Finally, under a heavy punch delivered from behind by Fang Senyan, the Orc's head sustained a grievous injury. That single blow forced its eyes bulging from their sockets and caused black blood to seep from its lips.

With an inarticulate shriek, it immediately buckled at the knees, went limp, and died. Upon hearing the unrecognizable syllable the Orc had screamed, the Elven maiden’s face instantly turned ashen.

"Heavens! This fiend is actually a servant of Vala, the Earth God, Oer!" Fang Senyan and Reef paid no heed to her outburst, their attention focused instead on the prompt they had just received from the Nightmare Mark: "You have slain an Elite Orc created by the Wizard Saruman." "You have gained the Milestone: Brave One." "You have gained the Title: Bloodthirster I." "Bloodthirster I: All your damage is increased by 5%.

Your damage against Orcs is increased by an additional 5%." "Only one Title can take effect at the same time. Do you wish to equip Title/Bloodthirster I now?" "Advancing Milestone: Slayer unlocked." "Slayer Condition: Kill 10 Elite Orcs." Reef studied the Title notification closely, his spirits suddenly soaring, and he exclaimed happily: "I just checked the Nightmare Mark; even if we leave, we get to keep the Title." Fang Senyan’s heart gave a stir, and he immediately conducted his own query, confirming the same answer.

At the same time, an overwhelming sense of fatigue washed over him. Two of them, aided by an Elven maiden, had barely managed to defeat a single Orc through a grinding, three-on-one battle.

It was hard to imagine what the outcome would be against the smaller bosses and regular Elite Orcs later on—would they stand even the slightest chance? He looked over at the Elven maiden, whose face was pale for reasons unknown, about to offer a few words of encouragement.

Suddenly, his gaze fixed on the slope below—his expression instantly changed, and he let out a frantic yell: "Run!!" Two hundred meters away on the hillside, Fang Senyan spotted a large horde of Half-Orcs, led by several Orcs of equal strength, rapidly closing in. These Orcs appeared to belong to a single tribe, suggesting they operated as a cohesive unit.

Because they were charging uphill, they held their shoulders low and bent their bodies, which made them look shorter. But only upon getting close would one realize that this was merely a slight optical illusion.

Fang Senyan further noted that the skin tone of these Half-Orcs was distinctly different from those encountered initially, lying somewhere between green and gray. Most possessed coarse black hair, ranging from dark brown to deep black, and a few Half-Orcs kept their hair long, braided into tresses.

Even from that distance, the heavy stench of blood and gore drifted over with the wind. While the eye colors of most Half-Orcs were quite mixed—ranging from gray-blue to purplish-black, covering most shades—the eyes of the Orcs were, without exception, a deep crimson.

Most Half-Orcs regarded this as a symbol of immense power. The Elven maiden witnessed this scene and let out a scream of despair: "That path leads directly to Rivendell!" But Fang Senyan and Reef had no time to dwell on Rivendell now.

Clearly, Rivendell was an ephemeral cake—delicious in appearance, yet ultimately just an illusion. Seeing the situation unfold, Fang Senyan and Reef immediately turned tail without hesitation.

It had taken every ounce of their strength to fight that damn Orc together just moments ago; if this mob of ravenous beasts swarmed them, lasting even a minute without being torn apart would be a miracle. Thus began another frantic chase, forcing the trio to eventually split up to flee.

Fang Senyan, relying on the speed advantage granted by his soul-bound equipment, finally managed to shake off the Half-Orcs clinging to their heels like burs. During his escape, he managed to dispatch one common Half-Orc.

This particular brute seemed to have a screw loose; despite wounds on its arm and head, it pursued Fang Senyan with rabbit-like tenacity, persistently dogging his every move. Fang Senyan seized an opportunity, turning back to feign weakness, allowing it to strike him a few times.

Once the armor’s effect, Swift Beast Speed, was triggered, he unleashed a furious barrage of fists, kicks, and a point-blank pistol shot to the head, creating a tempest of explosive attacks to finish it off. Surprisingly, he even looted a key.

Although the key was white-tier, as Reef had previously marveled, the Nightmare space possessed a deeply perverse sense of humor. Knowing full well that no universal points or loot could be carried out, the drop rate for keys was consequently quite generous.

