Elf

Moku, Swa, Tam, Ez, and Nezena walked across the wet ground of the Bog forest.

Traces of giant animals were still visible everywhere, indicating that last night the Bog forest had become a battleground for the rulers of the night.

Laya jumped from one tree to another with agile. His skill is like that of an ape swinging from one tree to another.

"KuMoku, I want to ask" Tam said.

On this journey the atmosphere was unusually quiet, not only were the orcs more alert as they passed through the Bog forest which was still full of night dew, but also because there were two women who joined their group on this trip.

Nezena is a quiet girl, she won't talk if Moku doesn't talk to her. While the other orcs were too shy to talk to her, they didn't know what Nezena's status was.

Moku said that Nezena was a preacher sent by The One. But the orcs didn't understand what preacher meant, and what it had to do with their god. All they know is Nezena is an elf not a monster.

Then the name 'Nezena' which is based on the monster vocabulary which means 'Holy Queen', shows the status of Nezena as a Moku woman. So they don't want to be seen too close to the women of their chiefs to avoid any misunderstandings.

As for Tam.. None of the orcs were interested in talking to Tam, not because they didn't like Tam, but rather they didn't want to be interested in Tam.

Tam was a goblin and although she was also a woman, the orcs wanted nothing to do with her.

It's not that they don't have a sexual desire for goblin women, in fact you could even say orcs have a sexual desire for all mammals that have holes to pierce.

However, they didn't want to do that to the goblin race who were small in stature. They were afraid that the courtship would turn into murder and make the goblins give up their intention to join the orcs.

If that happened then it was certain that they would be skinned by Moku and the other division head for thwarting their plans.

As a result, their journey became very quiet and filled with awkwardness. Moku also don't open a conversation because he's not a person who likes to chat.

Instead, he prefers the silent and quiet atmosphere of the journey, it gives him plenty of time to think about what strategy he should use to conquer the alraune without having to go to war.

So that when Tam opened her voice, all attention was on her.

"Tam, you don't need to call me 'Ku', just call me 'Moku'. Goblins and Orcs have returned to being brothers like in the past, so calling on honorary titles will make the relationship between the two sides stiffer" Moku said softly .

"Oh..yes..well..okay..ehh..ehhh..M..M..Moku" Tam became stuttered when she was reprimanded by Moku.

As the daughter of the chief and the most beautiful woman in her tribe, Tam had never been reprimanded by anyone. So this new experience made her not know how to respond.

"Thanks Tam. So what do you wanna ask?" Moku asked.

"Hmm.. well.. why doesn't Laya walk with us.. then why do we have to walk with this formation" Tam saw Laya who was standing on a tree branch.

Right now they have a straight line fromation. Swa walk at the front with Ez follow behind him. Behind Ez are Nezena and Tam walking side by side. And Moku walked from the very back.

"This is the formation that orcs usually use when walking through the dense Bog forest. Even though we are trained and have strength that exceeds the goblins, the Bog forest is still very dangerous for us.

Especially when we walk across new areas that we don't know about, so danger can come at any time.

That's why we made a formation like this so that even if our trace was smelled by a dangerous predatory animal or a mutated animal, we could anticipate it quickly.

Laya served as a watchdog for dangers that came from the sky like birds or mischievous monkeys throwing stones at us from the top of the tree.

Swa stands at the forefront, tasked with receiving the first attack and ensuring that our path is harmless from poisonous plants that can kill or incapacitate us.

Ez serves to help Swa if he is attacked suddenly, he is also in charge of protecting you and Nezena if something attacks from the front.

Meanwhile I'm in charge of supervising the entire formation and deciding what to do if we're attacked" Moku explained.

"Wow.. I never knew if you guys were trained like this.. will we also get this kind of training when we join you right?" Tam is amazed.

"Hmm.. I want to discuss this with the four higher-ups of the goblin and my division heads later. However, I can tell you a little bit because you will also be attending the meeting.

I plan on dividing the goblins into groups. One of those groups is the ones we will focus on in order to quickly evolve them into hobgoblins.

This group will be included in the orc military training" Moku answered again.

"Wow.. Moku I want to join the group.. I will do anything so that I can become a hobgoblin and make our ancestor's dream come true!" Tam looked at Moku with hopeful eyes.

"Well.." Moku didn't know what to say, but before Moku could answer Nezena who was next to Tam cut them off.

"To be able to join this holy army you must have the heart to fight for and spread the religion of The One!" Nezena said in a very confident voice.

Moku wanted to answer but once again he was cut off by Tam who holded her waist and tiptoe to make her short body look taller.

