Return of the Woodcutter
Chapter 162 - Forced Cooperation

Leading her eleven soldiers, the Khan sped towards Aito's team, spear and giant ax in hand, keeping up with her orcs' capabilities, traveling almost five meters per second. 

Running unimpeded by their heavy-looking equipment, craving for glory and the reenactment of a forgotten distant past, even the Khan could not recall. And yet, they believed their act was right. 

They could only believe.

"Fall back behind the fortifications!" Aito ordered, but once he arrived in front of the wooden structures, only a wall awaited him. 

Lucius stared at him from above, smirking. "What do you think you're doing? I thought you were just here for a stroll." 

"Oh I am, you just happened to be in the way," Aito replied, immediately infusing his ax blade with three different skills. Still under the influence of Fury, the wooden wall trembled from a single one of his blows, obliterating a quarter of it. 

Cutting wood used to be his profession, after all. 

"Are you mad!?" Lucius asked, "Elizabeth, cast another layer, now!" 

The wall crumbled from its roots, falling like dead trees, creating a gap wide enough for challengers to use. Behind it, three warriors guarded the entrance, watching their fortification fall mouth agape.

Two archers stood on brown structures, a miniature version of a wooden wall cast by Elizabeth who also stood on one, focusing on her spell.

Aito saw wood rapidly sprouting from underneath the sand, ready to plug the entrance, something normally almost impossible, without magic that is. However, one hit of his ainium hammer halted the process. The emerging wooden pillars stopped growing. 

Confused, Elizabeth stopped conjuring. 

Five challengers immediately entered the wooden fortress through the gap. Aito covered their retreat, keeping an eye on the orcs who were just five steps away from them. 

Aito barely had enough time to cross the gap he had dug that two other wooden walls plugged the structure's weakness. Closing all access to the outside. 

"You madman! Was that your plan all alon—" Lucius started, but a loud cracking sound interrupted his sentence. 

Barely twenty meters away, the Khan took two wide steps and hurled the spear in her hand, mustering every inch of muscle fibers employed for the task. 

The projectile glowing yellow flew straight towards the wall at high speed, digging a hole, going through. Fortunately, the obstacle deviated it from its original course, missing Aito by a hair's length. 

Caught unprepared, one of Lucius men died, oblivious to the end as to what hit him. 

"Bartholomeo! Fuck! This is all your fault! You shouldn't have brought them here!" Lucius shouted, laying his accusatory gaze on Aito. 

"Come on, you seriously think it would have changed anything if we went elsewhere?" Aito replied. "Just look at what's happening outside!" 

Aito could have indeed opted for a more frontal approach. But yesterday's failure to anticipate the orcs' retaliation taught him they weren't to be underestimated. He wasn't willing to risk his people into the unknown. 

Not before getting a proper feel of what those fourteen—now eleven—orcs were capable of. Could he have prevented the death of Zephyr and that guy called Bartholomeo? Possibly, but not certain.

Outside, the Khan's ax viciously bit into the wood. The wall trembled as if it was fearing her power. Soon, more noises followed when other orcs joined in the demolition. 

Attracted by the sound, Lucius looked outside, only to see his fortification falling to pieces at a rapid pace. It was only a matter of seconds before everything went to shit. 

He cursed internally for he knew there weren't any other option left but to fight. Aito's judgment for his scheme would have to wait. 

"Archers fire at will, use piercing arrows! Warriors, don't let any of those things get past the entrance! Elizabeth, add another protective layer around the walls exposed to attacks but do not cover the entrance. Let them come in!" Lucius ordered, lightning sparks forming in his right hand. He looked at Aito, "And you! We'll talk later. You better make yourself useful by then!" 

Forced by the situation, the prideful man had no choice but to cooperate. A ball of electricity manifested atop his palm as he called upon his spell. 

—Active Skill: Electric Bolt— 

Before launching his projectile, he instantly cast a wind wall, shielding the fortification from two bulky orcs pushed back because of the wind pressure. 

—Active Skill: Wind Wall— 

Aiming at the nearest orc, Lucius oriented his palm accordingly. Electricity flew out, emptying the bright orb in his palm, passing through the air particles. Jumping from one atom to another at the speed of light.  Striking the orc head on. The creature covered in Durability trembled uncontrollably, in a seizure. It was about to fall, but took a step to support itself. 

"How tenacious," Lucius commented sending another discharge, weakening the orc. However, it did not kill it. "What are those things made of!?" 

He aimed for the other, without much result, then activated his second lightning skill, Hyper Conductivity.

Lucius sent another Electric bolt, but this time, it reacted differently. When hitting its target, the electricity spread to its surrounding, sending sparks all around. It connected with the second orc, creating an electric link between the two and Lucius's palm. 

The lightning elementalist poured aura into his hand, creating more electricity, increasing the voltage. His targets entered an uncontrollable seizure, unable to move, hauling in pain. 

Attracted by the sound of her dying soldiers, the Khan stopped her demolition and shouted an order. Shortly after, two spears flew towards Lucius's position.

Sensing the danger behind these two deadly projectiles, Lucius forced his spell to a stop, sidestepped to dodge one spear, and used his own spear to deflect the other projectile. 

He then looked down at the two orcs who were supposed to be carbonized. Their faces bore red marks akin to sparks, attesting to their previous contact with the lightning element. However, they were still able to move. 

"How is this possible?" Lucius said. During the first day, orcs had fallen by the dozens under his attacks. According to what he had seen, those two should have died by now. "What kind of physique do they have?" 

He had thought that since there were only a few of them compared to the two previous days, it would be somewhat manageable.

Meanwhile, his archers rained piercing arrows at the orcs demolishing the wooden fortification, only leaving dents in their armors. 

Tired of waiting for her glory, the Khan's coated her ax with Durability and… something else. The blade seemed to vibrate violently as a halo covered it. 

On the other side, Aito's gift, Instinct, immediately flared up. Alerting him of a deadly danger. Deploying his shield ainium side, he barely had the time to place himself in front of his team that an ethereal blade cut through the entire wooden entrance and continued flying towards him. 

BAM! 

The aerial blade hit his shield head on and dematerialized instantly. However, the brunt of the impact forced Aito to take two steps back. 

Aito took a quick look at his shield, fortunately, it hadn't bent, those scales were made of ainium after all. But the orc's power sent shivers down his spine. 

The entrance crumbled, revealing the imposing female orc outside previously hidden. The Khan stepped inside, cracking the pieces of broken woods under her large metal boots. 

"We finally meet, human warrior," it said in orcish.