The orc started running at the same time that Michael shot toward him. Without stopping, the Forgotten raised his bow and slid on the ground as he nocked an arrow. Michael widened his eyes and hurriedly jumped to the side, but the orc's aim kept up with his movement.

Damn it.

Michael lowered his center of gravity. The Forgotten pulled on the bowstring, making the bow almost take on the shape of a full moon, and released it. The arrow seemed to be even faster than the previous ones. Michael didn't even try to think about the best course of action. There was no time. The light within him roared in defiance. Once it 'felt right,' he moved again, dashing to the side. The arrow upturned the ground in its way, but just barely missed him and landed on the outer wall of one of the houses. The house collapsed less than a second later, walls vanishing as they were ground into pieces finer than dust by the sheer power of the projectile. The few parts that remained flew everywhere, but Michael didn't even glance at them.

Now.

His body burned hotter than fire, the light straining every muscle fiber he had. Chanting, Michael sped up. As the distance between him and his enemy rapidly disappeared, he pointed his staff at the orc.

"Scorching Ray."

His Circles resonated with the mana of the world around him. Deep within the land of darkness, the mana ignited into twin blazes. The two spheres of fire hovered in front of the Elder Chief's Staff for a fraction of a second before speeding toward the orc Forgotten in the shape of fiery beams of power. Even though Michael had Clear Sight, the twin Scorching Rays still felt exceptionally bright with the dim lighting as a backdrop. The Forgotten started moving to avoid them, but it was too late. The first Ray landed on its left arm. The flames devoured the orc's limb and incinerated it completely, without even leaving behind ash. The second one reached the Forgotten's chest and pierced through it.

Fire spread from the point of contact with alarming speed, devouring the Forgotten's body like an unstoppable force. However, as the orc looked at Michael with a deadpan expression, something changed. The white, glowing tears became brighter, in stark contrast to the darkness that surrounded the orc, which only became thicker. The darkness swallowed up the flames, and the tears flowed more than ever. Michael furrowed his brow.

As if unwilling to give him any time to think, the orc drew its bow again. This time, there was no arrow, which only put Michael more on edge. The battle experience he'd gathered over the course of the Tutorial was screaming at him, saying that this would only be more dangerous than the previous attacks. Cursing under his breath, Michael kept Lightspeed active.

Seemingly slowly but surprisingly quickly, an arrow made of a mix between light and darkness appeared on the bow, which had already been drawn. A chill went down Michael's spine. Almost instinctively, he pushed Lightspeed to its limits and started moving as quickly as he could. A heartbeat later, the arrow of light and darkness pierced through the air like an energy beam from shows he used to watch on Earth. Michael only had the time to widen his eyes before the beam almost pierced right through his left shoulder.

How the fuck are its attacks getting faster?

No matter what, he needed to cripple the creature's long-ranged arrows, especially those arrows of light and darkness. Those were likely to be its fastest attacks. Michael pointed his staff at the Forgotten.

"Earth Spike," he chanted.

The ground underneath the orc rippled, making it look down. Michael didn't stop moving as the twin Spikes pierced their way out of the stone and through the orc's feet, lifting him off his feet. Michael waved his staff as the orc nonchalantly pulled the bowstring back again. The stone spikes rippled once more. Smaller spikes surged out of their bodies, like a tree's ramifying roots. Each smaller spike gave birth to even more, smaller spikes. Like a chain reaction, the countless spikes tore their way through the orc's body. As another arrow of light and darkness took shape, two spikes moved through the air like snakes and pierced the Forgotten's elbows, then his arm muscles. The Forgotten orc's posture collapsed, but not before it managed to shoot another arrow.

Michael tilted his head, still running toward the orc. The energy arrow drew a line on his cheek, but Michael forced the mysterious energy to remain under control with brute force. He had created an opportunity he couldn't miss – the damage to himself was secondary. He pointed the staff at the orc, who was now struggling to pull back his arms to draw the bow. The Earth Spikes disappeared as a large sphere of fire took shape in front of Michael, as tall as the orc himself.

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"Fireball," Michael said under his breath.

The Fireball flew forward, fast enough that the orc only had the time to put his bow in front of his body before it crashed against him. The flames devoured the Forgotten's frame, making the light tears glow even more and the darkness become deeper. Still, Michael wasn't willing to give up on this attack so easily. He strained his mind, multiplying the flames' size by mixing his high stats with the Passive Skills he'd acquired. The flames became deeper, almost changing colors, as the Forgotten's flesh quickly melted. Skin and muscles turned to ash, blood boiled, and bones were charred. The orc's eyes had already melted, but the Forgotten was staring straight at Michael. A chill went down his spine.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the Forgotten orc's corpse collapsed, and a System notification rang in Michael's head. He finally allowed himself to breathe out calmly and deactivated Lightspeed. A moment later, staring at the Forgotten's ashes and remainders of his body, Michael frowned.

