As Ed charged forward from the entrance, herewaruk did not dally. Although stunned by his foe's speed, he was still an aged orc. Outside of the orc thicket, there were none that even reached his age.
As a guardian, he could be said to hold a monopoly on knowledge. He knew more than one or two useful spells. Water surged and grew into a large cube. Ed ran face-first into it creating a loud smacking sound.
Apart from the initial surprise of being suddenly submerged, however, Ed was entirely unscathed, if anything a little lost.
He shot a glance and found that the guardian of the boulders was chanting rapidly. Beads of sweat formed on the orc's head as he couldn't help sneak a glance towards Ed to both monitor the situation and maintain his concentration over his water spell.
'This alone can't stop me' Ed didn't know if he ever learned how to swim since his memories were mostly lost or incomplete but... It didn't matter!
Ed mustered some strength and pressed forward with heavy steps inside the large block of water. His arm reached out of the water to take in the cavern's air.
Then came the crackling noise of ice, Ed started to freeze over, only one of his arms had gained freedom in time.
Ed's hand that stuck out of it seared a scary image into Herewaruk's mind. He was for one not prepared to face such a beast. That being the case, he knew that the ice would not be able to hold him back.
He thus planned to destroy as many of the boulders as possible. He couldn't let anyone from outside their tribe or religion touch what could only be described as sacred texts.
"I just need to-" Herewaruk who had crouched to make some more changes to his array was interrupted by the shattering sounds of ice. With disbelief, he hurriedly looked towards where Ed's frozen figure should have been.
There was a large cloud of gray steam and shards of ice that fell and shattered onto the ground. Ed's figure could barely be seen inside of the steam.
Herewaruk instantly started a new chant but before he had the chance to let out even a single syllable, Ed's tall and strong figure dashed out of the steam.
'That was unprecedented' Ed thought as he pulled back his arm to perform a lunge.
His fist cut through the air and hit Herewaruk who had been caught off guard directly on his chest. It nearly caved in on itself and the middle-aged orc was sent tumbling backward.
"Argh! Urgh…!" His groans of pain as he tumbled were a testament to his occupation as a mage. While the orc was not as skinny as some, his body was still rather fragile when compared and fared against Ed's fist
"Cough cough" The orc spurted blood with each troubling cough. Herewaruk's expression contorted into a piercing glare of unwillingness and defiance.
Ed on the other hand was wondering if Herewaruk's body would actually do. Vorgarag was obviously not as old as Herewaruk which could lead to some dissatisfaction. It would be receiving an inferior.
'It's a small price to pay to be alive though' Not everyone could be as privileged as him. Especially not when he was the medium through which they acquired the body.
Ed walked over with a slight hurry towards the orc whose dirty old robe now bloodied. The latter's complexion had also become somewhat pale after coughing out and losing so much blood.
'I won't kill you' Ed used transmission intending to put Herewaruk at ease. The impression so far had likely made him seem rather scary and out to get him. But while the force of the punch might seem excessive from an outsider's perspective, Ed had still held himself back. His target was to capture the orc so it was only natural.
Well, he had to admit that he had underestimated the fragility of the orc's body. Luckily, the capture would still go smoothly.
"Wh- cough, what are you?" Herewaruk asked with evident astonishment on his pale face. He could not help but ask with a cough after receiving the message directly into his head. Such an ability felt divine or magical, It was simply unbelievable.
"What am I?" Ed felt rather amused when he received this question. The main reason being that Herewaruk was likely a devout believer of the dungeon faith. How would he react if he truthfully answered the question?
"I am an emissary of God himself" Ed crouched down putting his own face in front of Herewaruk's while exhibiting a devious smile.
"Wh-? No...! You- That's blasphemy! But... No! We are blessed by God himself! It wouldn't do this to us! Yo- you phony!" Herewaruk who could barely even look up rambled crazily. His last words made him seem especially childish.
One of Herewaruk's hands scoured through his pockets. Ed grabbed it almost immediately, there was a red crystal in his hand.
"Is this what you were using to blow up the boulders?" Ed said as he quickly snatched the crystal for himself. He rushed over to the thunder cry tribe's settlement directly after hearing the news of the battle. That is to say, he didn't carry many crystals.
Of course, to Herewaruk he just seemed like some sort of petty thief but that was the least of Ed's concern.
