Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 15: Sweet orcs hunting.

rustle

''Right, Lady Aurora.''

''Hm?''

''What will you do about Smiley's skill points?'' Skely looks down at the puppy walking near my legs.

''Ah, there's that too, I suppose.'' I follow Skely's gaze. ''What do you think I should do?''

Skely keeps staring at Smiley, stroking his chin.

''Normally, pet owners would try to direct their pets' skills according to their purpose, but sometimes they would also let their pets choose the skills they wanted.''

''I will leave it to Smiley, then.'' I reply.

I'm not raising him to be my weapon or anything. Besides, I'm too lazy for that. I'm honestly overwhelmed with all these game features already.

''It's this way~'' Our friendly ghost, who has gone quite far from us, waves.

Anyway, we're now on our journey to massacre some more monsters for personal gain. Talking about personal gains, aka EXP, I asked Skely about the average level of people in his era, and he said it was around ten. Level forty, and you will be considered a 'strong' person. Level fifty-five, a master, and level seventy or above are considered to be the strongest of humanity.

So I'm barely above average, which might seem lackluster, but you have to remember that it has only been a few days since I got here.

Okay, let's not get distracted further. We have arrived at the location already. Hiding goes first.

''One, two. Just as I remember.'' Ariel whispers.

In the distance is a cave. A different one from these siblings'. A quick glance at the entrance tells me that there are two tall, muscular, green-looking creatures—orcs guarding the entrance. They each have a large club in their hand as well.

[Zircon Orc Lv.13]

[Zircon Orc Lv.14]

[Skill proficiency achieved a certain level]

[Skill: Inspect Lv.1 has become Lv.2]

Oh, okay. But let's put that for later.

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Name: --              

Race: Zircon Orc                    Title: --

Level: 14 

HP: 56/56                    MP: 33/33

STR: 4.1                     INT: 3.4

AGI: 3.1                    STA: 4.0

Skill: [Smash Lv.4], [Physical Nullification Lv.3],
[HP Regeneration Lv.3], [Berserk Lv.2],
[Pain Tolerance Lv.2].

State: Normal.

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Its skills are nothing special, 4.1 STR though, that's a problem. And [Berserk] as well.

[Berserk: Enable the user to consume their sanity for increased stats.] [Rare]

Again, no specified information, whoever made these descriptions should be fired.

''Their levels are not that high. We can take them.'' I tighten my gauntlet and stand up. ''But we should give them a surprise first.''

''Ready?''

Both Skely and Ariel nod at the same time, and we officially begin the operation. 

I activate [Stealth] and run to right behind one of the orcs, fortunately, it doesn't seem to acknowledge me. There is one thing I want to try.

If there is one thing I learned after fighting Mrs Snake, it would be that this gauntlet is seriously broken. 

''Hu...'' I aim my hand at the left side of the orc's back.

[Sharp Claw]. Severance set to one meter.

ARGH

The green monster lets out a painful gasp as I squeeze its heart with my claw, and with a dull thud, the tender heart immediately bursts into pieces, sending the huge body falling helplessly to the ground. Excellent. It should work for brains as well.

[You have defeated a Lv.13 Zircon Orc]

''Mn?''

The atmosphere surrounding me suddenly turns red, it's Smiley's doing.

Glancing to the side, I see the other awake one is already being tackled by my party members as well, with a golden chain lodged in its chest. The orc tries desperately to swing his club with his last breath, but it doesn't seem like he's seeing anything right, if at all.

THUD

Alright, that one is dead, too. 

''Good job.'' I tell Skely, who has just walked over to me and Smiley.

''I'm honored.'' He replies calmly.

'''' ... ''''

Well, now we wait until Ariel comes back from her scouting mission, I suppose.

''I'm here~!''

''Oh, Ariel, how's it inside?''

''Um... I don't think we should go straight in.'' Ariel frowns a little bit. ''Around fifteen more orcs at around the levels of these two, and another one at level twenty-three.''

''A commander?'' Skely asks.

''Um, a commander. It has really high stats, in the middle range of 4.''

''How about its skills?'' I ponder.

''Nothing too different from these guys here, but I remember there was [Prediction], level three.''

''That's an annoying skill to deal with.'' Skely comments.

I remember that one being in the shop.

[Prediction: Enable the user to predict 0.2 seconds in the future. Cost: 3 MP, CD: 3 seconds] [Epic]

''0.2 seconds at level one, and it has it at level three...'' I mutter. ''Well, we'll proceed with the plan either way.''

''I agree, let's see how much damage this will deal to them.'' Skely turns to the giant pile of dry leaves and logs sitting at the entrance of the cave. The three of us, including Smiley, gathered while Ariel was gone. 

Smiley is such a good boy.

''They're all sleeping, right?''

''Yeah.''

I nod in confirmation and walk over to the pieces of wood that I've prepared for making a fire.

Let's be careful not to burn my feathers.

''Hm... It's unfortunate that I've lost my fire magic after turning into an undead.'' Skely says.

''Do you want it back, brother?'' Ariel asks.

''Probably. Though I wasn't using it that much back when I was a human anyway.''

Hmm... Maybe I should get fire magic too, even if it won't help me fight, it will be convenient, at least. But I don't know if I will ever have enough spare skill points to buy it...

''Oh, there we go.''

I toss the burning leaf into the pile and watch as the fire spreads rapidly, eventually engulfing the entire entrance.

''Well, let's go wait in the distance.''

'''' ... ''''

Sitting on a tree branch while looking at the burning cave is pretty relaxing, actually. Maybe I have the potential to become an arsonist.

''By the way, how would the experience be divided if we managed to kill them like this?'' I ask Skely, who's sitting beside me.

''I believe it would be distributed equally for all of us.''

''Why?''

''No one knows exactly.''

''Hm~'' 

I guess that's fine.

[You have defeated a Lv.14 Zircon Orc]

''Oh, it's working~!'' Ariel flies around excitedly.

[You have defeated a Lv.12 Zircon Orc]

[You have defeated a Lv.15 Zircon Orc]

Fourteen...

[You have defeated a Lv.11 Zircon Orc]

Fifteen.

''That's all of them, except for the commander.'' Ariel smiles contently.

Being an arsonist proved to be extremely efficient. I and Skely went up by one level each, while the other two went up by two.

''Now, the question is, what happened to the commander-''

ROARR

Suddenly, a huge figure engulfed in flame jumps out of the cave, accompanied by a piercing scream. After the fire dies down, I can see that it has copper brown skin, a bald head, bulging muscles, and strangely, a long Katana hanging at its waist. No doubt, that is the orc commander.

''Alright, it's time to start the hunt.''

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