Rebuddy Up

"This ain't the elf city, you stupid!" The orc said, irate at the eldritch monster that he was following, "We're never going to catch up with the main force at this rate!"

After yelling at the monster, the monster looked up and finally noticed Roko standing there.

"Oh." The orc said, just as at a lost for words as Roko, "You...you're human."

"And you're an orc." Roko replied, "Mind telling me what you're doing here?"

"I ask the questions here, human!" The orc roared as he drew a sword, "What's a human doing in the elves' forest?!"

"Studying abroad."

"Oh. Why are you studying a broad? You like pretty women too?"

"This is about what I expected." Roko sighed, "So what's this I hear about you looking for the elf city? And a main force?"

"Uhhh...you heard that?"

"I kinda live in that city right now. Are you planning on attacking it?"

"Ha! I don't have to tell you anything."

"You're right. You've already said as much as I need." Roko said as he pulled the bow from his back, "Plus that pet of yours is very concerning."

"What? Little old Bitey? What's wrong with him?"

"He's extremely dangerous."

"What? All he does is eat magic."

"Those things eat magic?" Roko frowned, "I've never heard of this."

"Wait, you've seen this little guy before?" The orc frowned, "That's funny, the boss said he found them and nobody knew anything about it. We weren't even sure they could eat magic before we started training them."

"So that's how it is."

"Er-hey! No fair asking me questions!"

"I didn't even ask you a question, you just blabbed on your own."

"You tricked me!"

"Sure, let's go with that." Roko said as he drew an arrow from his quiver, "Regardless, I hope you're not attached to...Bitey was it? Cause I'm going to have to kill it."

"Whadid Bitey ever do to you?!"

"Those monsters propagate like crazy. All they need is a few dead bodies to use as a resource and since there's a grave here, I can't let it stick around."

"There's a grave here? Why'sat matter? And what's wrong if Bitey wants to prop up some gates? I've never seen him do that and I don't know why he'd want to do that but why do you care if he does?!"

"..."

Roko fired an arrow at the Paramnesia monster. The orc quickly doubled down and protected the monster, Roko's arrow bouncing off part of his armor.

"Hey! That's no fair attacking my pet like that! You don't see me attacking your dog over there!"

"This dog doesn't belong to me." Roko looked down at the blink dog, "And are we just going to pretend you weren't going to kill the dog along with me?"

"What do you think I am, a monster?!"

"..."

"Why'd you stop talking?"

"..."

"You trying to trick me again?!"

"..."

"Aaaahhh, I'll just kill you before you trick me again!"

The orc roared barbarically and charged at Roko with his sword, his eldritch companion following him, its maw snapping angrily. Roko swiftly drew another arrow and fired it in one smooth motion. The arrow struck the orc's shoulder, punching through a gap in the orc's ill fitting armor but the orc continued charging at Roko without even noticing his injury. Roko had the time to fire another arrow but if he did, the orc would be directly in front of him if Roko couldn't stop him or kill him in one shot. And given how the orc took Roko's first shot, that probably wouldn't be possible. So Roko just pulled out and nocked his next arrow and waited for the orc to come close enough to attempt a swing at his head. Roko jumped back, leaning backwards and drawing his arrow back as the orc's sword passed over him. But from the side, the Paramnesia monster had jumped at Roko, pursuing him as Roko dodged. In this split moment, it would be difficult for Roko to dodge again but Roko wasn't planning to. He already had his bow trained on the creature, aiming to kill it first before the orc. But before he could release the arrow, the blink dog suddenly appeared behind the monster, biting into one of its tentacles and pulling it back. Swinging the monster around, the blink dog teleported again, this time a few feet away and in the air, slamming the monster face first into the ground. Roko landed with his back on the ground but he quickly flipped his body over to land on his legs and stand back up quickly. Roko and the orc quickly checked on their respective companions, seeing the two of them locked in their own ferocious battle that made it difficult for either of their partners to approach.

"Call off your dog!" The orc yelled angrily.

"What part of 'This dog doesn't belong to me' that you don't understand?" Roko scoffed.

"Call em off!" The orc roared as he swung his sword back.

Roko dodged between the orc's swings, arrow set in his bow but not yet drawn. The orc only grew more confident the more Roko dodged, shouting out,

"You're hard to hit! But you can't used that bow properly in close range! Even I know that! So long as I keep you in my sword's range, you won't be able to attack back!"

"That's probably true for most archers." Roko replied, "But there are some close range tactics an archer can employ. For example."

Roko lunged towards the orc, smashing his head into the orc's nose. As the monster cried out in pain and stumbled back, Roko released one arrow into the orc's foot. With his movements restricted, the orc tried to bring his sword around to decapitate Roko again only for Roko to retreat and pull out another arrow from his quiver.

