I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 52

Erik stared at the gap between the mountains in front of his army.

"This must be it..."

After traveling across an empty, snowy wasteland for over two months, his army was freezing, hungry, and exhausted. Upon reaching the connection between the invader buffer zone and the main continent about a month into their journey, the army was ecstatic thinking they would soon reach green land; Erik had even given a speech to bolster their motivation for the anticipated fight when crossing.

But such a fight never happened.

To their despair, instead of being greeted by grass and life at the entrance to the mainland, the ogre army was only met with gigantic mountains overlooking more ice and snow. Attempts to cross the mountains ended in failure; they were simply too steep, and a few brutal falls from those who tried to climb quickly deemed it too risky.

The ogres had no choice but to follow the snowy path before them.

There was no telling how long this massive wall of mountains would extend; the army only grew more restless as their supplies steadily dwindled and rations were put into place.

Yet right as they had burnt the last of their firewood, a gap in the mountains had appeared in the distance.

With a fire in his eyes seemingly burning bright enough to thaw the frozen limbs of his men, Erik stood at the rear of his army and called out to the crowd.

"The path to victory is before us! It is no coincidence we reached the mountain's break the moment our supplies ran dry- how can it be anything but destiny!?" he announced, "The Chieftain prepared us well. Now it is time for us to conquer the land in his name!"

Although still covered by a thin layer of snow, its depth seemed to lessen as he glanced further down the pathway. It was still too far to see across, but the thinning snow could only mean one thing.

"Green grasses wait for us on the other side of this path. The food and warmth you have all been craving are nearly in our grasp," the Oracle announced, "There will be enemies in our way who want to stop our advance and keep us cold and starved! Do they not know how pitiful their resistance will be to our might!? It will be us who lay claim to the land, the meat, and everything else this pathetic world has to offer! Their conquest is our destiny!"

The Oracle pointed toward the snowy pathway before them.

"Let us march into battle and crush any weakling who dares stand in our way! Our names will be written into legend with their blood!"

""HUAHH!!""

Just as the ogres began storming into the gap, an annoyed voice sounded in the Oracle's head.

"Why did you send them through without giving them time to prepare? You did not even send scouts!"

Erik's eye twitched at the sudden criticism as he looked over the advancing army.

"What good would there be in waiting, aside from freezing our men?" he argued, "Scouts are pointless, anyway. We will all be fighting no matter how many are behind the mountains."

"There is more to fighting than just numbers."

The Oracle's eyes narrowed as he followed behind his men with their clubs raised, "Yes. There is also strength. Nothing will beat us in that."

"... I told you not to underestimate these humans."

"You are underestimating me if you think anything they do can bring me to my knees," Erik spat, clenching his fist.

"Might is not the only thing that can topple a giant. You need information to plan for what that could be before you attack. Your entire army would have frozen had I not made you prepare for this. I am telling you to be careful of their tricks," the voice warned, "Why do you dismiss my words when they have been proven right?"

"Enough with the nagging!" Erik scowled, his steps coming to a halt, "I have united the tribes, I have traveled the world several times over, and I have put together the largest army our world has ever seen! I have been following your orders for tens of years. You may have got us to this point, but now that we are here, let me fight how I see fit! What is the point of having all of this power if you decide every arm I lift!?"

The voice in his head suddenly quieted after his outburst.

"... Fine. If your strength trumps the need for caution, prove it. Deal with this disaster yourself."

"There will be no disaster. Only victory-"

"Hahhh!"

A sudden scream coming from the front of his force echoed in the pathway and interrupted his rebuttal.

Did the fighting start?

Although that was his first thought, Erik could not see any signs of foreign life in the path ahead.

The Oracle clicked his tongue and pushed through the halted crowd, "Move aside."

The ogres quickly made way for their massive leader who soon found himself at the front of the army, staring down at a bloody and unconscious ogre inside a shallow hole. Sharp stones attached to the ends of sticks seemed to pierce through its body that laid meer feet below the layer of snow he stood on.

