Chapter 24 - Critical Moments

Kiel had detonated a cluster of 2 pairs of Yin-Yang Mana Bombs in the middle of the group.

The explosion radius was at least 5 meters. Using "Basic Vine Whip(D)" he was clear of the blast zone.

He did not wait to see the explosion but instead he casted "Instant Step(S)" to ambush the Orc Elite.

The big explosion stunned all of them and had even maimed 6 of the hunters wielding spears in the middle of the pack.

Kiel's timing of using his skill had allowed him to avoid the shockwave of the blast was immaculate.

After decapitating the only Elite Orc Hunter, he did not wait to hear the prompt before rushing to the middle of the pack and started his killing dance.

All it took was 5 seconds and he killed 6 of the Orcs and by tossing another basic Mana Bomb in the middle of the group, he killed 2 more and wounded another while dashing forward to kill the other 2 disoriented Orc Hunter with Sabers.

With that, only 4 Orc Scouts remained standing but 5 Minor Mana Cores had been spent. 

Orcs did not have the concept of retreat. The scouts entered 'Berserk' state and charged at him but it was futile.

The rest of the fights were no longer worth mentioning.

Having killed all of the Orcs, he dug out 9 Minor Mana Cores and kept the heads as usual.

This netted him 4 Minor Mana Cores.

Tidying himself up he quickly rushed away. He knew more Orcs would be drawn to this area soon.

Lying low for 1 day, he finished carving runes on all 9 mana cores.

He now had 46 mana bombs, 10 sets of Yin-Yang Mana Bombs and 26 Basic Mana Bombs.

He did the same set up with 2 sets of Yin-Yang Mana Bombs but he discovered his action of completely wiping out the 20 Orc team had caused a big commotion in the Orc Horde.

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'There was a big boom, we rushed over, all dead"

An Orc Scout replied.

The whole hall was silent. The mood was heavy, there were some Orcs who were raring to go hunt this pesky creature and some of the older ones were more contemplative on the news of the group getting wiped out.

"Hrrrmmm …. Double the Hunting party group, no triple them. 3 Elite, 6 Scouts and 21 Hunters"

Commanded the Orc Warlord, Thrullax Ironjaw.

"Groog….and if they got wiped out?"

Asked the Orc Grand Elder, who was also the Horde's only Shaman.

"Hrrmmm….Then we all have to leave."

The Warlord replied, rising to a full height of 6 meters tall and left the main hall.

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The next morning, Kiel was perched on top of a taller tree in the forest line. Scouting at the grassland for incoming Orcs. from afar, Kiel blanched. 

@#$__$#@

30 Orcs, 3 Elite in 1 group. WHAT THE HELL!!!!

F@#$ Tower, how was he supposed to farm!!!

If only those Orcs were just like MMORPGs mobs. How easy. 

Just as he was about to turn around, he spotted another group about 1 km behind the first group then another big group.

Kiel counted about 10 such groups staying within visible distance from each other.

They were coming out in force. He had stirred up the hornet's nest.

Without hesitation, Kiel turned around and casted "Instant Step(S)" to get away from them as soon as he could.

He needed new plans now. He went to his ambush site to recover the 2 sets of bombs and head towards the mountain.

Arriving at the bottom of the mountain Kiel looked up and an inspiration hit him.

There were 8 hairpin turns snaking up the cliff just 2 men wide.

He immediately recalled that during the journey down, it had been fun as he simply slid down instead of following the trail along the ledge.

So he got to the top path and started to execute his plans.

Using multiple casts of "Basic Vine Whip(D)" and "Meditation(E)". He laboriously set up the traps along a 500 meters stretch of the narrow pathways snaking upwards.

It took him 4 days of hard work to prepare the mana bombs along the top path of the narrow hairpin turns, setting the trigger to run along the side of the cliff at the top end of the pathways.

Blowing this up would trigger a massive landslide and cut off the path over the mountains.

He hoped this would effectively delay the Orc Invasions by at least a few months. 

The task of wiping out the Orcs would be considered at a later time.

Now he needed a trigger to get the Orcs charge up the cliff mindlessly and he had the perfect tool for it.

Using "Basic Vine Whip(D)" and "Meditation(E)" he made a large basket made of vines on the 3rd ledge from the bottom. 

Just enough distance from the bottom to be visible while giving him time to escape from the top.

After he finished the massive basket, he heard a chime:

"Basic Vine Whip(D) upgraded to 

Vine Whip(C):Good control over vines, improved distance(20m), strength and durability. 0.5s, 20 mana"

He was caught with surprise. A good beginning.

Having prepared everything, filled the vine basket with the Orc heads he had collected so far.

Then he waited for another 2 days.

Just as he had guessed. The Orcs were drawing close before long. His high vantage point affords him a good view of the incoming Orcs.

There must be more than 8 massive groups of Orcs approaching the mountain wall. Seemed like the have noticed him from afar.

He was about midway down on the 3rd hairpin turn from the bottom.

He pretended to be terrified and ran up the cliff side along the narrow pathways cursing and dragging his load behind him. So freaking heavy, helpless he casted "Power Surge(8)".

Only then did he get a good pace.

Kiel turned to look at them and the sight of hundreds of Orcs looking at him was spine chilling.

Initially, the Orcs seemed to not realize what he carried in his gigantic vine basket. It must have looked hilarious to see a tiny human being pulling a big basket of goods.

But before long they seemed to have caught on.

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"Gwagagaaga look, funny human. So greedy. Still not letting go of all those meatballs. Let's kill him and eat him then eat those meat too"

" Yeer yeer yeer let's catch him he looked tender. Still young."

"And all those meat I can have full belly tonight!!!"

"Stoph. Wait. Those are not meat!!"

"That be Orc's head!!!!"

"Wait!! He killed them all, Arrgghhhh!!!"

"NO!!! NOO!!! NOOOOOO!!!!"

"BLOOOOOD!!!!"

#########

Before he knew it, all the Orcs were roaring in anger. Their eyes turned red and their angry roars shook the heavens.

Alright. This was not fun anymore.

He doubled up on his effort while the Orcs started to swarm the narrow ledge.

They were much faster than they looked.

By the time he reached the 7th turn, he could see the Orcs were just under him.

At this rate, there was not enough time.

If he missed the timing then all his effort would be for naught and he might even be dead.

He was at the critical moments.