Chapter 3: The Infinite Battle Pit

At that very moment, Choi Kangjoong was at ease.

Meanwhile, the Orc village led by Orc Warchief Najugarakul was in turmoil.

The swarming Goblins had no food, so they stole from the Orcs, and in their anger, the Orcs went on rampages, fighting with one another in a chain reaction.

“Who did it! Who was it!”

Najugarakul grabbed a Goblin by the neck and shook him.

The Goblin’s eyes rolled back, and foam dribbled from its mouth.

“Boss! That one’s already dead!”

“Why are the little ones so weak!”

Najugarakul tossed the dead Goblin aside and brought another one over.

The next Goblin, trembling all over, explained about the monster that attacked the village.

“Six legs, as big as the big ones, you say?”

By “big ones,” Najugarakul meant monsters like Trolls, Ogres, and Minotaurs.

“Yes! Yes! It was as fast as an Elf and its shell was tougher than a Golem’s!”

“Faster than that and tougher than that? Don’t lie to me!”

Najugarakul snapped the Goblin’s neck and grabbed another.

This Goblin wet himself but answered every question as sincerely as possible.

But for saying something similar to the previous Goblin, his head exploded and he died.

“There was nothing like that in this dimension. Did it come from another one?”

It wasn’t unheard of for new monsters to appear through Gates, which connected different dimensions.

Not long ago, an Ogre had appeared out of nowhere, and they had fought it.

When other races learned of an enemy that had easily wiped out several Goblin villages, they would have tried to gather more information or planned an escape.

But for Orcs, who loved fighting, their thoughts were simple.

An enemy?

Let’s fight!

Battling was the Orcs’ daily life, their play, their work, and their greatest joy.

They especially loved a wild brawl with a strong foe.

Najugarakul raised his axe high.

“I’m off to catch a big one, just like the big ones!”

“What about the slaves?”

“Leave them. They can’t escape anyway.”

“Yes, Boss!”

“Gather up! Whoever’s last, I’ll crack your skull!”

At the chief’s shout, every Orc in the village gathered.

With a thousand Orcs moving as one, the village instantly became a madhouse.

The hastily built houses collapsed, and Goblins were trampled to death.

“Let’s go!”

Najugarakul and the Orcs charged forward.

Some Goblins followed the Orcs, others scattered, spreading the word that Najugarakul was starting a war.

A Scout who had witnessed all this quickly returned to the Soil Pit.

“The Orcs are coming, then.”

There was no need for a lengthy explanation.

Choi Kangjoong, the vast hive mind Outer Mind, could read the Scout’s memories.

“Looks like I need to get ready for a feast. Lutal, come back to the Soil Pit.”

The hunting Lutal returned, carrying prey in all four forepaws and dropped it into the Soil Pit.

The Soil Pit bubbled, and nutrients and Evolution Points increased.

“I wonder how many Evolution Points an Orc will give. Hope it’s a lot.”

Choi Kangjoong used the remaining nutrients to produce three Walkers.

[Apocalid Walker is being produced.]

[Apocalid Walker is being produced.]

[Apocalid Walker is being produced.]

Three Walkers emerged from the Soil Pit.

Though classified as workers, they were still a combat species—handling a few Orcs would be easy.

“Orcs love fighting, so if the battle gets intense, even more Orcs will gather. If I kill them all and throw them into the Soil Pit, I can grow quickly in a short time.”

In the Dimension War, if Apocalids and Orcs shared the same dimension, only one outcome was possible.

The defeated side would be wiped out, and the victor would use that as a foundation to grow.

If Lutal hadn’t been here, it would have been a dire crisis, but now, it was a massive opportunity.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Orcs roared and banged their axes against trees as they drew near with great noise.

Lutal suggested going out to fight, wanting to conserve Walkers, but Choi Kangjoong stopped him.

If only Lutal went out, the Orcs would be overwhelmingly defeated.

That wouldn’t lure in any more Orcs.

Even though Orcs loved to fight, if the power difference was too great, they’d just run away without fighting.

“The Walkers are bait. Their role is to die and lure in even more Orcs. Whether it’s a Walker or an Orc, throw every corpse into the Soil Pit. I need to keep making more Walkers.”

Lutal, drawing from Choi Kangjoong’s knowledge, understood what he intended.

An Orc who killed a Walker would be thrilled.

Use the corpses to produce even more Walkers.

More Orcs would get excited, and word would spread of an entertaining battle.

More Orcs would rush in, and more Walkers would be made.

Repeating this cycle, Evolution Points and nutrients could be stockpiled to a monstrous degree.

Choi Kangjoong hid only the Scout and waited for the Orcs.

Soon, the Orcs appeared between the trees.

These were creatures he’d only seen in videos or the Dimension War.

Now, linked with Lutal, he could see them with his own eyes, which was amazing.

“That’s the one!”

“It’s huge!”

“Bigger than the big ones!”

“Bigger than the biggest!”

“It must be stronger!”

“This’ll be fun!”

“Battle!”

With a thunderous roar, the Orcs charged.

A wave of green muscular bodies surged forward.

Lutal only rose to his feet when the Orcs were right in front of him.

