Betrayal

"Gorgash! Gorgash!"

"Gorgash! Bonecrusher!"

Kyle's body was still twitching on the grass, spraying its last hot blood, but the Orc Warriors around him had already erupted in thunderous cheers.

They raised their weapons high and shouted their leader's name in rough, guttural syllables—Gorgash. They were clearly exhilarated by their bloody victory.

Gorgash, the Orc chieftain clad in mismatched plate armor, seemed to relish his subordinates' adoration.

He held out a huge hand smeared with blood and casually wiped the brain matter and blood splattered across his face. His gaze swept over the ruined battlefield like a beast surveying its territory.

"Run!" In the chaos, the few remaining terrified caravan cooks scrambled out from behind the carts and tried to flee toward the distant woods.

Gorgash couldn't even be bothered to deal with them himself.

Several burly Orcs behind him grinned and drew short javelins from their backs. The muscles in their arms tightened like coiled ropes as they hurled them with sudden force.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The javelins split the air with a sharp whistle, streaking like black lightning and sinking precisely into the backs of the unfortunate men.

They didn't even have time to scream before pitching forward onto the ground, becoming the newest corpses in this killing field.

"No! Don't kill us!" Bolin, the merchant hiding behind a wheel, let out a pig-like shriek. Scrabbling with both hands and feet, he crawled out and nearly prostrated himself on the ground. "Great... Orc lord! Didn't you want the goods? You can have... have all of them! And the money! I have lots of money!"

He pointed at the carts loaded with wine and food, his voice warped by terror.

Gorgash glanced at the merchant with cold eyes, as if he were looking at a noisy insect.

He ignored the merchant's pleas entirely and merely waved his hand impatiently.

"Kill them," he ordered in Common, his tone as casual as if he were telling his men to take out the trash.

The remaining Orc Warriors immediately roared bloodthirstily again, brandishing their battleaxes as they charged at the few defenders left.

The fighting began anew, but the tide had completely turned.

Without front-line shields like Kyle and Captain Marcus, the few survivors were like candles flickering in the wind.

Xia Lin gritted his teeth. His newly acquired reinforced leather armor had saved him several times; its hard golden scales deflected several blows that would have been fatal.

Using the carts for cover, he kept moving, dodging and looking for openings in the Orcs' attacks.

His longsword darted out like a viper, striking with another precise Pierce through a gap between the plates of an Orc's neck armor.

Squish!

After taking down the enemy, he immediately rolled out of the way of another sweeping battleaxe, then slammed his sword hilt into the attacker's knee.

Pommel Strike!

Crack! The sharp sound of a bone breaking rang out.

The Orc cried out and dropped to one knee.

Xia Lin didn't hesitate. He turned and finished it off with one clean stroke.

That was his fifth kill, but his strength was rapidly running out.

Shamir loosed several arrows and felled another Orc, but her face was pale. The earlier shock had clearly made it hard for her to focus.

Pip had lost her will to fight completely. She tried to sneak away again, but a sharp-eyed Orc spotted her and kicked her out of the shadows.

The tiny Halfling tumbled across the ground, covered in dirt and blood.

She stared at the sneering Orc closing in on her, then burst into tears and raised her hands. "Don't kill me! I surrender! I surrender!"

Gorgash walked over, his enormous shadow falling over Pip.

He bent down and lifted the struggling, weeping Halfling as easily as if he were picking up a chick.

"My boys like..." He grinned, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and leered at Pip. "Halflings."

Then he casually tossed Pip into the midst of several Orcs nearby.

"No!!" Pip screamed in despair.

Riiip—the sound of clothing being roughly torn apart rang out.

An Orc let out an excited, low growl.

But the sound soon stopped.

Pip's screams and sobs fell silent, too.

One of the Orcs holding her stood up, cursing. "Bit her tongue! No fun!"

Another Orc leaned over and looked at Pip's corpse, her eyes wide open and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. An even more twisted grin spread across his face. "Hey, this way... I like her even more..."

Before he could finish, a companion beside him impatiently kicked him away. "Get lost, Karga! Disgusting!"

Rough, lewd laughter rippled through the surrounding Orcs.

Xia Lin had witnessed it all. His stomach churned, and a cold fury and helplessness threatened to swallow him whole.

The only ones left in the caravan who could still fight were him, Shamir, and Sera, whose arm had been broken and who had remained silent the entire time.

The merchant Bolin lay sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, either passed out from fright or pretending to be dead.

Several Orcs approached Sera cautiously.

They seemed disgusted and wary of the "little devil" who reeked of sulfur, but Gorgash had ordered them to kill everyone.

Sera clutched her broken arm and slowly straightened up.

Her veil had somehow fallen away, revealing a pale purple face with an exotic yet eerily beautiful look.

The short horns at her temples and her eyes, burning with dark-red flames, stood out in the fading light of the setting sun.

She watched the approaching Orcs without a trace of fear. Instead, a strange smile appeared on her face.

"Are you sure you want to kill me?" Her voice was hoarse, yet carried a chilling calm, as if she were stating a fact. "If you kill me, you... will regret it."

The threat in her voice didn't seem to come from her own strength. It was more like a hint of some terrible curse, or some dreadful consequence that would follow her death.

The Orc at the front felt a chill run through him under her gaze, and his steps faltered.

Even Gorgash furrowed his brow. His cold eyes fixed on Sera, as if he were seriously considering what she had said.

The Orcs were savage, but they were also superstitious. They had an innate fear and reverence for anything connected to dark forces.

After a moment's silence, Gorgash seemed to make up his mind.

"Knock her out," he ordered. "Take her."

An Orc immediately stepped forward and slammed the haft of his axe into the back of Sera's neck.

Sera grunted and collapsed limply. Two Orcs dragged her away like a sack.

Now only Xia Lin and Shamir remained.

They stood back-to-back against a cart, surrounded by the seven remaining Orcs, while Gorgash watched from a short distance away, as if enjoying a show.

"Shamir," Xia Lin said quickly in a lowered voice. "Listen, we're out of options. We have to find a way to escape! I'll charge out and draw their attention. Look for an opening to attack, then we'll run for the woods as fast as we can. Don't look back!"

Beneath her disheveled black hair, Shamir's beautiful eyes rested on Xia Lin. Her expression was complicated and she seemed hesitant, but she still nodded firmly.

"Okay!"

Now!

Xia Lin gritted his teeth and charged toward a weak point in the encirclement, the magic of his ring flashing as he thrust his longsword at an Orc's chest.

The moment he charged, Shamir behind him also raised her longbow, drawing the bowstring taut in an instant!

"Ha!" she cried.

The two Orcs rushing toward them instinctively paused and turned aside, trying to dodge the deadly arrow they expected.

But the bowstring twanged against empty air.

Shamir hadn't nocked an arrow at all!

She had only pretended to draw her bow!

As the two Orcs hesitated for an instant at her feint, and Xia Lin threw everything he had into charging the encirclement, Shamir turned without hesitation, dropped her longbow to the ground, and sprinted far faster than usual toward the woods in the opposite direction, fleeing as fast as she could without looking back.

Xia Lin's charge abruptly froze. He looked back in disbelief and saw only Shamir's silhouette vanishing at the edge of the woods like a startled rabbit.

She abandoned me?!

A bone-deep chill, worse than the fear of death, swept over Xia Lin.

After their brief surprise, the seven Orcs grinned cruelly and mockingly, surrounding him once more.

Gorgash folded his arms, watching with interest as the prey his companion had abandoned.