Island God: Going From Level 1 To World Ruler-Chapter 50: Annihilation

Erho and his army had finally stopped their march. They had arrived at Midas’s base.

With an eager look on his face, Erho was the first to hop off his mount and walk closer to observe the scene.

Behind him, hundreds of orcs clad in armor were scattered across the forest.

Just then, the scout orc who had relayed information to Erho earlier hopped off of his half-wolf, half hyena hybrid beast and flashed his teeth.

"I told you the last one was a decoy!" He said, staring at Midas’s real base.

Indeed, Erho and his army were not at the decoy base that Midas and the goblins had prepared.

Instead, they were staring straight at the couple of huts and a few smaller homes that existed in Midas’s true base.

About half a day earlier, the scout returned from his mission once again. This time, he had different news to give to his leader.

"General Erho! If I could, an audience..." He lowered his head, prompting Erho to meet him once again.

This time, Erho remained on his steed. He and his army were less than a day away from Midas’s base, so he didn’t want to slow down at all.

"What is it, Ugalr? What more news do you have to report to me that is so urgent? You already spotted his base location, right? I don’t care for much more than that right now." Erho said, his intentions clear and stern.

"Y-yes, general. However, I believe the information I have now is of great interest to you. You see... I have found the player’s true base." The scout orc addressed as "Ugalr" said, his pupils dancing with excitement as he rubbed his hands together.

"His true base?" Erho raised a brow in confusion, "What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"The one we found half a day ago... that one I told you about, seems to be a decoy base! At first, it seemed legitimate. However, we could not be so sure. So, upon further investigation of the area, we found trails of goblin tracks and signs. They led further south, closer to the original location we were given for Midas’s base. When exploring that area, my partners found another base location. This one, we are sure, is the real one." Ugalr exclaimed with pride, continuing to explain his reasoning.

In the present time, Erho was happy to find that Ugalr’s descriptions weren’t wrong.

"The food waste is less obvious than that last one. However, it was believable. If you hadn’t found this true base location, we would have surely failed our mission." Erho said, glancing toward Ugalr.

"Thank you... general." Ugalr replied, his tone mixed with awe and satisfaction.

Erho turned, his expression turning more malicious as a smile formed at his lips, "Burn it down!" He roared, waving his hand forward.

Dozens of orcs behind him made way for three large catapults to exit from the midst of the army.

They loaded the catapults with stones wrapped in silk and set them ablaze with torches.

Erho walked back, commandeering one of the catapults. He wanted to be the first one to launch an attack against the player.

"On my command." He said, raising his hand.

Silence fell over the atmosphere, but underneath it was a bubbling excitement that was attempting to burst through the ceiling.

Every single orc waited in anticipation, as they knew that as soon as their general’s hand was lowered, fire and destruction were permitted to follow.

At that moment, every single eye in the vicinity narrowed in on Erho’s hand.

His hand... which was somehow no longer there the very next second.

He blinked, noticing a blue and white flash for but a millisecond.

"W-what?" He stared at his hand, but all that remained was the bloody stump of his forearm. It suddenly blurted out blood, beginning to spurt like a water fountain after a few seconds.

"My hand!" Erho’s scream was high-pitched and horrified, "My hand is gone!"

All the orcs stared with scrunched expressions of shock. But this moment of bewilderment was short-lived.

The loud screeching of an eagle abruptly echoed through the heavens, the noise reverberating across what felt like the entire sky.

The orcs looked up with confusion as a giant griffin suddenly appeared mere inches from their faces. With a single swipe, multiple orcs were slashed into several chunks of flesh and blood that splattered across the ground.

The after wave of the impact from the attack sent dozens of orcs flying into the air, flung like flies to a swatter.

Midrael had arrived. His wings flapped powerfully, tearing through a long chunk of the army in one fell swoop.

Body parts and blood rained down from the sky as orcs screamed with shock and horror.

They began to scatter like fleas, and Erho didn’t seem to have taken it all in by now. Finally, he shook himself out of his daze and surveyed what was going on.

’No... they are all running. Running away! My task was given to me by lord Dorhal! I can not afford to fail him. Death is worse!’ Erho said to himself.

"Form your positions! Attack this base and wipe it out! We may not survive, but we will accomplish our goal!" Erho roared into the air as loud as he could.

His voice could be heard in the ears of all orcs nearby.

As they ran, they turned and faced Erho, who stood in the midst of the chaos.

Then, they stopped. What they saw on the face of their general was a fiery courage.

"Thats right... We won’t survive this anyway!" An orc shouted, turning and sprinting back toward Midrael.

"We must follow the commander’s orders until the end!" Another one yelled, doing the same.

Seeing this, the morale and intention of the army shifted. All feet pointed south as they stormed toward Midas’s base. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Midrael was slightly taken aback on seeing this.

’Their respect for their leader is so high?’ He thought, turning and facing Erho.

"STOP YOUR FOOLISH ACTIONS!" A blast of noise exploded from Midrael’s mouth.

The very floor shook, the trees bending as if in surrender as the griffin’s words resonated outward. This was no ordinary voice like before. It seemed to have some sort of power within, one that heavily amplified sound.

"Are you so bold as to challenge me?" Midrael asked with a slight pause, "Your ignorance has blinded your people. Your kin has forsaken reason." His voice was deep and almost devastating. It felt like being spoken down to by a respected father figure.

Erho stared at Midrael and smiled as blood continued to spray from his arm.

"Lord Dorhal shall be proud," Erho exclaimed with wide eyes. His expression was eerie... almost creepily satisfied by his decisions.

"Dorhal? A more powerful name. One that signifies true leadership. He must be the one to ignite such flames of ambition within these foul creatures." Midrael replied.

The orc army had returned by now, sending boulders of flame into Midas’s base.

Huts were burned, the surroundings quickly becoming scorched as well.

"Hmph..." Midrael disappeared for a second, reappearing with Dorian’s clothing held in-between his beaks. He then flapped his wings robustly. In one big forceful push, he propelled himself over a thousand feet in the air.

Seconds later, he returned in a meteor-like form. He dove so fast that the air around him compressed and ignited into red-hot flame.

On impact, the world was torn open. A massive crater was left by the crash as an enormous mushroom cloud of dust and debris filled the sky.

The area that was annihilated covered hundreds, if not thousands, of square feet.

All living beings in the area were instantly eviscerated.