Hazel closed in on Astrid before casting a Mana Shield around both of them. They then watched the transparent blue magic dome materialize around them as the volley of arrows made contact with her shield and bounced off.

  Hazel and Astrid heard grumbling and roaring from the Orcs outside, expressing their outrage that they couldn’t kill the players.

  “I believe that’s the second time I saved you,” Hazel smirked.

  The dark elf rolled her eyes irritably. “Just get me out of this so I can kill those bastards. Unless you want to get shot as well.”

  Hazel could tell from Astrid’s tone that she wasn’t joking, and that alone was enough to make her get rid of the shield. If her attention was focused on the Orcs, then those hulking green monsters could feel her wrath instead.

  With the barrier down, Astrid readied her bow, pulling back an arrow while moving closer to the wall of windows to get a better shot at the army of Orcs. Meanwhile, Hazel scrambled toward Nycteris, who was hiding behind some tables.

  Moving behind the tables with him, Hazel turned toward her Familiar. “Nycteris, you ready to charge at those Orcs?”

  Because of the Nightwing’s role as their Vanguard, he needed to keep those monsters focused on him so she and Astrid could attack them from a distance. Hazel was concerned over their numbers, but she knew her Familiar could handle them.

  If anything, Hazel or Astrid alone should be capable of dealing with the monsters without any assistance. All Hazel needed to do was conjure all five cursed spears and use Telekinesis to remotely kill the Orcs.

  Hell, if she was bold or confident enough, she could’ve just used Telekinesis alone and slaughtered them that way. While it was frightening how Hazel was coming up with multiple methods to kill the Orcs, she was honestly too angry to care.

  Thinking about it rationally...she likely didn’t need Nycteris to act as the Vanguard in this battle.

  “On second thought,” Hazel muttered. “Stay here and rest a little more, bud. Astrid and I have this covered.”

  At first, the Nightwing looked alarmed, as if his master was thinking of doing something reckless but decided to not point this out seemingly out of fear. Hazel could tell that his fear wasn’t toward her but something else as the familiar poked his head out to view what was outside the Coffee shop.

  He couldn’t have been afraid of the Orcs, so what was it? Contemplating over this, Hazel and the others were then hit with another arrow volley attack. Multiple projectiles struck the floor, chairs, and tables within the shop.

  “Just stay down until we’re done, alright?” Hazel told Nycteris.

  The Nightwing glumly nodded, as if hesitant to follow her order out of concern but reluctantly did so.

  Once Hazel confirmed that he was going to listen, she moved out of her spot with the Nightwing and moved closer to the wall of windows, hiding behind a set of tables that Astrid was using as a barricade.

  She placed her back against the turned-over table and faced the dark elf, who was firing multiple arrows at the Orcs. Using her Astral Eye, Hazel glanced over at the monsters, watching a couple of them get killed by Astrid’s projectiles.

  “Nice shot.”

  “Save it,” Astrid scowled. “If you’re just here to bother me, then get lost already.”

  Hazel narrowed her eyes angrily at the dark elf. While she understood her anger regarding her situation, venting out her frustration on her wasn’t going to solve anything. The mage simply hoped that killing these Orcs would diminish the boiling rage within her.

  With her new magic gloves, Hazel then cast a Cursed Spear, conjuring it before her. Reaching her hand out, she then cast Telekinesis on the spell, imprinting her control over it. Once she felt the mental click that established the connection, she got to work.

  With the help of Astral Eye, Hazel spotted the Orcs while still hiding behind the table. A moment later, she guided the cursed spear over to the small militia of the hulking green beasts.

  The dark purple javelin zipped through the air, making its way toward its target. The Orcs soon caught on to Hazel’s intentions with the spear as one of the monsters roared at their brethren.

  “Raise your shields!”

  Hearing this, Hazel faltered and immediately lost control of her spear as it blitzed toward the Orcs without her influence. It struck one of the shield-bearing Orcs, easily piercing through its shield, and killed the user behind it. Hazel watched it collapse on the spot through her Astral Eye.

