In the forest south of Eversnow, the powerhouses of Greenmorrow and Eversnow continued to work together to bring an end to a calamity-level threat.

“How long, Sahvus?!” Neloph shouted as he flew by him again, this time going south along their side of the barrier.

“Just a little more,” Sahvus replied, but the truth was that he had the spell charged, even overly charged, and ready.

It had been since the moment the four sides of the barrier were covered.

But Mentyr had whispered to stop him.

"Sahvus, my child, Keeper of knowledge, hold back from acting with that spell; there is something Nhiria and I wish to see first."

That was all the command a loyal follower like him needed, even if he was risking making a few people mad.

And the reason Mentyr and Nhiria told him to hold back was what was happening inside Sokram’s lab.

Outside the city, the battle turned even more intense.

Hilda and Brunhild were surrounded, fighting back-to-back.

Slashing orcs left and right, fighting and throwing spells in perfect synchrony, their spells cutting down foes while their defenses held firm.

Yet, the strain of the long fight became evident in the tremble of their muscles and the uneven tempo of their breaths.

Their once-flawless synchronicity was now marred by a split-second delay, a hesitation in their defense as exhaustion set in.

Besides, they had another worry: Chaos Energy would start leaking from them if they didn’t get some rest soon.

Miralyn wanted to rush to their aid, but Kasine held her back.

Kasine was now dressed in what resembled samurai armor, its lacquered plates glinting in the pale light, and a golden enchanted circlet resting where a helm might have been, the metal rippling faintly with Magi.

Margiory was forced to withdraw by her guards, but had no vision of the struggles Hilda and Brunhild were facing.

Leona wasn’t faring much better, despite being in good condition.

She continued her slaughter through the enemy lines. Leona now faced infantry with many warriors at her level, some even stronger, who had joined the fight too.

If not for the advantages granted by cultivating Chaos Energy, she would have been in even greater danger.

“Karini, rush to Hilda and Brunhild! They are being overtaken on the right side!” Leona shouted, but Karini only frowned, not daring to leave her alone. Besides, it wasn’t like her, Layca, or any other shieldmaiden under her command could freely leave their formation.

Before Leona could argue further, the very ground trembled beneath her feet, a rhythmic percussion of heavy, rapid footfalls cutting through the clamor of battle.

Leona's head snapped up just as a colossal shadow loomed over her.

Once she saw who it was, her heart froze.

It was one of the Ten Exalted Level orcs, who, out of nowhere, appeared swinging his great axe down at her, the blade howling through the air with the weight of a falling tree.

She didn’t even have the time to put up a proper defense.

“Clang!”

Just as it came crashing down, the humongous great axe in the hand of the orc shot back upward, with the orc stumbling down a few steps.

The orc’s gaze met the person who blocked his attack, and he saw Kasine with her katana in hand, glaring at him with murder in her eyes.

“You ugly blue piece of shit! You dare try to hurt my daughter?!”

“Damn, this Wolfie is cute. And she has some sharp fangs, haha.” The orc was surprised by her strength.

Noticing she was Tier 1 made it clear she was a Semi-Perfect Existence.

Regaining his composure and seeing Kasine’s beauty, the orc didn’t hold back from taunting her.

“Have you ever fucked an orc, Wolfie? Come to our side and I’ll show you a good time.”

“Yeah, I have. I fucked up a bunch of your kind. Then, I cut all of them into tiny pieces and fed them to my dogs. But not even they liked it. I guess you all must taste like pieces of shit, you all are!”

Her voice, however, drew the attention of two old foes, who lunged to the side of the orc she was fighting.

“Kasine… You advanced, Tier 1, hm?” the Second eldest among the Ten Mud Brothers, Vizumk.

“I’m going to kill you for what you did to our younger brother!” Shouted the Third eldest, Milank, the only one with a ponytail.

“Is she the bitch that killed my father?” Asked the orc carrying the great axe.

“Yes, Salumb. Now she is stronger, but I’m not against ganging up on the stronger, even if she is a pretty bitch. Are you with me, brother?” Milank asked, summoning his great sword and flashing Kasine a wicked grin.

“No, let gang up on her and then gangbang her, what about you, nephew?” Vizumk summoned his warhammer and tapped his nephew on the shoulder.

“Let’s take her down, I’ll take my revenge by making her my bitch!” Salumb barked through gritted teeth.

Kasine frowned, not out of fear but because while they were talking, her eyes had been scanning the battle.

All the other Exalted-level orcs had entered the battle as well, and so did the Exalted ones on her side, but even with her facing three of them, there were still two left, the Shaman and the fourth Brother, who was an archer.

