Chapter 513: Retreat

Orok Uram

“You bastard!”

I heard the loud curse and turned my eyes away from the flying head toward the next enemy.

“Good, you are coming. I thought you never would,” I said. This made him stop short as uncertainty appeared in his eyes.

Seeing that, I turned toward the second mage. This one is a Mage. Not a High Mage in hiding.

He had attacked me several times while I had fought the High Mage, but all of his spells were Grade III, which, thankfully, Sasryn stopped.

If he had been High-Mage, he would have attacked. He had a perfect chance to kill me.

I grinned, seeing fear appear in his eyes before looking at my people. They had already formed a half circle around me and were moving to make it complete.

The enemy’s eyes moved toward them for a second while thoughts spun in his mind.

I kept my eyes on him; my axe moved ready to deal with any undead or spell coming at me while the Survivors Healing recuperated my injuries.

It is a powerful skill, that saved my life many times. It is an Inheritance skill.

Not a primary inheritance skill like Rhythm of Wild, but one with a fraction of inheritance healing skills power.

General Stone had said that there was a good chance it would advance to a complete inheritance skill if I leveled up to Level 30.

It was healing my injuries, but I still drank the potion while moving my axe with one hand to kill a skeleton.

The enemy seemed to finally make up his mind and walked toward me.

At the same time, I sensed the change in the undead. They have intensified their offense. Skeletons and Zombies begin to move aggressively, with many exploding.

Worry flashed in my heart, but I controlled myself.

I trust my men to do their jobs while I have to do mine. I need to kill the enemy; it is the only way they will retreat.

He charged and in a few seconds, he was in front of me.

He is a human man in his early forties or late forties. It is hard to tell with humans. The elves and half-elves are even more confusing.

He is a tall man with a muscled physique and has a similar shade of skin as those of Mayhurst Island.

He has charcoal black hair and even darker eyes. His nose is small, with a scar running through it.

His name is Javar Neris. He is a native of Mayhurst, but not of the undead kingdom.

He defected to them in the first year of the war.

“You have made a great mistake killing Lilya. I pl..” He stopped midway as I attacked him.

Javar’s eyes flared in anger.

I don’t have time to hear his bullshit. My people are getting injured, some have died. I cannot waste even a second; I have to deal with him as soon as possible.

For it, I will not hold back anything.

I used the Wild Dash to move at him and activated Wild Swing as I slashed along with the Lion’s Strength and Keen.

A surprise appeared in his eyes seeing my attack, but he reacted fast and swung his black saber toward my axe.

He tried to move his saber past my axe, but I didn’t let him.

He is faster than me and stronger, but nearly every other Lv. 30 I had fought was. I am used to such power. It didn’t scare me now as it used to.

Though, I am still cautious about it. I understand clearly how a single mistake could send me to the underworld.

Clang!

Our weapons clashed, and I shook a little under the force, which surprised him.

It does to many.

He had a strength skill with his attack skills. Many think that with such power, they would push me back, but it’s not easy.

Even though my skills aren’t at full power. They are powerful; my body itself is powerful.

They had tested it.

I am 30% stronger physically than the average orc of similar strength and attributes, that is, after applying the weight of my class.

It is not something I was born with but something I gained unknowingly.

Since I was born, I lived alone. First, there was only my father, he died.

I ate what I could. Wild plants, monsters, and many other things. Add intense physical exertion due to the monsters that nearly killed me countless times.

It all made my strength increase.

Since coming here, the people have taught me to use this strength with razor efficiency against people and the undead.

It is why, despite barely leveling up in my primary class my strength had increased.

I controlled my body and attacked again. There is no need to stop or hold back. The only thing I have to do is deal with this enemy in front of me.

He attacked again, and this time, his attack was stronger than earlier.

Hun!

He used the skill that made glare from his saber shine into my eyes, obstructing my vision. It’s a good thing I have Predator’s Gaze.

It didn’t completely protect me against the glare, but it didn’t leave me blind, either.

Clang!

Our weapons clashed, and I shook again, feeling the powerful shock against my body, but I bore it and attacked almost immediately after pulling my axe back.

