Chapter 307: The Clever 'Orc'

"How... could you..."

The bell-ringer’s neck was seized by the orc’s palm, the immense force exerted upon his fragile throat turning his words into fragmented, labored gasps.

"..."

Wang Yu, piloting Emon’s body through the power of the Chariot, offered no reply. He merely tightened his grip, hoisting the man from the ground into the air.

It was not that Wang Yu chose to remain silent; rather, he had yet to master the sensation of commandeering a vacant vessel, leaving him unable to speak.

The Chariot’s power had arrived in this space after traversing the darkness, much like passing through a portal; Wang Yu had no idea where he was.

The projection of the Chariot into this realm had originated through Emon. Wang Yu surmised that the orc’s faith in the Lady of the Night had forged a link to the Tree of the Night Sky, making him the anchor point for the Chariot’s manifestation.

Upon entering, Wang Yu had witnessed Emon attempting to strike the bell-ringer, only to have his soul rendered into nothingness by the other’s power.

A friend’s enemy is an enemy; without hesitation, Wang Yu seized the orc’s body—now easily influenced by the Chariot once the soul had departed—and lunged to grab the bell-ringer by the throat.

"Speak... who are... you? Why attack the Lady of the Night’s believer? What is this place?"

The orc’s lips moved, the interrogation stuttering at first before growing fluid. Wang Yu was gradually acclimating to the mechanics of puppeteering the orc’s frame.

It was a curious sensation, far more difficult than controlling the Mad Blood twins; this was someone else’s flesh, not amorphous blood that could be molded at will.

Yet, as the Chariot’s power delved deeper, following the body’s instincts and reflex nerves, Wang Yu’s control became smooth and proficient. He took hold of the vital centers and began to move as if it were his own skin.

"Clang..."

A resonant bell toll echoed—not from the man in his grip, but from behind him.

"Companions."

Wang Yu mused silently, realizing he was outnumbered. He whipped his head around to see two figures standing ten meters away, dressed identically to the one he held. It was they who had struck the bell.

As the sound rippled outward, Wang Yu felt his hand go empty. The bell-ringer he had been choking vanished, leaving only a tattered, ancient robe in the orc’s grasp.

Shifting from phantom to solid, the vanished bell-ringer reappeared beside his two peers, eyeing Wang Yu with caution.

"This one is a major problem. Her legacy no longer affects him. We must kill him here, or he will shatter this space woven from Her inheritance."

The rescued bell-ringer briefed his companions. The orc’s body, controlled by Wang Yu, was shielded inside and out by the Chariot’s power, rendering the force they spoke of useless against him.

"My vision is restricted; the Chariot’s power cannot extend beyond Emon’s frame. But the physical strength of this body is not an issue—it is formidable. In terms of pure raw power, it rivals a Great Knight."

Wang Yu flexed the body. It felt slightly stiff, but manageable; as the Chariot’s power seeped in, his movements grew increasingly fluid.

The other two bell-ringers remained silent, drawing several sharp daggers from beneath their robes, etched with exquisite, complex patterns Wang Yu could not decipher.

The first bell-ringer caught the blades tossed by his comrades, gripped them in reverse, and joined his peers. With ghostly, agile strides, the trio closed the distance with terrifying speed.

Clearly, they intended to kill the entity piloting Emon’s body.

"Are they Rangers? I cannot let them finish me, or Emon is truly dead—and I must uncover what is happening here."

Hopping backward, Wang Yu retreated at a slower pace, keeping the three Rangers within his field of vision, ensuring every step they took remained under his scrutiny.

If they landed a lethal blow on "Wang Yu" now, he would likely be fine, as he was merely a projection.

But Emon would be finished, and the Chariot, losing its anchor, would be forced to retreat, leaving the mystery of this place forever unsolved.

"Shing!"

One of the bell-ringers suddenly accelerated, charging low across the ground. His movement was erratic and unpredictable, his daggers swaying like vipers as he sought the optimal point to pierce the orc’s frame.

Lowering his center of gravity, Wang Yu stopped retreating. He channeled the orc’s muscles and battle aura, swinging the longsword held in the orc’s hand with all his might at the lead attacker.

Against enemies this swift, wielding weapons as short and treacherous as daggers, the sword was a hindrance. Fists were enough.

The orc’s physique was monstrous. The sword spun through the air at high velocity, a white arc of steel flashing toward the attacker’s neck.

These foes did not seem particularly strong. Even if they were specialized agility-based Rangers, Wang Yu, using Emon’s body, could easily track their movements with the orc’s raw power.

"Clang..."

The bell tolled from one of the two trailing companions. The spinning sword, moments from decapitating the charging bell-ringer, was struck by the power of the phantom soul and vanished into thin air before Wang Yu’s eyes.

Undeterred, the attacker’s speed surged. He leaped into the air, pouncing toward Wang Yu.

Turning his shoulder to meet the assault, Wang Yu prepared for close-quarters combat.

In a battle between knights, leaping into the air without a foothold is a fool’s errand; one cannot dodge or initiate a second dash, leaving the jumper in a position of extreme vulnerability.

Wang Yu did not know why the man would do this, but he would seize the opportunity. Yet, just as he prepared to drive his elbow into the man’s chest and crush his heart, the bell tolled again.

Mid-air, the bell-ringer holding the lethal blade dissipated. Wang Yu, locked onto his target, lost his prey.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The moment the jumper vanished, the two trailing companions hurled their daggers. They cut through the air, aimed with surgical precision at the orc’s vital points.

Wang Yu pivoted and slid, the orc’s battle aura swirling to form a dense shield over his forearms. With precise strikes, he deflected the blades, knocking them aside.

