While the situation was entirely unexpected, Torgan still managed to recollect himself. He backed off and glared at Ed. Before he could say anything the ally orcs sunk their blades into his body. His face contorted with anger.
"You damn flies!" Torgan roared.
He was pissed. After finding out that his opponent was actually stronger than him, he didn't want to take any pointless damage. The orcs' attacks were infuriating. Although the strategy was smart, it went against what Torgan believed to be a fair fight. Where was their warrior spirit!
Before the orcs could do a follow-up attack or even retreat, Torgan spun sharply while extending both of his fearsome axes. The spin left large bloody gnashes on the orcs surrounding him and also nearly hit Ed.
'It looks like he is angry' Torgan's roar carried with it intense hatred. He didn't need to be an expert on reading people to know that much.
Torgan went berserk. He started to wildly attack the "flies" surrounding him. His bloodshot eyes were enough to temporarily halt the weaker orcs of the bunch. The orcs that were unfortunate enough to become his victim had their limbs fly off their body and their heads roll on the blood-soaked grass. The scene was nauseating but...
'If fantasy books are to be trusted this is the best chance to strike!' His eyes gleamed. It is a fatal mistake to lose your head in the midst of a battle.
At that moment a familiar spell flew past Ed and darted towards the frenzied Torgan. The bright orange fireball radiated intense heat, it exploded upon contacting Torgan's tough body. Torgan was blown back almost like a ragdoll by the large explosion. It was clear that Vorgarag had added a substantial amount of mana into that spell.
'Right, I'm not alone' It was an odd moment of realization, Ed had fought by himself in the crypt for so long and was therefore not used to getting assistance from others.
A pained roar echoed across the battlefield. The tough Torgan who was knocked back into a tree let out a mouthful of blood. A large portion of his body was charred black, especially near the area of impact. The smell of burnt leather inundated the surroundings causing some of the orcs from both sides to flinch. Torgan's injuries seemed extremely grave, it was unlikely for him to get up again.
But unlikely was not impossible... Torgan's body twitched a couple of times before he tried to get up, the attack had temporarily knocked him unconscious. The more he tried to get up and move the worst the searing pain became, he couldn't help but let out an increasingly louder bloodcurdling scream.
At that point, Torgan had become a screaming mad man. His eyes were so bloodshot that they looked as if they would burst. Torgan even forgot to pick up his weapons as he charged towards the first orc in front of him, Ed.
Ed wouldn't take such an action lying down however, especially not from a dying man. Ed grabbed his battle-ax with one hand and hurled it at the approaching Torgan. The ax spun through the air and sunk into Torgan's head.
[<Adept Throwing Lvl. 0> Acquired]
[Instict has leveled up]
Torgan's momentum didn't suddenly dissipate however as his body fell forward, landing in front of Ed. His bloodshot eyes still showed his lingering reluctance.
Ed then heard furious cries of many enemy orcs, they seemingly wanted to kill whoever took away Torgan's life, the mad berserker must have been held in high regard by his tribe. They were however restrained by other more rational orcs. Those more rational orcs also realized that they no longer stood a chance and began to retreat with their angry comrades.
Still, it wasn't like they were leaving empty-handed. It was simply implausible for the orcs to perfectly defend every side of the encirclement. Not to mention that some of the boars might have made it out and fallen into their hands. Staying any longer would be courting death.
The battle was won the moment the enemies ran. There was no way they would return to incur more losses after all, some of the orcs were therefore in a festive mood.
"Victory hahaha!!!" An orc yelled out in celebration, similar cheers were heard from all around the area. Vorgarag's tribe had successfully secured their food for the next few weeks, it was just a matter of preserving the captive boars and the meat.
"You helped out quite a bit Ed, thank you" Said Vorgarag with a smile.
"Hahaha..." Ed simply let out an awkward laugh in response. He had expected Vorgarag to play a more... active role. His confidence earlier in the morning might have been a bit misleading. But Ed couldn't complain. He did grow stronger after all.
'Even my adept throwing came back' He didn't expect to get an advanced skill so easily. It seemed as though getting back already learned skills was much easier than he previously anticipated. There was a possibility that his instinct skill played a role in that however as he felt really in the zone.
