Fever Flow

"We're almost there!" Drift called as he lead their group through the forest.

Sure enough, there were signs of a large number of large creatures moving through the foliage around them. And before long, Drift suddenly called for a stop and hid behind some trees and bushes. Peering over the vegetation, Roko could see a large number of orcs lining the edge of Granreveria's territory. He could see and hear the fighting going on though Roko couldn't recognize anybody he knew among them.

"What do you want to do?" Reaumur asked.

"Can you blast a path through them?"

"Is that an order?" Drift asked.

"No, just a question."

"...Heh. Ice!"

Reaumur and Ohm joined in with their own spells, blasting away several orcs and opening a hole in the monster's offensive lines.

"We're under attack!" The orcs cried as they scrambled to try and defend themselves from their ambush but Roko and company simply ran through the opening and straight into the city.

"Phew." Roko took a deep breath as he did his best to recover from all the non-stop running he had to do to get here.

"Human! You're back!" Some of the elf warriors came over until they saw the dark elves with him and immediately readied their weapons, "YOU!"

"Anybody around?!" Roko called, ignoring the elves, "Anyone I know?!"

"Roko?!"

Dislodging from the offensive line, Mikado ran over with a worn shield and sword in his hands, "You're back?!"

"What's the situation?" Roko asked, wasting no time with pleasantries.

"The orcs numbers don't seem to be waning." Mikado reported, "Some of them managed to get past us and invade the city. The princesses have been doing their best to evacuate the citizens. One particularly strong orc seems to have also made their way inside whom I suspect is their leader. There have been signs of a big fight over in that district so I think your best bet in finding either the orc leader or the girls are over there."

"Thanks." Roko nodded, "If you can, I'd like to ask you to protect these dark elves while I'm gone."

"You sure?" Mikado asked.

"They helped me complete my trial and brought me back to this city. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for them. I'd love to mediate things right now but I think we have bigger concerns."

"Understood." Mikado nodded, "I'll make sure these dark elves remain safe."

"You can't be serious!" One of the normal elf warriors cried angrily, "They're dark elves! They're going to stab you in the back when you're not looking."

"They had plenty of time to do that while I was out there in the wild." Roko retorted, "I think you have bigger concerns right now at any point. Now I can either deal with this orc infestation or I can deal with you. Which is it?"

"You want us to keep these dark skins safe while they do nothing?!" Another elf protested, "We're in the middle of a war right now!"

"I'm not asking you, I'm asking Mikado. What the dark elves want to do it up to them."

"Hmph. We'll help fight." Ohm said, "Not for the sake of these parasites but because we know what it's like to have your home invaded."

"And because we can't just do nothing after coming this far!" Reaumur quickly added.

"We dark elves don't like orcs either." Drift explained, "So we'll make sure most of our spells are aimed at the orcs."

"I'll leave it to you then." Roko nodded and ran off in the direction that Mikado had indicated.

Klaus barked and ran after Roko.

"Klaus!" Roko turned to the blink dog running beside him, "I have an important task for you. Find the black knight named Varis. Bring him to where I'll be. He'll probably be able to end this on his own, we just need to find him."

Klaus barked and disappeared to parts unknown. Roko pulled out his bow and checked his store of arrows. He's actually lost quite a bit now after all the fights he's been though. He didn't know what the orc leader was like but he might have be conservative with his arrows. After all, he probably didn't have a chance to beat the leader of the orcs. He was just going to have to stall until Klaus finds Varis and brings him here. So Roko will have to be careful with how he uses these arrows.

Rounding the corner, Roko finally reached the area that Mikado had indicated. Indeed there were signs of powerful magic having been thrown about here. Upturned earth, cracked ground and destroyed homes. And from several meters away, Roko could see a lone decorated orc. Standing there with Corissa hanging from one of his hands and his other hands reaching towards her boobs.

Roko fired a single arrow at the hand, "Put the girl down and step away."

Waur looked at the arrow in his hand. It had only penetrated shallowly, the arrowhead buried through his skin. It didn't even bleed that much when he pulled it out with his mouth. But the more exhausting thing was the unknown human in front of him.

"Another human." Waur sighed loudly, "And a male one at that. How droll. If you leave now, I'll spare your life."

