“...Did Gorza just lose to an archer?”

  “Commander, I think we have a more important issue, the wall–”

  “Yeah, yeah, the wall exploded. It was about time; I was starting to get bored.”

  “Sir?”

  At the head of an orc warband, two demonic figures stood with their gazes fixed on the settling dust of a large explosion. One was a small, winged creature with a barbed tail; the other a tall, slender figure with unnaturally long arms hanging at its sides. Both bore curved horns sprouting from their foreheads and smooth, violet skin that seemed to absorb the dawn twilight. Had Max been able to see them, he would have instantly recognised them – beings of the ‘imp’ and ‘demon’ races, unmistakable in their sinister appearance.

  The demon rubbed its horns and spoke again, “I just can’t believe he couldn’t even take on one f*cking archer. Seriously, how useless can you be?... Does it run in the family genes or something?”

  “Sir, the men–” The imp tried to speak.

  “How did such a fat f*ck get knocked off the wall with only a few arrows anyways? That’s the more important question. Even if archers pose no threat to me, it’s very strange.”

  “The men–”

  “Yes, yes, order the men, I know, I know. Can’t I just take a moment to enjoy the scenery? The humans will all die either way, Metus. You don’t need to nag me.”

  “...”

  “Hopefully there’s a– Hm? Who’s that?”

  A human wearing white armour emerged from the dust at the exploded gate, gazing around the compound until locking eyes with the demon.

  “Commander, sir, according to our intel, that is the crown prince of the Eleutherian Kingdom. He has received advanced palace training, and our estimates place him at level 70 strength. He is a renowned nuisance in the region, so Viscount Torga has placed a bounty on his head of five million taes.”

  “Ha... Hahaha! Look at that prince, strolling in, full of confidence; that is how a real man acts! You know what? In honour of his bravery, I will keep his body intact and eat only half of his organs.”

  The demon drew swords holstered on both sides of its body and began strolling toward the conspicuous prince, bumping its dark chestplate in excitement.

  “Sir!” The imp flew behind him to catch up. “Please, your commands first!”

  “Oh, right. All forces, attack the enemy!”

  Metus felt concerned. Was this commander not a bit too cavalier? Hopefully the enemy side would perform poorly...

  ...

  Tak!

  Somewhere nearby, an arrow burst out the back of an orc’s head, with the particles dispersing to reveal a red-headed archer. The archer shot an arrow every second, blasting orcs off the wall in various directions with strong, knockback-empowered attacks.

  Tak! Tak! Tak!

  A long line of orcs ran toward the archer but found themselves falling like dominoes under the onslaught of arrows. Even despite this, the archer seemed troubled.

  ‘They’re getting closer.’

  Max grimaced as he glanced behind him. The section of wall near the gate had been blown to smithereens, leaving behind a wide chasm. Unfortunately, the ladder he’d used to climb up here had been knocked over in the blast, so he now had no path to retreat with his legs intact. Additionally, he’d lost some health from that explosion just now – he really didn’t want to test how much HP he had remaining.

  ‘Ugh? Yech!’

  An orc reached close enough for Max to smell its foul odour. Holding his breath, Max shot an arrow into its stomach, killing it instantly. He didn’t neglect to catch its spear, which he quickly spun around in his hand and launched ahead to create a triple orc skewer.

  ‘Come to think of it, my stats should be stronger than level 30 right now... What if I try some melee combat?’

  Max stepped back as an orc swung a heavy axe at his head. Having thrown its full weight into the attack, it stumbled past him and cleaved through the tops of the palisade stakes. Max swiftly drove an arrow into its neck before moving to dodge again.

  A spearhead sailed past Max’s torso. Shifting his weight onto his back foot, he pivoted into a spin, turning and whipping his right leg around in a powerful arc.

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  Crack!

  The kick connected with an orc’s jaw, sending it toppling over the side of the battlements.

  —Aim hacks don’t do that...

  —Huh, so now we’re in Mortal Kombat

  —WTF HE KNOWS MARTIAL ARTS TOO?

  —This is insane

  —No wonder mom calls me a failure...

  Max seized the falling orc’s spear and jabbed at the remaining enemies in a half-thrust, making them instinctively recoil. Smiling at his successful feint, Max dropped the spear and replaced it with a pair of arrows, resuming his shooting session.

  Ta-tak!

  Because his level kept increasing throughout the battle, his strength attribute had also gone up, meaning he could pull the bowstring back faster than before.

  Ta-tak!

