This ritual was how the Orcs preserved their holy grounds. It was the reason how these cacao trees remained unperturbed while earthquakes devastated the entire forest.
As each cacao tree swayed on the ground, its roots untangled themselves from the ground and made the soil very loose, allowing them to become flexible as the ground shook.
The Orcs felt as if their purpose in life was to protect the holy grounds and give thanks to the goddess.
The Orcanine tribe believed that their ritual was the best way to preserve the cacao trees from any harm. By harshly slapping their bodies and creating booming sounds that reverberated through every tree, every root, and every leaf, they were able to impart their holy grounds with their mana, thereby completing the circle of life.
But of course, the Orcupine tribe thought differently. Their ritual was completely different from theirs, choosing instead to strum the quills and spines on their bodies to create a sharp and rhythmic melody that imparted vibration to the trees.
The Orcanine Chieftain disliked this. After all, the vibrations brought on by the Orcupine tribe's ritual were too rough on the trees, making the trees shed too many leaves.
Their way was much more delicate, making the trees sway gently.
But if you were to ask the Orcupine Chieftain, then he would say that Orcananines were too gentle. Their way of vibrating the trees may cause some leaves to shed excessively, but it was a small price to pay to get rid of any pests that were destroying the trees from the inside.
Of course, each Chieftain tribe had their own opinions, which led to the civil war in the first place.
To choose which one of them would get to stay and protect the holy grounds, each tribe tried to prove that their ritual was better than the other.
This resulted in a standoff, with the Orcanine tribe on one side and the Orcupine tribe on the other, shouting and performing their rituals to try and overwhelm the other.
It came to a point where their shouting competition became too much of a nuisance to those surrounding them, making birds fly outwards in search of somewhere quieter.
This was still ongoing even now, and even the Orcanine Chieftain was feeling its effects on their holy grounds.
The cacao trees, which had been gently rocking back and forth to his ritual dance, suddenly stopped in place and began to vibrate. As it did so, leaves began to gently fall towards the Chieftain's face, making his already angry face even more furious.
There was only one person whose shouting could reach deep even through this territory. It was none other than the Chieftain of the Orcupine tribe.
"...rah…tah…tah…" a voice echoed.
"You've gotten impatient, huh brother?"
The Chieftain looked far into the forest, towards where the shrill noise of his rival was coming from.
He had been so gentle with these trees, nurturing them from seedling to maturity, only for the cowardly Orcupine tribe to shake them vigorously without thought. Unbelievable.
The Orcanine Chieftain believed that these trees were sacred, and should thus be treated as such. Yet, clearly, the Ocrupine Chieftain thought differently.
"It is clear that we must be the only ones to protect our sacred trees. We shall show you our worthiness."
He began to channel his inner strength, the very power given to him by the cacao beans.
As he slapped his muscular thighs, a visible sound wave made out of concentrated Earth mana resounded out into the forest.
The two sound waves clashed in the air, with the Orcanine Chieftain canceling the effects of his rival and taking back control of the cacao trees in his territory.
They once again swayed gently in the wind.
But of course, he wasn't done. The Orcupine Chieftain tried to assert dominance on his territory—he wasn't going to take that lightly. It was now time for a counterattack.
The Orcanine Chief slapped his body even harder than before, shouting "BU! TO! TO!" to transmit his ritual deep into his rival's territory.
And somewhere on the other side of the forest, the Orcupine Chieftain felt the cacao trees in his vicinity slowly sway in the wind, ceasing their vibration.
"My brethren!" he shouted to his fellow Orcupine Orcs. "Those foolish meatheads will not prevail in this war. We shall show them that our quills reign supreme!"
They began their counterassault, strumming the spines on their body to fight off against the barbaric booming sounds of their rivals.
This led to an escalation of the war, with both Orc tribes shouting harder than ever to try and outbid the other.
Their rituals resounded throughout the entire forest, as well as the neighboring territories beside it, including Neo Orcus.
Michael was watching the Rebornian Engineers pour concrete into the pillars that would serve as the foundation for the structures, when all of a sudden, he felt a disturbance in the air.
He looked around and saw two different Earth mana signatures coming from the forest, clashing against each other and creating a furious storm of mana that was heading in their very direction.
Since these were merely sound waves imbued with a little bit of mana, it wasn't dangerous or anything. But it was quite loud.
The locals of Neo Orcus suddenly heard a high-pitched and a low-pitched sound grating on their ears.
They covered their ears quickly and ducked down.
This was not the first time that they heard this annoying sound that came from the forest.
Although harmless, the sound would usually last a day or more, making their lives extremely miserable after hearing nothing but that screech in their ears.
Beth covered the ears of one of the kids right next to her, choosing instead to help him instead of herself.
She was going to endure the sound, but then…silence.
She looked around and saw a prismatic bubble wrapped around her body, completely muting her ears from the outside world.
Beth wasn't the only one. Everyone around her was protected by this all-encompassing shield.
This was none other than their inherent skill Lesser Unity Defense they gained after Michael awakened their talent.
"What's that sound?" Michael asked as he approached Beth.