According to the current classification of magic, magic can generally be divided into several major categories: Elemental Magic, Ritual Magic, and Black Magic. Not included in these are Natural Magic, Dragon Speech, and Blood Magic, which are derived from contracts with races such as elves, dragons, and bloodkin. There is even Divine Arts, which, strictly speaking, are not magic at all.
Explosive Magic, while being the most common form of Fire Elemental Magic, is extremely practical and visually impressive. For this reason, it has become widely popular—many people become magicians just for this spell.
But no matter how good a spell is, it still has flaws. The greatest weakness of Explosive Magic is the time required to gather power. If attacked during this period, there’s a real risk the spell will backfire, blowing the caster to pieces.
Facing so many orcs, Roland felt tremendous pressure. If the other side could understand human speech, it would be best to resolve things through negotiation and avoid a violent clash.
She tried calling out, “Green-skinned orcs, can you hear me?”
The leading orc captain seemed to catch Roland’s meaning, but in its eyes, this woman’s words were worth less than the farts of the children in its tribe—completely unworthy of notice.
“Kill all the weak humans and take everything back!”
In the end, they were just a bunch of uncivilized savages, and Roland hadn’t put much hope in their willingness to communicate peacefully.
“Since you don’t want to settle this peacefully, then let fists do the talking.”
She reached into her satchel and casually tossed a few marble-sized seeds onto the ground.
The moment they touched the earth, the seeds burst open, and thick vines, rapidly accelerated by magic, shot toward the group of orcs like emerald serpents.
The orcs were caught completely off guard. Several failed to react in time and were immediately bound tightly, unable to move.
The orc captain tried to hack the vines apart with its weapon, but a fireball hurtling from the distance forced it back. Flames scorched its skin black, and it glared furiously at Roland, the one responsible for all this.
“Damned woman! I’ll chop off your head and limbs and feed you to the tribe’s wolf-dogs!!”
Seeing the enemy charge, Graham instantly drew his sword and stepped forward to meet the orc head-on. “Don’t even think about hurting Lady Roland!”
His build and strength couldn’t match the orc, but as long as he made good use of his speed and aimed for vital spots, victory wasn’t impossible.
Taking advantage of the opening while Graham fought the orc captain, Roland immediately poured what little magic power she had into a scroll. As her magic was about to run out, she quickly converted her Motherly Love points into magic and continued to infuse the scroll.
The magical circuits on the scroll glowed with a warm red light, like a volcano’s mouth gathering strength, ready to erupt with mountain-melting lava when the time came.
The remaining orcs all charged forward together, intent on hacking their enemies to pieces as they always had.
As she dodged, Roland also kept her magic barrier at the ready, making sure none of the orc attacks landed on her. With such a small frame, even a glancing blow could be fatal, so she had to be extra cautious.
Perhaps curious about the commotion, a miner poked his head out of the mine tunnel, just in time to see what was happening on the surface. He immediately ducked back inside to tell the others.
In no time at all, the entrance was crowded with dirt-stained miners.
The old miner at the front stared in disbelief when he saw Roland. “She’s a magician?!”
Vance, up in the watchtower, also peeked out and couldn’t help but see Roland in a new light for daring to face the orcs alone.
Fifteen orcs might not be able to defeat a proper baron’s knights and soldiers, but they could easily massacre a small village. And yet, seemingly frail Roland had managed to hold off all the orcs on her own.
Thinking of how he’d just boasted and even ran away in front of her, Vance felt utterly ashamed.
The battle raged on.
Roland had already infused nearly a hundred magic points, and after accounting for what she’d spent on defense, she had less than a hundred and fifty left. She wasn’t sure if unleashing Explosive Magic now would be enough to end the fight, or if it would only take out a few orcs.
If too many orcs remained and she ran out of magic, there’d be no going home for dinner tonight.
She still had a few magic potions and magic items in her bag, but each one used was one less for later, and Roland wasn’t wealthy enough to use them carelessly. Unless it was absolutely necessary, she didn’t even want to open her satchel.
But the orcs didn’t give her any chance to rest. Like rabid dogs, they lunged at her one after another. Under such heavy pressure, beads of nervous sweat dotted Roland’s brow.
Graham wasn’t having an easy time either. He’d underestimated the orc captain’s strength. Though it had the typical orcish temper, it was much smarter than the others and knew how to fight to its strengths.
Whenever Graham tried to strike at a vital spot, the captain would immediately abandon its attack to guard those areas, giving him no openings at all.
Seeing both of them struggling to hold out, the old miner grew anxious. He wanted to rally the others to help, but no one was willing to risk their lives for strangers. Furious, the old miner cursed them out, “Can’t you see who she’s fighting for?! Have you dug for so long you’ve dug out even your consciences?!”
Someone retorted, “Nobody forced her—she’s the one who wanted to help.”
“How can you say something so heartless? She’s risking her life to protect your safety! Her life—for your lives!”
“I’m not going. If you want to die, go yourself.”
“Cowards!” The old miner stomped his foot, grabbed a pickaxe from the ground, and turned away. “Fine! I’ll go and die in front of you all!”
Even though he said he’d grown numb, when the moment really arrived, he stepped forward before anyone else.
When the old miner really charged into the fray to fight the orcs, the others began to waver.
“Are we… really going to just stand here and do nothing? If we don’t, the orcs will come for us anyway. If we help now, maybe we can drive them off!”
“Yeah, as long as we can drive them away, a few injuries aren’t so bad, right?”
The crowd grew more and more restless, but the man who had argued with the old miner jumped in again. “What, you all in a hurry to die? You’d rather charge up and scratch three-meter-tall orcs than stay safe here?”
But his words couldn’t sway the others.
Seeing this, the miner grew even more anxious, but before he could say anything else, the first few had already grabbed their pickaxes and charged ahead, shouting, “To survive!”
The crowd surged forward like a collapsing dam, floodwaters rushing unchecked, or like beasts unleashed from their cage. Courage filled their hearts, and they no longer feared death. With shouts for their own causes, they ran into the battlefield—only the one greedy for his own life stayed behind.
“You! You! None of you are allowed to go! If you all leave, who’s left to stand in front of me and block those savage orcs?!”
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