"Breeeeergh!"
An orc shrill resounded in the battle ring. Baran had various sword wounds on his body. Some of his skin had been burnt. Others had been electrocuted and still had lightning streaks coming out of them.
Baran's body was being invaded by foreign mana. Mana's rank was lower than his body could handle. Therefore, the damage wasn't something he couldn't deal with at all.
But the way the elements were used in those attacks made it possible for the foreign mana to stay inside his body and deal damage over time. Now Baran had slowly festering wounds on his body.
"Breeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Skelaoh Shesh…"
Eren in his Varhan form had stress lines on his forehead as he listened to Baran saying something to him angrily in orc tongue. He found it difficult to keep up with the monster's tongue even though he could understand it. Especially now, since Baran was seen rambling about endlessly.
'You want me to translate?'
Alephee asked Eren before chuckling a bit. The latter sighed and responded.
'Naah. I'm good. Let the guy speak. I'm too tired to decipher the whole thing. But this old monster is saying how life is unfair to him.'
Varhan had come down from his flight. With this elemental fusion, he reached new heights in fire and wind elemental attainments.
Wind-Fire Wings was a powerful spell. But it turned out that it was way too powerful for his current level. His mana storage couldn't keep up with such a potent spell for a long time.
There was a reason rankers and monsters progressed further in the way of their elements as they progressed further in their respective paths to power. Having regular attainment in the element wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Because it supported the entity's existing capabilities.
It would appear that the butcher had surpassed his rank when it came to the ways of fire and wind. So now he had to use the spell sparingly if he wanted to keep on fighting for longer.
Varhan wasn't unscathed in his fight against Baran either. He had various puncture wounds on his body. But they were all on non-critical spots.
The butcher was back to experimenting with his spells once again. A lot of the wounds he had received were due to the wrong combination of spells he had chosen to employ at the time. And yet, he wasn't bothered.
Baran didn't pose him any threat. This was the right time to experiment. Against someone who could take his spells head-on.
Varhan realized that Baran wasn't about to shut up anytime soon. As he cleared his throat, he spoke carefully in orcish.
"Yo, my man, Baran. I think there's a bit of misunderstanding. What untouched treasure are you worried about?
I'm not trying to steal your treasure. At least not unless it's something too significant. I am even fine with keeping you alive.
Anyway. Let's finish this first."
Varhan said and cast his movement spell. Alephee wanted to correct Eren's misunderstanding of the foreign language. Baran didn't mean ranking resources when he said the word "treasure." He was referring to something else.
But she figured out that Eren would come to know what Baran was talking about eventually. So she kept quiet and let Eren handle all the matters.
Varhan approached Baran with two swords in his hands. He had taken out the Rigor Mortis set this time.
He had a high level of attainment in the elements of wind and fire. However, he could still improve his lightning element attainment. This was the case even when he had digested the gains of his former army colleague.
'I need a new lightning element snack.'
When the butcher considered digesting another entity that possessed lightning element affinity, he licked his lips and showed signs of greed. He did this while approaching Baran. The latter got spooked by his opponent's facial expressions and started screaming again.
"De… de… devil. I… I'm fine with you taking my treasure. Just don't make me your treasure. I don't want to be any guy's treasure.
Just… just kill me. I am old enough to accept my death at this point. Fuck. Life is so unfair."
Baran dropped to his knees and canceled his quicksilver manifestation just when the butcher reached him. He arched his eyebrows in confusion before asking his opponent.
"What is the meaning of this? Why did you stop?"
Baran took a long breath and shook his head in denial before replying. His nails were digging into his palms.
"Just… just kill me."
Baran said and stretched his neck. The butcher retreated into a distance just in case the Orc Lord was up to something. Then he lowered his weapon before speaking up.
"Why do you want to be killed? Didn't I say that I could keep you alive?"
The butcher meant what he said to Baran. Originally, he had planned to kill Baran or any other orc monster he saw that was up to his mark.
But he changed his plans after seeing Baran could be managed by him into helping him. The guy had regressed into his powers. This was good news for the butcher as he could exert his dominance on Baran without worrying about any mutiny from him anytime soon.
The butcher was going to enter the Oni dungeon soon. But before that, he needed to refine his Blood Seed that was associated with the orc monster race. He could do that by targeting high-ranked orc monsters and using his bloodline powers on them.
Alephee had noted that Eren needed to be careful in using his spells when he was in his Orc form. That's because their spell signatures weren't quite monster-like. Refining the Blood Seed was the remedy he had found for that problem.
So after settling his affairs with his guild, Eren entered the Badlands in his Varhan form. He was killing orcs by targeting lone orcs from various orc tribes and refining his Blood Seed while staying within them. That was when he saw the tribe getting attacked by Baran. The butcher recognized Baran instantly.
As a result, he mixed himself into the chaos and came to Baran's newly built tribe grounds after the latter took over the attacked tribe.
The Orc Lord who had the power to kill Eren a few months ago was now on his knees begging to kill him. Due to this scene, he couldn't help but smile after noticing his progress.
