Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn by John Nest, You The Reader, Overus Page A

feasting on raw meat, circling around their looted bounty.

'Just how rich is Cynar?' wondered Smoke to himself, amazed at seeing such a large mounted army. He secretly hoped that Sierra and the rest of his guildmates back in Wysteria were doing just that, raising a large mounted army. He especially enjoyed riding bareback on the dirus wolf, as this was his first time doing so.

"Faux, where do you need to be in order to block off Waylay's exit?" Cynar asked Smoke.

"On top of one of those mountains should be fine," he replied, pointing to the specific spot.

"Alright, do you need to take any of my men?" asked Cynar.

Smoke studied the masked Assassin's expression. Looking at Cynar's eyes, he could tell that he was excited to go to battle.

"No, I'm good by myself," answered Smoke.

"Good, we will attack them as soon as you close off their escape," explained Cynar. "But, Faux, you still have to fight. Don't think your job is only to close off the Pass, do you hear me?"

"Yeah, I hear you. Don't worry about it. I'll fight, alright!" meaningfully answered Smoke.

Smoke expertly rode his dirus wolf up the mountain, and reached the peak in less than ten minutes. "Good boy," he said to his mount, stroking its thick fur.

"Stay here," he ordered the dirus wolf, and proceeded to do his job.

'I just have to go after Cynar. I don't think the OrkElves will attack me after I kill him,' thought Smoke to himself. He made a promise with himself not to intentionally harm OrkElves, as a respect to Sharur and Jinggu. He took a deep breath, and focused on the task at hand.

After having trained his Earth Manipulation to Advance Level 9, Smoke began sensing which particular sections to move in order to get the most result. He started removing crucial points of the cliff, creating Waylay Pass.

In only two minutes, Smoke was ready to let out the full power of his Earth Manipulation. Standing directly above the pass, he pointed his hands down and started a landslide.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

Large boulders rolled down both mountains, as their entire mass slid down. Smoke casually rode on top of the fast moving ground, carefully controlling the earth around him. Dust clouds covered the entire scene, preventing anyone from seeing what he was doing.

When the dust settled, Smoke stepped out of the landslide, prepared to attack the Orks.

However, the UrukHai were already busy. Cynar and his mounted OrkElves charged at the injured Orks with fury.

The OrkElves used their long wooden spears as lances, and struck the Orks from a safe distance. In the first clash alone, more than a hundred Orks were felled.

From his estimate, Smoke counted less than seven-hundred Orks remaining. Their red life bars mostly indicated less than 30% of their maximum potential. The injured Orks were either maimed or bleeding, which made recovering their HP next to impossible.

'Good thing these Orks don't have a Healer,' surmised Smoke.

However, the savage battle waged on. The half dead Orks did not falter. These green humanoid monsters wielded their mauls with massive strength, flailing them like they were made of paper.

OrkElves flew off their mounts, left and right. Most of them left with less than 50% of their life bars, while others, who were unfortunate enough, were instantly killed.

Thinking that this was the perfect moment to strike, Smoke frantically searched for Cynar. He spotted the masked Assassin facing off against the largest Ork he had ever seen. He assumed that he must be the Colonel of this Horde. A dark green Ork, more than three meters tall, brandished a double-headed axe.

The Ork's life bar indicated (843,754/1,200,000 HP), and his name was Wertlosvati. To get an advantageous position, Smoke closed in Cynar and the Ork.

"Finally, I found you," snarled Cynar at the Ork.

"Ash durbatulukir, ash krimpatul," replied Wertlosvati.

"Stop speaking Orkish!" yelled Cynar. "I know you can speak Lacerta."

"How? How you become knowing