Chapter 3: Orcs, not Ogers
The next day
"Ugh. This is why I hate drinking." I held my head as a massive migraine overwhelmed my brain. Waking up at a table in the dining hall, I could see that everyone had a wild night.
Tables and chairs were flipped over, numerous soldiers passed out on the ground. There was even Fonhare who continued to rest on my head.
"Man, I could really use a light… and a new shirt."
Bundrill Mother flag has been unlocked
Abilities Unlocked Equip Effect: +3 ATK, Skill: Drill Run.
"Hmm?" Looking over at the pop-up. The screen showed that I had unlocked a weapon. "What's this about"
After spending a certain amount of time with a weapon form. All its equip bonuses will be permanently added to the owner.
"You're lying." I swapped over to the Bundrill meat flag and held it in the air. When I called out drill run, The tip was surrounded by the purple aura again and began to spin.
"Oh shit it worked. I was so focused on grinding yesterday that I forgot to look at my help menu. Hell, I only focused on grinding yesterday so I neglected the entire menu. Who knows what other stuff I missed."
Stats
Party
Weapon Forms
Help Menu
The menu was a very simple dropdown that you'll find in any RPG. Tapping on stats, I was shown my level and other numbers.
Lizen Flores (20 Points available)
Level 3
Weapon: Bundrill Mother Flag (Legendary Weapon)
Equipment: Otherworldly Clothing
Skills: Drill Run
Magic: Support/Fire
My class seemed to be a balanced type of class, not too good but also not bad at anything. My attack was pretty moderate, while my hp was the highest.
"I guess that means I'm not supposed to be the main DPS. Typical for support classes."
My 6 months of playing Arcadia Climax X told me one thing. Support classes still have to do dps. Even if it's a minuscule amount, always do damage. I guess the same logic exists for this world as well.
Closing the stats menu, I quickly looked over the party. For the party. Lizen was the strongest, standing at level 107. with something called a mixed class. His icon was also weird, as he had some type of lotus flower in the background.
"No wonder he said I couldn't strangle him. Mans a fucking power house."
Moving on. H'lock and Gyile were behind him by a significant amount, both being level 7. Next was Mary at level 5, and finally that other dude whose name I didn't catch being at 4. Not the weirdest jump in levels I've seen though. There were plenty of times I joined a high-level world boss raid just to get free levels.
I already knew the number of weapons I unlocked yesterday, so I skipped weapons and went into the Help Menu.
It gave me a lot of new details on my weapon. From equip bonuses all the way down to something called weapon copy. Something I immediately had to try.
Grabbing my gun, I tried my best to copy it. I failed, and nothing happened for the next 2 minutes of me trying again.
"Alright no gun flag or whatever. Looks like I can only copy Morale… tools." I slapped myself on my forehead for all the stupidity.
"You dumbass. It's in the name."
I sighed as I looked around the room. If my memory was correct. Morale troops of old used drums and trumpets, but I found none in the room. The only thing around was a flag hanging from the door frame.
Placing the bunny on the table, I stood on one of the chairs to pull down the flag. Once I retrieved it, I focused on trying to copy it, primping a screen to show up.
Flag of Ken'bitch copied
Abilities Locked equip effect: +3 HP, Shadow resistance (low), Skill: Attack Order
"And if my suspicions are correct. [Attack Order!]" Swapping to the Bundrill mother flag, I activated the Ken'bitch flags skill, only to fail.
"As expected. Since the Bundrill flag doesn't require an unlock anymore, I might as well unlock the Ken'bitch flag for the skill next. Now for the last entry to the help men-"
Before I can go to the next page, the trumpet sound of a trumpet blasted across the halls of the fortress, startling me and knocking me off the chair.
The trumpets here were much louder than the ones back in my world. Add that along with its off-beat rhythm, and you have a trumpet unbearable to ignore.
Groans
Many of the other drunks woke up, while some somehow slept through the blaring horn. The person who played the trumpet came through the door and started to bark orders.