"You," The Oracle pointed to the ogre standing next to him, "Tell me what happened."

"I-I do not know. He rushed ahead and suddenly fell through the snow!"

The voice's warning echoed in his mind as he looked at the scene.

If this is the trick he was so worried about, it is a pathetic one.

The Oracle turned to face his men, "These weaklings think a few holes can stop us? It looks more like they dug their own graves to me! Keep moving for now- they could not have made many of these."

""Yes!""

At his words, the ogres continued their advance with Erik returning to his position at their rear, but the screams that he expected to be occasional seemed to echo regularly as the army's pace gradually slowed to a stop.

These cowards.

Erik spat as he once again pushed his way to the front of his army where he was greeted by a row of ogres crawling on the ground and whacking the snow in front of them with their clubs.

The Oracle stood over one crawling ogre with a look of disgust on his face.

"What happened to your pride? Are you willing to throw away your dignity over a few holes in the ground?"

To his surprise, the target of his question did not stand, choosing to continue whacking the ground instead.

"I came to fight, not to die in a hole," the ogre spoke, "I would rather be slow and fight than rush and die before it."

"And what of your pride? You lay on your hands and knees in a foreign land."

"When our stories are told in legends, will they be of those we slay or our method of reaching them? I will regain my pride with blood," the ogre gestured to the ogres behind him, "They can rush ahead and fall if they choose, but I would not be in front if that were their choice."

The Oracle watched the line of ogres slowly inching up before looking at the remaining path ahead and clicking his tongue.

Being slow is an understatement. This will take weeks at this pace.

Putting aside their already depleted firewood, they would likely run out of food before they reached the end, too.

With his fist clenched, the Oracle turned to speak to his army.

"They could not have covered this whole gap with holes, there must be a path somewhere! Spread out and check the ground. Report if you reach ten club lengths without a hole!"

""Yes!""

.

..

...

"So it was the two edges..."

The ogre in front of the Oracle nodded his head, "Yes. So far no holes have been found near the edges of the mountainsides."

Such a placement seemed obvious in retrospect, yet it took a few hours to come to such a revelation.

After receiving the report, Erik spoke to his army.

"Their petty trick only managed to delay the inevitable. Stick close to the mountains! Half will go with me on the right and the rest of you will walk against the left cliff. Let us race to battle!"

""HUAHHH!""

The Oracle stood at the rear as his army split into two and marched in lines near the edge of the cliff-like mountainsides roughly one mile apart.

Despite him still holding out caution for any random holes in their way, none seemed to appear even after many minutes of walking.

"After all of that nagging, this is what you feared?"

Although Erik muttered this, there was no response from the voice in his head.

"I will lead these men to victory. Wait and -"

THUD!

Out of nowhere, the ogre's head in front of him exploded, covering the Oracle's pelt with blood and pieces of brain matter. Erik stared in shock at the fallen body in front of him- a large stone one foot in diameter was embedded in its body where its head should be.

What...

With a hesitant movement, the Oracle shifted his gaze upward toward the source of the stone, only to see dozens more falling down toward him.

"EVERYONE! WATCH OUT!"

His shout was too late. Before any of the ogres even had a chance to dodge, they were bombarded by what appeared to be an avalanche of stones.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! TUHD!

Blood splattered on the snow and the mountainside, staining the area crimson red.

"HHUAGG!"

Screams of pain erupted from those who had the misfortune of not immediately dying from the impacts- many of them had their shoulders fractured or their skulls cracked and were spewing blood.

Those spared from the initial bombardment ran away from the mountainside, only for some to quickly fall through the snow and become embedded with spikes.

"W-what is this-"

Such words unconsciously slipped out of Erik's mouth.

The scene before him was something he never could have imagined. Those in front of him were being killed in droves- not in honorable battle, but in an ambush instead.

A quick glance at the opposite mountainside revealed a similar scene taking place. His men were being massacred by falling stones- the source of which was finally revealed.

