______Twelve years later
"Lavinia! Quick! Heal Elyas! He is seriously injured!"
A party of five humans is trapped within the damp dungeon against a herd of orc creatures that average 2 meters tall. Their vanguard had been beaten, and the remaining members were exhausted.
Lavinia is a medic as well as a priest at this party. Lavinia's thoughts went blank as she saw Elyas, their vanguard and commander, get seriously injured. But after being yelled at by the rest of her company, she gains consciousness and quickly approaches Elyas and kneels beside him. Lavinia's index finger glowed slightly, and then she drew something in the air right above Elyas's wound. Lavinia stretched her palms on it, and then she muttered something.
"The angels who watch over us, please wrap his wound with your love, ask for power from your god and flow it into every cell of his body, heal him so that he has the strength to serve you more."
A little sparkling speck approached Elyas's wound, and the wound gradually closed.
Looking at their situation at that time, Lavinia felt anxious.
"This is really bad."
Approximately an hour ago, when they reached the dungeon's midpoint and stepped into a room between the passageways, there was an unexpected explosion above them in the cave. This vibration caused pieces of the dungeon ceiling to come crashing down, blocking their path and leaving them with no avenue for escape.
On that dangerous situation, Lavinia thought,
'what should we do?! Orcs are basically shallow-brained beasts that live for their lust and desire, we already expected the fight with the orcs, and we had the plan to confront the orcs. With our strategy and level, there's no way we can lose to them! Everything should go as planned! The real problem is her!'
Behind the herd of orcs that attacked them, there was 3 meters orc sat cross-legged on the chilly floor of the dungeon. The word "her" that Lavinia said refers to that orc.
'That is Queen Orc! The queen has the ability to control the movement of the herd. A queen is undoubtedly smarter than the other orcs, but I didn't expect her to be this smart!
First, she had already blocked our escape route. With this amount of orcs, our only choice is to fight them, and then we can destroy the stones that blocked the way out. But because of the queen's ability and smart move, the orcs' movements are very coordinated, making it difficult for us to fight them. That means we must first defeat the queen so that no one can control the orcs.
BUT THE QUEEN… she obviously knew and anticipated our thoughts, which is why she just sat calmly away from our assault range!'
"I…I, too, will fight," said Elyas in pain. Lavinia's healing was a success, but his pain was still there, and it would take some time for him to recover completely from his intense wound.
"You are just a piece of sh*t, a burden commander. Just rest there until you're completely recovered," said Milda, their support who use a bow. Milda shot her arrows as much as possible at every orc approaching them.
Despite their critical situation, Lavinia came up with a strategy to survive that situation.
"Algar! Use your god's blessings and focus on the Queen Orc! I will spend all of my mana to paralyze the orcs' movement for 30 seconds. In 30 seconds, the rest should kill the Queen Orc!" Lavinia shouted confidently.
"Kill the Queen Orc in 30 seconds? Hahaha, how funny…You cracked a joke in this situation?" shouted Algar, their defender, laughing.
Muriel, their caster, responded to Algar and Lavinia's plan.
"No, it looks like Lavinia is serious," said Muriel.
"This is the worst plan I have ever heard from her, but there is no other option we can take in this situation. Fortunately, the soil spirits and fire spirits are present. When the Queen Orc approaches, I will use the soil spirits to stop its movement with my amnis. After that, Elyas and Milda will assault the Queen Orc as a bait. With the help of fire spirits, I will unleash the ultimate amnis to the Queen."
Muriel turned to Lavinia and asked, "Is that your plan, Lavinia?"
Lavia nodded and smiled.
"Friends, I trust you all. Let us have a drink after this," said Lavinia calmly.
Amnis is the embodiment of mana, which can only be manifested by elemental spirits. So humans had to use their mana to give orders to the elemental spirits to activate amnis.
A small light flashed from the tip of Lavinia's forefinger. With that light (mana), Lavinia drew a soil symbol and combined it with a water symbol. Around the symbol, she scribbled the command and the type of amnis she wanted to use. As soon as the conditions for using the amnis were complete, Lavinia lifted her head and gave a signal.
