Chapter 38: The Orcs Arrive

Chapter 38: The Orcs Arrive

Axi stood obediently and utterly still, looking quite simple-minded.

Honestly, his brain wasn’t quite equipped to handle this situation.

He had zero experience with these kinds of matters.

Meanwhile, Airael’s mind was just as chaotic.

The thought of having to engage in something intimate with Axi made her feelings difficult to describe.

Clearly, she didn’t want to do this, but she had no choice.

It was reminiscent of the peace treaty from three hundred years ago; the only difference was now she and Axi were in the same boat—bound together, for better or worse.

With a sigh, she decided to stop overthinking it.

No amount of worrying would change what needed to happen next.

So, Airael turned to Axi and said, “Come over here and see if you can cover me with your cloak.”

Axi nodded silently, stepped forward, and lifted his cloak high. After it swept over Airael’s head, he let it fall down.

At that moment, the world before Airael turned pitch black.

Under the cloak’s cover, she could see nothing.

Though the cloak enveloped her whole, the awkwardness was that a good part of her lower body was still exposed.

Even the largest cloak wouldn’t stretch that much around the neck.

Airael stood at about 1.6 to 1.7 meters, right at Axi’s neck level, who was around 1.8 meters tall.

She lowered her head and noticed her legs and feet peeking out from underneath.

Seeing this, Airael was quite annoyed.

Darn it, how did she overlook the height factor?

Now what? How was she supposed to deal with this?

Being exposed like that was really noticeable.

As Airael fretted, she suddenly felt a pair of large hands gripping her waist tightly.

Then her body spun around swiftly, and she was swept into a cold embrace.

Her head was pressed right into that chilly chest.

With this series of movements, Airael was completely covered by the cloak.

Both of them were pulling the cloak tightly together.

If either of them was any taller or broader, it wouldn’t work at all!

Clearly, this was all Axi’s doing.

Now that things had come this far, Axi was all in.

Once Airael realized what had happened, she instinctively began to struggle, quietly shouting, “You idiot Axi, what are you doing? Let me go! If you release me now, I can overlook what you’re doing!”

But Axi was unfazed, tightening his hold instead.

He replied, “Ailia, just don’t move.”

He had to admit, Airael was indeed quite powerful.

He was struggling to contain her.

Of course, that was also partly because he didn’t dare to use his full strength. One wrong move and he could hurt her.

That wouldn’t be good.

“If you say don’t move, then don’t move! Do you even know what’s going on right now?” Airael internally grumbled as she felt totally exhausted with no ability to respond.

Seeing Airael silent, Axi continued, “If I don’t do this, we’ll both be exposed.”

The word “exposed” snapped Airael to attention.

She suddenly realized that both she and Axi were under the cloak.

To be precise, Axi was under the cloak, and she was curled up slightly in Axi’s embrace, clinging to him like a little bird.

It was an incredibly intimate position.

Once she figured this out, Airael’s anger subsided significantly.

Still, she couldn’t help but complain, “Even so, couldn’t you have given me a heads up?”

Axi hesitated before responding, “I was afraid you’d refuse.”

Upon hearing this, Airael fell silent.

Well, that was indeed a strong answer.

At the same time, she pondered whether she would have rejected Axi if he had proposed this.

She thought: probably, maybe, she wouldn’t have refused.

After all, she had prepared herself mentally.

It was just Axi taking a little advantage; it’s not like she was going to lose a piece of her meat.

On the contrary, if they didn’t do this, chunks of her might end up in those guys’ bellies!

After all this thinking, although Airael still felt a bit annoyed, she decided not to cause trouble for Axi anymore.

So, she quietly stayed in Axi’s embrace.

After a moment of careful consideration, Airael realized that aside from Axi’s icy armor, having such a solid and wide chest to lean against wasn’t half bad.

After all, it was pretty much like finding a sturdy support.

In the battles to come, she would need to rely on Axi’s strength even more.

Seeing Airael calm down, Axi let out a relieved breath.

This way, they could hide quite well.

