"Roy, how's the others?"

"Let me drink first. I'm thirsty."

I found the girls by the lake. They are resting here like I told them to. And there's one more thing that they do other than resting. Angela is making barrel using ice magic while Kayla and Sophie both filling them with water from the lake.

I put my head into the lake and drink it directly. The water taste delicious. I think I drank two liters already.

After I finished drinking, I looked at the girls who still filling the ice container with water.

"That's a good idea. You're planning to give them to the others, right?"

"We can't just rest here without doing anything after all. It was Kayla's idea. Although it took some time for me to finally build the barrel using Ice magic. I only made three of them."

"I guess your magic control has improved again. Normally, no one would want to make something like a barrel using their magic. But it's useful as well to train their magic control. People were just stupidly thinking of using magic for battle. So most of them lacking in control. I guess that's why Kron's Cyclone and Ice Spike combo, although powerful, still can't finish all the orcs. Some of them still alive when the Orc Emperor cancelled his magic. But they have fallen to their death so it's okay."

"Yeah. I started to think that magic control is really helpful in making my attack magic more powerful. I used to hate this kind of training, but from now, I will diligently practice it."

"Great. You two need to learn magic control as well. As for the ice barrels, I can only carry two of them. Who will carry the last one?"

"…"

"…"

"…I guess that one is useless. So? How's the other side?"

Angela asked me after decided to destroy the last barrel. Sophie and Kayla now only need to fill two of them.

"They are doing well. Everyone now has reunited with Kron and helping him. That Orc Emperor is stronger than we thought. Even Kron is looking tired now. But that orc seems to still hide its true strength. Well… we're doomed I guess."

"But you have a plan, right? You always have a plan."

Kayla looked at me and says so. What does she think I am? But she's right though.

"Well, for now we will support them. I'll carry the barrels to them. Kayla is needed for her healing magic. Although it's weak, Sophie's lighting magic could be useful. As for Angela…"

"I'll think of something."

"She'll think of something herself. Let's go."

"Wait!"

Now a new voice was heard. Victoria finally revealed herself. In a blob form.

"I don't know what you're planning but I'll tell you what I know about Orc Emperor first."

"Great! I can adjust my plan to it then."

"No. it's not that great. First thing first, that Orc Emperor is much bigger than the Orc Emperor in my era. They are supposed to be around 160cm tall with the strength equal to two Orc Generals, and one Orc Wizard. This one is about 180 cm and its magic is more powerful than two Orc Wizards combined."

"You mean… that Orc Emperor is a mutated monster?"

"Possibly. I can only tell you about the Orc Emperor that I know. Whether it's similar to this one, I don't know yet. But it should be good enough to learn about it."

I was shocked to hear about a normal Orc Emperor she learned in the past, and some of her explanation is different than this mutated Orc Emperor.

Like she said, an average Orc Emperor has the strength of two Orc General, and magic power of one Orc Wizard. That should have been the case. But this one has magic more powerful than two Orc Wizards. No wonder Kron can't defeat it.

I can see from here that the battle isn't progressing well. Everyone has arrived and helping Kron, but most of them already exhausted. To be able to fight against this much hunters is unbelievable.

Worse, we still don't know how strong it is. I already have some difficulty against one Orc General, but if it has the strength of two Orc Generals, it's much more troublesome. Furthermore, if that thing has mutated and has more strength, I can only imagine how strong it is.

In the past, only Aura user with strengthening ability would dare to fight them directly. As for mage, only those who at least an Expert level mage have confident in killing it. Advanced level mage can kill it, but if they're in a group. A long time has passed, and even advanced level mage in this time, is much weaker than advanced level mage in the past. Even more so, that Orc Emperor is a mutated monster. I feel like all my plans is useless against it.

"What's their weakness?"

"I don't know. In the past, they were easily defeated by overpowering them. No one tried to find its weaknesses."

Damn. Mages and Aura users in the past are too overpowered. They are like 'To hell with weaknesses! Just use an even stronger power!'

How can we defeat this thing?

At least if I could discuss it with everyone, it might be doable. There's a strength in number.

"That's all you know?"

"Yes."

"Then for now, let's go over there and help everyone. They all needed some rest, so my plan is to stall for time while Kron and the other is resting. You three will ask if anyone has powerful magic they haven't shown yet. Once they rested, those with special move will use their strongest attack on the monster. While stalling for time, I will also make the air thinner within the area of that monster. Maybe it will help just a little. And if there is someone whose special move is fire magic, I could change the air properties into an extremely flammable one. If that doesn't work, we're doomed."

"Oh right! Distraction! I heard that Orc Emperor is an intelligent monster. They will target the most troublesome one first. But sometime, their instinct is stronger than their intellect. Orc Emperor is a monster that likes to compete in strength. You're the perfect partner for that monster to dance with."

"That's nice. I can be the most troublesome person in the world. And I believe I'm a good dancer. Let's go!"

As we were about to go over there, the situation got worse.

Four parties decided to escape! Now there's only Kron, and two other parties fighting the Orc Emperor. They decided to stay is praiseworthy. One of them is the party that I helped. I don't know if they decided to stay because they were too tired or because they want to protect the city. Whatever the case, they decided to stay and fight. We have to go over there quickly.

"Four parties are leaving. Our chance to win is getting lower and lower."

"They are leaving? Do they not care about what will happen if we left it alive?"

"Well, the good part is that they return to where they come from. Which mean they can help the defending team from the orcs army. I hope the defending team is doing fine."

"I hope so. We saw more than a hundred orcs attacking the city. Although we defeated their reinforcement, there are not many strong hunter left in the city. I hope the hunters that escaped here will help protect the city."

We can just hope. For now, we will concentrate on killing the Orc Emperor.

As soon as we arrived, we saw Kron is using Ice Wall to protect everyone from the Orc Emperor's club swing. The Ice Wall from an Advanced level ice element mage can't hold it and it broke on contact. But enough to buy time for everyone to escape.

They escaped to our direction, so I just told them to rest.

"You guys rest first. I will distract that monster as long as possible. While you're resting, Kayla will tell you the plan."

As I was about to leave them, Kron grabbed my arm and stop me.

"Are you planning to die? What can you do alone anyway?"

I guess he's really worried about me. It's nice to see someone is worried about me. Angela, Kayla, and Sophie are already accustomed with me that they think everything will be alright when I'm doing something. Well, Sophie still look worried, but she held back her emotion. Angela and Kayla keep consoling her on the way here that I will be okay.

As for Kron, we just met yesterday. He's really a kind man. I won't let him or anyone here to die. Not on my watch.

So I just calmly tell Kron that I'll be fine.

"Don't worry. I'm a clown. I can entertain anyone. Even an Orc Emperor. All of you will discuss the plan while Kayla heal you. We also brought some water. As for me, I will keep it busy as long as possible."

"Okay. Don't die, Clarence!"

He called me Clarence instead of Roy. I guess I can show him what a great clown I truly am. Although I have only been a clown for one night.