"Alright unseasoned well done stakes! wake up! I want you all to clean this place in thirty minutes, then report to the courtyard!"
Me and the guy who turned out to be Flores exchanged glances for a bit before he broke the silence.
"You seriously still have that rabbit?"
"Yes."
/~/
After cleaning up the cafeteria. Lizen took me out to the training yard, to practice with the new recruits. The courtyard was huge and only housed 3 areas. The one we were currently in was called the soap box. This is the place where Mihare, Lizen and sometimes Paper give announcements, or at least that is what Lizen says.
The second part was the size of a basketball court. Guile, H'lock and a few other soldiers stood there with another captain as they practiced close quarters and magic training. The final area was a stretch of land the size of a football field, that Lizen called the obstacle course. It was a dirt field that used several constructions of wood, hills, monsters, and traps in order to simulate what a long, high-paced fight felt like. Something that I was not planning on doing.
"Yeah I already was trained back in my world so I think I should-."
"New world, new training. Get in the line Flores."
"Ah ah ah. Mihare said "I'm a captain, so technically."
"GET IN THE LINE FLORES!"
"Yes sir!" I folded immediately. He gave off the same pressure as Mihare. I'll probably say it was even greater than hers, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself. Getting into the line, I stood next to H'lock while a few others snickered a bit. I did only get a few minutes to change my clothes. So while everyone was armored up, I stood there in a green shirt and brown pants.
"Alright, maggots… no too nice. Alright fuckers, we have a new captain today. Now that we have that out the way, we're going to the obstacle course. Flores, put this on and head over once you're done. Oh, and prepare for hell."
I hurriedly put my armor on and ran towards the course. Compared to the weighted suits we had to wear, the armor wasn't really that different. The chainmail actually felt much lighter, which surprised me cause I thought armor was heavy. Maybe it's magic, or is the flag helping me?
Arriving at the course, five minutes late. Lizen immediately sent me into action. The whole course was simple. Climb up the rope, swing over to the wooden platforms, evade or kill the rock golem, and finish up. This simplicity actually turn out to be extremely easy, as I finished the course quickly. For the first few runs of course. Around the third run is when I started to waver. Running up hills and pulling up my body weight in heavy armor got more difficult as time went on. This exhaustion didn't just affect me, but everyone else's running course as well.
Around 4 laps in, no one had the energy to avoid the golem, meaning we had to fight. That's when everyone was stopped. No one had the equipment to actually fight the thing, so their swords just bounced off since they didn't have the strength necessary. Even with my help, no one had the endurance to prolong the fight, so we just ended up getting pummeled by the rock creature.
"Come on Flores. You can't fold now!" Lizen shouted.
"Shut up!"
"You know. Maybe you should use something that others don't have!"
"Hard work and determina-" I hit my head on the ground before getting up. "God I'm stupid. [Drill Run!]" With the use of my skill, I utterly decimated the rock monster and mustered all my strength to keep moving. With that, I was finally able to cross the line and fell to the ground.
"I say you're done here. Take a breather and head over to H'locks group. We'll depart for more level grinding once you're done… Flores?" Lizen poked Flores a couple of times. But he was already down for the count.
/~/
The next few days were more or less the same. Wake up. Train with Lizen, then grind. During those days I had to leave Fonhare with Paper, but it was for the best. The creatures we fought most likely could have killed him. He was also too young to fight himself, so I decided to keep him safe.
Everyday I'd gain more proficiency with my flag along with my levels. It was around the time I hit level 12 where Paper started informing me about more of the Morale tools functions. She gave me plenty of advice and even shared some more knowledge with me that I wasn't aware of, power-up methods.
Being very old herself, she learned the methods of the original heroes from her father. The first method was called advanced squad. It gave me and my party a 10% percent boost for each person I had. Sadly, it caps at 50, so I can't bring 1000 people to cheat the system. Still powerful none the less.
The second was called Role assignment. It allowed me to give my party members a role that gave them boost to a specific stat. It was a classic rpg class roles system. And I had the ability to give them whatever I wanted. There was a weird one called the harem class. Definetly gonna ingnore that one.
