Return of the Woodcutter

Under the two suns' heat, clamors of the spectators, Aito trotted towards the enemy, his step leaving deep tracks in the sand due to his increased weight.

Gripping his ax, he imbued the pike with Durability and Impact, preparing for a carnage. Suddenly, fifty meters away from his targets who had already formed up ranks to stop him, he decreased his equipment's weight, bolting forward.

Three hundred orcs had turned in his direction, forming six perfect rectangles with fifty orcs each, shoulder to shoulder. Their tough and thick tower shields glowed yellow.

Slightly bent forwards, they awaited the confrontation with confidence, fully knowing what that man was capable of. At least they thought they knew.

Instead of ramming into them shoulder first, Aito increased his equipment's weight at the last moment and stabbed an unlucky orc's shield with his spike.

The momentum, added weight, level 4 strength, Durability, Impact. All those were focused on a small surface barely the size of his thumb, increasing the penetrative power further.

Despite all that, it didn't manage to pierce the shield coated in durability, however, it bent, propelling the orc backward. The ten orcs behind it all pushed together as one, breaking the momentum in barely 1 second.

Arrows and water bullets impacted the orcs' towers shields, leaving tiny dents. Their formation was so tight it allowed for little to no openings.

Three hundred orcs immediately encircled Aito while one hundred of them went straight for his other teammates.

'Damn it, just what are those shields made of?' He thought, hacking at an orc's protection, leaving a mark on it. It required four more full-power hits to finally pierce through the shield.

Those were made of pure steel, were at least twenty centimeters thick, and particularly heavy. Orcs couldn't move fast with those, but in exchange gained an impressive defense. Added to that was Durability.

All in all, the orcs had a defense tougher than a forty-centimeter thick concrete wall, something often found to surround modern arms vaults on Earth.

Aito stopped attacking. Orcs in heavy armor progressively surrounded him, step by step. He activated Cyclone Lv2. Whirling like a small tempest, wind blades barely left any scratches on the creatures' shields.

Grains of sand moved about with swirling wind, slightly clouding the orcs' visions. A flurry of blades impacted their shields, yet it only did enough to repel them for a few meters, creating sparks. Aito managed to kill a few, but they soon were replaced by others.

He clicked his tongue. At this rate, he could kill a hundred of them in ten or fifteen minutes, but there were a thousand. Also, attacking those creatures ate up energy like crazy.

'Even with Fury it might take a long time to get rid of those bastards,' he thought, gripping his weapon hammer side. 'I suppose I have no choice but to use this.'

Aito refrained from using his ainium equipment too much since it might dull his senses. In his current situation, he could not hesitate, though.

Dashing towards the nearest enemy, he brutally brought down his hammer. The orc's shield coated with Durability shattered into hundreds of pieces. It widened its eyes from shock when the hammer hit its head, breaking the helmet, shattering its skull into oblivion.

Aito roared, furiously bashing one orc after another. Orcs died by the dozen, incapable of stopping his rampage, unable to understand how the situation changed so drastically.

He had the time to kill around fifty of them when a counterattack came in.

Dozens of orc archers jumped on top of their comrades' flat shields—positioned horizontally atop their heads—to elevate themselves.

Their long crossbows loaded with bolas, they aimed for Aito's feet and legs. Projectiles flew, twirling in the air.

Aito's Instinct alerted him of the danger but coming from multiple directions, he barely had time to deploy his shield, blocking three of them. Some missed their target.

Ten bolas wrapped around his arms and legs, impeding his movement as Aito fell to the ground.

'You gotta be kidding me!'

He tried to free himself with sheer strength, however, ten bolas crafted from steel chains and infused with durability… a level 4 strength couldn't simply escape that with brute force alone.

Aito was trapped from head to toe. Orcs took this opportunity to bash him from all sides. Hammers and axes. He overloaded Durability to give his armor more resilience.

Around a hundred meters away, Lucius watched the battle occur from atop a wooden wall, pondering about taking advantage of this situation to kill orcs with a hit-and-run tactic. But that would be admitting Aito had been right about cooperating today.

Those orcs were stronger, more resilient, smarter, numbered a thousand, and more organized than those they fought yesterday.

Lucius's pride, despite the clear rational facts exposed in front of his face, forbid him from acting according to Aito's wishes.

From where he stood, he could see Aito's teammates fighting against hundreds of orcs. Water surged from the ground, creating a hole in the orc's formation that was soon closed.

Arrows flew in between the small openings, striking joints or entering visors to hit orcs in between their eyes, freezing flesh or equipment, but most of the time those couldn't kill their targets.

Aito was being swarmed by orcs who bashed him to death.

Sam's fortification had all been reduced to rubbles. It appeared the earth mage had either run out of aura or the spell beads he used were exhausted.

'That guy should be dead by now, anyway. No point in helping him. Thankfully, he lessened our burden by killing some of… wait, what!? How is he still alive?' Lucius thought.

Aito's heart beat faster, accelerating his bloodstream. He closed his eyes, thinking about Sam's yapping. Anger rapidly grew, spreading as fast as lightning. He wanted to avoid using this Yapping Method to activate Fury too often since the more he got used to it, the less it'd have an effect.

Aito's muscles contracted, bulging. The surrounding chains started cracking under the pressure of his increased strength.

Orcs rained blows after blows on his armor that progressively dented. One strike was nothing, but numerous ones trying to hit the same spots would weaken his defenses for certain.

Bolas that were wrapped around him finally shattered, liberating a furious monster. Aito flipped his shield ainium side. A flurry of bash followed, sending orcs flying.

He roared as he spun with his hammer, creating chaos and destruction. Orcs retreated slightly, leaving enough space for archers to do their jobs. Bolas flew in his direction once again, but this time, Aito dashed into the mass. Dodging projectiles, using orcs as shields.

The orcs' tactic turned against them as some of their kins were trapped by bolas. Realizing bolas wouldn't work a second time, they abandoned the idea and tried to exhaust Aito.

However, now furious and aware of their tactics, he was unstoppable.