Not long after, when they arrived at Souei's location by following his magicules, they found more than a dozen [Orc] sprawled across the ground in pools of blood.
Splat...
From an [Orc General] with all four limbs neatly severed to ordinary [Orc] soldiers with their heads split open or their insides hollowed out, the scene was a massacre.
So when he said it would be easy, it really hadn't been bluster after all.
"H-huh? Is it already over?"
"I was hoping he'd leave a few for us... but, well, that does sound like him."
Gobta, captain of the Goblin Riders, muttered in disbelief, and Benimaru beside him wore much the same expression.
They had been bracing themselves to fight the [Orc], but the battlefield had already been cleaned up so thoroughly it almost took the wind out of them.
Whooo...
"Considering the power of a Kijin, it isn't that strange, but he really was fast."
Adelio descended from the air, agreeing with Gobta and Benimaru as he landed.
He had completely erased his presence before they even left the village. After giving the surroundings a light glance, he...
"......"
...carefully stretched out a hand toward the fallen [Orc].
'...Just as I thought. Their souls are still here.'
The souls of monsters... the souls of [Orc].
They had not yet let go of their attachment to their bodies, and had not departed for the land of the dead. That was what Adelio was seeing.
'...I should take these [Orc] souls too.'
If more time passed, they would cast off their lingering attachment and disappear.
While Rimuru and the Kijin approached the injured [Lizardmen] whom Souei was supporting, Adelio let his magicules seep into the [Orc] corpses.
Fwoosh...!
Soon, seven-colored souls slipped free of the bodies, drawn out by Adelio's magicules.
Those souls bore the same seven colors that symbolized the demon kings, and through Adelio's hand, they were absorbed into the depths of his being.
"......"
"Teacher Ria, what was that just now...?"
"Mm, the souls of monsters. Souls filled with lingering attachment, unable to accept that they've died."
"...Lingering attachment..."
Unlike Rimuru, the Kijin, and the Hobgoblins, who still could not see souls, Shizue, who was connected to a Hero's Egg, and Ria, who had been a king from the very beginning, were both able to see Adelio absorbing the [Orc] souls. But neither of them asked him about it directly.
No, rather, it would be more accurate to say they had no chance to ask.
"C-cough...! Y-you are..."
The female [Lizardmen] who had collapsed in a bloody heap had just regained consciousness after drinking one of Rimuru's Full Potions.
"...That was definitely a mortal wound... how in the world...?!"
The [Lizardmen] woman murmured in astonishment, then realized that the one supporting her was Souei. At once, she hurriedly prostrated herself toward Rimuru, who stood at the front.
"O new master of the Ogre...! I beg you, please grant me one request...!"
"...Huh...?"
**
Meanwhile...
At that same moment, in the marshlands...
"S-save me!"
"Lord Gabiru!!"
...an overwhelming slaughter was unfolding, like a piece of hell itself.
"T-this is impossible! Why do the [Orc] have webbed feet and scales like ours?!"
At the start of the war, the [Lizardmen] had been able to seize a considerable advantage by making use of the terrain and their racial traits, but before an enemy force twenty times their size, it meant nothing.
The overwhelming numbers of the [Orc], who existed on an entirely different scale, soon swallowed up the [Lizardmen] advantage, and the [Skills] of the [Orc Lord], which Gabiru had overlooked, completely overturned the course of the war.
"Crush them... crush them...!"
"The strength of our comrades is mine... the strength of our enemies is mine...!"
The [Unique Skill] that every [Orc Lord] is born with: [Starved].
It was a monstrous ability that let him command every [Orc] under his rule and steal the traits of any race they devoured.
"Ghk..."
But Gabiru had known nothing of the [Orc Lord]'s power, and that ignorance had now become the very reason for his defeat.
'...Even setting the regular soldiers aside, how are even the generals this strong when they aren't even the [Orc Lord] himself?!'
He wanted to deny reality, but he could not.
Regret crashed over him, and helplessness sank deep into his bones.
Weakness gave rise to resentment, and arrogance curdled into rage.
'...Damn it!'
But there was nothing Gabiru himself could do.
'To be eaten by monsters like these...'
If only he had asked for help from the master said to have subdued the Tempest Wolves.
If only he had begged forgiveness from that human he had seen in the Goblin village.
Then he would not have died such a futile death.
'......'
"Until you realize your own mistake."
The words that ash-gray-haired human had once spoken to him flashed through his mind.
'So... this is what he meant...'
Even though understanding it now was utterly useless, the words still lingered on his lips.
"...This is my retribution..."
The lizard who had thought himself a dragon finally understood his place.
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