Who would have thought that traveling through the territory known as the “Lower LABYRINTH” would be so difficult?

  — Nah, sorry, Shadow King, but I can’t help us here — Cruz said with a shrug. — If there were any recent tracks, I could help us follow them, but I see nothing but grass everywhere I look. Grass and the occasional hare or fox.

  — Vincente, can you help us? — I asked.

  — Well, I can, but... — he looked to Cruz for support. And he got it, which seemed to calm his nerves a bit. — Haha, who would have thought that one day I would help the Shadow King himself form an army of monsters?

  — Bah, you know how it is, every self-respecting Shadow King has an army, right? I would feel ashamed to face the Hero of this generation without one too.

  — Hahaha! Yeah, I guess you're right. But, you know, just the three of us count as an army by ourselves — the Rogue took the lead of the group and led us in a seemingly random direction.

  — Oh, I know that well. Especially after that arena. But come on, where are we going?

  — I saw some streams in that direction. Flows of water a little more than two fingers wide, but that must eventually flow into a river or lake, and as far as I know, monsters need water to survive too, right?

  — Yes, but isn't it more likely that we'll stumble upon an elven settlement rather than a monster camp? I mean, if I'm not mistaken... isn't Lake City around here?

  — You’ve never been to Skécia, have you? — Vincente asked me about that country with a half smile.

  — No, the last sacred campaign was more towards the borders of the Frankna Confederation, and as an adventurer there was more work in the opposite direction, for the Monarchic Federation of Vay'la — I replied.

  — It makes sense. The army cleared out the monsters in the North, so there was more adventuring work to be done in the South. Skécia, however, is right in the middle of these extremes, and there was no reason for him to visit it — Cruz commented, scratching his beard.

  — Lucky him! — Vincente rolled his eyes. — Dude, there’s absolutely NOTHING around here. Just grass. Grass and the occasional hill. That’s it. Even if you pick a random direction and follow it in a straight line, you’ll need to walk for DAYS until you see any change in the scenery... which will probably be the cold coast of the Thaw Lake. — He referred to the largest lake on the continent, born from the melting of the Faces Mountain Range. — That’s where the only elven settlements in the country are located, other than that, there are only a few roads and forts along the southern border. Basically, in the direction we’re going now, it’s almost 100% guaranteed that we won’t bump into someone else.

  — Oh, I see. But Cruz likes that kind of thing, doesn't he? He moved to the middle of the woods, isolated and all — I pointed out.

  — Yeah, well, as much as I enjoy being in contact with nature, this particular landscape can be a bit... repetitive. Melancholic even, during the winter.

  — And during the spring, and during the summer, and during the fall... By God, when we were on campaign, all I wanted was a bar or a cabaret, but after a year of fighting, it had become practically impossible to import alcohol, and no prostitute had any interest in following the army so far from civilization. —Vincente's shoulders slumped.

  — Ah, but you were in the Hero's group, you could very well just take the nobles' wine, right?

  — No way! I was only important on Cruz's side, because I didn't have blue blood, I wasn't very respected when I was alone.

  — Look, to be fair, regardless of who the person was, if some jerk suddenly walked into my tent and demanded my wine, I would insist that he leave too, if possible — Cruz replied to his friend, laughing.

  — You are sadly mistaken if you think they SAW me as I... earned my rightful share of the alcohol!

  — That seems like just another reason for the nobles to dislike you... — I pointed out.

  — I can't believe my old toys are acting so casually alongside the one who should be their enemy — the entity commented. — At least Celestino remains true to his values ??— the Wizard was clearly reading the book I had lent him, shaken by our last interaction and the way Cruz responded to me. But what can I do, the entity must be too stupid to notice obvious details like that. — Little rebel, when you inevitably die in your pathetic attempt to fulfill your goal, I will take your soul for myself just to make you suffer the cruelest fate your simple mind can imagine — he promised something that would never happen.

  ?

  — ...And that's how I captured all those monsters for the arena I managed! — Vincente explained. Then he stopped suddenly. — Ah, it seems we found your future subordinates, Haicard — the Rogue pointed to a small, shapeless mass on the horizon, which to my eyes almost completely blended into the terrain.

  — Perfect. Stay around me and don't let them get too close to me.

