The moment we made it past the clouds, the Fortress before us began sounding off its alarm. It made sense even if the place wasn't littered with detection seals, which Skinny and the others had avoided thus far. After all, my army of Wyverns was all fast approaching behind us; most not possessing any abilities that would prevent their inevitable detection.

But all of that was fine. We had long since planned for this mission to be an open onslaught; not a covert operation in any way. Moreover, now that the enemy had clear eyes on us and the first wave of spells, arrows, and bullets were being sent in our direction, it also meant that I could fulfill my part in blowing open our entry point.

Since I knew full well how there were 'at least' twelve B Rank Devil Orc Elites, I held nothing back as I'd been building up the magic for one of my strongest spells since we departed from the base of the mountain.

"Boil the blood, cool the mind. Become tyrants of a calm calamity," I chanted as a seven-layered Magic Circle appeared hundreds of meters above to cover my army in its potent silver light.

"Tier 7 Strengthening: Mass Scale Berserking!" And with that, I chugged down a Greater Mana Restoration Potion as over half of my reserves were instantly used up.

Normally, this would be the point where Skinny stops and lets the rest of my army take care of whatever force had opposed me. But, in the face of the heavily fortified Devil Orc Fortress' walls, my job was not over yet.

Just casting that Tier 7 Strengthening Spell made me tired. How could I not be? Not only was an incantation required for the Spell to properly form, but I was a Summoner by Class; not a Mage. Fortunately, for what came next, I wouldn't be pushed nearly as hard as I'd already gotten over the hardest part of fulfilling my role.

I only needed to take a deep breath before I collected myself to cast a Tier 5 Strengthening Spell, on myself this time, before I signaled Skinny with a couple pats on his head.

As a Summoner of Wyverns, ones I specifically trained to master the element of Fire, the fact of the matter was that Strengthening Magic wasn't even my secondary focus.

Instead…

In the blink of an eye, a Tier 6 Wind Spell completely formed in front of me just as the first barrage from the enemy started landing near me. Skinny took care to protect me from any of the attacks, which couldn't have come from anything rated as Greater C Rank or higher, until I gave him another pat on the head and counted down.

Indeed, right next to my Summoner's Skills and Spells, my Wind Magic was just slightly less impressive. Then again, after it synergized with my Summon's Fire Magic and was supplemented by my Strengthening Magic…

Zzt!

In the blink of an eye, the Hurricane Wind Blades I had cast exploded with power after Skinny added his flames onto it, and right afterward, it cut through the Fortress Walls like a hot knife through butter. And then, the buildings behind the walls, and dozens of Orcs, all while the ones that previously defended the fortress from above were brought down along with the debris that remained after the massive gaps created by our Combination Spell caused the collapse of the walls.

"It's always nice to see you go all out like this," Armond said as he effortlessly flickered into view before me. "Welp, see you later. I've got to go before our grumpy god of war over there starts stealing my thunder," and with that, he broke the sound barrier to instantly cross over and into the now-opened-up fortress.

"Ugh," I could just make out Ransel's groan as he hurriedly went ahead with the rest of my army closely following behind him, "That idiot's going to make a mess of the place again, isn't he?"

Watching as he shook his head, I empathized with him. Despite Armond's happy-go-lucky attitude, he took his job seriously; a little 'too' seriously, I would add. He was very competitive and usually, that manifested in a morbid desire to see to it that he accomplished his job as successfully as he could.

Usually, that would be a good thing; something desirable in a coworker or party member. But Armond was a Ninja…

His Class specialized in using tricky weaponry and ungodly Rouge-like Speed to kill mobs and fodder as quickly as possible. And what do you get when a Ninja of a people wants to be competitive about fulfilling his role?

That's right: You get a lot of blood and dismemberment; assassination, usually as a result of slit throats or decapitation. And wouldn't you know it, as Skinny crossed into the Fortress, Armond's mess was clear for me to see… and smell.

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I rolled my eyes as I said to Skinny, "I'd ask you to incinerate these corpses and all the scattered blood, but—"

"I know, master. You'll wait until the place is secured before the little ones can feed to grow in strength," Skinny said.

"Right..." For him to finish the thought for me, maybe I'd done this way too many times by now?

Before I could reflect any longer, the body of one of the Devil Orc Elites was blasted right into the mound of debris that remained of one of the fortress' buildings to my right. Just as the Devil Orc Elite recovered, aiming to get the high-ground advantage by literally flying, Ransel charged right onto its ascending form and slashed with his claymore.

Boom!

The Devil Orc Elite was brutally eviscerated, cut diagonally in half, while between its segregated body parts a meters-deep trench had formed.

With just a nod he was off to hunt the next Devil Orc Elite, leaving me and Skinny behind to deal with what remained of the winged orc.

"Could you, uh— Thanks," I said as Skinny picked up the pieces of the Devil Orc Elite and 'gently' put them in one of my Cosmic Bags. We needed more than our word to back us up on our claims that the next Great War was upon us, after all.

So, while Armond and Ransel were off wantonly slaughtering the residents of the Devil Orc Fortress, I made myself useful by calling on a group of sensory Wyverns to help me scour the grounds for anything of value.

