One Minute Earlier

"Everyone ready?" Freya asked, making sure everyone was stably hanging on to her. If anyone fell down, then it’d be too troublesome.

Currently, every person in the party was on Freya. Literally.

The two other female half-orcs were at her back, each carrying a half-orc baby. The dwarves, on the other hand, were under Freya’s arms, with two in each arm squeezed in.

If an Alterran saw this, they’d think they were large mochis with beards.

After settling everyone, they waited until the next batch of transfers was done. Freya leaned down a bit, activating her innate skill before dashing forward.

[Silent Predator]

It was a skill that could temporarily allow her to move in absolute stealth through any environment, regardless of terrain or obstacles. It would allow her to leave no trace and no sound.

Even if it was through people much stronger than she was, all they’d feel would be a passing wind. The rest wouldn’t notice anything at all.

She could also cover whatever she was carrying, but they had to hold their breaths.

Of course, this was a very short-term technique, and the moment she hit something or attacked, it would be cancelled, so she also had to be very careful and plan well.

This was how the group of them snuck into the array and arrived on the other side.

They rushed to another area, opposite where the crowd was coming from.

Not to mention Freya, even her "baggage’s" faces were puffed up because they were still holding their breaths.

But then they sensed some of the people going past the array, and would potentially block their path. Freya had no choice but to stop; the momentum almost caused her to fall down. Fortunately, her strong reflexes balanced things out, and she managed to shift directions at the last minute, and they found a hiding spot nearby.

huff...huff

People took deep breaths but covered their mouths so they didn’t make a sound.

They heard some rustling and immediately bent down, hiding in the shrubs. They were at a slight elevation so they could clearly see the people this time, and realized they were uniformed men passing by.

The dwarves blinked, recognizing the uniforms.

"Ah, it’s probably them," Cotto whispered. "That is their uniforms!"

"Yeah, there are some differences, but they probably upgraded," another nodded. Dwarves had a gift for seeing details, so they could see there were differences; they just didn’t know what it meant or what it was for at the moment.

"They’re allies! They’re allies!"

The dwarves were about to call on them when a menacing aura approached all of a sudden! They watched as the figure immediately took down a few!

Freya didn’t think anymore and let the others go, dashing forward to help out.

BANG!

The surviving ’uniformed’ guard were shaken and scared, and then dashed back to the main party. However, a rock was swiftly thrown and hit the back of his head.

Freya’s eyes turned red, and her attacks became more frantic.

...

Baku was very confused, and his instincts took over as he was stuck in a defensive stance for a while. It wasn’t that he was weaker, but he was weakened by earlier fights, and he was just too shocked by the current enemy.

He looked at the tigress in front of her, feeling tension. He felt his heart palpitate and his heart beat in ways he had never experienced.

On cue, one of her punches connected smack on his face.

"Anger...this must be anger," he said with his sharp teeth gritted, and finally started fighting back.

BANG!

SLASH!

The two of them fought with increasing intensity, and humans at the same level as them wouldn’t be able to follow the hits. At best, they would see blurs.

As the two exchanged moves, the battle also moved farther and farther away from the rest of the team, causing the dwarves and the others to have difficulty following after them.

BANG!

SLAM!

PUNCH!

ROARRR!

Baku managed to find an opening and raised his feet to kick her knees, causing her to fall sideways. She lifted her arms to block his next attack but she was still taken down.

BANG!

Baku kept her down with his knees and raised his sharp claws, but his arm paused midway.

Baku just thought she was another slave, but seeing her made him feel reluctant to hit, much more than the previous enemies.

"If our territory wins, you can be free," he said.

"Shut up!" Freya yelled, suddenly turning to the side to land a hit from the side.

Half-orcs were simple-minded in general. Since the dwarves said the uniformed people were allies, then this guy’s position as an enemy was fixed.

Baku blocked it with his arm; the sound made by the impact of thick skin resounded before she launched a series of attacks.

Because Baku had been through several battles before this and was still injured, not to mention he was a bit distracted, she managed to land a shallow slash on his chest.

Baku gritted his teeth and pushed forward.

SLASH!

BANG!

Battles between orcs were always pure physique. Whether it was pure strength, dexterity, and so on, and in different combinations, depending on the half-orc’s archetype or ethnicity. Strategies were barely used, because they barely had any use.

This was the first time Baku went against another half-orc who fought so similarly to him.

Another round of punches, kicks, over-the-shoulder throws, and so on was exchanged before Baku finally managed to find another opening and commit to it.

SLAM!

He held her down by holding her neck and raised his fist, intending to make her lose consciousness as they did to the others.

Fortunately, the other half-orcs arrived on time. Sephra was about to help her friend when Nana yelled.

"BAKU!!!"

"NANA!!!"

This moment put the places in everyone’s heads, and Baku’s hold on Freya immediately loosened. They were panting from the high-intensity fight, and their eyes met.

Ba-dump 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Baku stood up and backed away, several steps away from Freya, as if he had been burned. Freya’s sharp eyes followed his movements, unsure what to feel either.

Nana was unaware of the undercurrents and sobbed, hugging her brother.

"Baku!! Wuuuuuu!!"

The children saw their mother like this and followed her example. They also ran over, hugging the man’s big legs instead.

"WUUUUUU!!!"