  A few minutes later, the discreet mass took shape: twenty humanoid beings, tall, muscular, with green skin and protruding lower canines, were approaching quickly, all mounted on deformed, hairless creatures, with hind legs longer than the front ones, and the size of horses.

  Once they became distinguishable to me, they reached my group within seconds.

  — WRAAGH! — one of the orcs roared especially loudly as the others surrounded us from all sides, their wild mounts growling in our direction. — Elves! Suicides, hahaha! — the monsters laughed.

  — Monster. Take us to your camp — I commented, my face partially hidden by the heavy magical hood I wore, the face of a random person that had previously disguised me now replaced by pure shadow.

  — Yes, let's go, let's go... like little cubes of mea-!

  — Wizard — before the orc could finish speaking, I pointed my right index finger at his head and summoned Celestino.

  And apparently having focused on reading the book I lent him served to clear his mind enough to obey me without question at that moment: his shot was so powerful, accurate and sudden that the headless body of the murdered orc leader even pointed his axe in our direction, as if attack orders were about to come out of his bloody neck.

  But no order was heard, instead, his corpse fell out of the saddle, silently.

  — You are the new leader now — I pointed out another orc, who was staring at the lifeless body of his former superior falling to the ground. — Take us to the camp.

  — Gah?! — the orc I had indicated looked at me in astonishment.

  — Wait! Why is Bruruk the new leader?! I am-! — I didn't need to call names that time, as I merely pointed at the complainer.

  Cruz appeared right in front of the enemy, faster than any of us could follow with our eyes, and in an instant turned the entire upper part of the complainer into red mist with his fists, his punch having reduced the orc's torso to particles so fine that they did not even fall to the ground as blood, but floated away, carried by the wind.

  Then, even the deformed creatures that served as mounts had fallen silent and seemed to shrink.

  Without saying another word, as hesitant as I was, I climbed onto the monster that was supporting the fallen former orc leader on its back.

  And the orc leader I had pointed out guided us to a hill about four hours' walk from that point, which unlike the others had been modified, with irregular tunnels dug all over its face, like an anthill with dozens of entrances, and there were also a series of enclosures made of bones and dried leather around the orc settlement, containing the creatures they rode, and apparently also raised for their own food. I was surprised when I noticed that the creatures, despite their threatening appearance, were herbivores.

  — H-Here we are... gentlemen — the appointed orc leader got off his mount and guided us through a crowd of monsters, who roared in our direction, apparently mistaking our presence for hostages to demand ransom or fresh meat to be offered to the most influential members of the settlement.

  Also leaving my mount behind, I entered one of the crudely excavated corridors, very damp, and which used bone beams for support, and followed the newly appointed orc leader.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  — Ah, look here, little rebel — the entity pointed, sounding strangely excited... to a pile of mud, in which some orcs were rummaging frantically. — This is an orc spawning ground.

  ...Cool?

  The entity stared at me with disappointment strangely evident on its face, despite its expressionless expression.

  — Leave it alone. Your tiny little head wouldn't be able to understand anyway.

  Leaving that vault aside, I walked to the end of the corridor, and to my surprise, to a small open-air lake, the hill stretching like a ring around it. On a platform of bones facing the lake, sitting on a throne of elven skulls, an especially large orc, displaying countless old scars, wearing only a loincloth and bone trinkets, stared at us.

  A veteran of the last sacred war, for sure.

  — This is the offering you bring me... who are you again? — asked the scarred orc.

  — Bruruk, sir Knight! — the orc promptly replied, who, despite being almost two heads taller than me, seemed small next to his leader. But before confirming that we were offerings, he threw me a frightened look over his shoulder, as if calculating who he preferred to irritate.

  Since I had gone to the trouble of going to that end of the world to recruit an army, however, I preferred to avoid even more unnecessary casualties and answered for Bruruk:

  — I am not an offering, creature. I am your new master.

  In a similar fashion to my own group just before, one of the monsters flanking the Knight responded immediately and violently, throwing a hatchet in my direction, which I honestly wouldn't have been able to avoid if it weren't for Cruz, who stopped the weapon in mid-flight by grabbing it by the handle.

  And since I didn't die from the attack, the leader of that orc settlement recognized our threat.

  — We shall see. Kill them! Wragh! — Immediately after their leader's order, dozens of enemies threw themselves at us, wielding axes, clubs and crude swords.

