It had now been a few minutes since the last fight had ended, and there was nothing special about either of the fighters, they were both run-of-the-mill orc children who fought purely with brute force.
The fight had taken a grand total of thirty minutes due to the two idiots punching each other back and forth so there wasn't much entertainment to be had, however, the next match might be a little interesting.
The second match of the first round and the fight before Drak's was to be fought between Warek and an orc boy who hailed from the Iron Clan, a clan that was founded only 100 years ago.
Although the clan is young, they are one of the 10 "High Clans" whose patriarchs serve as advisors to the chief of the tribe.
There used to only be 9 High Clans, but since the Iron Clan was founded by Tryak the Blacksmith, they have quickly risen to prominence through their iron weapons and armor, hence the name, Iron Clan.
While most of the orc warriors use leather armor along with stone axes, the 10 High Clans, along with a few more powerful clans, use weapons of ion ranging from swords, spears, battle axes, and even maces.
These Clans also wear chainmail armor over their animal skin and leather armor, with the patriarchs of the 10 High Clans being able to commission scale armor that covers their chest.
Although Grak is the most powerful warrior of the clan, the Direwolf Clan is still a new upstart clan in the eyes of others, so it won't be for a while until he can sport such armor.
Grak, as he is now could have long used iron weapons, hell, he could probably get his hands on one of the few steel weapons that the chief has due to their great relationship.
But instead of getting a superior weapon, Grak still remains true to his stone axes, some that he swings around killing enemies and some smaller ones made for throwing at them.
Back to the fight.
Warek, the more pensive and rational of the twins, would be taking on Yaroc the son and clan heir of the Iron Clan.
Yaroc wielded an iron spear that was 152cm long in total, 15cm of which was the iron blade that was serrated along the edges.
The weapon of choice for the Iron Clan heir would give him a significant advantage if paired against most other orcs, Warek however, is not like most other orcs.
Warek's preferred weapon is a bow and arrow, the name of Warek and Larek's clan is simply called, the Arrow Clan.
Although it sounds very simple, their clan is one of only a few that actually utilize the bow and arrow, among all of the "Archer Clans" as they are dubbed, are 5 minor clans, 2 of which inhabit the cave system due to being subordinate clans to another larger one.
The Arrow Clan along with the Bow Clan, yes that is seriously what they are called, are both subordinate clans to the same clan, the Rolling Wind Clan.
The Rolling Wind Clan was founded 300 years ago, a century before the tribe fled to the cave and areas around it, their founder had been the best scout of the whole Orc Kingdom, back when there was an orc kingdom anyways.
It is said that the Orc King of the time had granted him the opportunity to create his own separate clan from his old one since he was the 5th son, he was also given some land to protect, but as history has shown, that only last for about a century before the vast majority of orcs within the kingdom were wiped out by humans.
The Rolling Wind Clan had survived the destruction of the orc kingdom and settled in the cave system with the rest, they even produced two chiefs of the tribe right after another before they lost the spot around 70 years ago.
During their time in the cave system, orcs had been learning new ways to fight and hunt that would give them a higher chance of survival, and bows, along with wooden javelins were produced and used by a new type of warrior, the archer, and the javelin thrower.
When bows were first made and passed around to would-be archers, the 5th and 6th sons who were twins of the current patriarch of the Rolling Wind Clan had shown great proficiency in the art of archer, so they were both given the privilege of making their own subordinate clans to the main one.
And since then they have served not only the tribe but the main clan with great loyalty.
...
With a roar from the referee, the fight commenced, Warek immediately jumped back a few steps to gain some more distance from his opponent.
Not wanting to give his enemy the chance to get farther away, Yaroc the Iron Clan heir dashed towards Warek in an attempt to land an early stab on his thigh, as to slow down the nimble archer.
Yaroc dashed towards Warek and was one meter away from him before he launched the stab.
The iron spear had been thrust toward Warek's lower right thigh, seeing the incoming attack, Warek quickly used the unevenness of the arena to his advantage.
Using his foot, he caught onto a groove that stuck up towards the ceiling and used that little area to launch with his left foot and spin his body around, effectively dodging the spear and positioning himself at an adequate distance to unsheath the iron shortsword that he had at his hip.
For the members of the Arrow and Bow Clans, while their main weapon is of course the bow and arrow, they are trained from a young age on how to wield an iron short sword that they carry around for the most extreme situations where they can't use their bow.
