The sight of a bonfire in the middle of a forest and melting snow held in a parachute may confuse some, but it was all part of Sirus' plan.

"So what the hell are we doing? Burning a parachute with extra steps?"

"No, dummy. The way the parachute is set up, we can dump a bunch of snow into it, and it will melt into water!"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, the backpacks y'all were given are water-tight, right? If we melt the snow and pour the water into the backpacks, it's a new weapon. We can dump the water on the Orc boss, which will freeze or at least slow them down!"

"Fair point. But realistically, what's the range of a water backpack?"

"I am assuming that close range will be necessary. So draw straws for that, I guess."

"Done digging the pitfalls! Are you going to make pungi sticks or something?"

"Oh hey, Floki! We're mostly done over here, too. It's just waiting at this point. But, no, probably not. I doubt regular wood would do much damage, and the rest of the trap will do enough!

"Please don't tell me there's more to this! You know how hard it is to dig through frozen dirt with a shitty shovel?"

"Well, pardon me, that shitty shovel was hard to make!"

"Whatever, what do you want to do?"

"I thought that we get the two remaining parachutes and put the lines over the holes, so when an Orc falls into the hole, they pull the parachute with them. We can put a big snow mound next to the pits, so the parachute canopy pulls in a huge amount of snow on top of the Orc as they fall!"

"I'm sold on that!"

"Moving snow is a whole lot easier than dirt."

With that, they set off to finish the pitfalls. Sticks, leaves, and snow were laid atop the holes to make them invisible to the oblivious Orcs. Afterward, the food, now out in the open, was being ravenously consumed by Sirus, Ivarr, and Floki. It took time to rest and recover mana and stamina from all the work, but if nothing else, they had time.

Once they fully recovered, the three went to the Orc's base to lure them out to the traps.

"You throw like an arthritic grandmother!"

"Will you shut up?"

"Hit them, and I will!"

When Ivarr threw the rock again, it landed 10 feet in front of the entrance, alerting two Orcs. The Orcs walked out to investigate, seeing Ivarr waving for them to come over. The Orcs seemed to evaluate Ivarr as weak enough not to be threatening, which annoyed Ivarr.

"You bastards! Come here!"

He walked closer to the fort, throwing a few more rocks. One of them hit an Orc, and once he drew his sword, he had their attention.

One of the Orcs raised its club and screamed at the top of its lungs, and both sprinted at Ivarr and Floki. Within seconds, blows were exchanged. Ivarr, with a resistance skill, took a more direct approach, parrying the Orcs while Floki dodged and weaved. Above them sat Sirus, high in the branches of the trees. His job was to see if more Orcs came out of the base, which four were. He wrapped string around a branch and swung down onto an Orcs back. He grabbed the knife he had bought and viciously stabbed at the neck of the Orc, quickly killing it.

Blood splattered over his face, body, and hands, forcing his eyes shut before he could wipe them with his sleeve. Throughout his time at Shoshone, he had only killed one other monster, a goblin, which was entirely different. Given the expense of pits, during the school year, monsters aren't killed by students, simply beaten up so the next student can practice. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he focused on the next target. Floki was fighting the other Orc, who was enraged at his continuous dodging.

"Ivarr, do your best to distract the Orcs running over here!"

As he said that, Sirus jumped up in the air, and his strings grappled to the Orc, pulling him onto its back. Again, Sirus stabbed it to death before it could throw him off.

"I'm counting it as my kill. You couldn't of done shit if I didn't distract it."

"Oh, yeah, and you were close to killing it before I got there."

Sirus and Floki were both panting, bent over with their hands on their knees when they remembered that Ivarr was still fighting.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Sirus started running towards the Orcs that chased after Ivarr with Floki right behind him. He grabbed a rock off the ground, pelting an Orc with it, making the group chase after him and Floki.

"It's marked with the lines of leaves, right?"

"Yeah, run the strings the length of the leaves!"

Floki and Sirus ran over the traps, with Sirus's strings reinforcing their steps, so they didn't fall in. However, the Orcs were not so lucky, and two fell in, pulling hundreds of pounds of snow alongside them.

Sirus hated seeing fights in movies where one side was outnumbered, at it wasn't a beatdown. It always seemed like when the villains teamed up, then the hero would fight better or be somehow stronger, and it wouldn't make a difference.

But this was no movie, and the outnumbered Orcs didn't stand a chance. One must be much faster or more skilled to fight two enemies simultaneously. Orcs were solely known for overbearing strength.

