help his elder brother when he saw the other man suddenly accelerate and thrust his sword at him, a wild laugh on his face that was completely out of character for his usually dull personality.

"Arthas, you..."

The old count, who was not wary of his own son, was stabbed in the chest with a sword. Fortunately, the old man's armor was the enchanted armor passed down in the Banner family. Just as the sword was about to pierce his chest, it was deflected by a magical force and failed to actually pierce Banner's body.

The guards were caught off guard and reacted a beat too late. Once they came to their senses, they rushed forward and forced the crazed second young master back. The old count, though shocked, immediately realized that this was definitely a mind control spell and loudly reminded the guards to capture him alive and not to harm his second son.

"Damn it, now I know why there are so many traitors!"

Several guards rushed forward and, with their burly bodies, subdued the frenzied second young master. However, the battle situation in various places was already precarious, and the human race was gradually falling into a disadvantageous position.

Seeing this, Banner knew that holding on would likely lead to certain death. Fortunately, they still had warhorses and could organize a breakout, but how many of them could break through was an unknown.

Meanwhile, outside the town, several orcs, whose attire suggested high status, were observing the battle from afar. The leader was a half-orc who carried a token representing the son of Ramon. Behind him, in the woods, eight black-robed shamans sat around a green campfire, seemingly performing some kind of extremely evil ritual.

As the battle unfolded, one of the eight shamans would occasionally wake up, and a human servant would immediately hand him a cup of shamanic concoction, brewed to a thick consistency. This potion helped them quickly recover the "fel energy" needed to cast spells.

Of the eight, the shaman sitting at the head of the table remained unmoved. Seeing this, the leading orc commander spoke with considerable pride to the other orcs around him.

"As expected of Master Marco, unorthodox witchcraft is a hundred times more powerful than traditional witchcraft, and he is also a Great Saint of Evil Energy. With him in charge, those human magicians are no match for him at all..."

"Ugh~ Pfft!"

Before the orc could finish his praise, Master Marco, whom he was talking about, suddenly trembled all over and then spat out a mouthful of black blood, which landed directly on the green campfire in front of him. The amount of blood was so great that it almost extinguished the flames.

The other shamans were horrified when they saw this and rushed forward to help him up, but Marco, without even spitting out the black blood in his mouth, shouted to the people around him in a still-shaken tone.

"Retreat! I've startled a monster!"

Almost the instant he finished speaking, a dazzling light suddenly erupted in the center of the town where the fierce battle was raging. Then everyone saw a beam of light draw a smooth and graceful curve in the air, like a shooting star with a long tail, flying straight toward them.

Chapter 137: Breakthrough is the Peak

Spanning 1,800 meters, the powerful magic missile accurately struck the eight orc shamans sitting together. With a tremendous roar, the surging magical flames instantly incinerated everything within a radius of tens of meters, creating a mini mushroom cloud in the air.

It's only twenty or thirty meters tall, so as a mushroom cloud, it's quite small and cute!