It took Druak a great deal of care and being incredibly cautious but after some time Druak was finally able to slip past the orc patrols and get close enough to the orcs.
It had been quite some time since Druak had gotten close enough to watch and listen in on the orcs, but even after all that time Druak still couldn't figure out what they were doing here.
'It makes no sense. The only orcs I've affected were the ones near my home village, but this group can't be them, since the strongest orc near the village is that orc shaman and none of these orcs are weak.'
It made no sense to Druak. All he had done was warn his village about the orc shaman, so it made no sense that so many orcs were coincidentally at the same place he went.
However as he racked his head around what possible reason they had for coming here, he realised something which had completely crossed his mind.
'Wait! Did that damned lich do this… That would explain it. Why else would orcs come here of all places.'
After releasing who was probably behind this Druak knew that whatever these orcs were going to do would be nothing good, as he already knew what the lich was capable of after experiencing the atrocities it committed using Druaks possessed body.
'I need to stop whatever that thing has planned. But for now I should continue gathering information, I still don't know why that damned lich sent orcs here of all places.'
Druak continued to watch the orcs, listening in on whatever he could, in hopes that he could foil the lich's plan and get some payback for what the lich had made him do.
It was incredibly difficult to gather information, and Druak almost got caught multiple times, but after learning the behaviour patterns of the orcs and which order they would patrol, Druak had finally managed to listen in and learn some valuable information.
Firstly he had learned that their objective for coming here was to capture students of the academy, who were roaming around the forest without a teacher.
Druak didn't know the reason for them wanting to capture the students, but this at least gave him an idea of how strong the orcs currently here were.
'If they need to avoid the teachers it means most of them are probably at the 3rd or 4th stage. This gives us a chance to beat them since none of them should be over 5th stage.'
However not long after learning this information he had also learned that this was in fact only the scouting party, so a much larger army of orcs could be closing in.
This meant Druak couldn't rely completely on his guess of their strength and his normal method of gauging his enemies strength was currently unavailable so any information on the orcs full strength became much harder to determine.
'Damn it. Each time I think I've learned something useful, more information turns up which makes it almost useless.'
As Druak tried to gather more information he constantly had this feeling of being watched and not long after moving to a small clearing he was interrupted by a strange dark energy that rapidly approached him.
Quickly reacting Druak ran, as he tried to escape from it's clutches, but to no avail. No matter how fast he ran and how hard he tried it still somehow managed to wrap around him.
Druak noticed that whatever the black energy touched burned almost as if the black energy was acidic. Realising he couldn't escape he used as much mana as possible surrounding his body with mana, trying as hard as possible to stop the black energy and break free.
Even after struggling to surround his body with mana, the dark energy still managed to worm its way through his ice mana shield and reach his skin. As it touched his skin he felt an excruciating pain, almost as if his skin was being burned apart by some kind of acid.
The smell of burning flesh began to surround Druak as he tried to hold in the urge to scream in pain as the acid-like energy slowly burned away at his skin.
The constant burning rushed through Druak's body and gave him an incredible urge to scream in pain, but he knew if he didn't hold in this urge his chance of survival would be almost non-existent, as the orcs would instantly learn of his location.
Druak tried to stand up, knowing that if he didn't leave soon it could be his end, but the force of the dark energy kept pushing him down, the only thing keeping him alive was the mana shield. However even this had signs of cracks and it was clear it would only last a little longer.
Struggling with all his might Druak slowly got on one knee, then another and finally standing up he said."I have to hold this mana shield. I can't let my body be completely covered with this dark energy. I can't give up! Not till I get my revenge on that f*cking lich!"
Druak had become obsessed with the urge for revenge barely noticing the pain which continued to grow.
The pain suddenly returned as Druak was distracted from his thoughts of revenge because of a strange laughter which began to echo throughout the forest.
As if appearing from nowhere a visage of a shadowy figure appeared, eventually revealing the same orc which had instigated the orc chieftain to come here in the first place.
The laughter continued as the orc watched Druak struggle desperately, trying whatever he could to break free from this black energies clutches.
Ice blasts, ice weapons of all kinds were used against the balck energy, but no matter how hard Druak tried each attack shattered to pieces as if Druak was nothing but a child trying to fight against a full grown adult.
'Damn it. Why didn't I practise my magic more instead of trying to recruit that ice mage… No it's my own fault not hers, I had more than enough time to learn my abilities, but I was too focused on getting stronger fast and not learning everything properly.'
The black energy around Druak slowly closed in more and more, eventually stopping along with the orcs laughter.
Leaning down at Druak which had once again fallen to the ground, the orc finally spoke." Ahhh. So you're the worm that my master fears so much. I don't understand why though. You're just a pathetic human like all the rest, only worthy of serving my master."
Then a smile appeared on the orcs face, as it thought of an idea."Wait a minute… My master said you were quite durable and from the looks of it he was right." The orc looked at the struggling Druak, which was continuously being burned by the black magic and then continued speaking."Perfect. You can be used as a toy for the orcs to get rid of their anger…. Since it was you humans that attacked their village."
A smile appeared on the orcs face, an eerie feeling began to envelope Druak.
The dark energy around Druak began to dissipate and Druak could finally catch a breath, or at least he thought he could.
Covered in sweat and burns Druak sat, surrounded by orcs with maniac smiles on their faces.
Druak was completely exhausted and had no way of escape.
Standing on his feet Druak yelled."COME ON!!! THIS ALL YOU GOT!!!"