“Leona, go aid Hilda and the others, and tell them to watch for the disruptors.”

Kasine sent Leona away, and Leona was experienced enough not to try to be brave and get in Kasine’s way.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Go, kitty, after I deal with your mommy, I’ll look for you!”

Salumb boasted, shouting at Leona’s departing back, as she rushed to pass Kasine’s words to the others.

“Let’s see how big your mouth can get once I cut your head off!”

Kasine entered her stance and used a technique of the first form she and her husband created, ‘…Shift Wind – One Step!’

“Here she comes, stay alert!” Visumk shouted, “Like we trained, back-to-back! She can’t surprise us if we can see her!”

Kasine vanished, the orcs now back-to-back.

Nothing escaped the field of vision, except for… above.

When Milank finally sensed her presence, he shouted, “UP!”

But it was too late.

‘Killing Blade Art – Crushing Mountain: Mountain Spliter!’

Like a meteor of sharpened steel, Kasine plummeted from above.

A deafening sonic boom ripped through the air just as her blade crashed down.

The shockwave blasted grit and snow outward in a violent ring, and the ground itself convulsed, shattering outward in an enormous crater.

The three orcs rolled away, escaping by a hair as they were sent tumbling backward by the sheer force of the impact.

“Hah! What is faster, an orc or a rat?! I’ll say an orc, cowards, this bunch!” Kasine shouted in provocation before vanishing again.

Salumb, the least experienced among them, had made the mistake of standing up with his back to her.

As fast as an Exalted-level warrior was, she was much faster.

But just as she was about to cut him in half, the sharp, whistling sound tore through the air reaching her ears, and Kasine’s instincts screamed.

She dodged using One Step, a blur of motion.

And just as she disappeared, three more arrows hissed after her, their fletching whispering past her ear as they buried themselves in the ground where she had stood.

“Fuck! I hate these fucking archers!” Kasine barked, assuming a defensive stance as the three orcs rushed to attack her.

Although pushed back, she wasn’t feeling pressured, but that wasn’t the case for the others.

Kanami was facing the Seventh brother.

Yet being a sword user, fighting against a spear user left her at a disadvantage.

When Kanami joined the battlefield, she saw the shaman giving the order for his brothers to advance. And the Seventh brother, the only one carrying a spear, was rushing toward the wolves of her clan and the Silverfangs.

Alpha Silverfang, Kamal, had placed himself between them and the orc.

But being only a Flawless Existence, he would be an easy foe for the orc to kill.

And Kanami, no matter how many issues they had among themselves, couldn’t let that happen.

Sokram’s words had renewed the bond between the founding families.

They were all one big family and brothers and sisters in arms.

When Kamal felt someone pulling him back, he was surprised to see Kanami taking the front.

“Stand back, you’re not his opponent.”

“But I’m still Alpha!”

Kamal tried to insist, but Kanami knew where to hit.

“Then get stronger!” She barked, no mockery in her voice.

Kanami coldly stated a fact, but it still bruised his ego enough to get the job done, and Kamal withdrew, hanging his head low.

Kanami turned to face the orc, although worried, wasn’t scared of facing a spear user.

Lazar and she would often train together, and she learned many ways to fight a spear using her sword.

Her weapon of choice was a two-handed long sword, not long enough to be a great sword, but neither so light that it could be used single-handedly.

The Seventh brother flashed a flirty grin, seeing the small and beautiful wolf-kin woman.

But Kanami only felt disgust at his lecherous gaze.

She knew that to fight a spear while wielding a sword, she needed to shorten the distance between her and her opponent, and for her, the easiest way of doing that was using her freezing aura.

The problem was: Blue Orcs were innately resistant to cold temperatures and Kanami’s freezing aura, a shimmering veil of cold that usually numbed her opponents’ muscles, merely dissipated around the orc.

His skin seemed to absorb the cold without a flinch. His breath was a puff of warm air in the freezing atmosphere Kanami's aura created.

Entering an offensive stance, the orc stabbed his spear toward her, and she easily dodged.

But the grin on the orc’s face caused alarm bells to blare in her head.

When she saw him pulling the spear back, she managed to dodge it. But she was still grazed by the returning spearhead, which had expanded and divided into two lateral blades.

But a single graze wasn’t enough to stop her.

The healing factor and advanced regeneration gift all feral races had would be enough to close the wound completely in a few minutes.

Kanami ignored it and dashed toward the wolf again, trying to shorten the distance between them.

