Chapter 38: Raid of the Malen Forest
As the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, the Malen Forest became noisy with thumping footsteps and incomprehensible chatter.
(Garru Garru)
(Garru Garru)
(Garru)
(Gehee)
Fifty Orcs split into five groups of ten, leisurely made their way towards the Soato village.
The groups were comprised of three Orc types: standard scout, a larger warrior type, and an enormous hulking orc.
<Observe>
[Orc Warrior]
[Monster Rank: C-Tier 2]
[Orc Guardian]
[Monster Rank: C-Tier 2]
‘Tsk, this is annoying.’
Unlike the groups Ari encountered before, these Orcs came fully adorned in leather armour, ready for battle.
As for weapons, the scouts had machetes, some duel-wielding.
The warriors were armed with broadswords and round wooden shields.
As for the six-meter-tall Guardians, they carried giant axes with one hand.
Each group had four scouts, five warriors and one guardian.
Orcs have excellent night vision, which explains why they did not bring any torches.
As for Ari, the Soato taught him a simple illumination spell they cast on their eyes.
With the spell active, the forest appeared as though it had been artificially lit with a pure white luminescence.
Ferine, along with a few Elen-Gota were perched on the surrounding trees, waiting for the signal to attack.
They split the Elen-Gota into three groups: scouts, assault and defence.
The scouts would monitor the movement of the Orcs and keep everyone informed.
The defence group remained at the Soato village to protect against any unforeseen situations.
Naturally, the assault team accompanied Ari on the front lines.
The plan?
Guerrilla warfare...well, sort of.
The assault team would bind the orcs with roots and attack while they are immobile.
First, Ari cast the Silence spell Lady Amlerythe taught him. It created a barrier around the orcs that prevented sound from entering or escaping.
<Wood Magic: Root Bind>
(GARRU GARR-)
A hail of arrows whistled through the air before piercing the bodies of the bound orcs.
Two of the scouts died instantly as the arrows accurately penetrated their eye sockets through the opening in the helmets.
<Wood Magic: Root Pierce>
The ones who were fortunate enough to protect their faces in time had their stomachs pierced by the roots.
Unfortunately, the more powerful orcs remained fairly unscathed. The warriors used their shields to block most of the arrows.
<Wood Magic: Root Bind>
Ari reinforced the binding on the warriors’ legs before they escaped.
Additional roots were used to restrain the neck and arms of the orc guardian.
The Elen-Gota continued their arrow assault, giving him enough time to sneak behind the warriors while they were distracted.
Vvimm!
He swung his newly acquired sword horizontally, decapitating an orc warrior without much resistance.
'Wow, it feels so smooth. The vibration enchantment makes cutting so much easier.'
<Wood Magic: Barbed Root Bind>
(GHAAH!)
Ari added new roots to the orc guardian who nearly broke through its binding. The new roots dug into its skin, further securing it in place.
After his enlightenment through the blessing of The Great Malen-Soato, a myriad of combinations flooded his brain.
The combination of barbed edges protruding from the roots was simply one of the latest ideas that came to mind.
The Great Malen-Soato’s blessing acted like a search engine of sorts.
By tapping into the blessing of The Great Malen-Soato, searching for viable spells became trivial. Using his imagination and being very specific, the answer would come to him if the spell existed in this world.
He activated the runes on his new boots to accelerate and decapitated two more warriors in the process.
'Only two warriors and one guardian left.'
Ari rushed to the remaining orc warriors and introduced them to his sword.
As the last warrior fell, the orc guardian broke free from the root binding before he could completely reinforce it a second time.
The hulking creature swung the giant axe with unprecedented speed, aiming to cut him in half from his shoulder.
Ari evaded the attack by dashing towards the guardian.
Boom!
The ground cracked and split as the axed landed with a thunderous impact.
With its body hunched over, it flung its fist towards Ari, but he evaded it at the last second by jumping into the air, landing on its forearm.
With Perfect dodge active, the moment his feet touched the orc’s arm, he performed a series of dashes to reach its shoulder.
Combining the final dash with acceleration, he leapt towards its neck with his sword overhead.
Using the momentum from the accelerated leap, he swung Blade Of War with all his might, cleaving the guardian's head off its shoulders.
Thud
[You have gained 2600 AP]
Ferine, along with three Elen-Gota descended from the trees and began removing the cores from the orc’s chests.
[You have gained 400 AP]
[You have gained 600 AP]
He gained a total of 7800 AP from this group of orcs, bringing his total AP to 12,700 AP.
Ari used 4600 AP to upgrade Strength and Mana Capacity to LV-47, and 6750 AP to upgrade Magic Power, Stamina, and Agility to LV-46.
With the blessing of The Great Malen-Soato, Strength and Mana Capacity increased to LV-48, and Magic Power, Stamina, and Agility to LV-47.
He received a notification immediately.
[Your Rank Has Increased]
[New Rank: E -Third Class]
He turned to the Elen-Gota.
“Let’s go to the next group.”
“Yes, Malentasume!”
The next group wasn’t too far away from the last.
Ari prepared the Silence spell while waiting for the orcs to enter the area of effect.
He repeated the similar tactics as with the first group, only this time, he ensured that the orc guardian was completely secure in barbed roots.
Having an A-Rank weapon made things significantly easier, however, since there were a lot more orcs to take care of, he had to be more efficient.
With that, an idea came to mind.
He searched for a spell that suited his needs perfectly.
<Water Magic: Water Sphere>
Four large water spheres appeared above the remaining orcs. The spheres dropped onto their heads, submerging their faces completely.
The Orcs struggled in vain as water filled their lungs.
Moments later, they stopped moving and their bodies became limp.
[You have gained 2600 AP]
With their tactics refined, the assault team dealt with two additional groups with more efficiency than before.
Ari further upgraded Mana Capacity and Strength to LV-52, Magic Power and Agility to LV-51, and Stamina to LV-49.
When it came to the final group, Ari decided to change things up.
He targeted the orc guardian with a new spell from the start.
His goal was to eliminate it first to lower the morale of the remaining orcs, specifically, the weakest ones.
<Earth Magic: Sinkhole>
Rumble
(Garru?)
(Garru Garru!)
The ground beneath the guardian split apart and swallowed the orc.
Ari activated the acceleration rune and combined it with a series of dashes to reach the hulking orc before the others had time to react.
The guardian’s neck had dropped to the height of Ari's chest, its arms wedged in on the sides of the sinkhole.
Ari thrust his sword into its throat with all of his strength.
(Gah)
He removed the blade and swung it against the right side of its neck, then spun one hundred and eighty degrees and struck the left side, decapitating it.
<Wood Magic: Barbed Root Bind>
As the large head rolled on the ground, he bound the stunned orc warriors and removed their heads as well.
Six heads decorated the grassy terrain with purple blood.
The scouts froze, uncertain of what to do.
<Wood Magic: Root Pierce>
He used root spikes to pierce the torsos of two of the orc scouts while they were dazed.
Why only two?
He needed one of those bastards to guide him to their settlement.
The likelihood that they would fight to the death or run away while pissing themselves would be a fifty-fifty.
Therefore, if he had two scouts, one would most certainly charge at him, and the other would either abandon his brethren or run away after seeing his lifeless corpse fall to the ground.
It didn’t matter which one it chose, he just needed one of them to be his guide.
Ari flicked his sword, removing the blood from the blade.
“So, what are you guys going to do?”