Chapter 3: Orcs, not Ogers
The next day
"Ugh. This is why I hate drinking." Flores groaned as he suffered from a massive migraine. Waking up at a table in the dining hall, he could see the wild night everyone had. Tables and chairs were flipped over, and numerous soldiers passed out on the ground. There was even Fonhare, who continued to rest on his head.
"Man, I could really use a light."
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 he 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." Flores swapped his weapon to the Bundrill meat flag and held it in the air. When he called out the skill, the tip glowed purple 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 drop-down that you'll find in any RPG. Tapping on stats, Flores was shown my level along with other numbers.
Lizen Flores Level 3 Weapon: Bundrill Mother Flag (Legendary Weapon)
Equipment: Otherworldly Clothing
Skills: Drill Run Magic: Support/Light
Flores noted that his class seemed to be balanced in all areas. Not too good, but also not bad at anything.
"I guess that means I'm not supposed to be the main DPS. Typical for support classes."
Before, he was a soldier. He used to play a game called Arcadia Climax XVII. It was there that he figured out the pain of being a healer.
Closing the stats menu, Flores swapped to the party menu. Lizen was the strongest, standing at level 107. Which is something that surprised Flores. His icon was also weird, as it had a unique lotus flower in the background.
"No wonder he said I couldn't strangle him. Mans a fucking power house."
Moving on. H'lock and Guile were behind him by a significant amount. Both were level 12, while Mary and the other dude were level 9. Comparing them to Lizen. Flores was really surprised at the power gap between all of them.
Moving on. He already knew the number of weapons he had unlocked. So he skipped that and went into the Help Menu.
It gave him a lot of new details on his weapon. There were many things that Paper had already told him. But there was other information as well, including something that caught his interest. Weapon copy. Something that Flores immediately wanted to try.
Grabbing his gun, Flores tried his best to copy it but failed. He tried again, but quit once he realized nothing was happening.
"Alright, no gun flag or whatever. It looks like I can only copy Morale… tools." Flores face palmed. "You dumbass. It's in the name."
Floes sighed as I looked around the room. He remembered that Morale troops used old drums and trumpets. But the only thing around was a flag hanging on the door frame.
Placing Fonhare on the table, Flores stood on one of the chairs to pull down the flag. Once he retrieved it, he focused on trying to copy it, prompting a screen to show up.
Banner of Foo copied
Abilities Locked equip effect: +3 HP, Lightning Resistance (low), Skill: Attack Order
"So the country I'm in is called Foo. And the city is called Ken'bitch. Fucking Miguel."
Flores swapped to the Foo banner. It was a light blue and yellow pole, with the image being that of a fox surrounded by lightning. Unlike the Bundrill mother flag, it was draped over the top instead of to the side.
"And if my suspicions are correct, [Attack Order!]" Swapping to the Bundrill mother flag. Flores activated the Foo Banners skill, only for it to fail.
"As expected." Since the Bundrill flag doesn't require an unlock anymore, he decided to unlock the Foo banner next. Now for the last entry to the help men-"
Before he could go to the next page, the sound of a trumpet startled Flores and knocked him to his ass. He wasn't the only one shocked by the trumpet. Several of the soldiers shot themselves awake, while others somehow slept through it.
"Alright, you unseasoned, well-done steaks, wake up! I want you all to clean this place in thirty minutes, then report to the courtyard!" Lizen ordered as he kicked open the door.
"Flores."
"Lizen. Was the trumpet necessary?"
"Yes. You still have that stupid rabbit?"
"Yes."
/~/
After cleaning up the cafeteria,. Lizen took Flores out to the training yard so he could train with the new recruits. The place they were currently in was called the soap box.
It was one of the 3 main facilities that Mihare, Lizen, and Paper used to give their announcements. The second area was the size of a basketball court. Guile, H'lock, and a few other soldiers were there, practicing close-quarters combat.
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 had several contraptions and traps in order to hinder movement. This reminded Flores of the obstacle courses back home, and he started to walk away as he looked it over.
"Hang on. Where are you going?" Lizen asked as he pulled Flores back by the collar.
"Yeah, I was already trained back in my world, so I think I'm going do something-"
"Oh no you don't. New world, new training. Get in line, Flores."
"Ah, ah, ah. Mihare said, "I'm a captain, so technically."
"GET IN THE LINE, FLORES!"
"Yes sir!" Flores saluted. He just gave off a much greater aura of command than Mihare. Not wanting to know what Lizen could do once he was pissed, Flores immediately got in line.
