As soon as Hazel was caught by the Orcs, she left her hiding spot and scurried away, knowing better than to attack these things without the element of surprise at her disposal. Sadly, the hulking monsters gave chase, none of them desiring to lose their prey.

She didn’t expect something like this to happen. She planned to simply ambush the Orcs while they were distracted after killing the goblins. It was a straightforward plan that should’ve worked, only for the Orcs to ruin it thanks to their sense of smell.

If that one Orc hadn’t alerted the others that it caught Hazel’s scent, then she could’ve easily taken them down with her spells, all while remaining hidden behind the trees. Now, she was running away from the Orcs, hoping to lose them in the dense grouping of trees around them.

Hazel scurried through the forest, trying to escape the Orcs before they could catch up to her. However, these monsters were fast and slowly closed the distance between them with relative ease. This was likely due to the Orcs knowing their terrain better than her since they were easily traversing through the forest environment better than her.

As she ran, Hazel stumbled across every log, rock, and tree that was in her way. Not only that but even with her agility stat being relatively high for a mage, she couldn’t properly run due to the rough and rutted terrain, which assisted in slowing her down for the Orcs to catch up to her.

When she turned around to see how close they were, Hazel’s eyes widened with fear when she witnessed one of the orcs only a couple of feet away from her. The Orc snarled maliciously with purple saliva slobbering out of its mouth.

Hazel’s heart nearly leaped out of her throat from the sight. The Orc then raised its battle axe and swung at her, trying to mortally wound her and slow her down further. She moved to the side to avoid the blade, but suddenly tripped over something because she wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of her.

The mage tumbled across the grassy ground, losing all of her momentum before her back crashed into a rather large tree log sprawled out on the ground. A sharp pain radiated all over her spine, making Hazel groan.

When she looked up to see the Orc, her vision was blurry, and she was seeing double. But, she could still see a green figure towering over her. She didn’t need to see clearly to know that this thing was the Orc.

The Orc in front of her cackled evilly, its blurry hand reaching over to Hazel. In a desperate attempt to flee, she did the only thing she could in that situation. Gripping her staff, she whipped her staff at the monster and fired off a spell, watching as a hazy purple ball materialized in front of them then rocketed at the Orc. A wave of exhaustion came over her after using up a good portion of her mana activating that spell.

The monster reeled back in pain, giving Hazel enough time for her vision to properly return, allowing her to see the Orc clearly, observing its purple cracks growing more severe and festering all over its body like a disease.

The monster continued to growl and groan in pain, not knowing what to do while its body was falling apart. Although the Decay spell wasn’t instantly killing the Fractured Orc, she at least knew it was working. Sadly, she had to wait thirty seconds before using it again.

The other Orcs caught up to Hazel while she was distracted watching the other hulking monster writhe around in pain from her Decay spell. Even they were a bit disturbed by one of their own slowly deteriorating in front of them. Fear and confusion displayed on their faces, witnessing one of their own meet a slow demise in front of them.

Using their distraction to her advantage, Hazel used her staff and launched another spell at them. This time, a malicious purple crescent blade was created and was hurled at the Orcs. Her attack managed to cut down a couple of them, the two halves of their bodies collapsed on the ground with a loud thud then shattered to pieces.

She ignored the kill notification appearing in front of her, hastily standing up and scampered away from the remaining Orcs. The monsters realized that their prey was trying to escape again and resumed their chase, anger filled their voices as they roared in unison.

Hazel was running out of stamina, and after her collision with the tree trunk on the ground, her body was in a lot of pain. So much so, that she found it a little difficult to move around. But she had to push through, or else, those Orcs would rip her to shreds like they did to those goblins. And that wasn’t how Hazel wanted her fate to be.

She likely would be able to run a bit faster if she wasn’t toting her backpack around, but leaving it was out of the question. The supplies inside were necessary for her campsite when there was a chance to set it up. If Hazel left her bag just to run away from the Orcs, she may never be able to find it again. Especially with how dense and confusing this forest area was.

Another Kill notification appeared in front of Hazel, but she once again ignored it, already knowing how she got the kill. It was likely the Orc suffering from her Decay spell. Since that one didn’t instantly die when it was affected. That meant three of the seven Orcs were dead, leaving only four left.

Could Hazel deal with them since their numbers diminished again, or should she keep running and not risk it? She could sense that both Baneful Sickle and Decay were both still in their cooldown stage, which meant if she fought them now, her only weapon would be Mana Bolt until they were available.

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That, and she could only use Baneful Sickle since Decay only attacked a single target while the former could take down multiple if used correctly. That and Decay’s timer was much longer than Baneful Sickle.

As if on cue, Hazel felt a mental click from within that Baneful Sickle was ready to be used again. Realizing she had a chance, the mage stopped running and whipped her body around to face the Orcs. Catching up to her, the monsters stopped a couple of feet away from Hazel, almost surprised that she was no longer running.

They wore cautious expressions while carefully observing the mage. After what happened to a couple of their people, the Orcs were clearly on the defense since their prey was eagerly facing them in such a way.

Hazel didn’t care about that though. She had a chance to take them down and was going to make that happen.

