“Heup!”
“Hap!”
“Urya!”
Although the orcs’ momentum had changed, the trio who had survived in Arunvida remained calm and responded accordingly.
The first thing the three did was assess the enemy.
Knowing their opponent used unknown abilities, they heightened their vigilance to the maximum and kept their guard up.
This approach was correct.
The orcs emitting red magical powers were only stronger in terms of physical strength compared to regular orcs, so they were not particularly difficult to deal with.
While they initially chose to increase the number of injured enemies rather than kill them with a single blow in order to deal with the large number of enemies, the orcs attacked them despite their injuries.
“Hey, these guys are charging like trolls!”
“Got it!”
“Okay!”
Kevin, the most experienced of the three, quickly noticed the changes in the slave orcs and informed the others.
Even though they were hit by the weapons wrapped in aura, the slave orcs charged forward without caring about internal injuries.
At this point, they had to shift to killing the enemy in one blow, even if it meant going a little too far.
Once all three adjusted their combat style without hesitation, the orcs began to fall one by one to the cold ground.
“Kuhuhu.”
Nevertheless, the orc shaman did not wipe the smile off its face.
It seems it’s preparing something.
Shane kept a close eye on the staff the orc shaman was holding, and whenever he had the chance, he sent magical projectiles into the battle where the trio were fighting to provide support.
He wanted to target the orc shaman first, but the shaman was inside a shield made of blood-red magical power, which would take too long to penetrate with simple magical projectiles.
Meanwhile, Felice continued a difficult battle.
The orc who appeared to be a centurion was indeed pressing Felice with destructive power comparable to that of a Cyclops, just as Shane had said.
Like the Cyclops he had seen before, the orc disrupted his balance by stomping or launched explosive attacks with its powerful jumps; each attack was threatening.
To withstand such attacks…
Like the trio, Felice took time to study his enemy first.
He carefully dodged the enemy’s attacks and only occasionally launched probing attacks to bide his time.
However, since each of the orc’s attacks was incredibly threatening and he was dealing with the unfamiliar blood magic, Felice had to make large movements to avoid them.
“Krooooooar─!”
The orc centurion Yulektar roared at Felice who was darting around like a mouse despite his size.
The roar infused with blood magic was, in a way, even more intimidating than the monster fear emitted by the Cyclops, but Felice remained unfazed.
Finally,
“I need to finish this in one blow. That’s the way to do it.”
Until now, Felice had only made minor movements, but then he adjusted his stance and gripped his war hammer.
If the opponent had one powerful strike, he had to finish this cleanly with a single blow as well.
Yulektar with its eyes blazing with fighting spirit, and Felice with a calm and steady gaze. They both prepared for their one decisive strike.
“Hmph!”
Kevin dodged the pickaxes and awls coming at him from both sides and thrust his spear through a gap with ghostly precision.
He felt the familiar sensation of piercing an orc’s heart.
As Kevin tried to withdraw his spear for the next move, the orc wasn’t yet dead despite its heart being pierced and it grabbed his spear.
“Tch.”
Realizing the situation, Kevin abandoned the spear and drew a short sword from his waist, as the orc clung to the spear with its last burst of life.
At that moment, three orcs seized the opportunity from their comrade’s sacrifice and charged at Kevin.
Shane who had been watching all of this fired two magic projectiles. He restricted the movement of two orcs, while Kevin swiftly beheaded the remaining one and ran to reclaim his spear.
“Whew! That mage knows how to handle the battlefield!”
After receiving such help from Shane in battles numerous times, Kevin’s view of Shane had started to change.
As the battle continued, the number of slave orcs steadily decreased without additional intervention from the orc shaman.
The process saw nearly half of them being eliminated, yet the orc shaman maintained a calm demeanor.
Then,
“Graaaaar─!”
Felice and Yulektar’s battle was also nearing its conclusion.
Though Yulektar’s attacks that were powered by a Cyclops’ magical power were lethal, Felice handled the enemy with relative ease.
For Felice who had faced similarly fast opponents before, Yulektar was easier to manage than a Cyclops.
Even though Yulektar possessed the Cyclops’ magical power, his physical resilience had not increased.
In a fight where both aimed for a decisive blow, Felice with his experience had an advantage over Yulektar, who had not yet fully adapted to the Cyclops’ power.
