Chapter 92: Orc Village [1]

No matter where I looked, my eyes were met by the sights of vast grasslands, only filled out extremely sparingly with the occasional dry tree or bush. Walking with both of my bodies, it took a while until I found the first patrol of monsters.

The orcs were walking around in a group of three, all of them with huge, bulging muscles and their heights reaching to the sky. Their dark green skin was too dirty to reflect any sunlight and they didn't seem to have any purpose other than to follow the small tusks that stuck out of their mouths.

'This is new...'

For the first time, I would be going up against a monster that wasn't just equipped with melee weapons, as one of them had a quiver on its back filled with crude javelins. However, as the other ones were holding big axes in their hands, it didn't take long until I had a plan in my head that might work.

*Kruuk?! Kruuk!*

Sadly, because of the environment, as soon as I saw them, they also saw me. Meaning they were currently sprinting towards me, weapons ready to strike.

*Kruuk!*

As soon as he got in range, the spear thrower swung his arm and sent a javelin flying with pinpoint accuracy towards sub-me's face.

'Fast!' *Swish!*

The speed he had launched his spear was on another level, almost looking in my eyes as if it had teleported forward.

Luckily, I wasn't slow either, as I managed to pull my head to the side, making it so I now only had a lightly bleeding scratch on my cheek instead of, possibly, instantly losing my clone's life.

*Kruuk!*

At the same time, the axe bearers had now reached us and started to swing their weapons fiercely, and although they were quite fast, it wasn't too hard to dodge the attacks while counterattacking with my scythes.

*Sching! Sching! Bam!*

With my bodies dancing around the green monsters, it didn't take long until they were covered in bleeding gashes. Unfortunately, my attacks didn't seem to do all too much damage, as they continued to swing their axes as if they were completely fine.

*Kruk!*

Before I knew it, another javelin was sent into the air. Unable to react in time, as I was currently trying my best to dodge the huge axes that wanted to split my head apart, the left shoulder of my main body got pierced.

*Swish!, Splurt!* "Argh! Fuck!"

Blood spewed out of my shoulder as the javelin disrupted my movement enough for the orc I was facing to capitalize on it. *Bam!* A shoulder check sent me flying, even though I had managed to put up my scythe between us.

As soon as I landed on the ground, I managed to roll away from the axe that followed me, intending to decapitate me. With sub-me still fighting the other melee combatant, I had a second to realize that my original plan just wouldn't cut it.

A part of me had hoped that my scythemanship would have improved enough for me to take down these guys without using any Skills or abilities other than physical enhancement, but alas, that had not been the case.

When I got up on my feet, I knew what I had to do. Sub-me instantly started to charge forward after dodging another swing of an axe, setting his sights on the spear thrower who had been focusing on keeping his distance.

At the same time, I knew that I needed to end the fight in front of me quickly enough so I could get to the other axe bearer before he could reach sub-me. *Kruuk!* Tilting my body forward, I easily dodged the wide swing my opponent had made and got close enough to do what I needed to do.

*Ssss!, Kruk?!*

Quickly transforming my injured arm into a snake, who for some reason was still injured with a big gash, I reached out and bit the big oaf in his neck, making sure to use a lot of mana to empower the venom.

*Kruk! Bam!*

Unhappy with getting his neck bitten, the orc swung out in anger, trying his best to kill the disgusting creature in front of him. Unfortunately for him, I only dodged by dashing past him, leaving him behind me as I set my sights on my next opponent.

*Kruuk! Kruuk?*

Although my enemy tried to follow me, he was surprised to feel his knees giving up, making him sink to the ground and scream in frustration. *KRUUK!*

Now, sub-me had managed to reach the orc in the back, who had been smart enough to try and escape instead of facing me head-on. However, he wasn't nearly fast enough to get away.

'[Orb of Mist]'

An orb comparable to the size of a basketball was sent out towards the escaping orc, who turned around just in time to see his head getting engulfed in mist. '[Detonate]!' *BOOM!*

With the mist imploded, the orc fell to his knees, somehow still alive but with all his orifices leaking out streams of blood. It wasn't all too surprising that it didn't die, orcs were quite famous for their durable bodies.

*Kruuk!* "No, you don't!"

Just as sub-me was going to finish the job with his scythe, the other orc who had followed me had caught up, now about to lunge his axe towards my clone's head. Fortunately, I had also already made my way there, ready to save myself.

"[Dome of Mist]!"

A huge cloud engulfed us all, making the orc confused and, as a result, swinging his axe backwards instead, afraid that my main body might attack him from behind. *Schiing! BOM!*

Sub-me took the chance to end the life of the spear thrower, making it so we were now in a two versus one situation. 'I guess I need to try it.'

Both of my bodies quickly disengaged from the mist, as I figured I had to try something to gain information about how I would proceed in the future.

"[Detonation]!" *BOOM!*

A big wave of energy rustled our clothes as the dome imploded, my sights blocked by the huge cloud of dirt that emerged from the ground. *Kruuk!*

It didn't take more than a second for the orc to run out of the mist, his ears bleeding but otherwise looking uninjured. *Kruk!* In his rage, he made the stupid decision to jump forwards, with his axe over his head that he hoped would bring down at least one of the twins he faced.

*BAM!*

'Idiot...'

There was no way such a telegraphed attack would ever find its mark, unless his enemy was blind and deaf, as I just casually twisted my body and let him fly passed me. '[Orb of Mist], [Detonation]'

*BOM!*

The body of the big orc fell to the ground as I made my mist explode around its head, now finally finding the peace that is death. '[Swap]'

'Healing myself' by switching bodies and casually walking back to the paralyzed orc that was still lying on the ground, I had a lot of thoughts about the battle that had just gone down.

First of all, I was deeply disappointed by the fact that my scythemanship was still not at the level I wanted it to be. Its strength lay in the successive attacks that would only become stronger the more momentum one added, but because of my inability to use imbuement fluently enough, it was not enough to do critical damage.

The second thing was seeing just how efficient my venom had been, with it not taking more than a couple of seconds before it had deactivated the orc's nervous system. I was not sure if it was because of the fact that orcs were weak against magic or if it was just that potent, but it felt reassuring to know that my new tool was useful.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the orcs were tough. It didn't seem like my ordinary combo of using a dome and then detonating it would be too useful if I didn't pour an exorbitant amount of mana, which would make it hard to keep fighting for a long time. In contrast, using a smaller amount and instead using a very concentrated orb seemed to be efficient enough.

*kruk...*

"Oh, right. You were still here!"

With my mind in the sky, I hadn't even noticed that I was now standing in front of the orc still suffering from my venom, his face scrunched up and his eyes filled with tears.

It knew what awaited him, and the sorrow it felt was too much for it to handle. Every orc wanted to die with honor, their weapons raised and their voices loud. However, this would not be the fate for him. His fate was to die pitifully, unable to move even a single muscle as his enemy casually raised his scythe.

"Thank you for your service, I truly learned a lot."

*Schiing! BOM!*

"Now, let's see if we can make some improvements. After all, there is a boss to kill as well."