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The peaceful quiet was interrupted, as Budmuk shot up his arm in a signal to stop walking. Budmuk placed a finger to his lips, as he pointed past the upcoming bend and gestured a knife slashing his neck. This felt like a clear sign that something would either kill them, or weirdly stroke their neck. Leo tried to see if he could hear anything, but there was nothing but wind.

Budmuk and Koram looked around, the vegetation on the mountain was more sparse than they’d planned. While the mountains didn’t teem with plants, the lack of plants now could prove deadly. Leo noticed that they were practically unarmed and decided he must be the one to fight. He gestured for them to stay still as he turned the corner, positive he could handle whatever was there.

Koram shook his head no, and Budmuk attempted to grab Leo. Their attempts were in vain, as Leo moved forward and out of their sight. He knew they would be quick to follow, and hoped he could handle the situation quickly.

Leo encountered a group of orcs, as they stood around the path. They wielded axes and clubs, and were covered in brutal wounds and dried blood. Leo felt prepared to take them on in a fight, but he didn’t want to move in haste, as they may be peaceful creatures who didn’t plan to harm him.

While that certainly could have been the case, it was not in this instance, as the closest orc attempted to swing its axe into Leo’s throat. What the orc hadn’t expected was to see the axe shatter against him, as Leo raised his arm and gently shoved the Orc. One man’s gentle shove is another man’s launching at hundreds of miles, as the orc quickly discovered.

Leo had hoped that just one display of overwhelming force would be needed, as he didn’t want a dragged out fight. Unfortunately, the orcs seemed to be more than happy to take overwhelming power as a personal challenge rather than a warning. They rushed toward him, their mouths agape as they started to blindly swing their weapons.

Leo didn’t have the time to figure out a safe way to fight, as just a single punch could destroy their path. With Koram and Budmuk soon to follow, he had to take the orcs out with one quick attack. He launched his arm in a sweeping motion, which caused a strong gust of wind. Orcs went flying, alongside chunks of rock from the mountain side. Nearly all the orcs were sent through the air, soon to reach an unceremonious death. One orc had slammed into the nearby stone wall, its splattered remains now stuck to the wall.

Leo saw a screen pop up in view as he received a notification of his newly gained EXP. While this wouldn’t have drawn his attention normally, the odd name of the orcs gave him pause.

[ROTTED ORC X 7 | GAINED 3,500 EXP]

Koram and Budmuk rushed around the corner as the orcs faded into distant stains. They looked around for danger, but the only remnant of the orc band was the corpse stuck to the wall.

“Huh, where the hell are they? Could’ve sworn I sensed half a dozen orcs here,” commented Budmuk.

"I turned the corner and there was only one orc here,” Leo gestured to the orc.

Koram walked up to the orc’s body, and started to inspect the gruesome residue.

“Buddy, get over here. It’s still alive,” called out Koram.

Budmuk and Leo walked over, curious about the still living spilt spaghetti. Its body was near unrecognizable, but what was left of the head continued to make labored breaths. Budmuk and Koram looked on in horror, as Leo could barely understand what he saw but started to feel panic and guilt.

“Leo, what happened to it?” muttered Budmuk.

“I don’t know, dude, it ran at me and I just threw him at the wall. I didn’t expect him to splatter like that, and I have no clue why he’s still alive,” sputtered Leo.

Koram and Budmuk had taken out their notepads, as they took notes about the orc. Leo looked over their shoulders to see notes over possible parasitic plants.

Leo questioned, “What’s up with the notes?”

“Something is keeping him alive. His face appears rotted yet he still was able to move and fight. There was a notable lack of Cadav moss in the forest, a moss that only grows on dead bodies, but now there’s this. We don’t know what this means, but there could be a connection,” explained Koram.

Leo stood by as Koram and Budmuk took notes. Budmuk donned a pair of gloves and collected a glass vial of orc fluid to secure. After a few minutes passed, the two had finished taking notes.

“Well, now that you two are finally done, what do we do about him?” asked Leo.

“The right thing to do is to give him mercy. We can’t risk getting infected though, and the orc may be more valuable left alive,” said Budmuk.

“We can’t just leave him suffering, it’s fucked up,” retorted Leo.

“You’re right, but we need to calculate risk here. Druids are resistant to natural poisons and infections, but a drop of his liquified body could be potent enough to infect me instantly. There isn’t a safe enough way to end his suffering,” defended Budmuk.

Leo looked towards Koram to help back him up, but Koram just looked away from the situation.

Leo realized that Budmuk was right about having to be safe, even if he hated the guilt that ate away at him. The group carried on as they left behind the dead orc. There was a grim silence over the next couple hours until sunset approached.