"Rize? But you are a Gray..."
"You know very well why I am a Gray, Keila."
"But if you do this, you might get promoted instantly. Like, instant promotion from the Master..."
"... W-What?"
I instantly looked very confused, but everyone else seemed very excited.
"That's great Rize! That way you won't have to take the Purple test!"
Valey shouted from my right, and I guess I won't have to go through all the drag of doing a purple test. However, the idea of ranking up is still beyond me.
Hod simply watches from the side. I guess it wasn't surprising for him to see my reaction to all of this.
"I... guess so. There's such a thing as an instant promotion?"
"There is, but it will be on my head if you somehow die. So eh, don't get hurt?"
"You know very well that I don't die. Thank you, Keila!"
Keila let out a sigh and gave the mission scroll to Valey, and we moved from the receptionist to let others line up. Valey opened the scroll and read it aloud.
" 'Hunt down all the Red Orcs in the north western forest. The red orcs have been devastating the nearby forest for the past week, ever since they came from god knows where. If you don't quickly kill the red orcs, they might attack our town soon. Please, come quick.'
That's what the letter says."
"Where is it at?"
Hod asked, and Valey read the bottom part of the mission letter.
"The forest on... the north west, near a small village in the northwest borders of the kingdom. That is already a territory of another kingdom."
"I see, but it's probably still in the borders."
Hod proceeded to take out a map from his space ring, and the two of them studied the location. I realized that I never had a map before, so it might be good for me to buy one.
Huh. What do you know? I learn new things just by hanging out with these experienced adventurers.
"Okay, then. Rize, are you sure you want to do this?"
"I'm the one who suggested it. I want to learn more."
Hearing my positive answer, Hod only looked down, while Valey became excited.
"Then, let's go! This area should be quite cold right now."
"... Cold?"
.
It's cold.
No, it's actually breezy. Thanks to the freezing mountain air that runs past the skin.
The village is actually quite nearby from the forest. That's how the mission sender found out immediately. However, the area is quite elevated, and the wind is quite harsh.
"Haha!! The air is very cold. Right, Rize?"
"Yeah... I might be needing this."
I took out a traditional jacket I bought just in case for situations like this, and the other two realized it was a good idea to bring a jacket. Of course, it's nothing like my modern day jacket, but that one is quite dirtied.
"It wasn't cold at all for that guy."
Valey said as she pointed to Hod, who is talking to a villager. He is wearing his usual white-blue long sleeved flannel. His long blue hair was waving due to the fast wind.
That guy is an ice mage. Cold is like what he breathes. After bidding farewell to the villager, he walked back to us.
"Well... should we get going? Or do you guys want to get a hot coffee first?"
"Let's go!"
"The hot coffee can wait."
Me and Valey walked first, leaving the annoyed Hod. It's like every bit of idea that he sent got rejected.
The three of us are now heading to the forest. The trees are quite dense here, it almost covered the whole sunlight. The leaves are waving heavily because of the breezy wind.
"The wind here is amazingly fast, huh."
Valey removed the silence and chat. She holds her jacket so that the wind doesn't fly off her.
"Yeah. It's quite odd, actually."
"Why so?"
"Normally, it only rains or snows. There hasn't been a quick wind like this before."
Hod took out a map and looked at it.
"So, it's an abnormality?"
"Could be. The area that the villager mentioned is only a little bit of a walk from here."
"I see. Then what's our plan?"
"I would suggest that we hide first and observe the enemy. But, you guys wouldn't listen, right?"
Wow, he got cranky. That plan isn't so bad.
"No, we'll listen."
"Yeah, don't be so cranky, Hod!"
We said jokingly to him, and Hod only turn confused.
"Okay... Then, I suggest we hide and observe."
We continued our walk towards the deeper forest. We walked past a deep ravine and a dark cave, but we couldn't find a single living animal here.
"You know, I used to read a saying. When your ambush is going too well, it's a trap."
I said while looking for the orcs.
"Right now, we should be getting closer to them."
"I remembered red orcs have high intelligence. And regarding the fact that there are no animals around here..."
Valey and Hod approved my saying. We all immediately tensed ourselves.
"It's a trap indeed."
Right now we are standing away from the trees, but we can still hear the noises. I turned my eyes up, and hummed from being right.
The orcs are hiding on top of the trees branches
"RUAA!!!!!"
The first red orc fell from the tree to greet us. More also followed afterwards. Counting, there are around five of them.
Its skin colour is literally dark red, with black lines all over their bodies. Their fangs are pointing out from their mouth, and since when do orcs have hair? Their height is almost 3 meters, nearly twice as mine.
On their hands are a short machete. This is already a universal code. Monsters that use a short knife, or a machete, are scouts.
"Scouts."
"Yeah. Hod, can you freeze them?"
"Well, freezing them takes a bunch of my energy. But, since there are only five..."
After Valey asked Hod, he raised both of his hands and shouted some magic words.
"Freeze!"
That was one command. Hod shoots out white air from his palms towards the ground where the orcs stood. Slowly, all the red orc's bodies started to freeze in ice, starting from their legs. The same thing happened to the other orcs.
Luckily they didn't shout very much, so it won't attract attention. Valey used her bow and arrow to shoot the orcs on top of their heads. 5 shots, 5 heads.
Damn, I wish I could shoot arrows like that. These two are very capable. Especially that ice guy, I'm certain he must be holding back still.
"Their camp must be near."
Hod commented as he looked at a high hill right behind him, and I agreed.
"Let's get to a higher place."
.
"There... are so many."
