Chapter 51 - Hospitable Trap.

A/N - My apologies for not posting for long, starting from tomorrow. I'll be posting two chapters.

Not long afterwards, they took out some seeds that they were holding in their animal bags.

Small yellow round seeds the size of specks were taken out and thrown across the .

A female orc dressed in a trail of leaves wrapped around her waist and covering her chest unlike the rest who were dressed in animal hides stepped forth as the other orcs parted ways for her.

As soon as she came close to the wet ground, she faced the crowd and spoke.

"My dear we come to celebrate another fertility festival for a good harvest and for the lucky one

She reached for the leather bag strapped to her waist and took some ash from it which she threw onto the wet ground.

She then started to clap her hands allowing more of the black powder to fall as she began to sing.

After chanting the song for the first time, the other females also began to clap and sing with her.

"Water from the oasis,

Grow our crops,

Ash from the dead trees,

May you nurture our crops enough,

For our families to use"

Among the female orcs, one of them grinned as her hands clapped, Urkezi smiled at the

activity of the Orcs.

"The ash of the dead trees will aid in nurturing new life since they lost theirs. This plant singing festival has been worth it"

Then the female orc dressed in plant leaves who was known as the Priestess then turned to five other female orcs behind her who were dressed in animal hides like the other orcs, each carrying two bags filled with wood ash.

"Distribute the ash to ten random females and let them join in spreading it"

The females nodded and began to mix with the crowd with their eyes being closed and their free hands being stretched while their instincts guided them as they gave a bag of ash to whoever their hands touched.

The crowd understood the rules of this and remained still while clapping and singing.

Cheers resounded across the female crowd as ten of them were picked.

The ten female orcs had been picked now stood in front of the priestess with their bags of ash.

With a smile, she addressed them "Congratulations to the ten of you. May you be imbued with the blessings of the ceremony"

It wasn't long before the female orcs were now spreading ash over the ground while the crowd continued to sing. Urkezi who was among the crowd smiled at this.

As her hands continued to flow with the others, a dim blue light began to emanate from it as she chanted the lyrics of the song.

Suddenly, the wood ash that was being sprinkled began to sparkle as the sky began to darken as clouds gathered above the oasis.

The orcs began to rejoice at the sight of this and not long afterwards, drops of rain began to pour over the land surrounded by the oasis.

"It's raining just right after the festival"

"I see, so she blessed the festival instead of choosing a chosen one like the others," Shawn said while gripping his chin.

"The law of blessings state that an higher being can influence a weapon, item, region or event with their domain. Something like how Semna's obelisks works because it has been blessed by her domain," he thought.

Another thought soon followed "If two higher beings were competing over a race, how competitive or how peaceful would they be?"

His mind was brought back to the screen showing him the happenings of the world.

"So the events of the orcs are still not over?"

Else in the northwest region of the northern continent where the scorching deserts had no mercy on life, a small group of orcs with dark red skin rushed from the top of a sand dune with their hands behind their backs and partly covered with their leather clothing.

"We've been going on and on like this for three days, we need to find water or we'll did" One of the orcs who was a female with black hair said while panting.

"Lursha, what do you mean?, How are we supposed to find water when we don't even know where we are"

"I knew that it was a foolish idea to try to go scouting for the tribe, how are we supposed to survive or return with reports if we don't know where we are or how to survive?" A male orc with a slim body build complained.

"Bickernash, that's enough, instead of complaining why don't you join us in solving this dilemma," Nuz replied while rubbing her black hair.

"Solving, maybe you all should have thought of this three days ago," Bickernash refuted her.

"If the two of you keep bickering for long, you'll be the first among us to die," Urluck, another male orc with a bulky body build replied to the duo who immediately shit their mouths up.

Alll of a sudden, the dry winds began to blow making the group of four to cover their eyes from the particles of sand flying around.

When the winds receded and the area was calm once again, the group could see a female orc approaching them from a distance on a dune.

"Another orc in the desert?" They thought.

"Strangers, what are you doing in the hot sands?!" The orc yelled.

"We were supposed to go scouting but then we lost our way and now we're stuck!" Eiggeira, a bald male orc who had answered Naz replied.

"The heat of the sun will overwhelm you, come!" The orc said before waving her hand, signalling to them to follow her on her as they began to climb the dune.

Upon reaching the top, they were welcomed with the view of a large Mesa rock having a troglodyte dwelling.

"Do you live here?" Naz asked.

The female orc nodded

"Does this place have water?" asks Bickernash.

Lursha rolled her eyes at his question while Urluck replied with an annoyed tone.

"If it didn't would she survive?"

"This place was abandoned when I came. I was lucky to still find water hidden inside" She replied.

The duo nodded and soon followed her into the Mesa and Burma rock right below the dune.

When they entered, the intense heat of the desert sun wore off from them and they were welcomed with the cool air inside the dwelling.

"I'm thirsty, where's the water?" Bickernash said while his breathing became intense while his tongue stuck out.

The female orc chuckled and waved at them to come forward as they made their way deeper into the dwelling before reaching a place where a small pool of water laid.

Instantly, all of them except from Nax rushed towards the pool of water and dipped their hands in before carrying it back to their mouths to drip.

"Won't you also drink? Aren't you thirsty like them? After all, you must have travelled and struggled far to reach here as no orcish settlements exists nearby"

Naz faced the female orc and answered "I am but I'll prefer to know more about who is being this welcoming towards us"

The female orc smiled "My name is Mag,"

"From the sounds of it, you seem to have some exceptional prowess that doesn't deal with the physical?" Naz said.

"Indeed," Mag nodded.

At that moment, Naz recalled she hadn't drank water and rushed to the pool before gauging down on the water that had been preserved.

Upon turning her head to look at Mag, she suddenly felt dizzy and shaked her head.

When she turned to her side, she realized that all of her comrades had slumped to the ground.

When she turned to face Mag, she could see the latter grinning and was now holding a dagger.

"You..." She suddenly became clear eyed and revealed a small dagger from her waist before rushing at her opponent.

"First mistake of a fight" Mag said as she raised her own dagger to block off her opponents as they were now fighting in close range.

With a quick turn, she pushed the dagger of her opponent away from hers before spinning and arching the dagger towards the neck.

A dizzy Naz immediately lowered her back, moving her neck from being decapitated before her palm slapped the ground and her feet slid towards her opponents, intending to make her stumble.

Mag jumped and avoided the strike but that was not until Naz's quickly got herself up and aimed a kick with her other leg.

Mag immediately blocked it with her wrist that was also holding the dagger before pushing the leg away and moving her free hand on Naz's face.

"Disorder!" She said.

Her hand immediately became pitch black before reverting to it's dark red color.

In the short span of this, her opponent had screamed before falling unconscious.

She was surprised that her opponent was still being able to hold out against her and had to push her to use her mana to fight.