Chapter 74: Dragged into a Fight
The monster, no, the giant orc stared at the camp of little creatures, not even up the length of its toe with its scary eyes, sizing them up and down. Under the shocked and scared gazes of the people, its eyes turned up as it raised its head, and... laughed. The orc laughed at them, and they could feel the mockery in it. The monster didn’t even regard them, despite some of them being at the same rank as it.
This wasn’t overconfidence, or stupidity, or maybe arrogance on the part of the monster. No. This was confidence and belief. We are talking about a monster that was even more experienced than Ryan Fatars. What made monsters dangerous and scary was that a monster at a certain rank was more dangerous than a human at the same rank. An F-Rank goblin could kill an F-Rank human, not with ease, but the deed was possible. There were even theories of monsters evolving along with the evolution of the rift world they belonged to, and that theory was being proven true and true each day.
That same theory applied to this rift. It was a yellow rift, with monsters ranging from F-Rank to at most D-Rank. But the moment it changed to blue rift, all the monsters they were encountering ranged from D-Rank to B-Rank. Yes, the evolution or change had happened in a matter of seconds on Earth, but then, there was a high possibility of the evolution happening for about a week or more in this world. The time zones in rifts differed from Earth, so this wasn’t just a possibility, but a fact.
And the fact was...
"We’re screwed," Silas muttered and started backing away. He pinched Mr. Fatars, helping him break out of his stupor, but the monster wasn’t done. Its eyes glowed ominously as it looked once more at the camp and roared.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!
It beat its chest repeatedly, while speaking in a strange dialect none of them understood, except Silas, Chloe, and, of course, Gromda.
"This fucker..." Silas cursed under his breath as the gauntlets formed around his hands and turned invisible. He swiftly unsheathed his daggers and looked at Chloe and Gromda, passing a silent message to them. He crouched slightly as the monster appeared to tighten its hold on the club and shouted out loud.
"It is a fight or die! You can stand there like idiots or move and do something and survive!"
His shout broke most of them from their petrification, causing the monster to set its eyes on him. As for what the monster said, it translated:
"I’ve come to welcome you into my land. I will be killing all the men and taking all the women as gifts to bear my children. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
He had been dragged into this fight... forcefully. The monster had forced his hand, and he would be responding... with six hands. The ground caved in and cracked, forming a huge and wide crater as Silas disappeared from his position, causing a loud BANG to run out. Dust, stone, and gravel exploded everywhere, but no one had the time to check for that as they witnessed Silas appear right under the monster... in just a second. He was so fast that even Fatars almost failed to keep up with his movements. There were no flashy moves or techniques. This was raw power.
The orc kind swung its club, which was as tall as a small skyscraper at Silas, hoping to smash him away, but a wall of ice appeared between Silas and the club, stopping its advance instantly. Silas used that opportunity and opening to attack, slashing at the monster’s legs, but there was not even a scratch on his skin. Its body was tough, natural armor. The slash landed, and sparks exploded, causing Silas’s pupils to shrink.
His daggers, weapons capable of cutting through B-Rank goblins like butter, hadn’t even broken the monster’s skin. They left behind nothing more than a faint white line that disappeared almost instantly.
"His skin..." Silas muttered.
"It’s hard!" Gromda shouted.
"Pathetic!" The gigantic orc laughed. It then drove its massive fist down on him, but he disappeared, causing the fist to strike the earth instead.
The ground collapsed, and a crater over twenty meters wide erupted under the impact, throwing boulders and chunks of earth high into the sky.
"Move!" Mrs. Loraine screamed.
"Everyone behind cover!" Mr. Sylvester roared.
The teachers reacted instantly. Mr. Sylvester thrust both palms forward, causing violent winds to sweep across the battlefield, diverting flying debris away from the camp. Miss Gertrude stretched out both hands, her forehead instantly becoming covered in sweat as dozens of massive rocks halted midair through sheer telekinetic force before being redirected elsewhere.
Mrs. Loraine stood before the students.
"Earth users!"
Several awakened immediately stepped forward.
"Walls! Now!"
Stone walls rose one after another. Victor, Alicia, Peter, Christian, Emma, and Alpha joined the effort without hesitation, doing all they could to ensure... safety. They had fought monsters and survived the rift until now, yet none of them had ever witnessed a battle on this scale.
Meanwhile... Silas shot upward like a cannonball, his gauntlets flashing with a deadly light that wasn’t visible to anyone. He punched the giant orc square in the jaw, causing the giant’s head to tilt slightly. But the orc slowly turned back toward him with an amused grin.
"Cute."
Silas’s expression stiffened, but his eyes carried a cold resolve.
"NOW!" he shouted.
A wave of absolute cold exploded across the battlefield. The temperature plummeted so violently that the grass instantly froze. Chloe floated several meters above the ground, her long white hair dancing wildly behind her, her icy blue eyes glowing. She extended one hand.
"Absolute Zero."
CRAAAAAAACK!
A glacier erupted under the giant orc’s feet, causing ice to climb its legs in an instant. Soon, it reached its waist, then its chest, then its shoulders. The surrounding mountains were even beginning to freeze over. Several students gasped.
"What... is this..."
"S-Rank..."
"No..."
"This is beyond S-Rank..."
The giant orc roared in anger, its muscles bulging, and with a violent flex, the glacier exploded.
