Ravian descended into the lowland with Lysandra, alongside a great many recruits and other squads that had come down from the camp to provide support.

And chaos swallowed him whole.

The moment he landed, Ravian found himself in a sea of beings—humans and orcs alike. The orcs were nearly twice the size of humans, some even larger, so he didn’t fully grasp what he had gotten himself into until it was already too late.

"Graaaaa!" Ravian heard a roar amid countless other screams—but this one was clearer than the rest, because it was rapidly getting closer to him.

And the moment he turned right, he saw it.

A huge orc with tusks jutting from its mouth because of the rough, protruding structure of its jaw, barely wearing any primitive cloth around its waist and chest—and in its hand was a massive hammer that it was already swinging straight toward Ravian.

"Wait—me? By the Creator, I just got here?!" Ravian shouted, looking around for anyone capable of handling this wild bull whose hammer was longer than Ravian himself, because it was clearly stronger than him.

But Ravian saw no one who could defend him, and Lysandra seemed to have vanished into the crowded chaos of the battle.

"Guuug—come here, human. I’ll take one of those eyes and devour it in front of the other," the orc laughed sadistically as it pushed toward Ravian through the swords and flames.

’Damn it—is there really no option except facing it?’ Ravian thought, trying not to collide with one of the soldiers fighting their own battles around him.

’Yes. Everyone here is fighting and risking their lives—and if I don’t put mine on the line, I won’t survive.’

He reached that conclusion as he looked around at the Empire’s soldiers desperately swinging their weapons and soul energy. But then he noticed something more important.

"The orc..." Ravian muttered, scanning the sea of fighting and screaming.

"It disappeared?" His brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed dangerously as he activated the only ability that could help him in a situation like this.

Absolute Focus.

Ravian poured everything into his senses and swept his gaze around at abnormal speed.

’Where?’

’Show yourself...’

’Where the hell are you?!’ He kept searching, then drew his sword from its sheath—he had left it hanging until now in favor of the short sword, but that short sword would either be sent flying or snap his wrist the instant it met that orc’s hammer.

"Found you!" Ravian’s eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of a green shadow about seven meters away, using the clash between a larger orc and a knight to mask its approach.

But Ravian didn’t look at it directly.

Instead, he kept his senses locked on it and slowly moved in the opposite direction, raising his sword into a ready stance.

Then—

Ravian ran.

"Haa!" The orc roared and gave chase the moment it noticed its human prey had suddenly vanished from sight—almost as if he had known the exact angle of its vision.

The orc reached the spot where Ravian had been standing a moment ago, but Ravian was nowhere in its line of sight, and the crowd around it only made things worse.

"Death has come for you, foul orc. Leave the small ones alone and focus on me." While the orc was still searching, the voice of a knight who looked to be in his thirties reached it.

He was at the same level as the orc—a Walker, in human terms.

"Hmm?" The orc paused, then fixed its attention on its new prey.

"Haaaa!" The knight covered the head of his spear with soul energy, increasing its sharpness and thrusting force.

The orc met him with its hammer, and the two attacks collided head-on, the shockwave sending the dust beneath them flying in every direction.

The orc didn’t care. It raised the hammer as high as it could, preparing to bring it down on the knight with enough speed to end him in a single blow.

And just as the orc was about to drop the hammer—while the knight poured soul energy into his spear to block it—

Shlik.

A deep wound opened beneath the orc’s armpit out of nowhere.

"Kooogh—!" The orc screamed at the surprise attack and lost its grip on the hammer, which smashed into the ground without striking anyone.

The knight seized the opening, sheathed his spear in soul energy again, and drove it into the orc’s left thigh.

"Arghhh—!" The spear bit through the orc’s tough hide and tore into the muscle within.

"Back off—!" the orc roared in its savage voice, forcing itself to endure the pain and flooding soul energy through its entire body to shove the knight away.

But that only made more blood pour from its wound.

"Damn you, treacherous humans!" the orc cursed, swinging its hammer wildly as it searched for the hidden attacker. But no matter how much it looked, all it found were battles raging everywhere—no one standing out in particular.

"I’m still right here, you clumsy beast!" The voice came from behind the orc as another wound tore through its right side and ruptured its right kidney.

"Kraaagh—!" The orc screamed in despair, its body beginning to fail under the dangerous wounds piling up on it.

Yes—the hidden attacker didn’t have the knight’s raw striking power. But his timing and misdirection were no less important than the knight’s strength.

The orc registered its dire position and began searching for support—but what it found was something else entirely.

Swish.

"Kyaaak—!" The orc screamed as another wound, deeper than the last, sliced through the Achilles tendon of its right foot and forced it down onto one knee.

"Hoho. Easiest hunt I’ve had in a while." The knight stood in front of the nearly defeated orc, spear hovering near its forehead—but before he could finish it off...

"Sir Knight—would you leave me this honor? No need to stain your clothes." A cheerful voice, with a clear coldness threaded beneath it, came from behind the kneeling orc.

The knight’s eyes narrowed slightly, scanning the surroundings.

"Oho. You’re that boy who was hitting and running all over the battlefield." The knight laughed, looking at Ravian with interest.

And then the orc finally saw him as he stepped into view.

"Yes, sir, that’s me. Would you leave me this honor? It’s my first battle, after all," Ravian said with a polite smile, respectfully greeting the elite knight.

"Hahaha. Of course—but be quick, before those bastards realize we dragged one of them this deep and killed him without taking a single loss." The knight laughed, glancing in a particular direction as he spoke.

The orc followed his gaze, and its eyes widened when it saw what the knight was looking at—and understood what had happened.

The knight was looking off into the distance, at the other elite orcs, who hadn’t dared push this deep into the human ranks.

"Kogh—! How... when did I get this deep without noticing?" the orc asked itself, pure shock in its eyes—but a moment later, a slender body blocked its view.

It raised its gaze and found Ravian standing before it, calm smile in place, longsword in hand.

"Unfortunately, you should have studied your surroundings a little better. Better luck next time, my big, stupid friend," Ravian said mockingly.

"Gyaa—ogh—!" The orc tried to shout, to warn the others, but a long, sharp length of metal blocked its mouth and didn’t stop until it had punched through the rest of its throat.

Slash.

Ravian pulled his sword free, cutting the throat open and ending its life.

He stood still in the middle of the battlefield, staring at the orc’s corpse.

Then—

"That’s it! You stupid bastard who loves bullying the weak—this is exactly what people like you deserve!" Ravian shouted with a laugh, nearly jumping from the thrill of killing a Ninth-Rank enemy himself, even if his contribution had only been partial.

"Phew. That was genuinely dangerous. Good thing this creature lacked intelligence... no—calling it intelligence would be far too generous."

He looked around the battlefield, where the humans were clearly beginning to overwhelm the opposing front—and the greatest reason for that was standing in the middle of the orc ranks, swinging and cutting them down left and right.

A green-haired man with a huge build was swinging two longswords deep within the orc lines, felling their leaders and several dozen of their elites with a single sweep of his two glowing blades, which shone with his green aura.

For some reason, Ravian felt the man was strangely familiar.

But a notification interrupted his thoughts.

[Ding!]

[The host has killed a Ninth-Rank creature—Wandering Beast—of the Orc race.]

[The host can absorb the corpse’s soul energy to advance the state of the host’s physical constitution and increase the host’s physical attributes.]

[Does the host wish to absorb it?]