A massive sigh left our lips, collectively. We knew that this was about to happen sooner or later.

“Great…” Maria groaned, “Now, we’re dealing with magical bolts too?” She scoffed as her complexion ashened. “I love it.”

Well, of course, one could only laugh at this situation. None expected this turn of events. Isn’t the orc chief enough?

The chief jabbed the tail end of its crude great axe into the dirt, then reared its other arm, pointing at us— at Phillip, to be precise. Our heads cocked sideways, clueless. Was it a greeting? Or Was it a sign of something else? Who knows?

Well, Phillip seemed to understand what it conveyed.

“It’s greeting us.” Phillip sneered, his great-axe held firm in his hands. The embers of his previous rampage flickered.

The chief recognized his strength. Perhaps it felt insulted that he overpowered his underlings, or perhaps it was just a way that the orcs greeted each other, I don’t know. But what I knew and understood, was the fact that this fight felt impossible from the get-go, without us needing to see what they were capable of.

“Fuckers.” sneered Maria, “Are they looking down on us?”

It almost certainly was. I couldn’t say that I was delighted, but if it deemed us to not be a threat, then maybe…

The chief hoisted its axe on its shoulder, then cast a glance to each orc on its side. They were communicating some type of a plan; From how the orc mage nodded, and the other one smirked as if it was certain of the outcome of this fight.

Then, the chief beat its chest like a drum, each thump sent a tiny shockwave of air pulsing through the arena as it roared. The drums and trumpets and the cheers trailed its beat, melding all of the noises into a tune of barbarous harmony, an exemplary display of the orc’s will.

Gulp. As I swallowed a large swath of built-up saliva when my eyes spotted a familiar, dark-green haze glimmering on the orc mage’s staff. It was unassuming at first, but as its spell reached its maturity, I grimaced.

Like me, it had access to death magic.

The same shriek which I had gotten intimate with, the same shriek which had saved my life—Our, lives crossed the field into our location. My guardian angel turned against me on the other side. But… it wasn’t at the same quality as my Death bolts, no, it was faster, brighter, louder, and most of all, it was deadlier than mine by a long, long shot. It was as if I was shooting pistols while this orc was firing a sniper rifle.

The orc with chains followed, its steps heavy, its eyes hungry. It was as fast as the projectile itself—an impressive feat—but our eyes switched from awe to terror as it let its chains loose, whipping it out and about, twirling, snapping the air whenever the momentum of its chains reached its apex.

“Spread out!” relaying the danger that was about to destroy us, I shot my impotent death bolt against the one that came from the mage, hoping that it would at least mitigate the extent of damage that we would receive otherwise. But, my understanding of Death magic— no, my knowledge of magic itself—was non-existent at best.

It turned out that you shouldn’t clash two identical magic of the same affinity together unless you knew with absolute certainty that your arcane power was stronger than your enemies. The boisterous laugh from the mage jested the folly of my actions; a mistake that I wished would not spell the end of our lives.

Both our spells coagulated. The once massive death bolt turned colossal, its form resembling a massive boulder. Its light showered our faces, and its shriek deafening. My lips twisted, for just a second, then liberated the panic repressed inside.

“RUN!”

A bomb was set off beneath our feet. Waves of explosion mushed my insides, my vision twisting and wobbling from the shockwave. The rage of its bolt didn’t end, one final push sent me flying along with the others.

Our figures were thrown in multiple directions. The ground, once lively, was now ruptured and decayed. Heaps of dirt were blasted into the air, like shrapnels of metal, clouding the skies while a pall of black smoke clouded our position. There was no way to know who was sent to which direction, let alone to check our conditions or communicate our next plan.

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But that wasn’t all. There were three of them.

From where I knelt, I heard Phillip’s blood-curling scream accompanied by multiple clanks as his steel collided with another. It was loud enough to be heard through all the sizzling from the mage’s death bolt, and just loud enough for me to know where he stood.

My limbs were cold. My heartbeat had skyrocketed to the point that breathing wasn’t... manageable.

Zip.

An arrow zipped through the smoke, passing through where I was looking as it braved the fog of darkness ahead to where Phillip was. Maria…

“I know you’re there, Gray! Get up!” Her shout ripped past the commotion around, entering my eardrums with a surprising amount of clarity. They are safe… “Did you see Phillip? Sarah?”

Then, rows and rows of ice bolts broke through the dark fog from her side, creating tiny holes in the darkness, revealing rays of light from outside. And at the other end, I saw Phillip’s bloodied face as he was fending off the chains assaulting from every side. He wasn’t coping with the assault so well on his own, and the recent support from us allowed him to retreat.

