When the news was brought back, Al's eyes instantly welled up with tears.
Humans!
Those are my fellow kin!
I cannot not save them!
Al immediately donned his armor, mustered his forces, and personally led the expedition, rushing like lightning and wind to rescue Veling—this was the beautified public narrative.
What a joke. Right now, the main Greenskin horde hadn't moved yet, and the Estalians themselves still retained some of their core strength. The entire northern region was continuously gathering troops, heading toward major strongholds like Bilbali and Demontrei.
Mercenaries and Knights Errant from Bretonnia and the Empire were also arriving from all over to participate in this chivalric war against the WAAAAAGH!.
Even the heavily ravaged south still had large numbers of scattered stragglers; dozens, if not hundreds, of battles between humans and Greenskins occurred every day.
When Al left the forest, he brought six thousand troops and civilians. Two thousand of them were tribal civilians responsible for logistics and supplies. Although the former Chaos Beastmen were theoretically a faction where every member was a soldier, in Al's vision, unless absolutely necessary, he would never use these production units as cannon fodder.
On the other hand, the Khorngors, who served as the primary military force worshipping the Bloodmother, were a different story.
In the past, catching a den of Chaos beasts meant half would die. The rest would mostly convert to the Four Gods, and the vast majority of those would transform into Khorngors. Later, as the scale and indoctrination methods improved, this attrition rate dropped to around a fourth or a fifth.
Soldiers were cheap.
If they were crippled, they could just use void reinforcement (not really).
He just needed to wipe out a few more Chaos tribes to get more.
But the population was different. Breaking free from the influence of corruption and becoming Four God beasts with sound minds was an indispensable core piece of Al's future plans.
Four thousand troops in a massive war definitely counted as a non-negligible force. If he gathered all the legions scattered from the tribe, it would be enough for Al to become the decisive force in a historically monumental battle.
But Al didn't just want victory in war; he wanted to conquer the land and people of a kingdom.
The Greenskins were like locusts; they smashed and destroyed their way through and moved on. But the humans were the natives fighting on their home turf; every brick and tile was their home ground.
Only Al was stuck in the middle. He had to ally with the humans to fight the Greenskins, prevent either side from growing too strong, and develop his own power as much as possible.
If he were a world-ending Chaos warband or simply a chivalric expeditionary force coming to aid a neighboring country, things would be much simpler.
A Chaos-spawn helping Order-aligned humans fight savage Greenskins.
It's just too weird...
"Veling must be saved."
Al stayed inside his tent, speaking to the envoys and officers through a screen.
He didn't want to go out.
The female knight was right outside.
Actually, if he wore his armor, combined with the fact that he had grown significantly during this time and the tribe had changed so much, she probably wouldn't recognize him. But Al was just playing it safe.
Even the centaur girl hadn't shown her face after her adopted son pleaded with her. Although she had shown herself that night when the two armies first faced off, Al's side was fully armed and wearing helmets and visors, and combined with the darkness, no one got a clear look.
He knew that as contact deepened in the future, with the presence of the centaur girl, the Khorngors, and his own distinct features, at least the Expeditionary Force would definitely guess their origins. When that happened, it would cause another storm.
If there was a chance, Al wanted to keep the Imperial Expeditionary Force in Estalia. If there was a chance...
"Thank you for your wisdom and benevolence!"
The envoy hurriedly flattered him, wiping the sweat from his neck that had accumulated during his rushed journey, and tentatively asked:
"Veling has already agreed to the tribe's proposal, but the alliance treaty still needs to be reported to the Northern Council for the record. It's just... the main Greenskin horde has already camped in the wilderness, joining forces with those pirate bastards to bombard the city walls with artillery. We estimate they will launch a full-scale assault within the next few days."
"We need the tribe's immediate rescue!"
The envoy pleaded repeatedly. It was clear the situation was indeed more urgent than imagined.
Even Al hadn't expected the Greenskins to advance this quickly. Launching a sneak attack to annihilate the Invincible Armada, besieging Magritta with a massive army, and still having spare energy to push west and north, heavily crippling a portion of the Estalian main force...
Why does this Orc rising plotline feel a bit off?
Isn't it a bit too green?
Al muttered in his heart. The Greenskins' progress was much faster than he thought, and he himself had acted too quickly. According to his original plan, it would have been best to come out and fish in troubled waters when the Greenskin army reached the gates of Bilbali, giving the Estalians a lifeline to keep them breathing.
Simultaneously, he would use the Piña Forest for mobility to seize territory in the south, ideally trapping the Greenskins north of Demontrei to be hammered from both sides by him and the humans. After dealing with the Greenskins, he'd look at the humans and ask about the weight of their crown.
But the Four Gods urging him to come out at this time must have had some deeper meaning.
Al was so annoyed by riddlers!
