Orc Battlefield

The Naarth family, a knight Household with a glorious past, had been erased overnight. The Count, a half-grand knight on par with a peak-rank acolyte, had lost his life by taking down the incredible [Orc King], a magus-rank species with terrifying abilities.

However, little did he know, for the [Orc King] was not the only threat to the Porfield Kingdom.

The [Orc King] was surrounded by wise Orc Shamans. According to the latest reports from the Ivory Tower Acolytes, they were roughly thirty. All orc shamans possessed magic power, and they could cast spirit magic through totems. Worse still, their spells were unknown to the acolytes who were accustomed to Magus Path Magic.

Orc Shamans were also wise, and they had made sure to forbid the Orc King from conquering Naarth Island before creating a force big enough to overpower the Ivory Tower and the Naarth Household's family. Eventually, after almost a century of training and hiding, the Orc Army reached 1000 Orc Warriors, including strong generals on par with advanced knights.

Orc Shamans also perfected their crafts, with a handful reaching the intermediate rank.

Overnight, they conquered the Naarth Castle. Even though the [Orc King] died, the majority of orcs followed the Orc Shamans, who represented their ancestors and spirits. As for the others, they followed Orc Generals who wanted independance.

Arthur Landragon was one of the many acolytes who were sent to subjugate Orc Generals. Over the past six months, all the orc generals and their followers had perished.

However, the Orc Fortress was not getting any weaker. Despite being surrounded by the Ivory Tower Forces, there were numerous skirmishes.

Since the beginning of the battle, the Crimson Clan had lost 18 beginner acolytes as well as 2 intermediate rank acolytes. It was more than half of their forces. The Crimson Magus Family was already declining, and these losses were nothing short of a disaster, which could possibly doom them to extinction if it continued.

They weren't the only one to lose greatly. Dozens of independant acolytes lost their lives too. Some minor factions were even disbanded due to the deaths of influential acolytes.

The Crimson Clan was still a major faction, and over the past seven months, they had managed to kill over ten orc shamans and three hundred orc warriors, including intermediate-knight level orc generals.

More importantly, they set up a [Human Settlement], protected by runic formations, providing extraordinary survivability against orc raids.

The Orc Fortress was similarly defended by totems and robust architecture. Although it was very different to human castles, the huge wooden walls supported by gigantic boulders as well as the many traps made it impossible for acolytes to infiltrate the fortress.

Both sides possessed too much of an advantage in terms of defence, to the point that the battlefield had entered a strange state of stalemate. Neither side backed down, and both sides were suffering from losses on a daily basis.

However, the runic formations that protected the Human Settlement suddenly stopped functionning.

In the middle of the night, a terrible battle began.

The moon revealed seven individuals, clothed in dark silk robes, very different to the blood red uniform worn by the Crimson Clan Acolytes or the white uniform worn by regular Ivory Tower Acolytes.

[Allan Blackfyre - Level 6 Zombie]

[Billy Gatekeeper - Level 7 Acolyte]

[Kayle Smith - Level 5 Acolyte]

[Helene Fireborn - Level 7 Acolyte]

[Maiden Ghost (Lucie Blackhope) - Level 7 Ghost]

[Bjorg Jark - Level 5 Acolyte]

[Arthur Landragon - Level 8 Intermediate-rank Acolyte]

Out of these seven individuals, 3 could be considered Elite Beginner Acolytes and Arthur was an intermediate-rank acolyte. Each one of them possessed unique abilities.

Neither the crimson clan nor the Ivory Tower acolytes stationned in this [Human Settlement] could expect an attack. In the past seven months, the orcs only attacked twice, in the beginning before giving up any form offense besides skirmishes. Even if they did, they would be detected by the runic formations set up by the Crimson Clan Leader.

The latter was injured, and returned to the Ivory Tower last week. He no longer was here to protect the settlement.

As for disarming the runic formation, Lucile could easily do so. Before turning into a Maiden Ghost, she used to be a runic formation apprentice herself. Although she never reached the intermediate realm of expertise, she could still disarm one after studying it. And by chance, the Black Widow Brotherhood had managed to get information on it.

Arthur had put on his newest piece of equipment, the Arcane Fox Mask, giving him the look of a demon. Taking out his bow, he didn't hesitate, before casting the high-grade spell [Ice Poison Aura].

Enchanting his arrow made his archery skills shine. Any hit was bound to kill his targets.

This time around, Arthur was targeting intermediate-rank acolyte. They were wealthier, and more importantly, Arthur wanted to turn them into [Cursed Soul Flask]. Using [Soul Seal] on beginner rank acolytes turned them into medium-grade cursed soul flask. Using it on intermediate rank acolytes was bound to increase the quality of their soul, and by extension, the grade of the magical resource.

After earning 500 magic crystals from the sell of Cursed Soul Flasks, Arthur was no longer seeing this raid as a mere compulsory mission ordered by the Old Witch Diana. He was seeing it as an opportunity to strike it rich.

Not to mention the loot, Arthur would be able to make hundreds of magic crystals from Cursed Soul Flasks alone.

He also had one more reason to accept this mission:

[Compulsory Mission - Black Widow Brotherhood Raid

The Black Widow Brotherhood has gathered after a long period of absence. The raid targets one of their ancestral enemy: the Crimson Clan. This raid holds terrifying importance in the Ivory Tower Hierarchy, and it will probably determines the organization's future in the tower. The Old Witch has invested an extraordinary amount of time and resources into this plan, and holds you, Arthur Landragon, in high regards.

Task - Destroy the Human Settlement (0/1)

Rewards - 2 500 EXP, 10 Spell Profiency Points, Increased reputation with the Black Widow Brotherhood Members, Loot

Optional Task - Kill 10 Acolytes (0/1)

Rewards - 1 000 EXP, 10 Skill Proficiency Points

Optional Task - Kill 3 Intermediate-rank Acolytes (0 / 3)

Rewards - 1 500 EXP, 10 Skill Proficiency Points]