(MC POV)
If the Dark Sect enclave was easy to spot, the monster nest was even easier.
They hadn't even bothered with hiding themselves, opting to claim a flat piece of land on top of the valley as their home. Only problem was that these were the more intelligent kind of monsters seeing as how they have built some form of village.
If I hadn't known they were monsters, I might have mistaken this place for a village of youkai instead.
The lack of a wall either showed that they either did not have the expertise to build one, or they were high enough on the food chain to not even need one.
A quick scout of their position clued me that it is most likely the latter.
Not because they were strong monsters, but by how large the numbers were in that village. Almost half the entire plateau was occupied by their village, their crudely built dwelling spread out all over the place.
If they were able to expand so much unchecked, there probably isn't anything in existence around here that they saw as a threat.
They were some kind of humanoid pig monsters that resembled really obese, pig-headed humans
In other words, Orcs.
Not that big of a threat alone since they're quite simple minded monsters, or at least most of them are.
The fact that they are so laid back in their defence should mean they aren't any particularly smart ones among them. The smarter you are the more paranoid after all.
The only issue is with their numbers.
But then again, it's nothing a tactical Technique couldn't fix.
Since I don't need to worry about this particular group having Practitioners to sniff me out, I descended into the village to take a closer look around the place.
Most of them were busy sharpening what looked like rather high quality weapons that they shouldn't have been able to craft on their own.
Heck, I even saw a few of them wearing a few pieces of plate armour strutting around the place arrogantly.
This is rather surprising since I do not see a dedicated blacksmith inside this village itself.
That means they might have looted all these weapons off a passing caravan, which is highly unlikely considering how there's no other cities or towns around here so trade is rather minimal especially for weapons like these.
Or, for the more likely explanation, is that these are the things that my father and brother had been supplying them with.
Judging by the numbers, there's at least a battalion size force currently living here, estimated at about seven hundred or so.
That's about a quarter of the town's population and I doubt our town even has a standing military to resist such a large force, advanced tech or not.
Since my sister had both my father and brother beat in the economic side, they were probably thinking that they could best her in the military side.
Arm and feed a few monsters and they would have a questionably loyal band of soldiers willing to pillage a town or two.
The real question is how sure they were that these orcs wouldn't turn coat against them after ransacking the town? That is, assuming my father and brother still want a town to be there after the orcs come through or they just want it razed to the ground.
I don't think they're dumb enough to not have considered that right?
Actually, don't answer that.
I made myself invisible and descended into the village, trying my best to avoid walking into any of the orcs.
I took note of the village's layout just in case, never know when it might come in handy in these sorts of situations.
I especially noted where the weapons and supplies were stored and all the common places that the monsters would frequent.
As was the standard, I looked for the biggest building that should give away who their most important person is around here.
And since they were orcs, that meant the most hideous building I could find.
Didn't take even a minute for me to find it and make my way towards the large building that seemed to be tethering off to the side with a few pieces of its walls missing, most likely punched out by its occupant in its fit of rage for whatever reasons.
"Huuurk! Where is ma meat?!" A voice yelled out from inside, just as a fist punched through the wall that was closest to me.
"B-b-b-boss! Hrrk! The hyumans said dere wunna be any meat da nesht few deys!" Another voice answered from inside.
"Grrah! Me Big Boss dun care! Ah'll eat yu if ah haf ta if I wunna have ma meat!!"
"B-b-but Boss! Hyuman seyd we shuddan eat each udder! Dey needa numbas!"
"Grrrr… Bah! Who cares abut wat shlimey hyuman says?! Ah'll eat him too!"
Well… They're definitely not loyal to my father and brother that's for sure, assuming it's them that they were talking about.
"Stoopid hyuman says some hyumans gunna come 'ere! Big Boss n'ever see any stoopid hyumans around?! Ah wunna eat sum hyumans! Dey tashte liek chikken!"
Ok, I think I heard enough cancer for the day.
I phased myself through the wall, spotting a big fat orc waving his arms about with his back to me just an arms length away from me.
To cripple an army, you got to take out its head first. Even more so when it's a monster army.
I stretched my hand towards his head and clenched, the air inside him immediately converged on a single point at the back of his throat before expanding outwards.
The orc's head exploded spectacularly, showering the other orcs that had been in front of him with the crimson liquid.
That should cause some discord within the community for now, perhaps they might even start killing each other just to get the leader's position. Either way, my disciples should have an easier time clearing out this monster village tomorrow.
With that done, I made my way out of the place without looking back.
I at least know that these monsters had no intention to work with whoever was supplying them with all the supplies. Since I've yet to find proof about father's and brother's involvement, I'll just pin them as 'possible suspects' instead of 'the masterminds' for now.
Not that there was anything masterful about their plans in the first place.
I'll just drop a few monitoring inscriptions around so I can see what they're doing if need be, then a summoning sigil around here just in case I need it… And of course, can't forget the giant explosion inscription that would wipe this place out in the worse case scenario.
Hey, I told you I like to be prepared ok?
With everything set in place, I teleported back into the cave just as daylight was giving way to night.
The three Adventurers had huddled around a small campfire they had made, looking like they were scared of the dark or something.
"What are you guys doing? You guys planning to spend the night here or something?" I called out.
All of them jumped at my sudden presence.
"N… No… We er… We weren't sure if there were any more spiders around…" The elf muttered feebly.
I raised an eyebrow, "Well even if there were, your fire would have just attracted them, not kept them away. Didn't you tell me they were fire-proof?"
The elf stumbled on her words, "Er… Oh… Ermm… I… Don't know?"
Must be the human instinct to seek the safety of warmth or something, well they should just be glad that fire didn't attract any other monsters into this cavern. How they can even make such mistakes as 'pro Adventurers' I'll never know.
Shrugging to myself that it didn't matter, "Well, I'm going to teleport us back to town, unless you guys are fine with heading back yourselves?"
The three of them immediately leapt to their feet, rushing towards me and clinging to the edge of my shirt.
"Please! Please bring us with you! We can't take this place anymore!" The three of them begged.
Huh, who knew they had claustrophobia?
But isn't this cave quite big?