Floki and Ivarr fought the Orcs individually, while Sirus provided support. Whenever an Orc took a large backswing, he would wrap wire around their wrist and pull back, forcing them to stumble. With each misstep, another hit was able to be had by Floki and Ivarr.

Around the time these two Orcs died, the trapped ones emerged from their pits, frozen to the core.

The two remaining Orcs were dispatched with relative ease, and the group grabbed their backpacks and went to the fort.

"This has been surprisingly painless. You know, given how school goes."

"Will you not jinx us?"

'It really is such a strange feeling. To be a piece of what you look up to. I wonder if this is how heroes feel when they defeat pits. To feel this refreshed, fulfilled. That I made an impact, and monsters died because of me. Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself, and this is just a weird form of an adrenaline crash.'

"Are you going to keep looking up at the sky, or will you keep walking?"

"I'll come if you're insisting."

The Orc's fort was a semi-circle fort, about two acres, filled with little log cabins and a longhouse. The three walked in three abreast, eyes darting back and forth. The time and location of a boss' spawn are random, though it usually proceeds the deaths of all the lower-level monsters.

Luckily, the boss wasn't hard to find, simply sitting on a chair at the center of the village, a large axe gripped tightly in front of it.

The three of us ran straight at it, leading the Orc to stand up and roar.

"Scatter!"

Floki and Sirus turned out to the left, and Ivarr charged to the right. Sirus ran up the side of the longhouse, leaving the Orc between Floki and Ivarr.

Sirus opened his backpack and threw water onto the Orc, who managed to dodge most of the water, with some hitting his arm.

A similar strategy was implemented; when Floki attacked, Ivarr kept the Orc's attention, and vice versa, with Sirus keeping the Orc too off balance to counter-attack.

Shallow cuts and blows built up, and the Orc looked increasingly bruised and beaten. However, that only made the party more worried. Low-level miasma bosses always had one skill and more at higher levels. Most bosses of the same species had similar abilities, with Orcs usually being a physique or technique enhancement. But this Orc boss hadn't shown any special skills, which meant it was about to go Berserk.

"Be more careful! It's going to happen any minute now!"

It wasn't communicated, but regardless, it was understood. Although their attacks were already hit and run, they kept an even larger distance until it happened.

The Orc's eyes glowed red, and its presence became overwhelming.

RROOOAAARRRR!!!!!

Before fighting the boss, the three knew this was possible and had a plan to execute.

Sirus jumped down from the roof and ran interference alongside Floki; their only saving grace was being Berserk made the Orc take larger swings, giving them more time to dodge.

While they did so, Ivarr grabbed his backpack, running up to the Orc to splash him. Ironically, his experience fighting the Orc was a hindrance. He was not prepared for the change; he was used to the speed and reaction time from its normal state. As soon as Ivarr approached, it turned towards him swinging its axe around. Sirus saw what was coming and manipulated his wire to wrap around the axe, pumping as much mana as he could into its pull force. But it wasn't enough; the axe ran its course, cutting through Ivarr's arm and ripping through his torso.

They had been too greedy and forgotten what they were. There was a reason why they were at the bottom of their class. Fighting the low Orcs had given them an undeserved confidence that came at them with a vengeance.

Ivarr fell to the ground, holding his chest, his hands the only thing keeping his intestines from spilling out. Unsatisfied with just that, the boss raised its axe yet again, bringing it down in the center of his face.

"JESUS CHRIST"

Both screamed bloody murder and ran towards any place they could hide.

Both ended up sprinting into the little village in the fort where a few log houses resided.

Conveniently, the Orc boss had grown so large through its Berserk state that it could not use the doors. Unfortunately, the Orc could cut the houses down like a seasoned lumberjack. So went the game of Sirus or Floki running into a house and jumping out the window, only to run to the next house. It smashed through cabin after cabin like a bullet through wet paper, chasing after whichever human was closest.

But all good things must end, and the Orc lost the gleam in his eyes and collapsed to the ground. Noticing the change, Sirus ran back towards it and threw its axe away. His string shot out into the face of the Orc, squeezing its eyes until they popped, trying to ensure that no resistance would be dangerous. The Orc did of course resist, but its strength was nothing compared to what it was before, and Sirus was able to choke it to death with the wire before collapsing to the ground himself. But he didn't have time to recover, instead dragging himself to where Ivarr lay, with Floki kneeling over him.

"He was gone before I made it back here. I assume it's gone?"

"It is. And painfully so."

"Thank you."

"What now? Does he have any family?"

"Parents, yes."

"It wasn't hard to kill him. In the end, at least. Even I overpowered him."

"I know."

"If we had just planned to run orig..."

"I know, Sirus."