3 days later...

“Captain Boran, we have about 60 foot soldiers, 20 cavalry, 10 mages and 40 adventurers. In total we have 67 D ranks, 48 C ranks, 1 B ranks warrior, 7 bronze three, 3 silver one and 1 silver two mage. Given the size and equipment of the enemies, are you sure this is enough? Shouldn’t we wait for more adventurers?” Stanley asked the man in full plate armour beside him.

“Mage Stanley, are you certain of their numbers?” Boran replied.

“Yes, I’m certain that there are less than sixty orcs in the camp. Moreover, none of them are wearing plate armour.”

“Then we are ready to head off. You may not know this since you have not fought against a battalion of orcs before but for a battalion with only 60 orcs, there are no more than 1 B rank strength leading them. With our numbers, we have more than enough to kill every single one of them.” Boran replied to Stanley.

Stanley nodded in agreement. Seeing how confident the captain was about the fight, Stanley felt assured that nothing would go wrong. Stanley smiled and thought about the fun he was going to have with the secretary later. Once i finish with this mission, i’ll return to town and finally ask her to go on a date with me.

After answering Stanley question, the captain felt that he was ready to give his speech. Thus, he turned around and faced the large group of men in armour. Some knights were in leather armour while others were in plate or chain. Those in leather armour were obviously the guards of the portside town while those in metal armour were the reinforcements.  

Looking at the serious faces of the men, Boran felt pleased. They were all at the gates of the town, armed and ready to defend against the horde. He felt they were all competent. And with competent warriors, he knew he’ll be able to return faster. He couldn’t wait to return home to enjoy the festival with his family.

He could imagine it, him walking through the streets, buying delicious food from the vendor stores for his daughter. Thus, for his daughter, he steeled his heart and urged himself to complete his mission faster. I need to return home as fast as possible! I’ll take me at least a few hours to return to Arcadia by horse! I need to hurry! I can’t let them be alone on such an important day as this.

“Knights of Arcadia and free spirited adventurers. Today you stand before me, ready to defend this town against the orcs. You are here to slay these wretched beasts and protect our tradition. However, i tell you, not only will we be protecting our tradition, we will be marching forward to slay these monsters. The Baron of Arcadia has ordered me to not only defend this town but also eradicate the orcs thoroughly! To prevent more attacks in the future, we will raid their camp and not let a single orc survive! So men,are you ready to march?”

“Yes Sir!”

“Then let’s head off!”

…..

Arriving at the forrest, Stanley led Boran and the rest towards the orc camp. He had already memorise their location and thus he knew where exactly where they were.

After stealthily arriving at the camp, Boran turned to everyone and spoke a soft command. “Spread out and surround the camp, the moment i give the signal. We’ll all charge in. Don’t let a single one survive.”

Everyone nodded to his order and began to spread out. The warriors went first and stood in the frontlines while the mages stood behind, preparing to give cover fire.

“Now!”

*Boom*

*Boom*

The barrage of spells shot out, destroying the ward that covered the orc camp. The spells set fire to the huts and ravaged the camp, killing ⅕ of the orc population.

Instantly, the camp was through into chaos. It was a mayhem. With fire razing the camp, all the orcs were in mass hysteria. The orcs immediately picked up their weapons and started to charge at the men surround the camp. It was a clash that dispensed any kind of scheming. Seeing the orcs charging them, the adventurers were the first ones to move to meet them. After them, it were the knights without horses. Then the cavalry came charging from the back lines, while the mages prepared their spells and shot them from behind.

Boran charged in with his steel sword as well while Stanley stood behind, shooting blades of wind at the orcs. Instantly, everyone knew that the battle had started. It was now an all out brawl.

Looking at the battle in front of her, Nora laughed her head off. She couldn’t believe that her plan was working so smoothly. Nora had thought that trying to summon Wrath was going to be extremely difficult. However, seeing the battle unfold before her, Nora knew she was going to be proven wrong. Not only that, seeing how many orcs and humans were in front of her, Nora knew that she solved another issue as well.

Not only am i going to get enough knight’s souls to summon Wrath, i also have enough food to summon gluttony! MUHAHAHA, what luck!

Nora opened the achievement shop and bought the core of a king slime. Holding the king slime’s core in her left hand, Nora crouched down and place her right on the ground. Finally ready with all the ingredients to summon gluttony, Nora began chanting the forbidden level spell.

