Six people worked together in tandem fighting against a single enemy. They had been acting on the same strategy for the last half an hour, and the enemy was showing signs of closing to death. Muzgonk stood there alone, bleeding from every inch of its body. Time after time again, the Orc Chieftain had been dealing with these petty attacks from the weak humans. Even after unleashing its rage from the bellow of its burning stomach, Muzgonk couldn’t eliminate these flies that kept running around it. Yet those flies were pushing it closer to its death’s door. Muzgonk glanced around with only one eye. One of the previous clashes made it lost one of his eyes. Jason came out of nowhere, and he managed to stab it right in the eye. But the human didn’t come out unscathed. A deafening punch went straight at Jason’s head, leading him defenseless without an energy guard. Yet it was all worth it. “Come on! Just a little bit more!” Jason rallied his allies with his voice. It was a first for him to do such a thing since he wasn’t the leader type of guy who was full of charisma. Jason was just a guy who wanted to save his own skin. Hakeem stood up once more with his breath ragged, but his eyes weren’t done yet. Arrluk did the same, standing tall with his metal rod. His stamina was a lot better than Hakeem, and that immense stamina showed. In a long fight stamina was the key to winning. In a way, it was a battle of attrition of who’s going to last longer. While the other three were in a much worst state than the two vanguards. Fighting for almost an hour was too strenuous for their body and their low stamina stats. Even Nuniq, who was only useful in restraining Muzgonk through his Briar Shackle had already run out of energy. For now, he could only stare from afar while trying not to be a burden. Tapeesa, on the other hand, was running low on her energy. A few more Frost Orb and she would be done with it. Esther, who only acted as back-up for the vanguards, couldn’t do much considering she wasn’t that great for a vanguard, nor she was good at attacking. The level difference was still too much for her, and being the one with no job, she was at a disadvantage. All eyes were on the still-standing Muzgonk, and seeing it still stood alone even after the bashing it took made them feared the monster in front of them. Some of their imagination ran wild thinking, what if they were more strong UC like this Orc Chieftain? Just a dozen of them would be enough to decimate a whole army. We can’t do this any longer. We’ve got to kill it. Right now and right here. Jason brandished his rare-grade sword. He didn’t use any of his skills as he preserved what was left of his energy for healing purposes. He couldn’t be careless at this point in time. One wrong move and one of them could easily go on to the afterlife. But the Orc Chieftain too was at the end of its wit. It could no longer spew out flames like a raging dragon, but its physical strength was nothing to be taken light off. “Hakeem!” Jason shouted. To his call, Hakeem took his steps slowly before accelerating to the fullest. His mallet no longer wielded the strength of Bolt Hammer as his energy had run dry. Yet he wasn’t daunted by it. He knew his role. The role as a distractor for Jason to attack through the blind spots. “Die!” Hakeem shouted. He swung his mallet with the full intent of killing Muzgonk. Yet a bloody clench fist came flying at him. Hakeem saw it was coming and sidestepped with impeccable timing. He dodged and slipped by before slamming his mallet at the back of Muzgonk’s knee. Over the course of his vanguard duty, Hakeem had managed to read every pattern of the Orc Chieftain, and it proved to be in his favor. He was no longer getting beaten down by the injured Muzgonk, and he wasn’t alone. Arrluk appeared from the other side, swinging his metal rod. The old man had also grown sturdier by the constant confrontation he had made with this Orc Chieftain. The doubt it had before of being weak was slowly being replaced by the confidence of going up against a stronger opponent. His metal rod targeted the Orc Chieftain’s head, yet the pig leader was quick in its reaction even at this pathetic bloody state. It moved its neck as the metal rod struck the thick trapezius of the orc. The Orc Chieftain retaliated with a lunge of its big feet. Arrluk moved quickly, handling his metal rod like an extension of his arm. He retracted back his metal rod and swung it at the incoming kick. He struck the leg and used it as