The Great Catapult Escape (Ryuu)

When I was brought before the King, I was still wearing the magical collar around my neck and the mask-like protection over my mouth. Apparently, I had no chance to talk to the other side; I had to just listen and go wherever I was taken.

I didn't like it. It didn't make sense for him to go to so much trouble for me. I must have done something else to anger the Orc King, but with so many events in such a short time, it was hard to remember and predict.

For the time being, I decided to stay calm and listen to the king until I could think of an escape plan. When the king came to the area we were in and stood in front of me, the Orcs around stood up and greeted their king with a kind of salute.

The king, as I expected, was older than the other Orcs. The orc who came into the room with him was middle-aged and aggressive-looking. When he saw me, his gaze became angrier and the situation worsened.

When the king sat on his throne, the other Orcs fell silent. Then the king opened his mouth and spoke in a strong, slow voice.

"You are far from home, aren't you, warrior? And I'm sure you are wondering why you are in this state. But don't worry; you are here to listen to this. We know what you and your friends have been doing and why you have come to the fourth kingdom. You have come for war. But the reason I have brought you here is not to threaten you and get information. Your information is worthless as long as we fight the fourth epic back-to-back. You may not know or remember, warrior, but the orc—the elite soldier you killed in the first kingdom—was my son and the brother of my general by my side. Not only that, but you killed our ally—the third epic—and before you even came here, you brutally attacked my Orcs. Tell me what we did to you. What did we do to make you come here with your stinking hands stained with the blood of my son?"

At the king's words, the orc whom he called general stepped forward, one step ahead of his father.

"Father, let me kill him now," he demanded.

"Be patient, my son. There is a time for everything. Tell the orcs to communicate with the fourth epic; it seems that the war will start early," replied the king.

The general orc pointed at me and asked, "And this father, what will happen to him?"

"We won't kill him now. We'll kill his friends one by one in front of him until he realizes the pain we're going through. Then I'll behead him myself," the king responded.

Suddenly, one of the orcs rushed into the room in a great panic, shouting loudly to the king about an impending danger.

"Sire, the prisoners have escaped..." the orc said before being cut off.

The door behind the orc shattered and fell on him. With the door open, my friends rushed into the room, followed closely by an orc. The king was not pleased with the situation and shouted for support with all his might.

"Quickly, sound the alarm. We can't let them escape."

More than a dozen orcs flew at my friends after the king's words. They worked as one, using their movements and skills. Rose anchored them with her vines, Shou fought back with his sword, and Lezlie and Babu supported them.

When the general orc approached to attack, Mila surprised him with sound waves, Rose prevented him from moving with her vines, the general orc was pushed back against the wall by Babu's club, and Lezlie's earthen blow caused the General Orc to crash through the glass wall and fall from the castle.

Wedan quickly approached me and tore apart the collar around my neck. I removed the mask-like guard over my mouth and freed myself. We were all free again, but the alarm had already been sounded and nearly a thousand orcish soldiers were on their way.

The king laughed evilly at our situation. "You can't escape from here. This will be the end of you."

Wedan punched the king orc, knocking him unconscious, and Babu surveyed the situation with unease. "We managed to save Ryuu, but who will tell us what to do now? Thousands of orc soldiers are about to ascend the stairs, and the stairs are our only way out."

I remembered something that Rose and I had done in the past. I thought we could use it again, so I started punching the glass wall that the general orc had smashed, opening it wide.

"Ryuu, what are you doing?" Rose asked.

"We're going to build another catapult, but this one has to be very big and powerful," I replied.

Rose knew what I meant and nodded her head, giving me her approval. "All right."

Turning my head to the others, I had to show them that for the plan to work, we had to work together. "Listen, I need all of you to help me. Rose will use her vines to build a catapult around the wall. Lezlie will use her magic to stretch the vines as far as she can. Babu will help Lezlie and secure the vines with his stick. Hiroshi will observe and tell us how far to retreat so we don't fall into the lava. Wedan and Mila will hold the door."

At first, I wanted to fight more than run, but I wasn't sure how long the battle would last or how many of them there were. More importantly, I didn't know what we could do if the fourth one arrived. It made the most sense to play it safe and get out of here.

The orc on our side watched us in silence, as if in awe. We hadn't asked him if there was a way to escape. I'm sure he would have told us if there was because I didn't think they would keep him here anymore since he had helped us.

When I gave the signal, Babu raised his stick and Shou cut the vine that was stretching. We were launched as far away from the catapult as we could. Though we soared quite high, we managed to land safely using our powers.

We were a long way from the orc stronghold, but Orkun talked us into taking the situation seriously. "We are indeed a long way off, but the orcs are good at tracking. We better get to the rebels' nest before the army comes after us. Follow me."

I had no idea how Orkun knew about the rebels and where they were, but it seemed that we had no choice but to follow him.