The third method was called boot camp. When someone in the party level up, they get a stat point that they can assign to a stat of their choice. This was very powerful with the next method.
The fourth was called Sacrificial boost. By trading in a level, you can get a permanent boost to your stats. Combine that with boot camp. And you can lose a level for the boost, regain the level for the stat point, then repeat till you're op as fuck. I don't know why I haven't noticed it before, but then I realized that I never got a chance to finish reading the help menu. Damn Lizen.
There was also one more. But Paper said I need to learn how to utilize ki to use it, so she would have to tell me later.
"Does that mean I can use the spirit bomb?" I thought. It was unlikely but who knows. Maybe I can be the next Tien.
"Flores. You awake?"
"Huh?" I looked up from my journal and over to Lizen.
"What? Don't want to grind today?."
"Sorry. I was just testing a few things."
"Like what?"
"A few of my power-up methods. I have a lot of points I need to send to my stats. As well as assign a class to boost your abilities."
"Oh, so Paper finally got to that. Mary and H'lock are mages for the ether and magic attack boost. the other two are warrior for attack and defense, and I am mixed for the ¼ to all stats since I specialize in a lot."
I looked away from my menu and at Lizen once again. "How did you-"
"I've done this before. Paper already assigned me a class years ago. You know of the rank method too right?"
"Um no? What's that?" I asked.
"It's Riala's method. Each of your flags should have a specific rarity that boost it's stats. Then you can spend energy from the monsters you kill to try to raise that."
"That's the trains method?" Looking into my help menu. The method slowly appears and all my flags on my weapon tree gain a letter.
Bundrill Mother Flag G
The description of the method was exactly how Lizen described. The rank of the bundriill mother and Ken'bitch flag were both G, meaning they'd get a 20% boost to its stats. According to the list. B or basic weapons get 0%, G or Great gets 20%, S or supreme gets 40%, L or legendary for 60%, M or Mythical for 80%, and finally D or divine for a full 100% percent boost.
Sadly though, getting to that would be pretty much impossible since the whole system is pretty much a gacha game.
"Huh you were right."
"Being friends and ex of a hero has its perks."
"Ex? Does that mean you and paper were-"
"Spirit of lightning, descend from the sky. Smite my foes and strike what I spy."
"Chanting? Shit."
"What are you tal-" Before I could finish, Lizen grabbed me and started to run. Guile, H'lock, and Mary fell back as well, leaving the other knight behind as a beam of lightning crashed into him and exploded.
"Holy shit!" I shouted. Running over to the point of the explosion. His armor was utterly decimated, and there was no sign of him breathing.
"Lightning? The hell -was-"
"Flores look out!"
Heeding his warning I dived to the side, narrowly avoiding an arrow barrage. If the guy wasn't dead before, he sure was now with all the arrows piercing him.
"Attack! Tonight we feast!"
We all gather beside each other as orcs with axes rushed out of the forest. They were tall, bulky, and had pig-like noses like they were portrayed in my world. The person who cast the lightning came out seconds later, holding a battleaxe. He was much skinnier than the rest but held a presence that was much stronger than the rest.
"Captain, what's the plan?"
"I'll hold them off. You two run now!"
"What?! We can't leave you, captain!" Guile protested.
"Yeah, allow us to-"
"Shut up!" Lizen commanded. "Trent died in a blast. These guys are severely above your level, and can decimate you instantly."
"But I can stay right. My stats are higher than theirs, right? We can't let you die too!"
"My goal is to keep you alive. And die? That's some extreme slander. Nox!"
"Yes Master!"
"[Midnight Phantasmagoria!]"
The prism of Lizen's neck began to cackle with electricity. Once it was charged he tossed it into the air, and Nox grabbed the prism with his beak. Flying it high into the sky, the prism rained down beams of lightning on the opposing forces.
