Ed's thoughts were not impeded even when overcome with anger. It was perhaps a perk of the mental fortitude skill. Thus, he did not do anything crazy. Yes, nothing crazy at all. It had all been carefully calculated inside his head.
"Woohoo! Death to the traitors!" "May God have-" "Hey! Can I use this head as a vase? Hehehe" The boisterous cries were still ongoing, and one of the orcs acted on their cries went over and grabbed the decapitated head of Abdurok which had rolled to the edge of the murky stage.
"Hey- Urgh…!" The orc then turned around, head held high, to brag to the crowd directly behind him. He was however forced to reorganize his thoughts before speaking out.
Reorganize… His thoughts…
But the only sound that could be heard whenever he opened his mouth was the dripping sound of blood that gushed out from it.
"Ah…!" "Gasp!" The orcs near him all reacted differently to the scene in front of them. A thick earthen spike had cleanly pierced through the orc's skull. The head he picked up fell with a thud, and that wasn't the only thing. The spike retreated.
The orc fell to the ground with a loud thud. The orc's eyes seemed to be filled with evident confusion before noticing Abdurok's perpetually angry expression laying next to him. Fear finally dawned upon him as he realized something had gone wrong and that he would soon be greeted by God himself in its holy kingdom. The curtains were drawn on the orc's life as he was forced to draw his last breath under the wrathful and unyielding eyes of Abdurok.
...Silence.
As quiet prevailed, the seconds seemed to tick by the hour, and the previously rowdy crowd of pious orcs were clearly affected by this as their thoughts grew to a halt and their bodies froze mid-motion.
Nonetheless, the eternal silence did not last.
"E- Enemy!!!" Someone finally broke it as they shouted with a mix of fear and anger.
"Get that Heretic!" The old lady on the stage also reacted. She yelled and pointed behind the crowd towards Ed's figure. The crowd instinctively reacted and turned around to beat the heretic but… something about the orc's eyes instilled a deep sense of awe into them,
Ed was standing there with what could only be described as a poker face. Nonetheless, the dim torchlight did not fail to hide the killing intent within Ed's nonchalant expression. The sharp gaze that seemed to completely disregard the crowd before him was particularly frightening.
But orcs were not the type to be deterred by fear alone.
"Ge-Get him!" "Die!" "Heretic!"
Once they overcame the initial sense of awe, they were raring to free Ed of a limb or two. Unfortunately, they hadn't brought any weapons. Their bodies and fists would have to do the talking.
A burly orc came forward with a savage grin and struck out with his whole body towards the unmoving Ed.
"Guh…!" He was however forced to hold his stomach in excruciating pain following the introduction of a fist to his stomach. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as his consciousness grew hazy. The orc quickly and quietly fell without any hint of getting up.
But the orcs didn't spare him a glance, they had already overrun his body to get a piece of the stupid heretic.
Ed couldn't help but hold a wry smile at the sight of more than 10 orcs charging towards him at once. He could still remember when two orcs had scared him out of hits wits.
With his five dexterity attributes and two agility alone, it would be a piece of cake to incapacitate the orcs in front of him.
Ed threw one jab. It hit the face of one of the orcs causing his fist to be clearly imprinted on their face. Not only that, they were sent flying from whence they came. Without a doubt, they would have more than a broken jaw.
Another jab soon followed, no, a flurry!
Ed's arms seemed like a blurry shadow under the poor lightning adding further awe that captivated the other approaching orcs. But they still persisted, and one after the other the orcs that approached Ed would be sent flying backward with a fist clearly imprinted on them indicating their admittance into Ed's radius. Occasionally, a foot would find its way towards one of their legs.
[Instict has leveled up]
"Time to teac-" An armor bearing orc who came with a whistling axe was forced to shut up by a fierce hook prepared especially for them.
While Ed's dexterity and agility meant he would be adept in a fistfight, the most overwhelming difference was his six points of strength. With a simple jab, the orcs would be made to regret their decisions. This meant that in less than 10 seconds there were already 12 orcs that were down for the count.
Ed's carefully thought out plan actually never existed.
"Tak-" One of the pious believers didn't even get a chance to get out their words before a piece of their tusk was sent a flying alongside their yellow teeth.
Ed had kept his rationality. Nevertheless, savage and straightforward thoughts still invaded his mind. It was inevitable, for not a single of the orcs present seemed to be capable of giving him even a hint of pressure.
The rattling sound of armored orcs approaching then sounded over the groans of the KO'd orcs. Their fleeting consciousnesses saw signs of hope once they heard their warriors approaching from within the inside of the cathedral.
Ed had been rather curious as to where the settlement's army had gone but it seemed that all along they were cooped inside the cathedral. That begged the question, where were the other orcs? He could only see three or four figures behind the old lady.
'Hm… Well, if it's for the food they wouldn't kill them all at once' That was right. It was a detail that tended to fly over his head. Ed had as a matter of fact not gotten anything to eat ever since returning.
"Hahaha! You are too impudent! I'll show you your way towards god." Ed sent a cursory glance at the figure that had spoken.
It was a complete tank of an orc. Surprisingly, they didn't seem to be wearing much armor unlike the orcs behind him. The towering orc was instead dressed in weird tattoos, which with a second glance seemed to be runes. Ed's interest was piqued.
"Argh!" Another armored orc who had been overlooking the mass was swiftly dealt a powerful blow. They weren't knocked too far back however as Ed still needed something.
[Crude Orc Iron Axe]
Ed picked up and briefly scanned the warrior's battle axe. It seemed to be better than the dungeon mass-produced products so Ed had no complaints as he casually brandished it.
"Humph, not even that twig-like lass dared ignore me, Shakh" The towering orc, Shakh, boasted as the warriors behind him went past him and pressed towards Ed. In response to the words, Ed frowned. He knew a certain twig-like lass after all.
"Shakh, stop playing around. I'll help you" Suddenly, the quiet granny spoke. This put Ed on alarm as he only expected her to be some sort of retired priestess.
[Lagakha (Aged)]
Chieftess of the sacred tribe, an experienced shaman.
Ed had the idea to scan her for details but things did not become much clearer. He suddenly felt that assessment was not all he cracked it up to be. The deduction skill could come up with more information than assessment although the usefulness of that information was not always up to standard.
This wasn't the time for idle thoughts, however. The grass beneath Ed's feet started to move and come to life, it grew sharply.
In a literal sense. The grass grew sharp pointy spikes disguised as thorns that aimed to bound Ed's legs. That was however a futile wish as Ed's legs ignited emitting a bright orange light.
The thorny grass was burnt upon touch. Even the orc warriors that had moved ahead of Shakh were forced to halt and look away from the flames.
"What are you doing!? Get in there!" The old lady admonished Shakh who like a fumbling giant finally started to move forward. The runes in his body then started to glow dimly and Shakh's clumsiness seemed to have disappeared instantly.
"ROOOOAR!" The meat giant emitted an ear-piercing roar under the moon's light, the sound's intensity was akin to that of thunder. The earth then trembled and rumbled as if to compete with the thundering roar as Shakh started to dash forward with bloodshot eyes.
Ed didn't panic, he used his blazing legs for an explosive boost. The flames flared and boomed as Ed pulled back his axe for a swing.
The plants in the vicinity which had burned up were still unwilling to see Ed successfully charge forward.. They grew thick and woody, it was as if trees were growing out of the nearby ground each competing to grab hold of Ed's fleeting figure that arced towards Shakh.