Chapter < 2 >

Ting! Ting!

Swoosh!

One of the women was fighting an orc whilst the other was lying on the ground with her hand on her hip. She was bleeding and her injury was deep. It had completely incapacitated her.

Four of the orcs formed an encirclement while the fifth orc crossed blades with the woman. Donned in golden armour, that fifth orc seemed to be their leader. He didn't seem burdened or flustered at all as he defended against her attacks and looked for an opening to suppress her. Although he wasn't burdened, he didn't underestimate her and kept his focus sharp.

Ting! Ting!

They exchanged a flurry of attacks before both launching a powerful strike at each other.

Ting!

After a hard collision between sword and daggers, the duo separated. The woman leapt back to stand close to her companion and the orc lowered his sword as he stood imposingly.

"My my, not bad, not bad at all. Who would have thought that you're not only beautiful but quite skilled as well." The orc complimented cheerfully. "I admire your beauty and your talent, from the bottom of my heart. More than that, I want to take you as my wife." He suddenly proposed.

Although it was out of the blue, he seemed sincere with his words.

The woman didn't have much of a change in expression. She only glared coldly at the orc as she held her daggers before her chest and stood before her companion. She was waiting for the next barrage of attacks to begin.

"If you agree to my condition, I'll let your companion go and even call off my men in pursuit of the others." The orc continued with his proposal.

"Lord Morak are you ..." One of the four orcs attempted to dissuade him but was cut short by a wave of his hand.

The woman seemed to consider his words for a brief moment. However the look vanished in the blink of an eye. It was hard to ascertain whether she was considering his offer or had contemplated something else. She continued to glare at him in the same cold manner.

"I'm assuming you're refusing the opportunity to save the lives of your friends?" Morak asked in a displeased tone. It was apparent that he was unhappy that the woman didn't agree with his offer.

"And what if I am." The woman replied. "Do you think I'm scared of you, or death for that matter?"

"Ugh." It was then that the woman on the ground let out a weak moan as her breathing became forced. She was growing weaker and weaker as time went by. It wouldn't be long before she lost consciousness.

Morak chuckled joyfully. "You may not fear death, but the companion you're trying to protect is unwillingly at the gate of death. It will be your stubbornness that caused her to die." He said as he lowered his gaze. "If you accept my proposal I'll give her the antidote right away. Well?"

The woman also looked at her companion, a difficult expression appeared on her face. It was a mix of helplessness, unwillingness and sorrow. She seemed to carefully consider her options before a determined look appeared in her eyes. Following that, she dropped the two daggers in her hand and clasped her palms together. However, before she could do anything, a voice called out from the distance.

"Wow, it takes five big and strong orcs to subdue two women? Never would I have thought such beasts of men would be so weak." Craig taunted as he approached the crowd. He was intentionally insulting them to draw their ire upon him, along with their attention.

"Surround and kill him!" Morak ordered after taking a quick glance at Craig. He then turned his gaze back to the two women to ensure they wouldn't be able to escape. He didn't put Craig in his eyes at all, as if he had already seen his gruesome death by the hands of his companions.

The woman looked in Craig's direction with a curious gaze. "Why would a human involve himself in this?" She thought.

The four orcs surrounded Craig and glared at him fiercely. Two of them held Maces as their weapon, one had a ball and chain and the last one held a spiked club.

"You should learn to mind your business!" The orc with the club shouted. "Remember this in your next life!" He then dashed forward and raised his club with the intention to pummel Craig on the head and kill him instantly.

Shwing!

"Ack." As a squeal escaped his mouth, he dropped the club and grabbed his stomach, wincing in pain.

It was Craig who had sliced horizontally in the blink of an eye. He had immobilised his enemy with a single strike. Of course, this didn't mean he was the ultimate swordsman, don't get your hopes up. The orc's attack was simply too crude and filled with flaws. He left himself wide open.

On top of that, the four of them weren't wearing much armour. Only their shoulders and upper torso was covered in silver armour. The rest of their body was only covered in brown leather clothing.

"Kill him!" As he winced in pain the Orc shouted to his companions, snapping them out of their daze.

