I Refused To Be Reincarnated-Chapter 884: The Last and First Bastion of the Orcs

Beneath the pinkish-orange hue trickling through clouds like the snow that never fell in the gorge, Adam dismounted. He rubbed the fur of his warg's head, receiving a gentle lick from the creature. From midday to twilight, it had charged through thorny shrubberies and rocky ground without complaint. A hell of a last ride, he nodded. But the time to say goodbye had come.

Bao pawed the muzzle of the beast with a sad whimper that Adam understood as: "You're big and scary, but we're friends. Thank you for letting me ride you."

She rushed to Adam's shoulder, pressing her wet cheeks against his neck.

"I wish you a happy life," he muttered as he handed the bridle to an orc thicker than a wardrobe. All the guards around him wore leather plated with thick metal, and adorned with skulls and broken chains just like Adam's own belt. "Take good care of it."

The guard turned with an eager nod, but the warg froze. It howled at the stars lighting the sky, its paws drawing white lines on the rocks before it followed the guard, its ears sunk low over its lowered head.

"Hehehe." A sneer came from behind him, a raucous voice he'd grown tired of hearing. "Such dramatic goodbyes. Is it because you know we're at the end of your journey?" Adam glared at the hooded shaman, who clapped hands full of vigorous veins with exaggerated gravity. "I'll pray to the ancestors to have mercy on your soul."

"Silence, larva who barely crawled out of its cocoon." Zul'Rakhan let out an exasperated sigh. Beside him, Zul'Morak's fists trembled. Adam knew he wanted to add his own line, but after five days of death prophecies that never came true and the mockery of Zul'Rakhan and Zul'Gora, he seemed to have learned not to boast too loudly. A shame that the younger ones didn't.

What was his name again? Adam tilted his head. Zul'... Zul'... He rolled his eyes. Zul' whatever number three. One and two were the other uninvited shamans he didn't care about.

Without minding the bickering shamans, he scrutinised what lay at the end of the gorge. From this close, it made his heart throb faster. Not a simple village lined with siege engines and watchtowers, but a monster of architecture.

The orcs had carved the very gorge into towers. He could see them patrolling or feeding avian beasts on wooden scaffoldings. Atop the tower, he saw airships hovering beneath taut leather balloons. No tents behind the gates, but stone and metal fortresses stretching as far as he could see. Hundreds of armored orcs strolled the streets, their tribal tattoos exposed on their puffed-out chests or faces.

His eyes widened, the realisation that orcs were much more advanced than what they let others know striking him.

A withered hand on his shoulder brought him back from his observation.

"Welcome, Adomash, to Thaur'Gorath, the last and first bastion of the orcs," Zul'Rakhan said, his voice heavy yet slightly trembling with emotion.

"From the edge of the gorge to here. Thank you... for winning." Zul'Gora's red eyes curved beneath her hood as she patted Adam's other shoulder. She whipped something from her cheek, her voice sharp like the edges of an axe. "You know what you have to do. I won't accept the wrong outcome."

A playful smile broadened on Adam's face. "Win this last ritual fight, right? Count on me."

"It won't be this easy." Zul'Rakhan exhaled heavily. "The rules change in Thaur'Gorath." The five other shamans cheered as Zul'Rakhan continued. "No more duels to the death. What's the point when everyone here carries the blood of past heroes? You'll still fight to prove your worth, to make the current age heroes acknowledge you. Or you'll make these pups happy by joining the ancestors. Let's enter before they give me an even worse headache."

Adam followed Zul'Rakhan, wondering if the tongue of the old shaman slipped when he called the city the last and first bastion of the orcs. Likely. Pointless to question Zul'Rakhan, at least before he walked through the streets he had left countless centuries ago. After he appeased his heart with that old dream of his, after winning the ritual fight, Adam knew he'd learn more. More about the shamans themselves, their strange magic.

The guards let them in, and before he even crossed the arched structure of the gates, Adam saw dozens of shamans and warriors waving at them. Their welcoming smiles turned into arrogant smirks and curious frowns when they noticed the seven shamans.

"Rakhan and Gora. Ah, the legendary couple." The shaman at the center chuckled without bothering to whisper. "Did you know that there is no place these two didn't mate in during their formations? It's a pleasure to see you together once more. The others? Did they forget their honor back in their villages?"

Adam stopped beneath the gates to glare at the two shamans. So that was why it was fine for Zul'Gora to follow Zul'Rakhan. They had been married!

"Hehehe. And we continued after leaving. Don't tell me you're still jealous, Zul'Kharaz." Zul'Gora removed her hood and covered her forehead in theatrical sadness. "Look at him now. He doesn't even want to call me sister anymore. Just because... because..." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Enough! You can be the instructor or even the great shaman, I'm not greeting anyone over five paces away." Zul'Rakhan snickered, then nudged Adam and Zul'Gora forward.

As Adam walked, he leaned toward Zul'Gora, his palm covering his mouth. "Did something happen between you two? I mean, he still seems to love you."

Zul'Gora's eyes brightened. She covered her mouth as well, her eyes gesturing to Adam's pants. "What made him proud ceased to work. Nature. Too old. He accepted it, but always felt awkward since we couldn't do it anymore."

Adam massaged his brows. Not the answer he had expected, but... why did it make sense? He cast a sympathetic glance at Zul'Rakhan. The moment he crossed into the city, Zul'Rakhan returned him not an exasperated glance, but a sharp, knowing glare. When he turned, Zul'Gora gazed at him as if he had suddenly turned into a monster.

The shamans behind, those in front, everyone glared at him. What had he done? He scratched his head, and as he did, his plated pauldron slipped off his shoulder. Had the straps loosened?

On his shoulder, Bao collapsed on her back, mirroring Zul'Gora's earlier pause in genuine horror. It was only when he glanced at her that he gasped. The pauldron's straps hadn't loosened. His copper skin, his orcish muscles, tusks, and size—they were gone. Instead, his smooth, white human skin shone beneath the stars.

His heart almost burst in his chest. HOW?! He felt nothing!

...

He never felt anything from shamanic arts in the first place. They must have a dispelling barrier at the gates that cancelled his shapeshifting! That or something similar. It didn't matter. He was in trouble!