“By my will I open the gates of hell. I call thee! Thee who once held breath in this painted world. Thee who served as my trump card and consumed all those who opposed. Thee the soulless one. My loyal subject who I created using the primordial philosopher's stone. I call upon thee.

I resurrect thy consciousness. I resurrect thy primal instinct and thy will to survive. I wrest thy disembodied presence from the eternal void to come forth now and serve me as thee once did before.

By the universal elements that I command and am a part of, I rip thee from thy limbo, prison and the nothingness of the void. By the presence, power and the wisdom of life and death! Using all of these beings in front of me as food and this king slime’s core as your vessel, i call upon thee, Candy, my spirit of Gluttony! Rise from your eternal slumber and feast to your heart’s content.”

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As soon as Nora muttered the final word, the mood of the battle immediately changed.The roaring of orcs, the clashing of metal, everything suddenly became silent. The warring atmosphere was turned into a library, completely still and silent. The madness of both forces face immediately disappeared and turned into confusion and fear. Boran became shocked and frightened. He felt the ground quake as the large blue magic circle below him glowed brightly. The amount of magical energy below him was so high that it even managed to shook his spirit. He couldn’t believe that such high amount of mana could exist in this world.

Moreover, not only did Boran felt his spirit shake, everyone else felt it as well. Both the orcs and humans were feeling the effects of the magic circle. They could feel it slowly drain them of their mana. They all felt fear as the magic circle below them started to spin, causing the rays of blue light to dance. They didn't know what to do, they couldn’t move, as if they were turned into stone. Thus, they just stood there, inside the large blue magic circle that spanned the entire battlefield, wondering what was going on.

Ignoring the effects of her actions, Nora continued with her summon and dropped the core of the king slime into the humongous magic circle in front of her to revive her second general. Instantly, the magic circle started to rotate even faster, causing the ground to shake in response.

Each general under Nora’s command had different requirements. The first general Nora had summoned, Envy, required three things, 100 souls of the recently dead, the blood of a virgin maiden and a link between the caster and the summoned. Using the souls of spiders, Nora had met the first condition. Using her own blood, Nora had met the second condition. Lastly, using the fact that Envy once served and swore allegiance to her, Nora had met the third condition.

Now, for her second general, Nora need to do the same and fulfill the three requirements it had, a large amount of mana rich food, a core of a king slime and a link between the caster and the summoned. Thus, to meet the first condition, Nora was going to use everyone in front of her as food. For the second condition, Nora was going to use the King slime’s core that she just dropped. Lastly, to meet the third condition, Nora was going to use the fact that she created gluttony.

*Boom*

Suddenly, a large explosion occurred as the ground cracked and split apart. Screams of fear and panic filled the air as everyone realised they could move and speak again. After learning that they could move again, everyone immediately tried to run out of the large circle. They all knew that standing in it was not going to fare well for them.

However, just as they were about to leave the magic circle, pale blue translucent slime tentacles shot out of the ground, stopping them. Both sides screamed in terror as they faced the tentacles. The slime tentacles shot out from the ground and grabbed anyone it could find, absorbing them into its slimy body before pulling them deep underground.

It was a massacre. It was something outside of the realms of imagination.

Everyone tried to fight the tentacles off but it was to no avail. Everytime one was killed, two more would spawn. Furthermore, physical attacks had no effect the slimy tentacle, making it extremely hard to kill them. Despair filled everyone’s heart as they continued to try to survive. Screams of terror and pain filled the air.

Seeing how the slime tentacles were ripping his troops apart, Boran couldn’t stop the despair from filling his heart. Everywhere he turned, he saw the blue tentacle cause havoc. Even as a rank B warrior, there was nothing he could do to save them. There were too many for him to destroy.

However, despite, seeing everyone die, he was not going to give up. Even with despair filling his heart, he still held onto the small piece in his heart that was calling out to him. For my daughter, I will survive!! I WILL NOT DIE!

*boom*

Boran slashed through the wave of slime tentacle in front of him.

“MEN LISTEN UP! STOP PANICKING AND RUSHING FORWARD TOGETHER IN ONE DIRECTION. AS LONG AS WE CAN LEAVE THE MAGIC CIRCLE, WE CAN LIVE! ENTER A CIRCLE FORMATION! MAGES STICK IN THE CENTRE AND CAST YOUR SPELLS, WHILE WARRIORS STAY AT THE EDGE AND DEFEND THEM!”