Never telling the whole truth.
However, the envoy wasn't being honest; he was trying to fool him.
Al crossed his arms, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Even so, the Paladin was still trying to pull off the boy's pants. He had to use his hands to yank on his waistband while frequently shooting her stern glares.
Claudia nodded and started taking off her own clothes.
Veling was merely one of the northern cities. In terms of status, it was inferior to the neighboring Port of Magus to the southwest. It was absolutely impossible for them to unilaterally decide to cede Piña and the Inara Mountains.
Veling probably couldn't make a decision on the matter either, but with the Greenskins at the gates and the city in imminent peril, desperately needing reinforcements, they simply sent an envoy to agree to the alliance just to drag Al's tribe over to break the siege first.
Even if the alliance went through, the specific details would have to be decided by Bilbali. Veling could at most decide its own stance; as for whether the Northern Council agreed or not, that was none of their business.
The facts might differ slightly, but it should be roughly what Al deduced.
Bullying my tribal folks for being honest and simple, not understanding human twists and turns, huh!
"They're seeking death!"
Al thought to himself. He still had to help, though. After all, Veling was considered the first major breakthrough point in his Estalia campaign.
He had already planned the future direction for that city; next, it was time to use blades and soldiers to make it a reality.
Two armies clash in fire, the city on the verge of falling!
Turning the tide, the tribal reinforcements!
How pleasing to the ear that sounded.
It was best if Veling still fell, even with Al's support, as long as most of the people could evacuate.
They would mostly retreat north, but if he could attract a group to retreat east with Al and camp on the outskirts of the Piña Forest...
He could attempt to absorb these people into his own system. Moreover, under the circumstances of their country breaking, their homes being destroyed, and their faith lacking, he could also attempt to preach to them.
After all, it wasn't as if Al didn't have assimilated human followers under his command.
That batch of defeated prisoners who came to crusade against him earlier eventually bent the knee to the Everchosen and the four Great Powers behind him.
But human Four God worshippers were quite interesting. Most chose pantheism, worshipping all four Mother Goddesses simultaneously.
When fighting and pursuing glory, they shouted for the Bloodmother; when seeking pleasure, they praised the Lord of Revels; in the morning, they prayed to the Loving Mother to bless them with a day of health; when confused and seeking guidance, they sought the gaze of the omnipotent All-Knowing One.
Unlike the Beastmen, who mostly worshipped a single Chaos Mother Goddess, rarely worshipping two or all of them simultaneously. As for the concept of Chaos Undivided from the old Chaos, it had been replaced by Al.
Besides the faith in the Four Gods, the most widely popular belief in the tribe was the worship of Al, the Everchosen. The Beastmen believed he was the son of the Four Gods, the Child of Destiny spawned by Chaos to save the mortal realm.
He was the manifestation of Chaos and the will of the Four Mothers in the mortal realm. The eight-pointed star also became a mark representing Al personally, although he didn't really like the symbol.
But if it were a hammer and sickle...
The atmosphere became dangerous.
Claudia persistently tried to bury her head as low as it could go. The boy resisted desperately, gritting his teeth to avoid making a sound, while maintaining a normal tone and shouting:
"Since that is the case, then without further delay, I hope everyone can clear the way for my army to head to Veling!"
"I have only brought a detached force from the tribe on this departure, with many women and children accompanying us. They need to be settled in Samana. I will leave a unit to guard this place. If the enemy attacks fiercely, the Samanans can retreat into the forest with my tribe."
The mayor, standing outside, placed a hand over his heart and praised: "The people of Samana will forever etch your benevolence into our hearts."
The envoy was overjoyed and immediately turned his gaze to the Expeditionary Force, who naturally had no objections.
Only the female knight stood in place, feeling that the voice sounded a bit strange, yet somewhat familiar??
The Shaman and the personal guard escorted the human party out. Al breathed a sigh of relief, using force to hold down the Paladin's head so she couldn't continue, while slowly pulling the part out of her mouth.
"You've been corrupted by the Reveler, haven't you?"
Al frowned, picking up a robe from the ground and wrapping it around himself.
The former Paladin also rose from her kneeling position. Her tall, athletic body naked, she wiped the corners of her mouth, her gaze turning as cold as the boy's.
"The Goddess... Myrmidia is no longer my master, and neither are your gods."
"Only you."
She drew the longsword from the waist of the Grim Love armor, aimed it at Al, then suddenly stepped forward, grabbed the boy's hand, forced the hilt into his grasp, and pressed the blade against her own chest.
"Either enslave me, or kill me."
A bead of blood seeped out, sliding down the tip of the sword, painting her pale, beautiful body with a bewitching hue.
Al froze for a moment, threw the longsword aside, turned, and walked out of the tent.
Claudia remained expressionless, watching the boy's departing back, and revealed a smile.