Chapter 146: Wildcard
"Oh, Kanshi! I'm alive," Pino cried, as hot tears and blood welled up from his eyes and the wound inflicted by the orc. For the moment, the fact that he was saved was enough to forget the terrible pain in his head.
He stared at the corpse of his assailant and sucked in a deep breath. He couldn't just remain on the ground with the corpses, playing dead. Many have tried such tactics over the years, and the results have not been kind to them.
Pino stood up, clutching the hilt of his sword tightly. However, none of the orcs came to assault him, much to his relief. He saw others fighting around him in wild fervour or desperation, too busy to help anyone else. But Pino was free. Wait, why was he free?
Pino finally laid his eyes on the reason. The white-cloaked figure, the new guy, who had saved his life, was charging towards the battle, leaving corpses of orcs in his wake. Contrary to his saviour's white cloak and armour, which looked holy, the long blade was anything but holy. Energy sparked out of it in dark tendrils as he cut through the limbs of the forsaken like they were mere vegetables.
He beheaded a female orc, which had taken him the longest time, and by longest, Pino was sure it was no more than half a dozen swings of the blade.
The new guy's aggression in the battle seemed to have drawn the ire of the orcs, as many of them stopped attacking their comrades to focus their battle lust on the cloaked saviour.
"Oh, Kanshi!" Pino prayed for the new guy's safety as more and more orcs surrounded him. He found his limbs frozen in the assaults, eyes glued to the war god-like figure fighting against the seven orcs.
"Don't break formation!" Loam, the leader of their group, shouted, finishing his target. He turned to the new guy fighting and groaned. "What have you got yourself into, new guy?"
Loam shot to help him, glaring at the rest of them. "Stop standing like virgin-ass bitches seeing a naked girl for the first time and help."
Pino came out of his stupor and took a step forward, gritting his teeth. He didn't know how much help he could be with pain consuming his rationality, but he went on to help.
The new guy was growing swifter in his attack, his blade growing ferocious against the assaults of six orcs. He had already killed one of them.
"I appreciate you all," he croaked through the battle, "but I'd prefer you all don't interfere in my battle."
The presence around the new guy grew thicker as his twisted dark energy enveloped him completely. His fighting style changed to that of the orcs, though he remained vastly accurate even in his berserk-like state.
He really did not need their help in fighting off the assaults of half a dozen orcs. The new guy leapt into the air, his blade seeming to enlarge along with his fervour, drawing blood from the orcs. He swung in a full arc, hurtling down the orcs that were about to assault him. One of them even died with his head split open, blood spraying like a fountain.
Watching him fight like that reminded Pino of someone… someone equally devastating, if not more, though through a different approach. The boss had more finesse in what she did with her prey; she wouldn't even let any of her orcs have a chance of assaulting her. While the new guy was a wild card, he was a frightful figure, nonetheless.
Pino could feel it in his blood, and he was sure the orcs were feeling more of it, as the remaining ones abandoned the notion of hunting the human and withdrew.
But the new guy would not let them leave without paying a price. He shot forward toward the closest one and pinned his sword to the back of the orc's head. An arrow shot from behind plunged into the back of the new guy. His figure shook and tumbled forward a little, as the arrow fell to the ground, finding no purchase.
The new guy turned, eyeing towards the unseen archers up in the cliffs. He didn't bother with them and fought with enemies at hand.
"Come on, don't stand frozen like blood fools," Loam shouted. "And make it easier for the archers to snipe at us."
Clearly, the new guy didn't need their help, but that didn't mean the others did not. With the new guy making a big difference in relieving the pressure off their shoulders, they charged to help their comrades.
[You have slain Orc Warriors (Iron), 9x]
[+3.2 Strength.]
[1.2 Dexterity.]
[You have slain Orc Warriors (Iron), 4x]
[+1.2 Strength.] content-hosted-on-MVLeMpYr
[0.4 Dexterity.]
[You have slain Orc Warriors (Iron), 6x]
[+2.3 …]
Warden split a part of his focus to read the notification after he finished the last of the assailants. The gains had been pretty good, considering the numbers he had slain were less than a couple of dozens. Unfortunately, he received no improvement in any of the attributes of Mind, Spirit, or Recovery…
After his display of power, no more orcs were coming at him. On top of that, they withdraw when Warden approaches them. The archers seemed to be only focusing on him, even though their assault had been ineffective. Well, they did better than the orc warriors, at least, keeping him busy and slowing him. Not to mention, it required him to deploy more of his energy in the [Void Shroud].
With a second thought, Warden shot for the upper region to take care of archers. While taking care of the enemies on the ground was imminent, killing the archers would win them the skirmish.
However, before Warden could even cover half the distance, he found the ground tumbling as a dozen humongous trolls as tall as three feet charged into the battle.
The upper hand tilted more towards the forsaken instantly, as Warden had to change his target...