Chapter 17 : Execution is Blasphemy!
Due to the spherical nature of the shield, Max was fighting at 90 degrees to the tent gate. Which was why he could not see Harlbear hashing it out with the orc commander.
The orc grunted and swung the two-handed axe down on max, who sidestepped it and tried to advance. But right then, the orc let go of the axe with his right hand and struck it into Max’s ribs. Being a level 2, Max flew into another orc to the further right, distracting it. The soldier the other orc was fighting was lying on the ground, beaten when he saw his chance and struck his blade into the other orc’s knee, causing it to howl and buckle. Before Max could regain his footing and deal with the pain, he saw the axe coming at him from the side. He bent down just in time to see the annoyed look on his opponent’s face.
Max tried to jab his sword into the disbalanced orc’s neck but a jarring shield blocked him. The Orc grinned and put his right hand up to do a hand sign. Max instinctively dodged to the right when the shield exploded outward hurling him into the air and stunning him. Which was very apt for it considering as he would discover later, it was called stun shield.
It had been like crashing into a brick wall. Max was still reeling from the stun state when he felt a rough fabric against his arms before falling to the ground rolling. The orc outside looked stupidly at the cloth that had swallowed its opponent before panicking after realising what had happened.
Max used the adrenaline pumping through his veins to overcome the pain and began standing up. Prone, he was a free kill for anybody. He glanced around to a very different scene. He was inside the tent which was extremely well-furbished. On one side, the old orcish mage was sitting with his eyes closed with a huge circle of complex mana patterns in front of him. Blue lightning occasionally danced and destroyed the stuff inside the place with a bang, which explained why the guards at the door on the other side hadn’t looked behind to check on him.
The tent groaned as the orc behind Max lifted up to show the face of the smaller orc just as a massive black furred hand began rising out of the circle. The guards looked behind to see the surprised little human run towards their charge. It’s funny how the presence of the gate and larger threat of Harlbear had distracted them, and the tent walls had subconsciously lulled them into stepping so far from the mage.
Before anyone could react, Max plunged his sword into the old man’s neck. At first, its internal energy protected it, and Max's dagger didn't go through. But soon, Max noticed a glowing ritual dagger in the orc's hand. And so he quickly snatched it from the casting orc. This time the internal energy shield didn't hold.
You have killed an Initiate Beholder. +10000*10=1000000 XP
“I guess now we know why in all those novels people looked for a safe space to breakthrough, huh.” He was getting ready to run from the guards but before he could, a wave of mana blew him and the Orcs off their feet from behind. He looked to see the hand of the summon crashing around as the summoning circle destabilized and sent another wave of mana out amid the lightning blots. Max didn’t know much about magic, but he was definitely sure that the thing was gonna blow from the scene and the reaction of the orcs as they abandoned their pursuit and ran.
Max scrambled to his feet and started dashing to the opposite side. He dived to lift the tent’s cloth and rolled out. He stumbled to his feet. He had come out of the tent’s back, and the fighting was mostly in the front. But dozens of orcs were coming towards him, probably to join the fighting. He just ran to the side. But before he could get far, an explosion rang out from behind. Wincing as pain exploded in his lower back and for the third time that da,y he was hurled into the air. But this time it was higher. He fell face first with stars dancing in his vision and blacked out.
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“Sajadokudoh! Kalranaks!” Tang tang tang. Max was woken up by a loud ringing of metal on metal. He groggily lifted his face from the mud and spit out a bit that had entered his mouth. Before doing anything else he first checked out the time left for this phase.
Time left 6 hours 12 minutes 15 seconds
E - Mission 000 : Kill 10 soldiers personally.(10/10)
D - Mission 001 : Kill 5 variants personally. (3/5)
C - Mission 002 : Kill 200 beasts personally. (200/200)
B - Mission 003 : Kill the Forward Enemy Commander. (1/1)
A - Mission 004 : Identify and kill the traitor before he destroys the wall. (1/1)
S - Mission 005 : Hold the defense line for more than 48 hours. (1/1)
X- Mission 006 : Kill Imhotep(0/1)
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The first thing he felt was panic seeing only 6 hours remained. But it soon turned to relief when he looked over the quest progress.
Huh, guess it’s a good thing that the forward enemy commander didn’t need to die by my hand personally. But I still need to kill 2 variants. Max thought. Considering the pattern so far I can bet my last dollar that Imhotep was is a variant too. Which means I effectively have to kill only 2 variants and the phase will clear.
That was Max suddenly realised something, he was calculating the odds of murdering two extremely powerful monsters in a calm and collected manner when on the first day here he couldn’t even move properly due to shock. “That damn demon!”
He promised that he’ll kill that thing someday. Provided that he did get killed before that first. He started to look around to get a stock of the situation. Which he realised in hindsight should have been the first thing he did.
