Savage Ascension: Starting with God-Tier Plunder Ability-Chapter 54: A Battle of Wits

As soon as they arrived at the mid-slope, Rowan became very cautious. The crow Kaiya disappeared into the forest, and the wolf Dono also brought his nose close to the ground beside Rowan or raised his neck here and there to sniff.

The mercenary group never dispersed. They stuck together tightly. Once combat started and they knew the opponent’s location, they’d move to the side then.

Hesitation.

When the brown wolf Dono stopped, Rowan stopped.

"..."

Sniff sniff sniff.

When he only sniffed and didn’t move forward, Yuval approached and surveyed the area. Then he pointed with his hand at one spot. There was a rope camouflaged with leaves. If the rope caught your foot, it would automatically tighten to narrow your range, then your feet would be firmly bound by rope and you’d dangle from a tree or fall.

You’d have to get bound or pull it to know what would happen.

’Is it right to avoid, or right to dismantle it?’

"Forests and mountains are on the orc’s side. To reduce variables, it’s better to dismantle traps."

Yuval said that and pulled the rope without hesitation. Because he thought there was no way the orc wouldn’t know when five people moved as one lump.

The tree swayed. Yuval cut the rope with a dagger longer than a knife. That was the end.

’I wanted to check what kind of trap it was.’

Rowan felt regretful. Each of these was experience. He thought he’d have to examine orc traps thoroughly later.

There were many other traps too. When he touched an orc wood trap with a branch, the branch literally shattered. Even though it was the same wood, the durability was dimensionally different.

’Crazy. Is it titanium wood?’

Rowan even felt like collecting that wooden trap. The mercenaries didn’t seem to think about taking it. They were too obviously tense.

Youngest Sen was sprawled on top of a fairly large rock in a place where bushes and trees were mixed, like performance art. Both wrists were cut off. Also one ankle was severed. It was gruesome.

He was covered in pure white powder, mixed with blood and tangled like dough, so blood wasn’t flowing.

’His lips are black.’

There were also traces of being fed something. Traces of black liquid flowing from mouth to throat and drying were visible.

"Huu... huhu... nngh... huk."

Sen was sobbing without even shedding tears. Literally the appearance of someone who’d given up everything. Looking like he firmly believed the mercenaries wouldn’t come rescue him.

"We need to check the surroundings."

"Split up?"

At Rowan’s words, everyone shook their heads. Of course, together. Even if it took time, it couldn’t be helped.

But before they could move, arrows shot from both directions.

"Arrows!"

Yuval, who had the most experience and had trained desperately to familiarize his ears with arrow sounds, shouted first. Everyone scattered in all directions and grabbed a tree each.

Thunk! 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

An arrow embedded itself halfway deep into a tree. An act that couldn’t be shown without considerable strength. It embedded precisely in the tree where Shield-bulk Keireon was hiding, and Rowan, who confirmed it from the side, clicked his tongue.

’Would it pierce plate armor?’

Thinking of something he didn’t even have. Everyone’s movements stiffened at one arrow with momentum to pierce even iron plates. Rowan was no exception.

’We need to break through, but it’s an arrow that even pierces shields.’

Rowan didn’t try to gamble. Because the opponents were two.

’Two orcs!’

Armed with bows producing powerful firepower, no one thought about leaving the trees, just repeatedly sticking their heads out here and there while searching for the orcs.

’Directions are both sides.’

One shot each from right and left. It meant each of the two orcs was confident in combat. Rowan looked left and right while only confirming the mercenaries’ positions with sidelong glances. That was fairly difficult. Pretending to look for orcs several times while looking elsewhere to confirm the mercenaries’ positions.

’I should practice this separately. It’s harder than expected.’

Difficulty arising from moving his head. But just sticking his head out made him afraid the orcs would target him.

The mercenaries were acting exactly as Rowan had thought while climbing the mountain slope.

’They’re hesitating.’

Looking like they expected Rowan to step forward first. But Rowan had no such intention. Also, the problem he’d worried about most resolved itself.

’The mercenaries won’t run.’

Because there were two orcs. Even if one orc targeted Rowan, there was one orc to pin down the mercenaries. And in the current situation, the mercenaries couldn’t escape either.

’Whoever moves first becomes the target.’

The orcs had already shot once to roughly gauge things. Next time they definitely wouldn’t miss their target. Because arrow trajectory always changed depending on wind and position, the more you shot in one battle, the higher the accuracy became.

’A battle of wits.’

The mercenaries waited for Rowan to move, and Rowan had guessed they thought that way while climbing the mountain.

No one stepped forward. It was reminiscent of university group projects.

The position where the moment you step up, you become group leader and can get stuck with everything.

The terrible dynamic of modern society that instantly pushes you to group leader for being one year older! Rowan was in the receiving position even there. Because he was a returning student, because he was one year older, even just because. He’d been group leader five times just from being pushed.

’Not anymore.’

Rowan, who’d become ruthless in his hands from slaughtering animals, grown ambitious through black dreams, and felt thirsty for modern culture, was no herbivore. He could be vicious to anyone.

A battle of wits between humans began in earnest. A completely unproductive clash of stubbornness, a fight of uneducated things trying to survive. It was never an ideology like individualism. No different from a fight of uneducated beasts.

Amidst that, Rowan was thinking of catching the orc.

’The time will come.’

Also, the fight between orcs and humans had begun. Even knowing the direction and bearing the arrows came from, because they didn’t know the exact location, the mercenaries couldn’t strike the orcs, and the orc brothers had to use that to their advantage.

’The first is an arrow to stiffen and stop the humans.’

Brother Donetous thought while gripping bow and arrow, looking at the human wearing heavy armor. The most important thing in a fight between many and few.

That was stopping the many. From the few’s standpoint, the scariest thing was the many charging like mad bulls while throwing away their lives. Blocking such behavior was most important.

’Humans are cowardly. They fear death.’

The arrow’s power—they showed it through trees. They never aimed at humans. Aiming at humans from the start was greed. They had to shoot at least three times to gauge certain accuracy.

A strategy to remind them of the bow’s power through trees.

That’s what the orc brothers showed the humans. Especially targeting places they’d investigated in advance where the insides were rotten or animals had used as nests. The reason they sank in eerily deep was preliminary investigation.