Manu Vs Orc

"Let's start with the individual battles with orcs; they like to hunt alone, so we can find them easily," Rishi suggested.

"To begin, everyone will fight an orc alone to understand our opponent fully. We'll decide who fights the Orc once we know its level," he said.

"We will not tell you anything about it because we want to prepare you for future expeditions where you may encounter an opponent you are unfamiliar with," said Dev.

"I'll give you one piece of advice: don't try to finish a battle quickly if you're fighting an unknown opponent; instead, try to learn about him gradually as you fight him," he added.

"Rishi, Why don't you tell me the location of their village? I haven't slaughtered orcs in a long time. You can ask Dev; I am well-known in my city as orc slayer," Dilip stated.

"We'll see how good you are when we find an Orc of your level," Ajit replied.

They were all talking when Jay appeared and said, with a panicked expression, "I discovered one about 200 meters away. He's headed in our direction."

"What is his level?" Rishi inquired.

"I believe he is below the advanced stage because he is smaller than the one you saw," Jay responded.

"Who will fight it?" Dev wondered.

Jay wanted to express his desire to fight, bet Manu responded before him, "I would like to give it a try."

Manu drew his spear and waited for his opponent patiently. Rishi and other guild members watched the battle from nearby trees. They were all surprised that Manu had not yet summoned his contract beast.

"Isn't it risky, Rishi? When you specialize in fighting with a mount and face a physically stronger species than you without using your contract beast." Ajit inquired.

"Ajit, trust him; he knows what he's doing. His defeat against Jay has opened his eyes. He knows he won't improve fast if he always plays safe," Dev responded.

"He is right, Ajit believe in him; his defeat with Jay has deeply hurt him. I believe it was the first time he lost to someone of his age and level in such a one-sided battle," Rishi added.

"From the start, the fight was not fair; Jay had numerous advantages over him," Said Dilip.

"He is also a generational talent when it comes to archery, and now, after the evolution of his contract beast, he has become a lot stronger as well," he added as he looked at Manu with a severe face and pity in his eyes.

"I don't know about talent or anything else; all I know is that he has given his all every day. In the last three days, he has outperformed everyone. If he continues in this manner, he will become far more powerful than his previous self. It appears that I will need to put in more effort, or I will fall behind," Lalit said.

When Rishi heard Lalit, he thought, 'Healthy internal competition always benefits the guild,' he smiled. 'That's why geniuses like Jay were always the priority when recruiting new guild members; they put pressure on other guild members and made it clear that if they wanted to stay in the guild, they had to perform better.'

Rishi has decided only to hire talented students; the problem with talented people is that they are always at the top and become lazy when there is no competition. A competitive environment always encourages talented individuals to work harder, causing them to grow twice or three times their regular rate.

If he could balance everything, Rishi would be able to achieve his dream of forming a guild of elite students. It also helped him because he was able to train with many strong and talented people and learn a lot from them.

Jay also looked curiously at Manu's back; he had seen many people who had made him a rival, but the problem was that they all gave up after a while when they realized they couldn't catch up.

'Let's see how far you can go,' he said to himself.

A loud "Chiii" sound was heard, followed by footsteps.

Rishi looked in the direction of the sound and noticed a green-colored humanoid creature. It was a long-armed, bow-legged giant with long fangs. It wore animal skin cloth on the bottom, while its upper body was covered in scars of varying sizes.

He held an axe in his hand. It came to a halt as it got closer to Manu. When it saw human planning to fight him, it smiled. It smelled as if he was trying to smell a delicious meal, and when he realized it was a human kid with tender, soft skin, his favorite food, his mouth watered.

Manu was scared when he saw his opponent's cruel and sadistic expression. 'It's okay; I'm not alone. My friends are with me; I can always ask for assistance." He summoned his courage and aimed his spear at the Orc.

The Orc laughed at his prey's gesture. It swung its axe and charged at the human.

Manu was already prepared, so he decided to defend himself by stopping his opponent's attack. He successfully defended himself but was pushed two steps back, and his spear also got a scratch.

'It appears I won't be able to make direct contact with him; I'll have to fight it from a distance and try to avoid its attacks until I fully understand him.' Manu ruminated in his mind.

They traded moves for a while. Manu has already noticed a pattern in his opponent's attacks.

As time passed, he could dodge attacks more quickly, but the Orc was becoming frustrated, and his attacks were becoming more powerful.

'I have to do something; this fight can't go on like this,' Manu thought. 'Recall how my teacher taught me to defeat opponents stronger than you.' He was looking for an answer when he remembered that opponents with a larger stature and a higher defense have weak legs.

He began looking for an opportunity to attack his opponent and soon realized that it was about to jump closer to him and attack with his axe downward.

Manu used his movement skill to speed up his movement and avoided its attack by moving away from his location and jumping to the right.

The Orc was enraged because he had missed his attack. It was about to attack again when it felt pain in its Achilles tendon; it just wanted to tear the ignorant human apart and chew its flesh. "Chiii," it wailed in agony.

Manu looked at the Orc, trying to maintain his balance, and attacked that region again, causing a deep wound. The fight went on, but this time Manu attacked while the Orc defended himself.

The orc was exhausted after a while. Manu took advantage of the situation and stabbed its neck with his spear, killing it.

He expressed joy by raising both hands and looking back at his guild members. He noticed multiple projectiles coming at him from their direction; everything happened so quickly that he could only notice their panicked expressions. To avoid their attacks, he leaped forward and dove.

He was about to ask them why they had attacked him when he heard a loud cry, "Chiiiiiiiiiiiiii" Manu turned and saw the Orc standing with his axe held above his head in a position to hack, his body covered in wounds from various weapons. It gave Manu one last hateful look before closing its eyes and collapsing back lifelessly.