Chapter 37

Solo Clear – Chapter 37: Stage Five #6

When I came back to my senses, I was lying in the middle of the forest .
A shabby blanket made out of leaves was covering me .
The first thing that I did after waking up was recall the last memory I had before passing out .

I managed to pull out the lance by enduring the electricity that it released, but in the end, I used up all of my energy and fainted .
I checked to make sure my memories weren’t wrong and the Rival’s Lightning Bolt was sitting in my inventory .
I couldn’t get myself to take out the weapon .

I was scared of the electricity that enveloped the lance and after speaking with the Great Spirit, this lance ended up representing my weakness .

He asked me to think about the meaning of pulling this out .

“Whew . ”

I was able to pull out the lance that many humans tried but failed to do .
I felt nothing but bitterness .

Having a good life by myself was the motto of my life .
My thoughts on that haven’t changed .
However, somewhere deep inside me, I might be suffering from loneliness .

“…I should go back . ”

The Great Spirit must’ve taken me to a place that was pretty far from the plateau because I couldn’t feel the spirits’ presence .
Since I found out that I didn’t have any talent in spells, there was no reason for me to return to the plateau .
I no longer had any business with the Great Spirit .

Pant, pant!!

As I was about to return to the base, the wolf that I rode appeared before me .
The wolf was clever enough to find me by using his nose and it kept on sniffing .

“I remember leaving you with Tunga, but you’re amazing . ”

To compliment them, I softly patted their hand with my hand .
The wolf then stuck out its tongue like a dog and licked my hand .

Thankfully, the saddle was still on the wolf so I was prepared to leave after getting on and grabbing the reins .

“Let’s go back to the base . ”

***

Nothing must’ve happened at the base because the outer walls and the entrance didn’t have any traces of battle .
However, the base was currently going through a different problem .
They succeeded in capturing the enemy’s reconnaissance forces and making them prisoners .

“That’s surprising . ”

I mumbled to myself .
Whenever the Orcs are put into battle, their personality becomes violent .
Even if the enemy was barely breathing, they would target the head in order to finish them off for good .
But they kept the enemy alive and brought them here .

“I heard that Orkhar succeeded . ”
“I can’t really figure out what he’s thinking . ”

I nodded my head as if I understood him somehow .
I found out while talking with Orkhar, but he was an interesting figure because he thought in ways that ordinary Orcs didn’t .
Orcs believe that having power is the only way to end the war, but he believed that having a strategy was important too .
The reason why the clan leaders gathered and discussed strategies was because Orkhar first mentioned the importance of it and that’s why they started it .

When I climbed the tower, I noticed that Hocrim was guarding it by himself .

“Oh, you’re back . How was it? Was it worth learning the spells?”

I remembered the time when Kalax told me that Hocrim was a strong sorcerer .
He wanted to form a bond with me through spells, so he stood up from his seat and approached me .

“Forming a bond with a spirit wasn’t an easy task . In the end, I wasn’t able to become partners with anyone . ”

“Oh no!! I thought that you would be able to become friends with a strong spirit because of your strong mana . When I have the chance later, I’ll introduce you to a useful spirit!!”

It seemed like Hocrim really wanted to turn me into a sorcerer .
But I didn’t want to go anywhere near that plateau .

“Where are the others?”


“In the underground prison . Did you hear about the news?”
“Something about prisoners?”
“That’s right . Orkhar believes that he’ll be able to obtain some useful information from the Elves that he captured . ”

After hearing tone, it seemed like he was too happy about the prisoners Orkhar brought .
I looked down towards the prison from the tower .

“Ah…we don’t know anything . We really don’t know anything!!”

When I opened the prison door, I saw five Elves tied up with ropes and was being tortured .
An iron stick that’s been sitting in the fire was used to brand them as criminals .
It burnt through the skin and as smoke started rising up, the smell of skin burning entered my nose .

“If you find out anything, let me know . ”

Master Kalax and the other leaders turned their backs and our eyes met .
After greeting them, we went our separate ways .

“Did you get anything?”

I noticed Orkhar’s uneasy expression, which made me think that he didn’t find out anything, but I still asked anyways .

His answer was I expected .