  — Try not to kill them all — was my reply to those guarding me, who were a little too efficient.

  Vincente disarmed, slapped, and knocked out a series of orcs in mere moments with the flat side of his pair of pugio daggers; Celestino didn't even need to move to weaken his opponents, moving his wand like a maestro, and with each swing knocking down a different enemy with a beam of light; and Cruz employed light shoves and slaps, "only" breaking a few jaws and shoulders, and throwing his adversaries several steps back.

  Within seconds, more than thirty orcs were incapacitated and thrown all along the lakeshore.

  — ENOUGH! — The Knight stood up from his macabre throne and grabbed a heavy two-handed axe that rested on a support on the back of the furniture, forcing his subordinates to retreat. — You are the leader of these elves, right? No matter how strong they are, we will never follow you, if you are nothing more than a mere brat! Your men have already proven their worth, now it is up to you: face me in a duel, without tricks, without the help of your subordinates, and if you win... I will consider listening to whatever nonsense you have to tell us — he promised, pointing his fearsome weapon in my direction.

  — Well, aren't you lucky? You actually caught the attention of the strongest orc in the region. While I created them to never naturally ally with the elves, due to your Title, if you defeat him... Oh, right. You have to defeat him alone to have any success. I guess you're not so lucky after all — the Presence commented sarcastically.

  The description of my position as Shadow King revealed that, in addition to partial immortality and a few Spells I couldn't use yet, it also increased my charisma towards monsters greatly, causing them to see me as one of their kind. So while normally it would be 100% impossible for an elf to form an alliance with any kind of monster, the chances of such an endeavor working out for me were not zero.

  On the other hand, the orcs saw me as an orc too, and that meant I had to obey the brutal laws of the monsters' rustic society and prove myself the strongest to truly have any authority.

  — ...Well then — I replied, slowly taking a step forward.

  — Haicard, I won't be able to strengthen you discreetly, that's not my specialty — Celestino whispered, agitated.

  — I don't think I can poison this guy without him noticing too. I've always considered a stab to the heart or a slit throat to be more efficient, so I don't know much about those things — Vincente added.

  I knew that well, and yet I had no choice. I couldn't even notice when one of that orc's elite subordinates threw an axe at me, and presumably the Knight was many times stronger.

  Images of that battle in the Abyss City, when I was still a member of the Holy League army, came to mind. That time, I had an entire squad supporting me. So it would be different, and if I really wanted to get those orcs under control, I couldn’t even take advantage of my partial immortality and allow myself to be killed over and over again and defeat the monster through exhaustion. No, my victory had to be absolute, impressive to them. That would not only be the hardest battle of my life, but also a reenactment that could only unfold perfectly.

  — I will grace you with a... “duel” — I took off my cloak, but not the hood, and let the worn brown cloth fall to the floor behind me, revealing that I was wearing my old adventurer's armor underneath it, with all the usual pockets, bags, and straps.

  My armor was a simple, well-worn set of cotton and leather over my knuckles, with metal plates over my most vulnerable parts; excellent armor for a lone warrior, but far from a full plate suit in any field. Except that I had made a few minor modifications since I had last worn the outfit, knowing all along that this moment would come: I had dyed the soft parts black.

  It was a basic, worn outfit that was more utilitarian than intimidating, but I was counting on the right attitude to make exactly the impression I wanted.

  — There is no right attitude to this, you look like you are wearing a low-quality cosplay of a self-respecting Shadow King. With a single gold coin, you could buy your entire equipment, and still have change left over. Not to mention your face is nothing-

  While the annoying presence was talking a lot of crap, I invited the orc to the duel, taking out the long and thin stock sword, a simple but elegant weapon:

  — Come, monster.

  He came, and when my eyes failed to follow the supernaturally fast movements of my opponent, I trusted my intuition; the orc wanted to prove his innate superiority, but he suspected that I was as powerful as Cruz and the others, so he would try to execute me quickly, to prove that he did not fear me, and that I would still become an example to all those who wanted to challenge him: he would try to decapitate me with a horizontal blow from the front!

  — Ku-argh?! — My challenger jumped back as my sword sliced ??across his transverse abdominal muscle. Wide-eyed, he touched the wound and stared at his fingers dripping red.

