The tremors from Fireball reached Chaos City, a kilometer away.
Hanks, who had been running a stall in Chaos City, suddenly stood up. "Strange. What are those Orcs going crazy over now?"
Unable to figure it out, Hanks shook his head.
He lay back down beside the yellow horse. A moment later, soft snores rose...
Five minutes later.
For the past five minutes, An Kai had seemed tireless, unleashing Fireballs without a single pause.
Now, he checked his mana. Roughly a third remained.
The Orcs not far from Reed had long since been blasted into scattered pieces by An Kai's barrage of two instant Fireballs per second...
Few remained intact.
There were not even enough pieces to assemble three whole Orc bodies.
After too much shock, people grew numb.
That was exactly what had happened to Reed.
Ever since An Kai started attacking, he had lain there in a daze.
It was as though he had lost the ability to feel astonishment.
Inside, he was utterly numb.
Reed no longer knew what words could possibly do justice to An Kai's strength.
Within his limited vocabulary of praise...
He could not find a single word that suited An Kai!
Genius? Prodigy?
Neither was enough.
"Well done."
At some point, An Kai had ridden the [Stone Statue Giant] over to Reed.
Reed came to his senses and gave An Kai, who sat on the [Stone Statue Giant]'s shoulder, a foolish grin.
At that moment, An Kai's strength had already surpassed that of his master... Hanks, in Reed's mind!
Struggling to his feet, Reed told the uninjured Warrior to look after the two wounded Warriors, then followed An Kai toward the Orc settlement.
An Kai glanced at Reed in mild surprise. A bond like theirs was exceedingly rare in the Desert.
About as rare as running into the Fifth Princess of the Bukelin Duchy.
In the Desert, deceit and treachery were the norm.
A bond like that between Reed and his three companions, where none would abandon the others, probably required more than simply saving one another's lives...
Still, An Kai had no interest in learning how that bond had formed. It was probably the usual tale of facing life and death together.
Listening would offer him nothing beyond satisfying his curiosity.
It might even give him the wrong idea and change his impression of the Desert Humans, encouraging the unhealthy habit of going soft!
Reed followed behind the [Stone Statue Giant], waiting for An Kai to ask.
If An Kai asked why the four of them were so close, he would tell him the truth and play up their hardships a little along the way...
Who would have thought An Kai would lose interest after a single glance...
Near the Orc settlement lay a stretch of deep craters spanning a hundred meters.
As soon as they approached, scorching heat and the stench of blood washed over them.
Under the indiscriminate bombardment of Fireball, the soft sand had turned into dark brown earth...
It looked much harder than before.
An Kai glanced at it with distaste.
He ordered the [Stone Statue Giant] to go around.
"Reed, check whether we missed anything."
He turned back to give that instruction, then steered the [Stone Statue Giant] along a detour...
Reed stared at the hellish scene before him as the stench of blood hit his face...
He sighed helplessly. "Ah!"
He silently intoned, Thorn Armor!
Strands of thorny vines appeared and clung to Reed's body, forming a protective layer.
This was a Lv5 Warlock skill.
It was also the highest-level Warlock armor skill Reed currently possessed.
He had spent twenty gold coins to buy it from the Bounty Tower!
Inside the Orc settlement, the [Stone Statue Giant] carried An Kai into the foul-smelling grounds.
He demolished every building he encountered, sending out a Fireball wherever he went.
Then he directed the Stone Statue Giant to rummage through the collapsed buildings, searching for resources useful to An Kai.
After destroying three houses in succession, he had found little in the way of resources or money.
But there were plenty of human bones.
The Orcs had polished the skulls until they gleamed, turning them into everyday utensils.
At the sight, An Kai silently recited, Infinite Heavenly Venerable, Amitabha, may the Lord bless you...
Afterward, realizing that none of those three faiths likely existed in this world, he added, "May the God of Magic bless you!"
Then a Fireball flew out and swallowed those human bones...
The settlement contained thirteen buildings with pointed roofs resembling pyramids.
Three of them were large.
An Kai had thought the larger buildings would be the homes of the Orc leaders.
Instead, they turned out to be Orc "dormitories"!
He found plenty of everyday Orc utensils, but not a single resource or coin.
By then, An Kai had begun to get a bad feeling.
Don't tell me there's nothing here?
Ten minutes later, An Kai stood before the last Orc building, his face dark.
There really had not been anything valuable in the previous buildings!
He had, however, said "May the God of Magic bless you" quite a few times...
Holding the [Brute Force Staff], he launched a Fireball.
It destroyed the smallest pyramid-like building in the Orc settlement.
After it collapsed, the [Stone Statue Giant] crouched amid the wreckage like a diligent worker and rummaged through the debris...
The reason An Kai had not searched the buildings before destroying them with Fireball was that he had taken a glance inside the Orc dwellings.
Without exaggeration, there was nowhere to set foot...
Two minutes later.
An Kai's eyes lit up.
The [Stone Statue Giant] lifted two solid wooden treasure chests from the ruins, each about a meter long and fifty centimeters wide!
Once they were placed before him, An Kai took his Freezing Spell machete and split both chests open without hesitation!
Inside one chest, a glittering expanse of gold filled his vision.
A quick count put the total at 132 gold coins.
The other chest contained a handful of identification tags...
"Bukelin Duchy-Orc First Division-Squad 165-Captain Ansel."
"Bukelin Duchy-Orc First Division-Company 98-Commander Russell."
"Bukelin Duchy..."
There were exactly eight tags, corresponding to the eight Tier Two Orcs in the Orc Settlement.
An Kai put the tags away, planning to try his luck at the Bounty Tower and see whether he could exchange them for some resources.
After a quick glance, he put away all the gold coins.
Overall, the haul was a little meager and had fallen short of his expectations.
But after seeing the information on those tags, An Kai understood.
He reckoned an Orc army probably came here at regular intervals to collect the resources.
As for the lack of magic stones, An Kai was not surprised. The Orc Clan was notorious for its poor aptitude as Mages.
After putting away his spoils, he hurled out several Fireballs to set the Orc settlement ablaze, then called to Reed and his three companions behind him and headed toward Chaos City...
About two hundred meters from the entrance to Chaos City.
Reed swallowed hard.
Watching An Kai smash the [Stone Statue Giant] apart with a single blow of his Staff was no less shocking than taking that blow to his own head.
An Kai found the Magic Core among the broken stones.
He silently commanded, Exchange!
[Skill Points +2]
He continued toward Chaos City...
As soon as he entered the city, An Kai spotted an old acquaintance...
"Hanks! I got together with you to live the good life, not to suffer!"
"If you don't bring home money tonight, don't blame me for finding you some fellow husbands!"
Thanks to readers 2018...954 and 140...135 for the monthly tickets, and to Losing You Was My Fate, Han for the tip.
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