It wasn't just Ajax, he could feel his peers around him do the same. Timothy feet gave up as he fell down, Glen had let open his hands and mouth in shock as his weapons fell down, Brad started to move back in fear and Jean also sat down on the ground.
They had given up. To them, who had never seen such monstrosities, this felt like a death sentence. Even Ajax who had experience even death, felt that this would be a losing fight.
Though there were only a pack of less than 20 orcs, they would be very hard to fight against. With weapons so huge and tall as normal humans and tricks like that fog, it would be hard for them to escape. These orcs could just pull of fog over them and then, hunt them down in the dark.
He looked around at Syam and the others, he had expected similar behavior from them too. He found a few shivering, but when he looked at their faces, there was no fear. Some were even smirking.
"A squad of Twilight orcs led by a shaman," said Syam aloud as he saw them. "You guys came from the forbidden forest?"
"You know about us. Good," said the orc shaman. "So, you like the surprise?" mocked the shaman.
"Haha," chuckled Syam loudly. "So, this is the reveal."
"Did you lose your mind? human," asked the orc as he was looked at Syam. To him Syam was behaving in a weird manner. It made him cautious and a bit disconcerted.
"You moron," said Syam shaking his head in derision before he snapped his fingers with his left hand.
Everyone heard a couple of loud hoots echoing down from the skies. It was quickly followed by the dying hoot as a dark shape came struck the ground a few feet ahead of the orc leader. It was the dead body of a dark blue owl about 2 feet high, with its body all scratched up, feet cracked and broken and wing ripped out.
It was a gruesome and an extremely painful sight for a bird to be mangled like that. But the owl's pain was luckily short lived as the fall from the sky surely killed it.
"My qurian," yelled the orc leader looking at the dead owl. His eyes bulged wide open, red in anger as he saw the dead body of his beloved pet. He wanted to rip open the bodies of the mercenaries when he saw it. He directed his mount to move forward to attack.
Syam knew that he would find a better distraction and threw a spear towards him. The orc leader also immediately noticed him, but he misjudged the target of the attack.
Syam never expected to hit him at such a distance and expect to give him a life-threatening blow. Syam intended to pierce, the head of his mount. So, when the orc leader ducked to the side suddenly, it was harder for his mount to stay steady. It dug its claws into the ground to stand steady and wasn't fast enough to react when they noticed that the attack was meant for it, not its master.
The spear which initially appeared like it was going for orc leader also adjusted its direction miraculously turning towards the beast. The beast tried its best to evade, but it impaled into the beast's shoulder. Unable to continue standing up, it fell down flat on its side whimpering in pain. The leader also toppled down due to the sudden fall of his mount.
As he fell down, the orc leader lost his grip on his staff and it fell down and rolled ahead. Before he could get up, a large red bird l swooped down from the skies towards him.
It looked like a hawk, but much different. For starters, it had a wingspan of more than 15 feet, with its torso itself about 2 feet side. Its wing feathers were long, metallic and sharp, with its body covered in red shiny metallic scale like short feathers, making it look like it was covered in armor. Lastly, the head had two small horns to its sides, while its beak abnormally long, giving it wild look.
It moved past the orc leader, swift like a blur before it grasped the orc leader's staff with its claws and few away.
As if on signal, Raban performed a technique. A cluster of green coloured mana flew up into the air and there was a sudden shockwave that was transmitted through the air. Most of the bandits were surprised by the sudden pushing force and fell down on the ground. Before anyone could react, a large green forcefield like a semicircular dome covering all of them, the bandits, beasts and the orcs, preventing entry or exit.
When Raban did his spell, the other hunters also reacted. They immediately unleashed their full strength on the bandits. It was like a laser show when all of them attack at a time. Every weapon they held, be it sword, sabers, spears, arrows, shone as the pumped them full of mana. Their attacks cut through the bodies of the bandits and wolves like a hot knife through butter, slaughtering all of them within 5 seconds.
The skill and ease with which the hunters killed the bandits and wolves was really impressive. It was like a demonstration of might rather than a fight. It was clear that they were playing all this time. It was not a fight but an execution.
At that time, Ajax also felt the difference in the skill and experience of these hunters. Even in his past life these hunters would make very good agents with these acting and fighting skills. He felt that the members of the division, truly deserved their name - "hunters". They really behaved like hunters who baited beasts, laid traps and then took them down.
As the orc leader fell down in such a disgraceful manner, the orcs also paused their charge. He was their strongest weapon with his magical enhancements their source of power and confidence. With him down, they didn't dare continue the fight before checking if he was all right.
