The two orcs leaped from their cover and attacked Achilles, trying to attack him from different angles so that he couldn’t defend himself!

Achilles spun Virgil in his grasp and hefted the looted axe he was using as a shield, retreating so that there was a gap between two trees in front of them, so that he could have some protection.

The orcs were clearly used to combat, and they did not relent as they continued to swipe and slash with their axes.

They had some disadvantage fighting in the dark, especially as Achilles was wearing dark clothes and his blade absorbed light instead of reflecting it, and Achilles had high defenses, regardless.

Yet, they still got several hits in, slashing deep cuts into Achilles’s arm and chest.

In return, Achilles dealt several accurate blows which dropped to the first orcs to only a couple HP in less than ten seconds.

Being able to see the orcs clearly when they could not see him gave him a tremendous advantage to hit them, though he didn’t score another Critical Hit.

In a brief time, Achilles had backed himself against a boulder and had cut one orc so deeply that he ran away in fear. As quick as a flash, Achilles stabbed the orc deep in the spine, and the monster fell dead.

Then it was just Achilles and the second orc. Achilles fought as defensively as possible, avoiding getting any more hurt than a few shallow cuts, which were not powerful enough to be considered HP damage.

This second orc seemed terrified of running away, shouting in its language, which Achilles couldn’t understand. Perhaps it thought that Achilles would also stab it if it ran away.

Eventually, Achilles killed this second orc, and then he stood breathing very hard over both of their bodies.

The white energy of Experience Points coalesced and sank into him, but he did not level up again.

Achilles was disappointed. I didn’t level up from killing two more orcs! he thought.

Virgil laughed.

Achilles crept away from the corpses, controlling his breathing so hopefully they wouldn’t hear him. Eventually, the four remaining orcs came across the two corpses, and they began muttering to each other in their language.

Achilles tensed, preparing to attack them one by one again, but then the largest orc, their leader, bellowed out something as though calling to the surrounding forest.

said Virgil,

What do you mean? asked Achilles.

Achilles blinked. He'd heard many stories of orcs, that they were brutal savages with nothing like a code of honor. This made no sense.

Virgil, reading his thoughts, laughed. he said.

But they killed all the innocent people in the other villages, not to mention the men protecting our village! thought Achilles. Righteous anger burned in his chest. I’m supposed to just ignore that!?

said Virgil.

Achilles’s anger became cold. All right, he thought, let’s do the healing.

Achilles did as instructed.

His whole body filled with itching and and with alternating ice and fire as his wounds closed… and then he regained all his HP.

Then, heart burning with excitement and anger, he stepped out from his hiding place and shouted to the orc captain, the tall, green-skinned monster with the horned helmet and the bare chest.

The orc captain bellowed something, and Virgil told Achilles to bow to show that he acknowledged the challenge.

Achilles did so, and immediately, to Achilles’s astonishment, the other orcs stepped away and laid their weapons on the ground.

They formed a ring like an arena in the middle of the forest. The captain had chosen a place where the moon shone down in a clearing, so he could see Achilles fairly well.

The orc captain did not wield a heavy axe like the others, but wielded a polearm with a long blade on top. With his new class knowledge, Achilles knew the polearm would give the orc a huge reach advantage against Achilles.

It would be a deadly fight.

The orc captain lunged in, and Achilles, for the first time, realized the amazing capabilities of higher-level monsters.

It was stupid to think any ordinary human could fight off such a creature!

The captain lashed out twice in only a few seconds with his polearm, and one strike dealt 2 damage as it cut deeply into Achilles’s leg.

Achilles cried out and bashed the weapon away, then retaliated with a sword blow that missed.

The two disengaged and circled around each other.

The captain attacked again, only once, and missed.

Achilles stabbed his opponent in the shoulder, then parried an awkward blow with his axe-shield.

Out of nowhere, the orc captain head-butted Achilles, and he was too bewildered to dodge!

Achilles staggered back, full of pain and with only 2 HP left.

The captain still had 13 HP left, a nearly impossible amount to overcome.

“How am I going to do this?” Achilles groaned. “He’s so strong!”

said Virgil.

As soon as he mentioned them, it was as though a new set of ideas was unlocked in Achilles’s brain.

Yes, he could use two Weapon Arts at the moment.

Disarm and Crippling Blow.

If he was just about to land a hit, he could activate one, and it would have a chance to provide a powerful effect.

Disarm could send an opponent’s weapon spinning out of their grasp, while Crippling Blow could bewilder and stun an opponent so they would have a much harder time landing blows and avoiding them.

The downside was that he could only use Weapon Arts once per fight, and would need to take a long breather afterwards to regain the use of it. He could also only use one, not both.

It was very risky, but Achilles lunged forward and used Crippling Blow.

It connected!

Achilles slammed the pommel of his sword into the orc’s forehead, sending his enemy roaring backward, nearly crashing into the line of smaller orcs behind him.

The ordinary orcs seemed surprised at this, barking among themselves, but none of them interfered.

Achilles’s heart pounded, but he pressed the advantage, running in and attacking as quickly as he could. He dealt four more hits before the orc captain recovered, dealing 6 damage altogether!

The orc captain was down to only 7 HP now.

The foe stepped back, hesitant, as though he hadn’t expected to find a human with such potential in this village.

Of course he hadn’t! But Virgil had said that the captain considered Achilles to be a worthy opponent. Even considering that, the enemy had gotten awfully cocky!

Achilles jumped off a rock to give himself a few centimeters of extra height, swinging his sword down in an overhead arc.

The captain released his polearm and swung both fists into Achilles’s gut.

Achilles lost all the air in his lungs and fell to the ground! His sword only grazed the orc captain, dealing no damage.

The two scrambled for their dropped weapons and returned to an upright position, each breathing very hard and facing one another as they had at the beginning of the fight.

The orc’s punch had dealt 1 damage, leaving Achilles at only a single point.

The orc captain still had his 7 HP.

Virgil sighed.

But then the orc drew a dagger from his belt and began cutting his own chest!

Even Virgil stopped talking, seeming astonished!

In moments, the orc drew a skull with mighty horns on his chest. His blood dripped down onto the ground, almost black. He announced something in a gravelly but calm voice, and Virgil quickly translated.

Virgil sounded utterly bewildered. It seemed he had not known this was even a possibility.

Thinking quickly, Achilles pulled off his own shirt. “Turn yourself into a knife,” he said.

Virgil obliged, shrinking into an elegant and thin-bladed dagger.

Gritting his teeth, Achilles cut the same skull with horns into his own chest.

Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt very much.

“I’ll be honored to consider you my rival,” he said in the common tongue.

He was still full of anger, but it was no longer quite hatred.

He was beginning to understand that the orcs had seen humans like humans saw rabbits and deer.

If Achilles had hunted a rabbit who proved itself to be as intelligent as a human and who could fight back, he supposed he would also respect that rabbit and would probably regret having killed other rabbits.

He could not completely forgive what the orcs had done, but it was hard for him to feel hatred now that he better understood the mind of his opponent.

The orc captain bowed, then he and his companions left, heading northward, far away from the remaining villagers.

Achilles stood bleeding from several wounds, the least of which was his chest. He wordlessly found his bearings and made his way back to where his mother and sister rested with all the women and children of the village.

Achilles grew weaker with every step that he took, as the blood dripped from his wounds, but eventually he found the villagers' fires, where his mother and sister were awake and nearly crazy with worry.

“Achilles!” his mother said, rushing toward him, and he fell unconscious into her arms.