[We can't catch a break, damn it!
[No, I need to be calm... There's a simple way out of this.]
Kaelen took a deep breath to calm his nerves and cease the trembling in his eyes, before boldly taking a step forward.
"Hey Orc, we're not your food."
"We're currently here as Lord Honyopi's guests, haven't you heard?"
Due to a slight fear, his voice quivered but he made sure to conceal it, he couldn't afford to show fear.
"Oink..."
The Orc silently snorted and tilted its snout as though it were in a trance of deep contemplation. But its drool mixed with Goblin's blood did not stop dripping from its maw.
[Damn it, what could he possibly be thinking about in that empty head of his?]
He chewed his lips and placed his arm in front of Veylith, noticing that her frame was twitching as though she wanted to lunge at the Orc.
"..."
"You were attacked by someone, weren't you?"
He glanced at the Orc's injuries, and he knew that no mere Goblin or Kobold would be able to penetrate an Orc's thick hide to such an extent.
[An internal dispute...?]
"I suggest you go and report that to your Lord... And as for us, we belong to our Master, Lord Charymos."
"You wouldn't want them both to be upset at you if you did something to us, right?"
"So let us go."
Kaelen grew bolder with every word he uttered, he knew that the NPCs of the Tower submitted to the Guardians in reverence.
However, he overlooked one thing...
"Oink! Oink! That food, it attacked me and killed my brothers!"
"It hurts! I pain so much!"
['Food'? The hell is it talking about? There's no way Goblins, Kobolds or the other Homonculi could have given him those injuries.]
"Hey, calm down and tell me who —"
Pow!
Kaelen suddenly found himself upside-down, suspended in the air, his mouth filling up with blood and his jaw completely dislocated.
... He had overlooked the fact that Orcs—these low-intelligence creatures —were driven by something much more than reverence and respect for the Guardians, but by pure untamed gluttony.
Crash!
After spinning in the air due to the Orc's slap, Kaelen came crashing down violently, his mind completely disoriented.
"Oink... Food talks too much, how will Boss know that me ate you?"
The Orc smacked its lips.
"Kaelen!!"
That was the first he had ever heard Veylith shout.
Crackle! Clink!
She imbued her weapon with Mana and lunged at the Orc.
"No... Wheeze... He's too strong."
He stretched out his hand to stop her as he laid on his stomach, but it was too late...
Veylith leapt in the air and performed a front-flip, unleashing both ends of her chain —the sickle and spiked fundo —at the Orc's cranium.
■■ Mana Burst!■■
BOOOOM!
An azure-blue plasma engulfed the large Orc's frame, scattering shockwaves atop the hill.
[!!]
But before she could even land on her feet, a large hand tore through the pillar of Mana and yanked her by her chain.
Fwosh!
CRACK!
"Argh!!!"
The Orc catapulted its large head, cracking Veylith's forearms and her collarbones with such an immense force that she almost lost consciousness.
"Food can use Mana, so food will be very tasty."
The Orc drooled and coiled its hand around Veylith's waist.
Thud! Thud!
She struggled fervently and struck the Orc's wrist, but it was all in vain and she simply could not free herself from its grip.
"V..."
Specimen 2555 was utterly and completely frozen as he watched the Orc raise up Veylith to its mouth, aiming to eat her alive.
Kaelen on the other hand...
[Come on! Come on!!!]
... Was waiting for his passive regenerative skill to conclude healing him so that he could regain his body's autonomy.
He even flooded his Mana Veins and squeezed them, hoping to accelerate the process.
[Hurry up!!!]
The blur in his eyes was lifted, and all he saw was Veylith squirming in the Orc's grip.
Crackle! Booom!
The fog in his mind scattered and he immediately launched himself like a cannonball, a trail of his pink Mana left in his wake.
Ta! Ta! Ta!
He condensed vast amounts of his Mana into his legs, greatly amplifying his speed.
Fwosh!
He blitzed past 2555 and caused him to stumble.
As he drew near to his target, Kaelen rapidly raised his left leg and positioned his body horizontally, but then he rapidly lowered his left and raised his right leg—unleashing a deft bicycle kick.
And just as Veylith's head was about to enter the Orc's mouth...
■■ Mana Burst: Flos Roseus!■■
Kaelen's violent kick, which was an accumulation of all his strength, thunderously connected with the Orc's wrist and exploded in a pink blossom of pure Mana.
