Floor 12

The Kitsune Frontlines

We had left the house before any of the kitsune could bother us. When we reached the portal we moved on to the eleventh floor, at which point I hurried Kuzu along to the next portal. While it had been the original frontline between the kitsune and orcs, according to Niran the eleventh floor had changed to a simple farmland. The weather was consistently kind, and the soil was extremely rich, so the kitsune had an easy source of vegetables and fruits.

While we passed through the eleventh floor we were left alone, a fact I was thankful for. Given the natural animosity they seemed to have for Elves I’d expected a few of them to pick fights with me. I could only assume it was thanks to Kuzu’s presence that they kept their distance.

When we arrived on the twelfth floor I immediately dropped into a battle ready stance, sword at the ready while my other hand gripped the Flagra. As it had been on previous floors our arrival point was in a wide glade in a forest, though this floor had a lot of larger rocks that protruded up out of the ground at odd angles.

Kuzu had stood there, her form relaxed and her awareness poor. It was a habit she had developed from the earlier floors, one that her friends had shared. I dipped low and swung my leg into Kuzu’s own to knock her over. The most she could do was make an odd squeak before she hit the ground.

“Ow! Why’d you do that!” she cried out.

“If you’re traveling with me you’re going to learn how to act properly,” I said, “and the first lesson is when we transfer always expect an ambush.”

Kuzu grumbled as she stood up, brushing some of the dirt off of her. She pulled her tail around to the front and picked out some of the pebbles that’d ended up in it, scowling at me.

I reached up and adjusted my glasses, the information that was being presented in real time drawn from a combination of the watch and the labyrinth itself. A compass was visible to me, and it pointed off to my right.

“We should be mostly alright, Niran told me that the kitsune still have the exit locked down,” I informed Kuzu, “but if we do run into an orc don’t do anything.”

“Alright,” Kuzu answered with a cold tone.

Once she was done with her preening I led the way, moving at a quick pace that she struggled to keep up with. She complained the entire time, acting as though I was being a horrible person, but I had no plan to be gentle with her. If I was lax in preparing her for the higher floors she’d die long before we reached the garden.

After a couple of hours I came to a stop in a nice wooded area, the light foliage that barely kept out the sunlight a pleasant combination of red, orange, and yellow. The grass grew low and thin, while numerous smaller birds happily hopped about while they pecked at bugs or seeds on the ground.

"It’s a beautiful forest," Kuzu commented as she leaned against a tree. "Are the deeper floors like this too?"

"No. Some are prettier, some are scarier, some simply kill you for looking," was my response. "Don't worry though. We won't reach those floors anytime in the next few years."

Kuzu looked at me sharply, then sniffed a bit. “For looking? Like I just open my eyes and I die?”

“Yes.”

“Come on, that’s stupid,” Kuzu said, “how are you even supposed to know not to look?”

“Don’t worry, the Goddess made sure to keep the arrival point safe.”

“Theo-,” Kuzu started to say, but then stopped and instead said, “Fenix, exactly how far do we need to go?”

“All the way.”

Before Kuzu could ask any more questions we heard a loud crashing sound in the distance. Our vision was blocked by the trees that littered the twelfth floor, but I could easily recognize the sound of a tree falling. The distinct noise it made was one of those unforgettable sounds.

“Put your claws away, don’t pull them out and don’t do anything at all,” I warned Kuzu, “and don’t argue with me. I won’t let anything happen to you, so trust me.”

“I do trust you!” Kuzu tucked her claws into the pack she’d brought along with her, though the worry on her face was easy to see. “What’s happening?”

I pulled free the light sword from my scabbard and rested the flat of the blade against my shoulder. “We’ve got some visitors.”

From out of the treeline three figures emerged that were easily well over my height. Their arms were nothing short of excessively muscled, and scars from numerous fights covered every bare spot. The skin color of the orcs was a light green, while the skin itself was toughened by combat and weather.

Each of the orcs wore basic leather armor that covered their groins, chests and stomach. The rest of their bodies were completely bare, not even footwear utilized. Their faces looked similar to a hybrid of humans and pigs, while tusks curved up out of their lower lips.

