A figure clad in gleaming silver and gold jumped out of the trees and landed right in the middle of the 7 orc riders. With a speed almost invisible to the eyes, he raised his axe and slammed it down towards an orc rider’ head, and cut it apart with one strike.

Splaatt!!

The attack made the other riders scream in shock and anger, while they pulled at the reins of their wargs, causing them all to howl at the same time. The symphony of voices from their howling sounded just like a classic hunting horn.

One orc died on the spot, and the other six quickly charged toward him. However, Viktor already came prepared, for as soon as his feet touched the ground, he cast his new favorite spell and multiple metal chains flew from the surrounding trees, creating a makeshift barrier separating each of the riders apart.

“Groowlll!”

One of the orc riders was forced to jump and charge at the metal figure, only for it to trip and fall down to the ground. As it lay helpless and struggling to stand, Viktor swung his axe and cut off its head.

Spllaattt!

.

The orc’s head rolled down on the ground as it died before being trampled under the beasts..

One more down, 5 left to go-.

He was lucky that they were fighting in a forest with a lot of covers. If Viktor had to fight them in an open area, their fast-moving beast rides would be much more threatening and he might not have any chance to win even if his teammates were here.

“Growlll!! Growll!!”

Out of options, three orcs decided to jump down from their warg beasts and start using their blades to cut the metal chains one by one.

Clank! Clank!

Unfortunately, his spell wasn’t strong enough to hold against a full power strike with two tier 2 weapons. Within seconds, the chain started to crack, and by the third strike, the hastily made metal chains crumbled apart into dust, allowing the beasts and the riders to move freely again.

|

However, by the time they managed to escape from the chain, they realized that Viktor had already vanished from their sight.

They looked around, and always barely missed a rustle of leaves, the sound of footsteps, and the moving of bushes as Viktor darted around them while they tried to track him.

The moment they realized what happened, they saw Viktor had already dashed towards one of the orcs waiting at the back, who was still sitting on the top of his warg.

Splaatttt!

Viktor’s axe collided with one more of the orc rider, wounding it and causing it to fall to the ground. The orc instantly died after getting stomped apart by its own mount.

He was confident that he could fight against these orcs when it came to brute force, but his main priority right now was to separate the orcs and their mounts, as otherwise they would be unreachable. To even out the odds, he had to depend on his special ability and his high agility so he could jump around the trees and aim for the orcs at the back. He had killed 4 out of the 7 orcs, and by now, he had lost his element of surprise, not to mention the metal chains he prepared beforehand.

Unfortunately, he realized that killing the orc riders doesn’t mean the wargs were no longer a threat to him.

Hence, although there were only 3 orc riders left alive, there were 7 wargs all growling and snapping at him, waiting for a chance to tear him apart.

Just as he had thought he was in trouble, the Djinn suddenly gave him a warning in his mind.

The Djinn warned.

“Dammit, that’s just great! Making me lose all the fun?!” Viktor gripped his axe, clearly frustrated.

From the beginning, Viktor knew that the commotion from his battle would be enough to tell the other orcs nearby of his location, but what caught him off-guard was how quick the reinforcements came. It was like something had notified them.

At that moment, all of the orc riders charged at him, and he made a decisive decision to jump onto the blue warg.

“Run!” shouted Viktor to the Djinn

Him fleeing from the battle quickly sent the other orcs into a blind rage. They decided to abandon their attempt to attack him directly, jump up onto their rides, and chase after him.

As most of the riders have died, only three wargs ended up chasing him, leaving the 4 unmanned wargs to get left behind. With this now, three riders seem to be a very comfortable number to fight.

However, he decided to hold his impatience and run further, while he depended on the Djinn’s sensors to make sure he was running away safely from the approaching war party. After a few minutes, he looked around, making sure he wouldn’t encounter any stray orcs from the party,

Then, Viktor turned back and charged towards them without hesitation. “Hahaha! Finally, come on Djinn, let’s finish them!”

Viktor decided not to concern himself with anything other than wounding and killing the riders. Within a minute, all three of them were dead, while Viktor’s axe dripped with rotten blood.

Now that he was safe and all the orc riders were dead, Viktor started to loot their weapons while the wargs they were riding scattered, no longer under control of their riders.

Viktor ignored them and stared at what he managed to collect, amazed that despite this place being a virtual space, everything from the blood, the trees, and the scenery looks real. Instead of a simulation made for a quest, they felt like they were truly sent on a mission to conquer.

Then, he made sure the hunting party was far away from him before he rode the blue warg back to their previous fighting spot. He jumped down and looted the remaining weapons before heading back.

In total, he obtained seven tier 2 blades and seven tier 1 daggers.

Viktor counted the weapons, while his eyes gleamed with happiness. Anyone could see that he can’t wait to start the process

/

Metal extraction

Metal forged successfully.

One by one, all the orcs’ weapons broke down and turned into energy to be absorbed into his spirit core. He watched with glee as the numbers went up bit by bit.

Core of Anvil – Stage 4: 39.02% (53.21%)

Unfortunately, it was not nearly enough. He needed more, much more. He decided to tell the Djinn to track down the previous war party.

Using the trees and bushes as cover, Viktor looked for the tracks of the war party, and finally with the help of the Djinn he found them sitting around a basic encampment, seemingly looking for something. There are 50 orcs and 10 uruk.

Viktor took the question into consideration. With his current strength, he believes that fighting all 50 alone is a possibility, but he needs to take a bit of risk, and even get ready to use his All Might divine skill to save himself. With this consideration, unless it was really necessary, he didn’t want to risk it, not just yet.

He decided to wait a bit and sneak around while following them, hoping they would separate themselves.

However, this group seems to be a returning war party, as it entered a massive camp built from carved stones, wood, and scraps of hide from wild beasts. From afar, Viktor could see 300 orcs, 200 uruks, and 20 riders gathering around in the center, seemingly discussing something with growls and unintelligible language..

From this information, this group seems to be the first batch of the hordes. They are most likely the enemies he has to fight before the main group of 1500 orcs arrives in the last 48 hours of the quest.

He calmly climbed up a hill and sat on top, faced down the orc camp, and observed them while he was deep in thought.

A quick glance at the timer revealed that he only has 75 hours left, which means in 27 hours, the main group will arrive and the last stretch of the quest will properly begin.

He thought of the 400 weapons he could extract from these orcs, and Viktor’s resolve became stronger. He decided to risk it and try killing the orcs before the main group arrives.

But first things first, there is no way he would rush in without a plan. He quickly rode back to his companion, and right after he arrived in their hideout, he didn’t waste any time and started discussing tactics.

A few hours passed with them passing ideas back and forth.

As the sun started to set and the stars appeared in the sky, the orc camp suddenly descended into chaos. Black plumes of smoke started to emerge and cover the area all around the hills

From afar, Viktor watched everything unfold with a satisfied smile.