The orc leader who was forcibly dismounted of the wolf, didn't manage to keep his balance and was rolled around a bit before coming to a stop. He was quickly helped up by another orc who came running to him and helped him stand up.
"Shaman, what do you think now?" asked Syam again mocking him.
The orc shaman leader who stood up, looked at his mount and knew that it wouldn't be of any use in their fight. Rage peaked in him as he saw the body of the owl and his injured mount. Both were his old companions who had been with him for many years.
Losing his magic staff which he used to perform those magical techniques, didn't cause him any fear. All orcs were primarily body cultivators without a mana core. Only a few talented ones end up creating a magic core like the other cultivators to perform magic techniques and these were called shaman.
"I think I will kill you," he yelled turning towards him. Even now, he hadn't noticed that the bandits and wolves were dead. When Syam attacked with the spear, he also noticed for a second that the spear was still controlled mid-air. This was usually only possible for those at baron stage of cultivation, but after he fell down, he forgot about it in his anger.
The shaman who lost his staff, mind clouded by range, didn't want to back down. He wanted to use his own hands and feet to beat the life out of the humans.
But before the orc could step forward, another spear right in front of his feet. It was shot by Raban. Shooting a spear just before one's feet was an indication of a warning shot. This time, when the orc leader saw another with higher strength among his opponents directly, he calmed down a bit.
As the orc leader looked around and found all the bandits and wolves dead, he realized that none of the mercenaries were as weak as he had expected.
He calmed down even more and began to think. He started to realize a few things that he had overlooked in his rage.
The way Syam shot that spear and it suddenly turned towards the beast, made him at least a baron stage cultivator. This puts Syam at a similar strength level as the shaman.
Raban's spell which he directly performed was even more ridiculous. Even the shaman's fog technique required him to use a staff in which acts as a storage of mana. Without that extra mana, he couldn't perform the fog technique. But Raban managed to make a forcefield without even an instrument. This makes Raban a lot stronger than him.
As the orc leader, realized all these his rage started to fade as fear began to take its place. He realized that all the act was just to make them dissipate the fog and reveal themselves. He lifted his hand signally the other orcs to hold.
The more he thought about it the more concerned the orc leader became. With that bird that defeated his own owl, they should have already known about them. They just wanted to make sure they got everyone and trapped them.
He realized that they couldn't defeat their adversaries and would suffer unnecessary deaths if they did. Their race already was almost extinct on the continent with only a few hundred living in the forbidden forest. The humans forced them into this situation culling and capturing any that were seen in their lands, making them live with hardly any resources to strengthen themselves. For them, even ten deaths was a significant loss.
All orcs hated the humans' kingdoms and their forces. The orc leader even more so. The twilight orcs revered their gods of battles and death, and his tenets. They believe that only through wars can their strengths be improved and their talents honed. He had fought humans before and knew that unlike the orcs who valued fighting head-on, the humans believed in strategy and tricks a lot more. He had experienced them before, but still fell into another trap.
The fact that the humans didn't attack him yet even with their advantage proved that they didn't want to kill him. To humans they were a good source of strong labor force as prisoners. It was obvious to the orc leader that his adversaries wanted to capture him and his squad alive.
"Aaah," sighed the orc leader loudly.
He was feeling tired and upset. He was a bit helpless right now, not for failing to lead his squad or falling into the trap. He was feeling so, as he knew that his squad would insist on fighting. Surrender was a shameful concept to the twilight orcs. To them fighting to death was a better option than surrendering without a fight. It was a part of their customs and even the bloodlines. So, he knew that he couldn't order them to surrender.
The orc leader was an old orc with his hair gone white. He was already an old one who has regressed from his peak strength. He had seen enough battles and is quite experienced in fighting against humans.
This is the reason that he was made to lead this squad into the lands of the humans. Half the squad contained young ones without much experience. The orc leader was meant to teach them about survival skills required to persist in this world.
It is the same reason, why he would also prefer to surrender than give their best to fight in his current situation. He had seen enough deaths of his tribesmen to know that only the living can preserve their customs.
"What do you want?" he asked Syam after waiting for a few seconds.
Syam looked at Raban, who nodded indicating him to continue.
"We both know that a fight here is unnecessary," said Syam. "You only want the boy, because someone hired you to capture him."
"Yes, we were promised resources and trades in exchange for the boy," agreed the orc leader.
"Surrender and I promise none of you will be hurt," said Syam.