Finally, as Yulektar’s wildness peaked and his movements grew wider, Felice seized the perfect moment after letting a few openings pass by.
When Yulektar thrust its swords forward with both hands,
Felice spun his body fluidly.
His war hammer which was coated with aura and sharpened to a point struck Yulektar’s temple directly.
Smash!
The orc had gathered as much magical power as possible to defend itself, but Felice’s war hammer pierced Yulektar’s temple without hesitation which made all its efforts meaningless.
Megingjörð.
Felice’s signature move, researched for decades at the risk of his life.
Although he borrowed Shane’s magic before, it was a blow that even collapsed a canyon.
And so, the battle that had been a long probing match came to an end.
With just one attack, half of Yulektar’s head caved in and the orc centurion was hit repeatedly on the ground until it finally collapsed.
Perhaps it was the effect of blood magic.
Even with half of its head caved in, Yulektar lifted its head.
But as if that were its limit, Yulektar cast its gaze towards the orc shaman who was watching it from the side.
“Grrr…!”
If that guy who was still smiling with the corners of its mouth raised had any tricks up its sleeve.
When Yulektar looked with such hope.
At last, the voice of the orc shaman who had been keeping its mouth tightly shut was heard.
“You’ve done well, Yulektar. Your name will be remembered as a hero of our race. Your power will be passed on to a more talented individual. Kuhuhu.”
However, the words Yulektar heard were far from what it had expected.
At that moment, Yulektar felt an unknown heat rise from its heart as it tried to call out the orc shaman’s name.
When the orc shaman struck the ground with the staff, the bloodstained outpost trembled ominously and red energy flowed from the corpses of the dead slave orcs before seeping into the earth.
The surviving slave orcs screamed in terror and just as the group felt something was amiss and were about to charge at the orc shaman responsible for this.
Once again, the orc shaman struck its staff down and red magical power spread out like veins, engulfing the outpost.
Just before the sky was covered by the red magic.
“Don’t be deceived; don’t use magic!”
With those final words, the group’s vision went dark.
Before he could even react, Kevin was engulfed by the blood-red magic and looked around.
“Damn it. What the hell is happening this time?”
Everything was red. For some reason, he couldn’t see MacGowan and Hackerts who had been fighting right beside him just moments ago.
“Damned black mages. These bastards can’t do anything without their tricks.”
As he muttered this, Kevin tried to recall the various pieces of information Shane had mentioned.
To be precise, that kid had said it wasn’t exactly black magic.
Kevin had heard it was a form of blood magic manipulated through the magical power dissolved in the blood of others.
Just before this strange phenomenon occurred, didn’t Shane mention something?
Don’t be deceived and don’t use magic, right?
So, it seemed best not to use magic for the time being.
It would be foolish to just let go of your strength because you’re nervous.
As time passed without incident, Kevin’s vision caught something.
“…Damn orcs.”
An orc with blue skin rose from the ground. However, it didn’t look normal as expected.
It was bleeding and staring at Kevin with a dazed expression.
Could it be related to blood magic?
As Kevin held his beloved spear and remained on guard, the orc turned its gaze toward him and charged.
“Ugh?!”
For some reason, the orc’s charging speed was abnormal.
With a single leap, the orc reached Kevin and its fist struck him square in the solar plexus.
The impact was so powerful that Kevin tumbled to the ground several times. He hurriedly gathered his senses and looked ahead. The orc’s knee was already coming toward him.
“Ugh!”
The blow to his face scrambled his vision as if his brain was shaking.
What the hell!
The speed was on a whole different level from any opponent he had faced before.
Despite this, Kevin didn’t hastily use his magic.
Abnormal phenomena.
Anyone who had explored dungeons several times would develop a basic resistance to these anomalies.
Dungeons were unpredictable, and anything could happen at any time.
Kevin might have seemed hot-tempered on the surface, but in battle, he was colder and more calculating than anyone else.
That bastard’s movements are strange.
Kevin who had been sent flying by the orc’s knee forced his eyes open to observe the orc’s movements again, despite the intense pain.
He noticed something strange about the way the orc leaped toward him again. Instead of retrieving the spear that had been flung far away, Kevin grabbed the shortsword at his waist and aimed for the orc’s neck.
But his stab missed its mark, and once more, the orc’s fist slammed into his solar plexus.
