Akira stood with Varbu inside the grand hall, standing at attention in front of the large fire pit.

They were waiting for Tornok to give them orders on what to do with the current crisis.

“We're not prepared for a war. It normally takes us at the most a month in order to gather our full power. With these sneak attacks we have little time for that, at most we can gather all the forces from the towns and villages within a few days travel from Orcrock.

Varbu, You will take command of the scouting party and its 100 warriors. You are to go to the villages that are farthest out and warn them of the goblins possible attack. Inform the warriors of each of the villages to be fully equipped and ready for war. They are to escort the villagers to the safety of Orcrock and join the main army when they arrive.

Akira you are to help Varbu with this task. If you see any goblins along the way you are to kill them without mercy.

After you have completed this task head back to fort Hard Stone to help guard the Gnakad pass. It is vital that you get there and reinforce the garrison. You are to hold off any enemy forces that try to pass through while the army is gathered,” ordered Tornok.

“It will be done chief,” said Varbu saluting Tornok with a loud thump of his fist hitting his chest.

“I will join you with the main army in a week or two. We can make plans to retake the captured villages at that time. Leave now, this is an important matter that you must complete quickly,” said Tornok.

Ding!

Quest updated!

'Join the Orcs in hunting the Goblin raiders!'

Has been changed to

Warn the Villagers and defend Gnakad pass.

Chief Tornok has ordered you to warn the villages in the outskirts of the orcs territories killing any Goblins you see.

You are to defend the Gnakad pass which blocks the main path to Orcrock

Difficulty: D

Reward: Unknown

Will you accept?

Yes / No

Akira accepted the quest as he walked out of the grand hall with Varbu.

“The order to mobilize the scouting party was sent out a half hour ago they should have gathered all their equipment by now all that's left is for the both of us to go and prepare anything we'll need for the next few weeks,” said Varbu.

“I only have a few belongings on me right now I will be ready soon after I buy some food and water,” said Akira.

“Alright in ten minutes go to the gates and wait for me,” said Varbu as he parted ways with Akira.

***

Near the gates, Akira and Varbu checked their equipment and made sure that the 100 warriors were all ready and fully equipped.

All the orc warriors were wearing light fur coats over their leather and chain armor to combat the cold that would only get worse as the early mountain winter was fast approaching.

Akira had decided to also buy a coat as well. It was more noticeable over the last few days that ever since he had awoken as a werewolf his body gave off more heat and was warmer than it had been before.

He wasn't too afraid of the current cold air due to his bodies heat generation, but according to one of the elders who knew all about the weather in the mountains, it was likely to get colder and snow in the near future. So Akira had decided to be cautious since he did not want to get sick during the small-scale war between the Goblins and Orcs. Which would most likely cause problems for Varbu and Tornok.

Unfortunately, the coat was a little baggy in some areas as it was made for an orc with their big bodies and round bellies. He used his sword belt to keep the large coat tightly wrapped around him.

“Alright warriors, the towns and the villages near here have had messengers sent to them already. Our task it to warn the villages on the outer edges and then fall back to the Hardstone fort guarding the Gnakad pass. We will continue to move through night and day until we reach the border towns in order to lessen the time it takes to be able to warn them. Let's move out,” shouted Varbu pointing forward.

The 100 Orc warriors gave loud shouts and snorts before marching through the opened gates and across the drawbridge.

***

They were able to cut the three to four-day travel down to two days of nonstop grueling marching.

As they marched they met a few small groups of Orcs that were fleeing from goblin attacks and after Varbu gathered all they knew of the movements of the goblins the villagers were told to head to Orcrock where the main army was forming.

It was late at night when they passed by Fort Hard stone while traveling through the Gnakad pass. They had only rested for a few minutes while a messenger was sent to inform the orc warrior in command, to make arrangements for them when they returned to reinforce the fort, after a warning about the possibility of a goblin attack they continued their march to the outer villages.

Early in the morning of the third day when it was still dark out Varbu stopped the scouting party and ordered everyone to set up a quick camp on a well defendable hill.

“We'll rest here for a few hours to regain our strength before we head out and inform the five villages that haven't been attacked yet,” shouted Varbu before he walked back to his own tent.

“I was wondering, why are there so few horses at Orcrock?” asked Akira when Varbu returned to the fire in front of his tent.

“There are many reasons but mainly it is because they're nothing but a waste of money. The ones that can carry a fully armored warrior are to slow to be of any use in battle. The mountainous terrain is not suitable for them and lastly, they eat too much which cost a lot of money to keep them healthy,” replied Varbu.

Akira nodded his head. What Varbu said made sense. He did not know of many warhorse breeds that could carry orcs who were quite heavy even without their armor.

