Chapter 90 Midnight Saga: Zaldidraax

Some time ago, on the 1st Floor of the Tower, shortly after opening the dimensional pathway to the Midnight World.

When the Midnight World was first connected to the Tower, the Orks from the Bloodtooth Tribe noticed the humans who came from a technological civilization, which was relatively advanced, captured them first and attempted to get from them as much information as possible.

After a series of brutal interrogations and torture, they managed to find the dimensional pathway which was connecting to the Midnight World; they immediately started the invasion of the new world.

For the Orks of the Bloodtooth Tribe, it was a glorious time, as they could finally unleash a Waaaggghhh on the unknowing enemy. Slaughter and pillage to their heart's content, kill anything that moves and wages war on their enemy in the glory of the Green Gods.

Such was the way of the greenskins.

What was shocking itself was even though the Midnight World was Mana-Less Worlds, in terms of size, it could be compared to the Lower Worlds which was shocking. Meaning either this was just a coincidence or the world was degrading, which then wouldn't be that surprising.

Degrading Worlds were worlds that fell in the grade due to one reason or another. Those were the worlds where anything supernatural was slowly dying, sometimes together with the world itself, and soon nothing would remain. Sometimes it was part of the natural cycle, and sometimes it was artificially created.

The Hall of Kadath was one of the first factions among the Tower's hegemons, who noticed this occurrence, and the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath immediately sent one of the strongest Cardinals to go to the Midnight World and harvest souls.

Cardinal Zaldidraax came to the Midnight World on the orders of the Hall Master because the orders of the Hall Master were absolute, and one could only carry them out to the utmost perfect when one of those was given to him. There was no room for refusal nor negotiation, as the order from the Hall Master must be carried out at any cost.

Currently, he was in his dragon form, which was that of a humongous red dragon who descended onto the 1st Floor, causing all of the inhabitants of the 1st Floor to scream in panic and fear because many of them thought that the dragon had come to kill all of them.

This was a pretty natural reaction because Zaldidraax, as mighty Legendary Level Red Dragon, was subconsciously releasing bits of his Dragon Aura mixed with the passive racial ability Dragon Fear, which was very effective on the more weak-willed individuals.

Straightly, Zaldidraax went to the place where the Dimensional Pathway to the Midnight World was located. The Dimensional Pathway, which was connecting the Tower with the Midnight World, was already turned into some kind of semi-fortress, as the greenskins of the Bloodtooth Tribe built there entire industrial war machine and fortresses to support their endeavor in the war.

The entire area was currently swarming with Orks, as the Bloodtooth Tribe was now commencing their invasion of that world. Not only Orks but also other subspecies of the greenskins, such as Trolls, some Ogres and of course, shitton of goblins.

'Ants.'

Zaldidraax thought when he looked at the Orks running here and there, as they were pouring into the dimensional pathway in tens of thousands, even the weakest greenskin who was entering the place was at least Peak Iron-Tier, but those were mainly the goblins.

Orks who were participating in this quest for power were stronger. Even the weakest ones were of the Steel-Tier, while there were other species of the Greenskins, like some Trolls, Hobgoblins, and there were Ogres.

On top of that, Zaldidraax saw even a few Legendary Level Orks, but they were weak; from his point of view, he could kill them in one swipe of his tail, and they would be turned into meat paste. They were no different for him compared to the weak Iron-Tier Orks, as any of them would be killed by one swipe of his tail.

The ongoing fight and war in the Midnight World were going on for about one week or so; it was surprising as the denizens of the Midnight World managed to hold back the Orkoids for several days straight in the first days of the invasion.

An immeasurable number of the greenskins were torn to shreds by the advanced weaponry made by the nations of the Midnight World, but soon enough, they were slowly overwhelmed by the Orks.

That was due to the strategy employed by the Orks, as the first ones to enter the Midnight World were the weakest ones, only up to the Bronze-Tier included. And there were only a very few of the Bronze-Tier individuals they sent because they wanted to grasp the exact strength of the Midnight World.

Even the fact that they have managed to stall the green tides for so long was an achievement on its own and proved the terrifying advancement of the technology in the Midnight World. Holding back the hordes of Greenskins, even if the strongest was only Bronze-Tier was not something that anyone could state.

After the Orks had gauged the complete level of technology in the Midnight World, they started sending the heavy hitters there, as countless Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Greenskins poured into the dimensional pathway numbering in thousands, with several Legendary Level Orks, who were like unstoppable machines on the battlefield.

In front of their destructive might and abilities, the advanced weaponry of people from the Midnight World suddenly lost its momentum, and soon enough, the immeasurable numbers of the greenskins started flowing out, taking out the territories for themselves and causing carnage and destruction as they knew it.