"I AM DONE! ALGAR, NOW!"
After Lavinia shouted, Algar used his big iron shield to knock down the two orcs near him. Then he raised his shield high, pulled, and stuck the lower part of the shield into the ground.
-PRANG!
Algar concentrated his mana into his mouth, and then… SCREAM!
"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRR!!!!"
Algar's scream echoed in the dungeon. As a result, all the orcs ignored everything and blindly targeted Algar. That scream makes them more brutal and focuses on attacking Algar.
'Algar's god blessing, intimidation. He could attract and taunt all the monsters within a few meters to attack him; more precisely, every monster that Algar could see would be affected. With his ability, Queen Orc will approaches Algar and will be within Muriel's amnis range!' thought Lavinia
Lavinia's amnis start right after Algar activates his god's blessing. Using the elemental spirits of soil and water, Lavinia made a huge number of plant roots grow out of the ground all at once. These roots bound all the orcs who approached Algar.
The Queen Orc eventually got up and went over to Algar due to Algar's skill.
'Good! She will get closer to Muriel's amnis range.'
Muriel's fingertips glowed with mana. She drew a soil symbol on the floor and activated her amnis to paralyze the Queen Orc's movement… BUT
-BRUG!
A wooden bludgeon flew from Queen Orc's hand into Muriel's head. Muriel was pushed against the wall before her amnis was active. Her head seemed to be stuck in the wall along with the bludgeon the Queen Orc threw. As a result, Muriel's head was wrecked.
"MURIEEELLL!!!" Milda shouted.
Elyas and Milda, who were already prepared to attack the queen, suddenly looked desperate and gloomy when seeing what had happened to Muriel. While Algar already tired because out of mana, so he did not even have the strength to yell. He was just profoundly panting while kneeling on the front lines. Lavinia was also shocked, but her mind was racing faster this time than usual. The plan was supposed to be perfect, but why?
"Why? Why was Queen Orc able to think clearly? She was undoubtedly affected by Algar's god's blessing. With Algar's taunt, all the monsters would lose their minds and blindly attack Algar! But let alone Algar, Queen Orc attacked Muriel instead! That means she had deliberately considered Muriel to be the most dangerous! Why is intimidation useless against her?!"
Thirty seconds had passed since Lavinia activated her amnis. The roots wrapped around the orcs changed into regular wilted plants scattered on the ground.
Therefore, the orcs, who had been affected by Algar's intimidation, swarmed and attacked Algar brutally. So brutal that his friends couldn't see what had happened to Algar's body.
When Milda and Elyas saw this, they became enraged and rushed forward to the queen.
"ELYAS! MILDA! STOP!" Lavinia shouted.
They don't listen and keep running forward, but not to save Algar. Looking at the situation, they realized Algar couldn't be saved, so they used the chance to attack Queen Orc.
Together, Elyas and Milda used their god's blessing. Milda clapped her right and left hands and made a blazing arc, while Elyas bit his finger and smeared his blood on his long sword.
But before their god's blessing could take effect, two arrows sped up from their left and right, stabbing Elyas's shoulder and Milda's waist. Both of them fall because of the shot. The orc queen quickly lifted her hand and shattered both of their heads.
There was a small curtain on the left and right walls, and Lavinia, for some reason, didn't pay attention to the curtain. Behind the curtain, two more monsters with arrows hide there. They didn't see Algar, so his god's blessings didn't affect them. The two monsters who had been hiding came out. Surprisingly, that monster is not an orc but a goblin.
'Orcs and goblins collaborating? What's wrong with this dungeon?!'
Lavinia fell because of shock. Her legs were weak, and she couldn't move.
Generally, monsters in dungeons don't work together because killing humans is their deepest desire. They won't work together against their prey even if they are smart.