The iron short sword's that the two clans use are forged by their own people due to the relatively simple process of smelting down foraged iron armor and weapons, and reforging them into basic short swords.
For most clan members of the two clans, these short swords are the only melee weapons that they will ever wield, however, that's not to say there aren't any exceptions.
Although rare, there are sometimes orcs within not only the Arrow and Bow clans, but the other three archer clans, who prefer to use a melee weapon instead of a bow.
One such orc is Warek's younger twin brother, Larek, who uses battle axes as his selected weapons.
...
Using his momentum to rotate his body, Warek unsheathed his short sword and sent a slash toward Yaroc's arm in an attempt to cripple his dominant arm and gain the upper hand in the fight.
Yaroc had registered the attack but was a little too slow, while he may have dodged the strike from cutting down his right arm, the sword instead passed through his sides and subsequently, the ribs.
Luckily for Yaroc, the cut was only a couple of cm deep, a cut like this was superficial to an orc who has a way superior healing factor compared to humans.
Recovering from the initial shock of being cut, Yaroc got back into his stance a few meters away from Warek, although he thought putting some distance between the two of them at that moment would help him, he was all too wrong.
Without missing a beat, Warek grabbed and nocked two arrows on his bow, he pulled the strings, aimed, and with the release of a breath, the arrows were sent whistling down range towards Yaroc.
Although the two of them had been fighting like decent warriors up until now, it wasn't until he was staring at two arrows as they flew towards his chest and throat, did Yaroc realize that he might truly be in danger this time.
Within Yaroc's body, a natural phenomenon was unfolding, this "event" in the body, was the flight or fight response, although he had frozen up for a few seconds, the orc body and subconscious didn't let Yaroc just dumbly stand there and get shot by two arrows.
While an arrow to the chest and throat would be deadly for a human, orcs were just that much more resistant than humans, hell, if an orc loses an arm or leg, they can regrow it within a month or two, as long as a heartbeat persists, then the orc who the heart belongs to will most likely live through most injuries.
Hence the ability for young orcs such as themselves, being able to use real weapons and send attacks that would be fatal to a human, at each other.
Deciding that he didn't want to go through the pain that would come with being pierced by the two arrows, Yaroc's body quickly dove out of the way all on its own, it wasn't until he made an impact with the floor that Yaroc's conscious had awoken from its shock.
"Tch seems I missed," exclaimed Warek
Yaroc got up to his feet and assumed his stance once again, this time, with a little more of a cautious gaze in his eyes.
"That was a pretty good move Warek, too bad that I will have to put you down so I can move on."
"I do have a tournament to win after all," said Yaroc arrogantly
"Hahaha, om my gods, you seriously think that on the small off chance that you beat me, you will be able to win the tournament, boy are you stupid."
"with the likes of Drak and some of the other powerful young orcs, you don't stand a chance with your sub-par spearmanship." laughed Warek in an attempt to get in Yaroc's head, one that has worked.
"Roooar! I'm going to gut you Warek!" Roared Yaroc
Yaroc in a blind fit of questionable rage kicked off from the ground and rushed towards Warek like a wild animal.
Realizing that he might have gotten a little too far under his skin, Warek dashed backward and started firing arrow after arrow towards the mad beast Yaroc.
No matter how many arrows came at him, Yaroc either dodged them or tanked them depending on where they hit, by the time he was within two meters of Warek, Yaroc had a good 4 or 5 arrows stuck into him, ranging from his shoulder and arms to even his thigh and stomach.
Warek had now regretted the things he had said, it would seem that he sent Yaroc down into a berserker state for god knows what reason.
However, to his advantage, considering that there were arrows sticking out of him, Yaroc had started to slow down due to extreme fatigue.
Once he was within a meter of Warek, he swing his iron spear with all of his might towards Wareks torso.
The attack was blocked by Warek's shortsword, as he deflected the spear away from his body, Warek planted his foot and swing his short sword directly at Yaroc's left arm, and he made contact.
Warek plunged the blade into Yaroc's left arm and cut all the way to the bone, but the sword could go any farther so he pulled it out and slashed a couple of more times at Yaroc's chest and legs, these cuts were around 5-10cm deep so they did a little more damage the earlier cut across Yaroc's chest which had already healed.
Not being able to take any more stress, Yaroc finally collapsed into unconsciousness.
After a few moments of waiting, it was official, Warek was the victor of the fight, and he would advance to the next round.