Chapter 37

I glanced around quickly, trying to ascertain where the voice had originated, but the echoes of it bouncing off the rocks made it difficult. My dangers sense wasn’t helping me either, as it couldn’t seem to pinpoint where the threat was. It did feel similar to what I had felt the other day when it felt I was being watched, meaning someone had indeed been following us. I didn’t recognize the voice that had called out, meaning that it wasn’t Catherine or Kali, so the question was who the fuck this person was. Just because it wasn’t one of them, it didn’t mean that this person wasn’t as dangerous as they were, or that they had come alone.

“I was given a task, nothing more,” I called out, trying to buy some time to come up with a plan. “It isn’t my fault your people can’t be bothered to do things quietly! Convincing pact members to murder their fellow members for their own self-interest. A dragon killing people on the beginning floors, leading the guild to send someone to deal with it. Secretly messing with an entire kingdom resulted in very public problems. Assaulting a very public venue, to kill participants as well as killing a god that was seated on the council. Did you really think that all of those things would go unnoticed by those in charge of this world? Even here, you were killing adventurers which didn’t go unnoticed, leading to us being here!”

“You have no clue what we are doing or why!” the voice replied with a dispassionate tone. “You have merely gotten lucky to have survived the various things you have fallen into, but that luck has now run out. This isn’t a dungeon creature or an arrogant and inexperienced adventurer you’re dealing with this time.”

There was a sound of movement from one of the nearby outcroppings and then a figure emerged from behind the rocks. I watched in shock as the cloaked figure approached, and it looked as if they were nearly eight feet tall. Based on their silhouette under the cloak they were wearing, they were quite large and imposing. A green hand emerged from under the cloak and undid the clasp releasing the cloak to fall to the ground. A male orc emerged from under the cloak, with gray braided hair, with a matching gray beard. Scars adorned his face, with two damaged tusks protruding from his lower jaw. I immediately began to worry at the sheer size and mass of this man. It was frightening and reminded me of the hulk in how muscular he was.

He was garbed in what looked to be thick, black leather armor, much like a vest, leaving his arms bare. There was a circlet on his right bicep, just like Catherine had, though his stone was clear. His pants looked like they were durable but had appropriate padding in the necessary areas. There was no visible weapon on his belt or attached to his back from what I could see, but I noticed he had thick, fingerless gloves on his hands.

“Oh, I am going to enjoy this,” the orc said with a smile, as he began to crack his knuckles. “I have been tired of hearing of your interference! I don’t care that Kali wants you alive! I will just have to tell her you gave me no choice.”

I glanced around, looking and listening for signs that there were any others with him, but there was no way to tell. I glanced back and Katie knelt to touch a root as I turned to face the orc once again.

“I don’t want to fight you,” I said, keeping my eye on him to see any sign of attack. “You only have to let us pass and nothing will come of it.”

The orc laughed, “There is no way I will be doing that! First, I am not going to be flayed alive by Kali for that failure. Second, I like fighting too much, and third, I really want to fucking kill you.”

“There are six of us, plus a drake and a sphinx-cub,” I retorted. “Do you really want to try and take us all on?”

The orc grinned and I felt my stomach drop, “You could have a dozen more people here to help you, but it won’t matter! But how about we have a little fun?”

I looked at him warily, “Just what kind of fun, could a psychopath like you want to have? More importantly, why should I even entertain it?”

His smile widened, as he showed his open palms, “Well I love to fight and always love to test my abilities. Why should you entertain it? Well if you don’t, I will see every one of you killed!”

He snapped his fingers, and we heard movement as multiple archers came into view with their bows readied with an arrow, while others had primed crossbows.

“As you can see, you aren’t really in a place to negotiate,” The orc said with a laugh. “So, what will you choose?”

I glanced at the others and turned back to nod in reply. The orc let out a yelp of excitement and I could hear laughter from those around us.

The orc raised pointed at me, “You, Pathios, and I, Wor’cha, will fight one on one. No weapons, no tricks.”

“How do I know your people won’t shoot me to give you an edge in the fight?” I asked, glancing around.

His eyes narrowed a bit, “Where is the fun in that, but I don’t want them to get in the way of this either.”

Wor’cha snapped his fingers and each of the archers disappeared back behind the rocks.

“No one is to interfere with this fight!” he yelled out. “Anyone who does will be skinned alive and lowered into a vat of piss, to scream in agony until the pain finally kills you!”

I couldn’t stop the visual from popping into my head and it was a visceral, and terrifying image. I remembered that Catherine seemed to be equally disturbed.

“Now, can you guarantee that your little group won’t interfere as well?” The orc asked, crossing his arms.

