Stationed at Moon Shadow City was a Level 2 Mage named Lucas.

Duke knew this man; it was Lucas who welcomed him when he first arrived at Black Sail.

But since then, Duke hadn't seen Lucas again until on the Beastman Plane, when he finally saw this gaunt-faced man from afar.

Lucas had always lived in the City Lord's Mansion in Moon Shadow City, responsible for overseeing various affairs there, including mining excavation, production work at the Alchemy Factory, and transporting supplies to the front lines.

He never expected those beastmen to be so audacious, daring to come right underneath the City Lord's Mansion intending to blow it up.

It seems the beastmen have strong intelligence capabilities as well, knowing that relatively important individuals reside here.

Such a bombing attack posed no real threat to Lucas, but many slave creatures died in this attack.

Lucas immediately decided he couldn't just sit and wait; he needed to take the initiative to eliminate the orcs lurking around Moon Shadow City.

Due to a lack of manpower, Duke was also dispatched to a unit responsible for scouting the nearby areas for signs of orcs.

This unit comprised five Level 1 Mages and over seven hundred slave creatures, including three slaves with Level 1 lifeforce.

A unit of this scale need not worry about orc attacks, as those lurking orcs were neither numerous nor strong; otherwise, they wouldn't be sneaking around in the first place.

Duke had to suspend his life of honing skills at the Alchemy Factory once war status was declared, requiring him to follow orders.

Lucas surprisingly still remembered Duke and knew of Duke's connections with Thorn Holy Tower's Grace and Master Land, specifically assigning him to a relatively safe unit.

Duke promptly followed this unit, starting the patrol along a predetermined route, entering the nearby mountains.

The paths in the mountains were hard to find, and the numerous members of this unit formed a long line in the mountains.

Duke was positioned in the middle of the team, guarded by slave creatures both in front and back, with Dog-man Reed nearby.

As they delved deeper into the mountains, they started noticing signs of orc activity, clearly indicating their hiding within these mountains.

The team continued to probe, vowing to root out and eliminate the orcs hiding here.

Two hours passed, yet Duke and they still saw no trace of the orcs, so they began to rest on the spot.

At that moment, the surrounding space suddenly rippled.

"Not good! Spatial fluctuations! Spread out quickly!" A wizard immediately sensed the anomaly and cried out in alert.

Duke reacted swiftly, summoning black metallic sand to encase himself, rolling off a nearby cliff.

He didn't know what would happen next, but this choice and reaction followed his instincts.

In that moment, Duke felt death looming over him; only by rolling away did he have a slim chance of survival.

Moments later, the mountain space started to warp, like a crumpled parchment.

Countless slave creatures were sucked into the twisted space, either bursting into a rain of blood or being devoured into unknown realms.

Everything happened so fast; apart from a few Level 1 Mages and slave creatures who reacted in time, most of the troops were swallowed by the distorted space.

Half the mountain peak disappeared, seemingly sliced away by a giant sword, with the cut surface perfectly smooth.

This was the attack of a space-warping bomb, which swallowed most of the troops and half the mountain peak cleanly.

Duke tumbled down the slope, more precisely being propelled downwards by the metallic sand encasing him.

He maneuvered the metallic sand to propel his body down quickly.

This enabled him to narrowly escape the attack; had he been any slower, the merciless spatial tornado would have consumed him.

Soon after, hundreds of beastmen emerged from all around, attacking the surviving people.

No one had expected them to have a space-warping bomb and use it here.

The lost items from the Alchemy Factory previously didn't include a space-warping bomb, a weapon of this caliber is usually stored in specific locations.

These beastmen probably acquired the space-warping bomb from elsewhere and used it here, unable to transport it to the Greenfield Continent.

Having rolled to the foot of the mountain, Duke temporarily encountered no beastmen, though he knew he needed to quickly find a safe place to hide.

Numerous beastmen were dispersed around, just that none noticed him at the mountain's foot for now.

This was deep in the mountains, and Duke quickly recalled several good hiding spots along the way.

Nearby was a mining area, a well-developed, long-standing mine, with intricate underground tunnels.

Duke intended to scout the area, planning to hide there if no orcs were around, waiting for the chaos to subside.

This group of beastmen was just harassing; they wouldn't stay long.

Once the main force from Moon Shadow City arrived, they would inevitably be annihilated and have to retreat.

Duke enveloped himself in metallic sand, transforming into a shadow swiftly moving through the forest, quickly reaching the mine.

The mine appeared somewhat rundown, being an exhausted site long abandoned.

Duke surveyed the surroundings and, finding no signs of orc activity, dove into a mine shaft.

He navigated deeper along the tunnels, seeing no traces of recent activity, feeling increasingly assured.

Duke released two activated spirit birds on the surface, tasked with scouting the outside situation.

He twisted and turned through the complex decay of the tunnels, finally stopping in a very remote location.

The signs around showed it indeed had been a long time since anyone visited here.

Duke was temporarily safe inside, next having to wait for the other troops from Moon Shadow City to arrive.

The disturbance from the space-warping bomb was significant, surely drawing others' attention, leading them to come soon.

On the surface, several Level 1 Mages and Dog-man Reed were battling the green-skinned orcs, reaping orc lives one by one.

Ackman led the orderly orc assault, aiming to take out the Level 1 Mages, making the invaders deeply regretful.

However, he underestimated the wizards' strength, faced with bizarre, unending tactics, proving unattainable in a short time.

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