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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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We had an area where caltrops were spread to slow down their movement speed. The main battle was planned to take place there.
‘It’s not a large quantity, but since their numbers are low too…’
Kayla roughly knew the location of the caltrops, and unlike the barefoot orcs, she was equipped with sturdy gear, so she would be less affected.
“Understood. I will go ahead.”
“I’m counting on you.”
After parting ways with Kayla, Athena and I quietly moved ahead of the orcs to the place where the spike traps were hidden.
“Will they get caught?”
“Judging by their behavior, they will.”
Although they were being cautious, they were merely walking slowly while looking around.
Since they had gotten caught in all the hidden traps while moving like that, I believed they would get caught this time as well.
‘They have intelligence, but… their thinking is short-sighted.’
It was difficult to notice just by looking with their eyes.
Because we had hidden them well.
At the very least, they could have secured their sight with equipment and touched the suspicious places in advance.
They relied solely on their eyes and slowly searched, nothing more.
It was clear that there were limits to that approach.
Athena and I climbed up tall trees and hid.
Just like Athena had done before, we watched the area around the spike traps while holding the net.
The orcs approached cautiously, and the leading orc got caught in a spike trap, causing a hole to form in its body.
“Kraaaah!”
The orc caught in the spike trap let out a loud scream.
The other orcs, upon hearing that terrible scream, hurriedly retreated.
“Now!”
I quickly gave the signal, and we threw the nets.
The orcs wailed in confusion, and Athena and I harassed them with throwing weapons.
The orcs caught in the nets struggled, but from the beginning, our targets were the young ones in the rear and the exhausted-looking females, and they couldn’t easily escape from the nets.
“Kiaaaaah!”
A different noise filled with anger resounded through the forest, unlike before.
They had confirmed that we were the ones who had set up the traps, and they were unleashing the anger that had built up until now.
At humans, and there were only a few of them.
Thinking that they had been beaten by a mere two humans, an orc, unable to contain its anger, threw a spear at me.
Whoosh.
I easily dodged the spear and began to flee, leaping from tree to tree.
They shouted and pursued us.
They showed no concern for those left behind.
‘They’ve gone mad.’
It seemed that their accumulated anger had exploded.
‘I can’t let them completely escape.’
Glancing at Athena, I saw that she was also luring the orcs by controlling her speed, just like me.
‘She’s doing well.’
Indeed, while she might not be suitable for direct confrontation, Athena excelled in such aspects.
Before I knew it, we had reached our destination, and the orcs discovered Kayla waiting for them.
“Kraaaaaah!”
Since Kayla was also human, their anger was directed towards where she was.
“Aargh!”
By forcefully stepping on the caltrops, their anger instantly transformed into pain.
The dozen or so orcs who had followed us hesitated.
I threw daggers at their backs and descended beside Kayla.
Athena was on the tree, aiming her crossbow.
“Provide support.”
Kayla gave a brief response and slowly approached them.
The orcs faltered at Kayla’s approach but displayed their anger once again.
However, they weren’t completely stupid and moved cautiously.
In contrast, Kayla, with her sturdy armor, moved without hesitation.
Ping.
Thud.
“Guh!”
An orc’s neck was pierced, and it collapsed instantly.
Just before the orcs’ gazes turned to Athena…
“Blind.”
My curse entered the indiscriminate crowd.
The effect was weak. Unlike before, I hadn’t sprayed any reagent, and compared to the amount of magic I possessed, the number of targets was large.
Moreover, I didn’t use much magic on this spell, so there was no dramatic effect.
However, they were already in an abnormal state, both mentally and physically. Even a weak effect was quite threatening to them.
And when Kayla charged at them, their attention focused on her.
After her leg was crippled, she had ingrained the style of defending and then counterattacking.
For her, who had relatively low mobility, it was an inevitable choice.
But now, their mobility was also reduced.
That’s why Kayla took the initiative.
Thud!
“Grrr…”
An orc made a beast-like sound as it blocked Kayla’s attack.
Since the orc caught in the spike trap earlier was an adult male, the one who had blocked Kayla’s attack could be considered the last remaining adult male orc.
Even in an abnormal state, it wasn’t inferior in strength and was pushing Kayla back.
‘Hmm…’
Judging by the blood coming from its soles, it seemed to have properly stepped on the caltrops, but indeed, monsters were monsters.
Taking advantage of that gap, another female orc tried to attack Kayla, and I threw a dagger at that orc.
Clang!
However, the orc narrowly blocked my attack and glared at me with furious eyes.
Another female orc trying to provide support from the opposite side stepped on the caltrops and retreated, and in that moment, Athena, who seemed to have finished loading her crossbow, took down another orc.
