“Mel! Be careful! This thing just used a damn skill!”
My limbs felt heavy as it stalked forward and readied itself for another attack when an arrow flew past me and struck it head-on. The debuff timer ran out, and I moved in.
Damage Notification:
You have used << SWIPE >>
You have used 20 Enma.
You have inflicted 4,828 damage to Orc Captain.
The shield crackled again, and this time turned a darker yellow. I slashed again and again, hitting its shield two times in quick succession as another arrow hit its sword arm. The shield shattered, and instead of the orc losing all hope of winning, it smashed its head against my chest, knocking me down flat.
Damage Notification:
You have received 1,223 damage from Orc Captain.
I pushed myself up and moved three steps back and swept the greatsword off the ground. I must have dropped it when the orc smashed into me. I swung it in a wide arc, missing narrowly, and when it was just about to swing wide, I used Shockwave.
Damage Notification:
You have used << SHOCKWAVE >>
You have used 50 Enma.
You have inflicted 6,349 damage to Orc Captain.
It caught the attack with its shield and shoulder, but the skill cut straight through and smashed the shield. The orc captain fell to its knees, gasping as I towered over it. This was strange. Even if the shield was gone, it should have had some health points and shouldn’t lose limbs so easily, but it was now missing most of its shield arm.
“Speak and I’ll give you a warrior’s death,” I growled. “What the hell is going on? How did you get here?”
It stared at me as if trying to decide if I was lying or speaking the truth. I twitched my arm and sword with it, eliciting a growl out of the orc.
“What do you—get out of acting like a—fool?” it hissed. “Kill me and be—done with it!”
The orc dropped his sword and clutched at his stump as I lowered my sword and dropped to a knee but held my sword at the ready.
“I have no idea what’s going on. Tell me and I’ll make it quick,” I said calmly and looked around quickly for any more of the monsters, but there were none.
The soldiers had taken care of several, and Melina was close by with an arrow nocked and scanning the surroundings. She’d grown over the last weeks. A lot. It made hunting so much easier and safer for everyone.
“Let’s say that you—really have no idea what’s—going on,” it wheezed and clutched harder at its stump, trying to stop the blood from gushing out. “Our world is an unwilling—participant in these games of theirs. Every time a new world is doing—good they send us to—wreak havoc and then—revive us again. We die over and over—yet we never truly die.”
“Fucking hell,” I cursed. “Is that true?”
It nodded. “Ask your Gods,” it wheezed and started swaying. We both knew it didn’t have much time, so I asked one last question as I spotted my portal glowing orange and red from the corner of my eye.
“What’s with my portal? I assume you closed it somehow?”
He nodded and took in a deep breath. “When they connect our—worlds, all the portals—close down. They can only be used in a single direction. Inward to this world.”
I nodded and bowed slightly, lifted my sword, and decapitated the orc captain. Now, the worst thing of all was that I couldn’t loot him. None of them.
“Mel? Can you loot any of the corpses?” I called over my shoulder.
She shook her head. “No. You too?”
“Yeah,” I replied and fully turned to face her as she started toward me. “Something he said worries me.”
“I heard all of it. And yeah, I agree. I don’t like it at all.”
Fowler ran up to us and bowed deeply. “Sir, it’s good that you’re here. It’s a mess downtown. Most of their army is besieging our base.”
“Fowler, did you hear what he just said?”
“Yeah, I did, sir. Why, if I may ask?”
“Is that true? Did you try to come for me?”
He nodded his head several times and spoke again. “I personally came here, sir. But the portal wasn’t reacting.”
I cursed under my breath and groaned as I stalked over toward my halberd. I stashed away all my weapons and looked around.
“Is there a central spot where they appeared?” I asked once I was done.
Fowler pointed toward the center of Sylmar, or rather toward the tower. “A big rift appeared next to the tower, boss. We can’t even get near there now. Anyone who’s gotten out was killed right away. Dozens of hunters dead so far that I know of.”
“Fuck,” I cursed again. “I’m not liking this at all. And it’s not like I can call on Veles here in Sylmar.” Then I remembered him, Krajolik. I tried to establish a link and whisper his name. I called out to him, but he didn’t reply.
“Bring me to their spawning point,” I said and started toward the APC he’d been driving.
“We called it a riftbreak, sir. And don’t you want to help the general first?”
“I never said I didn’t, but the tower is past the government building, isn’t it? We’ll clear everything on our way there.”
“Where do you want me?” Melina asked as she pointed at the APC. The best place for her would be inside, but since she had quite a shield and could tank an attack or two with ease, I nodded where the gun was.
“Up top. Like always.”
“Viktor!”
Some of the soldiers snickered as she slapped my shoulder and then jumped on top of the vehicle while holding the hem of her short kimono down. I caught several of the soldiers peeping, and coughed.
“Anyone needs a written invitation?” I snapped and slammed the tip of my halberd into the pavement. It cracked, and several chunks of asphalt flew in their direction.
Fowler didn’t say anything and just ran inside and started the engine. I climbed atop the Hummer that was in the lead and replaced my halberd with the bow. The only reason I fought like that was the ease of switching gear. If it hadn’t been that easy, I would only carry around a single weapon and a second in reserve.
