Ch.157Chapter 157: Eastern Decisive Battle (25)

“Wow… Hearing the details, Arias and Liris were amazing too, weren’t they? Especially Arias! Incredible!”

Arias felt somewhat excited at Lisa’s praise.

That was understandable since Arias hadn’t really had a chance to shine until now.

Although Arias possessed tremendous talent as a spirit master, there were so many monstrously strong friends around that Arias never had the opportunity to step up.

But looking at it objectively, Arias’s contribution was quite significant.

After all, it was Arias who had enabled Valt to summon spirits in the first place.

But that alone wasn’t enough to satisfy Arias.

This time, Arias had finally achieved something substantial alongside Valt.

And against the Orc King, no less—a being even more formidable than the already terrifying Orc Lord.

“A-Ahem! S-See? I told you I could do this much when I try?”

“Yes! Good job, good job! Liris is originally 7th circle so that’s expected, but you really worked hard, didn’t you, Arias?”

It was a comical sight—Lisa, who was a head and a half shorter than Arias, was patting the elf’s head.

Lisa’s sociability was truly extraordinary to be patting an elf’s head like that.

But then Liris’s sulky voice was heard.

“That’s unfair.”

Hearing this, Lisa blinked and asked.

“Huh? What is?”

“Why are you only praising Arias? I worked really hard too.”

Since Liris had never spoken like this before, everyone looked at her with amusement.

The only people Liris had opened her heart to were all present here.

She had somehow opened up to Arias, considering him a rival for Valt’s affection. As for Lisa, she held the title of Valt’s adjutant and was the first person Valt had met, which had piqued Liris’s interest.

And in reality, Lisa was incredibly cute and had such a good personality that even Liris, a vampire, could easily become friends with her.

“Ah, hahaha. Are you jealous, Liris? No, of course you did well too! That’s right! Praise should be fair. Both of you worked so hard supporting the monster that is Valt.”

At those words, Liris smiled with her beautiful face.

“Hmph, you should have said so from the beginning.”

While their interaction was amusing, Valt turned to Lisa with an interested expression.

“You must have learned something while accompanying King Lient. Anything come to mind?”

Lisa pondered deeply, stroking her chin with her eyes half-closed.

That strange expression was a habit that appeared whenever Lisa was thinking about something.

“Hmm… Alright. First, let me ask you something, Valt.”

“What is it?”

“Valt, what do you think would happen if you fought the Orc King?”

It was admittedly an absurd question.

Valt had never even met the Orc King, only glimpsed him from a great distance.

An extremely great distance at that.

But Lisa didn’t consider that to be an issue at all.

“You have good instincts. What’s your gut feeling about it?”

The Gerungtu’s unique ability to gauge the strength of powerful beings.

Although Valt had only observed the Orc King from afar, he had sensed the gap between them with that special intuition—an ability that could be considered unique to the Gerungtu race.

“I absolutely cannot win. He’s not someone I could defeat in a direct confrontation.”

Valt had rarely made such definitive statements.

In fact, it might have been the first time.

Even when he was just a 3rd circle, Valt had thought he could hold his own against a Master, but the Grand Master-level Orc King was not an opponent he could challenge with mere bravado.

Everyone was surprised by Valt’s confident assertion.

The only one who wasn’t surprised was Veron.

“That’s only natural. While not a true Grand Master, the Orc King is evaluated to be at that level. Humans grow stronger through training, but monsters are different. That’s why they’re usually considered a notch below true Grand Masters, but…”

“You’re saying they’re not that far off, right?”

Veron nodded at Lisa’s words.

“That’s correct. The ranks aren’t divided arbitrarily. It may be just one rank difference, but the gap between a Master and a Grand Master is truly as vast as heaven and earth. This tendency becomes more pronounced as the ranks increase. A Sword User occasionally defeating an Expert happens, but an Expert defeating a Master is almost unheard of. The gap between Master and Grand Master is even more severe.”