The three of them pounced on Craig simultaneously in an attempt to overpower him. They were in a hurry and didn't carefully plan a method of attack thus leaving themselves wide open.

"Pwack!"

Craig pierced his sword into one of the orcs that held a mace and kicked him to the ground. Then he spun around, dodging the attack from the other mace holder.

He then threw a dagger which pierced into the foot of the mace holder, causing him to shout and hop around on one leg as he held the injured foot up in the air.

The Orc with the ball and chain launched an attack at Craig by spinning himself around with his weapon. It created a small burst of wind that blew a large amount of leaves away, creating a clean circle on the leafy ground.

As Craig was already moving toward the hopping Orc, he quickened his pace and ran up the orc's body with two steps, using the second step launch himself over the incoming attack.

Bang!

Due to the momentum of the force, the spinning orc rammed into his own ally knocking him unconscious. The collision brought his spinning attack to a stop. Seeing that Craig had made him attack his own teammate, he grew furious and turned around in rage to settle the score with him. However, before he could even see Craig his vision went dark.

Bang!

Craig had used the spiked club from the other Orc to bash him over the head. He also knocked out the first orc who was lying on the ground groaning in pain as he held his innards inside.

After dealing with the four orcs, Craig suddenly stumbled backward a few steps and also almost fell to the side. Apparently the effect of the wine was getting stronger and stronger. It was getting much harder to focus as the drunkenness kicked in. "Maybe I should have thought the whole wine thing through a bit more." He thought.

Morak was still attempting to persuade the woman but finally turned around after hearing the battle coming to a stop. Contrary to his expectations, his men were lying on the ground and Craig was still standing... well he was attempting to remain standing.

"Four idiots." Morak said helplessly as he shook his head. He then drew another sword from his back, making him a wielder of two swords at the moment. "You're quite skilled. Now that I've taken a good look at you, I remember you, thief. You attempted to rob us the other day but was captured instead. I must say, your balls must come from a rhino. Even I know fear but it would seem you do not."

Hearing Morak's praise Craig smiled brightly. "Thank you, I do have some huge balls. They're really heavy and quite a burden at that." He replied jokingly.

"Haha!" Morak burst out in laughter. "I like your character. Even in the face of death you can still make jokes." He said. Then his expression suddenly turned serious. "It's a pity, we could have become friends but we're already enemies instead. I will make your death quick out of respect for your character."

"Oh?" Craig took a crouching stance and pointed his sword at Morak.

On the opposite side, the woman picked up her two daggers and took a stance as well. With Craig's help, she now stood a better chance against her opponent. At least, that was what she was thinking.

Morak tilted his head to the side as if he could see behind him. "An elf and a human. Interesting combination. Let me see how well you can work together then?" After saying this, a red transparent mist shrouded his body like a second skin.

"This is orcan bloodline power. He's an orc noble?" Craig thought as he looked at the state Morak was now in.

On the opposite side, a pensive look appeared in the woman's eyes. "Berserker rage. So he's from an orcan noble family. No wonder he's such a difficult opponent." She thought.

Whoosh!

Morak suddenly dashed toward Craig and in almost a split second he had already arrived before him with both swords barrelling down upon him.

"Shit!" Craig was caught unprepared as his mind was rather slow under the effects of the wine. He Brought up his sword just in time to defend.

Bang!

The force from the attack sent Craig flying back several metres, knocking him into a tree. He collapsed to the ground on all fours, feeling dizzy with blurred vision. He could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears which was also ringing at the same time. "So strong!" He thought as he struggled to stay awake. After a short moment, he collapsed and fell unconscious.

Seeing the state Craig was left in after a single attack, the woman's expression turned grave. She now understood that Morak was just playing around with her before. He was more than powerful enough to suppress her. Of course that's assuming that she didn't have any tricks up her sleeve. But if she did...

Morak turned around and cast his gaze at the woman as he took one step at a time toward her. He no longer paid any attention to Craig. "My lovely, if you agree to marry me I'm more than willing to keep my word. I'll do exactly as I said before. But if you refuse me again, you'll wish you were dead. I am a kind person until I'm no longer, a kind person." He explained as he approached her.

