36. Come In

The war between the Lizardmen and Orcs was in full swing.

—Kroarrr!!!

—Kiyaaak!!

The massive 2.5-meter-tall Orcs, wearing roughly stitched leather clothes, wielding clubs or axes, and occasionally spears or swords that seemed to be made by humans, charged forward with their bulk.

The Lizardmen, though shorter than the Orcs, wore what appeared to be quite intricately made armor and, most importantly, used long spears to effectively counter the Orcs.

The problem was the overwhelming numbers. It seemed that for every Lizardman, there needed to be about five Orcs to even out the situation.

Still, these Orcs fought like true warriors. Even when spears pierced through them mid-charge, they didn’t slow down but grabbed the spears with their hands or simply took the hits with their bodies.

About a third of them met a gruesome death that way, but with their sheer numbers, they somehow managed to win.

‘Guess I’ll have to go around.’

Is the 10th floor always like this? Are the Orcs and Lizardmen always fighting? And why did the portal drop me right in the middle of this battlefield?

“Oh, they’re fighting here too.”

I crouched slightly and sneaked to the right, only to find more fighting. It’s relentless.

“Ugh, even here… ah, shit.”

After looking around for a full rotation, I realized it.

‘I’m fucked.’

Behind where I fell was a cliff, and in front of it, lizardmen and orcs were engaged in a fight. Seriously, why the hell did I land in a place like this?

Dahlia clearly said that when the portal moved explorers to the next level, it was more likely to drop them off in places with no lifeforms around.

But blaming someone else while thinking about that won’t help now. The biggest problem is how the hell I get out of here.

‘Straight-up confrontation? I don’t know how strong the orcs are, so I can’t do that.’

Judging from the way the lizardmen and orcs are fighting, it seems that each individual orc’s combat power is something I can handle.

The problem is that just in my field of vision, there are hundreds of orcs fighting, so naturally, I don’t think I can win because of the numbers.

‘Subtly help the lizardmen to reduce the number of orcs.’

Looking at the numbers, the lizardmen are going to die in this battle anyway. They’re fighting well, but the number of orcs is overwhelming.

So, I need to interfere with the orcs’ fighting just enough not to get noticed, and after the fight, minimize the number of surviving… or at least healthy orcs.

Fortunately, there are many obstacles where I can take cover and it’s a rocky mountainous area with solid stones scattered around. Hiding and throwing rocks shouldn’t be a problem. Even the sun has completely set, and it’s almost night.

The orc b*stards do have a few torches in their hands, but that’s also proof that they don’t see well in the dark.

They’re holding random light sources like torches that can’t adjust light intensity, so they can only see the well-lit areas.

One thing I’m worried about is whether these orc fuckers have the intelligence to check the direction the rocks are flying from and track the source of the projectiles… but maybe it’ll be okay since it’s nighttime.

‘Right, I’m fast, so I just throw rocks and run like hell.’

I gripped a heavy rock tightly in my hand and channeled Urus’s muscle power into my entire right forearm. Just in case, I changed the bones in my forearm and then took a breath and focused on my senses.

‘I’m becoming David who will beat the shit out of Goliath.’

I should have brought a sling if I had known this was coming.

I haven’t had much experience throwing a ball far, but with the senses of a beast, I could roughly aim and hit nearby targets. Didn’t I just throw a knife and hit a goblin a moment ago?

ㅡSqueeeak!

The stone I threw with all my might flew towards the orc, drawing a clear straight line.

Crack-

‘That’s it.’

The orc’s face, hit by a fist-sized stone, crumpled and caved in. The lizardmen around were startled but quickly regained their composure and continued to thrust their spears. Since it was dark around, they couldn’t find me.

I moved away from the spot where I had thrown the stone and picked up a few more stones to throw at the orc’s face.

‘There are so many of them, seriously.’

For a full 30 minutes, I kept picking up and throwing stones, enough time to become a specialist in stone throwing. Now, almost every throw hit its mark, yet the orcs’ advance did not stop. The number of torches visible in the distance increased.

