Chiwikk chiwikk!!
The thunderous sounds of thousands of orcs echoed throughout the dark tunnel, striking fear to those who heard them. It was as if the end of the world had come as the ground trembled violently.
"They are becoming restless!" said Emery as he saw the hideous creatures rush towards the hole that was created by the Star Blaster's blast.
Ever since they knew and almost experienced firsthand the Nexus faction's capability to fire such powerful weapons from the space station, Emery, Klea and Chumo had decided to stay underground.
At the moment, the three of them, plus one other person a��� Magus Conleth, were hiding within the deep Lair of the Orcs with the help of various concealment spells so they would not be detected by the orcs as well as the Nexus' drones.
"..It's been thirty minute. I guess those drones cannot track us, should we move now?" said Klea.
It does seem like it. But unfortunately through the vision of the Chizpur Fangs, Emery could discreetly see the situation on the surface. Hence he knew that dozens of drones were still patrolling the area.
The girl smiled sheepishly when Emery shared his findings. "Alright then. What should we do now, Emery?"
With the Nexus faction openly attacking them, Emery's first concern was his two other friends Julian and Thrax whose situation was unknown. He couldn't help but wonder if they were having the same problem.
That said, they tried to once again send messages to the two, hoping for a reply.
With basically nothing else to do, Klea then initiated and interrogated Conleth once more. However, it was futile because the man apparently didn't know what exactly the Principal's plan was.
It turned out that he had only been ordered to keep watch at the Orc Lair, making sure to report who entered or left the area. Simply put, the burly magus was merely a simple goon.
"It's Johar. He is the one who knows what is happening in this wasteland" the magus said.
At this, there was nothing the group could do as the wind magus had regrettably been killed by the Star Blaster earlier.
Hearing this, Conleth's face swiftly turned pale. "He's dead because of me... the Principal also wanted me to die." the man muttered to no one in particular, "I'm truly a dead man..."
While the magus brooded in the corner of the cave, Chumo voiced his opinion.
"Should we return to the colony?" He said, thinking it was the best option to make sure Julian and Thrax were safe.
Emery, however, decided to ask more questions about the South Outpost to Conleth.
Again, the answer given was basically the same.
The magus had no idea what was actually going on, but at the very least, he could tell the group that this outpost was located about 200 miles to the south.
After contemplating all the information he had, Emery made his decision.
"The first colony is at least a 1000 mile journey from here, so I think we should check this outpost first. We need to know what exactly they are hiding; that way, we can respond in an appropriate manner."
Both Klea and Chumo agreed with his conclusion, hence the group started to travel south.
With his [Spatial Gate] spell proving to be quite difficult to be pulled off within the underground cave full of Orcs, they had to travel through the Orc Lair's tunnel by foot.
Chiwwikkk chiwikk!!
As the Orcs grew more and more chaotic since the arrival of the Nexus' Star Blaster, Emery and his friends eventually couldn't escape the senses of every orc they encountered. This forced them to kill all that were in the way and couldn't be avoided.
The deeper they made their way into the Lair, the group found a number of Orc Champions within the lair.
Orc Champion was an orc that had evolved, a larger creature with four tusks protruding from their face making them look much more intimidating than their normal counterparts.
[Orc Champions]
[Battle power 95]
"If the Orc Champion unleashed, millions of the orcs would be battle ready, making them all an opponent much harder to fight against."
Along the way, Emery also took the opportunity to try to sense and scrutinize the Orc Cocoon using his [Nature Grasp].
Since the breeding of these orcs were just like mushrooms, Emery couldn't help but wonder if it had any connection with his Metamorph skill at all. After all, when viewed from a different perspective, these orcs could be said to be the same as the Chizpur Fangs and Twik.
It was truly unfortunate that he did not have time to thoroughly study them. To compensate for this, he secretly harvested dozens of the mushrooms, moss and several samples of the newly-formed cocoons as well to be studied later.
After an hour navigating through the Orc Lair, the group finally found themselves closing in on the place called the South Outpost.
Once again, using [One Mind], Emery found the place looked like an ordinary warehouse, if not for the tight security in the surrounding area.
Even though there wasn't a single living thing as far as he could find, he could clearly see numerous mechanical soldiers on patrol and automatic weapons mounted everywhere in this place.
From his investigations, Emery discovered that there was a mile-wide, high-tech underground facility at this outpost. However, what shocked him the most was the fact that his Spirit Reading was impaired, unable to clearly scan the interior of the compound.
"I can sense at least two dozen men inside, but I really can't identify them."
Feeling anxious, Emery told Klea and Chumo to stay behind. He was going to be the one to investigate this outpost, but this idea of his was quickly challenged.
"No! We should stick together, especially in an unknown place like this!" Klea complained with a frown.
Knowing what she was worried about, Emery said, "I'm just going to scout this place, not to fight. It will be easier for me to run when I encounter unexpected problems if I am alone. In addition, I would like the two of you to be prepared to assist me in the event of such incidents."
Even though she still found it hard to accept, Klea could understand his reasoning. Hence she compromised. "one hour. If you are still not out by then, we will assume the worst and break in immediately."
Since he knew this was as far as the girl was willing to relent, Emery nodded his head.
"Alright, deal."
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