Looking at the Orks marching beneath him, Zaldidraax opened his huge jaws, and an enormous tsunami of the dragon fire spewed out as it burned down everything in its path, turning all Orks into the ash, no matter if it was just Iron-Tier grunt or even Legendary Level Orks.

Indiscriminately, all of them were turned into ash, as they were killed in not even one second. Releasing a huge dragon roar, Zaldidraax entered the dimensional pathway, going to the Midnight World.

***

Midnight World, on the other side of the Dimensional Pathway.

Where the eye could see, one could notice thousands of greenskins everywhere; Orks from all Clans of the Bloodtooth Tribe were already firmly in control of the entrance to the Tower as they built some crude fortifications over the Dimensional Pathway to the Tower and Midnight World.

On the other hand, the Goblins were working hard in building the fortifications or were heading towards the other locations to act as scouts to obtain more information on the area where they were located in.

While the defenders of the Midnight World, called Midnight Defense Initiative, fought well against the Orks, they were not a match for them; when the Orks brought up their stronger ones, soon enough, countless territories already fell into the hands of the Bloodtooth Tribe.

But in the end, their technology was not that advanced to the point of killing Silver-Tier Orkoids, not to mention even stronger and more powerful Gold-Tier ones. While this was the Mana-Less World, for the Orks, it wasn't that much of a problem because of their natural predispositions were aimed in the different direction.

If it were any other race, especially the ones who were close to the Mana, they would need to carry out various preparations for the subsequent invasion and bring with them tons of Mana Crystals, but for the Orks, this thing didn't really matter.

Orks were a race that was focused on their physical strength; they were not casters or magicians, and their usage of Mana was more in lines of physical enhancements and so on, not casting spells; because of that, they could technically fight even in the Mana-Less World with only slightly lowered output, but that was all.

So even in this enviroment, the Orks and other greenskins could exhibit their combat capabilities to their fullest potential without any kind of restraint, as the presence of being in the Mana-Less World could be a maximally minor hindrance for the Orks and the green tide.

Another terrifying aspect of the Orks was their adaptability because they could adapt to any situation given enough time. It was noted that Orks were present in countless worlds across the Cosmos and living in a myriad of environments. Starting from the ordinary ones to volcanic worlds or worlds filled with poisonous swamps that would kill ordinary Legendary powerhouses within a few hours, but Okrs prevailed anywhere they were.

The entire Midnight World consisted of several supercontinents, exactly five of them, which were divided between the five superpowers of the entire world. The five hegemons of the Midnight World were the Nofrena Empire, Sarid Republic, United Nations of Prayn Terish, Cadias Federation, and Aufin Commonwealth.

Aside from these enormous landmasses, there existed small subcontinents or islands, but those were, in some way, always connected to one of the big 5. Of the five Nofrena Empire was the strongest due to its highly militaristic nature, while the United Nations of Pray Terish had the largest territory, and the Sarid Republic was technologically more advanced compared to the rest of the big five.

When Zaldidraax exited the Dimensional Pathway, the Orks panicked, but he ignored them and flew away; he was not interested in the Orks anymore when he found out that they were pathetically weak, so rather chose to find some nice spot for a nap, and wait until the big names arrived.

It would be only a matter of time before others with similar aims like him would arrive, especially those Cultists or people from the Calamity Church, but before that, he needed to put down the Soul Gathering Spell Formation somewhere so that he could accomplish his mission.

For the Hall of Kadath, souls were crucial resources, as they were used as sacrifices to the Outer Gods, and in return, the person sacrificing them could obtain a lot of benefits from the Outer Gods. That was why the souls were crucial, and for example, Devil and Daemons Cultists worked on the same principle as their patrons grew by consuming souls, and because of that, they always fought with each other for the souls.

Meanwhile, the people from the Calamity Church just wanted to harvest negative energy that was created in events like wars, conquests, or genocides. Still, even they wouldn't say no to the free souls that were lingering between realms of living and dead. The Red Dragon Cardinal already eagerly anticipated their arrival at the Midnight World because he could finally have some worthy opponent to fight against after a long time.

Zaldidraax flew around the Midnight World for some time until he located a perfect place for him to lay down the Soul Gathering Spell Formation, and at the same time, he could also lay down here and take a short nap.

It was the highest peak on one of the supercontinents, located in the Sarid Republic territory, one of the five superpowers of the Midnight World. Zaldidraax, still in his dragon form, landed down at the mountain; looking around, he found a cave, and he started shrinking down, turning back to his humanoid form.

