[Deliberating...]
The message implied that his current death was worth pondering over. Ed sat in the lonely darkness for what felt like a good minute as he awaited the dungeon's verdict before the system finally left him a reply.
[Penalty voided]
[01:30 hours until respawn]
'Huh' Ed was pleasantly surprised as by this point he had seen the dungeon as some sort of evil monster. Maybe it found that the battle served to hone his skills and thus found his death acceptable.
'Status!' He may as well check if his transmission and health have recovered by now.
[Name: Edw#&!]
Type: Level 4 Consciousness.
Health: 483/500
Bodies: Skeleton, Orc
~Skills~
[Transmission lvl. 2] -Show info-
[Mental Fortitude lvl. 4] -Show info-
[Deduction lvl. 8] -Show info-
[Assimilation lvl. 4] -Show info-
[Thought Manifestation lvl. 0] -Show info-
[Language lvl. 1] -Show info-
[???] -Show info-
'That's pretty slow isn't it?' His health did seem to be recovering naturally but he couldn't help but frown slightly after seeing how slow the process was. With such a slow recovery speed he might need to avoid opposing the dungeon lest his skills become impaired. He would especially hate to have his assimilation somehow negatively affected.
'I wonder how the battle is turning out...' Since the dungeon didn't intend to punish him he didn't need to worry about that anymore. He instead couldn't help but shift worry towards the orcs given that he would be unable to personally witness their outcome. Hopefully, things will work out.
***
"Nooo!" It was a sharp cry. The voice was one none other than Shel who although injured, stuck around the battlefield. Her vigor and will power were praiseworthy. Nonetheless...
Small drops of water fell onto the ground. It wasn't raining, she was crying. From an outsider's perspective, it became clear what had happened. Ed had taken the hit for Vorgarag and she will now never see the fruits of her slow and steady seduction! There was another person who was just as saddened by the events, however.
It was Vorgarag, one of the people involved in the whole ordeal. He quickly stood up and took in the situation, it had all gone down so fast that it took him a second to finally realize what happened. He cursed inwardly before throwing a glance towards Slug's battered body. His muscles had been ripped apart and his many injuries were bleeding profusely. even so, his unyielding spirit and monstrous vitality had kept him alive.
Although Vorgarag was equally saddened by the events, he was still in the middle of a battlefield. As a matter of fact, Vorgarag caught sight of a flying axe that was darting towards his direction. He felt unusually pissed as he watched it approach.
Duma was ready to close the distance after forcing Vorgarag to move away with his leftover axes but contrary to Duma's expectation, Vorgarag didn't dodge the attack. He instead cast a small shield of earth.
The hurled axe dug itself into the shield before Vorgarag simply dislodged it. He brandished the throwing axe even spinning it a few times before reinforcing his arms and hurling it towards the dying Slug.
Slug who was lying down face up next to him only looked on with lifeless eyes as he saw the approaching axe, it wasn't like he could move after all. He closed his eyes and the axe dug into his throat cutting it apart.
He wasn't an ogre, his vitality didn't cut it. He died just like that, without an ounce of decorum, without a taste of glory, and more importantly without leaving a mark on his small world. He failed at what he had set out to do.
Duma couldn't help but frown from a distance, was this it? Their journey was over before it even started! He was now faced with a large problem. Should he retreat? Although they still had a larger force than the enemy the risk might not be worth it anymore.
Morbul had been incapacitated at the beginning of the battle her ending unknown, Pascal was granted a quick death by Vorgarag, and Slug fought to a draw against an unordinarily powerful orc. Although he had stood up against Slug during their last meeting he still had no confidence in winning against him. He was likely not their match.
Duma finally made up his mind. He would go all out. He wasn't a coward! They still had the advantage! They couldn't compete against numbers! The extraordinarily strong enemy was dead and Vorgarag's mana would eventually deplete. now that he had run out of crystals.
Vorgarag himself was well aware of this, perhaps that was the main reason for his anger. He didn't have much of a choice but to retreat without paying any special attention to Ed's corpse. It wasn't like he could either, their god would always take the bodies of the dead as offerings in exchange for food. The situation now, although unplanned, would likely yield the same result.
"Retreat!" He resolutely yelled. It wasn't the first time. It also probably wouldn't be the last. The times he retreated without being able to properly mourn the falling of those close to him now counted three. You get used to it, or so Vorgarag convinced himself as he began his retreat.
"But...!" Shel's words fell on deaf ears.
After Vorgarag had killed Slug there was no point to continue this frontal battle. They were supposed to be the defenders in the first place so why were they out here in the open? Their angakok tribe had less than 200 residents. After this battle, the number had been ruthlessly cut in half. They stood no chance against the 200 or so enemy orcs still out in the field, it was only natural to get inside and bolster their defenses.
Duma noticed their retreat and as the only tribal leader left alive let out a resounding roar. It was the signal to attack.
Although Duma was not necessarily the leader of every orc left alive, orcs wouldn't back down from a fight, it was in their blood. The few more rational orcs couldn't stop all of the bloodthirsty ones either.
The enemies charged forward. It didn't look particularly impressive as the orcs outside were still being funneled by Ed's wall, although nearly half had already made their way inside by this point.
A lot of the injured had already been removed from the battlefield so their retreat went rather smoothly. After entering the plaza-like area, Vorgarag bought some time by closing up the gate before running into the middle of the array.
By the time the allied orcs entered the designated area of the space array the enemies managed to break apart the simple yet heavy wooden gate.
"Good luck to you guys" Vorgarag said to the distant Duma who was one of the first to enter the settlement. Whether he had indeed heard him or not he didn't really care as he proceeded to activate the array.
"Urgh..." Vorgarag grit his teeth as he felt his mana leave his body. The array then became lit and the inscribed runes protruded out of the ground. The layers began to revolve before a translucent barrier encompassed the allied orcs.
Duma was the first to notice the anomaly, he ran at the barrier and struck it a couple of times but was only bounced back with each attempt, it was as if he was hitting a solid wall. Still, He was unwilling to give up. The transparent barrier looked weak and brittle no matter the angle! He thus ordered all of the other orcs that came in after him to also attack the barrier with him.
Vorgarag simply watched on while keeping a close watch on his draining mana. He feigned nonchalance as he watched the orcs hitting the barrier. But the truth was that he was put under a substantial amount of pressure.
Considering the array wasn't emulating a proper spell, it relied on his mana supply to replenish any damage done towards it. Luckily, shield arrays of the space element were especially resistant towards physical attacks. Him killing Pascal was not by chance, he had been looking for such an opportunity all along, it just so happened that it came as soon as he had entered the battle.
Still, putting aside the fact that he had ignored his battle injuries, the feeling of having one's mana being drained was in no way pleasant. It could also result in negative consequences if he were to run empty.
"Let's see how long you guys can keep this up! I can do this all day!" Yelled Vorgarag from the center of the formation with a mocking smile.
Duma couldn't help but grind his teeth in anger before continuing to hack away at the barrier for some more seconds. Before he finally stopped and turned around. He also motioned for all of the other orcs to start leaving after him.
The allied orcs started to both cheer and jeer and just as it seemed Duma would disappear...
"For the record! I didn't retreat because I was defeated! You guys were just huddling like cowards!" He left the settlement after saying his angry parting words.
After another minute of waiting, they confirmed that the enemies had indeed retreated. Vorgarag then stopped the array and fell to his knees. He looked down solemnly at the ground for a while before the celebrating orcs took notice of his strangeness.
Although his muscles were aching and his mana was nearly depleted, that wasn't the main reason for his solemn look.