"I'd feel no shame in serving the orc that's within you. That is if you allow me to do so."
Baran said with a serious expression on his face. He had already forfeited his life when he had lost. There was no future for him if he kept falling off his grace. He didn't have the strength or courage left in him to start a new tribe.
So it was okay to call it quits for him. He had also given up his hopes of evolving any further than an Orc Lord. He was in any way the weakest Orc Lord there was due to his repeated injuries. With thoughts like these running through his head, death seemed like a peaceful solution for Baran for all his miseries.
But then he saw Eren shapeshifting-- bringing forth powers that didn't belong to this world. This was the same guy who was not even worth his time a few months back. That meant the progress he had achieved in this short time was tremendous.
Baran started having hopes of a better future if he got to serve someone like Eren. He didn't mind serving someone more powerful than him.
Might make right. This philosophy was ingrained into Baran's very existence. So he meant what he had said to Eren.
'Sweet.'
The butcher thought to himself and chuckled. His snickers were like the snickers of the devil inside the Domain of Wrath.
"Very well. I accept your allegiance, Baran."
Butcher then intensified the summoning of foreign mana inside the domain of wrath and asked for his next question.
"What about you?"
Eren asked, blankly looking in front of him. But Raadoo and all the Orcinas realized that the question was meant for all of them.
"I agree with whatever Baran has said. I'm ready to serve you as my chieftain if you allow me to."
Raadoo replied quickly. He had already thought of following Baran. So this decision came easily to him.
The majority of the Orcinas were on their knees after the Domain of Wrath had become active. They had found logic in whatever Baran had said. And they were about to follow suit. But then 6 Orcinas stood up, came forward, and objected to the butcher.
"You… you are no orc. We don't even know what you are. It would be better if you leave this tribe and…"
The leader Orcina of the faction that had decided to oppose Eren acting as their chieftain tried to put her opinions forward firmly even when there was a certain vibration in her voice. As if speaking those words was taking everything she had.
Apparently, her "clarity" was working against her. That's because the butcher raised his arm in her direction before even looking at her and swiped his hand.
In the next moment, the Orcina started changing. Since she didn't have as much anger because of her dominant emotion of fear, her transformation into the creature of wrath wasn't as menacing as it could be.
The butcher wasn't particularly interested in digesting the Orcina's gains. She was an Orc leader who couldn't offer anything worthy to Eren who was close to breaking into the D-Rank.
This time, Eren just wanted to make a statement with his move. So he didn't care about refining the monster's attainment and concentrated on expediting the Orcina's transformation.
The creature of wrath that the rebel Orcina had turned into soon started producing wailing sounds. Her skin ruptured and her beautiful form turned hideous, sending shivers through the Orcinas' spines.
Snap.
The creature of wrath's body imploded shortly after. But the butcher had already cast a mana barrier using his wind element just before the implosion. He didn't want the mess to spread in his temporary home. The butcher was a clean freak in his own way.
A small flame of wrath appeared where the Orcina had stood previously. The butcher raised his arm, beckoning for the flame of wrath to float towards him. He realized that attainment was related to the way of water. Plus, this Orcina was very handy with hammers as her choice of weapon.
The butcher digested those gains and found them to be surprisingly substantial than he had first estimated them to be. His ability to wrest his victims from their attainments had also improved.
He digested his victim's gains less messily than he had done in all of his other instances. And yet, the remaining 5 Orcinas that had decided to rebel quickly changed their rebellious minds.
Now all of the Orcina were kneeling. While they had awakened to "clarity", the rebel Orcinas were not foolish enough to rebel against their survival instincts.
The butcher made the wind mana layer disappear into thin air. He then burned the residual flesh of the Orcina that had tried to oppose Eren using hatchlings of the flame. The fire snake ate her bone and flesh with its mouth and gulped it down before dispersing into thin air. There was no trace of the rebel anymore.
Eren smiled as he looked around him once again. The hall grew quiet as a mouse. Eren had basically isolated the hall from the rest of the tribe grounds when he had activated the domain of Wrath. So nobody came forward to approach the chieftain's house.
Eren returned his gaze as he dispersed the domain. His appearance changed back to his black hair and green eyes as a human. The same one that Baran had remembered him as.
Eren still had his smoke remaining in his hands. While commanding his Orc Lord subordinate, he took a slight drag.
"You'd act as a chieftain-in-charge in my absence, Baran. Everything would remain as it is. You'd just have to follow any additional commands from me if and when they are known to you. Is that clear?"
Baran was overjoyed by the fact that he would still get to act like a leader in Eren's absence. He couldn't hide that joy from the butcher as he saw the old monster smiling in a controlled manner.
"Yes, my liege. Is there any order you have in mind right now?"
