As Trillia wrenched her left arm up to take care of another regular monster, she scowled at the debuff blinking in her mind.

[Dislocated Shoulder]

It takes longer to utilize this limb for any skills or attacks. In addition, utilizing this limb will result in taking 1% of your health every time it is used.

This condition will not heal naturally.

This condition cannot be healed with normal restorative magic.

"How do I fix this shoulder?!" She whipped around to one of the orcs who was patching up another scout. This orc was an older one, his hair starting to gray. The ferocity in his eyes spoke volumes for how much vigor an old orc had.

Letting go of the bandage for a moment, he stood and walked over to her. "Gunna 'urt." Seeing her nod, he grabbed her arm, pulled it all the way out, and pushed in with his other hand. She felt the joint slide back in and staggered as another wave of pain washed over her.

"Another!"

Came the call of Riten. The old scout whipped out a throwing axe, catching the thing in the skull. "Heal it. Debuff should fade."

Without another word, the orc turned back to bandaging one of the younger orcs. Trillia didn't have any potions left. She just gritted her teeth and waited for regeneration to take over.

She darted forward towards another tiger. It didn't look quite right. It had six eyes, and its jaw seemed to be hinged oddly, slowly opening wider and wider.

[Abomination - Primordial Abomination - 73] Corrupt Mana Manipulation

Notable Traits:

Primordial Spawn

Unnatural

Trillia dumped mana into her rapier and lunged toward the creature. It looked lazily toward her and didn't move as it was skewered and killed. She blinked a few times, looking around.

"What's going on?! Is there no end to this?" The orcs were mostly on their feet again. Only the worst of them were still being bandaged. Mon'Tag wasn't among them.

The old scout approached. "Some corrupted nest. Mon'Tag and some others are still in there. Tried convincing the god, but he refuses."

Trillia nodded and looked at Ialu. Calling the wolf over to her, the two of them took off in the direction of the nest.

Riten called after them as he saw them go.

Trillia saw the horde of monsters. It was unlike anything she had seen before. Hundreds of the things were crawling up and out of the ravine. All of them seemed dead set on ripping Riten apart. Whatever skill the deity was using, she was grateful for it. A few stragglers were coming from a place further to the east.

That was her destination.

She felt the mental tugging from Ialu and the worry the wolf was trying to convey. Trillia leaned down closer to her head to whisper. "It's ok, girl. We can't leave a member of the tribe to die if we can help it."

Ialu whimpered once more but pushed on.

As they got further away from Riten, his skill's effect faded. Most of the enemies they ran across were abominations or normal tigers in the fifty to sixty range. Ialu managed to avoid most of them.

A half-hour later, she saw the nest. A half dozen much larger tigers were prowling around a dense copse of trees that was slowly pushing more and more tigers out of it. Ialu slowed her pace and seemed to be staying just at the range that the tigers could sense or smell them. "Maybe they tried to go inside to wipe it out?"

Trillia dismounted and checked her gear before nodding to Ialu. If the nest was anything like a dungeon, they'd have to go in on foot.

She took three steps forward and felt [Spawn Seeker] rising up again. She glanced around and saw nothing new.

She began charging her crossbow again and dumped more mana into her rapier. "I'll go in, get the other orcs and lead them out. Make a hole for me, girl."

Ialu snarled and took off running; Toward the tigers. As she neared, she let loose a loud howl. It seemed to have a similar effect as Riten's skill. Most of the tigers began chasing Ialu, who spun and bite and clawed at some of them before taking off running.

Trillia didn't let it go to waste. She plucked a few soft notes on her little miniature harp and took off with Astra's Agility.

The nest wasn't what she was expecting. As she neared the border of the copse of trees, she heard another howl. Stepping into the trees took effort as if she was pushing past a barrier of some kind.

Once the resistance gave way, she realized that the trees themselves were the nest, or dungeon in this case. It had the same air as Red River did. The trees seemed to go on forever inside the copse. Trillia did her best to track the orcs. Although, she wasn't trained in such. So it was mostly following the typical clearing formula that she had heard other scouts talk about. Or her brothers talk about over the years.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Occasionally she'd heard a low howl from outside. That would spark a bunch of tigers to come out of hiding and run toward the exit.

After the first hour, the howls grew further and further apart. Trillia had slain a dozen tigers on her own. Overwhelming them with sheer firepower whenever one caught wind of her.

...

The second hour brought a notification that Ialu could be resummoned in twenty-four hours or for a hefty amount of mana. "Thanks for buying me time." Trillia whispered to herself.

Trillia was beginning to think Fate itself watched over her. The number of happy coincidences in her life wasn't something to take for granted. Now was no different. As she turned another corner, she saw a half dozen dead tigers with all manner of wounds on them.

She crossed the distance quickly and began looking around. She even risked speaking.

"Mon'tag. Mon'tag, it's Trillia." She looked all around and slowly began to follow the largest trail of blood. It led her through a few more twists and turns and eventually through an area covered by a thick thorny bush. Trillia winced but pushed through, covering her eyes and swinging a few times with the rapier to try and clear herself a path.