But in that split second, the bell-ringer who had vanished in mid-air abruptly solidified behind Wang Yu’s back.

He threw a dagger at Wang Yu’s heart with his left hand, while his right, gripping another blade, drove viciously toward the nape of the orc’s neck.

Battles between knights are always brutally simple; immense physical prowess strips away all pretense. Combat skill, awareness, and a sliver of luck decide the victor.

Other powers might have tipped the scales, but Wang Yu could not yet manifest the orc’s "Inner Potential," and for some reason, the bell-ringers had not shown any similar ability.

Three against one was already lethal. The trio’s ability to shift between phantom and solid form had created a killing field that pushed Wang Yu to the brink of death.

"Hah!"

A sharp intake of breath. Wang Yu inhaled deeply, filling his lungs. A crimson hue erupted from the orc’s heart, surging through every fiber of his being.

"Squelch!"

"Clang! Snap!"

The thrown dagger missed the heart, burying itself into the side of the orc’s ribs as he twisted.

The blade aimed for his neck was caught firmly between the orc’s teeth. Wang Yu exerted the full force of the orc’s strongest muscles, and the dagger shattered, snapping in two.

The orc’s green skin had turned entirely red. Emon’s body would have been too slow to react, but Wang Yu had found the switch to activate the orc’s racial talent: Berserk. He had triggered it without hesitation, the explosive power dissolving the crisis in an instant.

"The orc has entered Berserk. Use the throwing knives to distract him and drain his stamina. Once the frenzy ends, his weakened body will be easy to kill."

A brief exchange. The bell-ringers were not surprised; they knew orcs only died in battle when in a state of frenzy.

"Boom!"

Stomping the ground, Wang Yu drove the berserk body forward, leaving deep craters in the earth. He lunged at the nearest bell-ringer, his entire frame blood-red, steam rising from his skin—a terrifying sight.

The red figure blurred, dust erupting in his wake. The berserker’s speed now far surpassed the three Rangers. Despite their desperate retreat, Wang Yu reached them in a heartbeat, arms spread wide for a "warm embrace."

"Clang..."

As Wang Yu’s arms closed in, the bell tolled once more. Before the berserker could lock him in his grip, the bell-ringer’s form dissipated into nothingness.

Wang Yu lunged, but grasped only empty air.

"Roar!"

As if enraged by the sudden disappearance of the prey he was meant to seize, the orc let out a shrill, piercing howl that vibrated through the air, a cacophony so jarring it effectively masked the faint, flickering fluctuations of the magical lens hidden above his eye sockets.

"Squelch!"

The sound of blades biting into flesh followed; two sharp daggers plunged one after another into the orc’s back, unprotected by any aura. Refusing to let the beast’s skyward roar grant them a moment of reprieve, the other two Bell-Ringers hurled their knives at the rampaging frame without hesitation.

"Roar!"

The orc spun around in a fury, his blood-red eyes locking onto the two Bell-Ringers who had thrown the blades. Turning without a second’s delay, his massive body coiled, poised for a charge.

"Clang..."

A faint chime resonated, and behind the turning orc, the Bell-Ringer who had evaded Wang Yu’s grasp flickered into visibility.

His role was to draw the beast’s attention back once the enraged orc had failed to strike his two companions; a mindless, berserk orc was far easier to handle than one with a functioning brain.

"Boom!"

The orc’s feet hammered the earth, the explosive recoil propelling him forward at a speed too swift to track. At that moment, the pupils of all three Bell-Ringers constricted in unison.

For the orc, who had been glaring fixedly at the two who threw the knives, was now charging in the opposite direction—his target was the Bell-Ringer who had just materialized!

Furthermore, the orc’s trajectory seemed calculated, as if he had known exactly where the Bell-Ringer would appear.

"This is... a strategy!? How could a berserk orc think, and how could he possibly know where I would manifest!?"

The crimson blur tore through the air. The Bell-Ringer, caught completely off guard, felt his mind descend into a chaotic swirl of confusion; it was as if he had been seized by the throat, utterly unable to comprehend what was happening.

Their combat style was flawless against ordinary berserk orcs; by coordinating their ability to shift between reality and illusion, they could surely exhaust Emon, who had lost his reason to the frenzy.

But alas, Emon had already lost his "mind" to the Bell-Ringers' influence, and now, the one piloting his body was a "substitute"—Wang Yu. They were facing an entity that possessed the raw physique of a berserk beast coupled with the intellect of a normal human.

As for how Wang Yu knew the Bell-Ringer’s position, adjusting his stance before the man even appeared, he owed it all to Aivia.

The Perfect Fractal spell, brought along by Wang Yu through the power of the Chariot, had captured the subtle characteristics of the Bell-Ringers' phasing through the girl’s meticulous observation and analysis.

The enemy’s disappearance was, in truth, an erasure of their own existence using power derived from a divine legacy, rendering them intangible by ceasing to interact with the world.

Yet, complete phasing required time. The brief chime only obscured their form, making them untouchable and invisible, but they still exerted influence on the world around them.

Dust motes in the air were displaced, light was slightly refracted, and the ground would sink ever so slightly; these minute environmental shifts were the reflections of their movements.

By analyzing these details—which no one in the heat of battle could possibly notice—one could pinpoint a Bell-Ringer’s position and predict their emergence. The Perfect Fractal lens, connected to the void, excelled at processing such minutiae and drawing conclusions.

In Wang Yu’s vision, the spot where the Bell-Ringer was about to appear was clearly marked by a translucent silhouette.

Giving the Bell-Ringers no chance to react, Wang Yu, already steps ahead of them, drove the orc’s formidable body forward and slammed a fist into the face of the materializing man.

"Boom!"

Shattered.