Chapter 32: From Reunion To Stalking - Part 1

Watching the fight between Gwen and her four minions against the four Orcs, one question kept bothering Lynn and Arezu: How the heck an adventurer party this strong get backstabbed and captured by Goblins? Setting aside the four minions who kept two of the Orcs occupied, Gwen was fighting the other two entirely on her own. She moved with incredible agility, constantly running and easily dodging attacks from both Orcs—one wielding a longsword, the other a battle-axe. Her weapon stood out as well: a pair of silver daggers connected by a long chain, which surprised both Lynn and Arezu as they watched it extend and retract to match the different attacks Gwen executed. But the most surprising thing of all was Gwen's physical strength. Dodging another earth-shattering blow from the Orc with the battle-axe, Gwen darted past her opponent, charging the smaller Orc wielding the longsword. The second Orc intercepted her with a wide slash, but Gwen leaped mid-air, soaring above the two-meter-tall brute before its blade could reach her. While airborne, she hurled one of her daggers and activated her combat skill at the same time. The blade pierced straight through the Orc's skull and into its brain, killing it instantly and sending its weapon clattering to the ground. Before landing, Gwen skillfully manipulated the chain still connected to the dagger lodged in the Orc's head, wrapping it around its neck. The moment her feet touched the ground, she yanked the chain with all her strength, swinging the corpse in a wide arc and slamming it into the other Orc. The two Orcs collided, crashing into the trees behind them. As the surviving Orc struggled to push its dead comrade off and stand back up, Gwen threw her remaining dagger, right from where she stood, driving it cleanly into its skull. Arezu could defeat two Orcs by himself, but even with his strength and combat prowess, he doubted he could have done what Gwen just did. "Oh my... I didn't think Ms. Haughty was such a big deal." Whatever Lynn meant by that, Arezu could put it aside for now. What mattered more—and what worried him—was the twin-arrow crossbow already in her hands, aimed and ready to fire. "What do you think you're doing, Lynn?" Arezu asked, growing anxious. "At this rate, Mr. Arezu, they'll kill all the Orcs, and we'll lose our bait," Lynn replied, dead serious. "I know... But who are you planning to shoot?" Before Arezu could stop her, Lynn pulled the trigger—accidentally or perhaps deliberately—firing a bolt straight at Gwen. Luckily, it missed, embedding itself in a tree trunk just past Gwen's head. "Tsk!..." "Oi!..." "Who's in there?!" Gwen shouted, glaring directly at the bushes where Lynn and Arezu were hiding. She didn't need a scouting skill—there was no hiding where the arrow had come from. Not wanting to complicate things further, Arezu raised his hand from behind the foliage to reveal their location. "Sorry! That was a misfire! We didn't mean any harm!" "Then show yourself!" Gwen warned, still on edge but willing to give them a chance to explain. Arezu stood up into plain view, and even though Lynn refused to move, he grabbed her by the back of her robe and lifted her up like a misbehaving cat. "Wait... Aren't you two from Mead Village?" At least she remembers us, Arezu thought—or maybe she remembers getting slapped. Recognizing Lynn and Arezu as the ones who had helped their group before, Gwen lowered her weapon and approached them. Arezu explained their plan: they wanted to keep one Orc alive and let it escape, so both parties could follow it back to its nest. Gwen was happy to help, but one thing was wrong with their assumption. "Huh?... There's an Orc nest around here?" Her confusion immediately told Lynn all she needed to know. "You... You're not being unprofessional again, are you? Taking an official quest without reporting to the guild?" "Well... I haven't even reached the guild in the capital yet—" —Swish— "Gyah!" Another arrow zipped past Gwen—courtesy of Lynn, annoyed and irritated. Seeing Lynn reloading her crossbow without hesitation, Arezu stepped between her and Gwen, worried the next shot might actually hit someone. After explaining the details of the orc-hunting quest, Gwen agreed to help. Her party would operate under Lynn's command as repayment for saving them during the goblin-slaying quest. As for the bait, Lynn and Arezu offered to handle the "processing," as Lynn put it. "Minions, retreat!" Gwen commanded her team to pull away from the last two Orcs. Though her teammates looked confused to see Lynn and Arezu, they still obeyed. The remaining two Orcs—one wielding a spear and the other an iron club—continued chasing what they still believed was prey. Arezu readied his halberd-axe. The moment Gwen's minions passed by, he charged forward to intercept the first Orc, the one with the spear. The Orc thrust its weapon, but Arezu deflected it with a swift upward slash and halted his momentum. Before the Orc could recover its stance, Arezu braced himself and activated his combat skill: 'Cleave' His halberd-axe cut through the Orc from its left shoulder to its right flank, splitting it clean in half. As he backed away to avoid the blood spray, Lynn followed up with a mystic spell to injure the last Orc. "Obelisk" A massive rock spike erupted from the ground behind the already-dead Orc, striking the remaining one and severing its left arm. The Orc collapsed, howling in pain and clutching the stump of its shoulder. Looking ahead, it saw its companion's dismembered body—and further beyond, the girl it once thought of as helpless prey, now glaring back with a mocking smile and terrifying intensity. —Roar!— The Orc screamed in rage and tried to stand, but a tremor shook the ground beneath it, and a low, guttural roar—like the earth itself crying out—replaced its fury with fear. It turned and fled deeper into the forest. Lynn ended her mystic spell, Tremor, the moment the Orc disappeared, then muttered a line to mark the occasion: "Now the hunt has officially started!" "Seriously, Lynn?... What do you think we've been doing since yesterday?"