One of the orcs in the back held a trunk of a tree, the length of it having been trimmed of any excessive branches already. He had an ax on a loop at his waist and showed no sign of going for the weapon. The orc that was next to him had no weapon, nor did he make any sign of aggression.

The orc in the front hefted a large misshapen sword that could be mistaken for a cleaver. He tucked the blunt side up against his shoulder, as though mirroring my own stance. When he saw Kuzu he began to grin wide, but it was my ears that made that grin turn into a loud laugh.

The three orcs began to talk in their guttural language, chattering back and forth while every so often clacking their teeth loudly. Finally they reached an agreement and the other two moved further back, while their leader strode forward and stood ten feet in front of me.

“As beautiful as a cow’s rear, aren’t you?” I asked in the tongue of the orcs.

The fact that I knew their language brought another laugh, as the orc leader waved his hand in the direction of Kuzu. “Not as ugly as your fox girl. Do you dare stand against me and mine if we choose to hunt the fox?”

“Any follower of the Moon will be met by my blade. Do you have the courage to face me, or will your pack show wisdom and leave?”

One of the orcs in the back grew irritated at that and started to approach us, but the leader gave a quick look over his shoulder. While this all happened Kuzu watched on, confused as she had no idea what we were saying.

“An Elf thinks he can challenge an orc?” the leader asked of me.

"An elf thinks he can follow proper etiquette and inform you that you will not live, if you cross swords with me."

The orcs all laughed at that, a loud guttural noise which caused the nearby trees to shudder. We could hear nearby the sound of numerous birds taking flight, while any landbound animals took off running. "Then will you be orc enough to take the test?"

"Only if you're Elf enough to not die," I responded with a large grin on my face, "Kuzu, don't get involved and don't draw your weapon."

"Don’t you want my help killing the orcs?" Kuzu asked in confusion.

"Orcs aren't always trash, some can be useful," I informed her as I stepped forward.

The orc leader and I both discarded our weapons to the ground. I made no move to grab the pistol on my hip, as the orcs would consider it a weapon of a cheater. Even the magic that I had engraved into my body wouldn’t be used since the orcs would respond poorly to it.

Instead I lifted my fists up and took a simplistic boxing stance. The orc did the same, his grin all the wider as he watched me with extreme interest. It was probably the first time he’d ever been challenged by a non-orc to a proper duel.

The orc made the first move, a habit that most orcs had due to their aggressive nature. He jabbed his left fist in at my face, a move that prompted me to sway my upper body out of the way. The fist itself was massive, large enough to be equal to my own head, and if the blow had landed the duel would’ve already been over.

While he withdrew his fist, I stepped in close and low to try and make it harder for him to attack. I threw a quick punch to the jaw, one that hurt my hand the instant the blow landed. He grunted in response to the blow, as he barely noticed the impact, and tried to drive his left elbow down on my head.

I made a step to the left even while I began to drive quick punches into his right side, attacks that resulted in almost no damage. The orc chortled at me as he chopped his right hand at my own right shoulder.

I abandoned my attempt to punch the orc into submission, and instead I shifted over to a grappling style. I caught that right hand and turned around, stepping forward at the same time. With my backside almost up against the orc I drew the taller orc forward and off center, and before he knew what had happened he was on the ground in front of me.

I capitalized on his confusion by putting my entire weight into the next attack. While he stared up at the sky from his backside I fell onto his neck elbow first. The strike hit into the side of his neck and his only response could be to squeal in pain.

“Does the Blood yield to his better?” I asked of the orc, still ready to continue fighting.

What he replied with was an unintelligent gargle of pure animalistic noise. For a moment I thought he was about to start spitting blood, something I’d personally prefer to not have to deal with, but instead he grew quiet and rubbed at his neck.

“The Elf is a true warrior,” the orc finally growled.

I turned my back to the orc and walked over to the weapons that we’d discarded, picking up both of them. My sword went into the scabbard as I walked back over to the orc.

“Your weapon, and a good fight.” I offered the cleaver to the orc, but not my hand to help him stand up. “My request as victor is free passage for the fox girl and I.”

The orc snorted at that request. “If that is all this warrior of the Moon has no problems agreeing.”

"Kuzu,” I called out to her at long last, “we’re leaving.”

Kuzu stared at me in confusion. When I began to walk away from her and the orcs she chased after me, though she kept a lot of space between her and the orcs.

