The Villain has Perished

Forest of Silence. Outside the Orc Village. A few minutes after an extremely bright explosion takes place in the night sky.

"Search carefully! Don't let even a rat go by unnoticed! The outsider who had been attacking our forest is near!" An orc leading over 500 Master rank orcs grunted.

He was Khurzah, a 4-star Master and the youngest elder of the Orc tribe. The village chieftain had ordered him to search for the enemy after he openly provoked them by revealing his location.

Another 3-star Master rank Orc walked closer to Khurzah and advised him. "Elder, we must tread carefully. The outsider had massacred a lot of villages and warriors. If he disclosed his location with those bright flares, it must be a trap."

"And?!" Khurzah roared. He turned around and pointed to the orcs following him. "We have over 500 heavenly warriors with us! Our forces are enough to attack other large tribes! Are you telling me that you are getting cold feet with these numbers, Carnak!?"

He couldn't handle his anger after the outsider openly provoked their tribe by revealing his location using the flare in the night sky. The insult enraged Khurzah to no end, so much that he wanted to crush the outsider's head under his feet.

Carnak, the 3-star Master rank Orc, lowered his head and retreated back to the group. It didn't seem that Khurzah was going to heed his advice. Seeing that Carnak whispered to himself, "Physical strength isn't the only way to win a battle. It's because of such outdated beliefs that Orca was forced out of the tribe."

Shortly, the orcs reached the area from where the bright flare was launched into the sky. They didn't go deeper into the forest and created an encirclement.

The 500 orcs led by Khurzah weren't inexperienced orcs that had banded together to form a horde. Each of them was a warrior who had trained since childhood and forged their bodies to their utmost limit. They were proud soldiers of the Orc tribe.

"Scouts charge!"

They created an encirclement with almost 400 orcs. Khurzah then sent 20 orcs as scouts inside the closed area.

He stayed behind to keep an eye out for anyone trying to escape the encirclement and issue orders to the orcs.

"You might be strong but let's see if you can defeat hundreds of revered heavenly warriors from our tribe." Khurzah tapped his right foot on the ground repeatedly as he waited for the scouts' return with good news.

Ten minutes passed, but no one came back.

Then thirty minutes went by without any news.

Finally, one hour passed. But the scouts never returned.

"What is happening? Did the scouts run into a problem?" Clenching his fists to stop himself from bursting into anger, Khurzah immediately sent 50 orcs as reinforcement for the scouts.

Khurzah was a hot-headed individual but he was no fool. He didn't charge headfirst to hunt the outsider without information. After all, they had too little information. Was the outsider alone? Or was it a group of a few elite people? Did the human kingdoms finally show their greed and invade the forest?

But Khurzah wasn't worried, he was only taking precaution.

The small and medium sized didn't have more than 5 heavenly warriors, and the warriors going for baptism had a maximum of 20 heavenly warriors as guards.

Conversely, at this moment, the reinforcement for scouts consisted of 50 heavenly warriors of Orc tribe. Not to mention the other 450 heavenly warriors creating the encirclement.

"He is nothing but a rat caught in a trap." Khurzah growled with a smirk.

Thirty minutes later, Khurzah sensed a presence approaching the encirclement from the inside. He commanded the troops. "Take stance!"

The orcs thought that it was another fellow orc who was coming back to report. But the unthinkable happened.

A round and small object flew out of the forest. It landed near Khurzah's feet. The object was roughly spherical, and greenish-gray in color.

…It was the head of an orc.

Awoooooo—!

A wolf came out of the forest and howled at the stunned Orcs, as if challenging them to enter the forest. After challenging the orcs, the wolf entered the forest again.

"Don't let that mutt escape!" Khurzah hollered. His eyes turned bloodshot and he issued an ultimatum. "Kill those bastards who dared to betray the village!"

The appearance of a monster said everything. At least one or more monster tribes had betrayed the forest. Khurzah finally understood why no one could find a clue about the outsider. The traitor monster tribes were working together with the outsider to hide their traces!

Orcs entered the encirclement in droves, but they hadn't realized. The trees that were near their locations weren't there before today.

In the darkness of night, the orcs continued their hunts, unaware of the vines that were culling their numbers one by one.

From Sol's plan of a three-front attack, this was the first front.

...

….

…

..

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Forest of Silence. Two thousand meters away from the encirclement, near the perimeter of the Orc village. Roughly three hours after the encirclement was created.

"It's time they call for reinforcement." I was hiding behind a tree and peeking at the sentries over the fences of the orc village.

It took three hours but the sentries posted at the perimeter were finally thinning in numbers. They were going to support the troops where the encirclement had been established.

Needless to say, I left that area long before the orcs set up the siege. However, they didn't know this as their troops were fighting enemies back there even now.