The two enemies were at a standoff, neither side making a move yet. This both annoyed and relieved Hazel, since that gave her the opportunity to line them up and then use Baneful Sickle at the right moment.

However, she was also annoyed since they might be preparing for her to activate that spell too. Although their Primal instincts were heightened, making them more feral and dangerous than their non-fractured selves, the Orcs standing before Hazel still possessed a somewhat clear mind that allowed them to evaluate certain situations, such as a Mage and their spells.

They seemed to be a bit smarter than Fractured Class humans, considering both the Warrior and Rogue she fought mindlessly followed her into a trap. Despite them having the advantage, they threw it away when they saw their prey running. But these Orcs were different, and that bothered Hazel.

“Tch…no choice then,” She muttered.

Taking the first shot, Hazel raised her staff and fired off a Mana Bolt at the Orcs. They scrambled to the side, avoiding the spell, and watched it zip past them. It collided into a nearby tree and shards of splinters flew around. One of the Orcs then charged at Hazel, swinging its blade at her. Its roar caused Hazel’s body to tremble from the vibration.

Hazel couldn’t block that attack with her staff. It might cut her weapon in half, thus leaving her defenseless. She knew that she could still cast her spells with her hands thanks to the magic theory books, but her staff helped channel her magic better.

Leaving her with no choice, she stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the blade. The sword dug into the dirt ground where Hazel was just standing, but she didn’t pay attention to that and kept her sights on the Orc before her.

With her staff, she hurled another mana bolt at the Orc. Since she was super close to it, the monster had no time to avoid the spell, to which the bolt hit its target and dug into its side. It didn’t dig too deep into its flesh, but it was still enough to wound the Orc to the point where it stumbled back in pain. And that was all Hazel needed right now.

Another Orc charged it with a battleaxe, moving past its brethren to get a shot at killing Hazel. When its blade came down on her, a transparent blue dome materialized around the mage, causing the weapon to bounce off while making a glass-like thunk. The spot where the axe struck the shield left a somewhat worrisome-sized crack that could’ve nearly shattered her defense.

“Thank god that worked…!”

Hazel had been apprehensive about using Mana Shield to protect her from direct attacks like battleaxes and swords, but she couldn’t afford to dodge the entire time when her physical stats were inferior to the Orcs, which was why she took that gamble and was elated that it paid off in such a way.

Once the weapon rebounded off the shield, the Orc’s arm was thrust back from the force, putting it in a vulnerable state. Hazel smiled while her shield dissipated in an instant. She then raised her staff and shot a Mana Bolt at the Orc’s face. The spell tore through its cheek and then rocketed off who knows where deep into the forest.

Since the Orcs in this world were Fractured monsters, no blood was spilled, but the wound she inflicted on it left a gruesome hole in its face with jagged edges like shattered glass. It was such a bizarre and disturbing sight that Hazel recoiled disturbingly at her handiwork.

Sadly, the Orc wasn’t dead yet. It attempted to slash its axe at Hazel again, only for her to roll out of the way. Putting herself in a kneeling position, Hazel was just about to cast one more mana bolt spell but felt another mental click regarding her cooldown for her decay spell. She could finally use it again.

Her lips curled into a daring smile while she observed the Orcs before her. Two of the remaining four were slightly injured, but could still fight while the other two were in peak condition. That was about to change, though.

Hazel’s feet kicked off the dirt and she charged at one of the intact Orcs. The monster with a hole in its face tried to cut down the mage, only to miss when she somersaulted forward, narrowly evading the strike.

She was then in front of her target and jammed her staff against its stomach. The Orc was confused by this but suddenly recoiled in pain, clutching the area where the tip of the staff was pressed against. Moving its hands away, visible purple cracks stretched around the area, slowly engulfing its body in violet rifts.

It stumbled back from Hazel, painful groans escaping its lips. Its body continued to erode and fall apart, faced with its slow and eventual demise.

The other Orcs witnessed another one of their brethren slowly decay from Hazel’s spell, frozen with fear and shock at the sight. Hazel used that to her advantage and rushed around the remaining orcs until they were lined up in front of her.

The staff was gripped tightly and thrust toward them. Then, a crescent blade of purple-colored mana materialized and shot forward, ripping through all three Orcs in an instant. Their bodies crumbled to the ground and then fractured completely.

Hazel sighed heavily, realizing that the fight was over. Her eyes trailed over to the remaining Orc, still suffering from her Decay spell. Instead of killing it outright, the mage watched it continue to crack further until the vessel could no longer maintain its structure and shattered on the spot.

[Level 8 Orc has been defeated!]

[Mana Shield is now Rank 2!]

She stood there for a moment, her mind in a daze after killing all of the Orcs. Her legs suddenly gave way and she abruptly fell to her knees. Taking a couple of breaths while staring at the ground then shifted to laughing hysterically, a maniacal smile stitched on her face as if she lost her mind.

She lifted her head to gaze at the stars above, only seeing bits of it due to the trees and leaves blocking her view.

“That…could’ve gone better.”

Hazel remained on her knees and continued to stare at the void of space in silence, taking in the moment of her victory.