Although the angle of the cliff made it impossible to see the stones' origin above his, Erik could clearly see a large number of thin creatures dropping them from a flat area on the opposing mountainside.

"No..."

They were far too high to hit; there was absolutely nothing his men would be able to do to fight back.

All of his shock quickly turned to fury.

"SPREAD OUT! GET AWAY FROM THE MOUNTAIN!"

His voice sounded out over the sounds of screams and chaos- the slow yet ordered formation they marched in prior to the stone bombardment quickly morphed into a frantic dash toward the middle of the mountain passageway. Their slow movements hindered by the heightened gravity left many to be crushed by stones even after the warning.

Thousands of his men fell into holes in the snow; those who stuck closer to the mountainside held their clubs over their heads in an attempt to withstand any stones.

THUD!

Crack!

"HUAGGG!"

Yet the sounds of screams from both the mountainside and the snowy pathway only emphasized the pity of their resistance.

"Travel in lines! Spreading out will only make more of you fall!" Erik managed to order through the chaos.

At his words, those taking their chance in running toward the middle of the pathway began to bunch together and slowly walk forward.

For those away from the mountainside, things seemed to calm down a bit. The inability of the stones to target them allowed for them to slowly regain their focus and breath; their only worry was now regarding the path in front of them.

Schlinch!

Suddenly, an ogre in the middle of the group was pierced in the chest by something falling from the sky.

The men around him instinctively paused and stared at the ogre, who glanced down at the pole sticking out of his side. With shaking hands, the ogre touched the area where he had been pierced before examining his now-blooded hand in horror.

Thud!

The body of the ogre collapsed into the snow.

A haunting realization quickly dawned on the ogres: even far from the edge of the passage, they were still in their range.

Panic erupted.

"N-no..."

"What is this!?"

"Huaahhhhh!"

Schlinch! Schlinch! Schlinch! Schlinch!

Dozens more of these weapons flew down from the cliffs and landed around them.

"GET THROUGH THIS GAP AS FAST AS YOU CAN!"

It was a mad dash toward the end of the passageway. Screams from the ogres filled the air as many fell into holes or were pierced by falling javelins. Those who fell into the pits were trampled deeper into the spear shafts as ogres used their bodies as platforms in their rush forward.

Some attempted to use the aura they had saved up from before their voyage through the portal, but it was to no avail. The mana in their body had gradually leaked away during their two-month journey, now leaving their bodies completely depleted.

Where is the honor in this!?

Such thoughts filled Erik's mind as he watched the scene in front of him. He had lost track of how many of his men had perished, and with a lot of the pathway still remaining, there would undoubtedly be many more losses.

As they struggled, a massive force could be seen gathering at the end of the pathway, in their hands were the same weapons that were now piercing his men.

Erik could feel a vein throb in his forehead.

"Look ahead!" he called out as his army sprinted forward, "Those weaklings without an ounce of muscle think they can stand up to us!? So what if they have a few cheap tricks- they will be crushed the moment we arrive! The chance to etch your feats in legend is in front of us! Keep moving forward!"

A look of resolve seemed to morph onto the ogres' faces at the Oracle's words.

""HUAHHH!""

The ogre army continued pushing forward.

As the ogres quickly approached the end of the pathway, a new barrage of javelins started launching toward them- this time from the growing army in front of them. With no source of cover in the open pathway, the ogres were helpless against the onslaught. Erik's fury only grew stronger with every corpse he passed.

Although countless men fell around him from the onslaught of javelins, their advance continued moving forward.

Eventually, the creatures responsible for all of this humiliation stood before them.

""HUAHHHH!!""

""RAHHHHH!!""

After hours of provocation, the ogres rampaged, smashing at the humans with their clubs, who responded by piercing into the ogre's fat with their spears.

Javelins continued to rain down at the ogres from above as many more humans poured down from the mountains and reinforced their already enormous numbers.

Schlinch!

One javelin hit Erik's shoulder, shallowly piercing his skin.

