Myself and a few other specialists went ahead and scouted the area. Our goal was to get to the orcs as quickly as possible, not to waste time in unnecessary zombie fights.

After about half an hour, we came to the orcs' trail and started to follow after them. I walked ahead with a squad of imps who flew over the tops of the buildings and helped us orientate.

We had to have some serious zombie fights, but we still caught up with the orcs shortly after noon. They were resting between three buildings, having already lost some of their numbers, and their bodies showed a number of wounds, mostly burns from spells or acids. However, from what I had learned while watching them, the larger and stronger orcs were capable of killing any of our mages with a single blow!

The orcs rested a bit longer and then headed further into town. We followed them from a distance and after a while they led us to an enormous colossal zombie, surrounded by crowds of hundreds and hundreds of zombies.

I sent my imps to summon the remaining groups of our small army and we took cover and began to watch the battle between the orcs and zombies.

"That must be the target of the orcs," I said to Garat Breg.

"Maybe. We can't be sure.” He retorted. "I'm not even sure there's a need to attack them right now. I have a feeling they won't be able to handle those zombies."

During this time, one of our group's specialists approached us. His skills were not combat oriented, but he could gather all sorts of information about the world around him. From him, we learned that this was in fact a zombie boss, and after a brief deliberation, we concluded that this was most likely indeed the target of the orcs.

Then the leaders of the different groups got together and we started thinking of a battle plan.

Over the next hour, the orcs fought tirelessly with the crowds of weaker zombies, and the huge boss was, for some reason, chasing a group of orc shamans. We were sure there was some magical ritual of theirs involved.

During this time we prepared by clearing the area of zombies and even barricading nearby streets and buildings. However, some of our forces were fighting zombies in the surrounding area that were significantly stronger than what we were used to and soon the number of wounded fighters began to stack up.

My imps and our other intelligence creatures kept scouting around and alerting us to potential dangers.

An hour passed in this way, and finally most of the orcs attacked the huge boss. We eagerly began to watch the battle and assess the strength of both sides. When it became clear that the enormous zombie wasn't that strong and that the orcs even had a chance of killing it, we began to prepare for an attack. I hurriedly summoned my bear.

With a practiced hand, I drew and fed mana to various summoning symbols in the formation, stopping occasionally at the important spots and carefully checking my progress. The ritual progressed and soon I was summoning my bear.

"What is this creature, Meridin!" asked Garat Breg with a shaken voice.

"That's right, Garat hasn't seen my new bear." I thought and proudly looked at the huge three-meter monster. I then pulled out a few different magic potions and began feeding them to my creature, even smearing its claws with a special poison against undead creatures.

Garat was watching me intently and I looked at my potions, then I looked at the orcs and innocently asked:

"Do you want some?" I said offering a couple of elixirs to him.

"Well, maybe… I will need them for the battle. Thank you." said Garath and took the potions.

"That, my dear friend, is my new monster," I said, pointing to my bear. "If you want you can try arm wrestling it. "I smiled.

"Ah no thank you. Unless I use my halberd as leverage."

Quite a few of the nearby adventurers were also surprised by my huge monster, as well as my alchemical potions and spatial ring. After a brief hesitation, I pulled out a few more magic potions and poisons and handed them to various members of the fighting group I was assigned to.

Soon we received a signal and started to prepare for an attack. We had to hurry if we didn't want to miss our chance.

After receiving a second signal, we left our hidden position and commenced our attack. It turned out that we were quite hasty, as the zombie boss didn't look as wounded as I would have liked it.

Some of the orcs noticed us, and soon their warrior leaders began to give thunderous commands and some of their fighters left the battle with the zombies and headed towards us with their bloodstained weapons.

"Let me ask again," Garat Breg said while running beside me. "Why aren't we negotiating with them?"

"I'm not entirely sure I didn't attend that meeting, maybe because they give currency units? Besides, one of our exploration groups came across a group of orcs in the forests and were immediately attacked by them. Apparently they don't want to negotiate either. And who said that we wouldn't negotiate with them. Let them see our strength first."

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A clash of the two groups ensued, ours being far more numerous and better prepared. The orcs were busy defending from all sides, and the zombie-boss roared fearfully and charged with renewed vigor at the larger and stronger orcs who fought desperately to hold him off.

I kept firing my crossbow, and my bear was killing orcs and zombies with deadly efficiency. Occasionally, I would stop my shooting to activate my bear's magic seals and send mana across our link.

The few summoned rats I had were freely roaming the corpses of the slain orcs using their mana enriched magical senses to warn me of all the more interesting, mana-rich items. I, for my part, used my high speed as well as the deep pockets of my ring to stash most of them shamelessly and hopefully inconspicuously.

"How good life is.", I mused as I watched the dying orcs. At that moment, our first fighters collided with the huge boss. The orc shamans joined the fray as well, and their spells began to fall on our fighters. I sent my bear to join the group of brave soldiers who attacked them.

During that time, I noticed that the zombie boss suddenly started getting stronger and faster than before. Whatever the orc shamans were doing had lost its power.