Clash! Bang! Bang!
The close combat between Kayla and the male orc continued.
Kayla gained the upper hand.
The other female orcs trying to interfere with their duel were unable to intervene due to the caltrops and the constant harassment from me and Athena.
Therefore, the male orc was continuously pushed back, and eventually, it knelt on one knee, and its head was severed.
The death of the only remaining adult male orc in the group.
But that wasn’t the end.
[Animate Dead.]
With a short activation word, the orc that had died first began to stagger to its feet.
Animate Dead.
It was a simple undead summoning spell.
It was fundamentally different from the spell I had used to turn Nenson into a skeleton.
Rather than being sophisticated, it was a rough method of temporarily creating usable undead, so the summoned undead would soon fall apart when time passed or they were destroyed beyond a certain extent.
‘Well, it’s a different story when you’re around 7th Class.’
That was too far in the future.
“Ugh, ugh…”
The orc that had died first got to its feet.
There was an arrow stuck in its body.
The reagent on that arrow took effect, making it easy to turn it into an undead with insufficient magic.
It was a zombie, not a skeleton-type, suitable for temporary use.
Since my level was low, it wouldn’t be able to exert even half of its strength from when it was alive, but that was enough.
The orcs were startled by the sight of their zombified comrade.
Swish!
The risen zombie swung its hand at the nearby orc.
However, the difference in physical abilities was clear.
The attacked orc reflexively counterattacked, and the zombie was hit once and retreated.
Naturally, the zombie didn’t feel pain and raised its arm as if to attack again.
“Kraaah!”
Another orc swung its weapon at the zombie to save its comrade, and the other orcs responded to it.
Anger and fear coexisted on their faces.
“Hup!”
However, they were so startled by the zombie’s appearance that they momentarily forgot about Kayla’s existence.
Crack.
An orc that turned its back was slashed and collapsed.
They succeeded in taking down the zombie orc, but their numbers had decreased once again.
On top of that, I used up all my remaining magic to raise another orc that Athena had killed.
‘Only two is the limit?’
It couldn’t be helped at my current level.
No, rather, it was a considerable feat for a 1st Class. I had created two zombies from orc corpses.
Still, the effect was definite.
Fear was evident in the eyes of the surviving orcs.
Kayla and Athena didn’t miss that opportunity.
Crack!
Ping! Thud!
In the end, the orcs began to flee, screaming.
‘This is a rare sight.’
Normally, orcs never flee.
It was their way to fight to the end, even if they died, but they seemed unable to endure the continuous attacks and mental pressure.
‘Their leader had also died.’
Due to various factors, we witnessed a rare scene.
Despite the severe pain they must have felt from the caltrops, they fled, bleeding, without paying any heed.
Usually, such actions would bring severe aftereffects later, but they didn’t seem to have the state of mind to think about that.
Kayla, who was about to pursue them, soon realized that she was slower than them and clicked her tongue.
“Please take care of the cleanup.”
“Understood, Master.”
I asked Kayla to clean up the battlefield instead of pursuing.
Athena and I immediately chased after the fleeing orcs.
They might be able to move faster than Kayla for a while, but an injury was an injury. Although they could escape from Kayla, they couldn’t get away from us.
Halfway through, they couldn’t even walk properly, so we could easily deal with them.
Since they could hardly resist, we captured some of them, and those we judged we couldn’t bring back, we simply disposed of.
When we returned to Kayla, she shook her head while looking at us.
“They’re all in poor condition. Either already dead or about to die.”
“Is that so? It can’t be helped. Good work.”
“No. I merely swung my sword on the stage you laid out.”
Kayla seemed more satisfied than expected.
“I welcome such real combat anytime.”
As soon as Kayla finished speaking, Athena spoke in amazement.
“Still, I can’t believe the three of us destroyed an entire orc tribe. I thought it would be impossible.”
She looked at me and said.
“You’re definitely not an ordinary person.”
At her words, I gave a bitter smile.
Well, it wasn’t an easy task. We were also lucky. The initial plan was just to capture a few hunting parties and hand them over.
The high praise was a bit burdensome, but I didn’t say anything in particular.
“Let’s head back for now.”
We needed to check on the ones caught in the nets when we first started luring them.
Even if their condition wasn’t good, it was enough time for them to escape.
“Ugh… It’ll be hard to move them. And they’ve lost too much blood.”
“I’ll try to apply as much wound-closing and scent-removing potions as possible, but if monsters start to gather, we’ll have to abandon them.”
This was unavoidable.
I retrieved all the magic to erase the traces of black magic, and the orcs that had been zombified were buried deep.
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