After we’d moved on deeper into the forest she finally spoke up, “Why’d they let us go?”

“Orc society puts a lot of stock into fighting prowess and honor,” I told her, “they respect anyone who can win a contest of strength.”

“That’s why you gotta pop them in the face real hard!” Lisa exclaimed from the watch, before she started to giggle.

“So now they’ll all leave us alone?”

I brought our walk to a stop and turned to face Kuzu. “No, only the pack that that orc is in charge of will leave us alone. If we run into any other orcs I’ll have to do the same thing again.”

“So how can we make it so the orcs stop attacking us?”

“The only way would be to do what...Theodore did back when the orcs went to war with the kitsune. He punched his way to their capital and beat all of their chiefs, and made them all swear to never launch a full invasion again.”

Kuzu’s right ear twitched at that. “Then why are they still invading the kitsune territory and fighting them?”

“War isn’t the same as hunting. The orcs will never give up the joy of a good fight.” I looked up toward the sky and tried to figure out where the sun was through the foliage. “Lisa, can you estimate how long until floor thirteens night cycle starts?”

“I think it’d be around seven hours, daddy.”

Meanwhile Kuzu had been deep in thought, and she raised up one hand to get my attention. “But what if you’re like a crazy murderer guy? Like you’re the worst person in the world. They’ll just ignore that if you beat them in a fight?”

“First you’d need to get the orcs to agree to a duel, that’s why I had my sword how I did,” I told her, “but even then the orcs can decide to ignore that if they don’t like you. If you’re scum, like a person who kills children or unarmed people for no reason, an orc will normally ignore your duel request.”

Kuzu nodded her head, while her tail twitched back and forth gently. "So me not moving and not having a weapon was to make sure they fought the duel?"

"That’s right, orcs rarely attack unarmed people. They think it’s rude to kill anyone who can’t protect themselves. If they know you’re ducking a fight out of cowardice it might backfire though."

"So why didn't you put your sword away and walk by them?"

"If the leader has his weapon already drawn it means he’s looking for a fight.” I took my sunglasses off and rubbed at my eyes. "Are you going to ask me for details about everything from now on? It's going to get tedious really fast."

"I'm sorry, I just want to know what you know so I can help out!" Kuzu said with a hint of steel.

"I can help with that!" Lisa exclaimed from the watch, "I can show you stuff to read on the glasses when daddy doesn’t need them! That way you can read up and get super smart!”

Kuzu looked like she was about to say something, and then she blushed a little and muttered toward the ground, “I can’t read.”

It was a bit rude on my part but I chuckled at that. “Of course you can’t.”

“It’s not my fault!” Kuzu said while at the same time Lisa yelled, “daddy don’t be mean!”

“Alright, I’m sorry,” I apologized to Kuzu, “but we should get to the portal before some more orcs pop up.”

With that we began to walk once more toward the exit, though I made certain to lend my sunglasses to Kuzu. As we moved through the forest Lisa talked to her through the watch, teaching her the basics of reading the human language.

When we arrived at the kitsune base the initial response was hostile, as I was an Elf. It was only when I mentioned the name Niran and that I was under his skulks protection that they backed off. One of them proposed heading back to the eleventh floor to check on what I said, but none of them wanted to wander back through the forest and deal with any more orcs.

The base itself was a simple camp, similar to the one on the ninth floor. That meant whenever the portal shifted the kitsune had to relocate it, set up their camp again, and deal with any orc infestation at the spot.

I wanted to ask the kitsune about their interactions with the orcs, but the glares I received dissuaded me of that idea. Instead I settled down in a corner of their camp along with Kuzu.

“Why aren’t we going?” Kuzu asked after we’d been sitting there for an hour.

I glanced at my watch. “We’re waiting for nightfall on the next floor.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to take a nap, if you pay attention to Lisa you’ll find out why,” I bluntly told her. Before she could even respond I had already closed my eyes.

While I fell asleep the sound of Lisa talking to Kuzu was my only comfort. Her voice bubbled with excitement at the idea of teaching Kuzu, and every time she got something right Lisa would cheer for her. It proved a bit difficult to nap with all that noise going on, but for some reason I didn’t mind it.