[Elven forest near Dawn Village]
Having dealt with the abomination and the traitor without wasting time, I entered the forest in full focus, with the knight squad, to investigate the orc traces.
After riding for while, my ears twitched and I picked up the sound of burning wood, iron clashing softly, and several people speaking in an unknown language.
"Did you hear them, Elvy?" Sylianner asked from my shoulder.
"They are ahead of us."
"My prince, are you sure? We have yet to find out where they are. If we move blindly, we could be ambushed," Knight captain said as she raised her hand to stop the knights.
"I am certain, Captain," I said as got off from moonfurry and began to take off my training gear, not wanting it to get damaged.
"Let me help you, Elvy," Sylianner said as she snapped her fingers, causing the training gear to phase through my body and fall to the ground, leaving me with only my underwear on.
"Stay here, boy," I said to Moonfurry as I petted its back, since Beast was too big and orcs could easily find our location.
"My prince, what are you doing? You can't possibly be thinking of rushing forward to their possible hideout without any armor. What you are doing is nothing but suicide."
"I am far more powerful than you think, Captain," I said, picking up my dagger.
"'Sigh', I will inform the knights, my prince," Knight captain said as she walked towards the knights.
But without waiting for her, I rushed to where the orcs were, while Moon Furry followed me.
***
I stood on the branch, hidden from the orcs, as I observed them. There were a total of 32 orcs, 21 males and 11 females, without any mounts. No shamans or hunters among them, all warriors, wearing simple battle gear with a wolf symbol on their single plate shoulder showing which clan they belong to,they were sitting around a campfire with animal corpses while cooking a wild boar.
[ORCS]
"Make a barrier around us, Sylianner, and cast an illusion to keep the knights away from here, and hold moonfurry back." I said to Sylianner as I began to tie up my hair while giving a glare to my elk who followed me but beast just scoffed at me.
"Hehehehe, let's kill some greenies, Elvy," Sylianner said, giggling as her hands began to glow and she put up a barrier.
"It is my hunt, Sylianner. Do not interfere."
"Elvy, don't be a dummy. You are not elven guardian anymore. You are yet to be powerful enough to go against a few dozen orcs and come out unscathed."
"A few cuts mean nothing in exchange for the joy and experience I will get from slaughtering these orcs," I said to Sylianner as I grabbed her from my shoulder and placed her on the branch.
"Let go of me, you damned idiot. I will not watch you get hurt," Sylianner said as she began to struggle.
"Sylianner, stand down. Every injury I suffer from this fight will only increase my power," I said to her as I bent my legs and threw myself at the nearest orc.
I held my dagger in front of me and plunged it into the orc's skull, killing it with a single hit. The other orcs stopped what they were doing and just looked at me with confused faces, still trying to understand what had just happened.
Instead of waiting for them to react, I quickly pulled my dagger out of the orc's skull and swung it at the throat of the orc closest to me, cutting it. By the time I killed the second orc, the others had already reacted and picked up their axes to attack.
I grabbed the orc I had killed and held it in front of me as multiple orcs threw their axes at me. But after a few axes plunged into its body, I quickly threw the orc I was holding towards the orcs throwing their axes at me as I felt an attack from behind.
I turned around and bent my body backwards, narrowly avoiding an axe that passed before my eyes. I kicked the arm of the orc that was attacking me, making him fully open for an attack. I shot forward and plunged my dagger into his heart.
I let go of the dagger and raised my arm as I felt an attack from my side. An orc from my side hit me with a hammer and pushed me away.
I felt a slight pain in my arm but ignored it, since other orcs began to attack me all at once. I let go of my defenses, focusing on the attack. I allowed their attacks to land on me, exchanging injury for injury.
The orcs attacks couldn't fully penetrate my skin. They could only inflict superficial cuts that barely drew blood. Meanwhile, I killed them one by one with a wide grin on my face.
***
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with the sweet smell of blood as I stood among orc corpses, covered in green and red blood, while the wounds on my body continued to bleed.
Although I was able to kill all the orcs, it was a difficult fight. If there had been a dozen more, I would have lost. To think that I was struggling against just a few dozen orcs when I had slain their god before my fall.
'Pathetic,' I thought to myself.
'CRUNCH''CRUNCH''CRUNCH'
The sound of Moonfury eating brought me out of my thoughts. Opening my eyes, I saw that the beast was feeding on the raw meat of the dead orcs.
"Sylianner, dispel your barrier and the illusion," I said to Sylianner, who was flying beside me.
But she didn't answer. Instead, she snapped her fingers, dispelling her barrier and illusion. Then she flew to my face and kissed me on the lips, not out of affection, but to heal my injuries and clean the blood from my body.
When I felt the magic envelop me and my wounds closed, I looked at Sylianner and saw her pouting with her arms crossed.
"Do not be angry, Sylianner. Come here," I said as I tried to grab her, but she dodged my hand.
"Hmph."
"You can always join the next hunt, Sylianner. Stop sulking and come," I said to Sylianner, patting my chest as I lay down in the shade of a tree to wait for the knights.
"Hmph, you don't love me anymore. I won't talk to you until we've destroyed at least one town together," Sylianner said, but she still flew and sat on my chest.
"Hmmm." I closed my eyes and waited for the knights to find us.
After a while, the knights arrived and the captain expressed her distress and concern about me going alone to fight all of those orcs.
I ordered the knights to collect all the armor and weapons and send them to our blacksmiths to melt them down and reuse the materials while also looking out for survivors for the priestess to heal, so we can interrogate them for information.
After I'm done ordering the knights, I walked to where I left my training gear, and then I made my way to the kingdom.
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