So annoying!

With a glare, the Oracle pulled the weapon out of his shoulder as if it were nothing but a splinter and tossed it onto the ground. Although the javelins weren't able to pierce him well thanks to his strength, the same clearly wasn't the case for his men.

Erik's teeth clenched as he witnessed the battle.

Despite initially being met with a wall of creatures blocking their advance, this wall quickly broke down; the battle now appeared to be made up of countless skirmishes between the two forces.

After so many of his troops perished in the pathway, a quick glance revealed that they were outnumbered by at least two to one. The creatures in front of him seemed scrawny, but their strength did not appear to be too far behind that of his own men. Being jabbed at from multiple directions by such beings was not an easy scenario to counter.

"Humans... that is what he called them, right? They use the tactics of insects," Erik spat as he charged forward toward a human with his back turned.

Crack!

With a solid punch, the human's ribcage shattered and pierced its heart, instantly killing him.

The Oracle paid no mind to the body and simply approached the next one before swiftly killing him too with a single blow.

A spear suddenly stabbed at his side, but Erik grabbed its shaft and pulled the human toward him, grabbing its skull between his hands.

"So weak..."

Splat!

He tightened his grasp around the human's skill, crushing it between his hands. The body fell limp into the bloody snow.

"There is only one of them that will be worth fighting," Erik muttered as he shook the blood and brain matter off of his hands.

As if waiting for those words, the Oracle glanced up to see a massive rock shooting toward him.

"I found you!"

With a grin, he reached under his wolf pelt and pulled out something he had waited decades to use.

THUD!

The boulder shattered into pieces, covering the snow in its fragments.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"What is that!?"

"Squawk!?"

Mr. Flippers and I looked at the screen in horror.

Everything had been going extremely well up until this point with my humans' efforts in making all of the traps and carrying heavy stones up the mountains more than paying off.

It helped a ton that they stayed within the range of the javelins, too.

Even after factoring in the height of the cliffs they threw from, the javelins could only reach a few hundred feet at best. In their desperate panic, however, most of the ogres switched their focus away from getting into the middle of the passage and instead rushed toward the end of the passage which was a stupid mistake.

Of course, I welcomed the surprise as it only added to our kill count.

From my quick estimates, Ferguson's force went from a bit over 50,000 members to just barely over 20,000. A large percentage of those who remained had various injuries and all of them were winded from their sprint across the mountain passage.

With our force confronting the ogres nearing 60,000 men, and with thousands more waiting to reinforce, I was extremely optimistic about how this battle would go.

But that was before witnessing what their Oracle held.

Their Oracle was easy to spot thanks to his brutal showings of strength; with only Rynn able to do any meaningful damage to him, we planned for a simple surprise attack where he would launch a small boulder at him.

I never thought the boulder would actually be enough to beat him, but I didn't expect him to freaking smash right through it!

His smashing through the boulder was crazy on its own, yet it was what he used to do it that terrified me.

I witnessed it all on the screen; their Oracle grabbed what looked like a silver toy mallet from inside the pelt he wore, and after pressing a small button on its side, it grew massively into a weapon only seen in fantasy.

The hammer itself was huge with its double-sided faces spanning roughly two feet in diameter. It seemed to be made from some kind of metal resembling steel. Obviously, this was not something the ogres could reasonably make, made even more apparent by the wooden clubs wielded by the rest of the army, so there was only one way he could have gotten that.

Ferguson's prize... I hoped he got resource points or a new lifeform or something- isn't a weapon a bit overpowered at this point?

His Oracle held a weapon of steel in a battle of sticks and stones. When the Oracles were roughly of similar strength, what would happen when one fought with a weapon far more advanced than the other?

I felt cold sweat dripping down my back.

This isn't good...

On my screen, both the humans and the ogres distanced themselves from the two Oracles who slowly approached each other with their weapons drawn.

"Hey, Rynn," I spoke to the screen, "You remember what I told you, right?"