leverage, propelling him away from the trajectory of the kick. Boom! The ground cracked as the kick missed its target. Yet the target saw the light of another day. Although Arrluk wasn’t agile and quick-thinking like Hakeem, but at least he excelled in his own way. “Oargh!” the cried of Muzgonk echoed in the air. It fought well against Hakeem and Arrluk, but it all did was giving Jason an opportunity. The man with the sword came from behind, emerging out from the Shadow Realm. It was time to end the life of the Orc Chieftain. He stabbed his sword right on top of the head of Muzgonk while his other hand pushed the lodged sword on the neck with everything he got. It was a do or die situation, and he wasn’t going to mess it up. The blade on the head pierced through the thick and durable scalp of Muzgonk. Blood seeped out, and Jason wasn’t stopping. The two-pronged attack left the Orc Chieftain scrambling in activating its own body defense. Muzgonk tried to tighten its muscles to impede Jason’s advancement, but it was no use. It was losing blood and strength, and its end was inching closer. But the fire in Muzgonk’s eyes didn't finish. Due to the flame of desperation, Muzgonk moved its hand at incredible speed as it caught Jason. A fluke made by the instinct to survive. Fuck! Jason didn’t think this orc had something left in it as he kept on pushing his swords, hoping to kill it first before it did to him. Yet the power of momentum took a hold of his body. Muzgonk grabbed him and slammed him onto the ground. Jason felt the pain as he could hear something crack on his body. His body healed himself as utilized Major Heal. But Muzgonk wasn’t done with him yet. It gripped Jason with its two hands, hoping to crush the human into pieces. Yet Lightning Fury emerged, flying at Muzgonk, stunning it into an immobile state. Jason saw his chance and slipped himself out of the grip with a helpful aid from Shadow Sneak. Then, like it was Deja Vu, Jason emerged from Muzgonk’s back. In Jason’s eyes, he only saw the two swords embedded in Muzgonk’s head and neck. He mustered every strength that he had and drove the swords deeper into Muzgonk. Jason fell to the ground as he dropped on his bottom. He was heaving for his breath as he saw his sword fully pierced through Muzgonk’s neck. The other sword also did a great job fully piercing through that thick skull of Muzgonk. It took it a few seconds before Muzgonk dropped on its knee before falling to the ground.

Jason’s level increased to level 30

A blue window emerged, congratulating him on his deed. It drew a smile on his face as the hardship had ended. Yet his eyes focused on the items floating above the corpse of Muzgonk. His eyes shone like seeing treasures from the deep Tomb of the Emperor. He was about to get up and pick his winning, yet something felt off. Shadow Sneak! He vanished into thin air as something went through where he was. Within the protection of the Shadow Realm, he saw what it was. A sniper? A bad feeling arose from the depth of his heart. His eyes searched for his allies especially Hakeem and Esther. They weren’t that far, but he felt miles apart. He ran and emerged from the Shadow Realm. “Take cover! Sniper!” he shouted to the top of his lungs. He threw himself at Esther and disappeared into nothingness. But Arrluk and the rest weren’t as fortunate. Tapeesa transformed at the last second into her figure of ice as a sniper bullet struck her right at the head. She fell on Nuniq’s body as another round went straight at her thigh. She knew Nuniq was defenseless, and she did it without hesitation. “Tapeesa!” Nuniq shouted, and so did the grandfather. “Tape-” BANG! A sniper round struck Arrluk by the head. The old man fell to the ground with his eyes looking into a daze. He stared at the sight of his grandchildren as his hand reached to them from afar. But the fate of another man shone by the light of the luckiest star. Hakeem took to cover the moment he saw Jason vanished. He jumped into a broken window and took cover behind the wall of a broken building. But the bullet shot him right at the thigh. He didn’t bleed, but his last line of defense broke. “What’s happening?” he questioned what was happening. His breath was rapid. He wanted to peek out of the window, but he restrained himself from doing a foolish act. He knew what would happen if he put his head out there. Yet as he looked up in the sky, he frowned. Things were falling, and it didn’t look like rain or bird poop. “Is that missiles?”