"Nate!" Miyu cried in alarm, her face a mixture of fear and unease.

"I know! I'll do something about them!" Nate shouted back as he mentally ordered Pig to intercept the orcs. "Ming! Gather everyone and get the fuck out of here!"

"Got it!"

Nate didn't pay any more attention to the others. He had more pressing issues than their safety at the moment. Namely, his own safety.

"Wh-what do I do?" Ari's knuckled turned white as she held onto her bow.

"Try to shoot them in the eye or something." Nate drew his falchion and dashed forward before he yelled, "Miyu, stay with Ari and just shoot magic! I'll try to distract these fuckers together with Pig!"

"Okay!" she shouted back.

"ORAH!" Pig, who was already in combat with two of the green-skinned orcs, roared as he sent one of them flying with its overwhelming strength. Seeing as it was equipped with the Amulet of Might, these ordinary orcs would never be able to compare.

Or that's what Nate thought, before Pig's head was blown away by a fireball that came from the village's direction.

"What the fu--" not even finishing his sentence, Nate dived to his right to dodge another fireball, which exploded as soon as it struck the tree behind him, sending embers and burning tree bark all over the place.

Luckily, he evaded in time, otherwise, he would've gotten barbequed.

He raised his head and squinted in the direction where the fireball had come from, only to see a blue-skinned goblin riding a wolf in the distance.

Its glowing yellow eyes narrowed and its wrinkled features twisted in annoyance when they saw that the spell hadn't hit its mark. The dirty rags which seemingly resembled a cloak billowed out as it brandished its staff, which looked like it was made of a long branch of rotten wood. Spittle flew out of its mouth, filled with jagged teeth, as it barked orders at the orcs.

'Are you fucking kidding me? A goblin mage!?'

"Nate are you okay!?" Miyu hollered before sending a barrage of ice shards shooting toward the goblin mage. However, the goblin mage was able to dodge in time by jumping off of its mount.

"I'm fine!" Nate called back, ignoring the burning pain he could feel throughout his body. He was wearing armor and even a helmet, but that didn't stop the flames from reaching his flesh at all. "Watch out for that goblin at the back! Take him out if you can!"

Not waiting for a reply, he ran in Pig's direction while he pumped his remaining mana to heal the faithful servant.

Unfortunately, the nature of its wounds seemed to prevent it from regenerating.

'Geezus. Is it cuz of the fire?!'

Decisively giving up on Pig's corpse for now, Nate momentarily thought to use the green-skinned orc corpse that Pig had produced earlier, but dismissed the idea almost instantly.

It would simply take too much time. Time which he didn't have at the moment.

Instead, he used a tendril of darkness to retrieve the amulet that had fallen to the ground near Pig's body. It seemed that whatever material the amulet was made of was resilient enough that it didn't seem to be damaged at all. He hastily put on the amulet before ducking to evade an ax that was thrown by one of the four remaining green-skinned pigs.

The ax lodged itself into the tree behind him, allowing Nate to easily take it for himself.

"Eat this!" he roared before throwing the ax back to its owner with tremendous force.

"Gah!" the orc grunted in pain as the ax's handle crushed its nose.

'Son of a bitch...' Nate cursed inwardly after seeing his throw whiff. Since he wasn't used to throwing weapons, he couldn't get the ax's blade to strike them.

Still, despite its failure, the throw still made an opening. He capitalized on the orc's lacking presence of mind to send a blade of darkness streaking across the forest to pierce its windpipes.

"What!?" Nate exclaimed, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"Grok!" the orc grunted, brushing away the shadow dagger protruding out of his neck, as if it was a mere annoyance. It rubbed its aching nose for a bit before glaring at Nate with glowing yellow eyes.

'Is it invulnerable to Black Magic in general!?'

The green-skinned orcs weren't hindered at all by the black mist he'd conjured, and now his black magic attacks weren't working on them either.

It was certainly a big problem, but he wouldn't get anywhere by crying over it. Nate — a man of action — sprung into action.

Dashing to the closest hobgoblin's corpse while transferring his falchion to his other hand, Nate picked up its fallen spear.

