Chapter 81: Orc Nest (1)

It was May, about two months after Mihai left to work for the Royal Family.

Allen was at the foot of the White Dragon Mountains.

I have continued sweeping the Goblin Nests since last October, and Goblin nests have now disappeared from the foot of the long chain of White Dragon Mountain.

I swept through 52 Goblin Nests, killing over 10,000 Goblins since there were over 200 Goblins per nest.

The Knights also swept the Goblin nests, but more than 80% of the total was swept by me.

Since the Goblin Nests are done with, today I have come to sweep an Orc Nest.

In the Goblin Nest, the leader, Goblin King is a C-rank magical beast whom I can defeat with ease.

However, the Orc King in the Orc Nest is a B-rank magical beast that I have yet to defeat, so today is also my first battle against a B-rank magical beast excluding Madegarsh.

(Well, it looks like the Knights will be here tomorrow. Let’s take them down quickly.)

According to the information obtained via Eagle using <Sharing>, the Knights are likely to come to this nest tomorrow. I’d like to sweep this place out today if possible.

Again, I will follow the same method I used for Goblin hunting. I place five Bears and one Spyder waiting at the back of the nest and attack from the front. And after about 10 minutes, the group at the back will begin their assault.

“Let’s get started. Bear, Spyder, Harami, Bron, come out.”

Six D-rank Beasts, one D-rank Insect, one D-rank Fish, and two D-rank Stones appeared around me. I put them out in the blind spot of the gate, but since there are quite a few of them, the guards on the nest walls are likely to find them.

I changed my strategy with the Goblin Nest and prepared two D-rank Stones. There were many Goblins that used bows and throwing spears. With Orcs as opponents, I expect to take even longer to defeat them than Goblins, so quite a few long-range attacks could reach down to me and my summons.

I decided to place a statue-like Bron with a large two-meter-long shield in front of me to solidify my defense. This also served as a practical experiment for Bron. I like to constantly examine the possibilities of my  summons.

Harami used its special skill [Splash] and buffed everyone. With this, the preparations are done.

“First Orc Nest, let’s go!”

Under my command, the sweep of the Orc Nest began majestically from the front gate.

As in all Goblin nests, there were guards at the gates. The Orc nest also had two Orcs with spears guarding the gates. The guards noticed us and shouted to warn the nest.

The tension could be felt on the watchtowers and walls. The sound of warning bells rang out throughout the nest.

The Bears at the front line started chewing up and slaughtering the two Orcs. They were strengthened, and even one on one, my Bears won’t lose to Orcs.

(Mmm, arrows?)

Arrows  were fired at me and my summons. Bron raises its shield upward to prevent the arrows from hitting me. However, Bears were pierced by the arrows.

(Each summon has an assigned HP, but it’s a shame that I can’t see how much HP, one summon has left. And they suddenly collapse in the middle of a battle. Spyders, come on out.)

There is currently no way to see my summons’ HP. If I don’t keep a close eye on how beaten it is, it will suddenly collapse and turn into a glowing bubble.

In order to prevent the Bears from losing any more HP, I respond by adding two more Spyders. I will keep a record of these adjustments and use it as a reference for future Orc Nests.

Three Spyders used their special skill [Spider Thread] on the walls and watchtowers.

When I entered the gate, I saw a pack of over 100 Orcs, maybe 200.

(All right, I need a lot of experience. You’re all welcome.)

I moved forward a little from the gate with joy. There are too many Orcs coming at me to move forward. The Bears defeat them using [Crunch].

Then came the reinforcements that I had prepared at the rear of the Orc Nest. The Bears and Spyder attacked the Orcs from the rear in a pincer attack.

We attacked for about 30 minutes and killed about 100 orcs.

(Hmm? Fire, [Protect])

From Allen, who had been watching the situation ahead, it appeared that a light source had been generated from behind the group of orcs.

When the bright red flames appeared a few meters in the air, they turned into a fireball and flew towards me at once. I immediately had Bron’s shield raised above me and activated his [Protect] skill.

Uh-uh-uh.

Oh, my God, it’s magic! Oh, no, I’m okay. They are coming at me.

There were several Orcs in fluttery clothes with wands behind the Orc pack. Several fireballs appeared in the sky. The fireballs were relentlessly closing in on me.

The first time I see magic after coming to this world, is from an Orc.

(Some Orcs can use magic? The summons on the other side were killed. I have to keep sending out summons.)

It seems that all the summons that I had prepared for the pincer attack have been killed. Looking at the number of cards on the status screen, I can check how many summons I have.

I started creating, strengthening and summoning them. The Grimoire floating in the air continued to flutter dizzily. The number of Bears is the number of my lifelines in this hunt.

(Should I summon more Brons? Otherwise, I am a dead man!)

While continuing the summoning, I took out one of the iron balls from Inventory. With all my might, I smashed the face of a magic-using Orc in the back.

(Okay, one down. I need to increase my defense and then kill the Orcs that use magic first.)

I killed one magic-using Orc. The magic-using Orc beside him saw this and hid behind the Bron. It seemed that he was using the Bron as a shield to protect himself.

(Damn, he’s hiding. Eagle, catch that magic-using Orc.)

An Eagle was observing the situation from above.

However, although I can see where it is via <Sharing>, my throw will be blocked by Bron.

That said, there are still over a hundred Orcs in front of me, even if I try to defeat them using the Bears, magic-using Orcs will kill them. The Orcs block my way, preventing me from reaching the magic-using Orcs.

Bron’s shield bounced off the magic-using Orc’s fireball several times, setting the area on fire. The fence and the watchtower were ablaze with flames, creating a hellish scene.

(I can’t let this mission end in failure.)

We did not take into account the existence of magic-using Orcs, and so I am in a disadvantage. It may be that the magic-using Orcs have superior [Intelligence] than their non-magic using counter-parts.

However, by hunting for the past two and a half years, I have over 20,000 D-rank magic stones in my possession. If I just keep producing Bears, I can produce more than 20,000 of them. I decided that it was only a matter of time, even if it was a bit of a mess. While enduring the magic, I decided to kill the Orcs in front of me one by one.

After about half an hour of fighting and killing dozens more Orcs, the time had come.

A single Orc came forward from further behind the magic-using Orcs. It dispelled the Orcs and approached in front of me.

The Orc King

It’s obviously a magical beast that is different from an Orc. It was about two times larger than an Orc, it was instantly recognizable as the Orc King. Wearing armor and carrying a large halberd, it surged to the forefront through the dwindling number of Orcs.

“GUMOOO!!!”

With one roar and a swing, the two Bears turned into glowing bubbles. I hurried to re-summon them.

It seems that the speed of the Orc King’s annihilation is faster than the speed of my summoning. The number of Bears, which had grown to more than 30 as I continued to summon more and more, thinking it was an endurance battle, was gradually decreasing.

(The speed at which the summons are getting killed is faster than the speed at which I can summon them. I guess I should retreat for now.)

That’s why I decided it would be better to retreat. The fireball struck me again. The Bron which was shielding me, finally turned into a glowing bubble.

(Oh, no. Bron’s down.)

More fireballs come flying at me. The Bears quickly took a stand to protect me, but I was blown away by the blast.

(Oh no, I should retreat before the situation gets any worse.)

It was at that moment that I stood up from the ground where I had been blown away.

“Hmm, looks like you’re having some trouble.”

“What?”

The Knight Commander appeared in front of Allen, who raised his head.