On the snow-covered desolate plain, a scrawny orc and an imposing white bear were fighting. I suppose the only reason the struggle was called a battle was for the sake of the one side's fight for survival. When the orc could no longer endure the blows and fell, the white bear opened its mouth wide to deliver the final strike, aiming for its opponent's head.
Two breaths later, when warm blood spilled onto the white snow, the bear no longer possessed its lower jaw. The scrawny orc, waiting for his death, was brought back to reality by a voice that reached his ear.
"What are you looking for here?" The owner of the voice was Alyon, son of the Great Orc Lord Cesuryürek. The orc, who barely escaped death, spoke, trembling.
"My Lord, I am an orc from the Pig Care Unit. I set out on a mission to become a hunter, got lost, and had to fight the white bear. Thank you for saving my life." The Pig Care Unit was a subsidiary of the supply section in the main tribe. Orcs who were physically and mentally inadequate were assigned to this unit; they weren't even given names. The only way to escape this situation was to prove oneself through hunting.
The orc, who expected to return to the mud and pig filth, stared in amazement at the knife plunged into the ground before him. "Take the knife and skin the bear. When you take its fur as a war trophy, you will receive your name."
The orc, who hugged Alyon's feet in tears upon hearing these words, said, "Alyon, my Lord, my life is yours from this day forward. I swear to serve you until I die."
Inside the tent, Alyon looked sadly at the orc who took the name Ayıboğan after the hunt and whom he had treated like a brother for twenty years. While experiencing melancholy with the memories of the first time he saw him, the events of the last time he saw him came to mind. Many shadows had appeared at the entrance of the cave where he and Mora were hiding. The only figure in this group of warriors from every race that looked familiar to him was Küçükdomuzcuk, the only person who knew the location of the cave.
After a long pursuit, Alyon had sent Küçükdomuzcuk back to the tribe to tell his father the location of this cave where they had thrown themselves, wounded. The scene he faced while waiting for help from his father was the orc he considered his brother bringing the killers who were pursuing them to him. He cried out in anger and disappointment, "How could you betray me?"
Tears streaming from Ayıboğan's eyes slid down his cheeks as he heard the sentence he had heard a hundred years ago once again. Alyon, sinking into memories of that dark day, roared furiously. "Were you so afraid of death? Is selling your friend more honorable in your eyes than death!"
"I told them to kill me. They said they wouldn't kill me, but would leave me among the pigs until I died. I couldn't go back there, I couldn't return to that hell years later." The terror he experienced back then was visible in Ayıboğan's eyes as he spoke. Furiously, he pulled a vial of blood from his chest and poured it over his head. As he muttered various words, some symbols began to form on the tent poles.
The symbols flowing down the poles formed a pentagram shape on the ground, with Ayıboğan remaining in the center. Ayıboğan, screaming in pain as the charms from the corners struck his body, began to change shape.
"Druid Folk's Transformation Technique!" Alyon muttered to himself, looking at the event unfolding before him. "At least you've been treated like a real man, haven't you, Küçükdomuzcuk!"
Alyon drew his weapon and charged at his enemy, who was transforming into a five-meter-tall White Bear King, with laughter. The sparks that flew when the claws and the hammer met illuminated the inside of the dim tent. Ayıboğan, having completed the transformation, attacked non-stop with a defiant attitude. Every one of his attacks carried the intention to kill, targeting his opponent's fatal points. While Alyon used the tent poles for defense, Ayıboğan tore them to pieces with just a few claw strikes.
After a while, the tent, which had no poles left to support it, collapsed with a loud crash. Ayıboğan, seeing this, said, "Alyon, let's see what you'll hide behind now."
"Küçükdomuzcuk, you were never smart, but the passing years have made you thoroughly stupid. Because you haven't grown strong enough, you can't measure the strength of your opponent." Alyon was very calm as he shrugged off the remains of the fallen tent.
"Stop pretending. Neither are you the invincible warrior you once were, nor am I that scrawny orc. No one can send me back to the old days. When I take your life shortly, everything will end!" Ayıboğan, who had been superior since the beginning of the battle, spoke with arrogance.
Alyon looked around and saw the entire tribe watching the battle; when he raised his weapon to the air, a heavy war intent emanated from his body. "Yes, you are no longer the orc I rescued from that white bear, which is why I will tear your corpse apart with a clear conscience. Say, Küçükdomuzcuk, did you ever wonder why I was so far away from the tribe that day?" In the past years, Ayıboğan had never thought about this matter. He spent his days with the confidence that his life was saved and that he was friends with the Lord's son.
"I presume you didn't dare to ask those who gave you that vial of blood where the blood came from." As Alyon spoke, the air around him grew heavier and heavier. Orcs with weaker consciousness within fifty steps had fainted, and the rest were struggling to breathe.
"How dare you transform before me with the blood of the White Bear King I killed that day? You wretch!" As he shouted furiously, he activated the Warrior's Fury technique. This technique was hidden in the blood of the Orc Great Lord. The effects unleashed by this technique, passed down from generation to generation through blood ties, were directly proportional to the user's strength.
Ayıboğan, paralyzed by the pressure, could only watch the events unfold until the war hammer tore a massive piece from his body. Suddenly, everything reversed; with every blow he took, Ayıboğan's bones broke, and a piece of him left his body. Soon after, Ayıboğan's body reverted to its original form, but since nearly half of him was missing, he collapsed and couldn't move.
Alyon, walking slowly toward his opponent, severed his lower half from his torso with a single blow as soon as he reached Ayıboğan. Alyon, thinking that this final strike had ended the battle, turned his back and started to walk away. Before he had taken two steps, he felt hands wrap around his ankles, giving him a strange feeling.
Turning around, he saw his opponent, missing his lower body, at his feet. Ayıboğan, crawling up and embracing Alyon's feet, said, "My Lord, since that day, I haven't slept peacefully a single night. I know I have no value in your eyes, but my Lord, be careful, the other four tribes have grown very strong. I am very happy that you took my life at the end of everything."
Ayıboğan's eyes, taking his last breath, were still looking at Alyon with anticipation. "It's all over, rest well, Küçükdomuzcuk." Alyon, bidding farewell to his friend whose eyes he closed with his hands, collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness.
Before the orcs watching the battle in the crowd could even react, Nafız arrived beside Alyon. After a quick check, she understood that his body couldn't withstand so much stress and had failed. Especially using Warrior's Fury at this level had caused severe damage to a body that was not yet strong enough.
"Quickly prepare a tent, Domuzkuyruk, bring a few of your men and come here!" Nafız said. While Alyon, carried into his tent by a group of orcs, was in a deep sleep, Nafız went outside. "Everything within a hundred steps of the tent will be torn down. Anyone who enters this distance will be killed!" The orcs who received the order began working hurriedly to do as told.
By sunrise, the area around the tent was cleared, and the orcs of the tribe were lost in thought about what would happen to them next. While Nafız kept watch outside the tent, she sent the wild monster corpses from her ring to the tribe via Domuzkuyruk. As the spirits of the orcs, who could consume so much meat for the first time, lifted, the anxiety over them was somewhat alleviated. This supply, which continued in the following days, satisfied the orcs who had long been disciplined by hunger. Although ten days had passed, Nafız didn't move an inch from her spot outside the tent, and finally, at the last sunrise, Alyon opened his eyes.