"Now this is like shooting fish in an ill fitting battle. How about now, mister orc? Feel like surrendering?"

"We orcs never surrender!"

The orc roared as he threw his sword at Roko. Roko dodged out of the way but the orc took the opening to rip his foot out of the ground, arrow still embedded in it. The orc ripped out the arrow without a hint of pain crossing his face. Snapping the enchanted arrow like a twig, the orc lunged towards Roko with his arms outstretched to grab him. Roko side stepped the attack and fired his bow at the back of the orc's head. The arrow sailed over the orc's head as he ducked down and grabbed his sword again, turning back to Roko with a smug sneer,

"You was saying? We orcs are born warriors!"

"You're not that smart either. Guess things have a way of balancing out." Roko sighed.

"Oh yeah? So you're saying you're smart? Well then what's your plan on beating me?"

"If I had one, why would I tell you?"

"...Because you're smart."

"..."

"..."

"...You know what, let's try it." Roko scoffed, "I'm going to shoot you in the foot again."

"What?!"

Roko fired an arrow at the orc's foot again only for the orc to quickly shuffle his feet back to avoid it.

"Next I'm going for the hands."

The orc barely had time to check which hand Roko was aiming for before he was quickly knocked away the arrow that was fired at the hand holding his sword.

"Next is the sternum."

This time the orc was completely confused, looking around between him and Roko to try and figure out where the next shot was aimed only for the arrow to meet its mark into the orc's chest, stopped from penetrating too deeply by the orc's armor.

"Next is hitting your lumbar."

The orc looked confused again as Roko began charging at the orc with an arrow prepared in his bow. The orc tried to cover his head and body with his arms in anticipation for Roko's next shot only for Roko to slide between the orc's legs and land a clean shot into the orc's back.

"Next is-"

"Okay, stop that!"

The orc swept his sword at Roko, forcing Roko to jump back as the orc collected himself again.

"You talk too much!" The orc growled.

"You want, I can make them shorter." Roko smirked, "Ready? Fibular."

"Stop making up words!" The orc roared and stamped his feet with such force that the earth shook and unbalanced Roko for a moment, "I'll get you for tricking me!"

"Easiest fight of my career." Roko muttered.

The orc charged forward, his sword swinging wildly like a mad man. The most effective tactic...or technique that the orc has employed thus far. As good as Roko was at manipulation, he didn't have the capacity to predict randomness. And the orc wasn't going to be listening to any more of whatever he'd have to say. So the only plan now was to finish the battle quickly and decisively before the orc could drag on the fight and become more desperate. So Roko drew his next arrow and charged in towards the orc.

The orc continued to roar madly as the two approached each other. In the seconds before Roko walked into the orc's range, he fired his arrow into the orc's other foot. With his foot pinned again, the orc's momentum was thrown into an unsteady stop including his sword. In this moment, Roko lunged forward, blocking the sword with his bow as he slammed his shoulder into the orc's body. The orc reeled back but since his foot was still pinned, he kinda just rotated around instead. Either way, the recoil was enough for Roko to pull out the arrow he had fired earlier into the orc's chest. Spinning around, Roko nocked the arrow in one smooth motion as he pointed the bow up at the orc's chin from below.

"Cranial." Roko said as he fired the arrow up and pierced the orc's entire head.

As the orc fell to the ground dead, Roko took a moment to release the tension from this battle before standing back up,

"Klaus! Are you okay?!"

Turning around, Roko looked around to try and find the blink dog that was still fighting the eldritch monster. A battle that seemed to be going poorly as the Paramnesia monster had wrapped its tentacles around the blink dog. Its jaw jutting out into the air in a laughing manner as it held itself up as his tentacles grappled the dog's body, restricting his movements and keeping his jaw closed. The blink dog was utterly unable to dislodge the monster above him, blinking all over the place to try and throw it off him but to no success.

"Klaus, stop teleporting for a moment!"

The blink dog stopped teleporting and indeed stopped moving as he continued to struggle to throw off the monster. Roko pulled out an arrow but hesitated. Was he able to make such a shot? If he missed, he could very well hit the blink dog that's been his companion for days now. Could he really make this shot? With the risks involved? The blink dog seemed to sense Roko's hesitation as he began to look around again and spotted the pointed star atop the grave monument. And before Roko could even say anything, the blink dog disappeared again, reappearing with his back over the star. The two fell, impaling the eldritch monster on the spike and instantly killing it. The blink dog too would have been impaled if he hadn't twisted his body away at just the right time to both kill the monster and move himself out of its clutches, falling to the ground next to it with a loud whine.

Roko quickly ran over to the dog to make sure he was okay. The blink dog raised his head and licked Roko's hands.

"You're a reckless one aren't you?" Roko chuckled as the blink dog went on to lick his face, "You could've killed yourself there."

The dog just barked and looked at Roko curiously.

