Chapter 69: Battle with the Orc Captain

“Looks like I found something to use as a toothpick!” The orc laughed, eyes fixated on Luke’s arms with animal delight.

He was massive, the largest Luke had ever faced. Muscles like tree trunks, green skin marked by dark tribal tattoos, and bones forming a crude armor across his chest and shoulders. A human skull hung from a cord around his neck. It was him. The boss of the event.

[Orbald, Orc Captain – Level 20]

Luke rose slowly, breath ragged. Mounted atop a giant black bear, Orbald let out a roar perfectly in sync with the beast. The sound rippled through the forest, shaking the trees. Luke gripped his kukris, sweat trickling down his brow. He’d come face to face with the invasion boss and he was riding a monster.

No time for strategy. The bear charged, a runaway train tearing through the trees. Branches snapped and the forest screamed from the impact.

Think! Think! Fighting a captain alone was near-suicidal. With a bear? Insanity.

He began to retreat, then froze.

Angelica lay still on the ground, her abdomen split open despite the armor. The blow had been brutal. Leaving her meant leaving her to die. But trying to carry her meant dying too.

The answer hit him as clearly as the beast’s roar: I can’t back down.

He turned, gritted his teeth and ran toward the bear, not out of recklessness but to distract it. He needed to draw its focus, buy time. Maybe the others would regroup. Maybe…

The bear roared.

Luke dove sideways. The paw smashed a tree beside him, wood exploding like shrapnel. He circled the creature, looking for blind spots, an opening, anything.

“INVENTORY!” Orbald’s voice tore through the air.

Luke froze for a second as a spear materialized in the orc’s hands.

He has a system!

The bear charged again, crushing bushes and tree trunks alike.

Luke activated Dark Dash, vanished into a blur, and reappeared at the creature’s flank. He aimed for the mount. Kukris sank deep—nothing. No blood. Like striking stone. Skin like armor.

Before he could retreat—WHAM! The spear’s shaft cracked against his skull. The world flipped. Luke fell, vision spinning, just in time to see Orbald lean forward on the bear’s head, yellow teeth bared in a grin.

The spear twirled. The paw came down.

Luke twisted—SLASH.

The spear stabbed into his abdomen. Pain exploded like liquid fire. He was flung, spinning through the air, slammed into the ground, rolled, and came to a stop at the base of a tree.

Blood. Dizziness.

Should’ve worn the damn crocodile chestplate…

Orbald laughed. “Time to die, human!”

The spear flew.

Luke rolled just in time—

‘BAM!’

The impact blasted the dirt apart, rocks and soil raining down.

But the bear didn’t stop.

Luke sprinted through the trees, dodging like a desperate acrobat. Branches snapped behind him, leaves flew, the bear was right there. Relentless. Heavy as a runaway train.

He leapt onto a fallen trunk, vaulted off it, grabbed a branch, and swung himself higher. Branch after branch, gaining elevation.

He had to pull the beast away from Angelica. That was all that mattered now.

He leapt high and in the air stretched out his hands. The kukris returned, whistling through the air back into his grip.

Luke landed hard on the bear’s back, kept his balance, and ran along its spine, heading straight for the orc.

Orbald didn’t expect it. Caught off guard, he turned his head too late.

CLANG! CLANG! Kukris met spear. Steel against steel. They fought atop the unstable back of the mount. Every swing a gamble. Every stumble, a death sentence.

“You can talk?” Luke gasped.

Orbald grinned, wild eyes gleaming. “The only dumb beasts here are you.”

The spear spun like a windmill. Luke blocked with both kukris, arms trembling from the force. But then Orbald reached into the air.

Luke understood instantly. Inventory access.

A massive axe appeared, crackling with magical energy.

SWOOSH! The blow came. Devastating.

Luke didn’t have time to counter. He was launched off the bear’s shoulders, flying through branches like a ragdoll. The trees punished him on the way down as if they, too, wanted him dead.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

He hit the ground hard. Crawled. Everything hurt. Vision swam. His lungs burned. And when he looked up, Orbald was still smiling.

Luke tried to rise.

WHAM! The bear’s head slammed into him like a battering ram. He crashed into a tree and collapsed. Coughing. Bleeding.

But still, he forced himself to move. He dragged his legs underneath him. The kukris flew back into his hands.

Luke sprinted along the bear’s flank, slashing when he could. Each strike tore into thick hide. The beast roared. But Luke knew he was losing. Fast.

He triggered Dark Dash, escaping into the canopy once more. Higher ground. Always safer.

Fighting both at once was suicide. But something was wrong. A whisper in the air. The hum of metal slicing wind.

He looked up. The axe. Incoming.

BAM! The tree above exploded. Luke plummeted, and before he hit the ground—

THWACK! The spear struck him mid-air.

Orbald had faked him out. A perfect feint.

Luke screamed. Instinctively, he threw a kukri.

SLASH! It slashed Orbald’s cheek. Blood sprayed.

The orc roared, stumbling.

Luke crashed down hard. Rolled. Called the kukri back with a flick. And ran.

Mission accomplished. Angelica was far. The orc was distracted. That was enough. He could retreat. Grab her. Escape.

But then, “KILL HIM!” Orbald’s voice ripped through the forest.

The bear roared, a surge of muscle and bone charging like a freight train, ripping through trees.

Luke leapt through branches, desperate, but saw it. Orbald was already preparing another throw.

“Shit. This bastard isn’t dumb!”

Luke dove to the ground. It was easier to dodge down here. The bear was gaining fast.

Orbald crouched atop its head, spear in hand, grinning wide.

But then BAAAM! A silver force slammed into the beast’s side. It stumbled, crashing into a tree.

Charlie emerged from the treeline, fists blazing with spectral light.

Moments later, from the sky, a streak of death.

Allison.

She fell like thunder, katana humming.

SLASH! Her blade hit Orbald with surgical precision.