He and two other soldiers were sitting in an iron cage. The other two looked like the picture perfect version of medival war captives who had lost the will to fight. But still Max needed intel. “What happened?”
One of them looked up. “Kiraak?”
“We won!” he said but his body language said anything but.
“Then shouldn’t you say it with a bit more enthusiasm?”
Kiraak looked at Max like he had lost his mind. “Are you nuts? Look around yourself! We’re prisoners who are going to be executed by the Orcs! What’s the point of a victory if I can’t even get the glory and riches. Hell! We are not even gonna survive!”
“sulaka!Kalranaks!” The guard outside their cage struck the cage with his spear.
Max realised that since he was in just a phase he had never bothered to think long term for more than a few hours. He was gonna be out in 6 hours one way or another. But for these soldiers this was reality. He sympathsised with him but he needed to live. This time he whispered urgently “What do you mean executed?”
This time the other grizzled veteran spoke out grimly “Shut your mouth and save your energy kid. You will need it for the fight. I for one intend to take out atleast one of those bastards before dying.” He then proceeded to put his arm over his eyes and laid down to sleep.
“Fight! What Fight!I thought it was an execution?”
“Execution is Blasphemy according to the Orcish religion.”
“Then why did you say that we will be executed?”
Kiraak looked at him and just sighed heavily before speaking.
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The Orcish God was a god of war. So he did not take kindly to executing unarmed warriors. So the orcs came up with an amazing loophole to punish soldiers. That was Koruk M’gaah.
Which was basically an execution but in an honorable style. Max will be given a ‘kulak’ which is an Orcish religious sword made of the strongest metal in this world. Why would they such a precious treasure to him though? Well simple, to fight. He will face an Orcish warrior carrying his own kulak in single combat.
So why was this considered an execution. Well for two reasons. One the orcish warrior was usually leagues above in fighting skills, and two, if orc won, Max dies, but if Max won, orcs just send in another one until the time he died. Technically since it was a one on one duel with Max holding a weapon that can kill almost anything in this particular world it was a fair fight. Actually each time it happened it was an offering to their god.
This was also how the defense line held for more than 48 hours. Kill the commander B, Kill the traitor- A. Kill both and stop the advance, S. Simple.
Usually Max and his friends would have been killed on the spot but the Orcs needed morale to charge down the last wall. They had lost two major figures in one day. So, instead of attacking recklessly and losing more figures due to any more sneak attacks from behind, orcish leaders thought it best to execute them in a grand spectacle. They had created a huge rough statue of a man with a wolf like head and drew a ring with spears in front of him.
And that’s how three little humans found themselves in front of the big bad wolf.
One orc who looked like a priest was doing something in the middle while a few important looking ones were sitting on top of chairs off to the left. Suddenly the Priest started a gutteral version of an opera and the whole place was struck in silence. The priest kneeled to the statue and did various hand gestures for the next few minutes. When the Prayer came to a stop, a huge thud sounded. Which was joined by more the next time and more the one after that until all the orcs were stamping their right foot in sync. Two big orcs opened the cage and the grizzled veteran jumped them kicking and screaming. They struggled for a second then punched him strongly. They then dragged him to a rack of five weapons to choose from.
The veteran slowly stood up. Glared at the orcs and spit out blood. “Horojo! Kalranak!” screamed one and poked him with his spear. The veteran begrudingingly took up a spear.
“Hey Kiraak, What does Kalranak mean? I have heard it quite often.”
“What’s the point, we’re both dead.”
“Then what’s the point in keeping it to yourself?”
In truth Max was also very dejected. He had been trying to work out a way to kill Imhotep and the others but he couldn’t find a way to even get out of his cage much less do anything else.
Kiraak sighed and answered.
“It means cowards. Orcs are saying that we assasinated their leaders. We didn’t kill them in a proper fight. It’s a propaganda thing I guess.”
The veteran now faced an orc in full armour holding a similar spear. Amidst the hollering and banging some kind of horn blew and the orc advanced on the veteran.
The veteran jabbed his spear forward but it was deflected by the orc. Who then used the back side of his spear to smash the veteran’s face. The soldier stumbled back and fell. The spear falling from his grip. He slowly tried to pick himself up but each time he did the orc bashed with his superior strength bashed his bach with the dull end of his spear.
“He is fucking playing with him!”
“Propoganda mate, if they wanted us to have an easy death. They would have killed us on the field itself.”
“Although I imagine yours would be even worse than this.” he casually remarked.
“Huh, What? Why?”
Kiraak looked at him like he was stupid.
“You’re the guy who actually assassinated their Traitor. Today’s main event is you. I heard that the new forward commander is going to kill you himself.”