Leveling Up as a Vampire - c20
Chapter 20.
Orc Shaman Rescue Operation
Okhana took the lead, and I, Okilgop, and my orc familiars followed him.
Okhana headed south. It was the direction of the dungeon entrance.
After walking for about an hour, the Orc Valley appeared. As we entered the Orc Valley, where the orcs were clustered, Okhana came up to me and opened his mouth.
“Lord Raoke used to live in the grasslands, but he moved to the Orc Valley where we live. He hated that the tribes of the grasslands kept asking him to be the shaman of the tribe, so he moved here to a quiet place.”
“So this Orc Valley is a quiet place?”
“Yes. I don’t know how you feel, but by orc standards, this is a quiet place. The orcs of the grasslands don’t have a day of peace because of big and small fights.”
“Hmm, if you say so, it must be so.”
“So we just have to meet your master, persuade him, and take him to our hideout?”
“Yes, Captain. We can put the Master in a safe place before the bastards of the Longtail Tribe kidnap him.”
“Alright, then let’s get him there quickly. I need to start hunting again in the afternoon. Which way do we go?”
Okhana pointed to the depths of the valley.
“That way. It’s not that far from here. We’ll be there in no time.”
I looked in the direction he was pointing and noticed something strange.
Something faintly irritating my nerves. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was quite irritating.
“That way?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then I guess we need to hurry! It sounds like something bad is happening.”
Okhana looked surprised and retorted.
“No? Then surely to my master…”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but we’ll find out if we go quickly.”
Upon hearing my words, Okhana ran forward at full speed. I, Okilgop, and the other orc familiars who were following him had to pick up the pace as well.
About 100 meters in front of the place where Okhana said the orc shaman Raoke lived, I stopped all my familiars.
The orcs surrounding the shaman’s house looked unusual at a glance.
We hid behind large trees and rocks and carefully observed the shaman’s house. Many orcs were surrounding his house. Over 30 sturdy orcs surrounded the shaman’s house like an ironclad.
And in the center of it was the orc shaman that Okhana had told me about.
The shaman looked haggard. His robe was torn in several places, and blood was trickling down from some parts.
Around him, there were about fifteen orcs lying on the ground, but unfortunately, he was still surrounded and besieged by thirty-five orcs.
The leader of the orcs who had surrounded him spoke mockingly to the shaman.
“Hahaha! Raoke! Still not going to come with us?”
The shaman, his face weary, snapped at the leader.
“You bastard! Didn’t I clearly say I’m not going? How dare you persecute me like this?”
“Well, you can ask the chief when you see him later. I’m just doing what I’m told. What are you doing? Hurry up and capture that old man!”
As the leader shouted, two orcs from among those surrounding him rushed towards the shaman, swinging their iron swords.
The shaman, in his shabby state, thrust his large staff forward, extending it towards the two orcs who were charging at him.
Then, two large fireballs burst from his black staff and flew towards the orcs swinging their iron swords.
The orc soldiers were unable to dodge the fireballs that suddenly burst forth and collided with them head-on.
“Ugh! Bang! Bang!”
The two orc soldiers were flung backward even faster than the speed at which they had charged.
Seeing this, the leader urged his men on.
“The old man is tired. His magical power has weakened significantly compared to before. Attack now!”
“Yes, captain.”
“Understood.”
At the leader’s command, two more orcs cautiously advanced, holding up crudely made wooden shields.
Seeing this, Okhana was stamping his feet, perhaps due to the shaman’s predicament.
‘Hmm? Are they using a relay attack? That leader knows how to use his head. If we delay any longer, the shaman’s injuries will get worse. We need to surprise them from behind while their attention is on the shaman.’
I looked at my familiars who were looking at me with bright eyes and pointed to the orc soldiers in front of me. My familiars certainly understood what I wanted.
Their heads nodded in unison.
I drew my longsword from behind my back and approached in a low posture, going behind the orc soldiers who were surrounding us.
I’ll attack them once I get a little closer. We’re still too far.
Meanwhile, in front of us, the wooden shields were being shattered by the shaman’s magic attacks.
“Bang! Ugh!”
“Bang! Ugh!”
The orcs hit by the magic attack let out loud screams. It looked like a feint at first glance. Most of the magic was blocked by the wooden shields, and they shouldn’t have taken a big hit, but their actions of falling backward as if conscious of the leader were almost like a Hollywood-level performance.
We would be more grateful if you could just knock them out like that.
As we got close enough to see the back of the orc soldiers’ heads, I activated both the ‘Acceleration’ skill and the ‘Explosion’ skill. We need to deal with as many of them as possible in a short amount of time.
We were outnumbered by almost three to one. The only way we can win is by surprise attack, and first strike wins!
The success or failure of this operation depends on me and Okilgop’s performance.
I silently stepped forward and swung my longsword at the back of the orc in front of me.
“Thwack! Grr!”
‘One down.’
I quickly moved to the side and slit an orc soldier’s throat, and to the orc who met my surprised gaze, I struck a blow to the heart.
“Thwack! Grr! Plop. Ugh!”
As I dealt with three of them, Ogre’s massive wooden club, which had just arrived on the scene, swept away the orc soldiers behind me all at once.
