Alec and the newly-formed team quickly closed in on the small Orc village that had recently settled near the Academy base city.
Their fast progress was thanks to James knowledge of the area and his familiarity with the region.
"Now that I think about it, it was probably a good idea that Alec invited you to join us on this mission. Otherwise, we might have wandered deeper into the Abyss until we stumbled upon a village," Agnes praised James, who appeared pleased but tried to remain humble.
"It was nothing, really, Let’s not forget that I owe your brother a favor, So when he asked for help, I rushed to assist," Jame replieds, his gratitude for Alec evident in his words.
James’s attention was caught by the map that Agnes was studying.
"Whoa, how did you get that?, It’s a copy of the old map, Only a few people are able to get their hands on it," he exclaimed in surprise. Discover exclusive tales on NovelHub.Côm
"Well, the short man at the War God Armoury gave it to us, I’m just marking this Orc village settlement on it so that in the future, we won’t be caught off guard," Agnes explained, with James nodding in approval.
"That’s true. Most of the new Orc settlements aren’t included in the old maps, as many Orcs have diverted and moved to different places breaking free from there old villages with the hopes of becoming small overlords in their own village, By recording these types of changes, we can make progress," James complimented Agnes.
Just as everyone was engrossed in their conversation, Alec placed his hand over James’s mouth and whispered with a finger to his lips,
"Shhhh... Some Orcs are coming out from the village, Let’s watch and not make any more noise."
Alec’s words prompted everyone to hide properly in the bushes.
As the village gate opened, and about thirty Orcs emerged, fully equipped and appearing ready for battle.
"Those are the Orc hunters," James whispered to Alec, who nodded in return.
Just as they continued to observe, Knight, who had been absent earlier, emerged from the shadows.
They watched as the Orc hunters mounted their wolves and rode off to another location.
"Hmm, strange. Where could the hunters be going? If I’m not mistaken, they should have already hunted enough wild demonic beasts to last for days. So why would they still be willing to hunt twice in a day?, the hunters never hunt twice, Something is wrong," Alec muttered to himself before turning to Knight.
"How did it go?" Alec asked.
"I was able to get close enough to the settlement without being detected. Most of the guards are in the Tier 2 realm, while the hunters are all Tier 3 Orcs. There is also a Tier 4 Sub Captain. No shamans in sight."
" The whole village likely has around a thousand residents, but if we exclude the elderly and young, we can assume we’ll be facing at least seven hundred and fifty strong Orcs ranging from Tier 2 to Tier 3,"
Knight reported, providing all the details from his recent scouting mission.
Alec nodded in response.
"Hey Knight, can you please trail after those hunters and send us a signal indicating where they’re going?" Alec requested.
"I want to see if it’s worth making a move now." Alec concluded and
Knight disappeared into the shadows to carry out the task.
"He seems to be much more proficient in using his shadow element now, What exactly happened to him? Or what kind of training has he been undergoing to make him that skilled?"
James, who is had a heightened sensitivity to mana usage since entering the Tier 4 realm, asked Alec.
Alec only shook his head and replied,
"Trust me, you don’t want to know what their training regime is like."
Alec remembered witnessing his clansmen fight against the Centaur Prince Seven and how they were easily overwhelmed, even though he restricted his realm, he still rendered them useless.
Despite not fully understanding why his instructor would accommodate someone from the Second Dimension, or why the centaur prince would take the stress to teach his clansmen ,
Alec was well aware of the Centaur’s formidable strength.
Even his feeble mental energy has been unable to penetrate the Centaur’s strong mental energy shield, indicating the Centaur’s status as a high-ranking life form, as only high ranks were capable of practicing mental energy.
Alec’s situation was different because of the system, but his mental energy still only covered a small ten-meter radius around him.
And When he approached the Centaur prince’s mental shield trying to pry into his realm, it felt as if he had entered a pool two hundred meters wide and deep.
This realization confirmed to him that the Centaur was not just strong, but also truly formidable.
Knight followed Alec’s orders and successfully traced the Orcs to their destination— a secluded cave that appeared to have been abandoned for a long time.
As the thirty Orcs entered the cave, Knight couldn’t help but wonder how they all fit into such a small space.
However, as he moved closer to the entrance to spy on them, he discovered a secret entrance inside the cave. It became clear that the Orcs must have used this secret passage to reach where ever there current location was now.
Just as Knight was considering returning immediately to report to Alec, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Even before he could turn his head, he sensed the rough breath burning against his back.
When he finally glanced sideways, the first thing that caught his eye was the slightly short tusk at the edge of the Orc’s mouth, accompanied by anger-filled eyes.
"You... Dead," the Orc managed to utter, struggling to imitate human language.
"No, not me. You dead," Knight replied, teasing the Orc for its poor English.
In response, the enraged Orc raised its other hand, wielding an axe.
However, before it could swing down, Knight swiftly dug his dual daggers into the Orc’s neck.
The Orc looked at Knight with surprise, unable to make a noise as the daggers pierced its throat.
"Never let an assassin get close to you, Alec always said that, but you even had the guts to hold me, you bastard," Knight ranted as he removed the blade from the Orc’s neck, allowing the blood to flow freely.
The Orc attempted to stop the bleeding by holding its neck, but it was too late.
He knew he was going to die.
Witnessing his first kill after acquiring his new equipment filled Knight with joy.
After successfully killing a Tier 3 Orc as a Tier 2 Mage with a single blow, Knight realized that there was no one around to show off his accomplishment to.
As the thought crossed his mind, he quickly dismissed it.
"What am I thinking? Those bastards would beat me up if I boast about this. I better sound more humble when I report back," Knight muttered to himself, acknowledging the wisdom of keeping his victory to himself.
Retracting his daggers back into their tattoo form, Knight dragged the Orc’s body towards a nearby bush. He intended to hide the body there temporarily before figuring out what to do with it.
Thinking back to the Orc he had just killedand how it had stayed behind and hidden , made Knight understood he had made a mistake.
He had been tracking the Orcs by their mounts paw prints earlier and failed to notice that one had remained hidden, just as he was doing at the bushes when he tracked the paw prints to the cave.
It served as a reminder for Knight to be more cautious of such situations in the future.