Narrator pov~

“Farey! What’s the meaning of this?”

Ellina shouted while getting dragged by her bodyguard away from the camp. The moment those Bloodyvores attacked, Faray grabbed her and made a run for it by taking advantage of the chaos.

“Princess, the one who attacked is a top member of Bloodyvores. I don’t know if these two outsiders can handle him or not. We better should retreat from here.” Farey explained as they were running through the confusion of battle.

“I have seen the future.” Ellina huffed. “That person will survive this battle. He will be the one who will bring great changes to our Orc Land.” She declared confidently.

“…” Farey just kept his silence and ran with all his might. Around him, the remaining orcs loyal to the royal family were running in a closed-up formation.

Shoosh!!

Suddenly, something came from the distance aiming at Ellina’s head. Farey quickly sidestepped and dodged the projectile, a knife, and stood in a defensive stance. Four orcs running around them also stopped and stood around Faray, holding their maces and spears.

“Where are you running, Faray?” A feminine voice said. The speaker, a slender orc, emerged from behind a tree stood right in front of them. Dressed in a loose robe, the attacker looked calm and collected even in the face of so many orcs.

“Bastard! You filthy traitor!” Faray growled. His eyes spouted flame when he looked at the attacker.

“Traitor?” The orcs laughed. If Alex was there, he would have flinched from how nerve-wracking it sounded. “You are harsh as ever.” It shook its head while looking at Faray in pity.

“I was just trying my best to survive.” He said nonchalantly while shrugging his shoulders. “Blame me all you want. I don’t care.”

“Survive?” Farey growled. “Is kill-”

“Farey, stop it!” Ellina shouted. Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth pulled into a frown. She looked at the orcs and asked in a calm tone, “what do you want, Baggus?”

Baggus finally looked at his target and smiled. He gave her a respect-filled bow.

“Miss Ellina, our king wants you back in the palace. Please, follow me.”

“Over our dead body!” Farey hid Ellina behind him and shouted. He prepared his mace and got ready to protect the princess.

Baggus’s eyes shined with excitement.

“Oh, that’s how you want to play it, Farey?” He said before pulling out a curved sword from his back. He slid his fingers through its edge before flicking the tip.

“So be it, I was thirsting for your blood for a long time anyway.” Baggus got ready to engage five orcs at once.

…

Alex Pov~

While I was stalking that camouflaged orc, I didn’t know I will stumble upon an interesting plot twist. I was waiting to jump on that orc, whose name I found to be Baggus, but refrained from doing so after thinking about it.

For one, this little drama was giving me a lot of information. I was sure I wouldn’t get it from anyone here. Second, it will make me gauge the true capability of the adversary I had set out to kill.

Swoosh!!

I heard an almost indiscernible sound coming from my right. It was the work of that hidden orc who had yet to spot me. And since he hadn’t spotted me, who will he attack? Of course, to that orc named Farey.

I can’t let it succeed. It will end this scene prematurely. I got a little bit closer so that the target will enter my range. As soon as it did, I smirked before using Cast Illusion on it.

Cast Illusion succeeded.

Target will be trapped in an illusion of your choice for the next twenty seconds.

Feeling our connecting building, I smiled and synchronized it with the reality. The poor orc was none the wiser.

In the meantime, I finally had a good look at the orc, who was so good at hiding. It looked no different than any other orcs roaming out there, if not a bit thinner. It didn’t look as threatening as others too. But I could feel something sinister from it.

It also had similar tribal markings on its body, a common trait of all Boodyvores. It was lying among the bushes while frothing from its mouth.

I manipulated my tail and stabbed its pointy end into the back of its neck. The poor orc died even without showcasing its full abilities.

You have killed an Adult Orc.

You have received 20 EPs.

Swiping my tail on the fallen orc’s clothes to wipe away the blood, I walked briskly towards the fight going on not far away.

I have to admit, the slender orc really was a formidable opponent. Even against experienced warriors of the same species, it was holding its own and even seemed to be winning the bout.

I stopped and turned around to see if Urt was alright.

Well, he was alright.

He was logging heads with that orc. In comparison to the orc, Urt looked completely unharmed. He was no ordinary adult gobline. The rare evolution, Goblin General, made him the worst enemy one could face on a battlefield.

With the new skills he got, Urt’s battle efficiency had risen to new heights. I saw more than ten moves exchanged between them in an instant. Half of them landed on Urt.

Yet, he looked completely unharmed.

I activated my infrared vision and saw a thick red forcefield surrounding Urt. That forcefield was the skill’s effect. On the other hand, the orc had a lot of small scratches on its body. His red blood from those wounds had already painted his body red.

I saw how Urt twirled his spear and made a thrust towards the orc’s hands. He didn’t even use full force. A small wound appeared on the orc’s hands, drawing a few drops of blood. The shield on Urt’s body thickened by a little.

Holy shit! He is just using that orc to strengthen his shield. He was taking full advantage of his passive ability!

Urt was indeed playing smartly.

I sighed at his battle awareness as well as his skill usage. He was a genius when it comes to battle. Even I hadn’t thought of using the skill like that.

Knowing that he will be fine against that opponent of his, I shifted my attention to the one battling in front of me.

Despite fighting against four, the orc was holding his own pretty well. He took advantage of his agile body to skillfully dodge each and every attack performed by the bodyguards of Ellina.

His curve sword would draw blood every time he sings it. It was glaringly obvious he wasn’t an opponent Ellina’s bodyguards could defeat. At least, not in their current exhausted condition.

That Farey was actually running on fumes by now. The Bloodyvore orc must have noticed it, and that’s why he was so daring as in taking them all by himself.

Well, since I still have lots of things to ask that Ellina, I decided to give them a helping hand.

Pointing my index finger at the unsuspecting Bloodyvore, I used Nightmare Manifest on it. I had this sudden premonition that Cast Illusion won’t work on him.

Once again, I realized why a monster’s instincts shouldn’t be taken lightly.

The red tribal markings over his body glowed as a flimsy barrier formed, trying to block the ‘sword’ of my Nightmare Manifest. Unfortunately for the orc, the Nightmare Manifest was too strong to be blocked by only a barrier.

The ‘sword’ shattered the red barrier and penetrated into his brain. A second later, I felt a connection building with him.

Nightmare Manifest succeeded.

The target will be under your influence for 1 minute.

Nightmare Manifest Level +0.02

My body also transformed until it nearly resembled that of a 10-meter tall orc. I had a head full of dark-red hair and from what I could see, I also had deep red tribal markings all over my body.

And new information about this orc flooded into my brain.

Information that I needed the most at the moment.

Because, at this moment, I had taken the form of the very unique class I had set out to kill.