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Darhiel POV:

as we waited with grandma for the group to be ready to move forward again, I could tell she was worried because she couldn't calculate how much time was left. The army of orcs moved through the silent darkness, our only advantage was the daylight but something impossible to take advantage of with a group of civilians with marches of 4 hours maximum.

With a little more than half an hour we could get moving again, we walked the natural paths of the forest, with the moon giving its last reddish glimpses something that is good news, the bad news is that we are in a lush forest with enough cover for the orcs.

There were no wolves howling in this mountainous region, but a wind began to blow through the forest. The icy wind seemed to blow through the branches as if they were made of smoke, and everyone shivered from the cold that crept up behind them. It was a common occurrence as they had never spent the night in the wild, and the unfamiliar surroundings in this foggy forest made them nervous. Every shadow that moved was like a terrifying monster to them.

"I bet I won't do anything but sleep once we can run away."

"Yes, I hope we can have a home as comforting as the last one again."

"It'll be even better my love, we'll get to a good place won't we grandma?".

"Shut up Jack!" interrupted a man, he looked scared that they might be overheard in the forest. Although they tried to keep their voices low, each sentence was uttered by the echo of the forest.

They were too tired.

The rest was not long but it was a long time. It was their high tension that prevented proper rest and it was something akin to torture. They traveled through the forest under the dim starlight with immense pressure from the life-and-death situations that could occur at any moment. It was so dark that they could not see their own fingers properly, and the only thing that accompanied them were the sounds of flying insects and the occasional hooting of owls in the forest.

The argument between them was just one more solution to these growing fears that tortured them on their journey.

They moved through endless trees in the dark with a somber mood in them, and it was as if silent spirits were hovering over them all. The cold atmosphere made them even tenser.

It was always an unknown mystery what lay behind the dense vegetation, and the bedtime stories depicting monsters on the mountain did not help at all.

But a single voice calmed them.

"Stay calm. soon it will be dawn and the fog will diminish, there is not long left until we get out of the forest and can rest in conditions, we can discuss everything we want to do when we actually get there" pronounced the grandma in a calm voice, without even looking back.

And as a weight to her words, the sun finally came out. The first ray of light hit the ground to indicate that morning was here, and it seemed to pass like a flash of lightning relief, they felt safe from the enemies.

When it finally dawned and the cold atmosphere finally disappeared, everyone seemed to have been blown out of the water. Their faces were pale with damp sweat on their foreheads. Even I was no exception. In the past, I would obviously be used to such an environment, but now my routine in this life had been away from wars and living in a peaceful land, but now I was slowly returning with more weight than I was used to.

Relief that I could not enjoy for long, as a notification occupied my thoughts.

[XP: +20

You level up

+1 stat point]

Darhiel (level 2- XP: 10/50)

Race: human (elf 36.5%,????)

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Vitality: 15 I Strength: 11 I Agility: 10 I

Mana: 9 I Stamina: 18 I Intelligence: 34 I Wisdom: 21 I

[1 SP]

That confirmed several things, first I could only level up by killing thinking creatures or those that represent a threat, second any action I do to kill is counted as valid and finally that we are being followed by a group of orcs.

"We must hurry, the orcs can advance even if it is daylight in this lush forest and although we carry distance they are beasts that have a very good sense of smell and can easily track a group like ours" I urged them, with the aim that their recent relief did not cause a slowdown in pace.

[XP: +20]

"It's true, it's not long until we are out of the forest, once we are out, we can relax and rest in the safety that the sun provides" This time it wasn't the grandmother, but a man who although I don't recognize has been quiet and cooperative all the way, only until recently did I know his name; Dalos.

We continued at a hectic pace and reached an area where the vegetation seemed to thin out.

Soon I heard the sound of water lapping against the rocks, I followed the sound and looked up at the group, and the surface of the landscape changed completely, with the reflection of the light entering my eyes.

A river.

It was like a dazzling emerald that stood here with the surface shimmering amidst trees and mountains.

"Look, it's a river!" A woman shouted in surprise.

"It must be a small outflow of the Anduin river that crosses through the mountains, but right now it's just bad news, we must cross it to get to the gap" with the grandma's words, the concern became noticeable.

[XP: +20

You level up

+1 stat point]

They were getting closer and closer, I did not set many traps and very few of them were deadly, we were just over an hour ahead of them.

The problem was the river, it didn't look like a very deep river and it wasn't too wide, only that most people wouldn't know how to swim and any weight or load would be lost in the crossing.

"come on, we must find some point where we can cross."

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Tolfo POV:

At last, I would have the opportunity to prove my worth and the best of all was that it would be with a simple mission, or so I thought, but although the trail was strong, the stupid humans had been careful, traps and false trails, was what we found every time we thought they were close, some filled with poison that although it did not kill immediately as it had already done with 3 of ours if it had made useless their bodies.

I could do nothing but leave them to their fate, taking them would only delay us even more and there were still 40 of us, enough to accomplish the mission.

"We are close, their trail is getting stronger, catch up with them before they make it out of the forest, if we delay one more day, Madar will kill us."

"We don't have to fear him, we can assassinate him whenever we want."

"Yes!"

"Exactly, we shouldn't obey him either, we should murder all humans for what they did to us."

"Stupid, I do not fear Madar, I fear his father, right hand of the dark lord, now just do what he says until it is our time to be at the side of our lord" Although in something if they were right, kill the humans.