They weren’t the traces of the orcs he was looking for, but a weird-looking plant.

He had never seen a plant like this. It was purple in color and its leaves were shaped like arrows. Pointy tips and a very thin, almost thread-like bottom connected to crooked branches.

It's practically screaming “I am poisonous”

Odin was in a dilemma about whether to check it out or not. Whatever managed to grow in this desolate land had to be something special, even a poisonous plant. If used correctly it could help him kill the orcs.

He was going to dig a pit in their patrol route and by using his illusion powers; he planned to make them believe it was their normal route and made them fall in.

‘If I add a bit of poison in the mix it would be perfect’ Odin looked at the plant with a devious smile and asked ominira

“Is this thing a poison?”

“Unable to answer”

[‘SCAN’ function is locked.]

“Too bad... is there another way?” asked Odin as he saw the message float up in front of him after omnira spoke

“I can scan your body with ease. You can try eating it.”

Odin sat there motionless with black lines forming on his forehead

“Is that a joke?”

“Yes”

“…”

“…”

Humph!

In the end, Odin didn’t manage to come up with a suitable reply so he just collected the plants with his pickaxe and stored them in the the cloth bag.

After ambling around aimlessly for the next hour or so, he finally caught on to the tracks of the petrol team. In fact, there were much more than he had expected

‘There are at least fifteen different footprints.’

They were very easy to notice as they headed off in different directions

Jackpot. Odin grinned as he thought about catching them all in one fell swoop

‘Maybe this is a convergence point, and most likely three or four teams meet here and go different ways afterward.’

Odin took out his pickaxe from his back and started looking for suitable places to lay out his traps

‘I thought it to be difficult to find all teams, but if this goes well I can complete half of the quest in one shot’ thought Odin as he began to dig a pit passionately.

Compared to the person who cried and felt bad after his first kill, he was completely different now. Maybe a bit too much.

...

It was late in the night and the atmosphere was the same as it had been when Odin fought for the first time.

After much consideration, he decided to dig seven big and small pits near the area and he dug them according to the density of the footprints

He had to first clearly memorize the landscape because if he wanted the orcs to believe in his illusion, he had to replicate the place exactly as it was before.

Even though it was nighttime and therefore very difficult to notice the changes, he decided to be careful just in case.

Odin was exhausted after trying out his new skill so many times. He sat near a boulder and took a sip from the water bottle.

The cool and refreshing water gushed down from his throat to his empty stomach which made him feel relaxed and calm.

‘Never thought drinking water could be this enjoyable’

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He didn't want to admit this but he now felt like living in the mine wasn't as bad as he had thought. Compared to living in the wilds when you have no proper food supply or shelter and on top of that you have to be constantly on guard towards threats from the environment, life at the underground mine is comparatively better.

‘Come to think of it, even if I do manage to liberate people in the underground mine, would they be willing to change their lifestyle?’

He was deep in his thoughts but the sound of approaching footsteps made him full on alert. All the unnecessary thoughts vanished from his mind as he looked around with a sharp glare

He was hiding at a good spot which was quite far away from traps but also close enough for him to observe the area.

None of the footprints coming or going overlapped with his position, so he was sure that none of the Orcs would be coming from his back

After a while, he could see a total of three patrol teams approaching the intersection. One side had a group of three while the other had a pair of two.

‘They are fewer in numbers compared to the ones from last time, but they are much stronger individually’ thought Odin thinking back on his encounter with a fiver orc patrol team

As they were quite a distance away, he couldn't use ominira to detect their level but Odin believed they were at least as strong as the level 1 orc from the last time

‘Well it doesn't matter even if they are stronger’

Odin was much stronger than the last time. Just by using world resonance with his pickaxe he could easily defeat a group of similar-level orcs, much less these shabby patrol teams.

But this wasn't the point of his training. He had to defeat them using the law of illusion.