"Oh yeah, I kinda just said the first name for you that came to mind but what did you think of it? Klaus."

The blink dog barked and stood up looking more proud and dignified than ever before.

"Guess you like it." Roko said as he stood up, "But we have some more pressing matters at hand right now." Roko sighed as he took a moment to think aloud, "There's an orc invasion heading towards the elf city. They may even be there now. I need to get back as soon as possible. I don't suppose you know how to get to the elven city?"

Kalus whimpered apologetically.

"Curious. Hmm...we could try tracking these monster's scents but...Klaus, can you track the orc army off this one orc's scent?"

Klaus shook his head.

"I thought so. Tracking this lost orc's scent will just send us down the same path he's been traveling. Who knows how long or how far he's wandered off. So we have to figure out some other way to get there. I-"

Klaus ruffed again and Roko looked down to see Klaus with his arrows in his mouth again.

"Were you feeling bad that you couldn't help me?" Roko chuckled as he took the arrows from the dog and gave him a few more head pats, "But you're right, there are a few things I should prepare first."

Roko walked over to the orc's body and picked up his sword. It was rusty and chipped and overall in very poor quality. If it struck skin, it would hurt a lot more and contaminate the wound but it didn't seem capable of cutting into armor all that well. A sword is still a sword and Roko's used swords a lot so he has experience but against orcs… Roko slashed the orc's dead body with the rusted sword, failing to cut even the dead flesh of this monster.

"No point in this I guess." Roko sighed as he tossed the sword on the ground and began rummaging through the orc's body. Perhaps there was a map or something that he could use to find his way back. Roko found a piece of paper and some sort of vial with liquid in it. For a moment, Roko had hope he found a way only to find what amounted to a bunch of scrawling that barely resembled a map and honestly could just be a poorly written letter.

"No luck." Roko growled, shoving the paper into one of his pouch before he turned to the vial he found, "As for this...Analyze."

Roko's spell revealed the liquid inside as a Manabarbs Poison. A type of poison that deals more damage to whoever is inflicted with it equal to how much magical power they have. A curious poison. Seems quite potent to elves but would it be as effective against orcs?

"Well, a weapon's a weapon." Roko sighed, "Alright Klaus, I think we exhausted our options here. Let's get going."

The pair emerged from the extra dimension back into the black and dreary forest. The trees and shadows looked as innocent as ever. If there was an orc invasion happening, it wasn't happening near here. Roko needed to get back to Granreveria but he still hasn't been able to figure out how to get there on his own. Kalus didn't seem to know the way and Roko still didn't know how to navigate the forest's confusing magical structure. At a time like this, Roko could use the help of a few locals.

"Analyze map."

Roko sent out a map pulse that laid out the immediate surroundings around him and pinged the presence of three figures hiding in the trees not far from him.

"You three are still here right?" Roko called out, "Come on out."

A quiet moment later, Drift, Ohm and Reaumur came out from the tree awkwardly, Reaumur even holding another happy dog in her arms.

"Congratulations on completing your trial." Drift said, "We were watching your efforts and while we're not quite sure how you did it, it was clear it took much effort."

"We can save that for later." Roko said, "I was attacked by an orc within the sanctum."

"A WHAT?!" The three dark elves looked at each other with great surprise and concern on their faces, "That's impossible..."

"It seems the orcs have the use of a creature that can eat magic."

"What?! Does a creature like that exist?!"

"Well they do now." Roko replied, "The pressing matter now is that they're heading to raid the elves' city."

"Yeah, we got a report on that a few moments ago." Reaumur looked down at the dog in her arms, "From this little girl. Her name is Penny. Her full name is Penumbra since she's the daughter of Umbra. But we call her Penny for short."

"Then we're on the same page." Roko nodded, "Then can I ask you to guide me back to Granreveria?"

The dark elves regarded each other once more before Drift replied, "The elves are powerful in their own right. Even if not all of them can fight, they have powerful magic. The queen is there as well so-"

"I've seen their military." Roko said, "And I've seen their soldiers. They're not prepared to fight an invasion. Especially not by creatures as powerful as the orcs. They rely too heavily on the forest's confusion to remain safe. You know this."

The dark elves considered Roko's words nervously. They seemed to understand the situation but still reluctant to offer help.

"I'm not going to ask you to help fight for the elves." Roko sighed, "I just need someone to guide me back. What you do from there, I'll leave that to you. I'm not asking you out of any obligation. I'm asking for you to do a favor for me."

The dark elves took a moment longer to think before Drift turned to Roko and nodded, "Understood. We'll guide you back to Granreveria. But if we want to get there in time, we'll have to move quickly. Are you prepared?"

"Prepared or not, I have to go." Roko gulped, feeling the fatigue nestling in his bones.

"Alright. Then we'll move out in top speed. Everyone! Let's go!"