What the Orcs Are After

"Who the hell are you calling idiots, you morons!"

"Ugh, gross. Bunch of beggar-looking freaks! You need to get your asses beaten black and blue before you learn some sense!"

"Look at them picking their noses, it's actually making me want to puke."

While the still-talkative Helen duo traded insults with the orcs, I scaled the canyon wall like a spider and made my way to the top of the horde surging toward us like a tidal wave.

The moment I anchored myself to the wall, the battle kicked off immediately. From the orcs' perspective, there was no reason to drag things out. Roughly two hundred and fifty of them. About fifty seemed to have split off from the original three hundred that had been chasing us. Of course, some of those had fallen behind due to our attacks.

'There he is. Nice that he's so easy to spot.'

In the center of their formation, a reddish Orc Advanced Warrior stood arrogantly atop a small hill, surveying the battlefield. 'Sigh—he's really striking a pose. This guy was nothing but a common soldier under the orc legion commander.'

No matter how much position shapes a person, knowing his actual rank made the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sight rather unpleasant to me. I crept closer in stealth and began releasing Contaminated Breath.

"Ugh?!"

Before long, the warrior quickly realized he had been poisoned. He thrashed about, trying to escape the smoke's influence, but he was already tightly surrounded by his kin both in front and behind in the canyon. He seemed to understand that moving recklessly in a place where the crowd surged like waves could cause their entire force to collapse. Covering his mouth with one hand, he twisted his head back and forth, searching for me.

"You filthy human bastards, more cunning than elves!! Come out right now and fight me!"

'Go fuck yourself.'

Instead, I poured even more mana into the skill and spread the Contaminated Breath all the way to where our defensive line stood. The narrow canyon made it spread quickly.

And then—

No Hayun's magic announced that the battle was truly beginning. I hurled bombs at the orcs whose lower bodies had frozen, slowing their movements.

CRASH! BOOM! BOOM!

My bombs alone had trouble piercing their tough hides, but combined with the freezing effect, blowing off body parts became easy. In front of our party, Bae Jua's rock barriers continued to block half the passage. The orcs that tried to climb over to deal with the annoying mage were desperately held back by the lizard troop, other summons, and the Helen duo.

They couldn't win one-on-one, but our formation allowed us to gang up on two or three at a time, making defense possible. The orcs looked like they might break through but never quite managed to get past our line.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Between No Hayun's and my combination attacks, their numbers steadily dwindled. About fifteen minutes passed like that. When the number of orcs we'd rendered combat-ineffective by blowing off at least one leg exceeded seventy, their commander finally seemed unable to watch the pathetic display any longer. He began shoving his way forward, pushing the orcs ahead of him aside.

Every step he took forward sent the orcs in front tumbling and getting trampled, creating a wave of injuries. "Krr... Kuaaaa!! I won't kill you nicely!!"

This was apparently his first time experiencing the disgusting sight of his own kin falling without even fighting. The advanced warrior's eyes gradually began to roll with rage.

WHOOSH— BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

By the time my limited supply of bombs had nearly run out, the Orc Advanced Warrior grabbed the remaining leg of an orc that had already lost one and hurled it with all his strength toward our formation. Yeonhee and Bae Jua leaped backward to avoid the orc drawing a high arc across the sky.

THUD!

Bae Jua swallowed hard as she watched the orc slam into the ground, its neck snapping instantly. More and more injured orcs traced parabolas through the air. Once about thirty orcs had piled up in our formation, they acted as cushions, so the injured that followed didn't even get hurt when they landed on the pile.

"Chwiiiaaak!! I'll kill you! Humans! I'll have my revenge for this leg!"

An orc whose leg had been torn off at the joint hopped forward on one foot, swinging its axe wildly at our party members.

'Looks like he threw them in a fit of rage, but this is actually pretty effective...'

"Damn it! What do we do about those things?!"

"Aim for their lower bodies! If we knock them down, they're nothing!"

"We know they're nothing, but we can't knock them down!"

SWISH— THUD!

"Gurgh!"

At least Yeonhee was restraining the ones that had penetrated our rear with her arrows, and the ironclad beetle's aggro was helping us somehow hold out while surrounded from both sides.

'Just a little longer...'

The canyon was now visibly filled with Contaminated Breath, like looking at a dawn thick with fog. But with our party members' safety now seriously threatened, I couldn't stay clinging to the wall any longer.

"Kyaaaaah!! Let go! Let go of me! Somebody help!! Please! Hwaaaang!!"

'...We were so close, damn it!'

The moment I heard Bae Jua's scream, I dashed toward our formation. When I arrived, I saw her surrounded by orc warriors, her clothes being torn to shreds. I didn't know how it had happened, but she must have become their first target.

'Don't you dare touch her with those filthy hands, you bastards!'

"Chwiiiaaaak!!"

