A large area inside the forest was burned to prepare for the battle to come. The Orc Village that was previously surrounded by lush trees and greenery was now surrounded by the barren land. Not even a speck of grass could be seen on the scorched land.

All the kids were hidden in the farthest house. Only adult Orcs could be seen in the village. They had finished all the tasks that were assigned to them.

They waited for further instructions.

“They are coming…” Lia informed Azekiel. “They crossed the boundary.”

“How long before they get here? And how many are there?” Azekiel asked.

The Orcs were once again watching him talk to himself, but they had become habitual to seeing him talk to himself by now.

“There are twenty-one of them. And they are being led by a woman, it seems.”

Lia gave the description of the woman, which slightly matched with what Azekiel had expected.

“That must be Leor. The strategist…”

As long as the people were inside the boundary established by Lia in advance, she could see everything… It was as if she was keeping an eye on their every moment, which was a big advantage. The only drawback was that she couldn’t listen to what they were saying.

“They will be here in a couple of minutes. We shall start.” Lia spread her arms and started casting her illusion.

At the same time, Azekiel instructed all the Orcs to leave and take their positions.

The Orcs rushed to their places, spreading out.

Lia created an illusion of an old tree in the middle of the forest. In the entire village, this was the only tree.

Using the same illusion, she created Orcs. In her illusion, Orcs were standing around the only tree in the area, holding torches to burn the tree.

Through her illusion, Lia also made Azekiel look like an Orc. In fact, she made him the leader of the Orcs since she didn’t want the Triads to see a human here.

****

The Triads arrived, expecting an easy hunt and revenge for what the Orcs did to their friend, but as they arrived, they saw a scene that made their blood boil.

The forest was burned! It was destroyed!

“Preposterous! The Orcs destroyed the forest!”

“Such vile creatures! They really deserve death! I am going to enjoy killing them!”

The rage of Triads started coming out in the form of words, but even that wasn’t the extent of it. They truly had decided to make sure everyone was killed! Previously they only wanted to kill the men in the Orc Clan who did the fighting before taking Layin back, but now… They wanted to wipe out the entire clan from the face of the earth.

Unlike the Triads, Leor didn’t express her anger. Instead, she observed the scorching marks on the ground.

“The forest was burned recently. It seems like the Orcs were expecting us.”

“So what? If they think burning a forest can stop us, then they are too naive!”

“Don’t underestimate them. They’ve already killed one of you. They don’t seem to be that weak. So underestimating them will be a big mistake!”

“Moreover, I’ve heard that the Orcs aren’t a clever species. Instead, they are known to be quite dumb. Despite all that, they took away our advantages and expected us so soon… Something doesn’t seem right… It’s like… They aren’t stupid. But then why are they willing to fight?”

“If they knew we would be coming, why didn’t they run away? Why do they want to fight?”

“As you said, they are stupid. That’s why they stay behind to fight. As for burning the forest, I think it’s less about their cleverness and more about what they saw,” one of the Triads answered.

“Since they already fought, they knew how we fight. That’s why they took away the forest. I don’t think there’s too much to give credit to them. Even idiots could’ve come up with it.”

“Maybe…” Leor still had her suspicions even though their words made sense. For some reason, something felt out of place.

The Triads didn’t spread out. They walked in a group of twenty-one. It was as if spreading out could be seen as a weakness. They didn’t want to appear weak or scared of Orcs, at least.

The Triads kept getting closer and closer to the Village. The village finally became visible.

Inside the village, they saw many orcs gathering around a tree, holding torches.

Their backs were facing the Triads, making them unable to see them. The Orcs slowly brought the torch closer to the tree.

“Those bastards!” Many Triads couldn’t bear watching a tree being destroyed before them. Moreover, it was also a perfect opportunity for them to attack. All the Orcs were standing in the same place. If they attacked, this was perfect.

All twenty Triads rushed to the Village. Everyone except Leor, who found it even off. Even though she was also angry, she felt that it didn’t make sense. The people who burnt the entire Village… Why did they wait all this time to burn the tree in the Village? It was as if…

“They were waiting for us!” Leor exclaimed.

She shouted, “Stop! It’s a trap!”

Unfortunately, her shout only reached a couple of Triads who stopped. The other either didn’t listen or didn’t seem to care that it was a trap. Even if it was a trap, they believed it was useless.

Around fifteen Triads rushed inside the village. One of them raised his hand toward the tree. “Come to life! Destroy the ones who seek to destroy you!”

“Hmm?” Even as the Triad chanted, the tree showed no movement. In fact, he didn’t feel the connection at all. It was only now that he realized that this wasn’t a tree.

Fifteen Triads had entered the village, not knowing that the Orcs were wearing exactly for that moment.

Multiple arrows came flying toward the Triads. It was also when Lia canceled the illusion, removing her shroud to momentarily daze them.

Quite a lot of Triads were stunned to find the tree and the Orcs disappear. By the time they understood they had fallen for an ambush, arrows had hit straight in the middle of their skull.

Even amongst the Orcs, there were some good archers that were waiting for this moment to show their skills.

Out of the fifteen that had entered the village, five were killed instantly due to the arrows. Seven received minor wounds as the arrow either hit their shoulders or something else.

Only three of the fifteen were without any wounds.

Unfortunately, they weren’t so lucky either, as they had caught Azekiel’s eyes.