The force of the explosion was enough to force the Orc to relinquish Veylith and carry her high into the air.
Thud! Step!
CRACKLE!
Taking advantage of the Orc's confusion and fixation on its now soaring prey (Veylith), Kaelen performed a kip-up and condensed as much Mana as he could draw onto his forearms.
"Argh!!"
The strain was immense, but he bore through it and coiled both of his elbows and clenched his fists.
■■ Mana Burst: Cannon!■■
BAAAANG!!!
"Oink?!"
Kaelen purposefully struck the gaping wound on the Orc's abdomen with both of his fists, pumping his Mana deep into its belly.
Screech!
The force of the impact alone was enough to push the Orc, sending it sliding on the rocky ground.
"Huff... Huff..."
[Shit... I knew that wouldn't do much damage, but I had hoped to push him off the cliff...]
Kaelen winced and drew ragged breaths, the skin on his arms completely shredded by the recoil of his own attack.
But despite this...
Thud!
... He caught Veylith with those very same arms and he collapsed to his knees under her weight.
[My attack damaged her too...]
He glanced down at her with pity.
The skin on the left side of her face was completely blown off and her back was riddled with third degree burns.
But that was not the full extent of her injuries —due to the Orc's crushing force, her spine was snapped and her ribs pierced through the skin of her sides.
[I'm sorry, I had no other choice.]
His lips slightly quivered.
[Even with her regeneration, her wounds are too severe...]
He raised his eyes to the Orc that was investigating the full extent of its injury and glared at it.
"Specimen 2555."
He called out with eyes still laser-focused on the Orc, but no one gave response.
"Snap out of it! Specimen 2555!!"
[!!]
He shouted, his voice echoing against the distant mountains.
"Y-yes Captain!"
He jolted to his feet, the blade of his rapier trembling profusely.
"Listen to me carefully, when I give the order, I want you to take Veylith and run back to camp."
"B-but Captain —"
"Be quiet. Or are you suggesting that you'd be able to help me take down that Orc?"
"..."
Specimen 2555 could only bite his lips in shame.
"Don't miss the timing, when I tell you to run, you do so and don't turn back."
He nodded and gently took the unconscious Veylith from Kaelen's arms.
Step... Step...
He puffed up his chest and boldly stepped forward, as the squelching sounds of his torn flesh regenerating accompanied the howling winds and the last light of dusk.
"Fuuu..."
"Have you still not gotten used to seeing your own blood, you stupid pig?"
"Oink..."
Hearing his words, the Orc removed its gaze from its bloody palm to Kaelen and curled its snout.
"What a disgrace you are, the likes of you will never enter Valhalla!"
The Orcs, as gluttonous and stupid as they may be, are a warrior race, one that firmly believes that they are awaited by a paradise of endless gourmet and battles in the afterlife.
So naturally, Kaelen's words struck a chord.
"Food!! How do you know Valhalla?!"
"Oink! Oink! I will eat you now!"
The Orc began seething, steam blowing out of its large nostrils.
[I've drawn its aggro!]
"Go, now!!"
Specimen 2555 did not hesitate and immediately ran as fast as he could.
And a split second later, the Orc came charging at Kaelen at such high speed, that he barely had any time to think.
■■ Monarch's Aegis!■■
He spread out his arms and the shield instantly sprung forth.
[Okay, I have ten seconds to figure out a way to—]
SHATTER!!
The shield was instantly shattered by the Orc's brunt force.
[!!]
Kaelen blinked once, and the Orc's bulky fist was already tearing through the space in front of him.
[Oh no!]
He instinctively guarded himself, and...
BANG!
...He felt as though he'd been hit by a speeding car, his femur bones ground to dust and his lungs punctured by his own ribcage as he was sent flying a long distance until he crashed into a boulder.
"Wheeze... Wheeze..."
With his body embedded into the large boulder, Kaelen desperately attempted to breathe, but only blood filled his windpipe.
His vision shifted between complete darkness and blurriness, his ears terrorized by a loud ringing sound that only he heard.
He felt excruciating pain all over his being.
It was so painful that words could never do it justice.
Never in his existence had he felt so much pain, it was so painful in fact, that he began to weep.
Had it not been for his lung's shortage of air, then he would have been bellowing, but instead, he could be heard gargling his own blood.