Lia's eyes narrowed as she picked up some subtle movement within the trees. Her "companions" were still reeling over their potential deaths when she interrupted them with harsh words.
"Fools. Get it together, we have company and unless you want to die, I suggest we fight." Lia was fairly sure she could fight them all off alone. In fact, she could probably do this whole portion solo. Unfortunately, the judges wanted to see teamwork, so she would at least try to accommodate them.
Yura was the first to collect herself, she hastily drew her small daggers. The other two guys slapped each other in the face and stood upright, drawing their lances. Lia nodded in satisfaction as she summoned her mana domain.
It didn't take her very long to feel the large creatures. Her voice was clear and concise. "Two in front and one in the back, it's attempting to flank us. Yura, make certain that doesn't happen. I'll come assist you if you need it. In the meantime, the three of us will take on these two."
The guys that now had large handprints on their faces, nodded at her instruction. To them, she seemed experienced in leading group combat, and having her around reassured them.
Truthfully, Lia was just taking advice from Saro and repeating what she told her. Lia wasn't the best in terms of leading a team, but Saro had some experience.
The two guys stepped forward, stomping a foot down. The ground was carved out beneath their foot, as a shield made of solidified earth rose into the air. Each of them drew a lance and entered a defensive stance, their floating shields poised to take an attack. Meanwhile, Yura cast her invisibility spell and stepped into the shadows, leaving the group to hunt her prey.
The orcs stepped into the team's vision. They were green-skinned and wore loincloths. Two large tusks descending from their mouths like fangs. They stood roughly seven feet tall and each one had a large cleaver-like sword in their hand.
The Lancers stood side by side, holding their defensive stance. The orcs didn't even seem to think as they suddenly rushed forward. Lia remained in the back, monitoring Yura's movements with the most minimal of effort.
An orc's sword clashed against the solid rock shield and bounced off. The lancer quickly and expertly performed a riposte, stabbing into the orc's thigh with high efficiency. Unfortunately, the other orc was alongside his brethren. He attempted to punish the attacking lancer by swinging its weapon at his neck. Its sword was blocked by the other guy's floating shield. He had moved it to block the attack.
Lia raised an eyebrow as she watched on. Saro interrupted her. 'Yura is stalking the enemy. I believe these two have some experience working together, that or they went to the same combat prep school.'
The Lancer pulled his weapon out of the orc's thigh, drawing a grunt of pain. He quickly began to reposition himself, but was caught off guard by the orc's relentless pursuit. His situation had very quickly become worse, and a sword was now heading straight for his torso.
The other lancer was tied up in his own struggle and was unable to help. The orc attacking him was relentlessly beating on his earth shield, and it was taking every ounce of effort he had to keep it up and protect himself.
Lia moved swiftly, her hand coated in necromantic magic, as she dashed forward. Fragments of bone formed a clawed gauntlet as she caught the orc's sword, stopping its advance on her petrified teammate.
The strength behind the blow was more than she expected, causing her maneuver to eat more force than she expected. She elicited a small grunt of exertion.
Mana began to permeate the air as she weaved a rather large spell. "Tch. You guys need to be more decisive. Go for the killing blow, don't fuck around with their limbs. Do something like this."
Her hand holding the sword swiftly pushed it aside, as it whizzed past her. Both of her hands came up as she punched into the orc's chest. Her arms effortlessly went through, and even she was shocked.
Thinking quickly, she pulled her arms apart. Everyone, even the remaining orc, watched in amazement as the orc's body began to tear. The orc itself began to scream in pain as it remained rooted to the spot. It didn't take long for the orc's torso to be ripped in half.
Lia looked at her hands wide-eyed. She had expected Saro to be capable of this, but she should not have been able to do that.
The other orc began to disengage from the lancer, attempting to flee. Unfortunately for it, the attempt wasn't very good and it was swiftly killed by the two lancers.
.....
Yura was hidden behind a small shrub, her invisibility was still active as she watched the advancing orc. It seemed to be moving haphazardly, uncaring about anyone potentially hunting him.
Yura moved swiftly, dashing towards his back. Her footsteps were muffled by air magic, and she was completely invisible. For her, being in a forest was like giving wings to a tiger who knew how to fly.
Her daggers raked across the orc's back, drawing a red gush of blood. He wildly swung his sword as he turned around. Yura crouched, mentally noting that her invisibility was about to wear off. She plunged her daggers into its abdomen and swiftly yanked them out, rolling to the left.
Her invisibility wore off mid-roll, as the orc grunted. He swung his cleaved down, attempting to chop her small body in half. She rolled once again, dodging the attack as a new spell began to take effect.
A strange, foreign type of mana began to flow from her, creating a thick fog in the air. Using the sensory deprivation she caused, Yura disappeared from the orc's sight. She had leapt into a low-hanging tree branch nearby.
The orc began to furiously look around, and Yura's eyes narrowed as she watched it. 'Yes. Breathe in that oh-so-very harmless "darkness" mana.'
The orc's face began to turn red as it grasped at its throat. The mana was choking it, as dark purple lines formed from its chest. They stretched across the orc's skin like fingernail marks. The lines reached the orc's throat and it began to cough up blood.
After vomiting blood nonstop for a minute, the orc collapsed onto the ground, clearly dead. Yura released her spell, and the mana was sucked back into her body. She turned and began heading back toward her "teammates".