Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

Outfoxed

Seeing the enraged Orc Raiders, the children screamed and buried their faces in their mother’s bosoms. The men who were left standing were just ordinary foragers and craftsmen with no combat training. The Dark Orcs knew the feeble humans wouldn’t even bother to put up a fight now that their warriors had been killed. And so they laughed at their opponents.

“All your women will become our slaves and carry our young ones in their bellies,” the leader of the group declared, fixing his eyes on the young women trembling inside the shacks.

“Must be difficult finding a girl, with a face like that.”

The Orcs turned their heads towards the new voice. It was Zach who had passed that mocking remark. He stepped out of the bone shack and challenged the Orcish Raiders.

“Krok tor!”

The 5 riders raced towards Zach, but he didn’t move an inch. Instead, he looked up and smiled. “You orcs really are f*****g stupid.”

 Just as the orcs were about to pounce on him, he took out a handful of bright white crystals and tossed it towards them. The crystals shattered mid-air sending out a chilling shockwave which froze all 5 Dark Orcs along with their feral wolves. Maintaining his distance from the frozen orcs, he fished out a grape-sized black marble from his pocket and gently chucked it at the orcs. As the moonlight fell on the gem, it began to glow and quickly turned red.

“So long thick heads!” Zach mocked, before the gem did its trick and exploded, shattering the frozen statues. The tribesmen watched in awe, almost terrified of this young man.

Meanwhile, outside the walls of the settlement, Nashoba and Grogath were fighting one-on-one. The Orc had thrown away his axe and challenged the human chief to a wrestling match. Just like all other Orcs, Grogath wanted to enjoy killing his rival with his bare hands. Killing an opponent in a fist fight was regarded as the most honorable thing for the Orcs.

Nashoba knew quite well that though he was the strongest warrior of the Cayuga tribe, his strength meant little in front of an Orc, especially one so powerful as Grogath. His pride was on the line now. The death of his warriors hung heavily on his drooping shoulders. Their deaths would mean nothing if he couldn’t protect his settlement. If he allowed Grogath to escape, he would come back with the entire Orcish horde and burn their settlement to the ground.

“I will not kill you so easily, human,” Grogath grumbled. “First, I’m gonna break your limbs and then I will tear off your ears. Your people will see how weak their leader is.”

“Save the talking for later, Grogath!” Nashoba yelled. “Let’s get this over with.”

Grogath let out a furious roar and rushed at Nashoba. His heavy left hook went just over the chief’s head as he ducked at the last moment. Nashoba rammed his head into the Dark Orc’s belly and pushed him into a sturdy coconut tree. While the Orc was still in a fix, he began punching him on the side.

“Come on, hit harder human!” Grogath barely felt the punches. He had endured rigorous physical punishment to become a Raid Master. A human’s blows were nothing compared to what he had to face in the Orcish training grounds. After taking a few more hits, he decided to show Nashoba how futile his efforts were. The Dark Orc lifted his right hand and brought his elbow down with full force, breaking the Cayuga chief’s back. “How do you like it now?” He grabbed hold of the chief’s throat and smashed his face in with a punch. “An Orc never forgets to pay his dues! Die, human!”

“Hey, big guy! Over here!” Zach clapped his hands to catch the Dark Orc’s attention.

Grogath turned around, still holding Nashoba in his vice-like grip. “If you’ve come to beg for his life, it’s too late. Orcs do not show mercy in battle.”

“Oh, you got the wrong idea, bud. I just wanted to say, I killed all your ugly brothers.”

“What?”

“Yeah, the ones riding on wolves. I slaughtered them all. Looks like they weren’t so tough after all,” Zach continued taunting. “I mean 5 Dark Orc Riders losing to an unarmed human is pretty embarrassing, don’t you think?”

Grogath stared him down with his bloodshot eyes and flung the chief away. “You are this Pyromancer’s kinsman. You have the same kind of clothes.”

“Oh, wow! And here I thought all orcs were dumb,” Zach mocked again.

“Look at your friend. He is lying on the ground, groaning in pain. You will end up right beside him, puny human!”

Zach quickly walked over to where Aaron was lying and helped him get back up. “Careful, your arm seems to be broken. Here, drink this.” He poured a green potion inside Aaron’s mouth and helped him get back up.

The liquid healed Aaron’s broken bone and filled his HP bar to its limit. “How the hell did...you find a healing potion in here?”

“These cavemen dudes have been collecting a lot of rare items. It was all hidden inside a small wooden chest. I told you they’d have some good loot in one of those shacks.”

“We are not out of danger yet. My EP is drained. This orc is really strong. Our basic attacks won’t be able to take him out.”

“Well, I have a great surprise for our ugly friend here,” Zach grinned and fished out a magic scroll from under his pocket. “Time to show this gorilla who’s the boss.”

“I’ll kill you two in one strike!” Grogath picked up his axe and marched towards them.

Zach quickly unfolded the magic scroll and exclaimed aloud, “Maximize Potential: Pyromancer Fledgling!”

The scroll in his hand emitted a bright red light and then slowly disappeared. A red circle opened up on the ground under Aaron’s feet. A wave of magic energy flooded his body, boosting all his stats and skills. Instantly his EP was replenished and all his abilities were usable once more. Aaron’s HP and attack both tripled under the influence of the spell and his skill damage doubled. He felt a strange energy coursing through his veins as his eyes swirled with flames.

“Go for it, bro!” Zach cried out.

“You stupid kids!” Grogath slashed the air with his axe, unleashing his Aerial s***h skill. It struck Aaron on his chest, leaving a deep cut on his body. Aaron took heavy damage, but his extended HP bar made sure that he didn’t die in one hit. Instead, his HP just went down by one third.

“Come on, you big fat oaf! Is that all you got?” Aaron taunted Grogath and rushed at him.

Enraged, the Dark Orc channeled his inner strength and activated his Orcish Rage ability. His biceps grew larger and his chest swelled up. With renewed strength, he dashed at Aaron and unleashed a flurry of attacks.

“One with the Wind!”

Aaron activated his martial arts ability just in time to dodge all the blows. Grogath gripped the axe firmly in both hands and flew into a made rage. He kept attacking Aaron from all sides, taking heavy swings at his chest. Aaron sidestepped the s***h attacks and ducked under the ones aimed at his head. Blow after blow cut through air and Grogath became more desperate. He couldn’t understand how all his attacks missed and this made him furious. Instead of pausing to catch his breath, he doubled his strokes and put more power behind his attacks. Aaron’s ability was almost about to end, when Grogath jumped in the air and brought his axe down with full force.

“Too slow!” Aaron jumped back and watched the Orc come crashing down where he stood. Instead of hitting Aaron, he managed to strike the hard ground, which caused him to dent his axe. Now that there was sufficient distance between them, Aaron pointed his open palms forward and stepped back. “Hey, big guy! Look up!”

Panting and dripping with sweat Grogath looked up. His eyes widened in terror as he stared into Aaron’s glowing hot palms. He was so exhausted now, that he didn’t have enough stamina left to dodge his skill.

“Incinerate!”

Aaron unleashed two jets of flames, which swept across the field and roasted the Dark Orc alive. Grogath’s scream echoed into the night as his body caught fire and eventually turned to ash. As the fight came to an end, all that was left behind on the battlefield, were the charred remains of the dead Orcs.