Chapter 21

As a veteran gang of criminals who had been through countless PvP battles without ever suffering a total wipe, the Orc Wolf Rider Band knew a thing or two about small-scale brawls in villages and towns. Although their leader had ordered them to attack, they didn't charge mindlessly while shouting "Banzai!" Instead, they rode their dire wolves past the front of the merchant caravan's defensive position at an angle, drew the shortbows slung across their backs, and shot at Gerald, who stood at the very front.

As veteran criminals, the orc wolf riders were not only highly skilled with horses and bows, but also exceptionally experienced in battle. They had a precise grasp of their attack range and never entered the area where old Soth had laid his traps. They launched their attack from beyond the distance at which the caravan's archers could effectively strike, allowing them to attack with impunity.

Dozens of shortbows fired at once, forming a veritable rain of arrows that looked terrifying. Gerald, however, wasn't impressed. Apart from shielding his eyes with his left hand, he couldn't even be bothered to block.

The orcs were quite skilled archers. More than half of their arrows hit their target, and Gerald looked about to become a giant pincushion. The caravan members were so nervous their hearts were in their throats.

But then came a steady crackling sound, like wood and stone clashing. Arrow after arrow struck Gerald, but none pierced his skin or drew blood. Instead, they bounced off lightly and fell to the ground, seemingly without effect.

Well, not entirely without effect. Gerald merely muttered, "That's a little itchy..."

A little itchy. That was all.

Everyone was speechless. Sui Xiong thought he could just make out a pair of drooping wings dripping black liquid rising above the orcs' heads, along with a system notification: "The Orc Wolf Rider Band's morale is low."

Of course, it was only his imagination.

The arrows had no effect, making "Blood Hand" Luer frown slightly, but he didn't think much of it. He was a seasoned warrior who had faced opponents in full plate more than once. So what if arrows didn't work? He had plenty of ways to deal with that!

"Sorcerers, Scorching Curse," he ordered in the orc language.

Three orcs who hadn't joined the charge then urged their dire wolves forward at a slow pace. After advancing a short distance, they raised their right hands in unison.

Each held a wand less than a foot long, made from the bones of magical beasts and engraved with similar magical runes. At the tip of each wand was a red gemstone, nearly identical to the others.

The wands were strange, and no one in the caravan recognized them. But when red magical energy began to swirl around them, the young mage Palin finally realized what they were.

"Brother White, watch out! Those are Range-Extending Wands!"

Magic in this world wasn't as powerful as it was in the fantasy stories Sui Xiong had read before crossing over. Spells that could strike the heavens one second, the earth the next, and the air in between simply weren't possible. The biggest problem with magic here was range. Since a mage had to use their mental energy to designate a target, most spells could only reach about twenty or thirty meters. Only ray spells, which required the caster to specify a direction rather than a target, could reach much farther.

Twenty or thirty meters was hardly far enough, so casters in actual combat relied heavily on protection from warriors. Without that protection, even several high-level casters could be picked off one by one by a moderately skilled archer, turning them into human targets.

...Of course, if a caster who'd lost their protection didn't retreat at once and instead stood their ground against an archer who had the advantage over them, they probably wouldn't have had the brains to become a caster in the first place. They'd have killed themselves while studying magic long ago.

To address the problem of limited spell range, the technique of "spell extension" had been developed. To make this technique—which could increase a spell's range two or three times—widely available, Range-Extending Wands had naturally come into being.

These rather expensive wands had just one purpose: to give casters the extra ability to extend their spells' range. Their effects were limited, and their prices outrageous, but they were prized treasures among combat mages. Together with the Armor Robe, which permanently contained the Mage Armor spell, and the Amulet of Rescue, which permanently contained the Faultless Teleportation spell, they were known as the Three Treasures of Combat Magic—the standard set every combat mage wanted to complete.

Palin's ideal was to become a great adventurer worthy of people's respect. That meant he would inevitably take the path of a combat mage, so he yearned for the Three Treasures of Combat Magic. The three orcs' Range-Extending Wands looked unusual, nothing like the ones he'd seen in magic-item shops, but as soon as they began casting, their unmistakable range-extension effect gave them away.

But he was a little too slow to react.

At his warning, Gerald's heart jumped, and he hurriedly braced himself. But by then, the three orcs had already completed their spells. Three beams of scarlet light shot toward Gerald at once.

The beams weren't moving very fast, and Gerald had more than enough time to dodge. But he remembered that there were many innocent merchants behind him. If he moved aside, those ordinary people would surely die if the spells hit them. He gave up the safest option and tried to use the massive tree in his hands to block the spells instead.

The three orcs had chosen their positions with great care. Even though Gerald moved quickly and the tree was enormous, he could only block two of the spells. The third scarlet beam struck him.

