The Record of Orc Civilization - Chapter 417: Joy

BOOM!

The starless night sky, once shrouded in darkness, suddenly blazed with blinding light—as if the sun had forgotten its schedule and risen in the middle of the night. A powerful wave of mana rippled through the air, slamming into Artur’s body and nearly throwing him out of his chair.

His eyes widened as he felt heat sting against his skin, even though the source of the explosion was far away. The party that had been filled with laughter only moments ago turned into a sea of chaos. Nobles who had never smelled the stench of war before stood frozen, as if the strings controlling them had been suddenly cut.

But Artur, who could now be called a war veteran, forced himself to regain control.

His priority now was saving his family. Whatever else was happening could wait.

“Father! Father! Father!” Artur shouted, trying to break through the chaos.

Gilbert was the closest person to him at that moment. But the massive explosion had thrown their unprepared bodies to the ground. Gilbert was now struggling to rise from where he had fallen. His face was pale, and Artur could see blood trickling from his nose.

Although Gilbert was also a mage, his rise had come only through mana potions. Moreover, with Artur and the Valya family protecting him, Gilbert had never truly faced a dangerous situation like this. City guards mostly dealt with petty street troublemakers rather than hardened criminals.

So it was only natural that Gilbert had no chance to brace himself before the shockwave hurled him away.

Artur quickly checked Gilbert’s condition and found that his father was merely dizzy from the impact. But before he could sigh in relief, he suddenly felt the mana inside Gilbert’s body begin to surge wildly out of control.

Artur’s brows shot up. His sense of unease intensified just before he felt the same thing happening inside his own body.

“What?!”

Artur immediately focused, trying to rein in the mana that had suddenly turned chaotic within him.

Above them, the sky was filling with black smoke, and terrified screams echoed across the garden. The party that had once been full of laughter had become an ocean of panic. His breathing quickened. He could see that the same thing was happening to Gilbert—only far worse.

But he couldn’t worry about Gilbert right now.

The mana in his body felt as though it was trying to escape. If he didn’t stop it immediately, he wouldn’t be able to cast spells for quite some time until his mana reserves recovered.

“What the hell is happening? Who is attacking us?”

Gilbert quickly realized that this incident had been planned. The enemy had taken advantage of the city being poorly guarded because of the party. Their first target must have been the weapons depot.

From the direction of the explosion earlier, Artur could conclude that Heles’s main armory had been successfully destroyed by the attackers.

The real problem was the poison currently affecting them.

A poison capable of throwing the mana inside one’s body into chaos had to be part of the enemy’s plan as well. With all the mages gathered at this party, the enemy could crush their resistance in one blow.

“Father, hold on… I’ll help you in a moment!”

Artur tried to rouse Gilbert, who had already fallen unconscious. He could feel that every last bit of mana inside Gilbert’s body had already been expelled. Clicking his tongue in frustration, Artur returned his focus to controlling the mana within himself.

Although this poison was extremely deadly to mages, its effects were not as severe on high-level Constellation Mages.

From what Artur could sense, a Level 3 Constellation Mage would need several hours of meditation to escape the poison’s effects.

As for him—

It would only take a few seconds to regain control of the mana in his body.

Artur even had time to observe the situation around him.

He saw a noble who was a Level 3 Constellation Mage struggling desperately to control the mana within his body. Cold sweat dripped from the man’s forehead, yet he remained focused on stabilizing his mana. It seemed this noble might have once learned from war veterans—or perhaps had even fought in battle himself—unlike the other pampered nobles.

But suddenly, a flash streaked through the darkness and sliced across the noble’s neck.

His eyes widened in disbelief and refusal to accept what had happened, before blood burst violently from his throat.

Behind the lifeless body of the noble stood a woman Artur recognized.

The pale human skin she once had was gone, replaced by a charcoal-black complexion. Even so, Artur could still recognize her face.

And the fact that he recognized her was exactly what made him unable to believe it.

The woman was one of the maids who had long served Anna.