"Alright, maggots… no, too nice. Alright fuckers, say hi to Captain Flores."
The line was silent as Lizen cleared his throat.
"Um. I don't remember asking for silence. Did I tell you to be silent!?" Flores shouted in the nearest soldier's face.
"N-n-no, Mister Li-"
"IT'S SIR TO YOU! AND IF I TOLD YOU TO SAY HELLO, THEN WHY ARE YOU SILENT!?"
"S-s-sorry Sir! Good morning, Captain Flores!"
"Good morning!" The rest of the group followed.
"Good. Now, as we just saw here, you are all dumbasses. When I give you an order, you follow it. When I ask you something, it should be followed by a yes or no, sir. AND WHEN YOU MAKE A LINE. MAKE SURE IT'S DAMN STRAIGHT!" Lizen shouted.
When Flores took a quick glance back, he saw the line was the most unorganized thing he'd ever seen. It was so bad that it could give someone with OCD an aneurysm. And that's being generous.
"Now let me make this clear. You're all here, so we can turn you from cannon fodder into someone worth a damn. The waves arrive in 3 weeks, so you all better learn how to swing a spear by then. Am I clear?"
"Yes Sir!"
"Good," Lizen tossed Flores a pair of chain mail armor.
"Put that on, then head to the obstacle course. You can train however you please after this."
"Um. Thanks?"
Flores quickly put his armor on and ran towards the course. Compared to the weighted suits he had to wear, the armor wasn't really that different. It actually felt much lighter than what he expected, and he assumed it was either magic or his flag at play.
Arriving at the course five minutes late. Lizen immediately sent Flores into action. The whole course was simple. Climb up the rope and swing over to the wooden platforms. Climb down, leap over some hurdles, evade or kill the rock golem, and finally finish up with a 400-meter dash.
Of course, the obstacle course wasn't supposed to be that hard. Flores actually found it to be easy, being able to finish and lap several others who were exhausted. For the first few runs, of course. It was around the 7th lap when he started to waver.
The hills, climbing, and jumping became more difficult as time went on. And his run slowly turned into a jog. Even with all the difficulty, Flores was surprised that he was able to go far longer than he expected.
This exhaustion didn't just affect him, however, but everyone else's running course as well. In fact, it happened much earlier than him. He had a good 12 laps on them before his path was blocked by a pile of knocked-out recruits. All of them were too tired to avoid the golem, so now they were forced to fight it. And as the scene showed, it didn't go so well.
Being too tired to avoid it as well, Flores was forced to fight as it rushed him.
"Oh. How do you plan on escaping this one?" Lizen shouted.
"Shut up!" Flores replied as he ducked a punch.
"You know. Maybe you should use something that the others don't have!"
"Hard work and determina- oh right [Drill Run!]" Using his skill, Flores easily broke through the golem and got past. He continued the course as normal and left everyone in the dust as he completed the course. Lizen, however, was not satisfied and forced him to keep going.
"Alright. Guess you really were trained." Lizen stepped back as Flores fell to the ground. "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. Flores would wake up. Train with Lizen, then grind. During those days, he would have to leave Fonhare with paper, but it was for the best. He was also too young to fight, so he decided to keep him safe.
During this time, he unlocked the foo banner, reached level 18, and read through the last menu. It was there he found something called power-up methods. That was when he finally understood what Paper meant about him being a captain.
The first method was called advanced squad. It gave him and his party a 10% boost for each person in it. Sadly, it caps at 50, so he can't bring 1000 people to cheat the system. Still powerful, nonetheless.
The second was called role assignment. It allowed him to give a party member a class that gave them a boost to a specific stat. It was a classic RPG class role system, but it had some weird ones in there. The weirdest class that he found was called harem, a class that boosted stamina and fertility. That is something he decided to never use.
The third method was called boot camp. When someone in the party leveled up, they would get a stat point that they could assign to a stat of their choice. Flores himself would also get an extra stat point whenever he leveled up himself. When he finished reading, he found all the points that he got from his previous level-ups. So he decided to put all 24 into attack and defense.
The fourth and final one was called a sacrificial boost. By trading in a level, he'll get a permanent growth boost to his 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.
When he asked Paper about it,. She actually said there was one more. Energy Boost. It allows Flores to use ki in order to empower his magic and skills.
When he was told this, his mind suddenly became clearer. He didn't know how to describe it. But after reading more of the method, he chalked it up to a form of enlightenment. It gave him a basic understanding of lifeforce, along with it's various applications.
"Does that mean I can use the spirit bomb?" Flores thought.
