An hour later, I stood on top of a building staring down at the rectangular Roman-like palace in the middle of the city. The tall green fires between the columns illuminated the thick mist, making the already eerie scene feel completely ghastly. With the low light of the cloudy sky and the mist combined, the crumbling building definitely looked haunted.

Regen had done its job. I was completely healed and whole, but my body was still covered in dried black and red blood. Since it wasn’t night yet, my armor Her Resistance hadn’t been restored yet, so it was riddled in cuts and tears. It still gave the same defense buffs, so I was fine, but as usual, I looked like a mess. Kinda sad, considering I just upgraded the armor only hours ago. I’d cleaned my face and hands with wet wipes as much as I could, but I wasn’t going to spare any water to do a better job. Staying hydrated was more important.

There were close to a hundred Red Orcs inside the palace. Much fewer than the last time I was dragged in there. I didn’t want to spend the effort to figure out a reason why. But even these smaller forces still presented a challenge. Charging in there with just my sword wouldn’t work. Killing the Lead Red Orc had given me a boost of confidence, but not enough to take on that many monsters and the Orc King at the same time.

In theory, the reason why the Lead Red Orc had been in his position was because he was the second strongest. So the only S ranked monster in there should be the Orc King since he was the Boss. I just didn’t know the levels of the Red Orcs rallying in the palace. And yes, I’d say rallying. While I was waiting for Regen to finish healing, I had seen several groups of red Orcs hurry back to the palace and not one had exited since. Apparently the mist covering the city, and the fact that they only found broken buildings when they went searching for the Lead Red Orc’s group, really freaked them out.

Now how to settle them as effectively as possible? I needed to save all my MP for the Boss fight. And hopefully I was strong enough to do that. Just taking on the Lead Red Orc, who was a low-level S monster, had been taxing enough.

I tilted my head to the side, looking at the palace with its rows of columns in front. There weren’t any windows on the side that I could remember.

I wonder…

I lifted my hand and created a barrier around the whole palace. Then I flooded the inside with as much Poison Fog as I could.

A loud explosion of angry, alarmed roars rose from inside the building. I couldn’t help but wince as my sensitive ears rang a little.

One particular roar was loudest of all. Just the power behind the howl was enough to shake the building.

A wry smile stretched across my face as my heart did a somersault. That loudest one had to be the Boss. Could Kesstel shake a building with just a roar? I just couldn’t picture him howling like that. I probably shouldn’t think about something like that when I was about to get in a Boss fight alone.

Something very powerful hit the barrier in the back of the palace. The immense pressure of it sent a jolt through my body and lifted the hairs on the back of my neck. My attention focused on that point, and a 3D image of the building popped into my head. I could ‘see’ more than half of the Orcs slowly collapsing to the dirty ground. Whatever their levels were, they were obviously lower than mine and they were affected by the poison a lot faster. Several of the stronger Orcs hit the walls, but couldn’t break through my barrier. Which was a good thing. The longer they were in there, the higher the chance that they would become poisoned.

The Orc King stood on the platform in the back of the throne room, growling up at the ceiling and waving his six foot sword. He had to be the one that attacked my barrier, I’m sure of it. The scantily clad female Orcs were on the ground around his gaudy, abused throne, either affected by my poison or by the backlash of the Orc King’s attack. Either way, the Orc King obviously didn’t care. He held his giant sword and jumped towards the roof above it like an arrow.

Damn, that would break my barrier. I opened a hole in my barrier right in the area where the Orc King was headed. The Boss swung his sword and smashed it right into the ceiling.

An eruption of powdered, dingy white marble and tan tile blew into the air and rained down onto the rest of the ceiling tiles. Inside the cloud of dust, the Orc King landed on the roof and looked in my direction.

I didn’t even flinch as I met his red gaze, although my heart flipped a couple times. He was just as intimidating as the last time I’d seen him. A full head taller than the other Orcs and dressed in a black robe that revealed his massive muscular chest, he still had a thick braid falling from each temple while the rest of his black hair was loose. He held his giant red sword in his beefy hand as if it was light as air.

Even so, I wasn’t going to show how nervous I was, no matter what. Not this time. Instead I closed the hole in my barrier so that other Red Orcs couldn’t get out.

The Orc King didn’t seem to notice. Instead, his lip lifted in a growl. [Witches aren’t allowed in my city. Die.]

A reckless sneer pulled at my lips. “This city belongs to Goddess. You are the ones trespassing. You go and die.”

Holding onto the devil-may-care attitude was the only bluff I could muster to keep my hands from shaking. Even though it was one-on-one right now, the odds were still against me. The Orc King was still seven levels higher than me, and I don’t know if he had any special abilities due to his Boss status.

His ugly, square face twisted in a snarl. He disappeared from where he was standing, the only warning I had.

If I hadn’t had my mist, I wouldn’t have been ready. Even with that cheat, I still barely had my kindjals up in time to block his powerful attack. His sword struck mine with enough force to fling me back, off the building. I flipped over and landed on the side of the building with bent knees. The wall took on the rest of my inertia and cracked nearly in half. In one second, over three hundred of my HP dropped from a blocked attack. Damn.

I Merged with the mist half a second before the Orc King’s sword smashed right where I had been standing. The entire side of the building fell to pieces. I materialized behind the Orc King and slashed at his throat. He jerked to the side and my kindjal sliced across his shoulder. He twisted around to backhand me, but I Warped out of range in the nick of time.

I materialized closer to the palace, since that one hit had knocked me almost a block away. As long as my mist was activated, the barrier shouldn’t dissolve, but I didn’t want to run the risk of the other Orcs getting out.

