Chapter 3

[WARNING!]

THE QUEST HAS CHANGED!

[QUEST!]

KILL ALL THE ORCS.

"Orcs..." Mumbled Samuele with nervous eyes. What he was seeing made no sense to him. This was supposed to be a mission to kill goblins. What were orcs doing inside the cave?

And on top of that, the mission had changed. So, although all the goblins in the cave were apparently dead, they could not leave there unless they also killed the orcs, magical creatures literally impossible for newbies like them to kill.

A group of five orcs made their way out of the darkness and stared ravenously at them.

"How the hell is that possible?!"

"We can't fight them! They will kill us!!!"

"Leader, what do we do?!"

Everyone looked at Marco Terranova with worried looks. They did not know how to act. And if he had to be honest, he didn't know either.

Sure, he had faced orcs in the past, but in groups with other Adventurers of his same level if not higher. But at that moment he was with a group of newbies who would be no small challenge to those orcs, despite the fact that there were only five Orcs and ten Adventurers.

One with his experience knew that there was no way he could get out of there alive. But he could not just give up. What kind of leader would he have been?

He held his sword with both hands and got into a fighting stance.

"As you have seen, we cannot leave until we have killed all the orcs. I'm sorry guys, but there is no way out of here. Please help me fight them. I can't do it alone. This way, there is some chance that at least one of us will get out of here alive."

The newbies looked at him as if he had grown another head. They did not believe his words.

"Should we face them...?" If he couldn't face them alone, a level 20, how the hell were rookies who just started leveling up going to fight them and make it out alive?

Marco, as if he had seen their shocked expressions despite being turned to stare at the orcs' every slightest movement, spoke.

"If you do not fight, you will still die. So what difference does it make?! Lend me your strength and maybe we'll have some chance of getting out of here alive!" This time, the leader's voice was heard.

As if everyone had found renewed vigour, they prepared for battle with nervous but determined eyes.

Samuele also prepared himself. He could not say that he was calmer than the others, quite the contrary. He was terribly nervous. He did not think that this incredible series of misfortunes one after another would come before him.

'First the System, then the fact that I reached my level limit at 2 and now the orcs.' He had to incredibly curse his bad luck.

For a brief moment, he looked at the five orcs in front of them. They had bloodshot eyes, as did any other creature the System said to face. He hadn't paid much attention before, but the goblins also had the same eyes, though those of the last one, the goblin who had run away, seemed to flicker black and white for just a moment. Samuele, however, thought he had only imagined it.

Shaking his head slightly to put these thoughts out of his mind, he returned to the impending battle.

The adventurers and the orcs stared at each other, as if awaiting the opponents' move.

Each of the Newbies swallowed dry saliva and prepared themselves.

As if they had grown tired of this futile waiting, one of the orcs gave a battle cry and they all ran towards them with heavy steps that matched their enormous stature.

The Adventurers were not outdone either. Marco raised his sword high, as if to tell the others to follow him.

"Let's go!!!" With a shout, the leader encouraged all the others to move towards the orcs.

Before long, each of them was fighting the orcs. Although they were divided into groups of two, facing one orc was really difficult for them. The orcs calmly parried their attacks and counter-attacked. Those who managed to dodge the attacks immediately prepared for another offensive. Those who found themselves defenceless during their attack received more or less serious injuries.

Meanwhile, the leader, although managing to deliver a few critical hits and receiving none, knew that this could not last very long. Having another comrade attacking the same orc, he decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

"You gotta distract him!"

"What?!" Shouted Samuele.

"It's the only way we can get rid of it as quickly as possible! Do you want to die?!" Samuele didn't even have time to think about it, but he knew the leader was right. He shouted at the monster.

"Hey, you big beast! I'm going to beat the shit out of you! Come here!!!"

As if he understood, a huge vein sprouted on his forehead and he gritted his teeth, now heading towards him. He put the bat above his head, ready to crush him to a pulp.

He swung the bat towards the boy, who was ready to dodge the attack. As it turned out, there was no need. With a horizontal swing of the sword, Marco had just decapitated the orc. His head fell forward towards Samuele.

The orc's open eyes gave him a brief sense of disgust, which was then replaced by curiosity. Indeed, as he continued to look at the eyes, they slowly lost their blood colour and were soon replaced by a normal eye with a black iris.

"Come on, we must help the others!" Marco Terranova called him back from his thoughts and sprinted towards the next nearest orc.

"Yes!" Exclaimed the boy, following him into the next attack.

Slowly, the situation turned around. Thanks to strength in numbers, and also to the leader's experience, almost everyone made it out safely. One rookie had not made it and had been overpowered by one of the orcs. The other rookie, who had just been left alone, was badly injured.

Fortunately, they had a weak potion that allowed her to survive.

Once they had defeated the last orc, they were almost about to celebrate their victory, but still the system had not alerted them to the completion of the mission. Everyone returned to an anxious expression.

