"I can't. How am I supposed to kill two Orks?", whispered Bao.

Elincias silk-like hands pressed him further against the tree, behind which they were hiding.

"We have no other choice; they are heading right towards our camp." The elf pointed her finger towards a faint light at the end of the forest. "Morell and the others wouldn't have any problems to deal with them, but if the Orks are able to surprise them, there will be at least one or two victims before they can subdue them."

"And we have no way to inform them," added Bao, still whispering. "But that doesn't change the fact that I won't last five seconds against both of them."

"Didn't Morell teach you to use your brain in a fight? Your abilities should be good enough by now to take down one of them with a single sneak attack, then you'll have to fight the other one. Just remember what I said before about your willpower and you can do this, now go." She gave him a light push on the back so that he tripped out of their cover.

The two Orks didn't seem to have noticed him and continued their path towards the faint voices in the distance. Invisible hands took control over his legs as soon as he activated his sneak skill, a feeling he was more than familiar by now. With the speed of a slug, he moved towards the Ork tagging behind. Just the thought that the monster could suddenly turn around, made him try to walk faster, despite the skill binds around his legs and to his surprise, the chains restricting him gave in. Freed from them his foot became independent and made a huge leap forward where it landed on a dry stick.

All three of them flinched at the cracking sound and both Orks immediately turned around to find the source of the noise but it was already too late for one of them. Bao was near enough and activated his backstab skill. With high velocity, the invisible hands launched him forward, with his sword pointed toward the green-ish back. All of his weight pressed the tip of his sword through the thick skin, deep into his body and organs. To make as much damage as possible he mustered up all of the strength he had left and ripped out the sword to the side, nearly cleaving the monster in half. A stream of blood poured out of the hole he created and coloured the foliage on the ground in a deep, dark red.

Not even a single sound left its mouth when falling to the ground and spilling its insides all over the rich earth.

Without a care for his teammate, the other Ork charged at full speed towards Bao, who avoided the reckless attack by rotating to the left like a whirlwind and simultaneously cut the monster. The small scratch he dealt to it wasn't even bleeding, and yet it was enough to kindle flames of rage inside its eyes. A deep roar, loud enough to scare away all the birds in the surrounding, confirmed his fear. The monster drew a rusty, self-made sword from its back before it began to swing it in his direction, cleaving through grass and bushes without any specific target or attack pattern. With the fighting style of a wild animal, Bao had difficulties avoiding every single attack, receiving countless wounds over his whole body.

HP [60/70]

He jump to the right, blocked an attack from above with his sword just to get hit in the hip by a branch the Ork had picked up.

HP [50/70]

Distracted by the pain he lowered his guard and couldn't avoid the bladestorm.

HP [46/70]

HP [39/70]

Even if Bao was just blocking and avoiding attacks as good as possible, the Ork didn't show any signs of getting tired while he had been panting and gasping for air for quite a while by now. Cuts in the barks of the nearby trees were proof of the strength of a single Ork.

HP [30/70]

Blood ran out of every single wound on his body flowing together into one giant river. The pain in his arms and legs became duller as the fight dragged on.

But in the end, even the Ork couldn't continue with its destructive massacre and it got exhausted to the point where it couldn't even hold up its sword anymore. With the weapon down on the ground and the mouth wide open gasping for fresh air, Bao took the chance to go for a final attack with all the energy he had left inside of him.

He swung his arm through the air, so that the blood on it flew on the Orks face, blinding it for a brief moment. Brief enough at least, for him to ram his sword deep into the abdomen of his opponent and while it roared in pain, to take the dagger from his belt and drive it through its skull.

The rustling leaves on the ground announced the end of the fight. Both lied on the ground, Bao exhausted and the Ork dead, in its own blood.

"Bao! Keep it together I will heal you right now, so just hold on," Elincia came rushing towards him her eyes spread wide open.

"What happened to your normal calm attitude, holy maiden, this is not like you." Bao coughed up a puddle of blood, immediately followed by a worried shout of Elincia. "It's not like I'm going to die just because of this, after all, I've had worse wounds." A tired smirk formed itself on his face

"I said you should stop acting so reckless David! Every time you get into a fight you end up a mess and I'm the one then who needs to patch you back up."

"She's right. What if new enemies appeared while you are incapacitated? The holy maiden would be defenceless." Morell appeared on her side, his giant greatsword in one hand. "These are wild Orks, huh, but we still haven't reached the frontier yet, just what are they doing this south of their territory."

"The frontier?"

"Ah, I forgot, you come from the land so you probably don't know about it. The frontier separates the southern part of the continent, where the civilized races live, from the north part which is filled with unknown territories yet to claim and wild monsters never seen before. The southern part was once too untamed wilderness, that's why there are still monsters like the goblins who roam around freely." Morell crouched down and grimaced his face when seeing all the blood and wounds. "Where our civilized lands meet the northern wilderness lies the frontier our destination."