I was about to turn and run when the massive Orc stood and let out a massive shout. It was a Skill, and it had a stunning effect. He grabbed a spear and threw it at me. I let myself fall. There wasn’t a lot else I could do with my muscles locked up. The spear ripped through my lion skin tunic and some skin. The spear slammed into the door behind me, permanently blocking it.

My Cat Reflexes showed their worth, releasing me from the stun before I hit the floor. With Acrobatics, Cat Reflexes moved me into a roll. The other two Orcs were drawing weapons and moving toward me. I reflexively let out a Flash and then used Light Manipulation to cover me and dived for the other side of the room. This turned out to be a good thing. Orcs are susceptible to the light.

The big Orc yelled again, but it wasn’t a skill. “Find it!” he growled, and the female with the shield turned to the centre of the room and stamped her foot. The ground shook. I bounced off a seat, and everybody's attention was drawn to me. The shield wielder executed a Charge Skill. I tried to Dodge, but it still clipped men, and I was sent rolling, and I lost control of the light.

The third orc yelled and came at me swinging his serrated swords. My Cat Reflexes got me to my feet, and I blocked a sword, but the power of the strike overwhelmed my level 1 Block, and the sword dug deep into my shoulder. I used Cutting Light, but the Orc's armour was thick, and cutting through the greave took longer than usual. The orc ripped his sword out before the Cutting Light started digging into his flesh, causing him to yell.

I dropped the Haladie from my now semi-useless hand, and my longsword struck the gap in the armour behind the knee. I Flashed them again and Thrust the sword deep into his armpit with Bloodletting. I was sent flying from the shield lady, and the wounded Orc seemed to go into a rage.

He pushed the lady away and came after me.

I rolled away under Light Manipulation as a slightly different me continued on the original trajectory. I was dismayed at the blood trail the real me left, and I could see the female orc looking at it.

A spear slammed through copy me, and the enraged orc’s serrated swords slammed into it. I slammed my longsword deep into the gap under his other arm and added Cutting Light, and I left it there as I ducked under the shield lady's sword and dove to where the Haladie was lying.

The enraged orc was now even more enraged, and the shield orc had to deflect a random strike from him on her shield. I grabbed a health potion and got most of it down before I had to dodge a spear strike from the big orc. I think he was following the blood trail as well. Fortunately, the enraged orc was throwing blood everywhere. Unfortunately, I was still leaking a lot.

I ducked and sliced with the Haladie, and I cut two fingers off the big orc, causing him to activate his stun yell again. It only partially caught me this time, but I still skidded out of control and the shield orc saw. The shield orc and the big one were intelligent, which was the worst.

I jumped and threw the Haladie into the eye of the Shield orc. Unfortunately, this didn’t kill her; she must have a very high constitution. I ducked past the enraged orc and ripped out my sword, activating a Long Slash at the same time to cause as much damage as possible.

The Earth shook again, but I was ready, and this time, Steady Footing and Sure-grip kept me on my feet, and I went on the attack at the shield orc. She was good and caught my sword on her shield, and we exchanged several blows, even though she couldn’t really see me. She must have some other sensing skills because she was good, even blind in one eye.

I Parried a spear thrust and then moved at Light Speed, Slashing at the large orc’s neck. The longsword dug deep but not enough to cut the artery. He must have a high constitution as well. I am pretty sure he won’t be able to yell again.

I Dashed away, but the Shield orc intercepted me, and I had to Dodge. I attacked with everything I had: Quick Hands, Cat Reflexes, Quick Strike, and Slash. Then, while she was engaged, I used my wounded hand to throw a Dart into her other eye. Still, her sword clanged off my helmet.

While I was at it, I threw a dart at the big orc’s eye, but he ducked and lunged at me with his spear. I dodged behind Shield Orc and Thrust my Sword through her neck. Blood spurted everywhere, and she slipped on her own blood.

I Parried another spear thrust, but halfway through the thrust, he spun, and I was slammed with the shaft and sent spinning. I realised I lost control of all light at some stage, but I Flashed as large as I could. But the haft of the spear came down on my chest, breaking ribs, and I felt like the haft would go through me. It didn’t, maybe because of the remains of the Lion hide and Medium Armour.

I thrust up with the sword, cutting the inside of his leg, causing blood to pump. I used quick hands and did it again with Bloodletting. He staggered back and then brought his spear around, and it slammed down through my guts and into the floor. He staggered forward, leaning on the spear, and it ripped out. Looking at my own intestines was not pleasant.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I expect this is the end for me. Big orc collapsed in a pool of blood. I fumbled for a potion and just poured it on my guts. I hope it was a health potion.