Four hours later after the short rest, everyone was awakened by the sun rising slightly warming the cold air.

When everyone had finished eating a quick meal Varbu gathered the four officers under his command, who each commanded twenty orc warriors.

“From here we will split up into five groups to save time. 1 will lead one unit and head to the village farthest west. Each of you will take the warriors under your command and go to one of the remaining four villages. Be sure to scout the area around the villages for any sign of goblins. If you find a large group do not attack them. We will take care of them later. Everyone will be expected to return here before night falls with the villagers and your scouting reports,” ordered Varbu.

After a few more words they separated and each officer gathered their troops and hurried off in different directions towards one of the five border villages.

***

Akira and Varbu were able to reach the village Fram without running into or seeing any goblins. It was unknown if that was a good thing or bad.

Varbu headed to the village chiefs house to warn him of the possibility of goblins attacking the village while Akira and the orc warriors stood near the villages wooden gates.

A short time later Varbu returned to the small group.

“Four of you go check the surrounding area, for any signs of goblins. The rest of you will continue to guard the village gates with me,” ordered Varbu.

While they waited outside the village guarding the gate Akira could see the villagers running around in a panic while trying to gather their belongings.

Before noon arrived the four scouts returned and reported to Varbu, that there were no signs of goblins in the surrounding area near the small village of Fram.

The Orc warriors stood guard for over another hour until the villagers were ready to leave led by their elderly village chief.

Varbu took control of the villages fifty warriors and added it to his own twenty tripling their strength. He arranged the seventy warriors into positions on the outside of the group of villagers in order to protect them from any attacks.

“Move out!” shouted Varbu, when the last person had finally moved into their proper spot in the formation.

They began the march back to the campsite they had quickly built in the early morning. Where they would wait for the other villagers to arrive before escorting them past fort Hardstone.

When they reached the campsite late in the afternoon there was already one group that had already returned before them.

“Did you run into any trouble?” Varbu asked the officer who came over to greet him.

“Nothing much we only found a few goblins along the way which we were able to eliminate easily,” replied the officer.

“Good, we'll talk more when the others get back,” said Varbu.

The villagers were led over to join the ones that had already settled down in the camp to rest for a while.

While the warriors of each village helped guard the camp.

Over the next two hours, the other groups of villagers led by the or warriors were escorted to the camp.

When the last officer came to Varbu's tent the meeting began.

“Give me your scouting reports,” ordered Varbu.

Three officers quickly reported not seeing anything they could not handle.

“I went to the village of Gruud, the scouts I sent out found a group of at least 90 or more goblins that had set up camp a few miles away from the village. It could be one of the raiding parties that have been terrorizing and looting the other villages,” said the fourth officer.

“We need to take care of them quickly before any more join them and create a larger problem. Luckily with the added power of the 268 warriors from the five villages, our current strength has nearly tripled. Using them all to kill such a small number would be overkill. But just in case there are more than when you last counted we will have 100 of the village warriors join us in the fight. While the other 168 warriors are to safely escort the villagers to Orcrock. We'll leave in a half hour for a night attack,” said Varbu.

The officers nodded their heads showing they understood the orders and then left Varbu's tent.

***

From the darkness of the thinly wooded hill, Akira watched the little green goblins at the edge of the village raiding one of the houses. While a few were dancing about in the street looking at items they had looted and still more were fighting over certain items they had stolen from a house.

The goblins that he could see had a level range from 13-16. He was not exactly sure how strong they were.

Three units of Orc warriors were hidden on the rocky hill next to Akira. The group had been assigned to fight under Akira's command.

Varbu had given them the task to kill the goblins that were raiding the village while he led the main force and attacked the large number of goblins at their camp.

Not wanting to take any chances they decided to go full out with their attacks wanting to kill the enemy as quickly as they could with as little casualties as possible.

“There are only a few near the outer edges of the village. The main group in the village is near the center of the city. They are right now walking into the village chiefs house. Now is probably your best chance to catch them almost all in one area,” said Nox through the telepathic link they shared.

Akira had sent Nox into the village to act as a scout to see how many goblins were inside.

Akira looked over at the two officers next to him and gave them a silent signal. They nodded and the orc warriors swiftly and quietly descended the hill running towards the village following the plan that had been formed an hour ago.

The thirty warriors split up and entered the village on three different sides trying to box the goblins in before they became aware of the Orcs.

Akira stood in the dark shadows of a crude log house that blocked the moonlight looking around the corner. Nox jumped down from the roof and stopped next to Akira.

“There are only a few goblins in the street from here to the center of the city if you kill them fast then you can surprise the ones in the villages chiefs house,” said Nox.

