The night went peacefully without any incident but the hunters on duty still guarding the village at the peak of their vigilance. On the other hand, Acma was calmly meditating on his bed. He already went through multiple battle simulations with different type of situations throughout the night. He didn’t sleep at all. He could only hope that the humanoid in this world had the same characteristics as humanoid in the myth, so his battle will be smoother.
‘Tang’‘Tang’‘Tang’‘Tang’‘Tang’‘Tang’
Suddenly a sound of alarm could be heard from the outside. Acma opened his eyes. He knew that the enemies was approaching. Immediately, he equipped his FREEDOM armour except his helmet and rushing out of the house. On his way out, he could hear that Chief Pai was also woke up but he didn’t wait for him. He went straight to the western wall.
In less than 10 minutes, everyone was ready on the platform, complete with their armours and bows. Even the helpers also ready with an extra arrows. The women with a first aid kit in their hands were waiting inside the main hall, guarded by a squad of female hunters.
It was 6 in the morning. Usually, this time is the most peaceful times at Orca Village, but today was totally different.
“SQUAD LEADERS!!! ON THE OBSERVATION PLATFORM, NOW!!!”
“Lets go, brother”, said Duo Nan to Acma who was standing on the western wall.
“I’m not a squad leader”, said Acma.
“Never mind that, just follow me. I don’t want to return later to call you. You know how is Chief’s temperament right”
“Okay, I will go”
On the observational platform, Chief Pai and Elder Ma was standing with a serious face, waiting for all the squad leaders to arrive. When everyone was arrived, Elder Ma started his briefing.
“Everyone, half an hour ago, our sentries spotted a big movement in the forest. After they confirmed it was an enemy, they reported it back to me. Currently, the enemies is still 10 kilometres from our village and they’re slowly advancing. I don’t know how many their number is but it far bigger than yesterday’s battle. Our battle strategy is still what we decided last night. Duo Nan and Acma will guard the eastern and western wall. Zi Yi will guard the main building and the others will focus on the gate. Depending on situation, I might ask you all to switch your position. So, be ready. As for the firearms and summon cards, I will distribute it among the squad leaders who is defending the gate”
What kind of enemies we’re facing against?” a squad leader asked.
“Currently, we only know that there is centaurs. Our sentries quickly return after the saw the enemies as per my order”, said Elder Ma. Then, he turned his head and look at Acma, “Acma, what is your battle plan. Can you share it with us?”
“Soon after this, I will enter the forest on the western side and spread a poisonous gas around 3-4 kilometres from the village. I already look at the surrounding and we’re lucky that there is no wind blowing and I hope it will stay like that. My poisonous gas will stay at the floor of the forest and assimilated with the morning fog. I believe, the enemies will having a hard time to notice them”, said Acma.
“How do you release that gas and what if the wind suddenly blowing toward the village?” ask Elder Ma.
“I have a summon that capable of releasing a poisonous breath. About the wind, considering the air temperature and the position of the sun, it will be several hours before the wind will be blowing toward the village. Although I still don’t know about its effect toward our enemies, but I hope it will weaken them enough”, replied Acma.
“Why don’t you just kill them with that gas?” asked one of the squad leader.
“I want the hunters to be the one to kill the enemies so they can level up”, replied Acma.
Everyone nodded their head. They approved the reason given by Acma. If the hunters level up, the village would have a bigger chance to survive.
“Okay Acma, I give you permission to proceed with your plan. But warn us immediately if the wind is blowing toward our village”, said Elder Ma. “Anyone else, is there any question?”
“I don’t have a question, but I have a suggestion. Please instruct all the hunters to be calm when they reach level 10. In my experience, the time at the place where I receive my first class, flow differently than the time in this world. It’s almost time freeze. I don’t know what will happen in your cases, but I hope the time will freeze too. When you guys going and return from the beginner village , I hope everyone will be calm since we’re still in the middle of a battle”, said Acma.
“Okay brother, I will instruct my squads about this”
“Me too”
“If they want the reason, what should I say?”
“Just say, ‘If you panic, you die’, as simple as that”, answered Elder Ma. “Other question?”
“Can we have a big party tonight, a celebratory party?”, asked Duo Nan. Everyone was looking at him.
“Why everyone is looking at me? We fight to win and we’re going to win this battle, right?” he explain.
“Hahahaha”, Chief Pai laugh out loudly, making everyone turned their head toward the observatory platform.
“EVERYONE OF ORCA, WE’RE HAVING A BIG PARTY TONIGHT. SO, KEEP YOUR LIFE SAFE AND WIN THIS BATTLE. HAHAHAHA”, he continued.
“Good Duo Nan, good. You’ve lifted my mood. Now, everyone to their station. Defend well and pray for victory. Dismiss”
Everyone dismissed and move toward their designated area.