I glanced at the others and saw the apprehension in their eyes. They didn’t like the idea of leaving me to the mercy of someone like this. I could see Enti and Amenthia were even more upset, as they had seen how easily Catherine had subdued me. Each of them gave me a small and reluctant nod.

I turned back to my adversary, “They will not interfere with the sparring match you wish for us to have.”

The orc’s grin returned, “Good! Now that we know that we won’t be interrupted, we can get started. Catherine said she took you out in only five minutes, so why don’t we see if you can keep up with me now?”

I didn’t like the idea of it, but I nodded in response. The difference here was that he had no weapons on hand, which meant that he fought with his fists. I could deal with that, even if I had to stay on the defensive.

“Just to make things fair, I won’t even wear my gloves for this,” Wor’cha said as he pulled them off.

I watched him warily as he tucked them away and then got into a ready stance. I didn’t want to take off my sword or shield, just in case of treachery, but knew it would make things a bit difficult. I would be a bit off balance compared to when I didn’t have them on me. I made a mental note to put some training in to ensure that I could fight martially with such equipment on. I took a deep breath to center myself and then got into my own stance. We stared at each other for a few moments, before he began to move to the right. I mirrored his movements, ensuring that he was kept the same distance away, and in front of me.

This went on for a few moments before he launched at me with a double kick, and I jumped out of the way, before he could land the hit. While he was regaining his balance, I threw a snap kick at the back of his head. He quickly turned and grabbed the leg, but I used his grip to launch and kick his rib, allowing my foot to come free from his grasp. I rolled back and onto my feet again. He ran forward, closing the distance between us. He would throw a punch that I would block, and then I would respond with a punch or kick, he would block and respond in kind. We went back and forth, with some of the blows landing and some only grazing.

I could see he was actually a little impressed with my ability to keep up with him and I was amazed at his martial prowess. I bided my time, not only to wait for the time to run out, but also to get the upper hand on him. I knew that he was toying with me, and this couldn’t continue, or we would be hurt. I knew that Odin had people on the way, but there was no telling how long it would take them to get here. I know there were limitations to godly power within the dungeons, meaning they would be coming from the village so it would be a little while before the forces would arrive.

I didn’t have to wait long before he threw a punch that was slightly over extended. I took the opening, latching onto the arm and twisted using my body to toss him. I could see the look of surprise on his face as he flew a few feet and landed on his back. I quickly rushed over and went to drop a knee at his head, but he caught it and gave me a kick to the chest that staggered me back a few steps. He slowly got up and I could see the look of amusement gone from his eyes, the next thing I knew I was flying back towards the others and my chest hurt. I landed with a thud on my back and scrambled to get up. Wor’cha had a slight scowl on his face, and I watched as he began to put his gloves back on.

“Looks like our five minutes are up,” the orc muttered. “It was fun, but I think it is time to end it.”

“Does it even count when you weren’t fighting with all your strength?” I asked, watching for him to act.

The orc grinned, “Because I wanted to see if you could be a challenge, but as you are now, there is no threat from you!”

I heard movement as the enemies up in the rocks began to scramble back into position, telling me that this game of his was indeed over. I took the chance to dump as much mana into my hands as I readied Divine blasts at their maximum power. I could see confusion on the face of the orc as he finished with the first glove and moved to put on the other. I raised both hands and launched it as one massive blast. I watched with happiness as the large blast of divine energy blasted Wor’cha, sending him flying out of sight and I felt that we had gained some ground. I glanced up to see the others up there weren’t sure what to do.

A roar of anger filled the air, and I watched in horror as the orc launched into the air and landed only a few feet in front of me with a resounding thud. To add insult to injury he made the superhero landing and there was even a dent in the ground from the force of impact of his landing. He didn’t show any discomfort from his landing, rising back to his full height. There were signs that the blast had damaged his armor a little and there was a little blood dripping from his nose.

“That was a cute little attack of yours,” Wor’cha growled. “Still, you had to know that it wouldn’t do any good. You did fight Catherine and saw the difference in power between you two?”

I was confused at the question. Why would he want to know if I understood just how strong Catherine had been. Then it dawned on me what he was alluding to, and I merely nodded in silence. While what he was saying already dawned on me from the signs he was holding back during the fight and I knew that the others didn’t fully understand just what that meant, and that we were in serious trouble.

“She and I are equal in power,” He said with a sneer of disgust. “So, you know that you cannot match me in power either! It is my fault for toying with you like I did. I just wanted to see what skills you had. Do you want to spar again now?”

“Are you out of your mind?” I asked in shock. “If you are as strong as Catherine, then there is now way I could match that! The fight with her lasted only a few minutes as you well know!”

The orc grinned, “Only because she didn’t want to kill you, and she wanted to play with you a little bit. I don’t understand what she or Kali sees in you. You have just had dumb luck and luck will always run out!”