Chapter 10 – Orcs


    I slogged through knee-deep snow after dismounting from Jericho, determined to conserve his strength. We had crossed more mountains than I cared to count, definitely above ten, all while spending every moment of the last four days looking for monsters.


    Every blink sent a searing pain through my eyes – half from the biting wind, half from the lacking sleep. A persistent, gnawing ache plagued my lower back, and each step demanded the fortitude of aura tempered steel. However, I could not stop now, for I had discovered the method to fill the storage cube at last.


    Before me stretched the frost laden expanse that I had recently come to associate with snowy peaks, and upon it trudged two figures, hauling sheep carcasses atop a makeshift sleigh.


    Why are there only sheep here? And when will these two reach their destination?


    The lack of sleep had made me irascible enough that I considered forsaking my mission on multiple occasions, but the last bit of sanity kept me on track. The two orcs, complete with their green skin, hulking frame and less than stellar minds were not having trouble with either the environment or the weight.


    Their white pelts seemed to be made of thick wool, betraying the presence of someone with common sense among them. A minor obstruction, for the orcs’ minds evolved with their strength, and given how the whole mountain range was teeming with experienced rank creatures, even I had to be careful.


    I was quite far behind them, ever careful lest they notice the red veil cloaking me and Jericho. After nearly four hours of pursuit, my patience was rewarded with the sight of a mountain crowned by a cluster of crudely constructed huts, sprawled along a slopeside beneath a snowy peak, where scores of orcs milled about.


    Now that I had a vision of my target, there was no need for the guides to stay alive. I remounted Jericho, who quickly shifted to his demon aspect and descended on the prey. The heavy-footed clamor betrayed our presence, prompting them to turn towards us in alarm.


    Before their startled eyes, Jericho charged – black smoke billowing from his form – while I steered him towards our foes. The orcs abandoned their ropes and drew their bows – limbs of wood as thick as a man’s forearm, bending under the force of their powerful muscles, and equally formidable arrows of two-meter length, leading one to suspect whether they were ballistae.


    “Fu*king brutes!,” I let loose an unintentional curse looking at the arrows tearing through the wind, defying gravity like no-man’s business. Their raw strength allowed them to contend with newly ascended human aura masters, and using that strength for ranged weapons was almost a guaranteed victory. Thankfully orcs did not have enough dexterity to aim very well, but there were exceptions everywhere, and I just had to run into them.


    But the effort was useless, the instant sound reached Jericho, his tails tensed. In a fleeting moment as the projectiles neared, a swift, savage strike reduced them to splinters.


    With the initial skirmish over, there wasn’t much distance left between us. I unsheathed my longsword and, in a silent communion with my partner, adjusted my stance. Once the distance was sufficiently reduced, Jericho released a blast of smoke, and I saw the orcs hold out their bows in front.


    Siezing the moment, I leapt off Jericho, carrying all the built-up momentum to decapitate the left orc, while through the smoke, I felt Jericho just break past the other orc’s bow while impaling him with his horns. When the orc did not die, Jericho used his tails to inject noxious smoke directly into his adversary’s body, rendering him immobile as his bled away.


    Before the smoke cleared, I had finished removing their monster crystals. Looking towards the village, I only saw a blur. The exhaustion was getting to me. Squinting my eyes, I made out the details of the village – perhaps four hundred huts clinging to the mountainside, ascending from the valley below.


    Veering aside, I heard the murmur of flowing water. Looking down, I could barely make out the silver stream flowing along the valley.


    Dismounting from Jericho, I plunged my head in the frigid current. The biting water, compounded by the stark cold air, struck my bones like a spear. Within moments, I was convulsing under the cold, yet the chill somehow dispelled a measure of my fatigue.


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    “Alright, Jericho,” I said, voice rough and panting, “I am going to do something objectively stupid, and you are to help me.” As I stood, using aura to dry my head, I felt myself come alive again. The village that previously hid behind a veil of blur was now visible crisp and clear. My thought that seemed burdened galloped like horses.


    Dropping the storage cube filled with monster crystals, I told Jericho of our plan. Donning the helmet, I advanced towards the orc village.


    Do you really have to do this?