"Flores. You awake?"
"Huh?" Flores looked up from his journal and over to Lizen.
"What? Don't wanna grind today?."
"Sorry. I was just thinking of stuff."
"Like what?"
"A few of my power-up methods. I'm trying to figure out what classes I should give."
"Oh, so you finally got to that. Mary and H'lock are mages for the ether and magic attack boosts. The other two are warriors for attack and defense, and I'm a mixed class for the ¼ to all stats since I specialize in a lot."
Flores looked away from his 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?" Flores asked.
"It's the train method. You can spend the energy you get from materials in order to give your weapon a rarity.
"That's the train method?" Looking into his help menu, the method slowly appeared, and he saw all his flags on the weapon tree gain a letter.
Bundrill Mother Flag (B)
The description of the method was exactly as Lizen described it. Every flag would start at B. Meaning that they'd get a 0% 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% boost.
Sadly though, getting there would be pretty much impossible. The whole system was pretty much a gacha game, and it would get harder to rank up with every successful attempt.
"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."
"A lightning chant? Shit."
"What are you tal-" Before he could finish, Lizen grabbed Flores and started to run. Guile, H'lock, and Mary noticed this and fell back as well. But they left the other knight behind as a beam of lightning crashed into him.
"Lightning? The hell was tha-"
"Move Flores!"
Heeding his warning. Flores dove to the side, narrowly avoiding an arrow barrage.
"Attack! Tonight we feast!"
Dozens of orcs with axes rushed out of the forest. They were tall, bulky, and had pig-like noses. The person who cast the lightning came out seconds later, holding a battle axe. It was much skinnier than the rest, but it held a presence that was much stronger than the rest.
"Damn it. I thought I dealt with them."
"Oh hey. Mind introducing me to your new friends!" Flores exclaimed.
"Orcs. One of the intelligent inhabitants of the Forest of Zell." Lizen pulled out a disc with strange markers and stuck it in the ground. Once he did, it erupted into a wall of lightning that blocked the orcs path.
"I'll hold them off for now. Get Flores to safety!"
"What?! We can't leave you, captain!" Guile protested.
"Yeah, my stats are higher than theirs, right? I can help."
"My goal is to keep you alive. And I'm pretty sure you can't go one v sixty. At least not yet. Nox!"
"Yes Master!"
"[Midnight Phantasmagoria!]"
The prism on 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 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 18 20
"135. These things are around level 30. At least the grunts are." Lizen looked back and yelled at the four.
"The hell are you waiting for, Taco Fest?! Fuck out of here!"
"Yes sir!" The group immediately ran off, not wanting to face the wrath of their 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 20 21
"Yeah, he'll be fine."
/~/
"If we keep up this pace, we'll reach the outpost in a few minutes."
They ran for at least twenty minutes through the forest. Flores wasn't sure if he was being followed or not, but he wasn't going to take any chances.
He also stopped getting experience a while ago, and that was his fuel to keep running.
"If something had happened to the exp, then that meant something happened to Lizen. Damn it, I knew I should have stayed!"
Flores continued to lament, but a hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Don't worry. He'll be fine."
"But exp stopped coming in. He could be-"
"That just means we're out of range. Trust me, he's been in worse situations."
"Once we reach the outpost, we'll grab Captain Shun and go back to..."
"Guile move!" H'lock pushed Guile to the side, taking a fireball in his place. The explosion sent her flying into a tree, and Guile stopped to find the source of the attack.
"Damn. They followed us!'
Looking behind him. Flores saw a small group of orcs being led by another skinny orc. Instead of an ax, however, he wielded a claymore.
"That disgusting human told us to kill Bowman. But that doesn't mean we can't hunt while doing so."
"They chased us down on foot? How fast are they!?"
"Faster than expected... Guess there's no escape." Guile readied his spear.
"Just kill them already." The orc ordered. There were 12 in total, and they all rushed towards Guile.
" [Drill Run!]"
Before the first could attack. Flores got in front of Guile and stabbed the orc through the chest. Guile then came from behind and slashed at the orc's neck. The orc Guile hit, though, survived the attack, and they brought down their axes in retaliation. A powerful wall of wind appeared and held back the orcs' axes. Flores used this moment to roll to their sides and kill it.
"Wind of Zell, gather and swell. Block the attack as I cast my spell. [Star Wind Wall!]" Mary chanted. More wind walls appeared and protected the two from an onslaught of attacks. Flores sighed in relief at the protection and scanned the attackers for potential weak areas.
"Okay, Flores, keep calm. You can do this! Just one versus nine, nothing too serious."