The Hummer’s engine roared to life, and music started blaring from its speakers, someone screaming something about a highway to hell. Well, we really were on our way to hell if the welcome had been anything to go by.
Chapter Twenty-Three
There was barely any resistance for the first several miles. Several orcs here or there, but once we neared the government building, things changed rather quickly. A wall of orcs surrounded the whole building. To my surprise, no one was fighting. Not a single one of the orcs was doing, well, anything.
“They’ve been like that since you arrived, sir,” the driver called out from inside the Hummer.
We skidded to a halt some hundred yards from the closest orc. I jumped off the vehicle and waited for Melina to join me. Fowler came running right away, carrying a sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
“What’s going on?”
“Sir? You mean with the monsters?”
I turned to stare at him. “Of course the monsters, what else?”
“Sorry, sir. And I have no idea. When we saw the portal light up, they stopped attacking and just formed a barricade. They even allowed us to pass. It’s eerie, sir.”
“Almost as if they knew I’d be coming here,” I muttered.
“What was that, sir?”
“Nothing, Fowler. What’s the state of the army based at the building?”
“I don’t know, sir. We were badly outnumbered from the start, but they never pushed us to the point that we crumbled. They seemed more interested in scattering and burning down the city. That’s the only reason we’re still holding out.”
“What about the Apocalypse Association?”
“They’ve been hunting down the ones burning down the city, sir. Without them, the damage would have been much worse.”
“Then we’ll thank them properly at
a later time, won’t we, Fowler?”
“Sir?”
I shook my head and smirked. “Never mind. Good job for getting me, Corporal.” I turned around to see what Melina was doing, but she seemed more interested in playing with her bow.
“Want to rush in there, love?” she asked. “Make a valiant last stand?”
“Nah. We’ll make a stand, but it won’t be the last stand.” I winked and leaned in to kiss her. She accepted hungrily and grinned once we were done. “There’s only one entrance, and I have enough reach to prevent anyone from getting in there. You can take potshots at those trying to sneak by. Think you can handle it?”
“Everything for you,” she whispered and licked her lips. Shit, she was going nuts again.
The wall suddenly parted. Orcs pulled back and made a corridor for us, one wide enough that the Hummers and the APC could easily pass.
“Guess we got our invitation,” I muttered. “Let’s go.”
This time we all rode inside, just to make sure if someone attacked, the vehicles would be the first to go. Our shields would protect us from any kind of damage afterward. But the orcs didn’t attack. They just closed the barrier behind us and loosened their formation.
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Kade out there along with the specialist group. They were pretty badly wounded, but none of it was life-threatening. When they saw me, however, their faces lit up like candles in the night. New life welled up from deep inside, and they straightened themselves.
I studied the scene quickly in passing. Dozens of dead soldiers lay strewn about, but even more orcs had died. Most of them had been blown to pieces. Kade’s men must have used explosives to thin the attackers out. My eyes moved up to take in the orc army. And it could have been seen as an army. A small but strong army.
Dozens of red orcs stood there amidst groups of green, dark green, and gray brethren. Several brown specimens towered above even the tusked red orc captains, and a single massive yellowish brute was another head taller. He had a staff in his hand and looked like a peacock. The robes he was clad in were so colorful that I had a hard time focusing.
He seemed to notice my gaze and slammed the butt of his staff against the ground. A blast wave erupted from where it struck the pavement, and most of the orcs were pushed forward a step. His eyes landed on mine, and he looked at me indifferently, almost as if thinking about how to approach me.
The orcs were no ordinary monsters; if anything else, I’d more think of them as denizens of another plane, not mindless beasts. I needed to get that into everyone’s thick skull before people made mistakes they’d regret just before they died.
Our vehicle stopped, and I got out hurriedly. I didn’t greet anyone but Kade, to whom I offered a hand. He shook it but didn’t say anything. His face said more than he ever could.
“You wanted me here, well, here I am!” I yelled over my shoulder at the yellow orc. “Who dares touch my people?”
He slammed the staff for the second time and sent out another shockwave. This one mostly passed through his soldiers and almost reached us where we stood. Two could play that game.
“Mel, target a red one’s head and use your skill after you’ve cast your area-of-effect buffs on us,” I said as I nocked a rank five arrow and did the same.
“I got the furthest on the right.”
“I’ll take the one on the left. Kade, have everyone pull back and defend. Focus on the entrance and the first two floors. I don’t think they can jump much higher, if even that much.”
“Sure thing, Viktor. Anything else?”
I felt him already move backward and heard dozens of pairs of feet shuffling toward the double doors on the ground floor.
“Protect Melina with your life. I’ll make sure they don’t have an easy time getting past me.”
I waited until the familiar waves of buffing power flooded over the front yard, and with that, I used Shadow Hunter. The arrow jumped to life and flew straight toward the wall of orcs and passed through the orc captain’s shield, only to embed itself into its eye socket.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 51,472 damage to Orc Captain.