Around this time, the last couple images shared to me by Katherine's eagle really came through with helping direct my search as efficiently as I could have hoped for. It paid great dividends knowing where things of value ought to be even if by now, the fortress was entirely unrecognizable from a heap of flaming debris.

Really, this was turning out to be a really good haul. I nearly smiled as I reviewed: At least a hundred kilograms worth of various C Rank ores and herbs, a couple ingots of smelted Lesser B Rank Blackblaze Steel, twelve clusters of Lesser B Ranked Shadowhaze Lotus, Some Standard B Rank raw Moltencore Ore, Greater B Rank Skyfire Grass…

Wait.

This wasn't a part of the valuables Nova highlighted in his memories. This is something one of my Lesser B Rank Sensor Wyverns brought over to me from the collapsed fortress core.

This...

"Uh… Master?" Skinny asked me, jolting me awake as I concluded my calculations. But I couldn't waste time responding to him; not immediately, anyway.

I quickly readied a Tier 4 Communication Spell of Telepathy which connected to the permanent seals on my party's other members. It allowed me to contact them so long as they were within half a kilometer from me and immediately convey a message to them.

"I need both of you to stop whatever you're doing and get to my side by the center of the Fortress 'immediately!'" And within five seconds they had appeared out of nowhere guarding me as I had hoped for.

"I found the remnants of 'several' half-eaten Lesser A Rank Monster Cores," I said, causing them all to blanch as they understood the severity of the situation.

It was just in time too, as just several dozen meters away from us, from under the ruined fortress core, a fully matured Devil Orc Centurion erupted from the ground.

"Shit!" I couldn't believe our awful luck, "He must have just now finished a forced advancement!"

The Centurion snarled in response as it flickered from my view over to Ransel, thrusting its spear towards him about as quickly as Armond usually moved.

Clink!

The Centurion's spear met Ransel's claymore and the resulting collision sounded like a dozen bolts of thunder had descended all around me. To my abject horror, Ransel was actually overpowered and shot backward by a couple meters. He was our main powerhouse, one who had worked in concert with us to kill several Lesser A Rank targets in the past, damn it!

For him to get overpowered 'after' empowering himself with his War God Avatar Skill…

Shing!

Along with the warbled sound of a sword leaving its sheath, across all of the Centurion's limbs, showers of blood erupted as a result of Armond's efforts. Nearing the edge of the limits of my perception, I managed to see that he had cut about a third of the way through several of the Centurion's tendons which were vital in allowing it to move.

Alas, that was far from enough damage to keep something A Ranked down for any meaningful amount of time; even if it wasn't Standard A Rank. With the Centurion's vitality, all the wounds in its body immediately scabbed over, likely to fully heal if we gave it so much as a second to rest.

Of course, neither Armond, nor Skinny, nor I for that matter, would allow for that to happen, and through the years of us all getting used to fighting as a group, we puzzled out a strategy with just a single look.

A split second was all it took for Armond to get in close to the Centurion once again and make use of its momentarily stunned state to use one of his Skills and fully paralyze it for a full second. By then, Skinny and I had finished our own preparations to cast out another Combination Spell of Wind and Fire.

Though, just before I casted it, I caught sight of Ransel rushing over to the Centurion with his claymore over his head.

"Aim for Ransel," I instantly conveyed to Skinny through our Beast Contract and he immediately understood what I was thinking.

So, our Tier 6 Magic Circles galvanized into a beam of blue plasma which Ransel absorbed into his claymore while somersaulting through the air to get additional momentum before he plunged the massive sword down onto the Centurion's shoulder.

Crack!

Along with a shockwave that instantly cleared out all the dust that would have been kicked up by the attack, Ransel's sword cut halfway through the Centurion's body with such force that a massive crater was left clearly indicating the point of impact; halfway up to the Centurion's knees, its feet were also plugged directly into the ground.

And yet, even all of that was not enough to emerge victoriously…

Toof!

With strength I can't even fathom its half-severed body possessing, the Centurion somehow managed to punch Ransel directly as he was caught unaware, launching him dozens of meters away. It then struggled for a moment, screaming bloody murder as its body forcefully stitched itself back together and its terribly strong arms crashed down onto the ground to pulverize it so it could free its legs.

"Fuck it!" Armond spoke through the only Communication Magic Spell he knew; the Transmission Spell. He went about chipping away at the Centurion's health with his insane speed as he said, "Tebolt, I'll buy you the time you need to call for an all-out bombing." And with that, he stopped talking as he was grazed by the Centurion's spear and nearly lost an eye.

I would have cursed too, if I wasn't busy directing Skinny to get us over to Ransel's side while also reaching out telepathically to the rest of my summons, telling them to position themselves around the core of the Fortress and to prepare to launch a volley of Tier 5 and 6 Fire Spells.

After our three-way Combination Attack headed by Ransel failed, this was probably the last card with any chance of winning us the battle that we could currently pull. And if the combined prowess of hundreds of Fire Spells from C Rank and B Rank Wyverns failed…

Given the fact that we started this battle against an A Rank Devil Orc after dealing with its fortress, not even close to our peak physical state, it was hard to say whether or not we would make it out of this place alive.

That said, there was one last thing I needed to do if it came down to that.

As I finished speaking to the last of my B Rank Summons, I prepared a Communications Seal to contact Katherine back at the base of the mountain.