Orc Forest
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With the knights at the front, we were heading for the Orc Forest southeast of the royal capital.
The blue sky was spread far and wide, and underneath the sky was a field of green grass and a path that ran forever. I stretched my back, experiencing the spaciousness I had never savored at all in the capital.
Then, Father walked up to me and started a conversation, “If I remember correctly, Daisy, you can use water-attribute ice magic, right?”
“Yes,” I answered as I swayed on Leaf’s back along with the movement of his soft body fur.
“If that’s the case, when a magic beast appears, it would be helpful if you could first use ice magic to target its feet and stop it from moving. That way, it would make it easier for the knights to move.”
Come to think of it, I did not really think about how to use magic when I joined, had I?
‘Uh-huh’, I nodded as I took note of this in my mind that fighting together means that making it easier for them to fight is important.
“Also, it doesn’t matter what kind of magic you use, but if you can, you can try aiming to cut the leg tendons. If you take away the opponent’s ability to move, our safety will increase remarkably after all.”
I nodded to show I understood.
“When you attack, aim for the opponent’s area between their eyebrows, neck, or where their heart is located.”
In this fashion, Father taught me how to fight as a mage and how to work together with the knights while we proceeded.
Eventually, I could see a dense forest extending far and wide at the end of the road.
“That’s the Orc Forest,” Father informed us as he pointed.
“Orcs aren’t that scary on their own, but they have a tendency to form groups. When they become a big horde, the horde comprises of an Orc King, Orc Generals, and High Orcs. If that becomes the case, it becomes a very tough fight. Thus, do not take them lightly.”
Before we arrived at the forest, we were taught about orc ecology.
We arrived at the entrance of the forest.
Those who were riding the horses dismounted and secured the reins to trees and the like.
I took Leaf with me and we proceeded so that I was being protected in the middle by everyone.
It was hard to find any mushrooms that seemed like the real deal.
Then, I saw two orcs scampering in my path—one was running away and the other coming towards us.
“Yahhhhhh!”
One of the knights in front of me neatly sliced off its head. Then, the head fell onto the ground.
“One of them escaped back. There’s a possibility that it went to call for reinforcements, so keep your guard up,” the knight informed everyone and we all nodded and kept our guard out for our surroundings.
‘Ah, there’s a ‘Talking Mushroom’ growing here!’ I thought as I looked at my feet.
“They’re coming from the front! There’s 4—5 orcs! Three orcs and two high orcs!”
Everyone went on alert after hearing those words.
“Ice Storm!” I casted a freezing spell at the feet of a group of orcs. Then, the orcs’ feet froze and stopped their advance.
“Thanks for the help!” the knights thanked me and faced the orcs.
The two knights cleanly cut down their respective orc’s neck.
““Wind Blade.””
Father cleaved one high orc and the other mage cleaved the head of another orc.
There was only the high orc left.
Leaf dashed over and bit into its neck, biting and tearing the neck off.
“Is it over?!”
Father prodded the members to check the area, however—
“Three Orc Generals are coming from inside the forest!”
Orcs, one size even bigger than a High Orc, were coming armed with a sword.
“To think that there would be three of them…”
“…It would be best to believe that there’s a King Orc behind them, right?”
“Ice Storm!”
Most likely, those orcs are absolutely stronger than the ones from before. While casting the same magic, I refined my mana and released it after increasing its power.
I succeed in hitting two of them, but I let one slip by.
“Well done, Daisy!” “Air Cutter!” Father said as he sliced the tendon of the leg of the orc I missed.
With a thud, the Orc General tumbled down to the ground.
Without delay, the two knights thrusted their swords between the eyes of one of the orcs that fell, then slit the neck of the second one that was standing there rooted. The knights pulled their swords out of the orcs that had been stabbed in the head and were about to turn around and kill the remaining one—
Bam!
A dull sound of heavy metal colliding with metal. The impact of a heavy sword caused the knight to spit out blood and fall.
The Orc King stood there, its eyes bloodshot with rage as his pack was overwhelmed by us. It was the one who had swung down the heavy sword..
The healer immediately applied healing on the fallen knight.
“High heal!”
Then, the fallen knight stood up using his sword as support.
We and the Orc King and two Orc Generals who had recovered from their frozen feet glared at each other, looking for even the slightest opening.
At that moment, Leaf whispered lightly into my ear, “Please chant ‘Rose Whips’ at them.”
As I was told, I held out one hand to the Orc King and the Orc Generals and chanted, “Rose Whip!”
Immediately, from the ground and from the trunks of the trees, thorny ivy attacked vigorously and bound and wrapped around the bodies of the Orc King and the Orc Generals. The Orc King and his men swung their swords in an attempt to resist, but no matter how hard they cut, new ivy attacked them one after another. The more they flailed, the tighter the restraints became. Eventually, the Orc King and crew could no longer stand and fell down with a thud.
“…That’s one strong magic, isn’t it?”
The knight looked down at the Orc King and crew, who were no longer able to resist, and admired their utterly restrained state with a relieved expression.
“It’s a kind of earth magic.”
I decided to go with that excuse. It probably has something to do with the Green Spirits though.
“Without your magic, it probably would have been a close fight.”
Then, the two knights each struck the killing blow and buried them.
The ivy smoothly came undone and eventually disappeared back into the earth and the tree trunks.
We gathered a few of the better quality ‘Talking Mushrooms’ that I had found during our battle with the orcs, then we decided to head to our next destination.