“You—”

Before Artur could finish speaking, the woman lunged forward with her drawn sword.

The hairs on the back of Artur’s neck stood on end as killing intent spread from her like a parasitic vine.

Before the blade could pierce his throat, Artur tilted his body to the side. With a sharp stomp of his foot, he rose instantly to his feet. His knee shot upward in a swift strike that slammed hard into the woman’s stomach.

Before she could even cry out in pain, Artur’s hand had already filled with mana that quickly transformed into crackling electricity. Like a sharpened spear, his hand pierced through the woman’s chest and shattered her heart.

Artur’s experience fighting on the front lines had trained his body to move purely by reflex and instinct. In a single moment, he had already neutralized the woman.

But before he could confirm her identity, the ground beneath his feet trembled.

Artur’s eyes widened, and he immediately leapt backward.

From the spot where he had been standing, a spear of earth erupted violently from the ground. Had Artur been even a fraction slower, his body would have been skewered.

Before Artur could chant a counter-spell, a gust of wind brushed against his cheek.

He ducked instantly.

A flaming fist roared past above his head.

Artur kicked the man who had suddenly attacked him and used the impact to push himself five steps backward.

His eyes locked onto the attacker.

It was someone he had seen before.

“Arion!”

One of Anna’s guards who had accompanied her from the Wilwatikta Kingdom.

Another figure appeared beside that arion—another of Anna’s guards.

If Artur still couldn’t figure out who their enemy was after seeing this, then he deserved to die here.

“Does Wilwatikta want war with humanity!?” Artur shouted, his eyes filled with hatred—

—but also excitement.

Even Artur himself couldn’t fully understand what he was feeling. There was hatred for the arion who had betrayed them… yet there was also a thrill of joy.

Because now he could finally kill the disgusting creatures he had despised for so long.

Still, there was one thing he needed to confirm before killing these three revolting beings.

“Where is Anna? Did you capture her?”

The two guards did not answer. But the female servant glared at Artur with open hatred and disgust burning in her eyes.

“You are truly disgusting!” she spat. “Are you still deluding yourself about our queen? Humans like you are exactly why the Valkyrie never once regretted abandoning humanity.”

Artur ignored the hatred and disgust in the servant’s voice. His face darkened, filled with fury.

Yet the two guards—both asura—could sense something else through their Inner Eye.

Joy.

They could clearly feel the happiness radiating from Artur.

The realization made both asura frown.

“Bastards! What did you do to my sister?! I knew it from the start—you’re the ones who forced Anna to marry that pathetic, disgusting prince of yours!” Artur shouted, his voice filled with fervor.

The three arion flew into a rage upon hearing Artur’s delusional words. Not only did he harbor vile desires toward their queen, but he had also insulted their king.

“You bastard! I’ll shut that filthy mouth of yours forever!”

The Valkyrie lunged forward, both of her hands coated in hardened earth that had formed into two sharp spears. At the same time, the other two asura moved in from Artur’s right and left, forming a pincer attack.

“I WILL SAVE ANNA!!!” Artur roared.

The battle between the four of them began.

Although Artur was outnumbered three to one, he was far stronger. The two arion possessed strength roughly equivalent to Level 4 Constellation Mages, while the female servant was only a Level 3 Constellation Mage.

Artur, who had already reached Level 5 Constellation Mage, could defeat them easily.

The problem was that his three enemies were extremely cautious and displayed remarkable coordination. Every time Artur tried to focus his attacks on one opponent, the others would immediately intervene from different angles.

Even so, it was only a matter of time before Artur defeated all three of them.

And that seemed to be exactly what they wanted.

To stall him. To keep him pinned here so he couldn’t help elsewhere.

But Artur didn’t care about the enemy’s plan.

He didn’t even care about Gilbert’s fate, despite his father’s body lying nearby.

At that moment, Artur was multitasking.

He was fighting three opponents at once, trying to stabilize the mana within his body that was still somewhat unstable, and casting a search spell to locate Anna’s presence.

A few minutes later, he finally sensed her.