Chapter 501 A Challenge Issued

"Calytrix, back me up!" He commanded, standing up.

"Of course," Calytrix obliged.

Before the Orc God's horizontal swing could carve through both of the shock-stricken adventurers, he brought himself between them and the orcish giant with a shadow step, blocking the colossal weapon with his blade.

Even guarding against it perfectly, the force backed behind the club could be felt vibrating his bones, and the liquid in his step.

"Focus—!" He yelled out to the two behind him.

From the backline, Calytrix snapped her fingers, "Nyx: Thorns of Hades."

Assisting him, thorn-covered roots sprouted from the blood lake, aiming towards the Orc God as they forced him to leap back.

With a few, casual swings of his club, the shadowy roots were dispelled with little effort, though it was enough to create space for them once again.

"...Sorry," Memo apologized quietly.

"Yeah," Samfrey caught his breath, "I lost focus there. Thanks, boss."

He looked back as his snowy fringes were hanging close to his eyes, "Just keep it together. This thing is a whole lot tougher than I expected."

"You can say that again," Samfrey replied.

"Is that thing truly indestructible…?" Memo asked.

"I doubt that," he said, watching the Orc God land on the other side of the blood lake, "but…he's making a pretty good case for it right now."

Archard stationed himself beside the three, while Calytrix remained in the backline, prepared to support them with her magecraft.

"If what the lady said is true, then that is the "Zenith of Orcs", so to speak," Arcade said, adjusting his steel helmet as his voice rang from beneath it, "In that truth, it may be best for us to retreat."

Memo seemed offended at the very suggestion, "Retreat? And what? Wait for others to come and clean up our mess–our failure?"

"Calm down, would you?" Samfrey grabbed Memo by the collar, pulling him away as the man attempted to get in the veteran adventurer's space.

"What? Are you planning to tuck your tail between your legs and run too?" Memo glared at him.

"I'm planning to listen to what our leader has to say," Samfrey told him, quickly silencing him, "like you should be, too."

Now, their attention shifted to the white-haired man that stood at the vanguard, who was keeping an eye on the Orc God, who took a slow approach, as if savoring the encounter. In almost a miracle that bought them some time, and at the same time harrowing, the Orc God stopped, consuming the bloated body parts of the lacyrie that floated in the waters.

The way it handled its approach was as if not even recognizing the group as formidable foes, but as harmless prey as it took its time.

"...It's clear that this thing is beyond "royal" class," he said, "in that regard, it's our best, safest option to pull out."

"What–?" Memo scoffed.

"But," he interjected the cardinal-haired man's displeasure, "...if we retreated now, this guy would only grow more powerful, wouldn't he?"

He aimed these words with a glance back at Calytrix, who nodded her head with a small, but hesitant smile.

"I doubt there is an upper-limit to the growth of an Orc God," she told them, "as much as it can consume, it can grow in power. With that, I'd say now is our most optimal time to fight him."

"We haven't even put a damn scratch on that big bastard though…!" Samfrey huffed as he clenched his daggers.

Though somehow, those words prompted the white-haired guild leader to step forward, holding his arm out for the others not to follow.

"And he hasn't put a scratch on any of us yet, right? I doubt anybody has given it their all yet, so it's too early to count our chickens," he said with a confident smile, "if we're going to fight, it's going to be all of us–by that, we need everyone here, including the other group."

"Who knows if they're even on their way here though…?" Memo asked.

"I agree," Archard added, "we have no way of even knowing reinforcements will arrive."

Taking in a breath as he watched the Orc God nearly finish its impromptu meal, he looked back at the others as if the answer was obvious.

"That's why I need you all to find them, and bring them here," he said.

Though he spoke of his plan naturally, it met their ears as if he wasn't speaking the same language they did.

"What?" Memo raised an eyebrow.

"No offense, but that's simply suicide," Archard said.

Samfrey let out a few breaths before slowly nodding his head, "No…I don't take you for an idiot, Boss. I don't take you for the kind of man willing to die in a shithole like this, either."

He smiled at Samfrey's words, twirling his sword between his fingers, "Is that right?"

Calytrix also added in, "I see…you trust in darkness that much, that you'd stake your life on it? No…you don't even recognize it as your life being at risk–that is how much you believe in darkness!"

"I guess you could say that," he told them, but then speaking with urgency as the Orc God began to approach once again, "Get moving! With all four of you looking, I expect you to be back with the whole team in haste!"

Just as he gave his orders, they accepted, some of them begrudgingly so, but they were forcefully elevated up the tunnel that they initially fell from, lifted by magical, dark roots of Calytrix's creation.

Kinda feels good to boss people around, huh? He thought to himself.

And so, it was just him and the seemingly unstoppable orc. Blood dripped from its maw, trailing down its stone-complexioned skin while its jewlyrized dreadlocks swayed over its shoulders, all whilst carrying the massive hunk of weaponized stone in its right hand with inhuman, all-black eyes.

"Finally, I can fight without worrying about getting them caught up," he breathed out, tapping the dull side of his blade against his shoulder.

…With the four of them, they should track down Iris' group fast. I'd say…I have to hold this guy off for about a few minutes. Doesn't sound too bad in practice, but…this is the "Orc God" himself, after all, he thought, either way…it's time to show that my two years away wasn't for nothing!