Ironclaw

“Ironclaw, you shall serve as commander. Lead a force of ten thousand and find those monsters as quickly as possible. The God of War has decreed that they must be utterly crushed before they can recover their numbers.”

“By the command of the God of War! I will purge every last one of those monsters!”

The beastkin High Chief, Ironclaw, though lower in rank than Gorzan, was likewise a loyal servant of the deity Uria. He was a warrior possessed of immense loyalty and fighting spirit.

Soon, he departed with his troops, traveling day and night across the vast plains.

His goal was to completely eradicate the ant colony before they could recover their strength.

“How could this be?!”

But when Ironclaw finally arrived, all he saw were the skeletal remains of corpses that had been picked clean and hauled away by the ant colony, along with mountains of ruined, unrecoverable equipment.

The ant colony had long since detected their approach and departed.

“These evil monsters! We must catch up to them and slaughter them all, leaving none alive!”

In his extreme rage, Ironclaw ordered the entire army to accelerate their pursuit of the ant colony.

Even if those ignorant clansmen had different beliefs and did not recognize the deity Uria, they were still their brethren.

Moreover, these brethren—who were meant to be persuaded, civilized, and united to build a great empire across the plains in the future—had met such a miserable end. It was impossible for him not to be furious.

“High Chief, their numbers are indeed small. They have not yet recovered their strength!”

Just as human mages used familiars for wide-area scouting, beastkin shamans possessed the ability to sense tremors in the earth and the flow of ley lines.

Through this perception, the shaman confirmed that the migratory colony had not yet recovered its forces. Upon hearing this, Ironclaw nodded heavily.

“We must not give them any time to catch their breath! We will avenge our fallen brethren and carve the name of the great God of War into the very bones of these monsters!”

Ironclaw drew the spear from his waist and roared, instantly sending the morale of all the beastkin under his command soaring.

The consecutive days of pursuit had left them weary, but their fighting spirit remained entirely undiminished.

“High Chief! Look over there! A group of those monsters is attacking a village!”

“Those beasts...! Hurry, save the village!”

Just then, they discovered that the ant colony had dispatched a hunting squad to attack a nearby beastkin village, and their anger flared instantly.

The villages under the defeated Gobad had already lost much of their defensive capabilities due to the large number of warriors mobilized for the war.

The villages that failed to escape in time were being overrun by the ant colony, facing imminent destruction.

“Charge!”

Ironclaw immediately issued the order to attack, mounting a steppe wolf as massive as himself and charging forward at full speed.

A searing battle intent surged through his entire body.

This was the blessing bestowed upon him by the God of War, Uria: the Heart of Combat.

Any beastkin who understood the value of this blessing would never run counter to this will.

“Where do you think you're going, you bastards!”

Ironclaw brandished his spear, instantly skewering the head of a scythe-bladed mutated ant.

This hunting squad raiding the village was a small unit dispatched by the migratory colony to harvest as much prey as possible.

They had almost overrun the poorly defended village, but Ironclaw's sudden arrival with the beastkin forces instantly triggered a fierce skirmish.

“Drive the enemy out and save our brethren!”

Ironclaw directed his men, surrounding the hunting squad of only about a hundred ants.

Though warriors continuously fell and were thrown from their mounts under the toxic explosions of the bombardier ants, the slashes of the mantis mutants with scythe-like legs on their backs, and the charges of the gladiator ants, they quickly suppressed the hunting squad through sheer numbers.

Realizing there was no hope of escape, a gladiator ant charged frantically at Ironclaw, determined to take at least one more life with it.

“Do these things simply not know the meaning of fear?”

Ironclaw looked at it with cold eyes, raised his spear, and threw it with all his might.

This spear was by no means an ordinary weapon.

It was a sacred relic bestowed by the deity Uria, personally handed to him by Gorzan.

The spear instantly impaled the gladiator ant's body, then automatically flew back into his hand.

Ultimately, they successfully defended the village before it could be completely destroyed.

“My son, along with all the warriors who went to war with High Chief Gobad, none of them returned. I thought we were surely doomed today as well. We truly do not know how to repay this immense kindness.”

The rescued village chief, his face deeply weary and looking as though he had aged several years, bowed deeply to Ironclaw.

Seeing this, Ironclaw seized the opportunity to extend an invitation, hoping they would submit to the command of Uria, the God of War.

“To stand against these evil monsters sent by the Outer God, we must all unite. However, rather than living in constant fear here, why not take your clansmen and enter the embrace of the great God of War?”

“You... are you truly willing to give us such an opportunity?”

“Of course.”

Seeing the chief weary but willing to accept the arrangement, Ironclaw raised the holy spear granted by the God of War and smiled.

Gathering their brethren and expanding their forces in this manner was precisely what Uria wished to see most. And as long as he accumulated merits, he would naturally receive corresponding rewards.

“High Chief, all the villages in this vicinity must be under threat from those monsters.”

“We shall rescue them all and guide them into the embrace of the God of War. At the same time, we will pursue those monsters to the very end and eliminate them entirely.”

Watching the villagers pack their belongings and herd their livestock as they evacuated southwest toward the gathering grounds of Uria's forces, Ironclaw swore a solemn oath with a resolute expression.

He firmly believed that he represented justice—the true justice that would eradicate the evil enemy and save his brethren.

There was no better reason to rally morale and unite his people.

“You wish to join us?”

“Our clansmen have retreated to safety, but there are still many who failed to escape. We must go and rescue them.”

Several days had passed since Ironclaw's troops had appeared like saviors, rescuing one endangered village after another.

Those they rescued were not just the villagers remaining in the settlements.

Scattered remnants from the previous defeat and wandering warriors also began to join his ranks one by one.

“I also want to become a warrior recognized by the God of War, just like you, High Chief.”

“Very well! The God of War will always favor brave warriors!”

It was the same this time. Ironclaw looked at the young beastkin warrior who had approached him of his own accord and smiled.

Spirited young warriors were always the most precious resource.

As long as they survived and grew stronger, they would surely have the chance to climb to higher positions step by step.

For this was the exact philosophy that Uria, the God of War, repeatedly emphasized to his servants.

'We are already at twenty thousand. The numbers of those creatures are constantly growing, and so are ours.'

Set against the stage of the vast plains, this game of cat and mouse with the migratory colony continued.

The migratory colony, fleeing while buying time, continued to lay eggs, nurture larvae, and devour prey as they moved, constantly expanding the ant colony.

Meanwhile, the expeditionary force led by Ironclaw continuously absorbed scattered remnants and volunteer warriors, its scale nearly doubling.

The moment of the decisive battle was drawing closer step by step.

And the turning point occurred at the very moment torrential rain began to pour from the gloomy sky.