'Please hit!'

Offering a silent prayer to all the gods he'd never believed in, the veins on Nate's right arm bulged as he threw his spear with all his amulet-augmented strength.

"GRAH!?" he heard an orc shout in pain, making him cheer in his heart.

Perhaps the gods he'd prayed to still favored him despite his impiety, the spear he'd thrown was now skewering the orc, the speartip peeking out from its back.

There was a saying that "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", and Nate believed in that saying as well. Since throwing stuff at them seemed to work, he would stick to that fighting style for now. He didn't want to test whether just that one orc was invulnerable to his magic.

The sound of a dull explosion and the high-pitched hissing that came after entered Nate's ears as he picked up two spears off of the ground. Looking in the direction where it came from, he could see walls of ice blocking the paths between the trees, effectively blocking off any reinforcements from the goblin village from helping.

Boom!

And it also blocked off the goblin mage's attacks. The frosty ramparts were so thick, that a fireball or two wasn't enough to break past it. Not to mention how they would repair themselves from time to time.

'It's awesome when your allies are actually capable.'

Giving a mental thumbs-up to Miyu, Nate chucked his second spear, turning it into a blur before it buried itself in another orc's chest. Reducing their numbers to just the two remaining Hulk™ wannabes.

Unfortunately, it seemed that these monsters inherited their superhero ancestor's brains. The orcs hid behind trees as they threw rocks at Nate. With their thick arms, bulging with muscle, the rocks shot across the air with immense power.

'Damn you, bastards.' he cursed inwardly while wondering what the hell he could do to take them out.

Miyu wouldn't be able to hold off that goblin mage forever, since her mana pool wasn't practically infinite like his. Although he wished that green bastard would run out of mana by that time as well.

In any case, just standing around doing nothing made Nate antsy. Just as he was seriously contemplating just charging in like a bloody idiot, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ayumi peek out of a bush behind the orcs.

Their eyes met, and the young woman gave him a wink and a peace sign before shooting an arrow toward one of the orcs. Before the arrow could even make contact with its target, Ayumi had already ducked back down into the bushes.

"Grok!?"

Despite not having vision of the orc, the groan of pain was enough to tell him that Ayumi's shot had struck home.

'Now!'

Seeing this as an opportunity, Nate rushed out from behind the tree he'd been using to hide, ready to throw his spear at the last orc the moment it peeked out.

It worked out well for him too, since the orc foolishly came out of its hiding spot to charge at the source of the arrow that had killed its comrade from behind.

'I got you, you motherfucker!'

Skidding to a halt, Nate planted his left foot on the ground and threw a spear with all his might.

Only for it to miss spectacularly.

'Fuck!'

Despite missing, the spear managed to attract the orc's attention though. It turned around, abandoning the idea of chasing after the hidden archer. It brandished its ax and roared after judging Nate to be the more dangerous opponent.

"RAAAHH!"

The orc made the very air itself shake with its fury. It charged straight for Nate, making the ground tremble every time its foot stomped on the forest's soil.

"You shout too much!" Nate yelled back as he pulled out one of his daggers with his left hand before throwing it at the ugly bastard's face.

The orc flinched for a fraction of a second before easily swatting it away with its free hand, but Nate's ploy had already succeeded. Before the orc could regain its posture, Nate's falchion was already swinging sideways, aiming to bisect it in half.

The orc managed to back off slightly, but it was not enough. Nate's blade easily cleaved through the orc's skin and flesh, forcing the monster's stomach open, causing blood and innards to cascade onto the forest's floor, painting the brown soil red.

Without care for the viscera he'd just stomped on, Nate immediately turned his attention to the goblin mage, running across the battlefield to get to the next one as soon as possible. However, it seemed he didn't have to rush too much.

"It's Hugoooooo Jenkiiiiiins!" Hugo shouted as he charged through the gap between the ice wall that the goblin mage managed to make. His shield was held up in front of him, ready to block the goblin's scorching flames.

'Hey! That's dangerous!' Nate screamed inwardly, his eyes widening.