Once the walls fell, Flores raised his flag to block the oncoming axes. Overpowering the pigs, he pushed it up and rolled back to gain some distance, then ran forward to attack once again.
But before he could get a hit in, the captain got in the way and blocked his strike.
"You're an issue." The captain knocked Flores' flag to the side and brought his sword down.
Flores tried to get out of the way, but a slab of earth launched him back and away from the attack.
"Be careful, Sir Hero. He's faster than the rest!" Mary shouted.
"Uh yeah. Thanks Mary." Flores made a mental note, making his total number of near-deaths 13.
"Die!" The orc attacked Flores with another slash, but a wall of flames blasted him and his entourage away.
The orc was burned and is still standing. The others didn't take the hit so well and were on the ground. Not dead, but extremely close.
"Don't count me out. It's going to take a much hotter flame to take me out."
H'lock stood up and joined Flores, with only minor burns to her skin. 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 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 create a blast."
"[Star Fireball!]"
"[Planet Fire Ray.]"
Both spells were unleashed and clashed with one another. H'lock held her ground for a second before the beam pierced through her fireball and went through her chest.
"H'LOCK! AGHH!"
"Guile wait!"
Despite Mary's plea, Guile went straight toward the orc. A few of the burned orcs moved to attack, but Mary conjured a barrier and blocked their swings. This allowed Guile to move in on one of the orcs and stab them through the neck. The other was then kicked away 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 and elbowed him to the ground. Guile got back up and picked up his broken spear to block the captain's blade. But the spear wasn't able to hold against the captain's power and broke immediately.
Guile was only able to get one last swear-off before he cleaved in two; his armor did nothing to help.
Despite everything he went through back in his home world, this was the first time he actually felt genuine terror. And before he knew it, the captain ran straight towards him.
Snapping out of his trance, he rolled back to dodge the first swing. When he got up, he let my instincts get the better of me as he reached for his pistol, making the worst mistake of this fight.
Rule Violation: Holy heroes can only use their assigned weapons.
"Oh, fuck off!" A shock came, making him drop his gun and leaving himself completely exposed. The captain saw this too, swung his blade at Flores blind spot, and cut off his left arm.
"AGHHH!"
"Sir hero!" Mary cried out. "Breath of life, heal his-"
Her chant was cut off when the captain threw his blade at Mary. The sword impaled her stomach and left a giant hole as the captain withdrew it.
He could hear her coughs of blood and cries of pain, but he was unable to do anything about it. 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 Flores. The captain quickly noticed this and charged at Flores
"Thank you, Mary. I'll kill this bastard for you. For all of you."
Flores switched to his Foo banner. It was his strongest flag, but he never got a chance to use the skill since he would usually kill everything in a few hits. All he knew about it was that it was an attack boost skill. So he hoped that it was enough to kill this guy.
"[ATTACK ORDER!] instinctively slamming the flag on the ground. A golden circle started to expand across the ground, and Flores felt himself grow stronger while inside.
"So it was an aoe all along. Sorry, Guile, I should have used this earlier. [Drill Run!]"
Flores blocked the incoming attack and lashed back with skill that hit the orcs shoulder.
He continued to unleash skill after skill, forcing the orc into the corner. He swung his claymore at him, but Flores slammed the banner into the ground and blocked it.
Jumping back, Flores unleashed another drill run to its chest. Then the captain responded with a slash that left a gash on his left side.
His HP and DEF were high enough to take on his attacks, but his low ATK left much to be desired as they traded blows. They were evenly matched, and both exploited every opening in order to gain an advantage. back and forth with no end in sight. That would be the case if he didn't have a countdown until his eventual defeat.
He was running out of SP, and Flores watched as the skill counted down to one minute. Even through all of this, he kept fighting.
Well, I'm going to die. So I might as well take him out with me! Flores thought as he continued his assault.
"Rah!" The captain swung his sword once more, and his block wasn't enough. He sent Flores to the ground and slowly limped over, planning to finish him off.
Flores went for another swing, but his attack order ran out. When it hit, the sound of a metal clank rang out as it didn't penetrate the skin.
"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… off."
"Ahh yes… The normal reaction."
"That's papers line you off-brand discount on an expired prune!"
"What!" As it struggled to lift its 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 face and armor.
"H'lock, Guile, Mary, and 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, ranged fighting style, movement-. You know, it doesn't really matter to you. 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 from 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." Paper signed more papers at her desk before focusing her attention on Mihare. "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 maybe that's a reason to panic.'
