Chapter 73: Ellina part 1

I knew there was nothing to worry about anymore. The military base was as good as gone. The disease had become out of control of those royalty orcs. Therefore abandoning was the only option left with them.

The royalty orcs will be fine with their healing abilities. The virus targeted those red-skinned orcs more anyway. From my two previous observations, in both cases, this particular virus was present in their respiratory system.

Normally their immune system was able to keep them in check. But in case it fails, their lungs will be damaged by the rapidly growing viruses. The disease reminded me of SARS, a deadly disease back on Earth, only it’s a lot more dangerous and fatal.

“Lord, is it okay for us to go into their camp like this?” Ergoth asked unconfidently.

I can’t blame him, as we are entering our enemy base directly from the front gate like it's no one’s business. If I have to be honest with myself, it kinda felt cool to walk in like a badass.

“How dare you question our lord?” Urt snarled. He flanked me while Ergoth was flanking him.

Well, this weird way of walking was because Urt insisted he would watch my back and Ergoth was too scared to walk in front. No wonder he was treated as an expendable even though he held an elder seat in the orc tribe.

“If you are scared, you can go back.”

I didn’t have the mood to entertain him. My head was filled with thoughts of meeting those slender orcs who called themselves royalties. One can say if the goblin lord filled me with dread with his unique abilities, these orcs left me amazed.

“No! I was just asking, please don’t mind me.” Ergoth apologized hurriedly. Dipping his head down, he continued walking. His eyes would dart everywhere like a startled rabbit near a predator.

“Coward!” Urt mocked, followed by a deep chuckle and a snort.

“Silence!”

I hissed. We were getting close to the camp, and their bickering was a distraction.

Cough!!

Cough!!!

Soon, I heard coughing and snorting coming from beyond the crudely made, make-shift, wooden walls.

My eye narrowed, and my steps became unhurried. Coughing was one of many symptoms of this viral disease. Besides, I heard a dozen of coughing coming every second.

A lot of orcs were ahead of us.

Even though they were plagued and close to death, I still reminded them to be careful before entering.

A living being's dying struggle was the most dangerous thing.

With anticipation building in my heart, we carefully stepped foot inside the campsite.

The coughing sound became more rapid and sounded closer than before.

As we walked deeper into the camp, we found bodies of orcs strewn across the ground.

Most of them were dead and already rotting.

The coughing was coming from a few orcs who were barely conscious, leaning against a rock and taking their last breaths in agony.

Despite this, my eyes only saw the fascinating destruction caused by the virus I made. I was like a mad scientist who was only interested in the results of his research, unfeeling and uncaring of his subject’s condition.

A biological weapon was considered many times more devastating than an actual firearm.

At the same time, I was also wondering why I didn’t gain any EP from so many dead orcs. With the number of dead bodies I found, it should have been increased by a few thousand already.

Then, why?

Tucking this question to the back of my mind, we continued walking.

Well, I and Urt did.

Ergoth stood rooted near one of the half-dead orcs, looking at its dying body with undiscernible emotions.

Not minding him, we gradually proceeded forwards to the center. My instincts told me, I can find those royals there.

The bodies became less and less in number as we got close to the center of the camp.

“There’s less dead orcs here! Did the disease didn’t spread?” Urt knew how my skill worked, so he asked the obvious question.

“No, the disease did spread. But someone drove the infected away from here before it could reach deeper.”

They had done their version of quarantine to protect themselves.

“Lord, someone’s here!” Urt sprang into action. He whipped his spear and blocked something coming from my front.

It was a short dagger with a red-colored blade and a bone handle.

My eyes widened upon seeing it. I stepped back behind Urt to better protect myself. I didn’t notice it’s existence until Urt blocked it with his spear.

Narrowing my eyes, I looked in the direction it came.

A slender orc stood there with its human-like lips stretched into a thin line. It was frowning.

It wore rusted, iron-lookalike metal armor, leather pants, and no boots. It wore a half-broken, rusted helmet, covering the top part of its head.

It held two more similar looking daggers in its left hand, and his right hand was still in a throwing motion.

There was no doubt this orc threw that dagger.

I gulped a mouthful of air involuntarily and cursed myself for acting cocky.

Consecutive victories had blinded me and filled me with a false sense of omnipotence.

Seeing that my virus had caused them to flee, I subconsciously assumed this place to be completely safe.

“How dare you attack our lord!?” Urt bellowed.

He swung his spear and pointed the spearhead at the orc with the dagger.

The armored orc didn’t say anything in reply to Urt’s provocation. I would have thought it was the orc’s pride, but his shaking body spoke a different story.

Either it was scared, or something else was preventing it from communicating.

My instincts told me it was the later.

Before I could warn Urt about it, the goblin general had already run towards his chosen foe with his spear poised to puncture a hole.

I wasn’t idle either.

I fired a Dizzy at it.

Before Urt reached it, my spell had already affected it. The armored orc stumbled around randomly before Urt’s spear tore a hole in its neck.

Your actions resulted in the death of a target.

+10 EP

It was a curious matter, indeed. Why was this time I gained a point?

Urt wiped the spear tip and took guard in front of me. He must have been afraid that a similar attack will happen again.

I knew my weakness was durability. One well-aimed attack could kill me in an instant. Despite my current Defense stat, I am not that tanky.

My expertise lies in illusions and now poisons. I am a mage who can only fight from a distance.

Close combat was a no go, especially against the experts of such arts like the orcs.

I can have a fight with humans but not against someone like Leah. She was just too strong in close combat.

However, I had an edge over orcs.

They had low intelligence, which caused my skills to have maximum effect on them. All I have to do was to stun them and pounce on them and slit its throat.

Despite their strong build, their neck muscles were unusually weak.

Thankfully, no more ambushes awaited us.

But, there was something else.

An entrouge of royal orcs huddled around a camp, looking worse for wear. Their bodies were riddled with scars of a long drawn battle.

Corpses looking similar to the slender orcs that we just killed were seen strewn around them.

It was the scene of the brutal aftermath of a one-sided slaughter.

I was intrigued.

My instincts told me there was something else in play here, other than the Bloodyvores’ domination plan.

“Who are you? Halt!!” One of the guarding orcs shouted. They quickly fell into a defensive formation, with their backs facing the white-clothed camp.

“Haha! Don’t panic. I am here to talk with whomever you are protecting inside that camp.”

I gave them a disarming smile. I really didn’t have any other intention of coming here. I only wanted to talk with these unique orcs.

“Bastard! Stop there or we will attack!!”

The orc that looked like a captain with his not-so-shabby armor and weapons glared at us.

Urt silently stood in front of me. His eyes were cold and unforgiving as they sized up his opponents.

Just as a spark was about to explode the situation, a tender, almost human-like voice, came from within the cloth tent.

“Farey, fall back. He isn’t our enemy.”