Dropping down from stealth, I hurled every last remaining bomb before climbing onto the orc pinning Bae Jua and stabbing my dagger into its neck.

STAB!

"Kek!"

The orc's body, already weakened by poison and paralyzed, was easier to pierce than I'd expected. By the time the orcs' thick blood splattered across the ground, I was already running toward the rear of our party with Bae Jua in my arms.

"Aah... Ilwol!"

"Jua, are you okay?"

"Hwaaang...! Hic..."

"It's okay, it's okay now! We're here! I'm sorry! I couldn't protect you when they suddenly rushed in."

"You bastards are all dead now! Our skeleton is insanely strong!"

My arrival finally gave them some breathing room, but our party's condition was terrible. Their stamina and mana were already at rock bottom, and the endless waves of orc war cries kept gnawing away at their mental strength.

"Hic... Thanks for the clothes... Hng—"

Bae Jua, who had received a robe from Yeonhee, took off her glasses and wiped her tears. We had pulled her out before anything worse could happen, but her face was badly swollen. The injuries weren't as severe as one might expect from being beaten—probably because of the orcs' intentions—but it was more than enough to send someone into a panic.

Yet Bae Jua stood up again, gripping her staff and taking a stance against the orcs that were licking their lips.

'Sigh... Maybe what I miscalculated in this battle was Bae Jua's true capability.'

I assessed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the remaining enemies while preparing more bombs. 'About a hundred and fifty orcs left. One of them is that advanced warrior...'

It was a hopeless situation by anyone's standards, but if we could just hold out a little longer, victory was still possible. I believed that and endured.

RUMBLE—

The rock barriers Bae Jua had placed in the canyon's concave terrain completely collapsed. We were pushed back until our backs were pressed against the rear cliff. Then a single monster leisurely walked over the rock barrier in front and revealed itself.

"That monster... Let's just all fight it together! At this point it's do or die, damn it!"

"We can't, Jin-gyeong. If we all fight, we'll just... get overwhelmed. Right now we need to buy time with a duel like before..."

"Then who the hell is supposed to fight that thing! Ha... Damn it!"

At Jin-gyeong's outburst, everyone's eyes turned to me at once. But they soon shook their heads. They were probably remembering how I had barely managed to defeat the spear-wielding orc and concluded this matchup was impossible.

Death. That word began to imprint itself in everyone's minds. And it wouldn't even be a comfortable death. Orcs were humanoid monsters by nature—they didn't simply kill their defeated enemies. After satisfying their desires, they'd turn the men into food and the women into breeding tools.

Unfortunately, our entire party consisted of women, which meant they would all suffer what Bae Jua had nearly gone through before dying.

Shiver, shiver, shiver.

"Hic... S-suicide..."

It was known that orcs gained even greater strength from seeing humans tremble in fear. Everyone wanted to stand properly, but their heads spun, their vision grew blurry, and their bodies shook uncontrollably. Even Yeonhee, who was tightly gripping my hand, was the same.

Tremble.

"Ilwol... Ugh... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'm sorry... Hic... The Brown Summon Book takes too long..."

'Time... I see.'

Come to think of it, the original summon books had also taken a long time at first, but the summoning time had grown shorter and shorter until it barely took any time at all. Using the newly acquired brown summon book right now would require looking at it and reciting the incantation, which would consume a considerable amount of time. There was no way we could leisurely chant spells for several minutes while being chased and fighting for our lives. If we had performed the summoning ritual during a break, they would have caught up and devoured us.

Having failed to stop them despite using every resource available, Yeonhee seemed to blame herself. Her expression was filled with frustration, and her reddened eyes were full of regret.

'Hmm...'

Lee Yeonhee, No Hayun, and Bae Jua had all completely exhausted their mana. The lake water's effect had been used all three times as well. Once mana hit rock bottom, recovery speed dropped dramatically. Yeonhee at least had her orb, so she would recover quickly if given time, but the Helen duo were leaning against the wall, barely able to stand as they stared at their weapons. It was obvious what they were thinking.

'I need to step up before they do something stupid.'

The only one who could still fight properly was me, since I wasn't affected by stamina. This was the board I had designed. I had to finish the game myself.

'If it comes to it, I'll have to risk everything and change classes...'

"Wooooooaaar!! Boss!!"

"Wu! Wu! Wu! Wu!"

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The orcs roared loud enough to shake the forest, anticipating the bloody festival that was about to begin. In response, the Orc Advanced Warrior raised his axe high, encouraging them.

'Thanks, you bastards.'

What we needed most right now was time. The fact that they were wasting dozens of seconds like this was something I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be grateful for even if I bowed a thousand times.

Clack. Clack.

I gently squeezed Yeonhee's hand, then stepped forward. Feeling her fingers slowly slip from my palm, I walked toward the Orc Advanced Warrior.