To achieve such a large diversion I had to use a huge number of summons. But it wasn't a problem for me after reaching Summoner level 4.

Name: Sol Lionel

Life Points: 346,171

Soul Points: 00

Occupation: Summoner

Occupation Level: Level 4

Summon Capacity: 5000

Accumulated Life Points to next Level: 381,821/1,000,000,000

Skill(s) Unlocked: <Extract>, <Summon>, <Cancel>, <Summoner Card>, <Contract> Level 1 (New)

Avenue(s) Unlocked: Insect Avenue, Beast Avenue, Plant Avenue, Soul Avenue

'One billion Life Points, the numbers necessary to reach level 5 are wild.' I thought to myself.

After becoming a level 4 Summoner my summoning capacity upgraded to 5,000.

The orcs who had set up the encirclement were fighting against 60 Spooky Treants and 20 Hound Wolves. The summons weren't enough to combat against the enemy's numbers but their skills were perfectly suited for Guerilla tactics.

Hound Wolves can run on trees. Also, due to the noise cancellation trait of the forest, the wolves' movement on trees barely creates noise.

The Spooky Treants weren't any less dangerous. The orcs wouldn't even know that they were standing beside a treant unless the treant moved first.

'The Treants capture the orcs by surprise and the wolves finish them. It's a perfect strategy.'

Needless to say, there were flaws in this strategy. Against an army of 500 orcs, my summons can only do so much.

But my intention wasn't to kill them to begin with. It was to divert their attention and buy time, while I use this chance when their security has been thinned and infiltrate their village.

'I should get going.'

Activating <Phantom Steps> and <Partial Body Strengthening> I swiftly headed for the village fence and stuck close to it.

—

<Phantom Step>

<Level: 4>

<Cost: 20 Magic Power per second>

<Description: Nullifies noises created by your movements. Decreases your presence making you imperceptible to most detection skills below F rank.>>

-

<Partial Body Strengthening>

<Level: 9>

<Cost: 19 Magic Power per second per limb>

<Description: Increases your Physique stat by 50 points per limb. As the Physique boost isn't balanced for the whole body it might lead to injuries, be careful when using this skill.>

—

Then I used <Mana Sense>.

Not detecting any orcs on the other side, I crouched and jumped over the 8-meter tall wooden fence in one go.

The area on the other side was dimly illuminated by torches. Before the orcs patrolling this area returned, I dashed into the direction of the hall of the orc chieftain.

'It's quiet here. Guess everyone is hiding in their homes because a battle is taking place outside the walls of the village.'

Around the vast expanse of empty land, there were cubical-shaped mud buildings spread scarcely. They were the homes of the orcs. Judging from their rough surfaces and poor structure, it seemed these houses wouldn't stand one night against rain, or even heavy winds.

I continued to move while repeatedly taking cover behind haystacks and houses whenever a patrol appeared.

As the Orc tribe along with other tribes were preparing combat forces like Orca had said, their troops to handle inner security had been stretched thin. It didn't help them that my earlier stunt by baiting them with summons caused them to move a large number of troops, reducing the patrols further.

Suddenly, two orcs appeared at the corner I was about to turn. I jumped straight into a haystack and hid there.

'Don't don't have <Mana Sense>, don't.' I repeated those words in my mind.

The two patrolling orcs slowly neared my location.

Orcs are a race focused on physical combat and have poor magical abilities. Only a few rare Orcs have the ability to handle mana proficiently but in return, they are physically weak.

The last Orc that Orca brought out of the village had <Mana Sense>. Although his mana sense was definitely not a ranked skill, it was still higher level than mine. It appeared that Orcs were not as unskilled in mana usage as stories made them out to be.

I held my breath throughout the time the orcs were near my location. Though, it wasn't necessary with Odour Neutralizer removing every odor on me and <Phantom Step> hiding my presence.

As long as I wasn't seen by an Orc directly or caught in their <Mana Sense> most orcs wouldn't even know if I was to stand behind them.

Sighing lightly when the two orcs moved away, I continued moving. I had been using <Mana Sense> in a small radius of 0.5 meters since I entered the village. Though this was a risky move, this way I would know immediately if my location was detected by a patrol's <Mana Sense>.

Finally, after 20 minutes, I saw a building that Orca had described as the chieftain's house.

The residence was shabby by human standards, but in this village that had mud walls for houses, it was like a grand palace. It had smooth walls that had been painted red, a roof made of monster hides, windows that were draped in large leaves, and a wooden door along with a gigantic porch.

'This is it.'

Taking a deep breath, I snooped around the location. The number of orcs guarding the place was only 5. I made sure to stay away from them as they for sure had <Mana Sense>.

It didn't take me long to decide on a path to sneak into the house. The window on the east side.