As if hearing the answer to their prayers, everyone stopped panicking and rushed toward Boran. Everyone clumped together and destroyed the tentacles together. With a strong leader leading them, everyone stopped panicking and started working together.

Even the orcs were fighting together with him. Despite not speaking the same language, they knew what they had to do to survive. Thus, both sides came to an unspoken tactical agreement. Before they get free, they will work together.

As a spark of life had lit, the frenzy group started their counterattack against the slime tentacles. They charged forward in one direction, hoping to get out as fast as possible.

However, even with their combined strength, they were not powerful enough to not take any casualties. One by one, the tentacles picked them off. All those who were out of position or were too slow, were grabbed and pulled underground by the slime tentacles. Many died as their crusade continued. However, they had no choice but to leave them behind and continue. Each had their own problems, they didn’t have the time to save them.

“Continue! We can do it! Just a bit more and we’ll survive!” Boran yelled to raise everyone’s morale.

Soon, they saw that they were about to reach the edge. They could see it, the green landscape right in between the gaps of the blue tentacles. They could feel it that they were about to escape. Just a tiny bit more, just a tiny bit of distance more and we’ll make it.

As the group neared the edge, more and more died. After a while, there were only 3 left, Boran, stanley and a C rank knight. Boran turned to his right and looked into Stanley and the knight’s eyes. He could see fearless resolution. He felt the same.

He didn’t need to say anything to understand what the other two felt. Just by looking into their eyes, he knew what they wanted. The final hoorah. There was only a meter left between them and the exit.

Thus, the trio roared a loud battle cry and used whatever mana they had left. Boran and the knight swung their swords while Stanley summoned a tornado of wind blades around them, slicing and dicing apart all the slime tentacles around them.

*BOOM*

The area around them exploded, cleaving a path outside. There was nothing stopping them now. Boran could feel it, he was going to live. Out of the hundreds that died in this nightmare, he was going to live. He was going to live and return to his family.

With each step he took, he could see his daughter in the distance, calling out to him. As if god was telling him to endure and the pain and exhaustion for his daughter. Thus, Boran fought his exhaustion and pushed his tired body forward.

Beside him, stanley was doing the same. He was using his staff as a walking stick and pulled his tired body forward. A few more steps, just a few more steps and i’ll be able to make it. I don’t want to die yet!

Their heart pounded as they got closer and closer.

5 more steps!

4!

3!

2!

1!

Just one more step!

However, just as Boran and Stanley were about to take the last step.

*Psst*

They felt a burst of pain flare out from their chest as they saw a figure appeared in front of them. A sword had stabbed them through their chest, causing large amounts of blood to gush out like a roaring river. Their complexion became ashen.

An expression of extreme fear and confusion rose as they tried to comprehend what was going on. In front of them was a beautiful young girl with pink hair sporting a devilish smile. Her creepy and sinister smile was like the image of death.

“Took you long enough, I was wondering when you were going to do it,” they heard the girl speak.

Following her gaze, Boran and Stanley turned around to see who stabbed them in the back.

It was the C rank knight. They saw that it was the C rank knight who stabbed them through their back. Boran and Stanley mind froze as they tried to comprehend what was going in. Why? Why did you betray us? How could you!

However, as they tried to comprehend why he would betray them, a sudden turn of event sent their thoughts spiraling. They felt their whole world turn upside down as they saw the C rank knight kill himself.

What is going on? Why? Why would you kill us and then kill yourself?

They couldn’t understand what was going on. All they felt was despair and confusion. The sudden turn of events boggled their minds. First, slime tentacles sudden appear and attack us. Then a girl suddenly appear before us. Then our ally stab us from behind before killing himself? What the hell is going on!

Boran and Stanley felt themselves get lighter as more blood poured out of their body. They felt the pain that once burned like fire fade away to an icy numbness. Black filled the edges of their vision as their breath came in ragged, shallow gasps.

Boran looked up towards the sky as he laid on the ground. He felt the slimy tentacles grab hold of him, slowing dragging him down. He knew he had no hopes of living. He was bleeding too badly to be able to escape the tentacle. Feeling his imminent death, Boran made an uncomfortable smile and laughed.

Hahaha, sorry suzy, looks like papa ain’t coming home this time.