In the quiet night, following the retreat of the warlocks, the two of them managed to easily and safely return to the forest.

Of course, they had to take a roundabout way, but it was worth it.

On the way, they encountered several goblins and kobolds even some Dire wolves. The density of monsters was increasing rapidly.

Esdras didn’t hide his swordsmanship abilities much from David, this was not a situation in which he could take it easy and play around.

Besides he didn’t care much to hide his swordsmanship anyway, mages wouldn’t think much of it unless they were on the receiving end of his sword.

This is because of the well-established arrogance and domination of spellcasters for thousands of years.

Just like what happened with the two warlocks before Esdras escaped into the dungeon. Although they saw that he displayed slightly unusual abilities with the sword, they didn’t think much of it.

Coincidentally they bumped into a group of escaping apprentices, Esdras immediately stopped them because he recognized one of the girls, she was on Celine’s team.

Naturally, the three apprentices were escaping for their lives and they didn’t appreciate being stopped. But Esdras didn’t care.

“Hey, you! You’re part of Celine’s team, right? Where’s she?” Esdras asked urgently.

“… you’re Esdras? Oh, no! Celine went to get you!”

Fuck. On one hand, this made perfect sense, from Celine’s perspective he needed help, and obviously couldn’t fend for himself.

Inwardly cursing at the absurdity they dashed away completely changing their trajectory.

However, this was actually very bad much worse than he initially thought the situation could become. If she headed to his old camp then she would be heading to a highly dangerous area.

It was in that place that the shadow emerged, causing a mana reaction that startled both forces. And since the warlocks control the forest, they have the highest chance of investigating the source of the disturbance.

However, Esdras was attracted to a commotion a bit further away from his old campsite. He felt that there were multiple small presences in that direction compared to the emptiness in other directions.

In a clearing, they came upon multiple trenches and wooden blockades, clearly made in this arrangement in haste.

The camp was being besieged by hobgoblins, bugbears, and goblin wolf riders.

From their perch on the trees, Esdras caught a glimpse of Celine among the apprentices defending the camp.

“What do we do? They’re too many and far too powerful…” David asked.

He was right, these monsters had an average level of three. But actually, this was no big deal, in all honesty, Esdras could make short work of them himself. But…

There was no time, he needed to get in there and get out as soon as possible. Worse still, thanks to his [Third eye] he was able to stop a hidden factor. An orc.

[Gurik]

Race: Green orc

Rank: 2

Class: Warrior Lv.1

– Double barrage Lv.1

– Sure shot Lv.2

– Savage onslaught Lv.1

It was not just any orc but one who had stepped onto Rank 2, these kinds of orcs did not just appear anywhere. In the back of his mind, a certain theory began to take shape.

However, it was true that he couldn’t take care of the problem single-handedly with this variable added to the mix.

Curiously enough the orc was staying far away and hidden, if not for his ability, he would not have been able to spot him. And in this darkness, he looked no different than a bugbear.

Clearly, the orc did not want to be found out, could it be that there was a reason behind that?

And he felt that he was close to understanding something but unfortunately, many of the details were not available to him. That being the case he had to act based on what he knew.

​ “Listen, David, there is a rank 2 orc among them, you will make as much commotion as possible and attract the bulk of the force remaining here to chase you all you have to do is circle around the area, and I will be done by the time you come back.”

” what? Are you telling me that you can take care of him at that time? I will assume that you are not joking… do you know I didn’t have any breakfast today, I knew I should have eaten something…” David added with a sigh.

” do you think I will joke in this situation? How do you think I managed to return to the fortress?” Esdras was not about to hide anything at this point, all that mattered to him is getting this done safely.

” all right then, but what about the others you know the other apprentices what do we do about it? We can’t leave them here now can we?” David looked at him questioningly.

” yes we can, but I suppose we can take them as well. However, if they prove to be a hassle or a burden, I’m going to leave them behind you and Celine are the only ones I care about here.”

David always tried to keep his friendship with Esdras a secret to protect himself, but he was actually a good friend who would lend a hand at the right time.

Even when Esdras was first transmigrated, David was thoughtful enough to keep some food for him just in case he didn’t eat any.

Although he might look a bit like a coward he was not, in the tough times he always came through.

Since the plan of action was already decided then all that remained was to put it to the test.

*BOOM!*

A fireball with a two-meter radius exploded on the head of the chaotically attacking monsters.

The explosion was so powerful the air pressure directly broke the eardrums of those lucky enough to be far away from the action.

The first attack killed ten or more monsters and brought the battlefield to a stop. This one took Esdras a whole two minutes to charge which is why it was as powerful as a real spell.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep