CH 35

I came here to hunt wolves, and now I’m fiddling with my gun to try to distract myself from how nervous I am.

The first time I hunted wolves, I did it out of necessity, and didn’t even have time to think.

The first time I fought goblins, I chose to do so, but I also had Rurika and Chris with me.

And now, this will be my first time fighting orcs, and sadly, I’m on my own. I’m probably not ready to fight orcs, physically or mentally, but there’s no doubt that I’m here right now because I chose to be here.

Lantz and the others are all where I told them to be.

The orcs are moving around inside the building, and the one standing watch outside doesn’t look happy. It looks irritated.

The sun is pretty high in the sky, and I don’t think we’re going to get anything by waiting any longer.

I point my gun towards the sky, and just as I’m about to pull the trigger, Map shows me two orcs that appear to be leaving the building.

I wait for a bit, and they do come out and approach the other orc. Are they talking to the one standing watch?

I watch them for a bit longer, but the other two don’t show any sign that they’ll come out.

Now I just have to get lucky. I pull the trigger, and the sound of the gunshot echoes.

The orcs look surprised, and start to look around with caution.

I undo my Presence Concealment and show myself to the orcs, before running towards them with my sword in hand.

The orcs let out a threatening war cry, which I ignore as I close the distance and swing my sword at the orc in front.

The sound of metal clashing against metal echoes, as the orc blocks my sword with its own.

I push forward, but it meets me head on. I can’t try to beat them with raw power. I can’t let myself be overconfident when there’s such a big size difference.

I push forward again like I’m trying to push the orc back, but then jump back.

The orc is now pushing against nothing, and pitches forward. I don’t let this chance get away, and swing my sword.

Despite the timing being perfect, the spear that lunges at me from the side messes up my aim, and I only manage to lightly cut the orc’s skin.

The other orc attacks from the other side with an axe. Looking at that thick blade makes it clear that facing it head on would be dangerous.

I regroup by putting some distance between us, like I’m running away.

The orc that was cut composes itself, looks at the wound, and howls in anger.

Maybe the two remaining orcs heard it, because they come outside too.

And as for the people inside… They’re all gathered in a corner.

I take out a knife and throw it at one of the orcs that just came out.

The knife goes straight for its forehead like it’s being sucked into it, but the orc repels it like it’s swatting a fly.

The orcs’ eyes are all fixated on me, glaring at me with anger. Do I have their attention?

An orc attacks me right after I threw the knife, but I ward it off with my sword.

I take a good look at the orcs while being careful about the distance between us. They are all holding different weapons. Sword, spear, axe, club, two handed sword… Do monsters have strong points and weak points when it comes to weapons too?

Also, one of them is a slightly different color. It’s a slight difference, and I wouldn’t have noticed it if they weren’t lined up like this, and when I use Appraisal, it classifies all of them as just orcs.

But I also notice that this one is holding the two handed sword, and they are coming at me in a shoddy formation that centers on this orc.

I repeatedly engage them with my sword and then dodge and flee in an exaggerated way. All to get them as far away from the building as possible.

“I’m almost there…”

I move towards stopping two orcs that are getting near, and slash at the one holding the axe.

The orc was waiting for this and repels my sword, making me lose my balance and fall.

That’s when the one holding the club sees an opportunity to attack. I block it with my sword with one knee on the ground, but receiving a blow like this sends me flying back pretty hard, because I wasn’t able to kill the attack’s momentum.

I rush to my feet and raise my sword, and as I try to compose my rapid breathing, I fearfully look around at the orcs.

I look the one holding the two handed sword in the eyes, and it laughs like it’s mocking me.

I slowly fall back.

“Uwaaaaaaaa!”

I yell, and jump into the forest behind me immediately after.

Not a second later, I hear the orcs coming after me, and sure enough, Map shows the five orcs are in pursuit.

I run, but not so fast that I lose my pursuers. It’s hard to control my speed in a way that they don’t lose me, but also don’t catch up with me…

With footsteps, howls, and angry roars behind me, I run and run and run.

I can see five spots moving towards the building. They met up…

That’s when I hear the sound of wind being cut, and dive to the ground after sensing danger. A spear passes right where my head was and shakes a tree as it pierces it. That was close.

I didn’t mean to be careless, but it attacked right when my attention was on the map.

I run as I try to stay focused, weaving between the trees and using them as shields.

I run for five, ten minutes, sometimes showing myself to throw knives as a way to keep provoking them, until I reach the small open area I was running towards. I stand near its edge, ready to jump back into the forest if that becomes necessary.

I turn back, and wait for the orcs to come out of the forest.

I use Map to check both the orc’s position and Lantz and the others’. They’re heading in the opposite direction, towards the village.

The first mission has been accomplished, but it’s just getting started for me.

I take a deep breath and hold up my sword. I also have my gun ready to be fired at any time.

I’m really nervous. Now that I really stop to think about it, those orcs are a head taller than me and have really thick bodies. I tremble just thinking about it.

But on the other hand, that means they’re bigger targets.

I slowly exhale the deep breath I took, and rid my body of any unnecessary tension.

Three, two, one… The orcs, mad about being made to run around like that, jump out of the forest.

When the one in front crosses half the length of this open area, I pull the trigger. It’s not even twenty meters away from me.

Two gunshots echo, and the orc falls to the ground with a thud and an angry expression still on its face.