Another Stupid Isekai

I woke up first, took down the barriers I put yesterday, and then grabbed some food. With the noise I made, people also started to get up.

They seemed quite fresh despite the harsh circumstances. As soon as they managed to grab something to eat, Will gathered everybody to start talking about what we exactly were gonna do here.

– Further ahead is orc settlement – he started. – And if we are gonna get a solid score during the month we have, we should consider going there. Obviously, we have very slim chances of taking hundreds of orcs head-on, but if we can take it e bit slower, I believe we have good chances.

– Did you ever try to do it before? – asked Nobuo.

– No. Never. We only watched it from afar – replied Will.

– Hundreds of those things… That sounds s bit too much – said Boris.

– I thought about this, and I have few ideas that could make this work – I joined. – I believe that with enough space to move, I could take around a hundred orcs. Will also could take a big chunk by himself. So my plan is to create a few choke points. You guys would hold them for a bit, as I engage and wreak havoc in deeper lines, then retreat. You also retreat, as Will block them by himself, and retreat when you go to the next position. If necessary I would step in, to help him get out. We repeat the process until every single orc is dead.

– We could also set up few traps – said Nil.

– I thought about it, and it won’t work. Mainly because preparation would take too much time, and we can’t repeat this every day. Besides, there will be roaming groups around that could set those traps off. Of course, I would go and clear a fair bit of them every day as you guys assume positions, so there is only a slim risk of them joining from behind.

– It sounds risky as hell, but also unbelievably tempting – said Boris. – If you really think we have a solid shot, we should try. Running is always an option.

– I’m also worried, but I’ve seen tour skills, Peter. I trust you can be a factor to tip the scales of victory on our side.

– I need to check a few things before we try, but I believe we will have plenty of time today.

– So, does everybody agree? – Will asked, looking at the faces.

People started nodding, and as such, the meeting came to conclusion. We finished the food and were on the move. They kept moving forward, but I stayed behind. To make this work I needed to figure a way to climb the walls of the canyon to be able to move in and out of the fight.

I had two ideas. One involving the barriers, and the other involving making objects out of void essence to use as stepping stones to jump up. The second idea seemed way better since I had a lot more void essence than mana.

I first tried with barriers creating a few small ones horizontally, and jumping from one to another. I made it all the way to the top, but the consumption was too big. I could do it maybe one more time, and that’s all.

I jumped down, using the shadow walk at the last moment to get rid of the energy of the fall. It worked as I tested previously. I could actually make myself emerge from the void in any position. Even lying down on the ground if I wanted, but since I didn’t see anything useful in that, except with a weapon already prepared to strike.

It led me to the conclusion that only the energy provided by me could go through the void. No external forces could do it. It was useful information.

Then I started testing my climbing ability utilizing shadow essence. I had plenty of it and could make myself few steps in midair to use with ease. Then I also tested the Shadow fusion skill, and to my amazement, I found out that I can go all the way up with two to three jumps. I also tried climbing, and it was successful to the point I actually didn’t have to take any steps at all.

With such knowledge, I headed towards the group, and after some time I managed to catch up to them. They were slowed by the fight but were doing great, so I didn’t join in. On the next, though, I did. Wiping out all the orcs in a matter of few seconds.

– I need that skill – said Midnight after the last enemy fell down.

– It looks very useful – followed Boris. – What class was it again?

– Shadow walker. It’s a special class.

– Special? What does that mean?

– You need to unlock it. Kill the rat boss.

– Oh. Ok. We might give it a shot sometime later – he looked at both Nil and Vitya.

They nodded with smirks on their faces.

– It’s normally useless. You need to combine it to be useful. A lot of work, and to be honest, you could have probably way more useful skills if you just go with the regular ones, since those special ones cost not one but ten points.

– Oh… That changes a lot.

– I still want it – said Midnight. – I need something like that, or that barrier skill of yours to fight efficiently as a mage.

I just shrugged.

– Then you need to acquire a lot of class points. Anyway… Let’s get moving.

After those words, I just grabbed my cart and started moving. They followed. There was still a lot of distance between us and the orc camp, and I actually wanted to reach it as soon as possible, so I set up a fast pace, making them focus on walking more than talking.

[0)ᴠʟ Will could easily keep up, and he matched me actually, curious about what I figured out with my powers. We had a short conversation establishing that on my part the attack on the camp is possible. Now only preparing the battlefield was left.

We kept going until late evening and then set up a camp in a safe spot. I did my usual routine of setting up barriers after I grabbed some food.

There was not much talking on that day since my tempo exhausted them quite a bit. I actually regretted my action, since they needed to be well-rested tomorrow, and during upcoming days.

The day came to an end with 618 181 points remaining on my account and five class points.