He was sent flying into the orcs who stood behind him, and even before he touched the nearest, life had left his body. A second arrow twanged and struck another orc captain, but her power was way off from mine. Still, we had received a bunch of levels, so our base damage had gone up. I had totally forgotten to check my stats, but now was not the time. Especially since the orc horde charged.
I released an Arrow Shower from further away than I should have, but otherwise, I wouldn’t have the time to switch weapons. I grabbed my halberd next and used Shockwave. The first row was caught in both skills and dropped like logs, cut into a mass of meat and bone.
I jumped back toward the doors, where they had to go up a flight of concrete stairs to get to me. Melina was already on the top and firing off arrow after arrow. Gunfire erupted from behind me, and RPGs screamed past me only to slam into the oncoming horde. I had hoped to talk to the yellow orc, but he hadn’t been so interested in talking, it seemed.
I found myself at peace as I swung the halberd in arcs, cutting into the enemy and not giving up. There were so many of them that no matter how many I killed, their numbers never seemed to dwindle. The only thing I knew was that I needed to hold out and then kill the yellow orc who had stayed behind. And the two brown ones.
Several of the darker-colored creatures came up the flight of stairs at the same time. One of them held a shield in each hand, and he pushed toward me. I smashed the halberd into one of the shields, cutting through his arm, but he deflected the blow narrowly with the second shield. His partner charged past him and brought down a two-handed ax towards my head. I brought the butt end of my weapon up and deflected the attack into the other orc. His head exploded, and I used the chance to slice into the ax-wielder from head to groin.
“Pull back!” Kade yelled from behind. “There’s too many for you to handle!”
I didn’t say anything and used another shockwave at an approaching group. An orc captain caught the brunt of the attack and staggered back as the others charged in. I didn’t have many skills that could deal AOE attacks, so I pulled the bow out with my left and nocked an arrow just as the timer on Arrow Shower disappeared. Only to be replaced by another, longer one.
Arrows bit into their flesh and passed through like a hot knife through butter. Orcs died by the dozens. Not just from my attacks, but by the combined death machine that we’d become with a simple strategy. I just needed to break through and take him out, but it wasn’t going as well as I hoped it would.
I released a Shockwave as it refreshed and jumped back, slashing at the two nearest green orcs as they tried to flank me, and pulled back toward the door. I needed to get a better overview of the situation before I did anything else. Before I did, however, the yellow orc slammed his staff into the ground.
I dropped my halberd and pulled out my sword, held it up in a defensive posture, and waited. But the blast wave didn’t come. No, a yellow and green aura enveloped the orcs. Still, they didn’t attack. They used their bodies to form a shield wall. Now that they didn’t have to encircle such a large space, their ranks were much denser, and their numbers reached almost back to where their leader stood.
“Impressive, human. I’ve been wondering when the champion would show up, but you’re rather—lacking? At least compared to what I faced on many worlds.”
“Oh? How very sad,” I yelled back. “See, I have faced far stronger enemies than your minions. Far, far stronger, as you can see by my gear.”
“Oh, I do not doubt it, but see, those were just monsters. Fighting someone who can use magic and skills just like you is quite different. Trust me.”
I nodded knowingly, as I quickly remembered the orc captain’s first attack. I exchanged the sword for my bow and nocked an arrow.
“What do you want here? Why are you attacking us?”
H
e shrugged and started walking toward us, one deliberate step at a time. “For the same reason that you’re attacking monsters inside your rifts. See, every time one of our tribes manages to overpower a land on another world, we get points. Once we’ve accumulated enough points, the Gods release us from our servitude.”
“Any chance we could first sit down and talk before we kill each other?” I found myself asking. “You’re a sapient race, not just monsters. Why not sit down?”
“Oh? Now that’s something I haven’t heard yet, human champion. We’ve invaded over a hundred lands so far, and this is the first time someone has asked us to sit down and talk.”
“We’re different—I was about to call you yellow orc, but that would have been an insult.”
“Oh, it would have,” he replied with a grin that told me I had made the right call. “I am Orc Chieftain Grawl. What name do you go by, human champion?”
We had to be careful with these creatures, as they were more like us than I wanted to admit. The ability to use your mind during battle was different than what monsters were able to do. They had instincts, but that was about it. Or so I thought.
“Viktor,” I replied and lowered my bow, then stashed it and the arrow away and picked up my halberd.
“Just Viktor?” he asked curiously. “No title?”
“Just Viktor. If you want a title, it could be something like the strongest known human or something like it,” I smirked.
“I see.” His right eyebrow rose, and he stared at me as if I had gone nuts, but I didn’t care. “Come. I am quite interested in having this conversation with you.”
“Come where? You’ll be my guest, Orc Chieftain Grawl. I give you my word that—no, let’s do this. Give us a few hours and I’ll have someone prepare a place for us. We’ll eat, drink, and talk. You can bring one other orc with you.”
He nodded and bared his teeth at me. The two tusks protruding from his cheeks were sharp and glistened in the ample light. I sure wouldn’t want to feel their tips penetrating my skin. He looked like a boar. A very large and strong boar.
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 18