Upon opening it, Fang Senyan discovered nearly 4000 universal points and a dark blue quality wooden spear! And this was only from an ordinary white key!

Fortunately, while the universal points were unusable outside this realm, the latter item could be equipped immediately. Fang Senyan promptly swapped it for his much higher attack power wooden spear, which he noted could also serve as a decent walking stick on the mountain terrain.

At this juncture, Fang Senyan was forced to admit that his talent, Resilience, and his weapon, the Iron Knuckles, were proving quite useless in this world... especially the former.

In the previous world, it had been a dominating ability, yet here, it had degenerated into something nearly worthless. This stark contrast was undeniably shattering.

Though temporarily safe, Fang Senyan found himself in a dilemma. The youthful recklessness of a novice spurred him on when he knew nothing, allowing him to charge blindly.

But after listening to the previous exposition from Mist Song, he had gleaned just enough knowledge to understand that the Misty Mountains were fraught with peril, and it would be disastrous to stumble into the hunting ground of some mighty beast. While hesitating, Fang Senyan suddenly heard an extraordinarily piercing shriek in the distance—a sound agonizingly similar to that of the Elf maiden they had just rescued, Mist Song.

Without a second thought, he rushed toward the sound. About a hundred meters away, Fang Senyan heard the scream already fading.

He cautiously moved upwind and approached. He then discovered that the Elf maiden, Mist Song, had indeed been captured.

An immensely powerful, muscle-bound Orc, completely naked, was panting heavily while forcefully spreading her long legs. Due to his arousal, the Orc’s entire body was covered in raised hairs, making him resemble a giant, moldy monster from afar.

Witnessing this, Fang Senyan recalled some data recorded in the Orcish research notes: It goes without saying that Orcs are inherently cruel and belligerent, and this disposition extends even to the females of their own kind. For Orcs, deriving pleasure from the pain inflicted upon their own females during the act of copulation is a source of joy, as female Orcs/Half-Orcs cannot experience other forms of pleasure.

Furthermore, the Orcs' sole method of procreation is (implying no normal marriage or consensual pairing). Surprisingly, in their appreciation of the opposite sex, Orcs and Humans shared an astonishingly similar aesthetic.

The difference lay in that Humans usually cherish beautiful things once obtained, whereas Orcs destroy and ravage them, deriving immense pleasure from the torment. Saruman specifically noted: Orcs/Half-Orcs can also hybridize with Humans, Hobbits, or Elves—Fang Senyan observed that the tone he used when writing this passage was as detached as a Human recording the mating of cats, dogs, pigs, and cattle.

This evidenced that Saruman no longer considered himself human. Moreover, female Orcs do not possess the ova or menstrual cycles found in Humans.

The male Orc's reproductive organ is incredibly potent, capable of attaching to a wall like a parasite and growing, with its genetic material derived directly from the wall cells of the host. This is the method by which male Orcs reproduce with other mammals, including wolves, dogs, and pigs—the recipient must be female as the mammalian uterus is necessary.

Female Orcs cannot breed by mating with other beasts or humanoids like Elves. Some wolf-like creatures used as mounts by Orcs are reproduced this way.

However, Orcs usually do not voluntarily breed with animals; they sometimes do so under compulsion from their leaders or other malevolent forces. Offspring resulting from Orcs mating with animals generally have poor survival rates.

This is because they frequently breed abominations, such as creatures with Orcish bodies but the legs of a pig or a dog, or even grotesque hybrids with a dog's front limbs and a human's hind limbs. Usually, if the resulting breed is unsatisfactory, it is quickly consumed as food by the Orcs.

From this, it can be inferred that the Elven maiden Mist Song possessed an attraction to the Orc that was like a massive black hole, drawing it in completely, making it unable to pull away. Her natural, fresh scent and seemingly delicate, slender beauty almost drove this Orc into a frenzy of lust.

If it weren't for a faint green aura emanating from the emerald-green leaf necklace around Mist Song's neck, constantly shielding the frail Elf maiden, she would surely have already suffered a terrifying violation of being brutally devoured alive. Given the Orc's perverse nature, it was entirely possible he might have begun gnawing and swallowing her whole in his excitement.

Despite the Elven maiden's desperate resistance, the emerald leaves of the necklace were turning yellow, withering at a visible rate, then dissolving into ash. It was evident that maintaining this barrier was far from easy.

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