135 EXP, 132 EXP, 141 EXP, 123 EXP, 133 EXP, 138 EXP, 137 EXP, 139 EXP.
Level 12 → 15
"135. These things are around level 30." Lizen looked back at us and yelled at us.
"The hell are you waiting for, Taco Fest?! Fuck out of here!"
"Yes sir!" We immediately ran off, not wanting to face the wrath of the captain of our overpowered captain.
"He's going to be fine right?"
135 EXP, 132 EXP, 141 EXP, 123 EXP, 133 EXP, 138 EXP, 137 EXP, 139 EXP.
Level 15 → 17
"Yeah, He'll be fine."
/~/
"If we keep up this pace, we'll reach the outpost in a few minutes."
We ran for at least twenty minutes through the forest. I wasn't sure if we were being followed or not, but we weren't taking any chances. I stopped getting exp a while ago, so I only assumed the worst happened to Lizen.
Fuck. This is starting to become a repeat of my death. Even the scenery is the same. Damn it, what the hell am I supposed to do? I can't just let them die without doing anything. I'm a hero. I can probably wipe them out anyways.
"Guys. We should turn back."
"We're under direct orders from Lizen." Guile responded
"I know. But we can't just let him die. I'm not even sure he can take on a force that massive alone."
"And we can? The captain is fine. we'll only get in the wa-"
"Guile move!" H'lock pushed Guile to the side, taking the brunt force of a fireball to the face. The explosion send her flying back into a tree, and we were left there having our path blocked by several orc another orc captain. He was skinny and wielded a claymore. So this could only mean that he was a captain.
"A disgusting human told us you'd be here. Despite becoming our dinner for that night, he did give us a good main course for tonight's feast."
"Shit."
Our escape was blocked which means we could only fight. A 3 vs 1 shouldn't be too difficult, right?
"D-don't count me out. It's gonna take a much hotter flame to take me out."
H'lock stood up and joined us with only minor burns to her skin. And somehow fireproof robe, as it sustained no damage.
Her hat however was blown off in the explosion, now revealing a pair of orange fox ears on her head.
"A Lit'Sune with no tail. You're very young to be considered a threat."
"I'll show you. You pig fuck! Flames of the beginning, shape and take form. Generate fire from the stars that are born!"
"Flames of hell, destruction is your path. Scorch the land and show them your wrath! A beam of flame, concentrated and fast. Burn my target and don't let them pass."
"[Star Fireball!]"
"[Planet Fire Ray.]"
Both spells were unleashed and clashed with one another. H'lock held her ground for a second, only for the beam of flame to pierce through her fireball and continue until it went through her chest. H'lock was launched back once more, this time with a hole where her heart was supposed to be.
"H'LOCK! AGHH!"
"Guile wait!"
Despite Mary's plea, Guile went straight toward the orc. The captains enturage moved forward to intercept, but Mary conjured a barrier quickly and blocked their swings. This allowed Guile to move in on one of the orcs and stab them through the neck, and then kick the other to the side as he went straight for the captain.
"Die!" Thrusting his spear, the captain simply caught it and broke its tip. He then punched Guile in the stomach, sending him to the ground.. Guile got back up and picked up his broken spear to block the captains blade, but the spear wasn't able to hold against the captains power and broke immediately.
Guile was only able to get one last swear off before he cleaved in two. His armor basically did nothing to help. If fe was strong enough to just ignore it, how am I supposed to do anything? Despite everything I went through back in my home world. All the horrors and terrors of war. This was the first time I felt genuine terror. And before I knew it, the captain ran straight towards me.
Barely snapping out of my trance, I put this world training to good use and roll back to dodge the first swing. When I got up, I let my instincts get the better of me as I reached for my pistol and aimed it at the orc. Making the worst mistake of this fight.
Rule Violation: Holy heroes can only use their assigned weapons.
"Oh fuck off!" A shock came, making me drop my weapon and leaving myself completely exposed. The captain saw this too, as he swung his blade at my blind spot, and cut off my left arm.
"AGHHH!"