  “One of our brothers has fallen! Someone take his place now!” The Orc from before shouted at its fellow brethren.

  Immediately after, an Orc from the back moved forward and took the place of the one that Hazel killed. It picked up its shield and raised it just like the rest of the shield-bearers, acting as part of the wall that protects the Orc tribe.

  As Hazel witnessed this, a pang of panic washed over her as she was hit with confusion.

  “Those Orcs can talk?”

  “Of course they can talk!” Astrid chided. “What did you expect?”

  “Well, I mean, none of the Orcs back in the Dungeon spoke, so...”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “That’s because those Orcs weren’t even alive. They were walking husks being controlled by whatever destroyed that world before it became a damn dungeon.”

  What Astrid said was correct. Hazel couldn’t follow the logic that applied to the Tutorial Dungeon. Even the Descriptions regarding the Fractured monsters stated that they weren’t alive and only controlled by their basic instincts.

  But these Orcs were different. They weren’t Fractured monsters that only followed their impulses. They were living beings that could think. How the commanding Orc ordered its men to refill the gap in their defenses immediately after losing one of their own displayed their intellect.

  And when Hazel attempted to use Identify on them, that was when she knew these Orcs were different than the ones back in the Fractured Dungeon.

  [Trakal, Level 9, Class: Warrior]

  These Orcs were players, just like Hazel and Astrid. All of them with various classes much like the mage and ranger. But surprisingly enough, when Hazel used the opportunity to check all of them, she realized that a good majority of the Orcs were below level ten. Making them extremely weak. So, how did they leave the dungeon before the thirty day trial? Was it because their difficulty wasn’t as bad as Hazel’s or were they able to escape by assisting a strong player in defeating a Sub-Boss? While Hazel was curious about this, she had no desire to ask the Orcs, who were about to die in a few moments.

  There was also something else Hazel couldn’t apply her experience from the Tutorial Dungeon. She gazed over at the deceased Orcs lying on the ground as blood seeped from the wounds, she and Astrid inflicted on them.

  Since these Orcs weren’t Fractured...that meant, they weren’t going to die like one. So, instead of seeing her enemies burst into purple fragments, all she was going to witness now were mountains of corpses and an unhealthy amount of blood and viscera from her kills. She was now up against fleshy monsters rather than cracked ones.

  Hazel’s stomach lurched from the sight before she took a moment to collect herself. She inhaled sharply while psyching herself up for the battle. Just because these monsters weren’t Fractured didn’t mean she couldn’t kill them.

  It was her or them. And she still had things to do and couldn’t afford to die like this.

  Once she was mentally prepared, Hazel turned to her dark elf partner. “I’ll try and break their shield barricade, so they have no defenses. When I do-”

  “I’ll deliver an arrow volley of my own. I got it.”

  Resisting the urge to make a retort to Astrid interrupting her, Hazel prepared her spell, summoning four more cursed spears. As soon as she applied Telekinesis on them, the four javelins were sent off to do her bidding, barreling toward the Orc army.

  The spears that were currently together soon split off and moved in separate directions, confusing the Orcs and forcing them to raise their shields to defend themselves. However, due to the directions of the spears, they couldn’t predict them flanking the army before striking them from the sides.

  In a single moment, the Orc shield wall was destroyed. Each hulking beast holding up a shield was killed as the spears pierced through their bodies and met in the middle. The commanding Orc was alarmed after witnessing all of its brethren at the front collapse on the spot.

  But, despite the loss, it maintained its composure and tried to take control of the situation.

  “Our walls are down, shelter yourselves now!”

  Heeding their commanding order, the remaining Orcs scrambled to find a place to hide behind. But Astrid wasn’t going to let that happen.

  As soon as the shield wall was taken down by Hazel’s cursed spears, the Dark elf emerged from her barricade and rushed outside of the shop. Then, with her bow drawn, she activated her [Quick Draw] skill and fired multiple arrows at the Orcs, delivering an arrow barrage of her own on the enemies.

