Chapter 604 - Difficulty With The Locals

Eldrian's thoughts on the orcs didn't matter much. The identification however proved that the orcs in the city were not that big of a deal. One of the strongest ones near the tower was certainly a tough bastard, but Eldrian felt he could deal with the orc just fine. 

[Igigh - Orc {Follower of Kugbu}, Tier 5, Level 25]

[HP: 1441]

[Stamina: 1540]

[Attack: 102 (30)]

[A normal orc, one who is either young or incapable. Having never proven themselves in their lives they are sent to the front. Not as a form of punishment but rather as a way to prove themselves.]

[It is considered a gift to be in the vanguard. A chance to earn the right to be called a warrior.]

'Still a tough bastard,' Eldrian sighed, he was certain he would win considering that this orc wasn't even an orc warrior class. However, it having over a thousand health and being one of the most basic, if Tier 5, that was worrying.

Eldrian wasn't even sure if piercing its heart with Crystoi would kill it. He assumed it would incapacitate it, hopefully. But with all their race attributes, Eldrian couldn't be certain.

'I know I always simply went for vitals, but orcs aren't that easy to kill... Do they have only one heart? Does certain injuries disable their regeneration? I might need to get some poison magic or poison oil or something, if it exists...'

As Eldrian was considering all this, one of the three mages responsible for managing the magic tower finally reached the bottom. Naturally, there were ways for the mayor -or in this case deputy- to contact the magic towers. 

The mage stopped and looked at Eldrian in confusion, who returned a similar stare of confusion. Alternating between the centaur and the stairs, Eldrian decided to not ask questions. But the mage had some for him. 

"You're the one they sent?" The centaur hmphed in a dismissingly way. He had used Observe but stopped going through the information after seeing that Eldrian was just Tier 4. A very dumb mistake to make. 

The centaur didn't even realize that Eldrian wasn't alone. Granted, Ceph was kind of hidden behind Eldrian as he was waiting for Eldrian to finish his thoughts. While curious, Ceph didn't want to interrupt Eldrian too early. 

Turning to the centaur, Eldrian frowned seeing his attitude.  "Yeah, I'm the one. You just need to open the door for us, I already confirmed, there are a total of fifteen orcs in the area waiting. But they are not close enough to slip by before you can close the door again."

"I thought you came to help, not get yourself killed!" The mage hmphed again, ignoring the 'us' part.

The centaur had no idea how Eldrian could know the number of orcs, and it was four times as many as they were aware of. He believe Eldrian was just spewing words to appear grand. 

"We'll be fine, if you open at my signal we will be able to slip past with ease," Eldrian said, believing that if he used Nova but without the mana crystal it should be a good diversion. 

The mage shook his head, "No, I can't allow you to be so reckless. If that is how you want to act, then rather just leave the cannon here."

"You think you have any right to order me around?" Eldrian stared at the centaur, however, the mage did not back down. 'Should I just knock him out? No, I need him or one of the others to deactivate the defenses.'

Truly though, the guy was nothing in comparison to the orcs. While he was also Tier 5, the difference was like night and day. 

[Lethius - Centaur (Mage), Tier 5, Level 27]

[HP: 224]

[Mana: 885]

[Magic attack: 378-752 (100-200)]

[Lethius has been tasked with ensuring the stable operation of the northeastern magic tower, along with two other mages.]

'Mmm, his health is nothing but his attack is decent. But what is with that pathetic amount of mana?' Suddenly, Eldrian felt much better about his personal stats. While he hadn't received the thirty thousand mana points he wanted, he was close to four thousand MP at least. 

Naturally, since it was rude, Eldrian did not look at everyone's stats. If he had, he would be shocked that he even had more than three times as much mana as Evale. 

Curious, Eldrian wondered if he could gather more information on Lethius as he had with the Vodi. Concentrating for a bit, he was shocked when it actually succeeded. 

[Stamina: 204]

[Attack: 50 (35)]

[Constitution: 204 | Strength: 144 | Agility: 210 | Spirit: 354 | Intelligence: 378]

Eldrian was surprised that their stats were kind of close. Eldrian had suspected that he would far outclass Lethius. Granted, outside of spirit and intelligence he did. Especially his agility, which was almost twice Lethius's.

{Eldrian's attributes (still Tier 4)- Constitution: 311 | Strength: 267 | Agility: 398 | Spirit: 311 | Intelligence: 327}

'Oh, right, I still haven't reached Tier 4 in melee, plus the mana network hasn't finished whatever is taking it. Still, I'm shocked that my intelligence and spirit are lower. though in the other three...'

Eldrian was still confident that he would be able to deal with the orcs just fine, after all his agility was twice Lethius's and he assumed he would have at least a 100 on the orcs since he had focused near all his free attributes into it, a total of 110 points thus far in agility.

(Having a 100 agility one someone would mean he was 25% faster and also more agile - capable of quick movement alterations and better control.)

Unlike NPCs, Eldrian did not have a cast time with basic spells. Runic casting took some time, but he simply needed to prep beforehand. Thus, even though Lethius had more intelligence than him and thus better damage on his spells, Eldrian doubted Lethius would be able to make effective use of it unless protected. 

"Listen, I know I'll be able to deal with the orcs. Just open the door so we can leave." Eldrian said, turning irritated. At this point, Ceph had become tired of the fruitless argument.

"We can just head up and leave that way." Ceph starting to move past the mage without a care. 

"Hah! Brilliant!" Eldrian soon found how Lethius was able to climb the stairs, they were not the normal short stairs that were created for humans. Rather, the stairs had far more length to them, while being a bit higher too. Actually making it difficult to climb for Eldrian who wasn't the tallest.

"Wai- What!?" Rushing after them, poor Lethius was at a loss for words. He hadn't even noticed Ceph until now, and now he was wondering just why a kid had joined this mission.

"Are you crazy? You will die if you jump from the top!" Lethius shouted, but the two ignored him and continued on. 

"Are they- What are you doing?!" Another centaur who had been searching for a clumped group of enemies suddenly turned and tried to stop Eldrian who was about to step off the edge. 

"This will be the fastest," Eldrian replied, it also handily removed the need to deal with the orcs. Hopefully, there weren't any flying enemies. Though, if there were they would have certainly aimed for the magic towers.

AN: A big thank you to everyone who continues to read and support the story on WN.