Now, Lavinia is alone, sitting near the bodies of her friends. They look so severe that Lavinia probably wouldn't recognize whose bodies it was if they weren't armored.
Finish with their prey, the orcs immediately went straight to Lavinia. Some walk slowly, some run, and some crawl.
Everything seemed slow for Lavinia at that moment, almost like time had stopped. After 20 years, Lavinia finally experiences the near-death experience, when time slows down right before someone dies.
"Am I dying here?" she thought, desperately
Then suddenly…
"STOJ!!!"
It's Queen Orc. She yelled something in a language that Lavinia didn't know. When the orcs heard Queen Orc's yell, all the orcs stopped.
They slowly moved away. Some are to the left, while others are to the right. The orcs have now been split into two groups; make way for the queen to walk.
-POUND POUND
Queen Orc slowly ascended, her large bludgeon clasped tightly in her hands. With each step the queen took, the dungeon's walls trembled slightly. As the queen continued up, tiny grains of sand poured down from the ceiling, adding to the terror she was instilling in those around her. This is how Queen Orc scares and keeps her herd in line.
In front of the helpless Lavinia, Queen Orc lifted her bludgeon and ponded it at Lavinia's feet.
"AAAARGH!!!! AAAAAAARGH!!!"
Lavinia gasped in shock as the powerful Queen Orc easily shattered her leg - like a child shattering a tree branch. She let out a wailing, pitiful scream that echoed for ten seconds throughout the chamber. Her ordeal was seen in her face, dripping with sweat, her body heat trapped and her movements restricted by the oppressive armor consuming her. In her view, standing tall and menacing, stood the Orc Queen, mercilessly slaying her helpless friends, an image of pure fear of Lavinia. Lavinia felt an unbearable, stabbing pain in her damaged leg as its bones snapped in half like a twig. But what worried Lavinia even more, was the fact that she wasn't killed by the Queen Orc right away. What will happen next? And what will these orcs do to her?
The Queen Orc threw her bludgeon at another orc, then grabbed Lavinia's hair and dragged her away.
"NOO! LET ME GO! JUST KILL ME! PLEASE! MY HEAD HURTS!"
Lavinia felt her neck almost crack from the Queen Orc's tug. She also felt excruciating pain from her broken leg bones grinding against the uneven cobblestone floor.
Queen Orc dragged her all the way to the end of the first floor of the dungeon.
This dungeon has a maze on each floor; at the end of the first floor, there is a large room at the end of the passage. The room was illuminated by blue fire torches attached to the wall. There was an altar at the end of the room. On the front of the altar is a circular pattern that looks like it could be opened if something were put on it; that was probably a path to the next floor.
Lavinia was experiencing so much pain that she was almost unconscious. There was no more light in her eyes, her face became gloomy, and saliva came out of her mouth, making her chin and lips wet. Unfortunately, her mana had run out. If she has, she would definitely use all her mana to activate amnis which can relieve her pain.
Queen Orc stopped in front of the door on the right side of the room, there was a door with the same color as the walls of the dungeon.
As soon as she opened the door, a bright light came out. So bright that if you walked in, you had to squint to get used to it, and this light made Lavinia fully conscious.
The first floor of this dungeon was far beneath the ground. Here, the light of the human world cannot reach, and all creatures must manage in the faint glow of the ceiling, flickering like a firefly. But that room was shockingly bright – far brighter than any place before. In contrast to the surrounding darkness, this room glowed and hummed with a strange and strong light, almost like daylight.
That room is about 300 meters, roughly the size of three football fields. The room's ceiling was shaped like a crystal, and it seemed like the crystal was connected to something outside to reflect light from outside into the room. A small river flows from the left side of the room to the right side, filling the pond on the right side of the room. There is a lot of grass but not many flowers on the plains. Almost At the end of the room, a giant tree was 10 meters tall. In the middle of the bottom of the tree was a three-meter-high hole, and something was coming out of the hole toward them.
It was a human child around the age of 12 with black hair.
'a human kid inside a dungeon?!'