"Sir hero!" Mary cried out. "Spirit of healing, heal his-"
Her chant was cut off when the captain threw his blade at Mary. The sword impaled her stomach and launched her back a fair distance. I could hear her coughs of blood and cries of pain, but I was unable to do anything about it. I was unable to do anything to help them. One slip up and I'm dying without making a single attack. What will Lizen think? What would Tim think? Am I really that pathetic?
"H–heal… h-his wounds. D-do it q-q-quickly… before I become s-s-swooned." [s-star a-aftern-noon d-d-dayl-light.]"
Using the last of her magic, Mary sent a wave of healing toward me, patching up my wound and giving me a second fighting chance. The captain quickly noticed this and went to grab his blade. This gave me enough to get up and draw my own weapon.
"Thank you, Mary. I'll kill this bastard for you. For all of you." Ken'bitch Flag UC
I swapped to my Ken'bitch flag. I've already had it mastered, but never got a chance to use the skill since I usually killed everything in a few hits. All I know, It's an attack boost skill, so it should be enough to kill this bastard… hopefully.
"[ATTACK ORDER!]" Running forward with my one good hand, I dashed forward and thrust my flag at the orc captain. When the skill activated, it wasn't what I was expecting. I was buffed enough to stagger the orc captain, but the skill also deployed a golden circle, buffing everyone ally inside.
"So it was an aoe all along. Sorry Guile, I should have used this earlier. [Drill Run!]"
Continuing my assault. I unleashed skill after buffed skill, forcing the orc into the corner. He swung his claymore at me, but I slammed my flag into the ground and blocked it. He then tried to kick me, but my close quarters training kick in and I knocked his leg to the side and performed my own kick to his chest.
Jumping back, I unleashed another drill run on his arm. Then he responded with a slash that left a gash on my left side. My hp and def were high enough to take on his attacks, but my low atk only left much to be desired as we traded blows. We were evenly matched, and we exploited every opening so that we can gain an advantage. A back and forth with no end in would be the case if I didn't have a countdown till my eventual defeat.
I was out of SP, rapidly losing HP, and slowly being forced to look at the attack order skill count down from two minutes. Even though all of this, I kept fighting. I'll kill him before he kills me. Maybe then, I would be able to die with my comrades honorably.
"Rah!" The captain swung his sword once more, and my block wasn't enough. He sent me to the ground and slowly limped over, most likely planning to finish me off. I tried to go for another swing, by attack order ran out, and it was easily swated to the side.
"Our fight… was fun human. I'll make sure that you're… our grand finale… for the feast." The captain praised through heavy breathing.
"Fuck… you."
"Ahh yes… The normal reaction."
"That's papers line you off-brand discount of an expired prune!"
"What!" Before he could lift his sword, an arrow came from the tree line and hit him in the chest. Then another, and another. Thirty seconds later, the orc captain is on his knees with over 30 translucent arrows in his body. The shooter of these arrows? Lizen.
He stepped onto the battlefield with blood on his armor and face.
"H'lock, Guile, Mary, Trent. This is for all of them. I also added 26 more because fuck you."
"I-impossible. There were over 60 of us in the initial attack. How did you survive!"
"High level, range fighting style, movement. It shouldn't really matter to you anyways. You won't have enough time to contemplate it." Lizen tossed the head of the first orc captain, shocking the second one who could barely move.
"Alright time to die. Lightning of the sky pick up a storm. Shape and come forth, may you be given form. A smite from the heavens is what I ask, a bolt from the Gods to finish this task. Incinerate him and leave nothing left, not even blood that formed into a cleft." [Galaxy Ruination]"
/~/
"He hasn't returned yet. Something is wrong."
"Calm down Mihare. I'm sure they're fine. He would have sent Nox if something was-"
Suddenly, the sky turned black as a giant bolt of lightning crashed into the ground.
Boom
"Umm. Maybe it's Lizen just being overkill."
As Paper tried to reassure Mihare. The sky turned black once more as another bolt fell.
"Okay, so that's maybe a reason to panic."
