Evren put his training sword away and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off. He was wearing only his leather pants and boots, having taken his armor off for the day. He had already done maintenance on both his armor and weapons. Although there was no blood from the fight remaining on his sword, there were signs of it having been used. So, Evren had taken his time to sharpen and oil everything.
He had gotten very familiar with his sword, but the only beings he has had to fight during the time since he left the first town, has been goblins. He had no experience fighting anything taller than knee high. When he hunted, if the arrow of his super bow hit the target, it would die, otherwise he'd have to chase or run away. Running, that's something he didn't have a chance to do often. His endurance training consisted of pulling the wagon for as long as he could. Sometimes while he pulled the wagon, he would change how he pulled to work different muscle groups, but even if his upper body got tired, he would still push his legs to the extreme. He could now push the wagon from dawn until the sun was about halfway to the horizon from noon without stopping.
This had increased his pace considerably since he started, so he used those last few hours before the sun set to do some training, hunting, or maintenance. He had broken one wheel on the wagon, but fortunately that was one of the spare parts he had brought with him. His supply of herbs and seasonings had been reduced, but fortunately he had found some occasionally while out hunting. He would dry them out on the side of the wagon as he moved.
The next town, which was about a week to a week and a half away, is the one he is hoping to find people at. The town sat at the base of a long set of mountains or hills and was the only town with a name he would see along this journey so far, "Plinth." About a five-day journey north of the town is a dungeon. From what he read it appeared to be an old and large dungeon.
The dungeon, named "Aernide" same as the continent he was on had a large community built around its entrance. Although large, it was built like a fortress. The forest between Plinth and Aernide was filled with monsters, which made the five-day trek between them quite a challenge for people looking to explore the depths. The two locations had a symbiotic relationship with each other. Much of the wealth of Aernide was traded to Plinth for the foods it produced, and access to trade routes that extended to other areas of the continent.
Evren thought he'd have a chance to find people, good, bad or otherwise at either location, especially Aernide. As it was a fortress outside a dungeon, most inhabitants would be strong enough to fend off monsters from the forest and would probably delve into the dungeon as well. It provided resources in the form of magical weapons and equipment. And if what Evren read to be true, the location itself would be difficult for an army to advance towards.
The fortress was set back in a cavernous ravine, with two outposts built into the walls of the ravine proceeding the entrance. Access to the outposts was only through underground tunnels, which could be collapsed if overrun. Along the tunnels were various stations where ranged attacks could be rained down upon the ravine in the event something got past the outposts. The last 100 meters before the fortress was a steep, loosely graveled area, which made climbing difficult. The only way to gain access was an access road to the east that was heavily guarded, and ridiculously long.
Once you got into the fortress, there were three rings of walls between the outer walls of the fortress and the entrance to the dungeon. Defenders could fall back to each of these locations quickly, while attackers would have to filter through buildings to find the entrances, which were not in a straight line from the previous entrance. Visitors to the fortress could take a day just to go from the entrance to the dungeon.
Permanent residents of Aernide would run drills frequently because of the threat of the monsters in the forest, many taking an active part in the fortress defense. People were assigned to various posts or duties during an emergency. In the long history of Aernide, the fortress walls were only breached one time, and the monsters were stopped by the first ring.
The only weakness of the fortress was its susceptibility of a siege. It had a lot of people, and a large store of emergency rations, but it had no way of replenishing those reserves. The monsters of the dungeon provided no bodies with which to sustain them, and the only access to the fortress could be easily blocked by an army.
Evren was sure that the Holy State army would have someone in it who would realize these vulnerabilities and exploit them. He also had the feeling that there would probably be many who ignored that and sent their puppet army in an attempt to overrun them with numbers. Therefore, he would either meet up with residents who managed to defend, or the Holy State's army, either way, people.
Evren had finished cleaning himself and maintaining his equipment, his mind turning back to the present. He was about to put his armor on to go scouting around the camp when he felt some presences. They were bigger than goblins, not as big as humans, maybe a meter and a half tall, and there were three of them. As Evren focused on them, they stopped and looked around nervously. 'I really need to figure out a way to do that without giving myself away.' He thought to himself.
The creatures were stocky, and either hunched slightly in the back, or had enough muscles to cause the back between the shoulders to bulge out noticeably. Their faces were flat, sloping backwards, with tusks sticking out of its mouth. Their arms were long, reaching to the knees, and their legs were short, making them look out of proportion. Two were carrying sticks, while the one in the back held nothing.
'Orcs.' Evren thought as he reduced his sensory field. He wouldn't be able to get his armor on in time, so he decided to try to hunt these orcs. Evren grabbed his weapons and moved off towards the orcs at a tangent to get downwind of them. They were east of him, but slightly north of the direction of the wind. The wind shifted enough that they would occasionally catch his scent, which was probably why they were getting nearer to his position.
He started by going south until they were at the edge of his perception, before turning east. He had enough distance to them that he could run with enough speed to swing around behind them. When he got into a good position, he started heading towards them. As they moved, he would increase his sensory field just enough to get them to stop so he could get closer. His pace was much slower than theirs, so he depended on these tricks to get closer.
