Chapter 1560: The Green Flood
As the castle almost descended into chaos and Arad’s incarnation approached the city of Rain at the border of the Chromatic Dragons’ Star Mountain, his other clone was already resting at the peak of a mountain, waiting for the flying fortress of the metallic dragons to reach him.
While everyone was busy, Arad was the only one who could afford to have some time off, thanks to having multiple incarnations. So instead of just sitting somewhere doing nothing, he had sent this incarnation here to start working on his plan to visit the Metallic Queen.
From what Arad gathered, the Metallic dragons were at this time busy recharging the fortress, whatever that meant. He only knew that he couldn’t just approach them currently, because the defense systems are set to high alert, and he would get shot if he approached.
Alcott and Malina were the ones to inform Arad about the fortress recharging period, which usually happens after each big fight. While Arad was busy out dealing with Euri, it seems that a tribe of orcs had managed to invade the mortal world through a portal that opened north.
The Flying Fortress was nearby, so they engaged the endless green tide first, wiping millions of orcs before finally managing to close the portal thanks to the Queen’s power.
"An orcs’ invasion? Why now..." Arad could vaguely remember the conversation he had with Sylph and Elis about them, the green flood.
From what he can remember, the orcs were supposed to be locked in a loop of twelve worlds. So it didn’t make sense for them to appear in the mortal world.
If they had overgrown those twelve worlds, they would’ve just eaten each other. Or, the gods would’ve taken action and stopped them. In fact, it hadn’t been that long since Arad met Sylph and Elis, so if anything had changed with the orcs, it must’ve happened between then and now; otherwise, those two would’ve known.
He was now at the peak of the mountain where the invasion happened. Looking down, he could see the wasteland left by the orcs.
The orcs ate all of the trees and even plucked their roots out. Not a single blade of grass remained. Arad could see what was supposed to be a lack, now only being a dry, massive hole.
What was supposed to be a massive mountain surrounded by a massive lush forest and a home to many monsters and animals was now just a bald path of dry dirt and stone.
If this were caused by the Metallic Dragons, Arad’s senses would’ve told him. But there was no such thing.
He could feel one magic, though.
The Metallic Dragons had used magic to close the orcs’ portal and teleport all of them to another location, where they were bombed down and wiped out.
So, the dragons teleported just the orcs; they didn’t fight here. It was the orcs who ate this place while they consumed the living and dead, leaving nothing behind them but a wasteland.
Arad would need to get to the bottom of this. He has a whole kingdom to protect and countless wives that he must keep safe.
If those orcs, primal orcs as the goddess called them, were getting out of the twelve worlds they were locked in, then an invasion is imminent. Seeing how they left the land beneath, he could just imagine what could’ve happened to this entire continent if the Metallic Dragons weren’t close.
At that moment, Kinryuu flew down from the sky and landed beside Arad, quickly assuming his humanoid form. "Emperor Arad Orion, it’s been a while. I’ve heard you’ve visited the Chromatic Queen."
"I did, and I’m coming to your Queen next. But first, what did happen here?"
Kinryuu looked at the wasteland the orcs left with a sad face. His beard danced with the wing as he sighed. "I don’t have much detail right now. But all I know is that the first responder was a silver dragon that lived in the human town that was at the base of the mountain."
Arad frowned, "That was a lot of WAS."
"The orcs eat everything organic. Trees, animals, and humans. They just didn’t care and chomped and swallowed everything. The silver dragon was just a young adult. He got eaten alive trying to fight the green flood; the last message he sent was a scream."
Kinryuu frowned, looking a bit troubled, "He screamed, BOOM THEM!"
"Bomb them? With magic?"
Kinryuu shook his head at Arad’s remark, "He was talking about the fortress’s artillery. What we refer to as bombing is us unleashing all of those powerful cannons at once. It is our last resort that wipes all life from a large area."
"And that young adult dragon thought fighting the orcs was hopeless enough to force the Metallic dragons to pull their ultimate weapon?" Arad looked down, "You didn’t do this."
"That young adult dragon was right. We teleported the orcs away and bombed them there. This destruction you see is just what they leave behind them." Kinryuu sighed with a deep frown, clenching his fists.
"The orcs are individually weak, but when millions of them pour out, they cannot be stopped from consuming everything." He waved his hand in the air, and a large panel of numbers and maps appeared in front of him.
"The orc gate only remained open for eleven minutes before we got the report, tracked and closed it. In that time, seven billion orcs rushed out of the gate and caused the chaos you see."
Arad looked at the numbers and then back at Kinryuu, "You know how big a billion is."
"I know, and that is what we’re dealing with. The Queen should be talking with her father right now, Bahamut, our God. The fortress is away recharging its energy and ammunition after the bombing, so your visit will have to wait a bit."
Kinryuu then shifted, looked at Arad, and then pointed at another number beside the orcs, "There were several tens of thousands of humans living around the mountain. They are all dead, eaten alive by the orcs. I believe you alone could’ve killed that many orcs, but I don’t think you have the knowledge needed to close the gate."
Kinryuu pulled a book embroidered with gold and silver, "The spell we received from Bahamut to close the portal. Learn it, and have your most talented wizards learn it. We’ve already sent copies all around the world."
As Kinryuu spoke, Arad had already sent one of his incarnations to find his mother, Vasilissa. She was in Aella’s office alongside Mira and Merida.
When he asked her about the orcs, she frowned. She didn’t know that they had invaded, but had a guess.
The orcs are barbaric, but they are also smart. They have their own form of great magic that they use. It’s how they travel between the twelve worlds. The overgod basically tricked them into getting stuck in an endless loop.
"Probably because I came here with my true body. The protections around the world weakened, and they managed to ping it down." She stood, "Let me check."
Seconds later, she sighed, "Yeah, they got a link in place. I can erase it, but that would lock all travel in and out of this world for a while I work. No, that won’t work; they set several locks around the magic."
"Why?"
"If I erased the link, that would cause a tenth of the orcs to get teleported here, to where that first gate opened." She shook her head, "And, a tenth of them is probably untold billions."
"So what? We just wait?" Arad shook his hands, and his mother smiled, "No, we send someone to their world to destroy whatever magic contraption they came up with, set them a few hundred years back."
She pointed at him, "That will be your first mission out of this world, so get ready."