Chapter 57: Struggle for the Survival part 1

You have unlocked an Achievement Quest.

Achievement Quest 2: Reap what you sow.

Your actions in the past resulted in a butterfly effect that created fatal trouble for you. To prove your worth you must survive this calamity, and learn from your wrongdoings.

Quest Objective:

Survive until the daybreak.

Reward(s):

Title Effect Instant Evolution.

Remark: Just survive until night.

Well, this is new. I tried to pinch myself awake, only to feel the slippery skin on my thighs. Ah yes, how can I forget that I am not a human now? I guess one month was far too quick to forget about the etiquette in practice for more than two decades.

Did something like this ever happen? I guess the closest should be when I killed the Goblin Lord.

I may have looked calm on the exterior, but inside my mind, a hurricane of thoughts was emerging at a pace that might put the speed of light to shame. I wasn’t worried because of the calamity about to happen.

It was my system that warped my thoughts. Had it evolved when I wasn’t looking? Because I was sure such functions weren’t there previously. When I first opened my eyes as an Imp, it only showed me my stats and the number of EPs required to evolve. Then suddenly, it started to give out hints.

And now, this!

At this rate, what will happen next? Will some new options would show itself?

There was one more worry which I didn’t dare to think about at that time.

Worries aside, the rewards were also something to look forward to as well. An instant evolution, which means I don’t have to amass 1k EPs anymore. And a free evolution from the system means the choices should be good.

Well, I hope so.

Suddenly, I was looking forward to it. Then comes the Title Effect. I knew not what it can do, but, since its something the system was giving, it shouldn’t be shabby, right?

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. The smell of earth permeated into my nostrils, calming my nerves. Raising my head, I looked at the shining stone that worked as our miniature sun. Bitter thoughts surfaced as I recalled the struggles I had been through ever since I summoned to this world.

And finally, I have landed myself in a do or die situation. Though everything happened due to my own actions in the past, there’s nothing I could do to change it anymore. The only way left for me was to advance forwards without looking back.

On my right stood Urt, to my left stood Logier, and behind me stood Sepi as we marched out of the habitat. Before we entered the forest, I threw one last look at camp and the remaining orcs and goblins in it. In case we failed, they will be slaughtered by the rampaging humans.

That would be a sad sight to see. Thankfully, I wouldn’t be here to see’em if that happens.

I was still indecisive about my choice about the future.

Boom!!

When it was close to noon, the iron gates were swung open. Men, women of varying shapes, sizes, and adorned in different gears poured in like waters from a broken dam. Among them, some looked mighty, displaying their rippling muscles. Some wore full-body plate armors, and some wore, especially women, bikini armor sets.

I wondered if those small pieces of metal even protected anything other than their bare-minimum modesty. Though, they would be good tools to attack an opponent’s psychology, in case they were males and lecherous.

For weapons, they had long swords, Talwars, polearms, bows, crossbows, crossbow tangs, basically all types of cold weapons.

A rough headcount showed no less than 500 people.

It was going to be a bitter battle, I concluded.

Our forces had 600 orcs, 200, and then a few more mutated adult goblins and 100 juvenile goblins. Despite having twice the forces of humans, I wasn’t confident that we could win this battle. The problem lied in our lack of knowledge and intelligence.

“So many humans!” Logier mumbled while clenching his fist tighter. He was a little nervous. I could tell it just by observing his body language. When he was a child, Logier had seen how a human eradicated half of his tribe and even killed his father.

He had developed a healthy fear towards humans and their abilities since then.

“Are you afraid?” I asked back.

“No! Just excited.” Logier grinned from ear to ear. Lifting his massive mace, he slammed it on the ground once. “This battle, I will use it to Enhance. I will either succeed or die trying.” He sounded decisive. I suddenly had a premonition. Will it be the last time I see him? I wondered.

“Don’t you die, okay?” I warned. In this dungeon, the bond I have closest to was with this orc, Logier. If he dies, I will feel sad and uncomfortable for a long time.

“Haha, I will try not to.” Logier smiled. I sensed melancholy in that smile and wondered what’s going on inside that pig head of his.

“Everyone, act according to your orders,” I said before stepping back into the shadows cast by the tree sheds. My figure blurred as I became ‘invisible’ unless someone concentrated.

Snort!!

Logier snorted like a true pig and then bellowed loudly. Behind him, Sepi bellowed, followed by a snort. One by one, all orcs roared and charged at the humans. The goblins also did the same and charged at humans.

The battle to ensure our survival started.

Logier was already crossing his mace with a stocky fellow who was holding a metal door-like shield. Behind him, an orc was trying to poke with his polearm. I saw a thin figure sneaking behind the second orc, and pointed my index finger towards her, casting a Dizzy.

Bang!

The orc kicked her away when she got affected by my CC. I didn’t worry about Urt. As a Goblin General, the place where he truly shines was here. His set of skills can display it's true might only when surrounded in bloodshed.

My only worry was Logier. Even Sepi was doing well. He was taking on 3 humans at once and still had the upper hand. Ever since Logier lost his hand, his battle abilities had dropped by half. However, since he wanted to stimulate his potential through this battle, I could only accept it.

It was 15th minute into the battle when the first casualty of the war appeared.

A thin man, dressed in cloth and light armors, probably an assassin, was crushed to death under Logier’s mace. His death was truly gruesome, as his upper body got crushed to a meat paste in an instant.

I saw faint light flickering under that man’s shoes. He had already activated some sort of escaping skill. But Logier was faster than him, and killed him before he could do so. A second after that, a juvenile goblin fell. It got shot to death by an archer from the backlines.

Mutated orcs formed the vanguard corps. They were blocking more than 70% of the attacks. They were strong, couldn’t feel pain, and also wouldn’t get tired easily.

Although, not expendables, they were the perfect soldiers to act as vanguards.

Behind them were battle-hardened orcs with stocky bodies and wooden armors. They held poles and spears. Their job was to poke the humans to death when they got a chance. Juvenile goblins formed the next group of attackers. They held blow-pipes and would blow poisonous darts towards unsuspecting humans.

Looking at the equally matched enemies, I played with a vial of purple liquid with my fingers. This purple liquid contained the ‘nuke’ that could decide the outcome of this battle. Of course, as a ‘nuke,’ I wasn’t intending to use it so soon.

Half an hour into the battle and our casualties were still within an acceptable range. The same could be said for the human troupes as well.

It was a stalemate.

But I knew it was a shortlived one. As soon as humans get used to our fighting style, they will immediately start their counter-attack. And that will be when our casualties would pile up.

Roar!!!

While I was busy assessing the situation, a wave of killing intent washed up over me. It gave me a prickly feeling, like a gust of warm wind on a hot summer day. After a quick scan, I discovered the uncomfortable feeling was due to Logier.

At present, he has cascaded in a cocoon of blood light. It was this light that was giving off this killing intent.

Is he going to evolve finally? I thought excitedly.

Having a stronger ally in this situation would be great. It will increase our probability of survival. I will also able to finish my quest.

However, as soon as the blood cocoon disappeared after a few minutes, reality slapped me in the face with a heavy dose of Murphy’s Law.

Logier failed his evolution and transformed into a creature that closely resembled the one that killed me.

The grotesqueness which I hated and feared at the same time resurfaced again.

The war took a different turn instantly.