When the last remaining group of lizardmen gathered in one place and were cornered,

‘This should be enough to escape.’

I quickly ran towards the direction where the number of orcs had decreased. I must have hit at least a hundred of them in the face with stones, but seeing them still swarming in, it was clear something was wrong.

I knew orcs lived in colonies, but this number didn’t seem normal.

If I had known this, I would have gathered some information about what was happening on the 10th floor. Isolde didn’t just get information from the guild for no reason..!

“Damn..”

Even while escaping, I felt like I made eye contact with a few orcs. As soon as they saw me, they raised their weapons and shouted something, but I was too fast for them.

By the time those dull creatures turned their heads to look at me, I was already gone. I ran as fast and swiftly as possible, crouching in places where the torchlight didn’t reach.

When the trees grew sparse and my field of vision widened compared to before, I realized.

“Am I surrounded?”

Blue flowers were growing around. Flowers emitting a faint light due to the influence of magic.

‘Aether Hyacinths.’

Descending from the mountainous region, I reached the forest, and then the plains where the trees thinned out. I thought I was moving to a place with fewer torchlights held by the orcs, but this was a place where torches were unnecessary.

Without trees, the moonlight was bright. Underneath, a vast meadow spread out, with flowers emitting a blue glow.

I thought there would be no orcs where there were no torches.

—Kroar..! Human!!

—Found you!! Human!

The keen eyesight of the direwolves, which could catch even the smallest light, became a poison. Blinded by the sporadic torches, they failed to recognize the objective brightness of the current location.

“Damn it.”

It was wide and flat, with no obstacles. Only the Aether Hyacinths, growing up to knee height, were scattered around.

Even if I crawled on all fours here, I couldn’t hide my body. Lying flat on the ground would only delay my death for a moment, offering no help at all.

Turning my head back, I saw the torches flickering in the dark forest, advancing towards me. It seemed impossible to return to the forest.

Ahead, a bright flower field stretched out, so bright that torches were unnecessary, and the orcs were slowly closing in on me, trampling the flowers mercilessly.

Think. Can I overcome this crisis and survive?

I cannot avoid fighting. There is no option to not fight.

If I fight, it’s better not to be surrounded. Should I go forward? Should I go back? The front is too open. The back seems better. In the dark, their torches serve as good signals for the target’s location.

‘Turn back and fight.’

The decision was made.

“My name… No, I have only one name. I leave behind two words. Labyrinth, you b*stard. Look straight.”

They said the labyrinth had a will. I can feel the will of the labyrinth trying to kill me here very strongly.

“Phew…!”

The blood of the direwolf leader, Urs, and the lizardman flows through my entire body.

“Ugh..!”

With no human blood left, my mind feels filled with the will of other creatures.

As I look up at the sky, the moonlight rushes towards me. The blood of the direwolf awakens.

Click-

Drip…

I gulped down a handful of cold water from the canteen to wet my mouth, then poured the rest over my head. I can feel the lizardman’s blood reacting.

Clatter-

I removed the annoying pouch belt. My body feels lighter.

“Wait.”

I rummaged through the pouch and shoved a handful of wild boar jerky into my mouth. My throat clogged from just having poured the canteen’s water over my head. As I changed my esophagus to that of a direwolf, my salivary glands responded to the meat pieces, clearing my mouth.

Even if my head feels like it’s going to split, it doesn’t matter. I have to use everything I can right now.

I replaced my right eyeball with that of an Umbra Valkyrie. A dull black-and-white screen fills half of my vision, brimming with murderous intent.

—The weak point is here. Kill.

The will screams.

Boom—!!!

I turned my body, kicked off the ground, and charged towards the largest of the dozens of red dots.

“Krrak..!! Is it-“

I drove the war pick into the orc’s head with all my weight.

As the deeply embedded war pick was pulled out, part of its brain was dragged out of the skull.

My body feels so light. I feel like I’m going crazy with the surge of energy.

I will survive this.

I just need to pick a handful of flowers, hand them to Sera, and apologize. That’s it.

“Come in.”