“Bam! Bam! Bam!”
Good. Okilgop. You’re the best. Five orcs at once fell to the ground or flew into the air.
“Kyaaaaa!”
Great sound effects!
I swung my longsword quickly in time with the sound effects. My longsword, under the effects of the ‘Acceleration’ and ‘Explosion’ skills, swept mercilessly through the defenseless orcs.
“Slash! Swoosh! Shwack! Snick!”
Four orcs were already on the ground. As expected, the first strike is the most important contributor to victory. Look at those orcs fumbling around. Their faces look like they don’t know what to do in fear. Ha ha ha.
“Swoosh! Slash! Slash!”
On the other side of me, Okilgop’s wooden club is sending everything in front of it flying into the air.
“Bam! Bam!”
At the same time, my orc familiars arrived on the scene and joined the attack.
“Spear! Slash! Spear!”
The sound of weapons clashing is loud.
I turned my attack direction and aimed for the backs of the orcs fighting my men.
“Pfft! Plop!”
Killing those who were distracted was like eating cold rice.
“Plop! Pfft!”
Or is my stat just too strong?
“Plop! Groan! Plop! Groan!”
A sharp sword flew from somewhere. With the sound of a large pig’s neck being cut.
“Enoom! How dare you!”
He was the leader of the orc soldiers. He seemed fairly skilled with a sword, but he could use some more discipline. The trajectory of the sword he wielded was clearly visible before my eyes.
Looking at him, his whole body was full of flaws. I had no intention of dragging out the time as the leader.
“Continuous Stabbing.”
My three hundred billion won sword cleanly pierced both sides of his heart.
His expression when he died wasn’t much different from that of a regular orc or leader. Just a grimace of not being able to accept the reality he was in. Other than that, he was just a corpse.
Not even thirty minutes had passed since we ambushed them, and the situation was over. Not a single orc survived. I never had any intention of letting them live. In fact, I’m a guy who’s in a hurry to level up. I’m thirsty for leveling up.
So, even the ones injured by the mage’s attack became sacrifices for my experience points. Not only experience points, they also turned into money. Money accumulates back into experience points… In the end, everyone levels up.
I roamed the battlefield collecting orc hearts and magic stones. I collected 24 magic stones and exactly 50 orc hearts in my backpack. When my backpack got full on the way, I picked up orc hearts and put them in the black plastic bag I had prepared in advance.
“These are quite hefty. It’s all money, but how heavy it’ll be.”
As I stood up and brushed off my hands, the orc mage approached me.
“I am Raoke. Thank you for your help. I’ve heard everything through my disciple. I will follow you. However, it will take at least an hour because I have a lot to organize and take with me.”
Thanks to hunting fifty orcs at once, I had recovered my peace of mind, so I replied in a leisurely tone.
“It’s okay. I’ll wait. By the way, if you’re going with me, you’ll have to become my familiar, right? Do you agree?”
Raoke reluctantly nodded.
“Anyway, it’s better than being kidnapped by these guys!”
“Hmm! You clearly agreed. Don’t go back on your word later! So, have I secured a mage familiar by this?”
“If you agree to become my familiar, then let’s pack up and move quickly. We don’t know when they’ll attack again.”
If they attack again, it’s a golden opportunity! It’s like killing two birds with one stone without even lifting a finger.
Hearing my words, the orc mage hurriedly entered the house where he had been staying with his disciple, Okhana. Since he was a mage, there must be a lot of things to take care of.
An hour later, our group left the orc valley and headed to the hideout in Meri Mountain that we had prepared.
Raoke’s luggage was more than I thought, so even three orcs had to carry a lot of bundles, and they had to entrust the transportation of the biggest baggage to the ogre Okilgop.
As expected, mages are the biggest problem when moving. There are no professional moving companies in dungeons, so why would there be?
I walked towards our hideout with a cheerful heart. My familiars are gradually increasing. I also recruited an ogre, a large monster, and today I successfully recruited an orc mage/shaman.
Usually, you have to give a huge salary for large contracts like this, but we don’t have that between us. Because we are like family. Family members don’t do that.
In addition, the 17 orcs I hunted last night and the 50 orcs I hunted today were just like picking up money on the side of the road. What is this, a rice cake or money?
Even by a simple calculation, it seems like I earned around 860 million won, including orc hearts and mana stones. Ah! Of course, I have to deduct taxes and fees, so I earned around 640 million won. No matter how I think about it, it seems that the tax and fee burden is getting bigger and bigger.
No way! No. Let’s just bear it until I complete the quest.
My level has also increased to level 22. Now that I’m at this level, the orcs can’t keep up with me.
I hummed a tune and looked at the skill I had successfully transferred from Okilgop this morning after successfully using ‘Blood Sucking’. I tried it last night, but the ‘Blood Sucking’ skill failed. So I tried it again this morning and succeeded.
In fact, the ‘Blood Sucking’ and ‘Authority Generation’ skills among vampire skills have a lot of restrictions exclamation You can only use it once a day on the same target.
I have nothing to say if this is all divine providence…
No, God! I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that’s how it is. I can’t even talk! It’s just like that!