"You're pretty articulate for an orc." Roko said as he approached the monster with another arrow in his bow, "More than the last orc I killed."

"You killed one of my men?" Waur scoffed, "For someone as puny as you, I'm quite impressed. I can't see you beating even a pig."

"I dunno, you orcs are basically just giant pigs are you not?"

"You've got bravado and a sharp tongue. And you're a male making you just one of the worst types of individuals. I'll give you an opportunity to leave with your life for both our sakes."

"Sure. Just as soon you put down the girl and withdraw your forces."

"Ohoho, you think you're in the position to make demands?" Waur sneered, "I can beat you using only one of my hands."

"Great. You can do so after putting down the girl."

"What, are you afraid I'll use her as a shield? You don't have to worry about that. This girl is going to become my personal concubine. She will live her life as my whore and bear dozens of my children. I wouldn't risk the health of such an important prize."

Roko knew he shouldn't believe the orc. He knew he should find a way to get the orc to put down Corissa before she gets hurt. But hearing the monster talk about her like that filled Roko's head with a bubbling rage that constantly threatened to overflow. In fact, before Roko could even think twice, his fingers had let loose another arrow at the orc. Waur sneered and batted the arrow away with a fist but was surprised to see the arrow still leave the faintest nick in his hand. Roko, having now instigated the fight, decided to commit and fire another arrow at the orc before running in.

Waur strengthened the armament magic around him a bit more before he deflected this next attack again, this time without any damage. As he drew his fist back, he summoned sparks of lightning and pushed his fist back forward, throwing a bolt of lightning at the human. Roko was surprised to see an orc use magic and barely managed to roll forward in time to avoid the lightning. With the roll, Roko pulled another arrow from his quiver and as he rolled back onto his feet, he nocked it and fired it at the orc leader. Waur didn't move, letting the arrow bounce off his armament magic. He simply watched with boundless confidence as the human closed the distance on him and rush at him with his bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. Roko stabbed forward with his arrow, failing to penetrate the orc's flesh but making sure contact with the magical armor surrounding the orc. Roko flicked this arrow around, trying slash into the monster to no avail. Waur watched the human's efforts as he kept trying to attack him as the human stood up, placed a foot on Waur's knee and suddenly jumped into the air, propelling himself off of Waur's body and nocked the arrow into his bow, aiming at Waur's face from inches away. The orc quickly bent over backwards, narrowly avoiding Roko's arrow as he fired it at the monster's face. As Roko fell down from his jump, he drew another arrow from his quiver and slashed down. The attack still wasn't effective against Waur's armament magic, it was actually enough to create a surprisingly big cut. It wasn't alarmingly big nor was it in depth enough to actually draw blood but the idea that this human could still leave a mark on him after strengthening his defenses was insulting enough. Waur quickly pulled himself back up only for the human to punch him the stomach, with his bow in hand. It didn't do anything but the human was already pulling his fist back and setting another arrow to fire right into Waur's stomach. Waur pushed armament magic to his feet and quickly disappeared, reappearing several feet away from the human who wisely had refrained from firing.

"Is the big bad orc retreating now?" Roko called as he stood back up again, "Is the puny human too much for you to handle?"

"You bluster all you want but you have no way of defeating me." Waur growled, "You can outmaneuver me all you want but a snake can't beat a dragon."

"But I bet a snake can beat an orc. And let's not kid ourselves. You're no dragon. You're just an orc."

Waur's breathing became heated. His eyes bulged in rage and he glared at this human with unforeseen fury, "You dare?"

Oh did I touch a nerve? Was what Roko wanted to say. But the taunt got caught in his throat as he stared down the rancorous orc. Roko didn't fear the orc. He wasn't afraid to say what he thought to say. But something wiser told him to save it. Because he wasn't ready. Not that Roko wasn't strong enough, he knew that well enough already, but in anticipation of this orc's full unbridled fury he-

The orc disappeared from Roko's sight and in an instant was suddenly bearing down on him with a charged fist aimed right for his stomach.

-wasn't ready.