At this range, he could move somethings slightly. Not enough to make an attack, but enough to cause a distraction. For example, he could move a branch, or drop a rock. It seemed the distractions were annoying enough to cause the unarmed one to cry out in rage. It was loud, even at Evren's distance, with power and frustration. The armed ones swung at nearby bushes, while the unarmed one picked up rocks and sticks from the ground, throwing them around chaotically.
When Evren reached fifty meters in range, he found a tree to climb nearby, which he climbed to an elevation where he could see the orcs on the other side of the hill. They were a sickly yellowish green in color, and naked. Dirt covered their bodies and clung to the hair on their backs. The sticks they were carrying were more like clubs as they were thick and had rough edges, as if any branches attached to them were just broken off.
Evren took aim at the only one he could see clearly and drew the arrow back. He caused a branch on the opposite side of the orc from him to move, drawing their attention to that direction. When the orc turned its head, Evren let the arrow fly. He then quickly brought the bow down between him and the tree and pulled his cloak close to the trunk. He watched the orc he hit stumble forward and fall, the arrow deep in its back between where the shoulder blades would be.
The orc without weapons roared again. A deep guttural roar that shook the branches around it. It then charged off in Evren's direction, with the armed one following it. Evren didn't move, and just continued to watch the orcs. When the orcs had gotten twenty-five meters away from Evren, they stopped again. The unarmed one panting slightly, its small eyes scanning the forest. It now stood on top of the hill that was between them, and if the orc looked forward instead of down, it would probably have a chance to spot Evren, if he weren't hiding.
Evren made a rock drop in the woods to the orc's left. The orc roared and charged after the sound. As the orcs moved off in that direction, Evren shifted his position in the tree, setting himself so he is on the opposite side of the tree, with the bow ready to fire. Evren had kept his quiver on his waist instead of across his back so he could draw the arrow from underneath his cloak. Once Evren was ready, he released the arrow, hitting the back of the trailing orc in the head, once again hiding himself against the tree.
The arrow killed the orc instantly, going almost completely through its head, and sticking into the ground as the orc fell. The orc's head was propped up by the arrow, its body twitching occasionally. The unarmed lead orc heard the orc's fall and turned around to look at it. Again, it roared, and again it couldn't find the source of its ire. Evren turned his head slightly and made a noise behind himself by dropping a rock. The orc's eyes focused on the sound, but it didn't charge. Unperturbed, Evren found what he was looking for, a bush big enough to hide a man crouching behind it. He gave the bush a little shake. Just enough to be noticed.
The orc didn't charge this time. It picked up the club of its fallen companion and started to move through the trees toward the bush. Evren could tell it was on high alert as it moved towards the bush. As it moved under Evren, it slowed down, making each footstep quiet. Evren quietly separated himself from the tree and carefully removed an arrow from the quiver. He gave the bush another shake, and the orc crouched down, stopping momentarily. As Evren was setting the arrow to the string, the orc moved forward, focused heavily on the bush.
Evren didn't have a good stance on the tree, he was twisted to the left with the trunk almost in the way of his drawing the arrow. He didn't want to move though, so he just leaned backward as he raised the bow into his firing position. When the orc, who was moving as quietly as it could, was within ten meters of the bush, approximately twenty meters from Evren, it stopped, and dug its feet into the ground. Evren waited, not yet having pulled the string on the bow.
When the orc charged at the bush, Evren pulled the bowstring back, aiming down its length at the orc. The orc reached the bush and charged through it, swinging its club wildly. When it stopped and looked around confused, Evren let the arrow fly. The bow made a noise every time he fired it. It wasn't a quiet noise either. The orc had heard the noise twice already and ducked down. Which would have worked if Evren was aiming at the head of the orc, but he was aiming at the chest.
The arrow from the super bow went through the neck of the orc, through its chest and impaled its arm on the other side, the orc turning futilely towards where the arrow had come from. Evren had almost fallen from the branch with the release and was desperately grabbing the trunk of the tree to prevent himself from falling. When he had gotten his balance, Evren pulled his hood back and looked back at the orc. He waved at the orc with a big smile on his face and began climbing down the tree. The orc roared and tore its arm away from the arrow, charging to the tree Evren was in. Blood flowed quickly from the wound on its arm, and its body stiff and clumsy as it approached.
As Evren reached the lowest branch on the tree, the orc had arrived and began swinging its club wildly at Evren. As the orc swung at the branch Evren was on, he'd shift his feet so they wouldn't be hit.
As Evren was looking for an opportunity to jump down from the tree to finish off the orc, it collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. It stared at Evren, hate and fury in its dark eyes. Evren was about to walk forward to finish it off when he said with a low voice, "Even a mouse will bite the cat when cornered." So instead, he turned around to retrieve the arrows and cores from the other two fallen orcs. The arrows, as per usual, were difficult to retrieve, but remained intact, despite the effort it took to remove them.
The cores he retrieved from the mana gland were larger than the goblins and had a deeper red color to them. They were still round in shape like a pearl though. When Evren returned to the orc that he killed last, it had finally died of blood loss. Retrieving the last orc's core, he gathered all the orcs up in a group near the base of the tree that he had been hiding in. Using the "drink" spell to summon water to clean his arrows and dagger off, he made his way back to camp. He returned the bow and quiver to where he normally stored them and took a shovel with him back to bury the orcs.