I have borne shocks worse than this from the monsters. This is one of the things they didn’t have to teach me.

Clang Clang Clang

Our weapons clashed again and again. I didn’t stop, even for a moment, and kept attacking, looking for gaps that I could exploit.

The man is good. He is covering them well and those that aren’t covered are traps.

Puch!

Suddenly, I felt something sharp striking me on the back of my shoulder.

Rip!

The enemy in front of me had an opportunity to attack, and his saber cut through my enchanted armor. Giving me a long gash across my chest.

Which started to give me a burning sensation, intense enough to bring tears to my eyes.

I controlled my emotions and looked at the enemy that had attacked again. This time, using a skill that he didn’t use before.

There is a heaviness in the attack that there wasn’t before.

I swung my axe to defend myself and felt the burning sensation intensifying.

The injuries aren’t deep enough, but still, they are injuries, and using Survivors Healing to heal them is increasing the strain on me.

Clang Clang Clang!

I defended, but he attacked again and again, and I defended each assault while feeling the sharp pain at every movement.

He knew his skill well and understood the movement would cause me even greater pain.

Using that advantage, he begins moving around with speed skill and attacking me from all sides.

Rip!

I defended his attacks when his saber moved past my axe and gave me a cut across my leg.

He grinned seeing that, and appeared at my back and attacking again. I turned back and defended the attack, but he once again appeared in front of me and attacked.

Every movement I am making is painful, and now even my leg is burning.

The pain I am feeling is intense. Worse than the pain I once felt from Tarmab leaves when I used them to wipe, finding out that they were poisonous.

Rip Rip!

Once more, he evaded my axe and cut me. I tried to dodge, but the enemy was faster, and he gave me another cut a second and a half later.

Increasing the pain. Making it even more intense.

This isn’t my first time dealing with pain skill, but it is the worst one I have felt.

It is stronger than the other pain skills at its level and might be a special skill or fused skill. Given how the pain increases with every wound he gives me.

Normal pain skills aren’t like that.

Rip Rip Rip!

Time passed, and more cuts began to appear on my body. Seeing that, the smile on the enemy’s face begins to get bigger and bigger.

The pain continued to increase with each cut, and it increased so much that I needed to grit my teeth to bear it.

“How do you like my greatest skill?” he asked with a grin.

“I am quite surprised to see you are still standing. Many Lv. 30 begged when they had started to feel the level of pain you are feeling,” he added with a surprise in his eyes.

“I had suffered worse!” I replied, gritted my teeth, and defended myself against his attacks.

“Good, you still have a spirit. I liked to see how long it could last!” he said with a grin and appeared to my left and attacked.

Rip! Puch!

Another cut appeared, and then another. When suddenly, a lightning bolt hit me.

It hit the part that isn’t protected. Singing it, but also relieving me of the intense pain for a moment.

More cuts appeared as the battle progressed, and the pain increased. I don’t think I would be able to hold it for much longer.

It is why a mix of offensive and defense. I shifted to complete defense.

Rip!

His saber cut me across the stomach, and it wanted to go deeper, but I dodged with Wild Dash, and he moved forward and attacked again as he did so many times.

His saber came hard and fast. Going for my chest.

It had reached a few inches away from my chest and would surely cut across it like it did many times.

This time. It didn’t.

I dashed to my left fast. So fast, it surprised him.

I have used all my offensive skills with full power. There was no choice against an enemy like him, but not this one.

As I dodged the attack. I dashed forward, using the full power of Wild Dash as well as Officer’s Run. Holding nothing back.

I had been waiting for this opportunity. Taking injuries and that immense pain. All of which, I am now channeling into my skills.

I have him in the position where I wanted. He is not moving and has a lot of openings.

Over 90% of the cuts on my body could have been defended, but I didn’t.

I let him strike me. Use the skill he was so proud of that had made him kill countless enemies. Including five Lv. 30 on the record.

This pride he had over his skill. Made him careless.

It’s quite common. I had noticed it a lot when I used to follow the behind bandits. Even out here, it is common egotism.

