Gorn Ironmaul stood at the highest point of the Ironmaul n''s stronghold, surveying thendscape as the sun began to sink behind the jagged mountains.


    The air was still thick with tension, the ominous sensation from earlier gnawing at his gut.


    Around him, his Brutarian warriors prepared for battle, their armor gleaming in the fading light.


    Huge, powerful figures, the Brutarians were bred for war, their four-armed bodies built for crushing enemies and withstanding pain.


    But something felt off tonight.


    The Pig Orcs had attacked once already, but that was part of the survival game''s natural flow.


    They had beaten them back, and it retreated for some unknown reason, maybe suffered losses, but survived as they always had.


    Now, as Gorn looked out over the valley below, he saw them again.


    The Pig Orcs.


    Forming into lines.


    Moving toward the Ironmaul stronghold like a slow tide of destruction.


    "Impossible," Gorn muttered, his deep voice a growl. "There''s been no signal for the second wave."


    One of his lieutenants, a grizzled veteran with scars etched across his rocky skin, approached. "Chief, we''re ready. But why are they attacking again? We should''ve had time to regroup."


    Gorn clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking like stones grinding together. "This isn''t normal. Someone is behind this. But it doesn''t matter. We fight."


    The Brutarians were fearless, and their confidence never faltered.


    As the Pig Orcs drew closer, the n prepared for theing onught. Warriors lined the battlements, archers nocking arrows tipped with molten metal, while others readied themselves at the gates with their enormous war hammers and battle axes.


    A low horn red from the valley, the signal of the approaching horde.


    The sound reverberated through the mountains, shaking the ground beneath their feet.


    The Pig Orcs, brutish creatures with tusks jutting from their faces, snarled and grunted as they marched.


    Their numbers were immense, filling the valley like a river of darkness, their massive frames bristling with crude weapons and savage intent.


    The first wave mmed against the gates of the Ironmaul fortress.


    The impact was deafening—BOOM!


    The heavy wooden gates groaned under the pressure, but they held. From the battlements, the Brutarian archers rained down arrows, each shot punctuated by the satisfying thunk as metal pierced flesh.


    Pig Orcs bellowed in pain, some copsing under the barrage, but the rest pressed forward.


    "Hold the line!"


    Gorn roared, his voice echoing like a thunderp.


    He descended from his vantage point, his four massive arms hefting a warhammer sorge it seemed impossible for even a Brutarian to wield.


    The Pig Orcs crashed into the defensive lines with a ferocity unmatched.


    The first rows of Brutarians met them with a violent sh—metal on metal, flesh on flesh.


    The sound of weapons biting into bodies filled the air with a cacophony of CLANGS, THUDS, and the wet SQUELCH of des cutting deep.


    Gorn swung his hammer with deadly precision, each strike sending Pig Orcs flying, their bones shattering under the impact.


    But for every Orc that fell, two more seemed to take its ce.


    ---


    In Pherin: The Webweaver Coterie


    Sylkis Webweaver skittered along the vast webs that spanned the ceiling of her dark, cavernous world.


    The air was humid and dense, the soft glow of bioluminescent fungi casting eerie shadows on the slick walls.


    Her many eyes blinked in rapid session as her mind processed the sight below her—the Pig Orcs wereing again. And in greater numbers.


    She paused, her slender hands twitching as she sensed the disturbance in the web of energy surrounding the stronghold.


    "No signal. They shouldn''t be attacking now," she whispered to herself, her voice a silken thread of sound.


    Her council had gathered below her, the members watching anxiously as their queen brooded.


    "Mother Sylkis," one of the council members hissed. "The Pig Orcs are moving faster than before. We should prepare the traps."


    Sylkis'' many legs clicked against the web, the tension in her body palpable. "Prepare them," shemanded. Her voice was calm, but her mind raced. Something was wrong.


    She could feel it, a subtle shift in the threads of fate.


    Far below, the Pig Orcs entered thebyrinthine tunnels of the Webweaver stronghold, their brutish bodies stumbling through the twisting passages. But the Araknae were prepared.


    As the Orcs advanced, traps sprang to life.


    Massive webs, nearly invisible to the eye, snapped tight, ensnaring the invaders in sticky, silken prisons.


    Arrows coated in venom shot from the walls, piercing flesh and sending Pig Orcs to the ground in writhing agony.


    Sylkis watched from above, her sharp mind calcting every move.


    THWIP!


    Another trap was triggered, webs coiling around a group of Orcs and binding them tightly.


    SPLOOSH!


    A torrent of venom flooded the tunnel, melting the skin from their bones.


    "We''ve seen this before," she murmured. "They attack, we defend. And yet…"


    Something was different.


    The Pig Orcs weren''t stopping.


    They were pushing harder, throwing themselves at the defenses with a mindless fury that even Sylkis had never witnessed.


    Her long fingers twitched, weaving a new n in her head.


    She knew she had to adjust quickly, or the cost would be too high.


    ---


    Back in Darrok, the battle raged on. The Ironmaul n, the strongest of all Brutarian tribes, was holding their own.


    Their warriors were unmatched in strength and endurance, and though the Pig Orcs were relentless, the Brutarians were not easily overwhelmed.


    THWACK!


    Gorn''s warhammer came down on another Orc''s skull, crushing it like a melon.


    The stench of blood and sweat filled the air, the ground slick with the carnage of battle.


    The Brutarians were pushing the Orcs back, slowly but surely.


    "We''ve got them!" one of Gorn''s lieutenants shouted, a grin splitting his rugged face as he cut through another Orc with his massive axe.


    The Brutarians were gaining the upper hand.


    The Pig Orcs, though savage, were no match for the raw power of the Ironmaul n.


    But just as victory seemed within reach, something changed.


    The Orcs that had been injured—those who had fallen or been wounded and could still move—began to rise again.


    Their eyes glowed with a strange, malevolent light, and their bodies swelled with newfound strength.


    "What the—" Gorn began, but his words were cut off as one of the newly risen Orcs lunged at him with a speed and power that was unnatural.


    Gorn barely had time to block the attack, the force of it sending him staggering backward.


    Around him, the Brutarian warriors were experiencing the same.


    The Pig Orcs, those who had been knocked down and left for dead, were rising stronger, faster, more brutal than before.


    "What is this sorcery?!" Gorn roared, his heart pounding. He swung his hammer again, but the Orc he struck barely flinched.


    The creature''s muscles bulged grotesquely as it shrugged off the impact, snarling with newfound rage.


    ---


    Back in Pherin, the Webweavers were experiencing a simr horror.


    The traps that had worked so wlessly before were now barely slowing the Orcs down.


    Those that had been caught in the webs were tearing through the silken strands with monstrous strength.


    The venom that had melted flesh was no longer enough to stop them.


    Pig Orcs, once vulnerable to the Araknae''s traps, now seemed nearly invincible.


    Sylkis watched in disbelief from her perch above the battlefield. Her hands trembled as she saw her once-perfect defenses crumbling before her eyes.


    "This… this isn''t possible," she whispered.


    But it was happening.


    The Pig Orcs had be something more, something far deadlier than they had ever been before. And Sylkis, for the first time in her long life, felt a cold tendril of fear creep into her heart.


    ---


    The Brutarians and Araknae had thought they were prepared.


    They had fought hard, defended their homes with everything they had. But now, as the Pig Orcs surged forward with their newfound strength, tearing through defenses, smashing down warriors who had once seemed unbeatable, a terrible realization dawned on them.


    They weren''t just fighting for survival anymore. They were fighting against something far darker, something far more they didn''t know.


    What is going on?


    Why are the Pig Orcs this time feels different?