As she made her way into the clearing, she froze. Her heart began to beat in her ears again. Every thump of blood being pumped faster and faster was as loud as could be.

She had found Mon'tag.

The orc hung by his arms. They were pulled out wide to either side. More hooks had been dug into the flesh of his back and pulled to stretch out, his ribs floating in the air. His face was twisted in an ever-lasting agonizing scream.

Trillia looked around and saw another dozen orcs that were strung up in the same way. Her stomach churned and gurgled.

Try as she might, she couldn't keep it in. She turned and retched.

"My, my. Another little prize?" The voice made her skin crawl. She whipped her head toward the voice and raised both of her weapons, activating [Mana-Sight]. She caught a glimpse of a feathered wing before it vanished into the trees.

[Immortal - Xeno Alchemist- ???] Flesh Mana Manipulation

Notable Traits:

Pact-Bound (???)

Forced Revelation

The Mad Doctor

Celestial-Born

The Grand Corruptor

... 23 Others

Trillia's heart began to pound faster and faster. "What are you?" She managed to whisper.

"Bored...mostly." This time the voice came from another direction, and she whipped around yet again.

"Why? Why did you do this?!" She began to reach out to her connection with Arlyss. Asking for help.

She felt warm putrid breath on her neck, and her body froze completely. First, one hand was on a shoulder, then another, then two more. "You smell like my old student." Its voice had the same effect that Arlyss and Riten's did. Where it was every language and none. She felt the creature inhale deeply, and as it began to clamber around in front of her, she snapped her eyes shut.

Her body still wasn't moving, but her mana wasn't dropping. This wasn't some debuff or aura. This was her mentally failing. She knew it and still couldn't do anything to stop it.

"You aren't a goblin. A tiny orc, it looks like. What unique coloring. Perhaps I should make a doll out of you." Trillia tried to take a deep breath and found that her body didn't want to do that either. The goblin comment gave her some ideas about who this creature's old student was.

She felt yet another set of hands grab her face. Its skin was cold and oily. She couldn't help but shudder as its fingers slowly moved toward her eyelids.

"Come now. I'm sure you have the most beautiful little orc eyes." As the creature finished the sentence, it forced her eyelids open.

Trillia felt her mana draining rapidly as her skills, traits, and class tried to fight off the aura. The creature in front of her had multiple faces on the same head, each facing a different direction, a half dozen wings bent at odd angles formed on its back. Its skin was impossibly white as if it had been cut from the purest marble. Two beautiful golden eyes rested on each face.

Its mouths twisted into smiles revealing dozens of rows of razor-sharp teeth. It was only then Trillia realized the thing was kneeling in front of her and forcing her to look up into its eyes. A dozen arms were on either side of its torso. "I'm known as Caelum Mittur. What is your name, little orc?"

Trillia was using most of her willpower not to wet herself and to breathe. Staring up into the creature's golden eyes, her right arm slowly trembled upward.

Caelum looked at her, and its many mouths smiled even wider. One of its hands moved down and grabbed ahold of the hand holding the rapier. "I'm just asking you a question, little orc. There's no need to attack me."

"Y..o...you...you killed them." She could barely whisper the words. The creature didn't turn away from her; Why would it? It could see from another set of eyes.

"No. I made them beautiful, little orc. They were so angry and sad. Now they scream in joy, forever staring at the beautiful trees and sky above." It leaned in closer and smiled wider yet. Trillia was keenly aware that this creature could gobble her up without much effort.

"Do you want to be beautiful, little orc?" Its fingers gently tapped the side of her face as it spoke. "You must have so many unique skills. Most creatures are screaming in joy at the sight of me by now."

Its neck twisted, snapped, and popped, and another face began to peer at her. The drain in her mana stopped as soon as a new set of eyes were on her. "Ahhh. A little pet for the realm. A little slave for a deity."

That combination got to Trillia. She managed a little more than a whisper. "I'm no slave!"

The creature began chuckling. Short, raspy laughs that caused its body to jerk and convulse. "Another mortal. Thinking that they matter. That they are worthy." The creature raised another hand and mockingly shook a finger in front of her. "At least the goblin knew his place. Was grateful to learn from me. Do you truly think that your deity cares about you?"

Trillia was fighting back tears, revulsion, and her own panic. She clenched her rapier tighter, but try as she might, she couldn't even budge the creature's hand. "I'm no slave..." This time her words were softer.

The creature nodded sympathetically. "I used to think that. Here, look." It turned its body weirdly so that she could see its back, which was covered in the same glowing runes she had as a pact-bound. She already knew that from her scan, though. "It's dead now. Funny how much the wording matters for those things. Bound to a dead god."

It twisted back around to stare into her eyes which were watering even more after being forcefully held open for so long. "Until my duty is fulfilled. That was the wording that tricked me. The wording that trapped me to never set foot in my homeland again. Tell me, little orc. Where is your home?"

Trillia took a deep breath and managed to raise her left arm enough to loose a full salvo into the creature's chest. Her attack didn't even leave marks. "Why am I so weak." She whispered the words to herself. Readying herself to be gobbled up or ripped apart like the other orcs.