But Valt disagreed with Veron’s assessment.

“But wouldn’t even a Grand Master fall to a proper strike from a Master?”

Veron nodded, readily acknowledging Valt’s counterargument.

“What I’m referring to is strictly one-on-one combat. In the special circumstances of war, as you say, if a proper strike lands, even a Master might be able to take down a Grand Master. You are a Gerungtu, Lord Valt. Weren’t you saying there’s no chance in a direct confrontation?”

Valt had to agree with Veron’s subtle emphasis on how Gerungtu don’t avoid fights.

“True, but saying I can’t win doesn’t mean I can’t kill him.”

“I think so too. But the method is the problem.”

Back to square one.

The power of Valt’s physical magic was beyond imagination.

Even a Grand Master couldn’t remain unscathed after being hit by a meteor.

But to deliver a proper blow to that Grand Master-level Orc King would require extensive preparation.

First, there was the issue of the Orc Lords surrounding the Orc King. Even the Orc Lords were Master-level powerful entities, making them difficult to deal with carelessly.

And even if somehow a strike could be delivered to the Orc King, there was a high possibility that the attack wouldn’t be effective if that powerful Orc King was at full strength.

Those above Grand Master level truly transcended common sense.

The only Grand Master-level beings Valt had seen were the Emperor and his father, Kwan.

While Kwan might not have been at the Grand Master level before, Valt could tell.

Kwan’s strength, enhanced by magic and various weapons, was now no less than that of a Grand Master.

He had felt this when he first learned vampire magic.

Now, some time later, Valt couldn’t tell how strong Kwan had become.

He only knew it was a level of strength beyond his reach.

The Orc King, whom he had glimpsed from afar, was at least a monster capable of fighting his father.

Kwan would probably win, but it would be a real fight.

If that was the case, then Valt, who thought he couldn’t even fight Kwan yet, had no chance of winning against the Orc King in a direct confrontation.

“Should we just go with the meteor then?”

Both Liris and Valt shook their heads at Lisa’s suggestion.

“No, if we do that, there would be no one who could block the Orc King’s spear alone. Right now, the meteor is our deterrent.”

“I know that, but… hmm… couldn’t we make it bigger than last time? This area is spacious, and if it’s twice the size of before, couldn’t it wipe out at least the Orc Lords, if not the Orc King?”

Lisa, who believed nothing was impossible for Valt, occasionally made such impractical suggestions.

“Impossible. Even that size took everything I had. Twice as big? Not a chance. I’d die from the spear attack first.”

“I guess… and the Orc King wouldn’t just stand still while you’re creating it… This is complicated!”

As Lisa scratched her head and sighed at the lack of good options, Arias came up with an interesting idea.

“Wait a minute… Looking at the current situation, aren’t Valt, Liris, and I supposed to be tied up in the air anyway?”

Liris agreed with Arias’s observation.

“That’s right. They’ll probably just be staring at each other without doing anything, but if Valt disappears, the Orc King will start attacking, and if the Orc King attacks recklessly, Valt will have to counterattack. There’s a high chance they won’t attack each other, but just holding position is a significant strategic advantage.”

“Then isn’t it likely that the Orc King won’t leave his position either?”

Thinking about it, that made sense. During such a standoff, the probability of the Orc King moving directly was virtually zero.

The Orc King would probably dispatch a separate unit of Orc Lords to intercept the Eastern Alliance forces.

It was a simple fact, but its implications were significant.

“The Orc King doesn’t move… can’t move… Then that’s it!!!”

Lisa, who caught on to Arias’s plan, exclaimed in shock.

“A-Arias, you don’t mean!? No way!”

But Arias looked excited.

“What do you mean ‘no way’? If it can be done, it should be done! Bait! I’ll be the bait instead of Valt!”

Everyone was shocked at Arias’s volunteering to be bait.

“What!?”