I watched my Oracle give a subtle nod on the screen, "You can not interfere. I must do this on my own."

"Yeah," I sighed, "There can be no flying javelins this time. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, but please don't let him hit you with that thing."

"... I can not say I was planning on it."

Rynn stopped talking as the two Oracles stood around twenty feet from one another. Their stillness was in sharp contrast to the raging battle going on in a circle around them.

"You must be this world's Oracle," Erik started with his hammer held over his shoulder, "That was some welcome you gave us, but I am not one to care about first impressions."

Rynn stayed silent, so Erik continued, "My men have come craving a battle of honor. It seems that is something you know nothing about."

There was still no response.

Erik clicked his tongue, "So dull. Your men could rally behind an acorn if they can fight beside you."

The ogre took a step forward with his hammer in hand, smirking at the flint-tipped spear his opponent held, "If you do not care for speech, let us get to the fighting, instead!"

At those words, Rynn sprinted toward the ogre who vertically slammed down his hammer once he stepped into range.

BOOM!

The ground shook as the hammer struck the ground, missing Rynn who moved to the left and trusted his spear.

"Fast..." Erik's subconscious mutter leaked through the screen.

Although he tried to step backward out of the spear's range, its tip reached him before he fully could, leaving a shallow gash on his side.

Without giving the ogre a chance to settle, Rynn began running around the Oracle in a circle, continuously thrusting his spear. Small cuts and holes gradually appeared on the ogre as the two continued moving; Rynn moved to attack while Erik tried to find an opportunity to set his feet to counter.

Eventually, the ogre clicked his tongue and planted his feet, taking a decent hit to his stomach in the process. With clenched teeth, Erik swung his hammer horizontally at the Oracle but hit only air; the target of his swing took distance before it reached him.

Rynn looked back and forth between his opponent's wounds and the tip of his spear in dissatisfaction.

Even though he made it extra thick, it's already starting to chip.

The flint weapon was clearly struggling against the divinity-enhanced body of the foreign Oracle. Not only was it quickly being worn down, but it also was not able to fully penetrate through his layer of fat to do any meaningful damage.

"You are as fast as you are silent," Erik acknowledged, taking full advantage of the pause.

"... I just have nothing to say to you."

Erik's eyes glowed at the response, "So he speaks! I was starting to-"

Ding!

Erik moved his hammer in front of his chest to block the spear Rynn threw at him mid-sentence.

"You... really have no honor, do you?"

"I only care about protecting this world and my family," Rynn spoke, "You talk a lot about honor for someone using a weapon like that."

Erik shrugged, "I would count it as an exception. If you expected me to put it away after you threw yours, you are mistaken."

"I thought so."

Rynn took a step back and raised his arm, "Spear me!"

A nearby soldier immediately tossed him a spear, which landed perfectly in his hand.

"Impressive. Now, let us continue our fight."

The two Oracles rushed at each other once more.

"Squawk..."

"I know..."

We watched anxiously as the two fought.

Boom!

Dink!

"Spear me!"

Rynn continued scoring small hits on the ogre at the expense of many spears.

BOOM!

Rynn barely dodged another vertical swing; the ground shook from the impact.

He is dodging well, but his margins are getting smaller.

It seemed that with every exchange, Erik was getting closer to landing a hit.

And when that happens...

I clenched my fist.

As I was thinking those thoughts, I watched Erik swing the hammer horizontally as Rynn was rushing toward it.

The Oracle slid under the hammer and trusted up with his spear.

Schlinch!

Rynn shallowly pierced the ogre's stomach, but before he had the chance to retract his spear, he was sent flying by a heavy impact on his side.

Crack!

"Gah!"

The Oracle slid across the bloody snow clutching his side, before coming to a stop and glancing up at the massive ogre who was lowering his foot after the kick.

"You used enough tricks, so I thought I should do more than simply swing this thing," the foreign Oracle said with a grin, "I let you hit me enough. I think it is time for me to start getting serious."

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