As he turned down back to his humanoid form, he started placing down the Soul Gathering Spell Formation in the deepest parts of the cave so that it could be very well hidden; of course, he was taking other precautions in case it was found by someone, like stretching very powerful wards to keep the intruders out of it.

After the wards were erected, Zaldidraax turned back to his dragon form and went to sleep, planning to wake up only after something interesting happened in the Midnight World, as right now, the things happening were pretty boring to him.

Only Orkish Legendaries were present, and those were not worthy of mentioning. If it were the Ork Warbosses from the top Floors or from their Principal World, then Zaldidraax would jump at the opportunity to fight them, but these ones were just a bunch of weak Legendaries; some of them were barely newly advanced.

Even the self-proclaimed tyrant of the 1st Floor, Ork Boss Gurnish, was just an Advanced Stage Legendary, so nothing special in his eyes. Probably he could withstand one of his weakest attacks before he would be crushed to meat paste, but such was the outcome of the fight between Legendaries where the Level disparity was too great.

Contrary to the Mortal Tier, in the Legendary Level, even the difference of one Level could be game-changing, as the power-up, brought by the Leveling Up even once, was too great, like comparing heaven and earth together.

***

Somewhere in the Midnight World, undisclosed location, HQ of the Midnight Defense Initiative.

The Midnight Defense Initiative was an alliance created by all of the superpowers of the Midnight World, the Nofrena Empire, Sarid Republic, United Nations of Prayn Terish, Cadias Federation, and Aufin Commonwealth.

The purpose of the Midnight Defense Initiative was to fight against the invading species, whom they managed to identify as the Orks. It was never a threat never seen before, and thus, an unlikely alliance between the members of the Big 5 of the Midnight World was created.

Right now, at the undisclosed location, the five heads of their respective states were having a discussion about the recent developments on the battlefield. Nothing looked very good for them, but there were still hopes and they still had some trump cards in their sleeves to play.

Only five people were present in the room: the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire, the President of the Sarid Republic, the President of the United Nations of Prayn Terish, the High Chancellor of the Cadias Federation, and the Prime Minister of the Aufin Commonwealth.

"We are losing more and more territories to this green menace, and soon, the entire Sharrena Subcontinent will fall to them."

Stated a middle-aged man wearing a neat military uniform, which seemed to be very utilitarian with a sharp and straightforward style, together with the hat; he gave the feeling of an Officer, though he was the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire.

The Emperor of the Nofrena Empire was a soldier for his entire life before becoming an Emperor; he went through countless battlefields and wars, fights and battles. And due to that, he was the only person who recognized the situation from the start as a fight that seemed almost impossible to win.

"We should deploy the Anti-Magic Bombs onto the Sharrena Subcontinent; with a huge enough explosion, it is highly possible that this Dimensional Pathway leading to this so-called Tower will be destabilized and will crumble apart."

Proposed the elderly man, with long white air, wearing a white suit, bearing the insignia of the Sarid Republic, the most advanced nation in terms of technology in the entire Midnight World.

"And then what? Anti-Matter is extremely destructive; it could easily affect other places, not to mention we would be dooming the entire Subcontinent to its doom with all of its inhabitants."

Shouted the Prime Minister of the Aufin Commonwealth, who was a middle-aged woman with long brown hair wearing a business suit. Aufin Commonwealth was always more pacifistic, not prone to solving things with brute force, such as the Nofrena Empire or even the Sarid Republic.

"I agree with President Halir; this is our best chance."

The Emperor of the Nofrena Empire supported the President of the Sarid Republic in his proposal because he realized that this was their best chance to solve this conflict; if the Dimensional Pathways crumbled, they would have won... or at least that was what they thought.

In the end, the remaining three relented to the proposal of the Emperor of the Nofrena Empire and the President Sarid Republic to use their most advanced and destructive weaponry on the phenomenon they identified as the Dimensional Pathway because in their current situation, it was their best bet for the survival.

Even though the Anti-Matter Bombs were extremely destructive, all of them could see that their current situation was grave, and they were running out of options they could take against the creatures from the realms of fantasy stories.

Even though they proved that their advanced weaponry was effective against the weaker enemies, from the information they gathered, even their strongest weapons were effective against only Bronze-Tier individuals, and even then, it would require a lot of effort to dispose of such enemies.

Unfortunately for them, after the Greenskins have tested the waters, they started sending in powerful Silver-Tier and Gold-Tier Orks, Trolls and Orgres, where their weaponry showed little to no effect, as the supernatural creatures were way stronger than their gauss rifles and experimental laser weapons.