Chapter 371 Alpha Orc After walking for a little while longer, Rothis and the other two regained their stamina for the most part, but their bodies were still too tired to fight again.
Soon after, Lyrian noticed some differences in the normal stone walls ahead of them.
Instead of plain stone, large pillars of wood decorated the cavern.
Soon enough, Lyrian saw troops of orcs nonchalantly sleeping near the sides of the cave.
They hugged their weapons as they snoozed, but Lyrian didn't care to wake them up.
First, he wanted to explore where that ominous energy was coming from.
'I'll deal with the grubs after...'
Before long, the more organized passage split into various forks, but the one in the middle still remained the largest.
It was also where the dark energy was coming from, so Lyrian and the others continued straight.
Before long, they came across a crowd of orcs with their backs turned over 500 feet away.
As Lyrian approached them, with Rothis and the others behind him, the orcs slowly turned to face him.
As he neared a few hundred more feet, the orcs still didn't move, simply looking at them.
Lyrian saw in front of the orcs was something else, a wooden structure that looked to be a seat on elevated stone.
'A throne? Yes... that must be the Domain Alpha's throne. The one releasing all of this energy, I assume.' Lyrian thought, with the dark energy now far more thick than before.
As Lyrian arrived at where the orcs were, he noticed that they looked a bit bigger than the ones from before.
They also wore better armor and had longer hair poking through their helmets.
There were only about 15 of these orcs scarcely scattered in front of the throne, but none of them attacked Lyrian when he stopped just behind them.
As soon as he stopped and stood there, a deep, guttural voice sounded from far down.
"Ooooor Graa."
As this dominant voice echoed out, the orcs slowly moved out of the way and made space for Lyrian and the others to move forward.
Hesitantly, Lyrian led the way, walking past the orcs as they all stared at him and the more scared adventurers.
Soon they made it in front of the crowd and Lyrian saw three orcs on top of an elevated area of cave floor.
Two orcs that were white in color--unlike all of the other orcs--stood beside a white orc sitting on the giant wooden throne.
The white orc in the middle differed even from those beside it, having crimson eyes and a necklace made of small skulls.
'Human skulls...' Lyrian mused, his brows furrowing. The necklace had a jade in the middle of it, one that oozed a dark energy that was so condensed that Lyrian could feel it in the air.
'Not the orc... no, this energy is coming from that pendant.' Lyrian mused, slightly puzzled.
'Now that I think about it, it feels like the same energy that idiot from the bar used at me...' He thought as the Domain Alpha stood up.
As he did, the other orcs on the ground backed up a few dozen feet before dropping to one knee and bowing their heads.
The two next to the Alpha also bowed to him, as his right hand reached forward.
He abruptly moved his neck, cracking it once before returning it to normal and speaking, "Huumans... yoouu come to slaay me?" It said with a voice so scratchy that it sounded like it could rip a piece of paper apart.
A hush fell over the cavern as Lyrian retorted, "That's right."
As soon as he said this, the quiet room suddenly burst into orc laughter.
It frightened Rothis and the others as Lyrian's eyes slowly scanned the room.
He faced the Alpha orc once again, who was now grinning at Lyrian's words.
"Myyy nameee... Og!" It spoke valiantly, as the other orcs wowed at their leader's impressive name.
Lyrian looked around slightly confused, 'Is that name so impressive?' He mused. Sᴇaʀᴄh the NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
"Youuu namee?"
Lyrian didn't hesitate to reply, "Lyrian."
After a short pause, the Alpha suddenly broke out into a peal of throaty laughter, and the other orcs followed suit.
"Lyy--rii--ann! Takes mee 10 yearrss justt too sssspeak ittt." The Alpha orc exclaimed as Lyrian raised a brow.
'Did it just crack a joke?' He mused as Cylline and Solvir were equally as baffled. Rothis on the other hand found it a bit funny himself.
"Thee weakk... theeyyy havveee looooooooong namees... the strong... theeey haaavee shoort, powwerrrfull namees."
"Is that right?" Lyrian retorted as the Alpha turned to one of the white orcs beside it.
"Youuu... your namee."
The orc quickly replied, "Rooc!"
The Alpha turned to the other orc beside it and asked the same question.
It also didn't hesitate to answer, "Uuug!"
After this, the Alpha turned to the entire crowd and asked, "Yoouur Namees!"
They all retorted at once their names with loud voices.
"Grook!"
"Haag!"
"Braak"
"Grag!"
'I see... so these underlings have 5 to 4-letter names. Those two white ones have 4 letter names, and this big one skips 3, and goes straight to having a 2 letter name.'
At that moment, Lyrian decided to speak again, "My name... I lied when I said it was Lyrian."
The orcs quieted down as the Alpha confusedly looked at Lyrian, "Ohh? Thenn... your namee?"
"O." Lyrian retorted with a smirk on his face.
As soon as he said this, all of the orcs suddenly exclaimed sounds of impression and awe.
Even the Alpha raised its eyebrows, "Noo... it can nott beee.... for youu... nott strongerrr thann mee!" It shouted out of anger.
"Are you sure about that? How about we test it out?"
As soon as Lyrian finished saying this, the Alpha grunted, leaping up into the air and landing right in front of Lyrian with a loud thud.
"Grrr..." He growled, lowering near Lyrian and getting right in front of his face before speaking, "Boowww... weakling..."
Lyrian immediately scoffed at this, but at that moment the dark energy from the beast's pendant swam out, quickly enveloping him.
At once he felt immense pressure bog down on his shoulders, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise.
However... he wasn't going to bow down to another creature--an inferior creature--so easily.
"No... you bow, beast." Lyrian spoke with ice-cold eyes and piercing gaze, as the bloodlust of all his creatures suddenly erupted from his pupils.