55: A million orcs are about to attack.

At first, the major tribes of the Orc Royal Court did not pay much attention to the people who came from the Kate Kingdom to pioneer.

Of course, the most important thing was that they wanted to live their own peaceful lives and avoid unnecessary trouble.

However, as more of the Barren Plains was encroached upon by humans, some wise men among the Orcs proposed that humans were gradually seizing their territory and must be countered.

Otherwise, humans would become increasingly arrogant, and the power gap between Orcs and humans would widen.

The Gnoll tribe, having suffered losses before, immediately gave strong support to launching a war against humans when they saw an opportunity for revenge.

Since Orcs and humans were naturally hostile towards each other, the resolution for war was quickly passed.

It was decided that the Boar-people tribe, the Minotaur tribe, and the Gnoll tribe in the southern part of the Orc territory would form an army of two million to clear out the humans on the Barren Plains.

As for why they weren't attacking the Kate Kingdom, launching a national war without absolute certainty of victory was unwise; they currently only wanted to teach the humans a lesson.

If they could capture most of the three million-plus humans currently on the Barren Plains, it would be enough for them to digest for a while, so there was no rush to attack the Kate Kingdom.

The Orc Royal Court is composed of over a dozen types of Orcs, but only nine of them are powerful tribes. The Boar-people, Minotaurs, and Gnolls are all members of these nine powerful tribes.

These three tribes are mainly concentrated in the southern part of the Orc Royal Court, which is the area near the Kate Kingdom.

Among them, the Minotaurs are the strongest. Although they only have a population of over two million, they possess the most powerful individuals, including even one Sky Level Minotaur Chieftain.

Ranking second are the Boar-people. Their population count is the highest, reaching a full five million, and almost all of them are young adults.

If it weren't for the fact that they eat too much and cannot sustain a larger population, their numbers would be even greater given their breeding speed, which far surpasses that of humans.

The third are the Gnolls, whom they have dealt with before, possessing only a million people.

After deciding to dispatch troops, the Boar-people sent out one million soldiers, the Minotaurs six hundred thousand, and finally the Gnolls four hundred thousand, forming a grand army of two million in total.

Keep in mind that there are only slightly over three million humans on the Barren Plains. By sending two million troops, they likely intend to achieve a quick victory and intimidate humanity.

Fortunately, in any war, there will be intelligence personnel on both sides of the conflict, and the war between Orcs and humans is no exception.

When the Orcs began mobilizing their troops, intelligence personnel within the Orc Royal Court relayed the news of the impending Orc attack to the Kingdom.

The Kingdom, in order to prevent the humans on the Barren Plains from dying in vain,

after receiving the intelligence, quickly passed the news of the impending Orc attack to the more than one hundred lords on the Barren Plains.

Arthur was closer to the Kingdom's border, so he was among the first to receive the news, leading him to sigh that it seemed the peaceful days were coming to an end again.

Compared to Arthur's composure, the other hundred-plus lords on the Barren Plains were thrown into chaos.

They hadn't expected the Orcs to make such a massive move all at once. They had originally thought they could hold out for three years until the Kingdom's army engaged the Orcs in a decisive battle, making them the newest batch of nobles.

But now it seemed everything was lost. They had bet wrong. Even if their two Alliances had amassed 300,000 troops each in Northern Bulwark City and the City Stabilizing the Wasteland, facing two million Orc troops, they probably wouldn't last three days.

The Kingdom only provided them with the news that the Orcs were about to attack; as for support, there was absolutely none.

This caused great panic. Some timid lords, knowing that two million Orcs were unstoppable, immediately gave up their dream of nobility, packed their belongings, and fled back into the Kingdom's territory.

Nearly sixty minor lords fled, leaving fewer than a hundred lords remaining on the Barren Plains, and they took five hundred thousand people with them.

Population is the cornerstone of prosperity. Although they gave up being lords and no longer needed those people, they could still sell them to other nobles back in the Kingdom to recoup some of their costs.

Of course, the Kingdom had sent those people to pioneer in order to wear down the Orcs, so it was impossible for them to simply run back into the Kingdom whenever they wished.

If all the lords ran back, wouldn't the Kingdom's efforts be in vain!

Therefore, those who fled had to pay a price. The lords who returned to the Kingdom had to surrender seventy percent of their assets when crossing the border, as punishment for deserting their posts.

For those determined to save their lives, they gritted their teeth and accepted the punishment!

After all, if they lost their lives, keeping the money was useless.

The remaining ninety-plus lords did not flee immediately, aside from being reluctant to lose the assets they would be penalized for.

It wasn't because they were confident in fighting the Orc army, but because they were unwilling to return shamefully and once again become commoners without a fiefdom.

The two Alliances began racking their brains for ways to deal with the Orcs, and eventually, they both coincidentally thought of Arthur.

Because Arthur's strength was obvious to all, especially with the completion of his New Initial City, he had become the nominal largest power on the Barren Plains.

They had no way to resist, but Arthur might. Otherwise, why would Arthur spend so much effort building a massive city on the Barren Plains?

Considering this point, the leaders of the two Alliances rushed to Arthur's Initial City immediately.

On the very night Arthur received news that the Orcs were about to attack the Barren Plains, the leaders of the two Alliances arrived outside Arthur's castle.

Butler Poussin also relayed the message in time:

"Lord Arthur, the two Alliance leaders are waiting in the reception hall. Will you meet with them?"

"Since they rushed over here, of course I should meet them."

...Arthur soon met the two Alliance leaders in the reception hall. One was David, an acquaintance of Arthur's whom he had met half a year ago when he went to support Northern Bulwark City.

The other was the leader of the City Stabilizing the Wasteland Alliance, whom Arthur had not met.

Since David and the other leader were there to ask for help, they quickly stood up upon seeing Arthur arrive and greeted him first:

"Arthur, I haven't seen you in half a year, and your strength has made another major Breakthrough. Congratulations!"

David was astonished to see that Arthur had gone from Bronze Middle Stage to Silver in just half a year, and quickly offered his congratulations.

"Just a small Breakthrough, David. You exaggerate!"

Arthur and David had shared a certain camaraderie from their time as comrades, so they addressed each other directly by name.

After David finished greeting Arthur, the other person quickly introduced himself:

"Baron Arthur, I am Dennis Wavnor, the leader of the City Stabilizing the Wasteland Alliance."

"So you are the leader of the City Stabilizing the Wasteland Alliance. I've heard much about you!"

"I wouldn't dare!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Arthur went straight to the point:

"May I ask what urgent business brings you both to me late at night?"

Hearing this, David and Dennis exchanged glances.