Chapter 78 Coal

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Several carts rolled forward with the effort of many Orcs. Each cart weighed several hundred kilograms, so they had to put in a lot of effort.

Zayne and the others remained completely calm, not risking even breathing once more. Especially as they passed two guards, who stared intently at each cart with their tenacious gazes.

'Damn... I wouldn't want to fight them.' Zayne muttered looking at one of the Orcs, 'If his club were to hit me even once, it would be a fracture at best... This game is incredible, but the pain here is still too realistic...'

Tap.

Suddenly the Orcs stopped, and one of them approached the guards. He said something to them, got their approval, and the carts moved on. Zayne and the others inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Their path led deep inside the caves, to a massive room where all the Orc coal was stored, there were dozens of tons here.

'Great, this is a good opportunity to get rid of them!' Elin inwardly exclaimed as she prepared to shoot at the Orcs who were leaving.

Crackle.

Roland flicked her forehead, causing her to frown and look at him irritably. However, Roland watched the Orcs intently, one of whom decided to stay there.

Roland looked at the others, pointed to the far corner, and headed that way.

"Commander, why did you stop me...?" Elin whispered, rubbing her forehead.

"Because you almost made a grave mistake just now." Roland replied coldly.

"I agree, Elin, don't you think at all before you do anything?" Rea nodded with a wave of her hand.

Roland looked at Orc, "If we were to kill them, the others would soon notice it. In that case, we would have limited ourselves in time."

Elin's eyes went wide, then she nodded guiltily.

"Don't feel bad, everyone makes mistakes." Geir said calmly, placing his massive palm on her shoulder.

"Looks like this Orc is in no hurry to leave, do they really need this coal for something other than the furnaces?" Zayne muttered with a thoughtful expression.

"Let's wait a little while. If nothing happens, we'll just carefully leave here and go look for their main hall." Roland sighed.

...

Ten minutes passed, and Roland was beginning to doubt his decision. He was sitting on a pile of coal and looking bored at the Orc, just like everyone else.

Step. Step. Step.

Suddenly, there were massive footsteps, and three silhouettes entered the room. Two of them were as big as the guards, and the third was skinny, with a staff in his hand and a long mantle.

"Is that an Orc Mage?" Rea whispered with wide eyes.

"Rakarakra!" Orc-Mage shouted something to the usual Orc who immediately started waving his arms as if he was making excuses for something.

The Orc-Mage stared at him, then took a deep breath and struck the ground with his staff.

Whooooooooooooooosh.

From the Orc-Mage's staff, several massive blue hands flew out that were connected to the staff by a dense thread. These hands grew several times larger and grabbed a few piles of coal, lifting them up.

'Damn... It took multiple Orcs for each cart to move them, but he managed it so easily... Isn't he the only Mage?' Zayne inwardly muttered as he gulped.

"Rakar!" Orc-Mage yelled, then the usual Orc returned to the outpost.

"Let's go, they're definitely the ones we should follow." Roland whispered and moved first. The others nodded.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

Suddenly one of the coal piles fell over because Geir accidentally hit it. Everyone flinched and turned around with frightened faces, trying to fix the situation somehow.

"Rrrafka!!!" The Orc-Mage exclaimed furiously as he entered the room, but when he saw that it was empty inside, he just shook his head with a deep sigh.

"Rakarakaka..." The Orc-Mage seemed to complain about something and headed on his way.

"I'm sorry..." Geir smiled guiltily.

"Agh... It's okay, just be more careful. They mustn't notice us before we get there." Roland shrugged and stepped forward.

They followed the Orc-Mage for a long time until they reached a massive passageway from which emanated a bright light as well as heat.

Zayne took a few steps forward, and his eyes went wide at the sight. It was the last and largest room in all the caves, where the Orcs were on their main mission.

In the center was a massive lake of lava over which hovered a round red crystal, absorbing both the heat and the energy that the five Orc Mages transmitted to it.

"What the hell... What the fuck is that...?" Roland muttered in disbelief, looking at the magic circle around the lake.

"Shit... I didn't know Orcs were so smart... How could they create such a complicated magic circle... I'm not sure my teacher from the academy could replicate it..." Rea whispered with a shiver.

"Well... I doubt a mere mage could create something like that..." Zayne said with a dazed expression.

"Agh, what are you talking about?" Rea was puzzled.

"Look." Zayne pointed to the lava lake.

Crackle.

The Orc-Mage waved his hand, and the piles of coal hovering above him headed into the lava, disappearing completely into it, then he stood on a symbol in a magical circle and struck the ground with his staff.

From the lake, scarlet streams of energy flowed toward him, and through his staff they crossed over to the crystal, filling it with power. This Orc-Mage's gaze became exhausted, so he stayed where he was, and instead, another Orc-Mage headed for the storage.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Zayne and the others stepped aside, letting the Orc-Mage move on. His feelings were not enough to dispel Loso's spell.

"Agh, now I understand how they accumulate energy to summon Chaos Hearth... However, I still can't figure out where they got that crystal...?" Roland muttered, rubbing his chin with a thoughtful expression.

"That shouldn't surprise you too much. Such crystals can be found or created from the energy of other Chaos Hearths, at least that's what I've heard." Rea shrugged.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom While the others pondered what to do next, Zayne decided to look up and a slight smile appeared on his face.

"Hah, maybe I shouldn't say this, but they picked a pretty nice place for it." Zayne pointed upward.

Above the lava lake, there was a wide rift from which the crowns of trees peeked out, and the bright blue moonlight passed.

"No... You're not quite right." Roland shook his head with a frown look, "They chose this place with the open roof on purpose... Since that is where they are going to summon Chaos Hearth, so the monsters don't have to pick their way out through the narrow caves."

"Commander, what should we do? Maybe we should destroy the crystal right now?" Elin asked as she prepared to fire.

"Wait. Apparently, they don't have enough power yet. I'm sure they have to burn at least half the coal to summon Tier Two Chaos Hearth." Roland stopped her, lowering her bow, "First, let's think about how we can deal with this guy."

Everyone looked where Roland pointed, and their eyes went wide at the sight of the huge monster sitting in the corner of the room. Everyone knew at once that it was the Orc Leader, due to his intimidating aura.