"Are there any orcs left?"

"Well, come on, we've made it so far. We can definitely win against more orcs!"

"Yes, you're right!"

The newbies infused each other with courage with these words, but Marco had a far from positive expression. Thanks to his experience, his senses had been sharpened.

'Something is wrong...'

For someone of his experience, these orcs they had just faced were weaker than they normally are. They all but one survived too easily. Newbies couldn't have survived like this.

And just as if to prove him right, a gruff, monstrous cry, even louder than that of the orcs they had previously faced made itself heard before them.

"WAAAAAAARRGHHH!!!!!!"

An icy sensation ran down their spines. Not even Marco was exempt from this horrendous sensation. They began to hear the creature's footsteps getting closer and louder.

Preparing for another confrontation, the Adventurers took up a defensive position. Although it did not seem to last long.

Out of the darkness, this huge orc with scars all over his face came into full view.

His enraged expression and bloodshot eyes made everyone in the place freeze. Another scream came out of his mouth, this time directed right at them.

"WAAAAAAARRGHHH!!!!!!"

It seemed as if an overwhelming force was about to crush them. Everyone's eyes expressed only fear. A terror they had never felt before froze them, without having the chance to take a single step.

The orc did not even look at the novices, only at the leader, who was the strongest of the group. And Marco noticed this.

As if to tell him to fight, the orc pointed his axe at him.

'He wants to kill me first.' But he knew he had no chance alone against him. He had no choice but to ask the newbies again.

"Guys, we all have to attack him together. We don't have to leave him any space to attack us. On my 'go', we surround him and attack him with everything we have."

Listening to him, the others could do nothing but prepare for this battle, hoping within themselves that this would be their last.

"Go!"

And they all quickly headed towards the orc, but all they saw was a blur flying towards them and feeling a powerful bump in the direction their leader had previously been standing. The latter, who had been standing in front of them all to lead them, now found his body sunk into the cave wall.

Samuele and the rest of the group looked shocked at the spot where Marco was knocked down. Turning towards the orc, the boy noticed that the latter was now looking at the rest of the group. Unconsciously, everyone backed away a few steps.

"WAAAAAAARRGHHH!!!!!!"

Another shout was directed towards them. This time none of them could hold back and they tried to flee as fast as they could.

Fear won out over reason.

Even though they knew that the escape route was blocked because of the mission, they had neither the strength nor the courage to face such a monster.

They had just become Adventurers! How could they defeat such a creature!

Samuele ran away like everyone else, but his speed compared to that of his group was inferior. He found himself to be the last and, consequently, the closest to the orc.

'My stats are too low!!!' He cursed once more inwardly his bad luck that had brought him to this series of events one after the other.

He looked exclusively ahead.

He did not want to see how the orc was approaching him at a speed surely greater than his own.

He did not want to see how the orc would kill him.

Maybe he would crush him to the ground. Maybe in the exact same way he had thrown the leader towards the wall. He hoped it would be as painless as possible.

And while he was thinking of all the ways he would be killed, the orc took an incredibly high leap and, arriving in front of everyone, blocked their path towards the portal.

Without even having time to think, a newbie who was right in front of the orc was grabbed by the head with a hand that was at least twice his size and, as if it were an apple, smashed it.

"KYAAA!!!

"HELP!!!"

At that demonstration of strength and violence, many of the group cried out in panic.

As if the orc appreciated that 'symphony', he gave an unhealthy grin and, one by one, slaughtered them all, reaching up to Samuele.

The boy recoiled, even going so far as to stumble and fall on his butt on the ground. The orc towered above him imposingly. As if to savour his last dessert, the monster moved his arm above his head, dropping the axe towards his shoulder and amputating it.

"GAAAAHHH!!!!"

A desperate cry of pain came out of his mouth.

The orc seemed to enjoy this moment and this time pointed the axe towards his head.

'No... I can't die like this... I don't want to die... my family... they are waiting for me... I have to go home... I have to support my family...

I can't... I can't... I...'

With desperate determination, she let out one last cry from her mouth.

"I CAN'T DIE!!!"

The orc found himself having to recoil from the power of that scream. As if it had halved all his strength, he fell to his knees.

In front of Samuel's body, a small particle of light appeared, which slowly grew larger and larger and, like a force of shock, crashed down upon the orc, hurling him far away.

[WARNING!]

YOU HAVE BROKEN YOUR LIMIT.

[CONGRATULATIONS!]

YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUEST! YOU CAN RETRIEVE THE TREASURE CHEST AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CAVE.

EXIT THE PORTAL BEFORE IT CLOSES.

END OF CHAPTER.

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Thus ends Samuele's first quest. What do you think? Good/bad chapter? Let me know your opinion about it and, if you liked it, rate it and give it some power stones!

Until the next chapter, guys!!!