The group finally moved out. Using the information Lucas had provided, Ivan picked the direction where they were less likely to encounter other students as they made their way to the closest orc village that wasn’t already under attack.

According to Lucas, the village was several hundred meters away from their current location. As for the number of orcs in that village, they would know when they got there.

Ivan also decided not to make any arrangements yet, they would start their planning after confirming the number of enemies.

The only thing that they knew for now was that orcs were a bit similar to goblins but with a lot of differences. Orcs were bigger and generally more powerful than goblins. They had warrior orcs that patrolled and went out to hunt, normal villager orcs that took care of the village, an orc wizard which was the equivalent of the goblin shaman, and the orc king.

While heading for the orc village, Ivan’s squad encountered other creatures on the way but didn’t bother with them.

They were all currently Level 1 warriors with limited amounts of mana, they couldn’t afford to waste it on unnecessary targets.

Also, although the dungeon was populated by orcs did not mean that there weren’t other creatures inside. It just meant that the majority of lifeforms inside the dungeon were Orcs while other species were less than 2 percent.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Sounds of light footsteps could be heard inside the forest as five figures ran by. The group wasn’t running at full speed to save stamina but their figures almost blurred as they flashed past the surrounding trees.

Not long after, they finally arrived. Well, they haven’t reached the village yet. What they encountered were four warrior orcs that were on patrol.

Considering how close they were to the village, the group was certain that these four orcs were members of the village.

The four orcs were currently sitting on tree stumps and making strange sounds to one another, they were probably discussing something.

Ivan’s group stopped forty meters away from these orcs and observed them from the top of a tree, the five of them were currently standing on a thick branch.

"Orcs!" Lena exclaimed in a low tone, her eyes flashing with excitement as she stared at the orcs.

Lucas, Juliet, and Aaron all had serious expressions. It was the first time seeing life orcs, they couldn’t bring themselves to be excited like Lena; they were nervous!

The orcs were huge, twice the size of an adult human. With bulging muscles, their shoulders were easily the size of a small child!

Not to mention their menacing faces and those two tusks. Although they had seen images of orcs before, seeing them in person still brought fear to the hearts of these students.

Well, except for Lena and Ivan. Lena was oddly excited at the sight of these creatures while Ivan remained indifferent.

After a moment of observing the four orcs, they saw that one of them was wielding a crudely made bow. Two held huge war axes, while the last one held a wooden club.

"A hit from any of those can easily kill someone," Aaron muttered with a fearful look in his eyes.

Ivan glanced at the kid and shook his head.

"Let’s take care of them and continue to the village," Ivan said.

"How?" Juliet asked nervously, and everyone else also looked at Ivan. Judging from his expression, it was obvious that he had a plan.

"Since they’re a bit far from the village, we don’t need to lure them away and can fight them here without alerting the village.

Juliet, you get close enough to take out the one with the bow. Aim for the head or chest to kill it immediately." Ivan said to Juliet and then turned to the green-haired Lena.

"Lena, I want you to hold one of them down with your vine. Go for the neck and strangle it to death if possible." He knew that Lena’s vine wouldn’t be strong enough to pierce an Orc’s hard skin yet but holding one down shouldn’t be a problem.

"Understood!" Lena said energetically, her eyes flashing with green light.

Ivan nodded at her and then faced Aaron.

"I’ll need your help separating the last two, create a wall that’s tall enough and prevents them from seeing each other but only for three seconds.

I need you to take the wall down immediately after three seconds. Can you do that?" Ivan asked.

"Mm," Aaron nodded with a serious face.

"Good. As for Lucas, you’ll keep watch on the village. Let us know immediately if any more Orcs are leaving the village." Ivan voiced out as he turned to face Lucas.

The boy nodded and the little bird that had been sitting on Ivan’s head all this while immediately flew into the distance.

"Let’s go," Ivan nodded and was about to jump down when Juliet stopped him.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Umm, you only said I needed to shoot the one with the bow." Juliet touched her cheek and said softly.

"Yes, I did," Ivan affirmed.

"Then what about the other two Orcs?" Aaron asked. If Juliet were to kill one and Lena held one down, what about the other two?

"Leave them to me," Ivan said casually.

Everyone "..."

Boss, we don’t mean to disrespect you but you’re a Paladin. How are you going to defeat two Orcs when you’re supposed to be a tank?

But nobody said anything in the end. Hopefully, Mrs Avalor was close by and would help if things didn’t go well.

Ivan glanced at them, he could tell what they were thinking. A faint smile formed on the side of his lips.

’Allow me to show you what a Paladin can do,’ he thought silently before jumping down from the tree.

At the same time, the others started to move. Aaron and Lena jumped down with Ivan while Lucas and Juliet moved close by jumping from one tree branch to another. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

All of them approached without the four orcs noticing.

After reducing the distance between the two groups to less than fifteen meters, Ivan glanced at his squad members.

Lena and Aaron were behind the tree to his left, and Juliet and Lucas were on top of the tree behind him. The girl was already in position with her musket in her hands, she was already aiming at the orc with the bow.

Ivan nodded at them, everything was ready.

Taking a deep breath, Ivan willed it and a sword appeared in his hand. It was the grade 2 sword his parents had gifted him.

The forest was silent except for the sounds that the orcs were making. A gentle breeze carried the appealing scent of nature and warm rays of sunlight pierced through the gaps of the tree branches.

It was just like any ordinary Wednesday morning where one could go for a walk and not expect a building to fall on them; except, except that one was about to fall on these orcs.

"Now!"

Ivan shouted as he dashed from behind the tree, rushing toward the orcs.

"!!!!" The orcs.

The four orcs jumped to their feet and looked around, the shout just now had startled them. Their gaze quickly landed on the small human who was rushing toward them, his speed was quite fast.

"Kaka!!"

One of the orcs shouted and raised his axe in the air. They were going to kill this human for disturbing their morning patrol!

But before they could even move.

Bang!

Something fast hit the orc that was holding a bow, a direct hit to the head. It seemed that Juliet had poured quite a bit of mana into that shot as the head of the orc immediately exploded like a watermelon.

Blood and flesh scattered into the wind.

The remaining 3 orcs were shocked by the sudden change of events, but the group wasn’t going to give them time to recover.

A vine that was several centimetres thick suddenly shot from behind one of the orcs like a huge snake and wrapped around its neck before dragging it to the ground.

"Kuk!"

Bam!

The orc crashed into the ground and began to struggle fiercely, trying to break free. Its eyes bulged like they were about to pop out.

At that moment, Ivan had already arrived in front of the last two Orcs.

The two Orcs were forced to come back to their senses after seeing how two of their companions had been taken out. They raised their axe and club, and were about to attack Ivan when.

Rumble!

The ground shook and the next second, a tall earth wall rose between them like a fence. Forcing them to jump away from each other.

Ivan didn’t hesitate and moved toward the closest one.

The orc swung its club in retaliation, bringing it down with full force. Ivan gently stepped to the side while swinging his sword as well.

Bang!!

The club crashed into the ground, hard. The ground caved in from the strike. At the same time, Ivan’s sword met the Orc’s neck.

Shng!!!!

A clean slash and the head of the orc was sent flying into the air.