“Not yet . I didn’t expect them to endure it for this long . ”

The Elves had injuries all over their bodies and they looked so exhausted that they didn’t have the energy to resist .
This must’ve been Orkhar’s first time torturing because he looked tired and sweat was rolling down his face .
I started questioning him and thought that he was wasting his time with these Elves .

“They’re just ordinary Elves . They’re not very useful as hostages . The Elves haven’t done anything yet, so that’s proof that they’ve given up on you guys . ”
“… . . ”
“If this continues, you’ll be tortured even more and you’ll be skinned alive and afterwards, you’ll be hanged on the wall . Even though we haven’t found out anything, you’ve helped a lot in inspiring our soldiers . ”
“What you trying to say? Human . ”
“I’m letting you know that even if you make an honorable sacrifice, no one will know about it . Soldiers die in war all the time and before that pain is healed, a different sadness builds on top of that . What you’re doing is a useless sacrifice . ”

They were more shaken up about what I said then the physical pain they’ve endured all this time .
The Elf next to them started crying after hearing what I said .


They must’ve had a hard time holding it in because tears started rolling down their face .

“In that case…what will change if we tell you everything?”
“I can’t guarantee that we’ll let you live . However, we won’t pointlessly torture you and on top of that, we’ll make sure to treat you well during the time you’re here . ”

That’s when I took out my sword and cut the rope that was tied around them .
Once their hands and feet were free, they kept on clenching their fist as if they couldn’t believe it .
Despite of the fact that they experienced pain, a joyous smile appeared on their face .
After seeing their smile, I knew this was over .

“There’s a temple far north from this base and there’s a god that we worship . There are rumors that two days later, the Great Priest will be visiting there . ”

The Great Priest was the leader and commanded the Elves .
I didn’t think a figure like that would be mentioned from the mouths of search units .
Orkhar became so excited that it looked like he was going to start cheering .

“It’s the truth, right?”
“We’ve been driven out, so there’s no reason for us to lie . I want to ask you for a favor . Please provide me and my subordinates something to eat and drink . Please . ”
“Very well . ”

When I was about to walk out of the prison, Orkhar quickly stopped me .
His eyes started shining and looked like he was touched by what I said .

“How did you do that? No matter what I did, they wouldn’t listen to me . ”
“If you continued torturing them, they’ll eventually start talking . However, in order to get them to give up quickly, I helped them realize their reality . ”
“Have you tortured someone before?”
“No . I acted a bit based on the dramas and novels I’ve read . ”

“Drama? Novel?”
“They’re part of the culture in the human world . ”
“I’m envious . It would be nice if I had the chance to experience it . ”

What I didn’t wasn’t an amazing skill that I needed to be complimented for .
After looking into their eyes, I noticed that their willingness was on the brink of destruction .

“Then, I’ll use the information that they provided and will come up with a plan!!”

He got carried away by the information that he obtained and rushed to the conference room .
As long as I take back the base, the stage will end, so I didn’t see the need to target the Great Priest .
However, I did hear a while ago that it was beneficial to capture the leaders of each of the race .

However, within the war that took place in the fifth stage, the heads of the leaders of each race hasn’t been cut off yet .

This has been an issue for quite some time and one challenger became desperate, so they gathered others that had the same objective and decided to achieve it .
However, they died before they could even go anywhere near them .
In the end, many people gave up and now, there wasn’t anyone that wanted to take the lead .

I wanted to see if that forgotten rumor was true .
With my strength, it would be enough .

“It’ll be awesome if something did come up . ”

***

Since we were invading the enemy’s camp, we couldn’t take a lot of soldiers .
Out of all the soldiers, 30 of them were picked and the leaders and I moved to capture the Great Priest .
At the location that the Elves mentioned, there was an antique-looking temple .

“…It looks familiar . ”

It looked exactly the same as the temple that I visited with Kalax .
I wasn’t the only one that was surprised .
The Orcs were so surprised that three of them broke away from the group .
There was a lot I wanted to say, but I needed to focus on the plan .
Since we didn’t know when he would appear, we all hid and waited until they appeared .
While we were waiting for the target .

A man that was wearing a white robe appeared ahead .
I’ve never seen the Great Priest, so I waited for someone to confirm .

“I’m confident that it’s him . ”

As soon as Kalax said that, they started growling as if they were prepared to attack .

“We’ll go once they arrive at the front of the temple . This is our only chance . We have to get the Great Priest’s head no matter what . ”