This time, she almost succeeded, but the orc was faster than she had first assessed and easily dodged her attack, and counterattacked, grazing her again, the sting flaring across her skin.

This stalemate continued for a while, as Kanami kept being grazed by the spear blades over and over.

She felt like he was toying with her.

Until Kanami felt it… she was out of breath, her sword heavy in her hands, her muscles trembling.

At this point, she had been grazed by his spear a few times and even had a few deep cuts on her torso.

The fact that the orc continued in the defensive position irked and troubled her.

It was as if he were waiting for something, and by the look of anticipation in his face, it was near.

A metallic taste coated her tongue, and the world began to spin.

Her muscles now felt sluggish and heavy.

Her sword trembled in her weakening grasp, fingers stiffening as a strange heat crawled up her arm.

Kanami realized, with a jolt of terror, what was happening.

“Poison?!"

“Haha, I got found out,” The orc flashed her a lustful glare.

“Don’t worry, Wolfie. It won’t kill you; it will only make you more…” the orc licked his lips lecherously, “…docile. Hahaha!”

Her heart froze at the thought, but a poison she couldn’t smell? This fact alone proved that poison wouldn’t be anything simple.

While Kanami struggled to keep her opponent at bay, Lazar was the most fortunate.

The Fifth brother, a bald orc with a long beard whom Lazar set out to face, used a two-handed mace.

Carrying such a heavy weapon against a versatile and fast Spear Master like Lazar was the same as asking for death.

But the orc proved himself an experienced warrior, keeping his distance and only attacking when Lazar showed an opening.

Miralyn also didn’t fare too badly in her choice of opponent either; the Ninth brother, a bald orc with a clean-shaven face, used a warhammer while Miralyn's choice of weapons was two short swords.

But her mastery over Titan Force gave her an edge that the others didn’t have.

She could match the orc in pure strength and surpass him in speed.

Thus, whenever she spotted an opening, the orc suffered a deep cut.

But it quickly became clear that this orc had awakened one of the Primordial Ogres’ bloodline gifts, Rock Skin.

Even with superior strength, the damage her blades did to him wasn’t life-threatening.

Alain took two of the orcs by himself.

The orcs struggled to face an opponent with such an unfamiliar fighting style.

In his hands, a pair of bladed knuckles, fighting like a pugilist, dodging, and countering either with stabs, punches, and lower kicks that would either irk the orcs or throw them off balance.

Yet, no matter how strong or angry the Orcs got, they never managed to hit him.

Liaranna, who had rushed into the battle alongside Kanami to defend the wolves against the charging orcs, had held the advantage fighting against the Sixth brother, who was a great sword user and much slower than her.

Being a Blade Dancer, she was making quick work of the orc and looked like the closest one to a victory.

But that was only on the surface.

Soon, Liaranna realized why the orc didn’t seem to mind her blades cutting his skin.

It was because he had also awakened Rock Skin.

Thus, even if she had repeatedly cut him, each time her blades connected, they didn’t sink in.

Instead of the satisfying slice of flesh, there was a jarring, scraping sound, and the blades merely skittered across his hardened skin, leaving only shallow cuts.

She got enraged, feeling challenged.

Liaranna’s movements transformed.

Her blades became a blur of silver light, a whirlwind of furious strikes flowing into graceful pirouettes.

She moved with a stunning, deadly rhythm.

The soldiers, guards, guild members, other family heads, and even some members of the White Wolf Squad who watched from afar couldn’t help but get mesmerized by her blade dance.

But in her rush to kill the orc and aid Kanami, she got grazed by his sword too, and even if she only got scratched once, it was enough.

Soon, she felt her strength waning as the orc looked at her lustfully.

“I heard of your fame, Lady Liaranna. Alpha of the Blackfur clan. Tonight I’ll be delighted to cuckold your husband as I drag you to share some furs with me!”

He tried to grab her, but even weakened, she still moved like a darting shadow, slipping past the orc’s grasp.

But as her blades hit his arms, there were no longer cuts, only scratches.

Seeing that, she quickly stepped back, assuming a defensive stance. Liaranna knew she would have to hold him at bay until reinforcements came.

“Careful! These creeps are using poison!” A ragged gasp tore from Liaranna’s lungs as she shouted the warning.

Her gaze darted to Kanami, seeing her fellow wolf struggling in the same predicament, and a crushing weight of anxiety settled in her chest.

A silent, desperate plea screamed in her mind, a frantic prayer sent on the wind, as if the very snowflakes might carry her plea to him.

'Licarus, come back! Please be fast!'