Even if things didn’t unfold as they planned earlier, with the help of this Magic Cloak, he was confident he could lead Airael safely out of the forest.

Without the Riding Wolves’ scent to guide them, the orcs lacked significant advantages in the forest.

Axi then led Airael to a more open area to hide.

Since Airael was curled up in his arms, she couldn’t see outside properly, so he took on the responsibility of observing.

Meanwhile, the two giant beasts had already gone through several rounds of clashes, leaving the surroundings in shambles.

These ten-meter beasts had tremendous destructive power just due to their size.

After several rounds, both the Giant Bear and Dragon Beast had their strengths.

Each of them had tough hides and immense strength.

The main difference was that the Dragon Beast’s tough hide was primarily its shiny silver armor that covered its surface.

This armor resembled fish scales, protecting it from many attacks.

The Giant Bear, on the other hand, was genuinely tough.

Even after getting several big gashes from the Dragon Beast’s sharp claws, they looked terrifying but were actually not that bad.

In contrast, the Dragon Beast’s injuries were more internal.

Though its armor could protect it from sharp attacks, it wasn’t as effective against pure brute force; it couldn’t shelter its owner from every attack.

Fortunately, these internal wounds weren’t too serious for the Dragon Beast.

While neither beast sustained heavy damage, the aches throughout their bodies gradually eroded their remaining rationality.

After all, a beast was still a beast; even if it was a magical one, it still had a degree of intelligence.

But it could easily lose its composure.

It’s not just beasts; even some people can lose their cool quickly.

Not everyone can remain calm and composed all the time to make the most rational analyses.

Most people act on emotion.

“Roar—!”

“Roar—!”

Then the two giant beasts let out tremendous roars.

The momentum they exuded reached a peak.

They were gearing up for a real showdown.

Neither the Dragon Beast nor the Giant Bear would choose to back down at this point.

“How are they faring in the fight?”

Hearing the giant beasts roar, Airael curiously inquired.

“They’re about to get serious,” Axi replied, his tone heavier.

With the orcs arriving, these two beasts couldn’t settle their score before they showed up; ideally, they’d retain most of their strength.

That way, they could fulfill the goal set by him and Airael for them.

“Have you spotted the orcs?” Airael pressed, anxious.

At this moment, she was somewhat annoyed that the orcs were taking their sweet time.

Didn’t they have enough to eat? Couldn’t they pick up the pace a bit?

Axi shifted his gaze from the two beasts and scanned the surroundings.

In doing so, he spotted the orc figures not too far away.

“They’re coming,” Axi announced, continuing to observe the oncoming targets.

Slowly, more and more orcs entered Axi’s sight.

With the aid of the Riding Wolves, they followed the scent left by Axi, heading this way.

Their pace was not exactly slow.

It was merely a bit slower compared to what it could be.

Firstly, there were many of them, so more people meant more issues to handle, inevitably slowing the marching speed. Secondly, they had to ensure they weren’t going off course in the forest.

Otherwise, getting lost would cause significant delays.

Thus, they had to ensure the Riding Wolves were confirming their path before they dared to pursue.

This added some time, slowing them down further.

Airael, upon hearing this, was ready to spring into action.

These orcs had just chased her relentlessly; it was time for some payback.

As Axi watched, the orcs followed the scent left by him right to the two giant beasts.

They too noticed the battling beasts.

Despite their initial panic, the orcs and Riding Wolves were quickly calmed down by Sam.

Sam didn’t feel fear towards the two giant creatures.

What he wanted to do right now was to capture Axi and Airael and punish them properly.

So, the orcs and Riding Wolves pressed on, getting closer to the two giant beasts.

Their approach was completely unmasked and undeniable.

Though the battling beasts might not have noticed them at first, they gradually found it difficult miss them.

At that moment, both giant beasts regained their senses and instinctively split apart, glaring not-so-kindly at Sam and the orcs.

The warning in their eyes was quite evident.

However, Sam was unfazed.

Two mere giant beasts were just a minor hassle to deal with; the priority was still to capture those two individuals.