He was rather patient with her, after all, he truly did not want to hurt her. It seemed as if he had truly fallen in love with her like he said.

"No matter what conditions you propose, I will never agree to them. If you want to fight then bring it on. I won't be a carrot on a chopping board for you." After saying these words the woman dropped the two daggers and placed her palms together, then she separated them by facing one up and one down. Following that action, a blue glow radiated from her body. Then a blue transparent bow appeared in her hands and a quiver appeared on her back with ten arrows inside. The quiver and arrows were also blue and transparent.

Morak, who seemed to be unfazed by anything was actually surprised by this. "You're capable of firing ten arrows in Elven Spirit Archery?" He couldn't believe his eyes, and yet it was right before him.

 The Elven Spirit Archery was an ability unique to the elves. Their special constitution allowed them to use their magic to create a bow that could be used to fire off powerful arrows. However this ability was very draining and difficult to use. Also, the amount of arrows in the quiver represented the user's level of achievement. Having three arrows was already considered outstanding. Then what would ten arrows mean?

"Just who are you little lady." Morak asked in a deep contemplative tone. He was certain the woman before him would be very important to the elven kingdom.

"I am the fifth princess of the elves. Princess A'ina." The woman replied.

Morak was stunned. "A princess? Why would a princess be out here all alone facing such danger. Do you take me for a fool?" He didn't believe the words that the woman had spoken. It was simply unbelievable to him. Knowing how precious the Elven princesses were, she could never be one of them. He assumed she was only trying to threaten him with the status of a princess.

Without saying anything else, the woman placed an arrow in her bow in the blink of an eye and aimed it at Morak. Then without the slightest hesitation... She fired.

Pew!

"So fast." Morak quickly reacted and used his two swords to block the arrow.

Bang!

As the arrow struck the intersection between the swords it continued to spin, bringing along with it a force that pushed Morak backwards causing him to skid across the forest floor. After spinning for a moment the arrow disappeared, however,  Morak's hands were trembling from the strain.

Yet before he could react, another arrow had struck the exact same spot.

Bang!

This time he was sent flying as a bloody hole was drilled in his right shoulder. He had actually deflected the arrow at the last second when he realized he couldn't defend against it for much longer. Nonetheless, he was Injured and had used up too much power in the deflection. After falling to the ground he quickly went on all fours but before he could stand up he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Feeling terrified he couldn't help but look at the woman in terror. He was certain she could now take his life. As soon as he looked up however, he only saw her cough out a mouthful of blood before collapsing to her knees. She seemed to also be Injured. But how did that happen?

The bow and the quiver had disappeared along with the blue glow.

"I see. Even if there are ten arrows, she can't fire them all. She can only barely handle two of them for the time being." After these thoughts, Morak finally relaxed a little and collapsed to the ground. He, had passed out.

Coincidentally, it was at this time Craig regained consciousness. As soon as he opened his eyes he quickly stood and looked in the direction of the two women. One was hanging on by a thread whilst the other was heavily injured.

He then noticed Morak lying on the ground a good distance away. He was lying in a puddle of blood without any breath or movement.

Craig walked over to the two women and half knelt beside them. He looked at the self proclaimed princess and asked. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

She shook her head and replied. "If I don't look so good now wait till it kicks in."

"Till what kicks in?" Craig asked.

"The Backlash." She replied weakly as blood flowed down the corners of her mouth.

Seeing the state the woman was in, Craig didn't ask any more questions other than. "Can you walk?"

She nodded affirmatively. "My friend has been poisoned though. At this rate, she won't make it."

"Poisoned? Maybe I can help." He thought. "Are you willing to follow me." He said as he picked up the other woman and placed her on his back.

"Where are you taking us?" The woman asked as she felt slightly unwilling.

"To see a doctor." He replied.

"A human doctor? That won't do, for either of us. You certainly can't help me, as for my friend she's been poisoned with white scorpion venom." She said as she shook her head.

Craig however, just smiled and said. "Just trust me. If you want I can leave the two of you here. Are you able to contact anyone to come to your aid?" He asked.

After a brief moment of silence, the woman actually said no more and actually quietly followed Craig as he led the two of them to an unknown location.