No matter how much he levels up from now, on his physical strength wouldn't change by a large margin. If he wanted to just be satisfied with his current strength, he wouldn't be working so hard in the first place.

One of the smaller groups just passed by the place where Odin had laid out the trap. He deeply concentrated on that area and as expected, the orcs believed that it was a solid ground despite there being a pit below them and walked on.

Odin was amazed by his powers as he made the petrol team practically walk on air. He loosened his focus as he felt more confident about himself.

He did not activate the traps because he was waiting for more orcs to come.

Although there were almost ten of them now, based on the footprints there should be more of them coming. He bet on the chance that these teams would wait for their companions to arrive.

'And join them in death' Odin thought inwardly.

As if to grant this wish of his, two more patrol teams came into his view. There were a total of five orcs in them, but one of them looked much bigger and stronger than the rest.

‘This one must be at the highest level among them,’ thought Odin and he put more effort on his skill when that orc passed by the traps.

It went smoothly and the big orc also didn't notice a thing. Odin relaxed a little and observed the situation as the orcs chatted in their weird language.

‘Looks like they have a strength-based hierarchy,’ thought Odin as the other orcs squirmed and behaved meekly in front of the big orc.

He didn't have to wait long as they soon parted ways and went in opposite directions. As for why no one patrolled in his direction? He neither knew nor did he care about it at this moment.

He waited for the perfect moment when almost three-fourths of them were on traps and when he stopped the world resonance. And as expected, they fell, never to rise again.

Odin didn't even bother to check about the condition of those who fell as headed towards the pair of orcs who were standing closest to him

Zzzmm

He infused the energy into his pickaxe through world resonance and swung it towards one of the orcs

Whiish

The pickaxe cut through the air like a well-sharpened sword and just like a sword, it sliced the orc in half

Odin was once again amazed by his newfound strength but he didn't dwell upon it. He gathered the Momentum again and smashed the pickaxe into the remaining orc's skull.

Crush

Unlike the clean death of the previous one, this one was a lot messier as bone fragments and brain matter splattered everywhere around him.

Kuuaaahhh

The last orc who didn't fall into the Trap rushed at him with his sword held high

Even though Odin was much stronger than the orc, that didn't mean that he could just tank a hit like that.

Odin blocked the blow with a pickaxe and as if to prove why pickaxe wasn't a good option for the weapon, the wooden handle splintered a bit by the weight of the blow.

Tch.. Odin frowned at the trashy quality of the pickaxe while parrying another blow

He didn't immediately kill this one because he needed to practice. He dodged and parried a couple of blows and when the pickaxe was about to be completely scrapped, he dealt the final blow begrudgingly.

It might seem like a lot of time had passed but barely a couple of minutes passed by from the moment Odin rushed out.

‘I have to re-evaluate my assessment of my own strength. Sure I can kill hundreds of them if they came at me one one-on-one, but if they manage to gang up on me I wouldn't last for half an hour.’

He wasn't worried about that because he came here to overcome his weakness and to get stronger in the first place.

What he did worry about however, was the scene inside the pits.

When Odin looked down below, each and every one of the orcs were dead. Even the orc leader who was at level 5

Damn! I knew that Plant was poisonous but I never thought it would be this effective

He had thrown some thorns and leaves of that plant in all of the pits on a whim, but it was way more effective than he'd thought.

The orcs only got a scratch on their skin but it still led them to their demise instantly.

‘It's good that I kept some, I have a hunch that it'll be way more useful in the future’ thought Odin as he touched the cloth bag warily.

Not bothered about the gruesome scene around him, Odin jumped into the pit after taking a deep breath

[Quest: Destroy the orc patrol teams without being detected]

[Current progress: 6/10]

Odin looked at the quest progress while collecting the loot

‘That big fella must be working alone’

After enduring the awful stench and lifting the heavy bodies of orcs, Odin looked at the pile of weapons and leather pouches with satisfaction.