Gremory was excited to test on the undead, but right now he had nobody to test it. He had just two medium-size mitre crystals on his dimensional bag and now he was facing the other crystal.
'If in the place of the Oracle were a useful abyss creature I could use it right now...' Gremory thought while passing his hand over the Hanzor body rune, but then he realized the new name "Qetur".
'huh, another one then? What abyss creature would be this time?'
Gremory started inscribing the same runes on the other medium-size mitre crystal for hours without stopping, just like a child wanting to play with his new toy.
'I think you deserve a name too little one, I will call you Dark Crystal.'
With the dark crystal in his hand, he summoned Qetur, but instead of a monster figure, a humanoid one appeared. It was an orc with two battle axes in his hand and dark paint on his face while wearing an armor of leather very similar to Gremory armor, prioritizing agility instead of protection.
"An orc?" Gremory spoke confused, he was waiting for some kind of monster with three heads again.
But different from what he was thinking of abyss creatures, like just brainless monsters. The orc replied and using the common language.
"Yes master, I was impressed with your skills after facing the master on the battlefield and then I battled for centuries in the abyss to be recognized as a true abyss creature by the darkness."
"You fought against me? I probably would remember an orc-like you."
"I was leading thousands of orcs against your little army, but I underestimated you and then you obliterated me with your great magic. I recognize my mistake of going against the great master and to correct it, I offered my ax to the abyss liege as soon as darkness recognized me as a true abyss creature."
"Wait, you were the one leading that segment of the orc army and just got killed by the explosion of my spell?"
"Yes, master" Qetur replied while kneeling.
"And here was I thinking that you guys were just too stupid to notice that trap, but then there was nobody commanding because the commander died... And what do you mean about true abyss creatures? You are one of the strongest ones?"
"No, master. True abyss creatures are just the ones that were recognized by the darkness as creatures with growth potential."
"I see, if you were one of the commanders then you probably have information of the orc army, right?"
"It was centuries ago for me master. But yes, I remember somethings."
"That's good enough for me, follow me."
All this time Gremory was in his tent and was already night by the time he finished everything. Qetur was not like the other orcs, he was a little taller than Gremory and his weapons and armor were clear signs of an experienced warrior. He was looking more like a monster than an orc with his eyes shining in the darkness. The entire camp that was preparing to leave the next morning was surprised when Gremory left his tent with Qetur and Cerberus by his side, but everything fitted the rumors so there was nothing new for them to talk about.
But everyone started staring ready to attack at the moment he entered Geoffrey's tent, where the leaders were now reunited talking about the next moves.
"Gremory? What is this?" Geoffrey asked while drawing his dagger.
"Calm the fuc* down. This guy right here has information that may be of some help." Gremory spoke while pointing to Qetur.
"You captured an orc? It is dangerous to leave him loose." One of the leaders in the tent replied.
"He is one of the commanders, but don't worry, he is dead and the dead are always loyal to me." Gremory replied in an arrogant tone, to fit the cold atmosphere in the room.
"But he knows the common language?" Geoffrey asked confused.
One of the big problems of this battlefield was that the orcs don't know the common language and neither the humans know their language, so we would not be able to interrogate any prisoners.
Gremory was thinking that Qetur knew the common language because of the connection between them. But the reality was different from what he thought.
"Some warriors of my kind have the capacity of getting some abilities and skills from the preys we feed on. I killed one of your warriors on the battlefield and I fed on him. That's how I know your common language now." Qetur spoke, but nobody in that room was surprised. This orc skill had already been theorized and has now been confirmed.
Qetur shared all he remembered about the army, their leader's name was Thurius and he alone was stronger than hundreds of orcs. He has the same ability as Qetur and he used to accumulate power for decades and the orcs started to grow much more with his leadership, so much that the forest was not enough to provide food for them. So Thurius decided to move into human territory.
The orc army is too big to pass through the forest on the border, so Thurius created segments of the army to cut down the trees to make a passage. And different from what Geoffrey thought, they were not in a hurry since they had storages full of food, enough to feed the army for months.
This was very bad news since Lathrium was not prepared for months of siege, and with an army so big they could just wait for everyone in the city to starve till death. The Empire could decide that was just not worth the trouble and let the city die.
The organization of the city as Polis was a big problem at this time because independence can be very difficult to maintain when you are attacked and your allies don't see any gain in helping.
Fortunately, Qetur remembered how that camp was set and where was most of the food. Also, he knew where was located Thurius.
Now the adventurers had a chance, in a 3 stage plan that Geoffrey come up with that information. Geoffrey will infiltrate the camp of the orc army and will try to kill Thurius while his rogue squad will burn their storage of food. In this meantime, Gremory will lead the remaining adventurers to a full assault on the orc army, only to distract them until they finish the job inside the camp.