    “If I don’t do it, how will I ever know if I am capable of it?” I replied, thinking of my distaste for the other me. A half-hearted coward, afraid of pain and adversity. Without me, he would have still been crawling among the experienced rank.


    You can come back later, after having rested. Right now, you aren’t even half as strong.


    “And waste time? Hell no,” was my reply. Our conversation died down, while I drew my sword and started rousing my aura.


    Time was a luxury, as said by himself, yet he was the one advising me to waste it now. Presently, the battle ahead required my focus. The shock of water will subside sooner or later, exhaustion returning with renewed vigor. Moreover, Jericho was ill suited to endure the prolonged exposure to biting cold.


    A red haze covered my body as I broke into a spring, even the thought of exhaustion banished by the thrill of impending combat. Soon, I was gliding along the ground, the village moving closer ever faster.


    Drawing close, I sought cover behind the huts. The same crimson haze suffused my blade as I hacked an entry through the wall of one such structure. No sooner had I entered than the thatched roof began to crumble and descend. With a couple more swings, I extricated myself from this hut and dashed into the adjacent one.


    This one was not deserted, an orc woman breastfeeding her child inside. Before she could even cry out, a quick swipe of my blade severed her head and split her child asunder. The child gave a brief cry before all returned to normal.


    I moved quickly, and with two precise strokes, I had created incisions exposing their monster crystals covered in pulsing veins. With my right hand, I extracted the crystals and advanced towards the next target.


    Emerging from the hut, I noted that the orcs had yet to perceive my presence, perhaps dismissing the child’s cry as happenstance. But before I could move on, the first hut collapsed, and this, they noticed. A few orcs started converging towards the hut, and one of them noticed me.


    An unintelligible scream echoed across the valley, and I moved towards them. They were without weapons, but that did not deter them from taking me on.


    “Come on!” I felt the forgotten thrill of battle as my lips stretched into a feral grin, the blade in my left darting out to disable the monsters. One got cut on his thigh, the other on his shoulder, and one had his forearm lopped off, all while I navigated between them with my three limbs.


    After incapacitating my foes, I retrieved their crystals with cold precision, leaping into the air from a bent over corpse. Twisting midair, I looked at the dark some rising in the distance, a jerk of my hand sending my spoils to Jericho.


    The new company I got was armed and displeased. Fashioned out of stone, their axes, hammers and spears lacked the refined gleam of metal, however, clasped in their meaty hands, I did not doubt their ability to rend me limb from limb.


    I was not one to let fear stifle me, however.


    “Aura art: Reinforce! Strengthen!” I bellowed, the aura surrounding me flared and coalesced under the effect of strengthen, while that around my blade sharpened its edge and increased its toughness. I was twice as deadly now, and these orcs were about to learn it in the most brutal fashion.


    A step brought me to an axe wielder, my movement not allowing him any instant to react. With an upward stroke, I nearly tore him asunder from waist to shoulder. Unrelenting, I dodged a spear thrust with a nimble jump and then, using the enemy’s own weapon as a makeshift platform, beheaded its wielder.


    The remaining brutes, now resembling a pack of enraged swine, charged with primal fury – their shouts melding into a dissonant chorus of loss and retribution. The axe coming my way was deflected with the sword, the hammer was dodged before its wielder got eviscerated and the axe orc got his tusks shattered with a brutal elbow.


    Exploiting my diminutive stature, I darted between their staggered ranks, using the fallen axe-wielder as a shield. Using the hesitation of others, I used the window to behead three more before narrowly evading a thrust aimed at my flank.


    Retreating momentarily, I swiftly reclaimed their crystals while adroitly evading further blows. Just as I lobbed them toward Jericho, a seething, emerald wave prevented me from further harvesting the crystals.


    Metal clashed with stone – red and green auras collided and I was forced backward, my feet exposing the rich, brown earth beneath the sodden grass. Standing before me was an orc of prodigious stature, his extremely muscular torso crowned by a grotesque visage and a long, unkempt ponytail. H


    “Don’t like the heat?” I jeered, my eyes never leaving the massive axe. Its blade dwarfed my forearm, having a jagged edge from constant use, while the darkwood handle was wrapped in red leather.


    Bending low, I assumed a forward guard with my sword, a seriousness settling over me for the first time in this blood-drenched affair.