People feel prideful of their skills. If it is powerful, there is nothing wrong with that. What is not wise is losing cautiousness because of having it.

He understood immediately what was happening and brought his saber toward me.

It was fast, but I was faster and appeared before him and swung my axe with every bit of the strength I had while the alarm on his face turned into horror.

Hun!

My attack was halfway to him when a protective bone layer appeared around him.

The mages had cast the defensive spell, but it wouldn’t help him.

My sword reached him and struck through the bone layer. Shattering it before hitting his armor.

My axe pushed through it, before reaching his body.

Bang!

A ‘bang’ sound rang out instead of a flesh-tearing one. He flew back instead of getting cut apart by my axe.

He might have survived the death, but not without heavy cost. The attack had seriously injured him, which is a small price to pay, seeing it had saved his life.

Such skills are extremely rare.

I dashed forward, seeing him flying back broken and bloodied, but just as I did, the bone wall appeared in front of me.

Bang Bang Bang!

I crushed through the wall and another in front of me and then another, I crushed through five of them.

As I did, I saw the enemy running away through only the gap that nearly completed the circle my men had made.

“Follow!” I commanded and moved toward him.

He turned and looked at me with fear in his eyes. I am not the only one after him. My mages are also going after him while he is defending against the spells.

I am going to kill him.

Bang Bang Bang!

Undead appeared in front of me and exploded. I moved through them. I didn’t care if the bones and other stuff stuck to me, all that mattered was killing the enemy.

Only with his death will they retreat.

So, I moved through the exploding undead while he ran away. I could see him drinking the potion, which isn’t good, but I have time.

I don’t think it is essence potion. They are extremely rare and expensive.

He wouldn’t have taken such a big gulp of it.

Rip Rip Rip!

I cut the undead. Moving closer and closer to him while my people protect me from the spells of mages that are coming at me.

I gain the ground. Getting closer and closer to him.

Soon, there was less than five meters of distance between us. He turned, and there was a deep fear in his eyes.

“Retreat!”

He shouted, surprising me, but I stopped. I looked at him and looked at the undead.

A moment later, the undead stopped attacking and began moving. Enveloping their mages and their leader while my men came toward me.

“This might be a ploy,” said Lt. Dina as they left us. “It is why you should drink your potions,” I replied and took out potions of healing and stamina before drinking.

These are normal Grade III potions. If I saw the undead returning, I would drink the essence one.

Yes, this might be a plot, but I don’t have much choice. My people are injured, and some are dead. A retreat is the best choice for us, too.

I want to kill the enemy, but I need to think about my forces too. If I had pushed, it would have been mutual destruction.

Which I would not accept.

I have already done significant damage to them by killing the High Mage. If he returns, this time, I will kill him.

“The other groups are also retreating,” informed Sasryn. I turned and saw other undead groups retreating, too.

It was only when the pain disappeared I shuddered in relief. The bastard hadn’t deactivated the skill, despite retreating.

“How is Azika and others?” I asked. “Currently stable, but they need medical attention,” replied Hasid as he stopped beside me.

He, too, had suffered injuries but stayed by me, keeping an eye on the undead.

“Seven companies aren’t enough. We need more people to guard against the undead,” said Donil, and I couldn’t help but nod.

The undead had upped the ante, and we need to respond to it. The first stage will be increasing the forces on the boundary.

“It is the first thing I am going to request,” I replied.

We watched till the undead disappeared from our eyes before turning to the outpost, which wasn’t in the best shape.

A few cannonballs had hit it. Making a few walls collapse.

When I reached there, the first thing I saw was dead bodies in the compound. We have lost some good people in the battle. Seeing them, tears started to stream from my eyes.

I controlled my emotions and sent a prayer to the Goddess of Dusk before walking inside to see the injured.

Desiring, the healer to keep them alive till help arrived.

Officer Lv. 17

Officer Lv. 18

{Skill Gained: Thunderous Charge}

Battle Mage Lv. 23

Soldier Lv. 10

Soldier Lv. 11

{Skill Gained: Heavy Strike}

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