"Ki- Kill me…" Herewaruk said with despair.
"Not so fast, as God's emissary, I can say you still have a couple of sins to atone for" Ed's words sent a chill down Herewaruk's spine. He was now more so convinced that the orc in front of him did not originate from their God!
Ed's hand started to slowly make its way towards Herewaruk's head while Ed maintained a devilish smile. He had many experiments to try out.
"Kill me!" Herewaruk yelled with fear, but the hand did not stop its descent towards his face.
"Kill me! Kill me!" The hand grew ever closer until it landed directly on top of his screaming face.
"KILL ME!!! KILL ME!!!" Herewaruk essentially roared as he strained his vocal cords in a desperate cry for mercy. But slobbering over Ed's hand would certainly not grant him any mercy,
Herewaruk, who had been mustering some strength to look up, suddenly collapsed. Ed used his storage function and Herewaruk's consciousness was now in his hand.
'I'll make sure you make up for the lost boulder later' Ed didn't doubt that Herewaruk knew some of the knowledge that the boulder he had destroyed contained.
Ed also placed his hand on the body of Herewaruk with the goal of storing it. It swiftly disappeared from in front of him.
'I should hurry to free the captives now' The direction he had taken was evidently not where his people were held. Still, it was a good thing he went there first otherwise he would lose quite a lot.
It would be even worse if Herewaruk also escaped after destroying the knowledge.
***
"Are we all here?" Asked Sharog while trying to count the heads of the orcs in the dark.
The prison they had been translated to was a bit large. It had at least 40 cells and they weren't all placed right next to each other with so much available freedom.
"""Yeah"""
Some of the sanctuary orcs responded while Sharog finished her count. They were a total of 25 orcs. Their chances of escape were slim. Their original force had been taken out it was a no-brainer what would happen to them with a mere 25.
The best course of action was to sneak out but... even in the black darkness, Sharog could see the gleaming and expectant eyes of the orcs. They were waiting for her orders to enact revenge from behind on the unsuspecting sacred tribesmen.
"We… we will break out…" Sharog decided that… she decided that if a young orc could fight a battle to which he owed no allegiance then… then she was also capable of giving it her all.
'I have failed you Ed' It was a shame. If she kept Sanctuary out of it then they would have been much better prepared. She instead played hero and found herself stuck inside of a deep mire.
"Yeah!" "Let's f*ck them up!" "I think we left bob…" "LET"S SHOW THEM!!!"
Sharog hid a subtle smile. She would dive deeper into the mire, she could at least then go out in a blaze of glory.
"Let's f*ck them up!" Sharog herself yelled with a fist pump.
"""YEAH!!!" "F*CK THEM UP!!!"
The crowd of orcs instantly became rowdy. Most of the warriors were men, how could they not feel that much more aroused after hearing the composed Sharog say such words?
The escaped orcs kicked up a large commotion. Some of their screams made their way out of the prison to be held by the occasionally passing orc.
The door to the prison was bust open and a burly orc holding a torch entered.
"F*ck, they've escaped!" The orc yelled as he was eyed by 25 bloodthirsty orcs.
"ROOOAR!!!" Fierce battle cries then resounded in the stale prison cells.
The orc who had busted in quietly retreated closing the door behind him.
"Let's go!" Sharog declared and the orcs all started to dash madly towards the only exit.
The orc who had run away saw not too long after, saw a bunch of orcs appear behind him. His running gait sped up significantly as he began to run for his life.
Their faith advocated brotherhood, although the orc might be seen as a coward by savages, his main priority was to inform the orcs outside the building.
"FUGITIVES! THE CAPTIVES ESCAPED!!!" The orc yelled loudly as he sprinted down the hallway. His cry and the heavy steps of the mad group of orcs were soon heard by the orcs that had just finished their battle.
"F*ck, how'd this happen?!" Someone said as they dropped the corpse of a sanctuary orc.
"""F*ck them up!""" The orcs basically chanted as they noticed the orcs near the exit.
"Wh- Why are they so fervent?" Another exclaimed in surprise before being knocked out of his stupor by a friendly smack.
"They haven't paid the price yet, Kill them!" The orc yelled with bloodshot eyes. The others adopted a similar attitude.
"Let's f*ck them instead!" One suggested quietly as they all charge to meet the newly introduced heretics.