The fireballs that the monster threw may be small, but they exploded with great power upon contact. Hugo's actions bordered on suicide.

Sending Miyu a look, Nate noted the surprise in her eyes. Apparently, Hugo's actions were just as unexpected for her as it was for him. Nate ran as fast as he could, hoping the dark-skinned man wouldn't become cooked into a crispy black by the goblin's fire.

It seemed that the goblin also thought Hugo's actions were foolish, it smirked before forming a fireball the size of a baseball on its palm. It shouted something Nate couldn't quite hear then threw it at Hugo, hitting the big man's shield right in the middle.

Boom!

"Ack!" Hugo groaned as he was sent flying backward after the subsequent explosion. Surprisingly though, despite making five-meter skidding marks on the ground, he was able to remain on his feet. "Let's fucking go! Ain't nothin' I can't block! with my shield! Just call me Steelman Hugo, the shield of Canada from now on!"

The mountain of a man stood tall, indomitable, ready to receive more of the goblin mage's blows. Hugo's back, gave of an extremely dependable impression on Nate, convincing him that the big man would never fall.

"Holy shit, good job!" Nate couldn't help but cheer. "Keep rushing the ugly bastard!"

"Roger, boss! Raaaah!" Steelman Hugo, the shield of Canada yelled a war cry as he confidently charged at the goblin mage, aiming to bash it with its shield.

"Gororob, grob!" the goblin mage yelled in a rattling voice, seemingly quite flustered. It pointed its finger at Hugo, but this time, fire didn't come out of it.

This time, it was black fog.

"Wha--!?" Nate spluttered in shock as the goblin mage shot a globe made of dark mana shooting straight for Hugo. As the globe traveled across the air, Nate could see the smoke liquify, appearing like sludge instead. The black sludge suddenly grew in size, wrapping around Hugo's body, gluing his legs together and his arms to his body.

"What the fu--" The big man wasn't even able to finish his sentence before the sludge blocked his mouth as well.

"Grog!" the goblin mage cheered. Its smirk grew wider as a fireball once again formed atop its palm before casually pointing it at the darkness-wrapped Hugo squirming on the ground. Sharp teeth peeked out of its lips as the green-skinned menace boastingly glowered at Nate and Miyu.

"No!" Miyu cried out in worry, she held out her hand, wanting to create an ice shard, but nothing came out of her hand except for a small gust of cold air.

She'd completely run out of mana.

Which was only natural, seeing as she used up a portion of it while gunning down the escaping hobgoblins earlier.

Seeing this, Nate had no choice but to try using his own magic. He had the odd feeling that his magic wouldn't work on the goblin mage either, but he could do nothing else but try.

The goblin didn't even spare Nate's shadow dagger a glance, only laughing louder. It seemed to enjoy watching their helplessness as it continued the suspense.

Unfortunately for the ugly little bastard, his fun time was over.

Brent — taking a page out of Ayumi's book — popped out of a bush near Hugo and let the lead bullet he'd nocked fly, shattering the goblin mage's eye.

"Ack!" it screeched, before doubling over in agony as it clutched its left eye.

"I-I did it!"

"Mm! Mrhm~!" Hugo, still on the ground, couldn't talk but was able to communicate his excitement with his widened eyes and squirming.

"Greee! Grogabo!" the goblin mage furiously yelled, fire came out of its mouth and a dark haze surrounded its body as it glared at Brent.

But even that didn't last long.

With no other allies left on the battlefield, everyone's attention was now on the goblin mage.

Everyone, including Ari, who'd just shot an arrow towards the ugly little fool.

Almost as if it was getting sucked in, the arrow smoothly penetrated the goblin's other eye, ending its pitiful little life. The fire and the black smoke around it dissipated as if they were never there, leaving an odd silence to fill the air in the forest.

This didn't last long either.

"Whooo! We won, dudes! Let's! Fucking! Go!" Hugo, who'd been freed from his restraints yet was still on the ground, roared in triumph, signaling all the other Expedition members at the back to follow along, shaking the air with their victory cries.