If I only face Forgotten at the level of that orc from now on…

It was within his expectations, but that didn't mean it would be pleasant. To begin with, he'd suffered a serious injury in this fight because he hadn't faced the orc alone. It was highly likely that from now on, the number and power of the Forgotten would only increase. Even though he had been faster than the orc's arrows, because he had needed to pay attention to the other two Forgotten, he hadn't reacted as quickly as he could have.

To top it all off, his stats and proficiency with his Skills hadn't been enough to instantly finish off the orc.

I really wonder who the hell is supposed to beat the Consumed Territory if they aren't like me.

Shaking his head with a sigh, Michael continued onward after healing himself with Heal.

It took less than ten minutes for the next wave of Forgotten to find him and attack.

Michael stared at the four Forgotten running toward him after he purified another Village. Two of them seemed to be on the same level as the orc he'd just fought, even if only at a glance. They were a female dwarf and a male dark elf. The situation was such that he even remembered a catchphrase from a game he used to play as a kid.

"Ah, shit, here we go again," Michael grumbled, smiled to himself, and lowered his center of gravity to prepare for the enemies. He and the Forgotten moved at the same time.

The battle that followed was rather short. By pulling out all the stops, Michael managed to quickly deal with the weaker Forgotten and focus on the two stronger ones. The dwarven woman acted as the frontline, while the dark elf cast spells from further away. It was a simple formation, but one that was very effective against a single enemy. Michael stared at the dark elf Forgotten with some resentment as he avoided the woman's hammer swing.

Above the dark elf, a mass of light gathered, growing with each passing second. It looked like a Fireball where the fire had been replaced by the glowing liquid that the Forgotten cried.

…What the hell is that?

It was reminiscent of the Forgotten orc's arrow of light and darkness.

I need to dodge.

Michael abandoned the idea of face-tanking the mysterious spell. Since the orc's arrow had managed to pierce through his body, there was no reason to believe that this spell wouldn't be able to do the same. As such, his only two options were killing the Forgotten dark elf before he finished casting or avoiding the attack. Michael gritted his teeth.

A moment later, he was forced back to dodge a swing that crackled through the air toward his head, widening the distance between himself and the dark elf. Michael looked at his other opponent. Like the dark elf, the dwarf woman was slowly being surrounded by light and a deeper darkness. He clenched his jaw and pointed his staff at her, his Dragonheart thumping within his chest like a drum.

"Arcane Missile," he said, finishing his chant.

Mana coalesced into twin spears of energy in a heartbeat. Instead of firing both at the dwarf, however, Michael glanced at the dark elf. One of the spears quickly moved and pointed at the man.

Go.

The first spear pierced toward the Forgotten woman's chest, shifting the atmosphere around it and crackling with energy. The dwarf reacted, but she wasn't fast enough, due to the distance between them. The spear went right through the right side of her chest and created a gaping hole. Her right arm was consumed by the spell's power, disappearing alongside her entire right side. As she fell forward, Michael moved, light flowing through his veins. He shot to the side.

A moment later, the sphere of light arrived. It crashed against the ground and exploded with a roar. The stone ground turned to dust as the light consumed it, and the air was sucked in and devoured. As the atmosphere vibrated, the explosion grew, almost as if it were trying to make sure it caught up to Michael. Michael widened his eyes and used Lightspeed's boost to keep running, but the spell followed his movements. As he ran, Michael glanced at what remained of the dark elf Forgotten. The entire upper half of his body was gone, and the legs had already collapsed helplessly. Despite this, the explosion didn't stop growing. Michael gritted his teeth and continued to run.

Eventually, once he was twenty-five meters away, Michael stopped and looked back, feeling the light behind him die down. He stared at the hole that the spell had created and stopped channeling Lightspeed.

"…Damn."

Everything in a twenty-meter radius had disappeared, up to several meters deep. A chill went down his spine.

…High Constitution or not, if I had been hit by that…

Michael let out a breath and shook his head. He couldn't get caught up in the strength of his enemies. It was good to study their capabilities, but he couldn't let them make him hesitate.

Michael looked to his left, to where even deeper darkness awaited. Further in, at the deepest point, he could see a ravine that seemed to be made of darkness itself. He stared at it for a few seconds before starting to run toward it.

Forward.

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