Valey pointed at the orcs camp right underneath the hill. They set up a camp just by the cliffside of this hill. What a convenient spot.
We took down the orcs that were guarding this area. Their frozen bodies are just right behind us. After that, we studied the orc camp that is right below this cliff.
However... We were quite shocked with what we found.
"What should we do?"
Valey looked at Hod, but he seemed to be analysing the situation at the camp.
Yeah... this is big trouble waiting to ruin everything.
Right now, there are over two hundred red orcs at the camp under this cliff. And each red orcs are Blue ranked, which makes the situation quite hard to understand.
The orcs seemed to be panicking. They found the frozen bodies of their scout comrades in the forest that we left out. They are fortifying their defenses, and they are certainly on the look out.
Our spot is quite tall and hidden, so we don't need to worry about being found. I don't see any other orc watch towers that is higher than our position, so we're good.
"Let's do something. We can use the panic to our advantage. We scatter, and we attack at the same time one spot each. They are too panicked to devise a plan to counter that."
"I heard they have a high level of intelligence... are you sure this is going to work?"
I asked, because they really do. And if they can figure our plan out, it should be easy to create a counter-attack.
"Not that high, Rize."
Hod said quite confidently, and it seems like he knows what to do.
"Hehh... You're so confident. So, you can fight off all of these red orcs?"
"W-Well, not on my own... You are helping, right?"
Hod said, but I only chuckled. I slowly lifted my body up and took out my robe and mask.
"Just follow my lead. The plan is as simple as that."
"Huh? Rize?"
Valey turned at me, I simply shook my shoulder.
"There's no other way around it. You guys try taking out a few while all their attention is on me, okay?"
"Ehh??"
Valey looks quite concerned, but Hod realized what it is I'm going to do.
"Rize, are you sure?"
He asked to confirm, and I nodded. Seeing as there is nothing left to say, he began relaying how the plan goes.
"All right, you create the first distraction. Jump down from this cliff and call all the orcs to your location. Valey will use that distraction to sneak to the other side, and I'll find where their leader is. We will cause our own havoc from behind. Sounds good?"
"Gotcha."
"Wait! Hod, Rize, what happens if one of us gets killed?!"
Me and Hod turned to Valey with disappointed faces, and it made Valey more confused.
"Then, we will bury you."
"Calm down, Valey. I'm not sure I can do it too, but we have to try it."
I said jokingly, but it seems like Hod is too serious with his reply. Still, Valey is not calming down anytime soon.
"Ehh???"
Hod stood at the right side of the hill, while Valey stood at the left. They will take their respective sides to become their spot.
"Ready?"
Hod asked me, and I nodded.
I took off the jacket I'm currently wearing and stored them away, then I put on my brown waterproof jacket. I also took out my skeleton mask and the sword of the goblin king.
One look at the mask, and Valey immediately recognized it.
"I heard there was a man wearing a skeleton-like mask that causes havoc at the Gray rankup test last month... Was that you?"
I grinned at her as I put on the mask.
"Not sure. What do you think?"
"And I thought you were full of mysteries, Rize. You even have more."
Hod replied from the right, and I laughed hearing that.
"Then, if the masked woman who killed the goblin king is fighting with us, I can be confident!"
Valey said confidently, and Hod nods in agreement.
"Same here."
"On your mark Hod."
I said from behind the mask. With the mask and the robe, I wouldn't mind the bloodbath that is about to happen.
And for sure, there is going to be an even heavier bloodbath than during the Gray rankup test.
"Three."
Hod started the countdown, and I unsheathed both of my swords.
"Two."
The orcs heard the sound and looked at me who stood tall at the edge of the hill. I glared down at them and chuckled at what was about to happen.
"One. Start!"
BARRR!!!!
I jumped with all my force. It devastated a portion of the hill's ground while pushing both Valey and Hod backwards.
"B-Bloody hell…"
"Let's go too, Valey!"
Valey and Hod quickly run to their side to flank the orcs, while I'm still falling from the cliff.
I was hiding my pressure for the longest time. Now, I can release it. Along with the bloodlust, the heavy pressure approached the orcs as I slowly descended from the sky.
Thanks to the extremely heavy pressure and the bloodlust, the orcs couldn't move. I let my feet slammed the ground first, and the ground along with the surroundings exploded.
BAAARRRRR!!!!!!!
The sound of an explosion can be heard all the way to the village.
"What was that?"
"It's those adventurers! They must be fighting the red orcs!"
The villagers cheered all the way from the village. They knew we couldn't hear them, but they just cheered anyway.
Meanwhile, Hod and Valey continued their run by themselves.
"What the hell...?"
"That's the masked guy for you!"
Hod and Valey thought respectively as they ran to their flanking side.
Meanwhile, the dust finally cleared as water started pouring from the sky. However, it was never water. The blood of the destroyed orcs and the ones I sliced away right after I landed has rained upon the grassy camp of the red orcs.
I looked at the remaining ones with menacing eyes while emitting a heavy pressure in the air and blood lust. The orcs readied their weapons, but I could feel the fear in them. They held their weapons while trembling.
I looked around, and there are at least a hundred red orcs here. Every single one of them are twice my size, and yet they are trembling.
High intelligence can be a double edged sword. Because having a high intelligence also means that you will know fear.
And I don't know... who put this many red orcs in this place. But, I also know that if left alone, this army of red orcs has the ability to endanger the small villages at this side of the kingdom's territory.
Even a single red orc is enough to ruin a village. With this in mind, there is only one thing to do for me.
I must not let a single red orc... walk out of here.