The Orc Boss followed me like a shooting star. I twisted in the air and cast Enhanced Mirror/Telekinesis at the same time. The Orc King’s huge sword smashed into the two floating kindjals. A jolt of pain twinged in my brain from the encounter, but I refused to falter. Instead, I angled the blades and directed his attack to the side, since going head on against his strength was too much. I still lost a hundred HP, but it left a small opening in his chest when his inertia sent him past me. I sank my right kindjal into his side. His chest was so wide, the tip of the short sword didn’t exit on the other side. The handle was ripped from my hand, and I was spun around as he shot past me.

He roared in pain and landed on a tiled rooftop thirty feet away. His beefy hand reached out and yanked the kindjal from his side, leaving a bleeding, smoking hole. He twisted as if to throw it back, but the kindjal disappeared from his smoking grip. He jolted in shock, then jumped out of the way when the two floating kindjals shot at him. He deflected those and came at me again.

I Merged with the mist a second before his sword smashed down where I was, destroying the whole building. I moved to the side, ready to attack him, but he turned in my direction before I solidified. He could obviously tell my general location when I was Merged with the mist, but he couldn’t seem to pinpoint where I was. Instead, he swung his sword in a general location, which was still dangerous enough that I didn’t reform my body.

[+1550 EXP]

[+1600 EXP]

The windows didn’t pop up in my vision, but I was aware of the added EXP. For a second, I was confused, then I remembered the Orcs I left in the Poison Mist.

The two floating kindjals shot at the Orc King, distracting him enough for me to consolidate my body. Then I activated Feather Step and shot at the Boss, employing Quick Hit. I got several good hits in before the Orc King regained himself enough to send me flying with a punch that took off 1500 HP. I landed on a neighboring rooftop and turned just in time to dodge and counter his attack.

A series of grueling attacks followed in quick succession. Slowly, I was bleeding his HP dry while trying my best to stay out of range of his devastating attacks. I used all my Abilities and Skills as I switched from one style to the next, trying to catch him by surprise enough to land a killing blow. Unfortunately, even my best efforts to get away from his attacks still ended in an HP loss for me.

What helped was the, slow at first but then with more speed, stream of EXP that I got from the Orcs dying in the palace.

[You have Leveled Up!]

The sudden boost of strength and health was much needed. Still, it wasn’t enough to give me the advantage.

The wear and tear of the fight started to affect both me and the Orc King. Still, neither of us was going to give up. All of the buildings around the palace collapsed one by one around the palace, as our fight moved about. No matter how intense the fighting was, I was conscious of directing the majority of the Orc King’s formidable attacks away from the palace. Since I was getting tired, my barrier was becoming compromised. Luckily, the Orcs inside were weak enough that they couldn’t break out yet, but a solid hit from the Boss would most likely break the whole barrier.

[You have Leveled Up!]

“Ha!” I yelled as I kicked off the last remaining wall and shot at the Orc King. My right eye was burning from the blood that leaked into from a nasty cut on my forehead, but it didn’t influence my ability to zero in on the Boss.

He swung his sword, perfectly timed to intercept my attack.

I Warped just before the bloody red metal of his blade touched me. The sudden lack of resistance threw off the Orc King for a second. In that moment, I appeared on his shoulders, ready to take off his head.

He lifted his hand and got his fist in the way just in time.

I gritted my teeth, grabbed my crystal blade with my left hand and tried to force it into his throat. There was so much black and red blood on his bare shoulders that my boots nearly slipped as I used my whole body to brace against his and pull the sword back into me. Into his throat. The huge monster twisted his body around, trying to throw me off him, but I was determined to hang on. The floating kindjals closed in, forcing him to use his sword to defend against them.

His arm shook and slowly my kindjal started to cut into his throat.

The Orc King suddenly threw himself back into the wall twenty feet away.

I wasn’t able to get out of the way fast enough and was smashed between the dingy marble and the Boss. I coughed as all the air was slammed out of my body. At least one rib broke and a metallic bloody taste filled my mouth. A System warning popped up as my HP dropped into the red.

Dimly, I was aware of something breaking. It took me half a second to realize that I’d been thrown right into the city palace. The barrier around the palace shattered into pieces, releasing all the Poison Fog that was kept inside.

The Orc King whipped around with a punch.

I Warped out of the way and appeared thirty feet away, in the middle of the plaza in front of the palace. It was the most intact place in the vicinity. I staggered back a step and stood as straight as I could as another System notification let me know that my MP had also dropped into the red. Every inch of me was bloody or bruised, and I could feel the swelling on my right knee from a series of attacks not long ago.

The Orc King bent over, breathing just as hard as I was. His black robe had been so shredded that the Orc King had discarded it a long time ago, revealing a loin cloth just like the Lead Red Orc’s. The Boss’s red skin was just as covered with cuts as mine, even though his skin was his armor. He was also favoring his right hip from an earlier attack and now his left hand was sporting a large gash from my most recent attack.

His ugly voice distorted in a snarl. [You will … die.] If it wasn’t for the System’s translation, I wouldn’t have even noticed he was saying words.

I puffed a breath, dimly aware of the Orcs starting to move inside the palace. “You first.”

The Orc King’s eyes widened. His dark red pupils suddenly started to glow a bright blue and the ugly expression relaxed on his face.

Surprise jolted through me. What was that? Did the Boss have a berserk stage when his HP got too low? I’d only heard theories, and this was my first time fighting a Boss. It could happen. But right now was bad timing for me to take on a berserked Boss.

[+1650 EXP]

[You have Leveled Up!]

I was shocked again as a new sense of power filled me. My HP and MP grew out of the red into the yellow. A new sense of strength came to my limbs. It wasn’t a lot, but it would be enough to help me last a little bit longer. Just a bit longer.

I wasn’t going to die now. Not when I finally reached my goal of becoming an S ranked Hunter.

*****