Get up. My first priority wasn’t the chief or the other orc, no, it was the mage. We couldn’t fend off attacks from both ends of the battlefield, and if it was anyone’s job to deal with a Death spellcaster, it would be me. My death bolts paled against its magic, sure, but that wasn’t everything that I had in my arsenal. If I could reach it, and I had the means to do it, then it wouldn’t be a one-on-one fight.

Escaping the smoke, I grouped up with the others along with Phillip who was guzzling down his potion bottles like it was nothing.

“I’ll deal with the mage on my own,” I said, “As long as you keep the others busy, I can deal with it alone, or at least, I can buy you time until you’ve taken care of the rest.”

I’ll make this right. No matter what the cost was, I would not stand being an anchor in this fight.

Naturally, Phillip wanted to object. I held my hand up, “We don’t have time, They are coming, look…” I said, pointing at the distance with my darkened staff.

As our gaze darted aside, we watched the imposing figures of the chief strolling towards our location with the orc with chains on its side. There was no sense of tension nor fear in their calm look as if they knew that this fight had been won by the chief’s presence alone.

If you ask me, I’d say that they were right. As of this moment, none of them had gone all out yet. If they did, we wouldn’t have the time to talk our plans over again.

“Trust me on this.” I tapped my staff on his shoulder. “Honestly, I’m getting the easier end of the stick here.” I continued, chuckling. “We can’t fight them with the death bolts raining over us, and we still had the advantage of them underestimating our strength.”

Well, underestimating was a big word for the group with no hope of facing them head to head. “Survive.”

The chief jabbed the head of its great axe on the ground, waiting for us to resume the battle. In turn, each of us resumed our positions, with Sarah placing her Ice armor on Phillip, and I hid behind their backs.

“I’ll aid you once I dealt with the mage.”

With my final words, I disappeared into the shadows with my camouflage skill, which went unseen due to my already low presence, and my figure hidden behind the others.

The chief roared, glancing back at the shaman at the tail end of its snarl. Its glance lacked the respect given to the other orc.

I tip-toed myself away, sneaking around the big brawl nigh-on erupting. The Orc mage was quite far away from our group, idling—no, yawning. Its unguarded watch allowed me the opening to crawl closer without alarm bells ringing. My body was invisible to the eyes, but that disregarded other methods of detecting one’s presence, no matter how hidden I was.

The chains of the other orc whirled, following its chief’s orders to strike. It deflected the incoming arrows, each aimed at its vitals, then stepped away from Phillip’s swipes and Sarah’s magic. Its range and speed earned it an unforeseen advantage.

Sarah kept her magic supply at a steady pace, saving her mana for the true spell she wanted to unleash. Even with no further of the spell she’d mentioned, none of us ever doubted her competence.

My gaze zoomed on the orc mage. Its staff wasn’t lit; it had not primed its spell yet. Behind its back was the wall, so any plans of backstabbing this thing were rendered invalid.

Right towards the tail end of its east, a death bolt was set loose upon the unaware orc. The mage’s eyes snapped awake when it heard the shriek, and for an instant, I heard a startled cry from its snout before my spell erupted its temples. It was a clean hit… But, if you asked me how much damage I’d dealt with that hit, I’d say it was ineffective at best.

The thick smoke formed around its head as it stumbled. I didn’t check the commotion that was happening on Phillip’s side, time was of the essence. Winning this fight would turn the tides a little in our favor. Then, I’d work out the rest.

The Death’s compendium opened, sifting through its pages, then stopped when it found the souls I wished to let loose.

One by one, Figures of ghastly orcs steamed around me. Two sets of Shielded Orc Warriors and the spearman were summoned—their looks matched their real selves almost down to the minute details, save for their greenish aura forming a haze around their taut bodies. My mana ran dry. I chugged a mouthful of the blue potion, yanking it away as I was to summon the final orc, but the mage had regathered its footing.

With a seething rage, its bloodied, almost rotting face glowered at me. I ordered my summons to charge using nothing but willpower, yet, a tidal wave of unseen force pulled me down to the dirt floor, panting.

The cause of it wasn’t exhaustion, nor was it fear, no, it was the outburst of information that entered my brain. All of a sudden, my view had been invaded by the visions of what each one of my conjurations granted; The clothes of the Orc mage, its eyes and its face, and then, the glow on its staff as it was about to let loose its death bolt right towards where I was.

Block.

I knew that one of the shielded orcs was the closest to the path of the spell it was about to fire, and with a cry for help, I willed it to stand in the path for my own life. It wasn’t an easy task, trying to command the correct orc was quite the challenge as they all listened to my commands at first, and the three of them rushed in to protect me at once, blocking its first bolt with the shields with the spearman hiding behind them.

I tasted the dry sweat dripping from my nose.