  Max particularly enjoyed shooting double-arrow shots, as he could kill two orcs with a single draw. Although he could shoot even more - 3, 4 or even 5 arrows, the accuracy was poor and he would risk losing his speed bonus.

  Ta-tak!

  Nocking the next two arrows at strange angles, Max released a diverging shot to strike down two of the last three orcs, which had been running abreast of each other.

  “Grahh!”

  The final orc roared in anger and prepared to throw a hatchet, but Max already expected this and kicked up the pre-positioned spear at his feet, sending it flying into its stomach.

  “Kurgh!”

  An arrow swiftly followed to finish it off. Not wasting any time, Max then used his [Arrow Retrieval] skill to collect his arrows back and inspected the battlements for loot.

  “Wow, the loot drops are really terrible in this g-”

  Whistle!

  Hearing a sound from behind, Max jerked to the side as an arrow shot past his leg.

  “Sonofa- Could you not?”

  Max swivelled around and took aim. Across the rubble from the destroyed gate, an orc archer snarled at him before taking an arrow to the forehead.

  “...Should probably check the battle situation before I try looting, shouldn’t I?”

  Max surveyed his surroundings. The battle here was now in full swing, with the Eleutherian army having poured into the compound through the breached gate to battle the orc warriors. There were more orcs than expected - over a thousand - fighting on fairly even terms with the human soldiers. With the occasional sighting of fluorescent hair, it seemed that some players were also rejoining the battle

  Max’s eyes caught sight of some dazzling white armour not far away. ‘My prince!’

  Virtus was engaged in a high-level fight with a violet-skinned monster of red eyes and lanky arms, which Max immediately recognised as a demon. It used two swords and emitted a purple, flamelike essence from its body, which Max could discern even from the wall.

  “An enemy with aura? That’s problematic...”

  In HoL, ‘aura’ was a type of physical enhancement magic used by higher-levelled enemies. It worked similar to an active skill and gave the demon one or multiple special abilities in exchange for continuous mana consumption.

  “A troublesome enemy for Virtus... Should I try to help?”

  Max shot some orcs while he contemplated. Drawing the ire of a strong enemy like a demon at his current strength could spell instant death if he didn’t approach things carefully.

  Right as he thought this, he noticed a shiny-headed swordsman approaching the demon from behind, clear in his intent.

  “L-Lemon, no!!” Max cried. “Don’t do it, Lemon friend!”

  —Lol has no confidence in him

  —R.I.P. Lemonade

  —Quick! Render the Lemon-aid!

  The demon wore a chestplate, which, unlike a cuirass, only provided frontal protection and left the back exposed, tempting Lemonade into attacking. Only, he didn’t know just how strong an aura-wielding demon was.

  Max nocked an arrow and positioned the bow for an intercepting shot, hovering his aim between Lemonade and the demon. Noticing a twitch of suspicious movement from the demon, he immediately loosed the arrow.

  The demon turned to Lemonade with a malicious grin, apparently having been aware of his presence. Without hesitation, it lashed out, its unnaturally long arm whipping forward in a blur of metal. Just as Lemonade’s death seemed certain, the sword arm abruptly pulled back, splitting the air in front of Lemonade’s nose with a sharp burst of wind.

  At the same time, an arrow shot past the demon’s face with a thundering noise, only barely avoiding its pupils, which constricted in alarm. Jerking its head toward the battlements, it locked eyes with Max, now keenly aware of his presence. The playful grin vanished, replaced by a wary expression as it closely scrutinised Max, checking that no more attacks were coming.

  “Wha–? It dodged?!” Max gaped in disbelief.

  ‘That arrow was aimed at the middle of its head, travelling three times the speed of sound; It should be impossible to dodge!’

  Expecting Lemonade to be attacked again, Max lined up a second shot, but it turned out to be unnecessary as the demon continued to observe him without sparing Lemonade a glance. In fact, it kept staring at Max right up until Virtus came swinging at it from behind.

  ‘Did it see me aiming? I don’t think so... Unless the vision cones are different to the previous game... then, was it the aura ability?’

  Max mused over the issue.

  “...!”

  Shattering his thoughts, a flash of movement entered Max’s peripheral vision. Reflexively jumping back to evade, His starter tunic was torn as a spear hurtled past. ‘Ahh! No zoning out!’

  Searching the battlements for the thrower, he found a tall orc standing only a short distance away. The orc had a light bleed above its eyebrow and several red-stained arrow holes in its clothing.

  [High Orc: ‘Gorza’, Level: 52, Threat Level: Perilous (BOSS)]

  It also looked extremely angry.

  “Oh sh*t.”