The Devil's Cursed Witch

Ember thought that the beastmen of the White Tiger Clan were already huge and savage, but they were adorable cats in comparison to the beings in front of her. With stone-like grayish green skin, the group was composed of males with tusks protruding from their lower jaws, holding in their hands spears, clubs and rods as weapons. Aggression and brutality seemed to ooze from their muscled bodies.

With her eyes wide, Ember took in the sight of the giants twice as tall as her. Given their large size, she could not help but wonder how they moved so stealthily she did not even hear their footsteps.

The creature nearest to them let out an angry roar, speaking in a manner Ember could not understand.

"Miss, stay back. I will take care of these orcs," Erlos said as he stood in front of her, positioning himself in such a way none of the orcs could see her behind him.

Orcs? Ember didn't know what to do exactly. She was obviously scared as she had never seen orcs before, not to mention they appeared really angry. She had never read about them in the books from the palace library.

Another round of growling came from those orcs, but Ember didn't need to understand their language. Their scary glares were a clear indication that they were not happy about their presence.

"Miss, this part of the forest is their home, and orcs are a territorial race who don't like outsiders entering their land. Don't worry." Erlos loaded an arrow and drew his bow, warning those orcs. "Stay back. We mean no harm. We will not enter the forest and leave soon. Go back to your village."

In a response to Erlos' warning, one orc stepped forward, his large foot deliberately stepping on the arrows, crushing them to smithereens. An ugly ferocious grin warped his face afterwards, his snorts taunting. His intentions were clear that he was not going to tolerate their intrusion.

"Erlos, w-we should run away," Ember said, but realized that there were more orcs coming out of the forest. Their escape route was blocked from all sides, and the only way for them to leave was to swim across the river. Her eyes headed for Albina, her white mare, as well as the chestnut horse that belonged to Erlos. Not to mention she didn't know how to swim, it was not possible for the horses to cross over.

"Miss, do not be scared. Trust me and just stay behind me," Erlos said as he observed the surroundings. Some of the orcs were already waving their heavy weapons around.

Ember's body shook. There were five—no, six of these dangerous-looking creatures, and she could not help but worry that they would hurt Erlos. From what she understood, Erlos was supposedly very strong since he was a High Elf…but wasn't he young? Could he fight them all? Should she help?

At the same time, she didn't trust that she could use her Fire magic without harming Erlos as well.

'But I don't want to hurt these orcs. It is us who are wrong in the first place. We have intruded on their land…'

As they marched towards them, Erlos shot warning arrows at their feet again to stop them. His thoughts were similar to Ember's. 'I should not kill them. We are at fault for entering their territory. Do I capture them? Trick them? Miss…her safety should be my priority. I have to lead them away from her.'

"Miss, run towards the river!"

"But you…"

"Trust me. I'll be fine. J I will only divert their attention while you  run away. You don't need to go deep in the river. Orcs have a good sense of smell but poor eyesight. They don't like bright sunlight so they won't run after you."

"Be safe!"

Despite her reluctance, Ember could only leave these words behind. Since she couldn't help, at the very least she didn't want to be a burden.

At his signal, Ember and Erlos separated. The elf jumped to his right, lunging towards the orcs nearest to him to taunt them while shooting arrows at the ones furthest from him, successfully diverting those orcs' attention solely towards him. For these aggressive but simple-minded creatures, the fact that this young elf attacked them meant he was a great threat to the safety of their village.

As planned, Ember ran toward the river, opting to hide behind one of the boulders scattered amidst the water, uncaring about how the water splashed around her legs. On the other hand, Erlos directed all those angered orcs in the direction of the forest, jumping up and down the trees, agilely taking advantage of his speed, while continuously shooting at their feet. Whenever he would land on a tree, Erlos would glance at the river,  and only after making sure that Ember was safely hidden did he focus on the orcs.

"Graaah!"

Orcs were creatures who specialize in close combat with heavy or blunt weapons. They were the type who fought with brute strength while destroying their surroundings. Thanks to their bulky sizes, each swing of their maces or clubs could upturn soil or destroy a tree, causing Erlos who had no plans to engage in a direct confrontation with them to jump swiftly from one tree to another, confusing those orcs.

"Graaaah, eaurk!"

They felt annoyed seeing him dodging their attacks like a rat. The leader of that group of orcs then roared what sounded like an order to his subordinates. Three of the orcs then attacked the trees surrounding Erlos, one of them being the tree Erlos was about to jump to.

With him losing his landing spot, Erlos, who was midair, made a sudden twist. He forced his body away from the orc waiting for him to  fall on the ground, causing him to roll miserably among the dirt. Erlos was not injured but he was quick to roll back to his feet.

The moment he landed on the ground, those orcs hurried to attack him. Erlos was an archer, and though he was aware how to use a sword, he had none with him. He only had to rely on his advantage of speed. Erlos swiftly dodged a mace attack headed his way and slipped between the wide gap of the attacking orc's legs. He stabbed his feet with the only dagger he had with him, the same dagger he used when gutting fish.

The orc roared in pain and reached down to pull that dagger out. However, due to his immense size, a simple kick from Erlos caused him to land flat on his face, bringing a nearby orc along with his fall.

'Hah, so clumsy!'

With a flick of an arm, a thick rope-like vine shot out from his hand. He managed to restrain two of the six orcs to a tree and put a magic spell to strengthen the vines into iron-like chains so they wouldn't be able to break free from it. Thanks to the mess they made out of the trees, many tangled vines lay about for Erlos to use and he took advantage of the terrain to lay out a trap.

Now, there were only four left to handle, easing the pressure on the elf, but Erlos knew the same trick wouldn't work on them. These orcs might look brainless, but they were decent warriors with a good sense of combat. He had to use other tricks. He had to face their weapons.

Unknown to those fighting in the forest, two flying figures in the sky noticed what was going on and moved close enough to recognize the young elf surrounded by orcs.

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