Things became much easier from that point forward as the tension of the group was greatly lessened. The boars that were killed were quickly gathered as they couldn't allow the meat to go bad. The ones captured were brought back to the settlement without much hassle.
By the time they did return the sun had already begun to set. The lively orcs couldn't fall asleep and instead had a feast on the boar meat. Those that weren't eating meat were doing other... lively things.
Ed was simply thinking about how to get his items back while the orcs gathered the boars and even while they walked back to camp. Vorgarag had been busy overseeing things so he couldn't ask him for anything at the moment.
'How do I get recalled?' The few times he was prompted to be recalled was when he would level up. That however seemed rather unlikely at the moment.
'To level up, I would need to kill adventurers...' He wasn't sure how to feel about facing the humans at his current power level. He showed dominion over Torgan due to his attributes but he didn't know how high up Torgan placed in the power hierarchy.
'Do I... have to kill myself?' He had considered suicide for other matters as well. Such as when he suggested farming himself. Still, it was one thing to say it and another to do it.
'With my increased constitution and my health points being at 600 it would be kind of difficult to kill myself painlessly...' That would just be self-torture. Ed was in no way a masochist.
Ed then saw a familiar figure approaching him, it was the crazy orc lady.
"Hey" She did a simple wave as she said so. She then sat down next to him. Ed was currently sitting next to a campfire on a log meaning that there was plenty of space.
"Oh, hello." He had no idea why this woman would approach him again.
"You were quite strong out there" She said in a teasing tone, trying to get a conversation started.
"...You probably were too, is that a new scar?" Ed didn't know what to tell her so he went with the first thing he noticed. He then heard loud laughter somewhere off in the surrounding...
"Hahaha! You are killing me Ed! Shel, you shouldn't bother, the guy is a bit stiff" It was the boisterous laughter of Vorgarag who approached him from behind.
Ed didn't want to be ridiculed by Vorgarag so he decided to change the topic.
"Did you need me for something?" He barely knew Vorgarag but he didn't think he would approach him without wanting something.
"Oh come on! This is a party! Why are you soiling the mood!" He and Ed then had a stare off for a couple of seconds until Vorgarag cleared his throat and proceeded to speak out.
"But I did want to talk to you about something." Vorgarag then sat down next to Ed. Ed waited for him to continue speaking.
"I was just thinking you seemed a bit unfamiliar with your own body, the way you fight lacks any sort of finesse." Since Vorgarag was keeping track of the entire battlefield he could naturally notice something so simple.
Maybe it was discrimination but Ed was a bit surprised that an Orc decided to talk to him about finesse. The previous guy he met was a literal animal. Ed could still vividly remember Torgan's vicious face, it was ingrained in memory. Ed didn't interrupt Vorgarag however and let he continued to speak.
"Since you will be staying here for a while I thought it would be a good idea to have you learn some things, you know." Ed instantly understood that Vorgarag wanted to train his new minion. But even if he was a minion in Vorgarag's eye he had no reason to refuse free training. Nonetheless, he wanted to add something else...
"I agree, as a matter of fact, I would love if you could also teach me magic" He looked at Vorgarag who was ever so slightly surprised.
"I didn't think that the guy that could overpower Torgan would be interested in magic." Vorgarag let out a soft chuckle, "Sure why not."
Ed's eyes were beaming in excitement after finding a new magic teacher for himself. Plus this one seemed a lot more willing than the previous one, what was not to like?
"But who will be teaching me to fight?" Since he said he wanted to specialize in both areas even though that might be a bit selfish, he naturally needed to know who he would be working with. He had a system that would allow him to do so, why not take advantage of it?
"How about Shel here, she is quite experienced." Vorgarag simply pointed towards the quiet Shel and then stood up.
Ed didn't know if that was true but the many scars on her body could be counted as a testament of her strength. After all, if you can't survive you won't have any scars right?
"Alright, I said all I wanted to. I will see you around" He motioned goodbye to both of them and left the way he came.
"I thought you said this was a party!" Ed yelled towards the retreating figure of Vorgarag who simply shrugged in response.