Roko jumped back and pulled his arms in to defend himself but he still wasn't ready for the immense pain that took over his body all at once when the fist connected with him and threw him several meters into the air. Roko's arms felt numb. No, they felt broken. Though he was still able to move them so they probably weren't broken. Before Roko could contemplate more on his condition, the orc joined him in the sky, a flaming fist ready for him to receive. Roko swung his legs up and kicked at the same time as the orc swung his fist, deflecting the attack upward. Roko began freefalling but quickly grabbed onto the orc's ankle, stalling his descent and pulling the monster down with him. But with a flick of his leg, Waur dislodged the human from his foot, sending him through a window and into a random home.

Waur landed with a huff that he wasn't aware he was in. He didn't think he would get that riled up by a human but it had been a pretty long day today. A very stressful day but one punctuated with only victories. He defeated his old nemesis, Rivera, defeated a couple of meddling humans that tried to join forces against him and even found a new toy among them to use for his pleasure. One measly human was no threat to him. Still, this human seemed weirdly confident. Almost threateningly so. It wouldn't be foolhardy to ensure this little trouble stayed down.

"Fire."

Waur fired a ball of fire that immediately ignited the natural elven home at an alarming rate. And just to be sure, Waur prepared an ice spell aimed at the home's door in case the human ended up barging out of his burning shelter. Instead Waur heard a sharp "Hey!" and looked up to see the human on the roof. And in the air over him, Waur noticed an arrow that was arcing down towards him already. Unable to react in time, the arrow stabbed itself into Waur's shoulder, causing sharp grunt of pain as he quickly pulled it out of his body. Roko took the short opportunity to nimbly jump down the side of the house and back on the ground, having only suffered minor injuries from crashing into the house.

"Your armament wanes when you're not aware of an attack." Roko brushed some dust off him nonchalantly, "Seems like pretty weak armament if you ask me."

"I'm surprised you figured something like that out." Waur smirked, "These girls were so desperate to punch through my defenses. Risked their very lives they did."

"I have my skills." Roko scowled, "If only I had gotten here sooner."

"Oh, you wouldn't have been able to change a thing."

"Well we won't know how that would've played out so there's no point in speculating. But there's still something I can do now."

"And what can you do exactly?"

"Put down the girl and I'll show you."

"Oh, what, this?" Waur held up Corissa that he had continued holding up with one of his hands, "I've completely forgotten I've been holding onto this. But now that I think about it, I don't really need to put her down to defeat you anyway."

"Just the worst kind of person." Roko growled, "Look, you want to take her as a wife don't you? Wouldn't it be bad if she gets hurt?"

"Wife? Don't make me laugh. She's a slave." Waur grinned, "A personal slave but a slave nonetheless. Even if she loses her arms and legs, she'd lose no significant value to me."

Roko took a shuddering breath as he pulled his burning anger down, "Just. Put. Her. Down."

"The more you ask me to do that, the more I'm inclined not to." Waur said mockingly, "This girl seems pretty important to you. What is she to you? Must be more than a friend, right? Lover then?"

"Don't make assumptions."

"Oh? Then what if I do something like this?"

Waur reached a sleazy hand out...and grabbed onto Corissa's breasts. The unconscious princess let out a soft moan as the orc played with her body with a lecherous grin. And Roko felt something inside him snap. There was a part of him that was still trying to keep him calm and logical, a conscious part that had been controlling him thus far. But now the sides were suddenly switched, his logical reasoning now scrambling to regain control as his now chilling anger took hold and Roko pulled the next arrow back in his bow.

"I warned you." Roko breathed.

Waur's eyes widened as he suddenly felt magic pulling towards the human. The magic formed some sort of seal in front of the arrow. This design was nothing Waur recognized but something about it reminded him of Rivera's magic. But what even was this seal? This was no magic that Waur recognized. Once the seal was stable, Roko fired the arrow, the magic seal wrapping around the arrow as it flew through it. And from this haphazard enhancement, water burst out around the arrow. The arrow pierced into Waur's body and more importantly, the water bashed into the orc's body with such force that Waur dropped Corissa and was knocked several steps back. The orc wiped water from his face but Roko had already drawn another arrow and summoned forth another magical seal. Waur looked up to see the human preparing another attack but before he could comprehend anything else, the arrow was shot and smashed into Waur with the force of several winds lifting him off his feet and throwing him onto his back. Waur moaned as he laid there, his head clouded with confusion from what this strange type of magic that he had just been assaulted with when he saw one more arrow fly into his range of sight and begin to arc down again. This time, dust and earth gathered around the arrow as it flew, gathering around it until it formed a giant spire and plummeted down, piercing Waur's body.

