"Miss… Miss Aster…" Chamie shivered, hiding behind me while clinging on my back. "What was that?"

"I don't know," I admitted, looking towards the direction of where the roar came from. "But I doubt that's a good sign… We should hurry."

At that exact moment, an explosion of water and a blast of fire appeared around the stronghold almost at the same time.

Looks like Emilia and Katsuki have also decided to get a little bit serious because of the roar we heard.

Without waiting, Lisa had already ran ahead of us, shooting down a group of Orcs that appeared with her Lumenmancy magic.

Delmare turned to me and I nodded at her, prompting her to make a dash towards the gates that Odeta had charged towards.

I reached behind me and held the hands of both of my seniors, pulling them along as I rushed after Delmare.

On the way, we happened to pass by a row of the Orc huts and an Orc leapt out of the shadows towards us.

I pulled my two seniors behind me, prepared to take the hit for them but that proved to be unnecessary since the Orc was decapitated a second later.

Tiara nodded at me as she stepped out from behind the Orc's corpse, grunting with effort as she lifted her blade up to rest on her shoulders.

As she had said, though she might possess the knowledge of the skills the other versions of her had, her current physical ability is not at the same standard yet to pull off the same skills effortlessly.

The Princess joined our advance forward, helping us cut down any Orcs that Delmare and Lisa might have missed.

Soon enough, we reached the gates that would lead us towards the cave behind the stronghold.

Odeta was standing in front of an Orc about a head taller than her with bulging muscles and dark red skin. In its hands were two battle axes that were almost as large as a Mahun.

Behind said Orc guarding the gates was a large number of Orc Grunts which I guessed must be the Orcs that were gathered by the red Orc to defend this place from us.

[Name: Orc Berserker

Race: Monster

Stats:

300 Strength

80 Dexterity

370 Endurance

100 Magic]

The Amrap seemed to be quite irritated by the Orc for some reason as Odeta backstepped from him, dodging his axe swing that cleaved open a large gash in the ground.

The Orc Berserker tried to slash at her again with his other axe from above, only for Odeta to catch the shaft of the axe with a hand and stop its descent.

She then pulled back her other hand to curl into a fist before she punched forward, hitting the Berserker in the abdomen.

I was expecting the monster to be blown away but he merely grunted before trying to hit her with his other axe, forcing her to roll away to avoid it.

Strange… The Orc was able to withstand Odeta's punch despite being weaker than her? The Orc must possess some kind of defensive skill that increases its endurance.

The Orcs behind the Berserker saw our approach and decided we were better targets, all of them letting out a warcry before charging at us.

I counted about twenty of those Orc Grunts charging towards us.

Delmare, Lisa and Tiara placed themselves in front of me to block their attack.

Unfortunately, Harge seemed to break at the sight of the Orcs and tried to run, only to be pulled back since I was still holding on to her wrist.

"A healer who abandons their team to run away is the lowest being in existence," I admonished her.

Harge looked at me in fear, "But… But… There's so many!"

"I trust my party to be able to handle this much. Even if they are hurt, I am here to support them. Watch."

Lisa opened up with a preemptive [Laser] at the Orcs, the light beam piercing through three of their heads and instantly killing them.

The death of their comrades barely even slowed the others down as they simply stepped over their corpses to continue their charge.

Lisa leapt back, letting Tiara and Delmare take the front as she started to chant again, trusting the other two to buy her time.

The first Orc reached our front lines with his club raised, aiming to crush Delmare with it.

The Siren simply used that opening where the club was raised to stab her rapier into the Orc's throat before thrusting her blade into his chest in quick succession.

She then hopped back before the Orc could collapse on her, avoiding another Orc that tried to swing his club at where she had been a moment ago.

Tiara then stepped in and slashed her sword across that Orc's chest, drawing blood.

It wasn't enough to kill the monster and she did not have the time to deliver a second slash, so she kicked at his chest to send him stumbling back into a pair of Orcs.

Two more Orcs reached them, these two carrying what looked like meat cleavers.

Delmare covered for Tiara who was still recovering from her kick, the Siren stepping forward to thrust her rapier at one of the approaching Orcs.

The Orc managed to parry her blow but was caught off guard when Tiara came up from behind Delmare and thrusted her longsword through his neck.

Unfortunately, that left her open for the other Orc as he slashed his cleaver down, the blade cutting into Tiara's arm and forcing her to retreat.

Chamie's grip on my arm tightened and I squeezed back on her wrist in response.

Hmm… I have an area healing magic… [Close Wounds] is a close ranged spell… Is there a ranged single target healing spell I can use?

'Ding!'

Just kidding, no notification bell rang but I did get a spell implanted in my head.

"[Heal]!"

Pretty straightforward, surprisingly.

My magic enveloped Tiara and started closing up the wound on her arm, slowly stitching up the cut and leaving unmarked skin behind.

There was a pair of gasps coming from my sides and I didn't need to look to know the sound came from the two seniors.

Tiara adjusted her grip on her sword and swung her blade, cleaving through the Orc's neck and cutting his head off in a single blow.

Another group of Orcs tried to rush towards them but Lisa finished her chant and fired another [Laser] at them, the beam piercing through five of them this time.

I noticed one of the Orcs raising his axe in preparation to throw at us so I went ahead to disrupt it with [Madness Infusion].

The Orc let out a roar and slashed at another Orc closest to it with his axe, the weapon sinking into his comrade's chest with a sickening crunch as it broke the bone.

Too bad the Orcs don't seem to have any qualms killing a traitor since the Orc behind that one immediately slashed his cleaver on the raging one's head, killing him instantly.

"What… What happened to that one?" Chamie asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"Umbramancy," Was all I said before focusing my attention back on the fight.

Odeta was still brawling with the Berserker but they seemed to be evenly matched for now. I even used [Heal] on her just in case and got rid of the scratches that were on her arms.

There were only eight Orcs left and our three vanguards worked pretty well together, almost like they had done this before…

No seriously, their coordination was on point the entire time, each of them covering for each other like they already knew what the other would do instinctively. Even I needed some time before I got used to fighting alongside Katsuki and Odeta you know? Have they done this before without me knowing?

I was just thinking about that when a low growl came from behind us.

Chamie, Harge and I turned around to see an Orc Grunt with a sword and shield stalking towards us, his eyes locked on me with a… Ewww… It has an erection…

"Hiiieee!!!" Harge screamed, falling down on the floor in fear.

"If you are scared, at least have the strength to run away instead of falling over and leaving yourself to your fate," I sighed.

Not that I blame them since we've literally taken these two kids with no combat experience on an Orc subjugation quest of all things.

"We're…. We're going to be raped…" Chamie cried, also losing strength in her legs.

Sigh… Putting aside the fact that our party is still fighting fit, you really give up that easily huh?

I looked at her, "Did you forget Chamie? I am able to fight an Orc on my own."

The Orc let out a squeal and began running towards me, only for my [Static Bolt] to hit him in the chest and paralyse him.

I then pulled out my Light Sword and poured my mana into it, activating its enchantment to transform its blade.

With a clean swing of my arms, the entire Orc was cut in half down the middle, the two halves dropped onto the ground with a wet splotch sound.

I swung my sword to let the blood on it splatter on the ground before wiping it clean with a cloth, sheathing the blade back in its sheath once I was done.

"Be… Beautiful…" Chamie and Harge gasped together.

Hmm… Not sure what was so beautiful about this but ok… Anyway, I hope you two are actually watching me heal my party properly. We're doing this for you, you know?

Not that I'm getting a lot of chances to heal them since they seem to be really good…

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