Still at the heart of the battlefield, I peered over my shoulder and contemplated the frontline behind my back. It was pushed further back. The humans really went at it—with each minute, a good handful of orcs fell. Humans were brought down, too, obviously, but the casualties were negligible. It was time to wrap the quest up.
For a reason I ignored, I closed my eyes. My eyelids were shut tight. Then, slowly drawing a breath of air I wished wasn't reeking of blood and iron, I breathed in and out repeatedly. Steadily, my sword was brought up, as it should during a battle. At once, I spun around my heels, opening and capturing the Outside World with my eyes again, and I started to run. Driven by a relatively steadfast, calm frenzy, I just did that—run to it.
Messing around on the battlefield was over. I should play safely, and get the quest wrapped up at once. Only after that would I get back to my old uncle, and see what we do next. So it was decided: a human boy would fight with the human team. That boy was actually a monster, but nobody had to know that in the ruckus of this place.
Grinning, still running, I thought looking unlike the big old Robustorc (the sturdiest orc I wished I had been like, back in the woods, muscled and tough as heck) and looking more like a human was convenient. I could call myself a humanoid creature, thanks to the Character Creation quest, but man my Character was probably so humanoid-looking that I could directly call myself a human it'd be the same. Looking human-like was convenient, right now, so I appreciated my form.
Before long, I penetrated the frontline again. There were twice as many humans as there were orcs, at first glance. For convenience's sake, I'd team up with my first humans now and then. I played methodically, dealing with the foes (that were only orcs) one by one, just seeing the slaying as a chore of some sort. Instead of mindlessly rushing head-on at first, that's what I should have gone about right from the get-go. The quest indicator read eleven enemies out of thirty.
To my right, one orc knelt down, being thrown off-balance, and met with the tip of my sword. That was eighteen enemies more to go. At this point, it was also totally clear: humans didn't attack me, they really considered me their allies. I had been quite skeptical about that—I mean, you can never be sure of anything, can you—but it was a proven fact by now.
I decided not to be wary of them anymore, for now, and to play safely along them. The soldiers were already pretty organized, on the battlefield, so I found it quite difficult to manage to blend into one of their numerous groups and help them out with some demi-human. That's why I focused on helping out the many adventurers of the spacious garden.
❮ — enemies dealt with: 14/30 ❯ "W-Whoa… What's that kid doing?" "Way to go, little champ!" "My, the boy has some nerve, stealing our orc!" "So long as we get the head, who gives a damn?"
I liked them. As I had already said, they were beautiful figures. Free and independent. They seemed to have fun and to, if strong enough, live quite the good life. With sparkling eyes and great enthusiasm, I daydreamed about being an adventurer myself in between the orcs I slayed.
Thinking about it now, I realized maybe I could benefit from this war in yet another way. I had the quest to complete, my old advisor to follow, and then I could also do as some humans had told me earlier. Namely, snatch some orc head, whenever I could, and go to the Guild Bureau thingy people spoke of. There, I could deliver my head, proudly puff my chest out, and say "Ha ha ha! You humans make me an adventurer, now!"
❮ — enemies dealt with: 16/30 ❯ "Did the kid just lend us a hand?" "He stole from us, y'mean!" "Chill out. Hasn't taken the loot, has he?" "You better not, kid!" "Y-You don't mind that jerk, kid. Thanks, lil' buddy."
Going like this, I was lost in my thoughts and simultaneously helped bring the "filthy" demi-humans down. Time and time again, the indicator went up. I killed 19 so far. And I needed to be giving the death blow, otherwise I wouldn't get the kill. That made sense, so I kept "stealing" from the adventurers. Some were upset, and some thanked me.
Most of the time, whenever I was done with an orc, I flew away at once, with the Quick Pace skill. The few times I stayed behind with a party, my hands placed on my knees as I rested and charged up my mana a little, I replied to their thank-yous being very polite and saying it was my pleasure. My old man said you always had to be polite with people you weren't familiar with. When I didn't forget about this rule, I was then polite, just like at present.
At some point, I was bored. The quest read 22 enemies dealt with. As I was bored, my organized and careful strategy in order to play it all safe and be sure not to die stupidly, well, it was to be called off. And, did you know? Amusingly enough, it was exactly when I did that that I was captured by the enemies. The demi-humans. Yes. About the why and the how I didn't know yet.
All I remembered was that one crazy orc I met right at the beginning of the battle. He was part of a certain duo who had thought they would "test" the monster. After the monster "passed da test!" I was issued a quest from the System. I either should follow the demi-human back to his settlement (that option read "Unavailable — the demi-human has escaped") or wait for him to come and get me. Well, he did just that.
At some point, without really intending or planning such a situation beforehand, I'd found myself a bit too deep in the frontline. The situation now was different from before. I was just a boy in action, to the exterior eye, but as the other players had seen what I was capable of in a fight, they took me as a serious threat.
That included both the humans and orcs. I wasn't to be taken lightly or underestimated. And so, I was too advanced in the frontline. When I realized it, the orcs already started to focus their attack on me deliberately. I was inviting them to do so, after all. Being too bold brought about its consequences. Being well past the frontline, I was mostly surrounded by the thick and tall demi-humans whose nostrils puffed steam and eyes glared at me.
As I didn't think I was weak—I was far from being weak, really—I might have refused to be so careless, but I didn't retreat back either. That meant I'd have to deal with them all. Orcs came closer to me from every side and I evaded, trying to assault them when I saw openings. The realization was powerful: fighting all alone was way more tedious and bothersome. Aside from maybe pushing them, I couldn't really outdo them this way.
Sure, I could slay them all quickly enough, but that wouldn't solve anything, as an even larger group would come to me right afterward. What I needed to do was push them back, slowly retreat to the frontline where all the human soldiers were, do away with them all, and then escape. That was the plan… but then, seeing something was clearly wrong with the human army, I remembered some of my old man's words.
It was when I marveled at such a gigantic number of the soldiers, saying they would surely win thanks to that only—raw power. The old uncle then told me I was wrong. In fact, if the humans would win, it was mostly thanks to what he said I, the unique monster, lacked. He said it couldn't be helped since I was only about a-week-old, but what I lacked was what the human army had.
Generalship. A plan. A proper, methodical organization and tactic of attack. At the time, I only tilted my head, wondering what the old man meant, but now, seeing the human soldiers tactically retreat in spite of their overwhelming power, I might have understood a bit of what the old man meant.
The frontline backed away with all the sea of soldiers, leaving behind me and them a good distance to walk. Crap. Well, I'd just go all out, now, and be happy to slay all the orcs without giving a damn about anything beyond massacring them all—
Whack!
It happened then. I must have dropped my guard, or that crazy orc from before was as fast as he had looked because I felt a sharp whiplash land on my neck. Soon after, I realized I was trying to get away from the threat, but could barely move my feet around. My ears were ringing with a dull sound. Then, my eyes, if I didn't use Mana Perception, saw everything in double.
"This… is gift! For the Warchief!"
That was weird. Did I break my body? I was being thrown off-balance, now, and everything was going so slowly. Slowly, I felt my consciousness slip away from my grasp. Don't worry, I wasn't about to lose the Consciousness passive, just about to faint. Mustering up the last remaining bits of my mind, I cursed.
"Back away, brethren! Gift for Warchief! No enemy! Gift! …Back!" When the crazy orc switched to the orc tongue, I couldn't understand what he said anymore. At any rate, I now passed out.
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