"Who are you to stop us from training with the orcs?" Tam snorted.

"Did you not hear what Moku said, I am a preacher from The One, the Lord of all the worlds. The orc army is a sacred army whose job is to spread The One's religion and make the stupid people understand how stupid they are." Nezena believed it from the heart.

Moku was amazed, he never thought that Nezena could interpret it to that extent, she even made warlike creatures as holy army in charge of spreading God's religion.

Tam did not know what to say, the concept of the god to the goblins is almost the same as the orcs was, they understand that there is a god who is almighty and gives them protection and food but they are not know who that god is.

So it was the first time she had heard that orcs worshiped The One.

"Moku do orcs worship The One?" Tam asked.

Once again, it was not Moku who answered Tam's question, but Swa who said it out loud.

"That's right, Moku once said,

He is The One,

He was the god who created orcs and made them a warlike race.

He who created the strong body of an orc with amazing regeneration abilities.

He who created the orcs as a race that only had males.

He who created the orcs as a race that had to survive by plundering and seizing women from other species.

He who created orcs to have a reason to fight.

Fight for survival,

Fight to become stronger,

and fight because we love it!" Swa is seen smiling and praying to his god.

Tam, Nezena, and... Moku? was astonished to hear Swa's words filled with faith in The One.

Tam was astonished because she never knew if the orcs really were a holy army sent by god to this world. Her eyes were burning and she couldn't wait to join the army.

Nezena was amazed at how beautiful Swa's words were. She believes if this is a revelation that was revealed by The One to Moku to be a prayer that must be read before fighting. She immediately recorded all those words with a heart full of conviction.

As for Moku.. He was dumbfounded because he forgot he ever said those words and he was even more astonished that his stupid brother could remember those words and pray with confidence.

Moku showed no surprise on his face and tried to put on a face that he was proud for Swa that had remembered those words.

What Moku couldn't imagine was that those words would become code for the army of monsters that would destroy this world and everything in it. Those words would later become known as the Holy Army Code and became a nightmare for all enemies of the monsters.

Moku who was stared at by Tam, Ez, and Nezena with eyes full of admiration tried to divert the conversation. "hm..hm..hm.. Nezena, how do the elves control mana?"

Nezena who was suddenly asked stunned, she paused and thought for a moment before answering "The wood elves believe their power is a blessing given by the Tree of Life. So to use this power the wood elves must perform a dance offering to the Tree of Life.

Wood elves who can dance until they are accepted by the Tree of Life will be given the power to control wood. The deeper their belief in the Tree of Life, the more freely they can control wood.

However, my parents didn't believe it. They did some covert research and discovered the fact that the power to control wood did not come from the Tree of Life.

After capturing and dissecting human mages who have the same ability to control wood as wood elves, they find out that what the wood elves have is not the ability to control wood, but the ability to control small particles that are invisible to the eye.

After further reasearch, mana flow in the wood elf's body has the same shape as the flow in the small invisible particle.

They believe that if wood elves can focus their concentration and their hearts deeper, then we will not only be limited to controlling wood, but we can control everything that has these invisible particles.

My parents named the particle as 'Charcoal Substance', to show that their destiny was not held by the Tree of Life which was just a big tree.

However, my parents' theory is considered heresy, they were also hunted by other wood elves and killed." Nezena explained in a flat tone.

"I'm sorry for making you remember bad things" Moku apologized.

"It's okay! I don't hold any grudges against the wood elves. As you said, this is just a circle of destiny. I have obtained the greatest blessing in my life.

That is meeting you and getting to know about The One. I believe The One has destined my parents to be killed by the wood elves to break my relationship with them.

So now when I prove that mana control ability doesn't come from the Tree of Life then I can slay wood elves with an unencumbered heart" Nezena smiled cheerfully.

Her eyes filled with conviction and faith made Ez's hairs stand on end.

Moku smiled and said "I am grateful that you have understood the blessing given to you"

Nezena wanted to answer but Swa's alert voice was heard from the front.

"There's a human smell!"

They all lowered their heads and put on alert positions. Moku activated his inner eye and checked their surroundings.

He found not far from where they were there was a group of human walking on alert position.

They did not appear to have known the existence of orc group, but they seemed to be on alert for the impending danger and another group that wanted to follow them.

From the light seen through his inner eye, Moku saw something odd about this group of humans.

The man standing in the front is seen carrying a cage in his right hand which is shaped like a bird cage. Inside the cage emitted a small green light.

Its body size is no larger than an adult's thumb, with two insect wings on its back.

"Slyphs?!" Moku said.