At the same time, he crossed his sickle claws in an X.

With the speed and precision of a living battle machine, Lutal’s sickles sliced down Orcs left and right.

Orcs became lumps of meat, blood spraying everywhere.

Lutal swept the corpses into the Soil Pit with his tail.

[You have gained Evolution Points.]

[You have gained Evolution Points.]

[You have gained Evolution Points.]

[Current Evolution Points: 337]

[Orc Evolution Code Decipher Rate: 3%]

“Five points per head! If I kill all of them, that’s 5,000 points. Not bad.”

Even among the same species, the Evolution Points and nutrients gained varied.

If the prey was weak, you got little; if strong, you got more.

The Orcs were even more fired up by the futile deaths of their vanguard and charged harder.

With their unique heavy roars, Orcs and Walkers clashed.

“Waaaah!”

“Kill them!”

“Their backs are hard!”

“Bash them!”

Walkers bit off Orcs’ heads with their jaws and smashed their limbs with their forelegs.

But the Orcs didn’t just stand by.

With axes and clubs, they struck the Apocalid Walkers.

The tough chitin armor held up for a few hits, but eventually cracked or was pierced.

If their relatively softer fronts were struck, they went down quickly.

Choi Kangjoong produced more Walkers as nutrients piled up.

With Lutal killing Orcs so quickly, he could make a new one every ten seconds.

“More enemies coming!”

“Battle!”

“Fun!”

“Kill them all!”

The Orcs reveled in the brawl.

If they had no more enemies, they fought each other.

In the early phase of the battle, Walker production couldn’t keep up with the death rate.

But as more Orcs died, the rate of Walker production and death evened out.

When about half the Orcs were left, Walker production surpassed the death rate.

With the enemy numbers not dropping, the Orcs got even more excited.

Close-quarters battles with death on all sides were the Orcs’ favorite form of combat.

“Waaaaaaah~!”

“More enemies keep coming!”

“It’s an Infinite Battle Pit!”

“Kill them all!”

“Let’s fight!”

The number of Orcs dropped below three hundred.

Meanwhile, Walkers increased to forty, and Lutal was still going strong.

That one’s strong! I need to run!”

Orcs might seem like they’d fight forever, but the moment they thought they’d lose, they’d flee without looking back.

Najugarakul, having barely survived with both arms lost, was trying to push the Orcs toward Lutal to cover their retreat.

At that moment, a tremendous roar was heard.

“War!”

“Najugarakul’s group has started a war!”

“War! Nothing but war!”

“Let’s fight!”

They were Orcs from other villages.

Fresh Orcs hurled themselves at Lutal and the Walkers.

Choi Kangjoong grinned, just as planned.

“This is just the beginning.”

Just as Choi Kangjoong said.

The rumor that started with Najugarakul spread everywhere via the Goblins.

“Najugarakul is waging war!”

“There’s an Infinite Battle Pit!”

“Hard and chewy things keep coming out!”

“If you go to the Infinite Battle Pit, you can fight endlessly!”

Chieftains gathered their Orcs and rushed in.

Orcs who’d been fighting among themselves paused their wars, heading to the Soil Pit for a bigger fight.

At first, only the Orcs near the Soil Pit were drawn in, but as the range widened, every Orc in this dimension learned about the huge, exciting war.

The scale of battle grew to a level incomparable to the first fight.

Five thousand Orcs and a hundred Walkers tangled in a chaotic melee.

The following Goblins outnumbered even the Orcs.

Orcs had overwhelming numbers, but as they fought each other too, the balance was barely kept.

[You have gained Evolution Points.]

[You have gained Evolution Points.]

[You have gained Evolution Points.]

Choi Kangjoong burst out laughing at the endless notifications.

Walkers and Scouts steadily crawled out of the Soil Pit.

“This isn’t ending anytime soon.”

Looking around the dimension with the Scout, he saw that truly every Orc was flocking here.

He hadn’t done much, but just watching was draining his mental strength.

After hours of watching nothing but slashing, bashing, stabbing, and rolling around, he was pretty exhausted.

“Lutal is fighting so well, I might as well sleep.”

No matter how many Orcs swarmed, Lutal was unfazed.

Orcs grew stronger the more they fought, so powerful individuals had appeared, but they too were dismantled by Lutal.

Choi Kangjoong set the production to a ten-to-one ratio of Walkers to Scouts and lay down in bed.

It felt strange.

Hands were moving and dying all over, yet his body was at ease.

Still, it didn’t seem like it would keep him from sleeping.

If anything, the fatigue made him fall asleep even faster.

Choi Kangjoong opened his eyes.

He checked the clock: eight hours had passed.

“Nothing serious must’ve happened.”

He wasn’t worried.

If something big had happened, Lutal would have sent a thought to wake him.

He could still sense the busy, bustling Walkers.

The battle was over at some point.

Almost all the Orcs that had swarmed in were dead, turned into Evolution Points and nutrients.

A tiny handful survived by fleeing to the dimensional boundary.

How many Evolution Points had piled up?

[Current Evolution Points: 128,748]

“One hundred twenty-eight thousand points!”