The undying mark of betrayal…it was shown to him in such a bad time…in a time where he wasn't prepared yet…but it was his responsibility as a Ruler to guide his people, to protect them even though he was still not fully prepared.
His brow furrowed in concern as an approaching problem was going to pass to one of his people. If he won't do anything to this situation, surely that girl will fall to victim to his lack of action.
'...Fuck, what do I do!?' caught in two conflicting choices, where one was for the monster to attack and let the story flow for Martha to grow or the other path, where he would interfere in the story and avoid the interaction between the monster and Martha entirely so that he could protect this girl who was one of his people.
"..." he thought over what was the actual right path for this scenario…and hoped that maybe if there was another choice to choose…he could grab it.
"...!!" suddenly a path was made by his will.
"...maybe…what if I do both…protect Iris and motivate Martha to fight back." as he mumbled this on to himself, he suddenly hears the rumbling of the trees from afar, almost as if something big was coming his way.
'It's coming!' thought Hamil.
Before the Orc guard could even reach a hundred meters of distance away from Martha's group, it jumped.
*Boom!*
Just like how each and every aggravated orc would act, they would always show up to the hunters by landing from the sky. This happened the same way to Hamil and Evangeline on their first interaction. This way of acting was a show of surprise and power, as the momentum of its landing would shake both the Hunter's body and will.
'Shit it jumped!' thought Hamil as he could see the Orc up and the sky and was descending down at such speed.
'I have to move now!' before long. He jumped off from the tree and landed down at the bottom to where Martha and her group was standing.
To their shock, they couldn't believe that something landed from up the tree and what was even more of a surprise was that this particular person was the student that had Iris all in a fuss lately.
"Pull out your weapons now!!" shouted Hamil as he told the group to ready themselves of what was to come their way.
But what they did instead was stand in confusion for what he was saying.
For a person to just appear out of nowhere and tell out orders was pretty surprising and confusing. They wonder to themselves why he was doing this, so as an act of reason, Martha came forward to ask his reason for coming out of nowhere and tell them to pull out their weapons.
"W-what?" but what Martha could only say at the moment was her own confusion towards the event.
"An Orc is going to come here any second now, so get ready! Now!" said Hamil as he acted restless and nervous towards what was to come.
His acting skills were pretty convincing, but maybe through that act some actual nervous emotion was actually present. His eyes would dart from both Martha and Iris as he could only focus on these two people as they were his reason for showing himself.
"An orc?" said one of the student mages that stood near Richard.
And soon, Richard also came forward with his response to Hamil's blabber.
"An Orc? What are you talking abo-" but before he could finish his sentence, something fell from the sky right in front, right before them all.
*BOOM!*
The Orc Guard landed down with two blades already out and on his hands. His eyes were red from the recent attack back then from Iris, and with that, the orc was raging with fury, with his eyes bloodshot and ready to kill. This orc was all for nothing in meeting to kill the pest who did this to him.
The group stood in shock yet again as this time a more dangerous being appeared right in front of them.
The two mages that stood with Martha's group suddenly screamed and fled the scene. One girl was panicking and screaming while the other mage was pissing his pants as he ran away, calling out for help like a coward. These two could not handle the monster that was in front of them, as such they could only act as what any weak creature could do at the moment. And that was to run and survive.
What remained was Martha, Richard, Iris and the unexpected guest, Hamil.
The beast turned to the person who was the sole fault for event.
With Iris as his focus, he began walking towards Iris with such heavy steps.
But Iris wasn't even giving the orc all too much of her attention. In fact she was still looking at Hamil with a furrowed look of concern…she was uncertain of what she was feeling at the moment as the person that stood by her was someone she was very conflicted by for some unknown reason
Her heart pounded as fast as it could, telling her that this was not just someone who she should ignore.
'Who are you!?' her body shook as the view of his image made her feel fear and reliance at the same time. Two conflicting emotions that don't go together.
As her eyes darted from both the monster and Hamil in conflict of what was more at priority, she suddenly made eye contact with Hamil.
"...!!"
And her mind screamed.
She suddenly fell to her knees and it made Martha and Hamil notice her.
By her expression alone, Iris was not in the condition to fight. This puts an even heavier burden to Martha as the leader.
"Iris get up!" screamed Martha as she ordered Iris to stand back up to fight…she felt desperate as one of the teammates she could rely on suddenly falls down and she didn't know why it happened…
She looks back to the orc and sees that it was already near her.
Martha was scared. Her face contorted into fear and the hairs all over her body stood over by the intimidating aura the orc was giving off. But without hesitation, she immediately conjured five flame spears at her side and fired them all at the same time to the orc. Firing without precision but with desperation.
While the five spears came flying in, one missed while the other four struck. Each one blows like a cannon and exploded like grenades, but yet soon as the smoke clears from the attack, the orc remained unscathed…almost as if this orc didn't even feel the attack except for it's light burning sensation that was comparable to that of a cheap lighter.
"!!" Martha was shock to see her attack be ineffective. Her body unconsciously took a step back as the realization of her weak power overwhelmed her.
".…" but before she could take her second step back, she thought to herself that as the leader of the group, she should at least try again. So she stood and fired again but this time with more power.
Bigger spears and more accuracy.
Only two twice the size spears conjured by her two hands. She aimed at the two most vital parts of the orc, the head and the shoulder near the heart.
As she throws them to the orc, she could only wish that this time, it would affect the monster.
*Boom!!*
*Boom!!*
Explosions covered the body of the Orc and soon as it dispersed. But as the smoke slowly clears, Martha was shook again to see that her attack was blocked.