Our various group leaders had a common command structure and orders were given quickly and, in my opinion, efficiently. We had killed a large portion of the orcs in our first attack, even though they were dozens of times stronger than the zombies we had been used to fighting.

As a result, the groups of zombies as well as the huge boss now began to press us rather than the orcs.

To our disappointment, a large group of the strongest and largest orcs had managed to regroup and somehow avoid most of our attacks. We didn't have the modern lethal weapons from Earth, so our surprise attack wasn't as deadly as we would have liked. As we continued the battle, we found that several of the elite orcs were significantly stronger individuals than our fighters. At this point, I thought that only our ambush and numerical superiority made this battle a success.

As time went on, the boss was completely freed from the influence of the shamans and we gave our first casualties.

In the last two weeks we had found out that when someone dies, he loses a fairly large amount of currency units, some of his power and revives near the tree shops in the next one or two days. Also, there was a chance that the dead wouldn't wake up in the tutorial anymore and would be waiting for us in the lands after it.

So the risks we were taking were high, but not that high. However, no one wanted to lose their currency units or worse - lose the opportunity to build up strength in the tutorial.

The battle continued, with the orcs retreating further and further away from the boss, and we had to decide whether to pursue them or turn towards the boss. The latter was quite strong and had already killed several people. Besides, we weren't prepared enough, and the elite orcs and some of the shamans weren't going to allow us to fully concentrate on the colossal zombie. So after a short deliberation, we decided to retreat and pursue the orcs.

I and a group of faster warriors, with appropriate skills, sped forward along another path and after a few minutes of running, we bypassed the orcs and blocked their path.

While running I saw an interestingly positioned group of zombies and quickly sent the faster-them-me and flying imp towards them and drew them towards us, thus blocking the path of the approaching orcs.

The Orcs cut into the zombies at high speed, the latter not slowing them down much, but still slowing their pace and changing their formation. We used this moment to attack them with spells and arrows, further disrupting their structure.

The orcs lost precious seconds, and I sent my monstrous bear to join our attack, all the while never stopping firing venomous crossbow bolts.

During this time, the rest of our forces were approaching at high speed and the orcs had no chance to stay and fight so they decided to retreat to the exit of the city, ignoring the casualties they suffered.

But we were on their heels. My bear, as well as the animals of several of our fellow summoners, were faster than all of us and didn't stop attacking the orc flanks, and during that time my imp, as well as several faster adventurers, ran forward and drew groups of zombies to block the orcs' path.

After a long pursuit, the orcs began to lose their strength and count, but not their speed. They had traveled nearly 70% of the way to the edge of the city. The zombies were getting fewer and weaker, and the orcs were growing more vigorous. Their survival was near.

At this point, several groups of adventurers who had come from the city or surrounding areas blocked their way, and some of the alternative routes were barricaded and also guarded.

The orcs stopped for a moment and the shamans began to perform strange magical rituals, and soon a sparkling magical formation formed around them. The mana within it began to pulsate and glowing tattoos began to appear on the bodies of the orcs.

During this time, the first pursuers began to arrive and attack them with long range attacks. They were joined by the groups blocking their way.

However, the orcs didn't seem to feel the damage. They gradually fell into a combat trance and with tripled strength headed for the exit of the city. Despite being met by almost ten times as many humans, and crude fortifications, the orcs almost managed to escape our entrapment.

One of the larger orcs, armed with a huge sword weighing at least 30 kilograms and almost a meter and a half in length, was particularly fierce. Despite the many arrows embedded in his body, he reached the ranks of the defenders, cut into them, and ignoring the stab wounds inflicted on him, slaughtered several defenders. He thus sacrificed his life to give the orcs after him time to leap over the barricades and begin close combat with the defenders.

The orc shamans were in the middle of their battle formation, and waves of magical energy were constantly drifting from them. Almost every archer or mage aimed their attacks at them, and even though a bluish magic shield appeared around them, it failed to absorb all the attacks, and one by one they began to fall.

"We need prisoners!" came various commands, and I sent my bear towards one of the wounded orcs. It struck him with its heavy paw, knocking the weapon from his hands, and then grabbed him with its heavy paw and hurried away from the battle. I didn't want anyone to kill my captive by mistake.

During this time the surrounded orcs began to lose their lives one by one and soon it was all over. I hurriedly placed myself in a strategic position and took the rats out of my pockets.

My ring was pretty full of loot, as well as the boar meat and other personal items. For that, I had to skip most of the bigger items, mostly stashing the smaller or the rare, mana-rich items. Unlike the earlier battle, my actions did not go unnoticed and I would have to give explanations later. Whatever, as one of my favorite US navy admiral once said “It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”

After the battle was over, I explained that I would stay and scout the surrounding area for a few more hours and report back later in the evening. I didn't want to go home and waste my time. I needed currency units! On the other hand, maybe it was actually a good idea to keep an eye on the area. After a short meeting, some of our troops chose to remain in the area and the rest went back to town.

Thus I hunted for a few more hours and in the evening went home with a cheerful step, barely containing my good mood.