I turned my head, and the Enraged orc was dead in a pool of blood. Shield orc was half-decapitated, and I watched the light go out in the big orc’s eyes as he died of blood loss.

I also expected to die of blood loss. Or maybe I would die gutless. I giggled at the sight of my guts out of my body. I was going into shock, but I didn’t really care anymore.

Then the bodies faded, and the loot appeared. There was a potion within arms' reach from Big Orc. It was the colour of a health potion, so I reached for it and just tipped it in my mouth. Then I just lay there in blood and guts in agony, not knowing if I would live or die. It all went dark.

I am not sure how long I was unconscious, but I was still in agony when I woke. My guts were closed, and my shoulder was semi-functional. I dragged myself to a sitting position. There was blood everywhere, but my body was the only one in the room. The coppery smell of blood was almost enough to make me gag. A lot of it was mine.

There was loot where each of the other bodies had been, and a reward chest was up by the throne. Was the Quest finished? I checked my Status because it didn’t require moving.

Fight for the Crown (Optional Quest. Part of the Monarch’s Raiment Quest)

Kill the Orcs guarding the Crown.

Reward: 1x Armour Piece, Monarch’s Crown, ???

Okay, it looks like I got the quest when I entered the throne room; I was just too busy at the time. I levered myself out of the blood and limped to the throne, as it was the cleanest place in the room. I cast Self-Clean twice.

I sat next to the chest and opened it. There were only three things in it. I expected more after all that. I know there was loot from each of the bodies as well, but I basically died.

I pulled out the Crown and put it beside the chest. I reached in and pulled out a pair of Bracers.

Bone and Leather Bracers. Part of the Armour set, The Dance of Death 3/5.

+1 Dexterity, Self-Repair, Sure-grip

They were actually more than bracers. They were also gloves with very fine leather on the fingers. The bone reinforcing ran up the bracers, and each one had a small hidden knife sheath.

I was past complaining about this trial. I looked at the hide vest I was wearing, which could no longer really be called armour. I needed a chest piece, and it gave me bracers. When I climbed the wall, I needed these with their Sure-Grip, but did I have them? Silly question. I just put them on and slipped a knife into each sheath.

Then, I picked out the third item in the chest. It was a skill stone. I was not expecting much and I Appraised it.

Oh, you sweet, sweet Trial, I take back everything I said. It was an Ability, but not just any ability. It was the Storage Ability. The storage ability was like my spatial bag, but inside and accessible only to me. Nobody could steal it, and it was 100% weight reduction. It would also grow as I levelled it up and become cheaper in Mana to store and retrieve things. Every thief and merchant in the kingdom wanted this ability, and it could not be bought or stolen.

It was now mine.

First, I emptied all the coins from my bag and put them into storage. With the number of coins, I got a notice that Storage had levelled to 2 and gained the Bank Function. The coins were sorted into copper, silver, and gold and didn’t even take up space, freeing up multiple spaces in my spatial bag.

I then transferred my emergency supplies and all the weapons. They would be easier to get from my storage and freed up a lot of bag space. Then I transferred the potions. This just left a few miscellaneous things in the spatial bag.

This was awesome. I wanted this for years. I put the crown into my storage. I was feeling a lot better now, so I got up and limped to the Enranged Orc. He had dropped his swords. They were ugly, brutal-looking swords, but when I appraised them, they were a paired set and, when used together, gave damage bonuses. They were not just a paired set. They were named swords. Bloodrage and Bloodrend were their names.

They were heavy. I think I would need higher Strength to use them, although I am not sure I want to use them. Appraisal said the minimum strength was 35. The Damage rating on them made them attractive, especially if I could get a technique for them. I put them into storage for later. They would be worth a lot to sell.

He also dropped coins, but his core gave nothing. A technique for the swords would have been fantastic, but no, there is nothing like that.

The shield orc dropped her shield. It was a big and heavy thing as well, and I would have to have a higher strength to use. Again, Strenght of 35. Of course, I would need more strength to use it. She also dropped the skill stone Basic Shield, so I learned that, enabling me to learn Shield Bash. Now, I just need a shield I can use. Typical bloody Trial.

Her core also gave nothing.

The big Orc followed the same theme. He dropped his massive spear, which was too heavy for me to use - minimum Strength 35, and the Skillstone Basic Spear. I learned it because why not? I can’t level all these skills, and the spear is in the same category as two-handed weapons for me—not where I am heading. Maybe I should have kept it to sell.

Not everyone can learn all these skills, but I think I can because of the Slayer Class.

There were a lot of skill level-ups, and I noticed that my Basic Longsword was now at level 8. I hope the other pieces of the raiment are not so hard to get.