Roko collapsed to his knees. The symptoms weren't as strong as when he formed those seals to open the path to Brea's grave but he knew that he was going to pay for this stunt later. Honestly, it was impressive that he even managed to do this in the first place. He wasn't sure how it would play out but thankfully the first attack got the orc to drop Corissa before she got hit from collateral damage. On the downside, Roko was now out of arrows so it's good that the orc was-

"That hurt."

A shadow suddenly loomed over Roko. Looking up, Roko could see the orc standing there with three pierced arrows in his bodies. The earth arrow had left several bleeding wounds on the monster but he didn't seem all too wounded by any means.

"Let me return the favor."

Waur stabbed the arrow in his hands into Roko's shoulder. Roko cried out in pain and rolled back as he cradled his wound.

"That magic was all bark and no BITE!"

Waur roared as kicked Roko in the stomach, sending him straight into the air and rolling across the ground for several meters. Exhausted, Roko could only lay on the ground as the orc took slow, angry, rumbling steps towards him. In his pain and fatigue, Roko could do nothing as the orc grabbed him by the head and lifted him into the air over his head.

"I could crush your head right now." Waur growled, "Have anymore tricks up your sleeve, human?"

"Just...one..."

In one smooth motion, Roko reached into his pouch and smashed it over the orc's head. Waur roared in pain as the glass cut into his face and the fluid slipped down his throat.

"T-This is...manabarbs poison?!"

Waur threw the human into the ground with quaking force as he turned around, the poison seizing his body in bouts of pain. Roko slowly picked himself up and began to drag himself away. He didn't know how lethal the poison was but he didn't need to stick around to find out. If he could get away while the orc was suffering, he could rest up, gather more allies or even evade him until the poison killed-

"You got that from one of my orcs didn't you?"

Waur grabbed the human by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him up, "Did you think I would hand out a poison that I myself would be susceptible to?"

The orc punched Roko in the stomach, swinging his body and fist around to full on punch him into the ground. Waur stood over the defeated human, heaving haggard breaths as the poison slowly faded from his body. The human laid on the ground. Still, unmoving and definitely unconscious. But his eyes were open. Glaring at him defiantly. Even in his defeated state, he refused to show any signs of defeat or weakness. Whoever this human was, he'd make a great orc. Shame he was a disgusting human instead.

Waur raised his foot and smashed it down on the human's head. Removing his foot, the human's eyes were now closed in complete unconsciousness. Satisfied with his victory, Waur turned around and began to walk back to his prize. Corissa laid on the ground, still unconscious. Her body still as tantalizingly sexy as when Waur first saw it. After all his fighting, he should've been too tired to do much aside from carry his prize home but seeing her lying there sparked a passion in the orc. Reaching down towards her body, Waur could feel his instincts rise. He had reached down to pick up the girl but he grabbed onto her clothes instead, ripping them from her body. As Corissa's bountiful breasts bounced into view, Waur could feel his lust growing as he reached down one more time…

All of a sudden a dog appeared from out of nowhere and bit into Waur's wrist. Not quite hurt but surprised, Waur quickly stumbled back, pulling his arm up as the dog continued to bite into his arm. Waur reached to crush and pull the dog off but it suddenly disappeared.

"What?! A blink dog?! Don't tell me the dark elves are here! But...why?"

It was at this moment that Waur heard the slow but steady sounds of armored footsteps approaching him. Turning around, he could see a person dressed entirely in eerie black armor approaching him. There was a calm anger in his steps but Waur simply sighed.

"Another human to throw at my feet." Waur growled, "You lot really are like rats. I'm quite tired so look. I'll give you one chance. You get one attack and if you fail to kill me, I'll kill you. Got it? You've got one cha-"

Varis' hand gripped his sword and in one blazing arc, he cut Waur's torso from the rest of his body.

"What? But...how..." Waur croaked as his body fell to the ground, dead.