In the end I decide to keep moving forwards for now, I still have to go back later to return to the elves. If I keep going forward until I have five hundred ears and then turn around I will probably get more than a thousand. At least, that is the plan I am going to go with for now, I will just see how it goes.

When the sun sets I run into the problem of trying to find somewhere safe to rest. This far into the badlands there are no trees to climb, so I start checking ravines. In the third ravine I find a shallow cave, it's not much but it will have to do.

After eating some dinner I draw Blitz and lay it across my lap before entering meditation. While it isn't as good as real sleep, it will do for a couple of days at least. Surprisingly nothing disturbs my rest and when the sun comes up I climb out of the ravine.

As I continue north I eat some breakfast while I walk, just to save some time. Just as I finish eating another group of orcs comes rushing out of a ravine. This group is the largest I have seen so far, they even have casters with them.

They look like shamans, which would make sense if these orcs are like those in D&D. After the shamans appear they cast a spell and the orcs suddenly speed up. Their eyes also start glowing red, which means it is probably a berserk spell.

That is confirmed when the orcs start hitting me, some of the hits actually hurt. It is also considerably harder to cut them down, not that they try to dodge, they are just tougher. It would seem the shamans spell is quite a big boost for them, it must have harsh downsides.

You have resisted!

Curse magic is something I haven't seen before, I don't even know what resistance works against it. This makes the shamans more dangerous than I expected, so I start cutting my way towards them. As I am cutting my way through the orcs I can see the shamans casting more spells.

Strength reduced by 10%!

You have resisted!

Hit points reduced by 10%!

The curses are worse than I expected, even if only half of them are getting through. If they can stack on each other then it is even worse, it has already become harder to kill the orcs. That doesn't stop me from making progress towards the shamans, it just makes it harder.

The shamans continue to bombard me with curse spells, but luckily they don't last long. Unfortunately, I also don't get any resistance despite resisting half of the curses. So I still don't know what resistance works against them even after a few minutes.

When I break free from the group of orcs I quickly rush over and cut down the shamans. As soon as I do, the red eyes of the orcs return to normal and they slow down. If anything they are now slower and weaker than normal, it must be the spell's side effect.

Once the last of the curses wears off and I am back to full strength I begin the massacre. By then there are only about a hundred orcs left and with them weakened it is far too easy. It takes me longer to cut all the ears off of the orcs than it did to kill them all.

243 Orcs defeated! 243,000 Exp gained!

17 Orc Shamans defeated! 170,000 Exp gained!

'That was pretty decent exp! At this rate I might actually level up!'

With this group's ears I now need less than two hundred more to reach the goal of five hundred. This group of orcs also seems to be a different tribe than the previous two. It makes me wonder just how many tribes are out here and if there is anyone in charge of them all.

For the orcs to be waging war on both the elves and the humans it would make sense for someone to be in charge. Since I haven't seen any evidence of the tribes working together it doesn't make sense otherwise. Without someone at the top it would be impossible for them to fight together.

Unfortunately, I don't understand the orc's language so I can't interrogate them. However, I can certainly take advantage of the fact that the tribes aren't sharing information. If I just keep wandering through the territory of new tribes they will continue attacking me without preparation.

With that thought in mind I decide to continue moving towards the north. However, I don't run into any more orcs before the sun starts going down. So again I start searching ravines until I find a cave that I can take a rest in.

Except that when I enter the cave I find that it is not just a shallow cave. Instead it continues on, so I follow it out of curiosity, and after taking a turn I find lights. The tunnel continues on, but from here on there are crude torches every few feet.

It would seem that the orcs live below ground, which would explain why I haven't spotted any villages. Yet I don't continue down the tunnel, if there is a village down here I don't want to find it. I would much rather collect ears from warriors, not women and children.

So I turn around and return to the surface to continue looking for a place to rest. Eventually I find a ravine with enough of an overhang to be a relatively safe place to rest. I only eat a quick dinner and rest for a couple of hours before moving again.

What I had forgotten is that while orcs are not strictly nocturnal, they do prefer the dark. I haven't been walking long when I spot a large group of orcs moving towards the southwest. That direction should be where the war against the humans is happening.

From what I can see there are around five hundred orcs moving in a column. What I don't see are any shamans or other caster types, so I go ahead and attack the orcs. As soon as I do, the orcs swarm around me and try to bring me down with numbers.

Amongst all the normal orcs I find a few that are quite a bit stronger and are better fighters. They actually try to parry or dodge my attacks, unlike the normal orcs. After I have killed about two hundred of the orcs a special orc comes to fight me.

He is larger than the other orcs and has better armor, he must be their leader. When he draws a very nice sword I am even more convinced of it. The sword is a two handed sword although the orc is wielding it with one hand. It is flashy and ornate, definitely something a human would carry, like a knight or a noble.