_ _ _ Unknown POV _ _ _
First came turmoil, a vortex of confusion. Distorted awareness flooded its mind, filling the void and leaving it momentarily overwhelmed. The memories made it worse, its memories, images that bloomed back into existence along with ones that were entirely new to it. It saw someone, a girl, one it recognised: the vessel, the holder of the key that could undo the locks. She was moving, heading toward danger, toward the beginning of its awakening.
Second came clarity, moulded by understanding. The time of its return was approaching; it could sense it, feel it. And yet… yet despite knowing what was to come, it could not react nor take action in response to what it knew would soon unfold. Simply put, the intent was there, but the will… the will was stagnant, submerged in a haze, one that was all too familiar. It had not fully awakened yet. It knew this just as it knew that the vessel had not yet undone the first lock, to break the chains that still held it, restrained it.
Third came irritation, persistent in its intensity. The other, the tainted light to its ravenous dark, had not been awoken alongside it; they still slumbered behind their sealed gate. This was not ideal, not ideal at all. The light was blinding, suffocating in its entirety, and maddening in its simplicity. The dark was wild, rampant in its complexity, and explosive in its virality. To hold one without the other was treacherous. Both were entirely corruptive by nature, but only with both was there a chance for equilibrium.
And finally came acceptance, cold like a winter storm. It would not fight it, as what would happen after its awakening was none of its concern. The other would not be pleased with this, of course, not that it could find the will to care. It had seen how this all ends before, after all. The two that had come previously had proved that enough; why would this one be different? Still, though, it would watch and it would wait. The first of its locks would soon be broken. That was just how it was destined to be…
_ _ _ Suu POV _ _ _
"Well… I'll be honest… I was not expecting this…" I muttered in disbelief.
I was standing on a small ridge overlooking the marshlands, additionally Zeref and the twins were also with me at the moment as well. Honestly, if it wasn't for what I was currently seeing, I'd probably find the moist and body environment rather on appealing to say the least. This however wasn't the case, mostly because my attention was currently elsewhere.
"There's so many that they are blending together…" Yang mumbled under her breath.
Zeref, for his part, simply hissed, keeping his head low so as not to draw the enemies' attention just yet. "There are indeed many of them. However, the only true threat isss the Orc Lord; the ressst are mossstly just a wall of meat."
"That's right!" Yin chimed in as well. "There's no way we can lose to a bunch of walking bacon strips."
Calling what we were looking at absurd would probably be the biggest understatement I'd ever heard, as looking out over that moving tide filled me with a level of both awe and grim disbelief I didn't know was even possible. I had expected there to be a lot; I had been forewarned after all, but trying to imagine it and actually seeing it firsthand were two entirely different things. I mean, how does one even begin to mentally picture the scale of two hundred thousand individuals marching together in a frenzied horde? Especially someone like myself, someone who has very little experience dealing with being around a few dozen people, let alone thousands of them.
(I mean, Zeref isn't exactly wrong. In fact, from what I'm seeing, most of them are far less of a threat compared to the Tremor Lord that I fought a while back.) I thought, using my Inspection skill to check their information.
Despite knowing that I'd probably be able to kill thousands by myself, the anxiousness I was feeling still hadn't vanished completely. (Still, though, their numbers are definitely intimidating, to put it mildly…)
To try and actually describe what I was looking at, well, it was a literal moving sea of bodies. They were a shambling wave, one that marched forward with a single-minded goal: to devour everything in their path, be that enemies or even their own fallen companions. In fact, there were so many Orcs that even if I started throwing long-range attacks in random directions, I'd still probably hit them ninety percent of the time.
"Fortunately, however, we ssshould not have to kill them all to put an end to thisss." Zeref hissed, his words causing me to nod.
"If we can take down their leader and cut off the primary driving force behind the Starved skill, then it should leave the rest of them momentarily crippled." I sighed, crossing my arms under my chest.
"So, if we defeat the Orc Lord, the others should stop?" Yang asked.
"Right." I said in response, but of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. "The problem is actually finding them."
"I mean, seriously, how are we supposed to find one specific Orc in a literal sea of Orcs?"
(It really is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.) I thought to myself, shaking my head slightly.
"For now, we ssshould focus on our part of the coming eventsss, my lady." Zeref suggested.
Yang also spoke up. "The others should also be getting ready to make their entrance into the fighting soon as well."
"That's true…" Yin mused.
On the topic of the others, Rimuru was somewhere high in the sky above. I couldn't make out his figure in the dark night sky. Benimaru and the other Kijin were somewhere on the other side of the battlefield to the four of us, preparing to attack the largest enemy formations.
As for Ranga and the Goblin Riders, well, they were heading to support a certain idiot and overconfident lizard. In fact, I could see Gabiru and his forces from here. They were a small island of resistance that was slowly being surrounded by the ever-advancing wave of bodies. Fortunately for them, reinforcements would soon be arriving to save them, even if they themselves did not know it yet.
(The plan we came up with should work out. Hopefully, it will anyway…) I muttered internally.
And if you couldn't put it together, our overall plan was as follows. The Kijin would push into the main enemy force; they would cause mass destruction and chaos as they carved their way through them. Ranga and his group would help the Lizardmen and rally them to begin pushing forward as well. My team would attack from the opposite side of the Kijin to further split the enemies' focus. As for Rimuru, he would keep an eye on enemy movement from the sky while supporting from above when needed. If everything went well, we would all evenly cover the location of the Orc Lord. In the end, we had all somewhat split up; however, we were close enough that we'd be able to support each other if needed.
"Alright…" I breathed, steadying myself. "Let's get moving."
"We are right behind you, my lady." Zeref mused in response, Yin and Yang nodding in agreement as I smiled softly at them.
"Just be careful, and try not to risk your lives out there. I don't want you getting hurt if at all possible." I hummed, letting the tension in my body release as I readied myself.
(It's time to see if all my training will pay off or not…)
(((A/N. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and all, but I have a question. You see, I've been rewatching the anime, and I noticed something during the Charybdis fight. Why is there just an Orc lazily swiping at the air with an axe? Here, take a look…)))