Chapter 316: Vital question

"Get yourselves ready—you’ll be heading down with the little spiders!"

After a quick greeting, Orion skipped small talk and cut straight to business. This time, he wasn’t just sending over two hundred-plus Skeletal Knights to the Underworld; he’d also decided to dispatch ten thousand goblin skeleton warriors.

With such a sizable force, his sister Clymene would have a strong starting point to build her undead armies, and adding ten thousand goblin skeleton warriors to the mix would greatly accelerate the expansion of Underworld territory.

"Send a few Death Spiders along to guide them, and deliver my letter too," Orion said, directing his words at Lorelia.

Lorelia nodded. A strange pheromone emanated from her body, and in no time, ten Death Spiders skittered in response. Once they arrived, Orion turned to address the succubus elder, Desdemona.

"Desdemona, until you actually reach the Underworld, you’re in charge of the group. Once you’re down there, don’t go wandering—just wait near the arrow tower. Someone will come take you the rest of the way. There are some hidden Alpha-level creatures lurking in the Underworld, and at your current power, stepping away from that tower’s safety could be dangerous."

Elder Desdemona dropped to one knee, accepting Orion’s orders. Right behind her, the two hundred-some newly made Skeletal Knights knelt as well.

Orion sighed softly. Among these skeletal warriors were giants, succubi, gnolls, buffalofolk, and obsidian golems—all once living members of his Horde.

"Rise, everyone. Take care."

He offered them a few words of comfort, then turned and left the underground fissure.

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The next day in Horde Hall’s council chamber, every elder fixed their eyes on Gort the obsidian golem, who had just been formally appointed to one of the eight council seats. Even Rockwell emerged from his duty guarding the underground fissure to attend the meeting.

"Looks like the obsidian golems have a promising future," Rockwell thought as he sat in the Warden’s seat, mulling over the path that lay ahead. "Maybe I should carry on the Prophet’s legacy. I should aim higher, look farther."

At that moment, Rockwell made up his mind to give up his role as chieftain. He planned to retreat to the depths of the underground fissure and devote himself to training.

Seated upon the throne, Orion looked down at the gathered elders, noting the various expressions playing across their faces—envy, elation, disappointment, the gamut of emotions.

Half a day later, the council meeting wound down. Only the Alpha-level beings stayed behind in the hall.

"Lilith," Orion said finally, "tell everyone what we gained from Godforsaken Land."

At these words, Onyx, Rendall, and the others perked up.

Lilith pulled a small notebook from her pocket and beamed.

"Honored elders, here’s an overview of our haul from Godforsaken Land. First up: one million two hundred thousand sets of basic armor in good enough shape—and countless more that are busted."

The moment Lilith announced the first figure, a chorus of wonder filled the room.

"Wow, that’s awesome!"

The Stoneheart Horde was short on gear and on skilled smiths who knew how to forge it. To bolster the Bureau of Weapons, they’d already gathered every single person in the Horde, from the cannon fodder troops to all other tribes, who knew the slightest bit about metalwork.

Kraken had previously gifted Orion with ten thousand sets of finely crafted standard armor, and during the long process of trying to replicate that gear, the Bureau of Weapons’ forging skills had steadily improved. But a general shortage of raw materials meant they hadn’t really been able to push their limits.

The armor they’d seized in Godforsaken Land—mainly off goblins and corrupted humans—was crude and undersized.

Orion certainly wasn’t going to issue it as-is; he planned to melt it all down and reforge it. That way, they could boost both the Horde’s overall amount of gear and their forging know-how.

"After we melt these down, based on the average build of an adult giant, we can probably cast about two hundred thousand complete suits of armor," Lilith added.

Onyx, Rendall, and Thundar exchanged excited looks. Equipping two hundred thousand suits of armor meant the Hunting Party, cavalry regiment, and even parts of the cannon fodder troops were about to get a huge boost.

"Lord, might it be a little shortsighted to turn all that material into armor?"

The speaker was Onyx, the commander of the cannon fodder troops. Drawing on real-world experience, he had some suggestions of his own.

Lilith fell silent, waiting for Orion’s reaction. Orion merely gave Onyx a look, prompting him to keep talking.

"My lord," Onyx continued, "I propose that we use part of the supply for forging fine-quality armor and higher-grade weapons, so we can fully outfit the Horde’s cavalry regiment and Hunting Party—from shields to helmets, the works. That’ll give our core armies a tangible spike in combat strength. Then, with the leftover metal, we can craft a range of weapons to arm the cannon fodder troops."

He lifted his gaze to meet Orion’s, saw no visible expression or disagreement, and pressed on.

"Take the Thunderstorm Bearmen, for example. Most are still fighting with bare hands. Last year, they were fending off dark creatures using wooden clubs and bone clubs. Don’t you think now might be a perfect time to boost their arsenal? That would help the Horde’s combat power as a whole. After all, we have a hundred thousand cannon fodder troops, but only around sixty thousand in our combined Hunting Party and cavalry regiment. Think about that."

Orion let out an audible sigh that caught the attention of everyone in the hall.

The truth was, he’d known about this dilemma for a while. Right now, Stoneheart Horde’s various armies were riddled with structural issues—completely lopsided in terms of manpower.

So far, it hadn’t caused problems only because Orion himself, a mighty lord, along with tens of thousands of cave spiders, had tightly controlled the situation.

Looking purely at numbers, the Horde’s four main forces—in order of size—were the cannon fodder troops, the Hunting Party, the Sentinel Corps, and the Cavalry Regiment.

Cannon fodder alone topped a hundred thousand heads, most of them Thunderstorm Bearmen, then gnolls, followed by satyrs and geckos, plus a handful of smaller groups. And every single slave soldier in the cannon fodder troops was at least "elite" class or better.

Meanwhile, the Hunting Party, Sentinel Corps, and cavalry combined barely made up seventy thousand warriors. If you excluded all the Alpha-level elites and the cave spider armies, a cannon fodder uprising would be disastrous. Explore new worlds at Freewebnovel

In Blackstone City, Orion was certain it wouldn’t happen—but out on a campaign, if there were no real "big shots" around, or if Orion’s Alpha-level fighters had been wiped out, would the cannon fodder troops turn traitor?

It was a vital question that needed careful thought.