Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Terror was written all over Joonbum’s face. It was a sound that he could never forget.

‘Orcs!’

It was an orc, or something that resembled it. The roaring of a ten-foot walking monster resounded in the forest. It was the monster that crushed Galfus’ front and back legs with the swing of a club. He remembered the fight it put up against the gigantic wolves. Just hearing it roar made him freeze in fear.

A loud, thundering voice echoed throughout the forest. The voice that taught him the brutal truth of other world started closing in.

“Ah… ahh!”

Joonbum screamed in fear. He ran towards the watchtower he had built inside the fortress. He quickly climbed up the ladder as if he were in a fast-forward video.

“Ahh! Ahhhh!”

He could not stop screaming. Time after time, he had prepared for this moment, but he forgot most of what he knew once reality hit. The fortress was reinforced to defend against such a monster. The orc, which was the name he chose to call it, would not easily launch an attack against such a prepared fortress.

Even then, just a sound from it made him lose all conscious and instead filled him with fear and terror. His mind raced chaotically.

“Ahh! Where’s the weapon. Weapon!”

He wore the tactical vest as soon as he walked up the tower, put on a belt with a sword tied to it, and picked up his rifle. His face was drenched with sweat and he was breathing heavily. He found relief coming back to him as he stared at the forest, ready to fight.

The thick tactical vest, along with the weight of the sword at the waist and the rifle in his hand gave him a sense of security that helped him overcome some of the fear.

“I-I don’t need to be afraid. It’s like a wild boar.”

Joonbum mumbled as he touched his rifle. He felt his fear fading away as he talked.

‘It’s coming!’

Joonbum’s eyes were wide open as he noticed the forest shaking from a distance. Something was closing in, carrying a noisy clatter with it.

“It’s coming! It’s coming!”

Something was running toward him. Joonbum aimed his rifle.

“Wh-agh!”

Joonbum screamed as a black, shadowy figure jumped out of the forest. He almost pulled rifle’s trigger before he dropped it, screaming.

He stood up quickly.

“Galfus!”

It was Galfus. He could not mistake it with something else. She seemed to have lost some weight and fur and had some more wounds, but Joonbum quickly recognized her.

‘She lost weight! I knew it. It’s not the same outside home right? You think I’ll take you in after all this time? Hah!’

Joonbum’s mind raced with thoughts. However, a loud, terrible sound and the shaking of the forest made him stop. He became puzzled – there were multiple sounds.

‘A signal?’

Loud roars came from all directions, and soon Galfus was surrounded by the five monsters that jumped out of the forest.

“The monster!”

It was the monster he had first seen during his first visit to this world. Dark green skin covered its terrible looking face and its ten-foot tall body. Galfus roared at the monsters, bearing its teeth. It was not like the friendly gesture it showed to Joonbum in its captivity. It was a warning.

He felt every single hair rising and he had goosebumps all over his skin. It was a terrifying roar. Galfus readied itself against its enemies as if it would bite its enemy’s neck at any time.

Then something changed. The orcs stopped closing in and looked around, sniffing the air. The five orcs closing in on Galfus didn’t seem to be bothered by Galfus’ aggression. Their clubs were colored red with dried blood all over as they raised them.

“Is that-?”

Joonbum noticed a necklace on an orc. It was made out of wolf tusks and claws. It seemed to have sewn it together with wolf hide, as if it were a battle trophy. That orc was bigger than the rest with multiple scars all around its body. It meant that it was an experienced fighter, and all of these orcs were pretty much the same with the amount of scars.

‘They must have some intelligence.’

Maybe it wasn’t smart as a human, but it still seemed to have some kind of intelligence at least. It seemed to be smarter than the ones he saw before.

‘They’re higher in rank!’

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His instinct knew it was stronger. Although Joonbum never encountered these monsters before or had prior knowledge of them, it was easy for him to recognize these orcs as warriors of its kind.

‘Sh*t, did it just see me?’

Joonbum could not scream out loud. The monster, or the orc, saw straight through Joonbum. As the orcs scanned the area, they actively searched around for the unusual smell and finally noticed him.

‘Well, it should be obvious… they don’t seem to consider me as a threat.’

It was obvious that the orcs had noticed Joonbum. The area was much different from when he first arrived. There was a large empty area out in the forest which was as wide as 150 feet. There was not a single tree trunk or rock on the ground as it was now covered in wild grass. His excuse for it was so that he could gain a good view for safety, but he actually did it to forget about Galfus. The trees that surrounded the area were cut towards the outside. They were tangled up with other trees, making an outer defense line.

Not only that, an artificial wooden barricade that surrounded an enormous tree was more than enough to draw attention. It was not something that existed in this forest. The alien smell it contained was also a dead giveaway.

‘It’s obvious that they would notice.’

The orcs should have noticed such an unfamiliar sight or smell the moment they stepped into the area. Joonbum also remembered that he also left some of his own feces around his fortress.

‘How do you like the smell of my poop? Huh?’

The thought quickly passed by.

The orcs began closing in on Galfus. Galfus, unlike its fearsome past self, looked so weak compared to those orcs. But even in a crisis, Galfus did not look scared; it did not let its guard down toward its enemies.

Joonbum took up a vuvuzela and blew it. It created a loud sound, enough to shake the forest and startle orcs.

‘It’s enough to break through thousands of crowds!’

It had a sound like no other, and with such power, it grabbed attention well. Joonbum blew it again, making the loud, terrible sound that pierced orcs’ ears.

One of the orcs screamed in anger, waving its club mindlessly.

“What! You want a piece of me?”

Joonbum taunted it at the sight. He also jumped up and down, twisting his waist to taunt the monster as best as he could.

The orc screamed in anger, showing sharp teeth that were worthy of a fearsome monster.

“Take this!”

Joonbum pulled the trigger and shot the orc. His eyes widened as he watched a big shadowy thing flying toward him through the scope and screamed. He dropped on his back, his face pale. It was a club that the orc had thrown at him at full speed.

“Ahhh!”

He felt blood flowing down his cheek. The club was twice the size of a human-sized mortar colored deeply in blood red, showing how long it had been used. It also had dried meat that had been smashed and never cleaned. A club of that size was thrown at him, breaking half the watchtower.

The watchtower was wrecked by its damage.

‘Blood? From where? Is it my blood?’

Blood dripped to his chin, then onto his hand. As he realized it was his own blood that was dripping, he felt a sudden itchiness on his face.

“Ugh!”

He screamed in agony while feeling his face. Then an angry roar was heard. Joonbum wasn’t only the one that got hurt. The orc had suffered more serious damage. Part of its face was ripped apart, bleeding from multiple places.

Time that seemed to stop started moving again. Joonbum moved. He reacted to his instinctive fear. It wasn’t like before where he just watched, safely hidden, away from the scene. He was uncovered and targeted.

And there was more.

‘I taunted them!’

He realized that he had just taunted a monster with intelligence. But he couldn’t think for long. He was filled with fear to even think correctly. At that moment, Galfus jumped.

“Galfus!”

Joonbum screamed while quickly moving to pick up a rifle that had dropped on the floor.

Galfus jumped at the orc on the right, biting off its neck, which Joonbum followed by shooting at the startled orc. Multiple gunshots were fired and the orcs started screaming. Slugs from a shotgun pierced through the orcs. Galfus roared fiercely, crushing the orc’s head.

It was chaotic. An orc took a chance to swing its club at Galfus, and Galfus quickly stepped back to avoid it, seeming to have known that it was coming. Joonbum wanted to shout out to Galfus, but he fired his rifle instead.

One of the orcs threw its club at Joonbum again. The watchtower started failing.

“Galfus!”