  — I see, that's how you caught him... — the entity must have read my mind. — But now he won't repeat the same move. In fact, he'll take you much more seriously.

  — You challenged me, monster, now don't waste my time with your cowardice — I commented, tensing every muscle under my protection.

  — Grr... — the orc straightened up and circled me slowly, much more careful now. I didn't bother to follow him with my head or body, however, and when he stopped right behind me: — WRAGH! — he advanced with the same speed as before from my blind spot.

  And if I hadn't killed those bandits in the sewer, that would have been a decisive blow indeed. But I had defeated those bandits, leveled up for the first time in months, and invested another point in Occultism, at least enough so that I could now activate Spells without saying them audibly.

  — What?! — While the orc kept his eyes fixed on me, I had soaked the earth around me with water, turning it into a deep mud, in which his steps sank and almost made him fall face down to the ground. — Gaah! — I placed another shallow cut on my opponent, this time along his face, above his nose, and from one cheek to the other.

  — Twice... — I commented, purposefully vague.

  The Knight pulled himself out of the mire, his anxiety visibly growing, and ran in the other direction, skirting me on the opposite side.

  — Damn! — only to find himself stepping on a series of caltrops. — M-My strength...! — which, of course, were poisoned; it wasn't contaminated with enough last resort to take the lives of opponents of his rank, but it was still capable of weakening him.

  — Three times — I opened another light wound in my opponent, this time on his arm. And when the orc retreated, his eyes wide, focusing his rapidly fading energy on defending himself, he clashed the blade of his axe against that of my sword, and found himself electrocuted by yet another spell, electricity coursing through the cut of my weapon. — Four times — I pierced the orc's right thigh.

  — You... Damn insignificant little elf! — Seeing himself increasingly cornered, the leader of the local monsters decided to charge at me in one last attack. And he fell into the same mud trap a second time, but then, I didn't let him escape, undoing the Spell, and allowing the earth he had sunk into to solidify around him in an instant, immobilizing him almost up to the knee. — Shit! — I placed the tip of my sword against his neck, my face unreadable behind the magical shadows of the hood.

  — Five times. In mere seconds of dueling, even with restraint, I had five opportunities to kill you, and I did not do it expecting you to realize that for yourself. But it seems that this will not sink in unless I tell you outright... you have already lost. Submit to me, or die.

  The crowd of orcs that just a few seconds ago had been roaring and cheering for their leader now fell silent, and even my (reluctant) companions looked perplexed.

  — I-It's my defeat. My life is yours to do with as you wish, master.

  — I told you, I am your King, not your master — I commented, sheathing my sword and opening the Titles menu. — Your new Shadow King. — Once I displayed the window for the monsters, the roars of joy sounded once more, and even louder than before, with even the creatures kept in enclosures outside grunting loudly.

  — ...It could be worse, I guess — the entity commented, strangely hard to read at that moment. Then, its avatar disappeared before my eyes.

  She was probably just embarrassed after I proved her wrong so many times in a row.

  ?

  — Now, go! All tribes, all species that are enemies of the elves, all that is born in the shadows must render their services to me immediately! We leave in three days! — I ordered the orcs, sitting on the throne of bones.

  — Hey — Cruz approached me. — How... How did you defeat him? I mean, no offense, but you-

  — You are weak — Celestino intervened, his face heavy, his wrinkles especially deep, his dark circles puffy, his shoulders slumped. — How could you have defeated that orc Knight, so many times stronger than you, with such ease? — For a moment, I thought he was questioning me angrily, with the intention of trying to humiliate and demean me once again. But looking into his eyes, I soon realized that this was not the case. He was not desperately seeking my punishment, but hope. He had just finished reading the book, apparently.

  — I knew that I would have to face some monster like him sooner or later on this journey. I would have to prove that I possess immeasurable strength. So, I prepared myself for it. That's all.

  — You prepared yourself? — Celestino repeated, surprised. — That’s it? You defeated a monster that you couldn’t even follow with your eyes because you “prepared yourself”? — I nodded. And the elderly Wizard suddenly burst out laughing: — Hahahahaha! I see, I see! What’s an entity above the divine when we have someone who prepares themselves by our side, right? Haicard, I’m sorry for the inconvenience I’ve put you through so far. Please give me the same Mission you gave Cruz.