While running to the western wall, Acma spoke to Duo Nan.
“Brother Duo, you make Elder Ma forget everything he wanted to say”
“This brother just want to lighten up the mood a bit. All we have to do now is defending the village with all our might”, said Duo Nan as they reached the western wall.
“I understand. Brother Duo, I will go and make some preparation inside the forest. If anyone ask, assure them that they don’t have to worry”, said Acma as he jumped down the wall.
When he reached the ground, Acma took out 150 guardians and ordered Alice to line up 100 of them along the western wall while moving the rest to the eastern wall. He didn’t want to take out all of his guardians yet to prevent the enemies became too wary of the village’s strength.
At the same time when Alice was preparing the guardians into formation, Acma already disappeared into the forest. He was rushing because he knew that he didn’t have much time left. The enemies was approaching. When he reached 3 kilometres distance from the village, he stopped.
“Summon: Blood Lizard King”
A ball of blue light flew in front of him and materialized into a big, ominous looking blood lizard. Luckily, it was his summon. If not, he surely already running for his life.
Acma equipped his FREEDOM helmet and took his blood lizard toward a dense foggy area inside the forest and ordered it to release its poisonous breath. Acma also wanted to help as well, so he took a position and activate the skill.
“Poisonous Breath”
‘...’
“Why did I failed?”, Acma was alarmed.
He tried to activate the skill multiple times but still failed. He took a glance at his summon. Its poisonous breath already covered several hundreds metres and it started to move toward other location already.
“How do I activate this skill?”, he thought.
He studied the movement of his summon at the moment it released the breath. Only then he realized that it took a deep breath first, straighten its back, firmly planted its front paws on the ground and released the breath.
“Should I crawl like a lizard? No, no, no, I should try other stance first”.
Acma mimicked the process except he took a horse stance instead of crawling on the ground like a lizard. He took a deep breath and...
“Poisonous Breath”
A trail of blood red smoke emerged from his mouth and moved forward for several hundred metres. Acma was elated but soon after, he immediately cancelled the skill.
“Shit, too thick”, he cursed.
The density of his poisonous breath is several times higher than his summon, so was afraid the enemies would be able to notice them. But the good thing was, he could cover more areas than it. So he hasten his pace and moved to another foggy areas, followed by his blood lizard right behind him.
In just half an hour, Acma and his summon already covered more than 2 kilometres wide. Luckily the fog was dense and the forest floor is still dark. So, the poisonous gas was perfectly concealed. Satisfied with his job, Acma unsummoned his blood lizard and returned to the village.
Meanwhile, a large troop assembled at the foot of a hill, north-western of Orca Village. Their distance was about 7 kilometres from the village. The troop consisted of a large number of centaurs and several hundreds of humanoid creature. Looks like, Elder Ma’s worry have came true. The centaurs had seek help from a humanoid creature.
“Bardalph, we’re close to the human village. In the battle later, remember your task”, the leader of the centaurs spoke.
“Hmmpphh, killing those puny humans is as easy as snapping a dry branch. How lucky they’re to be killed by this mighty Bardalph. Grufin, you can plunder the village as you wish, but the humans are ours, dead or alive. It’s been long since I taste their meat. Even thinking about it already make me drooling”, said the creature called Bardalph.
“I never go back my words, you can have their bodies”
“If they threaten to kill your brother, what will you do?”
“That stupid brother of mine is a disgrace to my tribe, so I don’t care he is alive or not. Even if they used him to threaten me, I still will attack. In fact, annihilating this humans can be considered as a contribution to the kingdom and we may get a promotion to become a Forest Knight too”, said Grufin.
“Grrrrr, indeed. This will be a fine contribution to the kingdom”, replied Bardalph.
“Don’t underestimate these human or you may face the same fate as your brother, Grufin”, a centaur wo stood next to Grufin spoke.
“I never underestimate my enemies, Glaraios. Its just that I am confident of my strength”
“Never in our history we lost a company of warriors in a single battle. Even worse, they lost in just a mere half an hour. It was a solid prove that the humans we’re facing are strong”
“Glaraios, it's unlikely for a vice captain like you to have a cold feet before a battle. If you think that these humans are too powerful, you can return to the village and suck your mom’s tit”, said Grufin with a sharp glare on his eyes.
“Mind your words, Grufin. I’m not a coward”, said Glaraios and returning the glare.
“Grrrrrr, easy brothers”, said Bardalph.
“Hmmmph. Lets move. Bardalph, took your men toward western wall while my troops will attack them from the south. While they’re distracted with us, break through the wall and massacre them”, said Grufin.
“Grrrrr... I like this plan”
“EVERYONE MOVE... SOUND THE DRUM. TODAY WE WILL HAVE OUR REVENGE!!!!”