  The Orcs dropped like flies, each one getting killed by Astrid’s vengeful arrows. One moment they were alive, seeking shelter; the next, they collapsed on the ground with an arrow either sticking out of their neck or skulls.

  Hazel watched from behind the table barricade, amazed and terrified by Astrid’s arrow barrage. The commanding Orc was in the same boat, watching the scene unfold before its eyes before taking action.

  “Charge at the Dark Elf! Kill her before it's too late!”

  The remaining Orcs did as they were told and left their hiding spots to attack Astrid, determined to take her life before she took theirs. But they forgot one thing; she wasn’t alone.

  As the Orcs charged at the dark elf, several mana bolts were hurled in their direction, massacring a good portion of them and leaving the rest for Astrid to deal with. Knowing that she no longer had the advantage with distance, she strapped her bow on her back and pulled out her daggers, prepared to commence a CQC.

  She blitzed toward her first Orc using [Quick Step]. Getting close, she slashed her enemy’s leg and then jammed her blade into its neck. With it dead, Astrid moved on to her next victim without a second thought, slaughtering each Orc that came her way.

  Hazel watched with Astral Eye, witnessing the entire thing with a Bird’s eye view. Due to the level distance between her and the remaining Orcs, Astrid was barely breaking a sweat from the fight, and practically one-shotting the monsters without much trouble.

  It didn’t take long before she killed off the remaining Orcs. All except for one.

  “Damn you, dark elf!” The Commanding Orc roared at Astrid, standing before her while brandishing its giant battle axe. “For slaying my brethren, I will avenge them!”

  Astrid glared at the Orc, clearly unamused by its declaration for vengeance. If anything, she looked more annoyed.

  “Just shut up and come at me, already,” The dark elf said calmly, barely raising her voice at her enemy.

  “You...bitch!” The commanding Orc snarled, peeling its lips back to reveal its jagged and disgusting teeth along with two tusks protruding from its jaw.

  It then raised its axe and charged at her. Astrid simply stood there, waiting for it to come to her. Once it was close enough to her, the commanding Orc swung its axe down on Astrid, as if trying to cut her down the middle.

  A moment later, the dark elf vanished as the weapon struck the concrete ground, sending bits of debris everywhere. The Orc’s eyes widened in shock. It jerked its head around, trying to locate its enemy.

  And before it could even spot her, Astrid was seen latched onto the Orc’s back as she proceeded to jam her dagger right on top of its head, killing it instantly. The Orc collapsed on its knees and then fully fell to the ground with a loud thud.

  Meanwhile, Astrid simply jumped off and walked away, disinterested in its death. While walking away, Hazel scanned the corpses scattered along the street, feeling a hint of nausea wash over her. She knew they weren’t going to burst into purple fragments, but a part of her wished they did due to how gory this scene was.

  Regardless, Hazel pushed aside that matter for the moment and focused on something else. Mainly her dark elf partner.

  As Astrid walked back to the coffee shop, Hazel emerged from her hiding spot and cautiously approached her. They soon stopped when they were a couple of feet apart, initiating another standoff.

  “So...you vented enough or do you still have some frustration left in the tank that you need to get rid of?”

  Hazel knew that if Astrid wasn’t fully vented, then the next battle would be between her and the dark elf. And the witch didn’t want that to happen.

  Astrid intensely stared at Hazel, as if contemplating her suggestion. Hazel felt a bit nervous from her stare but maintained her composure, cautiously waiting for the next move.

  A split second later, the dark elf expelled a heavy sigh. “Whatever.” She then crossed her arms and stopped scowling at Hazel. “So, what exactly do you plan to do about my situation?”

  Hearing these words, a small grin appeared on Hazel’s face followed by a light sigh of relief. Looked like she dodged a bullet there.

  “Well, that’s what we need to talk about, don’t we?”