At first glance, the red light seemed unremarkable, but its power was vicious. The tree Gerald was using as a club was sturdy, with a lush canopy of leaves. Yet after two beams hit it, nearly all its green foliage withered in the blink of an eye. Tiny sparks even flared around the points of impact, bursting into two small flames.

If even the tree couldn't withstand the spell, what would happen to a person?

Luer smiled, as if he could already see the kind-hearted young giant burned to a crisp, or blown apart by the blood in his body instantly evaporating and leaving a gruesome mess.

He loved that sight more than anything. He could never tire of it.

But this time, he was disappointed. The powerful Scorching Curse struck Gerald and raised only a wisp of smoke, scorching a patch of skin on his left arm. It failed to do any more damage.

"That spell's vicious! It has extreme heat both inside and out. Once it hits, anyone without enough magical resistance is almost certain to die... These are professional bandits, all right. They go straight for the kill!" Sui Xiong was a little surprised. He'd never expected a band of mere borderland robbers to have such powerful tricks. "But don't worry. You've got plenty of magic stored in your Magic Core. A spell like that, which relies on brute force, can be countered directly with magic. You'll have a few superficial burns at worst. With your constitution, you'll recover in no time."

Listening to Sui Xiong and looking at the tree in his hands, which was on the verge of becoming a torch, Gerald was utterly stunned. He knew that His Majesty Oscar had made him an incredibly powerful body, but he hadn't realized it was this powerful!

Being able to withstand swords was one thing, but he could even take a spell like that head-on?! His body must be exceptional even among magical beasts! Maybe... he could even take on a dragon!

With such a mighty True God protecting him, he really was lucky!

With a reliable trump card in hand, Gerald felt full of confidence. Without another word, he roared, swung the tree—which was turning into a torch—and charged at the orc bandits.

He was faster than a galloping horse. In the blink of an eye, he reached one of the orc sorcerers and swung the tree down at his head.

As the tree-club came crashing down, a ring of white light flared around the orc sorcerer: Mage Armor, a spell said to offer protection on par with chain mail. But under Gerald's heavy blow, the spell did nothing. It couldn't even hold for a moment. With a thunderous crash, the orc sorcerer and the dire wolf he was riding were smashed to pieces, becoming fertilizer for the grass.

At the sight, Luer was so frightened his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. His body reacted faster than his brain. He wheeled his wolf around and galloped away. As soon as their leader fled, the members of the Orc Wolf Rider Band let out a roar, spurred their dire wolves, and scattered in every direction. Gerald was left staring in bewilderment, unsure which way to chase.

He was an old hand, but not particularly quick-witted. Back when he was in an adventuring party, he'd only known to follow the leader's orders. Later, when he'd fled to White Leaf Village and become captain of the village guard, he'd only known to do his duty. He had no idea how to scheme for power. The old high priest had thought he was "cunning" simply because his habit of teaching his apprentices had earned him the villagers' respect. The old man, who always assumed the worst, had just misunderstood him.

Faced with enemies who scattered in every direction as soon as they took a hit, Gerald was like a hunting dog watching a warren of rabbits bolt in every direction. His mind short-circuited, and he couldn't react.

"Go after the mages!" Sui Xiong hurriedly ordered. As he saw it, the most dangerous members of the orc bandits were the three spellcasters. If they were all taken out, the bandits would pose far less of a threat.

Gerald obeyed at once, pushing off hard with his feet and racing forward with the wind at his back. He soon caught up with an orc sorcerer fleeing on his dire wolf. He swung the tree, now a blazing torch, and brought it crashing down on the sorcerer's head.

Crash!

Another messy pile of fertilizer appeared on the ground.

By then, the third orc sorcerer had managed to cast a spell. A cloud of greenish air enveloped the legs of his dire wolf, which had already been running at full speed. It now raced as though the wind were beneath its feet. Even Gerald was dumbfounded by its speed. He tried to catch up, but the distance kept growing, and in the end he had no choice but to give up.

"Your Majesty, I'm very sorry. I failed to complete the mission... Please punish me!"

"Forget it. You took out two of the three. That's not bad." Sui Xiong didn't mind. "Besides, the road ahead is long. We'll run into them again sooner or later. They may escape for now, but they can't escape forever. One day, they'll get what they deserve."

"Until then, you should go have dinner."

Gerald sighed, frustrated by his own incompetence. He tossed the tree, which had become a torch, onto the ground and stamped out the flames. Then, dejected, he returned to the caravan's camp.

Seeing their victorious hero return in such low spirits, the caravan members naturally asked what had happened. When they learned he was disappointed because he hadn't eliminated all three orc sorcerers, they couldn't help but marvel.

The Orc Wolf Rider Band was infamous. Whenever people encountered them, all they could think about was how to escape. But a true strongman thought the other way around: how to wipe them out completely.

The gap between them was as wide as heaven and earth. It was like a bronze-rank rookie watching a professional master compete. All one could do was marvel. Of all the things they might say, only one came to mind:

"Master, please accept my deepest respect!"

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