Two gigantic swords stood in front of the Orc's upper body.
And a smile creeps over its face, telling her how futile her attack was.
Both of her attacks failed…and seeing it fail, she still didn't falter. Instead she went in again and readied her next attack. She knew that the orc blocked those attacks because it seemed to be a fatal move, but before she could attack again, Richard came charging in with both of his hands on his weapon, a Long sword made by one of the finest blacksmiths of the kingdom.
Richard brought out his long sword and instilled it with his mana. He strengthened himself and the sword. As he was bulking with power, he went and charged at the beast.
"Haa!!!" his swing was powerful. It could break the ground easily enough and was intensely sharp to a point that it could cut through metal like it was butter.
He was confident he could go cut down the sword the orc was carrying, planning that after cutting the sword, he would ask for assistance in taking down the Orc Guard with one less weapon.
*Chung!!*
But to his surprise, instead of the orc's sword being cut in half, he was instead took on by the pressure and strength the orc had in his swing. This monster was ten times as strong as Richard was even in his buffed form.
"!!" before he knew it, he was found flying off from the swing of the orc. It was comparable to that of a professional baseball player hitting a home-run.
Thrown away like a piece of trash, he crashed down at one of the trees.
*Baam!*
"Gah!!" he showed immense pain as his back struck the tree down.
The fear in Martha's heart suddenly climbed a higher level as one of the offensive members of her team breaks like an egg.
"Richard!" she called to him, expecting that he would come back to fight again, but he wouldn't say anything back…silence was only heard from Richard's direction
Having no response from Richard, she gave up on the hope of him supporting her. So in her desperation, she threw her magic at the orc. Each spear was strong but to her expectations, not a single attack was ever effective. The orc was to proficient in handling his weapon.
The orc grew annoyed, so without any sense of care, the orc gripped his two swords and dashed down at the weaklings. It planned to aim at the most annoying pest at the moment, and that was Martha.
Running at a frightening speed at just by a few steps alone, the orc had already reach a distance near enough that it could slice off the head of Martha in just one quick second.
"!!" Martha could not react quickly enough…and her fear insistently won over her body.
This caused her to just stand in pure still fear as the blades were coming her.
At this point in the novel, she would have been assisted by Iris so that she could escape the attack but the plot shifted. Instead, Iris remained unstable and Martha was about to lose her life.
'No!!' her desperation screamed in her head.
As if in slow-motion she could see the blades slowly coming close to her…for each millisecond that came, her heartbeat would linger in waiting its end.
With her fear, she suddenly blinks…and for that quick look to darkness, she felt a sense of hopelessness.
Almost as if death was at her throat…
But suddenly!
*THUD!*
The noise of two metals clashing against one another was heard.
And before that noise, a figure stood.
"!?" Martha raised her head and saw a person desperately trying his best to hold off against two swords.
"Martha! Attack!!!!" shouted Hamil as he stood in front of Martha while two swords were against him. One sword was against a shield while the other was against an arm coated by darkness.
Martha saw the same desperate look Hamil had in his face…to her, both of them wanted to get out of this alive…and suddenly the fear inside her was slowly getting stopped…as if the person in front of her was telling her not to give up.
"!!" She gritted her teeth and gave her self another chance.
"OOOHHH!!!!" she shouted her resolve….and soon fifteen flame spears suddenly stood by her side.
And it rained down.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
Having took on the barrage of flame spears, the orc jumped back to distance himself from the attacker.
Martha could see that those barrages of attacks didn't do well to damage the orc, but still it gave her time to ready an even more powerful attack.
Small consecutive attacks won't do well in this situation. She needed a more fiercer attack. She knew a few attack skills in her slot but not a single one of them were truly strong enough to deal damage to the orc. The only thing she could use at a perfect mastery was the Flame spear.
But she knew of another skill that she was quite hesitant to use since it would be seen by the drones. She wanted to keep this skill a secret until the time was somewhat desperate and right.
"..." this event wasn't the right time to use her exclusive skill…but it was a desperate moment. So she had to consider the situation and the possibility of survival.
'...I'll have to use that.' thought Martha as she looks conflicted over her choices.
But she looks to Hamil and saw that he still had hope within him to fight back.
The orc didn't wait though, instead it came even more ferociously than before. And this time he aimed at his original target, Iris.
The orc dashed again to Iris's direction, but Hamil knew of this and came forward with his shield. The orc swung his sword at the side, expecting that he would throw the boy away just like what he did with Richard, but the moment the sword came crashing against the shield, the orc was shocked to see him holding on.
With two hands on the shield, Hamil struggled not to be lift off away from Iris's side.
"Ghhh!!!" he gritted his teeth as he slowly gets pushed back..
With Iris and her unstable mind, she could only watch as two people continued to fight against a monster that seemed impossible to kill at their current power. And when the orc came to her…she could only look at her front with the same expression she could present at any nightmare she would face.
Her eyes were cold and hopeless.
As the sword came swinging at her, she fully accepted her fate to die at this moment.
".…"
But before she could feel the cold steel blades passing through her like a carcass, she suddenly heard the sound of what people call a pure struggle for survival.
She raised her head and saw that someone was protecting her…
A solid figure with a broad back stood in front of her.
This person carried a shield that made her feel somewhat safe…and the person before her…the feeling she would conflict between fear and reliance over this person…the sensation of reliance was developing even more…and fear was completely thrown out of the presence of this person.
"...my lord." words of a title meant for someone royal and powerful came out of her mouth without her knowing. As if she felt like this title served and fitted well with the person who was in front of her.