“Keuh, what the hell!”
Kevin rolled on the ground several times again, but he managed to gather some crucial information.
That bastard has no discernible signs in its movements.
As a skilled warrior, Kevin could usually predict his opponent’s next move by the subtle shifts in their muscles.
But this orc had none of that. It moved like a puppet with its strings cut. It was erratic and unpredictable.
Moreover.
It’s a miracle I’m still moving after taking this much of a beating!
Kevin felt intense pain, but his body moved more freely than expected.
When he realized this, Kevin finally let out a sigh.
“An illusion or something, shit.”
Even though he wasn’t a mage, Kevin’s guess was impressive, yet he still cursed under his breath.
That kid, did he really foresee this far?
Shane’s last words gave Kevin even greater confidence. Even so, the situation did not get any better.
Kevin couldn’t do anything in his current state where he was unable to use magic.
He could only wait for Shane, who seemed to know what was happening, to resolve the situation.
“Shit…”
Kevin steeled his resolve as he looked at the orcs that had now begun to multiply.
“Kuhuhu… the sacrificial lambs have walked in on their own.”
The orc shaman laughed as he watched the group swinging swords and axes at empty air.
The expressions of fear where they couldn’t see each other and got tormented by their own illusions. No matter how many times he saw it, he never got tired of it.
And was that all? Amazingly, each of these humans had honed their magic skills over a long time.
Especially Felice, who moved nimbly with a war hammer in hand, was destined to become the shaman’s best material.
What could it do with their corpses?
The anticipation already thrilled the orc shaman.
The orc shaman slowly turned its gaze towards Shane.
Unlike the others, there was a boy standing with his eyes closed.
A human mage was also a rare material.
It wouldn’t kill this young human, but instead, make him spill all his knowledge.
Just as the orc shaman wondered if the boy had already fainted.
“Interesting.”
“……?!”
Shane suddenly opened his eyes and stared directly at the orc shaman.
“A totem, huh? So, combining blood magic with shamanism can be used like this. It’s been a while since I’ve seen something interesting.”
“How…?!”
The shaman didn’t understand human language, so it couldn’t comprehend what Shane was saying, but it was certain that the spell had no effect on him.
In the meantime, Shane began muttering to himself again.
“Usually, preparing this level of magic would require a lot of continuous resources. But shamanism is different. The preparation process is complex, but once it’s ready, there’s no sharper dagger from the attacker’s perspective.”
“Are you using the target’s magical power as material for the illusion? Yes, you read the target’s memories and materialize them.”
“So, MacGowan and Hekerts were caught. Felice also used his magical power. It’s a bit surprising that Kevin is holding out. Well, I guess it’s fine now.”
Before the spell had been activated.
Shane was constantly observing the surroundings of the orc shaman as he engaged in battle.
The shaman’s lack of movement meant that it had already completed all the actions it could.
As a result, Shane detected subtle movements of blood magic whenever the orcs died and traced them back.
By comparing the characteristics of blood magic from his past life memories and Gordon’s memories, Shane roughly figured out the intention behind the shaman’s spell.
Now that the spell had been activated,
Shane could directly see the illusions his team members were seeing.
They were being chased by various monsters and humans, not just orcs.
As they used more magical power, the intensity of their magic increased, and the blood magic responded by gradually adding physical force to the illusions.
At first, the intense pain was merely an illusion, but it began to materialize gradually.
“You’re actually bringing back those who were killed before… There’s no way their minds could endure this.”
With that, Shane turned his gaze back to the orc shaman.
“But if you want to kill me with this…”
Shane slowly began to activate his own magic.
The orc shaman who saw this relaxed its tense face and smiled.
Foolish human mage.
In the end, you used your magic.
However, the shaman’s smile did not last long.
“You should at least destroy the continent first.”
As black magic surged from Shane,
The orc shaman’s eyes widened as if they would tear apart.
Corpses.
Everywhere the orc shaman looked.
Corpses filled the forward outpost, spilled over the steep walls of the canyon, and fell from above the canyon.
Faced with countless human corpses, the orc shaman’s voice cracked.
“Th-This human, what on earth is this…”
“Can your spell handle this many deaths?”
In contrast, the voice that sounded chillingly clear belonged to someone who did not lose his smile amid the overflowing corpses.
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