Akira led the group around the building where they found a sole goblin sitting in the middle of the road drinking some wine he had taken from a nearby house.

Upon seeing Akira his eyes grew wide and opened his mouth to scream and alert the other goblins.

Without a second thought, Akira swung his sword using the skill [Sword Slash] the bright light traveled swiftly towards the goblins neck decapitating him cleanly while keeping the silence.

They spent another five minutes quietly killing lone goblins in the streets and houses as they made their way towards the center of the village doing everything they could to not alert the rest of the goblins.

The silence was abruptly shattered when a loud war horn sounded off in the distance. It was coming from in the direction of the main goblin camp calling for the raiding goblins to return.

Over thirty goblins exited the nearby village chiefs house talking to each other wondering what was going on.

One of the goblins looked around and noticed Akira's group near them and started to panic and screech out in a gibberish language warning the other goblins.

“Gi gi giiiiii!”

They had been discovered and the element of surprise was now gone.

“Kill them all! We need to push them out of the village,” shouted Akira.

The goblins reacted to the charging Orcs by readying their crude weapons and taunted them before they also started running towards the orcs shouting curses in their gibberish language.

When the two groups clashed a few of the Goblins were flung backward due to the size and strength of the orcs.

Akira gave a roar and used [Sword slash] to kill two goblins that were in front of him scaring away the others for a few seconds.

Some of the less stupid goblins now realized it had been a dumb idea to attack the orcs and turned to run away while a small number of goblins unaware of the few running away continued to blocked Akira and the orcs path.

Three goblins decided to gang up on Akira and took turns attacking him and then taunting him by sticking out their tongues.

Akira was able to easily block their attacks and with a smooth motion he used the skill [Shield Bash] on the goblin sticking his tongue out bashing his head in and quickly stabbed the unprotected bellies of the other two goblins killing them.

Nox was by his side happily causing mayhem tearing large chunks of flesh from nearby goblins causing them to scream out in pain before their voices were silenced with his powerful jaws tearing out their voice box.

The goblins that had continued to attack Akira and the Orcs warriors were all killed within a few minutes. It was surprising how easy it was since they had little to no armor and were weaker then he thought they would be.

The sound of fighting could be heard a short distance ahead, It seemed the goblins that were trying to run away had run into one of the other two Orc units.

“Chase after the ones trying to run away. Let's make sure no other goblins are left in the village,” shouted Akira running forward with Nox by his side.

After searching the village for another 10 minutes they had killed 27 of the goblins while three had managed to escape. They dragged the bodies outside of the villages and dumped them into a ditch.

“It can't be helped that a few escaped. Our job is done here, let's hurry up and join Varbu,” ordered Akira.

While they ran towards the direction that Varbu was fighting. Akira looked at the two message windows that had popped up.

Level up!

Sword Slash level up!

He quickly added his extra points into the usual stats and then closed the window.

***

When they reached the goblins main camp a short distance away from the village, Akira saw Varbu and the last goblin standing goblin fighting. With a great swing of his staff, Varbu managed to land a killing blow ending the fight.

“I see you didn't need our help,” said Akira as he walked up to Varbu.

“We were able to easily surround them and take care of them. They normally rely on mob tactics, so it's not hard to kill them when they have crap weapons and no armor,” said Varbu.

“At least three of the goblins in the village were able to escape,” said Akira looking ashamed.

“That's fine, I'll just send a few scouts to track them and see where they go. If we're lucky they might lead us to another group that we can clear without to much hassle,” said Varbu and sent a messenger to see that his orders were followed.

After confirming that no one had died the orc warriors began to self-treat their wounds.

When they were finished they walked back to the village that was safer than the open camp to wait for the scouts to return with their reports.

The next day around noon the scouts came back with a troubling report.

“What did you find out?” asked Varbu sitting in a rocking chair on the villages chiefs front porch.

“We followed them to here,” said the scout pointing to a spot on the map in front of Varbu.

“The group that we attacked was just a small scouting party for the main goblin army which is gathered at that location. I was able to count at least two thousand goblins. The number was changing as there were many that came and went but I think the number is near total 3000. They are not all like the weak ones we fought last night. There were some hundreds of goblin riders that were paroling the goblin camp on their wild boar mounts. Along with a large number of foot soldiers and archers,” reported another scout.

“This is bad news indeed. The chief was right to suspect them to try and come through the Gnakad pass. They probably know of our small force and will want to get rid of us now that they know where we are,” said Varbu while looking at a map.

“What do you plan on having us do?” asked Akira.

“We must retreat to fort Hard stone immediately and hope that the main orc army arrives before the Goblins do,” said Varbu.