Azekiel followed the Group of Orcs who carried the body of their leader back after his soul Energy was devoured by him.
The Forest that was spread in over two hundred acres was massive. Just to get from one end of the forest to the other, it takes a long time.
"It's our first time seeing someone like you. Where are you from?" The new leader of the Orcs asked Azekiel on the long journey. Even though the Orcs rarely left the village, they still knew about the other species as they had been in existence for hundreds of years.
Despite that, the Orcs had no idea who Azekiel was or what species he belonged to. Physically, he looked a bit similar to the Elves.
Unfortunately, his ears were different from the Orcs. Ever Triads had a similar physique to humans, but the Triads also had defining features. All of them had beautiful green eyes. Azekiel didn't share those eyes either.
"I am a human," Azekiel answered.
"A hu...man?"
Even though the Orcs didn't know what Azekiel was, the word 'human' made their eyes lit up. It was as if they had heard that name before.
"A human?" the old Orc asked again just to be sure.
"Yeah. I'm surprised you haven't seen a human before. Quite a lot of us passed through this place recently."
Azekiel knew that he wasn't alone here. There were many Kings and Lords who passed through this floor. It was quite surprising that the Orcs didn't see any before.
Then again, he could also understand why that was the case. Even when he was on Michael's team, he only heard about Orcs but never saw them. The Orc Village was very far from the place where they had set their base. Moreover, since the Orcs rarely left their village, it was quite possible that they didn't see a human.
"The Humans... Not extinct?" The old Orc asked, observing Azekiel carefully. "Our books said humans are extinct? Long ago... War..."
"War? Humans Extinct? You also had humans on this floo- I mean, in this world?" Azekiel asked. He had thought that this world never had humans. But it appeared as if humans did exist once upon a time and went Extinct.
Since the Orcs didn't recognize him, it was evident that the humans didn't go extinct anytime soon. Whatever happened was so long in the past that the Orcs didn't even recognize a human.
"Then again, it's not surprising that humans would go extinct. In a World with Elves, Orcs, Triads, all the magic, humans certainly seem weak. It's quite possible for us to go extinct in a world like this."
" Then again, even in the world where we had all the modern weapons, we almost went Extinct, just because of some monsters. I suppose it's not that surprising."
Hearing about human extinction here as well, Azekiel started talking to himself, amused at their weakness. If it wasn't for the strength they received from the Tower of Sin, none of them could be alive today in the face of all the challenges.
"Did you say something?" The bulky Orc asked, unable to hear what Azekiel had stated since he talked in such a low voice.
Azekiel shook his head. "Don't worry; we haven't gone extinct yet. That's all I was saying."
"Yeah, I can see that. It seems our history books do need some updating." The Orc nodded.
For the rest of the way, there wasn't much talk between the two sides other than some small questions between the two sides. While Azekiel asked them about their villas and what kind of defense systems they already had to understand what he was dealing with, the Orcs asked him about his plan to help them and what kind of strategy he had in his mind.
With the Gluttony of Knowledge, Azekiel had gathered everything he had to know about the Triads. Only the Orcs were still unknown to him.
Also, because he knew what kind of strengths and weaknesses the Triads had, he could easily form a plan. Despite being able to make a plan of his own, he left that task to Raphael.
Just like Leor was the Strategist of the Triads, Raphael was his strategist. And Azekiel believed that Raphael was a way better Strategist.
After finishing his conversation with the Orcs, Azekiel slowed down to create some distance between him and the Orcs.
It was only after he created some distance that he told Raphael everything about the Triads that he knew.
"What do you think?"
"I think you're right about all the possibilities," Raphael agreed. "The Triads would be coming. And if I'm not wrong, they would be coming in half a day at most. Also, if what you've told me about their Strategist, I believe she would be coming as well."
"If she truly is good, she won't let her Queen come. And she won't send her army alone as well since she would be suspicious about the strength of the Orcs. And I doubt Liam would be coming with her. Still, we should prepare for both possibilities."
Raphael agreed with all of Azekiel's assumptions.
"The Orcs... I think they can be a great fighting force, but not with the Triads... At least not inside the first. To use them effectively, we would first need to remove their disadvantages."
"Lia, can you remove all the trees from around the Orc Village?"
"I should be able to..."
"That's good. And now that you can use your spells again, how long can your Illusions last? And what's their range?"
"The range of my Illusion is much more than it was in the past. But even then, it's only fifty meters. He can't cover more."
"Fifty meters is too little. It can't even cover the entire Village, let alone the surroundings. I guess what I was thinking won't work. I'll have to change the plan," Raphael frowned. He had expected a bit too much from Lia, and even he knew that. Just fifty meters range was too little for his plan.
"How much range do you need?" Lia asked, curious about what this guy was planning.
"We would've needed at least twenty or thirty times the range of what you currently possess...."
"Why do you even need an illusion to cover that much?" Lia weirdly stared at Raphael. He was asking for such a huge range that it was impossible even if she was at her peak. If she could cast such a vast net of illusion, she would've been so happy. Unfortunately, she couldn't. It wasn't just the sheer control it took, but there were many more problems with that.
"I was thinking about creating a false sense of security for the Triads. That way, the Orcs could be at a massive advantage."
"How would you achieve that just with Illusions? You know the Triads could sense the movements even through illusions. The illusion failed when Azekiel tried. Just because there was a big range didn't mean the illusion could've been stronger.
"I know that wouldn't work. They could sense movement, but my plan didn't rest in movements. I was planning to have all the trees around the Orc Village destroyed and then have you create an illusion that the trees were still there. That way, they would've gotten closer to the Orc Village, without any worries, only to fail when they tried using those trees to fight."
Under that condition, the Orcs were at a massive advantage. They didn't have to worry about the Tree Soldiers. As for the other abilities of the Triads, including the Vines, that was also very weak in the absence of a forest around them.
Raphael had planned to lure the Triads into a trap. Unfortunately, that plan needed something which Lia wasn't capable of.
"If we just destroy the trees around the village, the Triads will see that there are no trees. They would be more careful in approaching us, which takes away our advantage," Raphael explained. "That's why this plan is useless now."
"Anyway, you still need to destroy the trees. As for luring them, I suppose we can use the Orcs for that since we have no choice. We can make them feel that the reason Orcs did was because they were overconfident and thought they could win as long as the trees weren't there. If the Triads underestimate them and think they are overconfident when without the presence of trees, they should approach the Village."
"Then again, just that alone won't be enough. If Leor is even half decent as a Strategist, she would know that something is wrong if that's the extent to our plan. We would need another element... Something that could distract them..."
Raphael scratched his temple, trying to think of another way. However, he soon came up with an idea.
"You said they hate nature being destroyed, right?" he asked Azekiel as his eyes lit up.
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