GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

It was a massacre. They were sitting ducks under the bombardment of the orcs. That is good enough reason to give up. But still, some men didn't give up.

There were some men who refused to accept defeat despite the overwhelming loss. They strapped their explosives to their bodies and rode horses out of the fortress towards the orc host.

They were determined to bring their gunpowder to the enemies at all costs. It was a valiant sacrifice on their part. It would have been worthy of songs if they hadn't been shot down by arrows the size of spears.

The part of their body that was touched by the arrows shattered and exploded in gore. Even the horses beneath them were not spared. The horse and rider were nailed to the ground when they got within range of the orcish archers.

Their suicide run ended there. The fortress followed soon after. It was in ruins by the time the orcs reached the location of the suicide bombers.

Most of the brave humans had died. But there was a woman who managed to hold despite missing the lower half of her torso. She ignited her explosives. It created an explosion that ignited the other explosives.

A huge cloud of explosion appeared in the midst of the orc chiefs. It lifted them up from the ground and smashed them down to the earth.

The explosion was so great that it managed to burn the eyebrows and hair of these Tier 3 Orc chiefs. It was a great success on the part of the humans. It was the best that they could achieve.

The chiefs dusted themselves off and mounted their war beasts again. They resumed the march into the territory of the humans. Nothing else happened until they reached the ruins of the fortress.

A priest came out from the army carrying an altar. The altar was placed in front of the ruins. Then a ceremony was held to dedicate it to the 9 Crowns. Some human soldiers that were still alive or had escaped were captured and sacrificed to the 9 Crowns on the altar.

It was a glorious day for the orcs. They had just acquired a glorious victory. But the day was far from over.

A priest declared to the army, "Hear the words of the 9 Crowns; this here marks the beginning of a new era for orcs. We then henceforth march towards the capital of the Thames kingdom and uproot it from these lands. Kill every soldier and human that resists. Enslave the rest to be used to build a glorious empire of orcs."

"The 9 Crowns has said so. Victory shall be ours. Glory to the 9 Crowns."

The orcs roared in glee. "Glory to the 9 Crowns! Glory to the 9 Crowns! Glory..."

It was a great shout that heralded the downfall of the Thames kingdom. Then the orcs began their march to retake their homeland.

They slaughtered everyone that raised a blade against them. They enslaved those who were willing to be subservient. They put them in chains of servitude and put them to the labor of building an empire for the orcs.

These events didn't go unnoticed. Many gods had been tracking the activities of the 9 Crowns. As the most powerful god in the Northern Realm, it is important to keep an eye on their actions in the mortal realm.

So the large army that had been accumulating in front of the human fortress for a while didn't escape their notice. Neither did the attacking of the fortress and its destruction evade their attention.

Now that things had gotten to this level, there was no going back anymore. A spark had been lit in a forest to start an all-consuming forest fire.

The gods couldn't hold back anymore. A war against the human race began in earnest. It was not personal. It was just business.

Every race that had been pushed back, including the giants, the goblins, the ogres, and the elves, rose into action and finally fought back. The Thames kingdom is not the only one that will be going down soon.

The humans were smart and proud in their intelligence. When mana left all the races of the world and they lost their epics, legends, and demigods, very few could accept the loss and look for other options.

Most races were crying day after day for the return of their gods. They were set on ancient tradition and refused to let it go. But the humans found strength in gunpowder.

Their intelligence, fertility, and adaptability helped them to overwhelm the other races and push them aside for dominance. The success of their race gave them pride that blinded them to the power of gods.

They even forgot about the gods and called them superstition. The elves are also intelligent, but they didn't forget about their gods. In fact, they remember the god of nature that they used to worship and refused to accept any other gods when the gods returned.

It is because they had a long life span and long memory. Their history was never forgotten like those of the humans.

The humans wrote down their history, but they still forgot it. So they fought against the gods when the gods returned. They killed their oracles and priests. They felt good about it when the fake entities calling themselves gods ran away in defeat. That mistake has come to bite them back now.

Fortunately, they are smart and adaptable. Reality has proven that they are ants compared to the power of the gods. They can see this clearly after being besieged from every side.

So they went crying for their gods. The more the orcs wreaked havoc, the higher their need for gods rose. The more enemies besieged them, the more they cried out for their gods. But 9 Crowns was not going to have any of it.

He planned to uproot the problem by the very root and remove any potential problem by destroying every resistance before it forms.