In the freezing cold of those snowy mountain ranges, Luke and Meredith followed the six giants for a few hundred meters. As they followed them, Luke remembered a book he had read during the return trip to Oukiwa a few months before.
This book was an ordinary bestiary with only one hundred pages, but it cost the princely sum of 500 silver coins at that time. Both because of the price and because it was a type of book he had never bought before, the half-wolf was curious and bought the bestiary. He didn't even carry it in his <Normal Inventory> anymore, but the rich knowledge from the book was ingrained in his mind.
Thanks to this book, Luke stopped comparing the physical size of the giants in front of him to the Famous Goblorc, aka King of the Goblin, because he noticed that the resemblance of these monsters was greater to Orc's, abominable and solitary beings whose strength is capable of murdering up to dozens of Superior Goblins in territorial disputes.
So, Luke followed them even more cautiously.
As time passed, it became clear to the half-beasts that the Orc's were following a route. Of course, the short man in the neck of the last Orc in line was the one who was guiding them, but it was still strange, because they didn't know where the Orc's might be going. There was nothing for in the ranges, no city, no people, just ice and stone, at least that's what they thought.
However, when the wind blew harder, and the snowflakes condensing in the air came out from in front of the half-orc's eyes, a surprising horizon was revealed. Between four frozen mountains lay a flat space, and covering this space were several buildings covered in snow, but still in one piece.
From afar, it looked like a settlement, but Luke had never heard of such a place in the ranges, nor had Ayumi warned him about it when he left, so she didn't know either.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe architecture of the place was a little unusual. The roofs were somewhat rounded, like domes, and the buildings were all made of heavy concrete blocks, which couldn't even have been manufactured in that region with such intense cold, and were even less likely to have been brought this far away from any civilization.
Furthermore, in a wide open space that appeared to be the courtyard of that strange settlement, there were almost a dozen blue-skinned Orc's. These monsters were just sitting there, and there was a much smaller person in front of them, apparently talking something.
This alarmed Luke, but not enough to make him desperate. He took Meredith's arm and said:
"We have to deal with these monsters now, so we can also find out what they are doing so far away already."
"I agree, but we're pretty close to those buildings. Don't you think they might just, I don't know, howl for help?"
The half-wolf put his hand on his chin, and was quiet, because he hadn't thought of that.
"Okay, I have an idea." He stated after thinking for a while. "They are slow, so we can overtake them quietly if we want, and I'm also sure they can't hear us the constant blowing of the wind. So, we will continue on the higher ground and go further ahead. Since we're just over a kilometer away, we can try to deal with these six monsters separately, and then we'll take care of the other ten."
"All right, then you go ahead, because I can hardly see the back of my hand from all the snow here." Meredith agreed because she trusted Luke's instincts. If he said it was possible for them to kill these monsters, then it should really be possible.
With his senses sharpened by the use of his focus, Luke ran fast on the ground above the route the Orc's were using.
The short man thought he heard something, and even asked the Orc's to stop for a moment. At that moment he saw some snow dripping from the top, but he didn't even think that it could be someone, rather he thought about the possibilities of an avalanche.
After the Orc's started walking again, the half-beasts moved forward once more and took a good margin of distance from the group of monsters.
They analyzed their surroundings, and drew up an ambush plan. The war had already begun, so the enemies could not be ignored or spared.
As the first monster was passing under a steeper relief of rocks, the heap of snow shook. The short man on the back of the last Orc noticed this, however, the second he exclaimed to order the monster to back off, an immense amount of snow fell on his head, bogging him down on the spot.
"Shit, are you dumb!?" The man asked the snow-hit creature. "Hey, let's stop for a minute until this idiot gets up!"
Of all the words the man said, the Orc's understood only 'Hey' and 'stop', so they didn't even care that they were being offended.
Thanks to this decision by the man, the half-beasts got the chance they had been waiting for. With the monsters finally stopped, Luke was able to act.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmFrom the stone walls parallel to the Orc's path, dry roots appeared and grabbed the feet of five creatures at once.
The wind blew louder that second, and the half-wolf shouted loud enough for Meredith to hear:
"Now!"
The sense of confusion that the monsters and their leader felt was quickly answered by the sound of something approaching. In the middle of the trail that the monsters were following, a snowball appeared as if it had turned into air. This ball gradually increased in size as it got closer.
The Orcs tried to move their legs to retreat, but their feet were trapped by roots. They struggled a bit and managed to easily break through that poor wood. However, it was already too late.
The ball was so big that it crushed the first monster that was still getting up from the first attack.
"What are you stupid creatures doing!? It's just a snowball!" shouted the man with the thin irritating voice.
That second Orc in line didn't understand a word the short, strange man said, yet he acted.
He put his right fist back and when the ball approached, he punched the ball so hard that it smashed the snow, and the corpse of that Orc that was crushed and merged into the ball.
But, of course, it was exactly something like this that the half-beasts were expecting. Besides the bits of roots that could still regenerate near the monsters' feet, there was also a lot of snow now, which made their movements even slower.
Since Meredith was only a few meters away, the half-wolf saw no better time to attack than now.
This time he jumped in front of the snowballing Orc, because he didn't want to waste time sneaking one by one.