Untamed Lands- Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Chapter 2

“Don’t let any innocents get hurt,” I ordered the deputies, and then surged forward.

I wanted to think I had been fast and smooth before, but my movement now in B rank was unlike anything before. The challenges I had faced since arriving in Olimero would have been child’s play with this body. Of course, that wasn’t how this or any other world works. It was those challenges, defeats, falling down that enabled me to reach this point. Victory isn’t about never being knocked down, but rather about getting back up.

Neither the orc ranch hand nor the mercenary even realized I was moving until I was right on top of them. My hand grabbed the wrist of the one who was trying to pull out his sword. He struggled for a second until I squeezed hard enough to feel the bones in his wrist grinding.

The proud orc grunted in pain. Whatever he’d been drinking was heavy on his breath. No doubt that had something to do with his behavior, but I was working to make Yonderton peaceful and prosperous. A drunken brawl was one thing. It got the energy out, but there weren’t going to be any murders, certainly not right in front of me.

“I can either crush your wrist and throw you out of town or you can back down.”

I squeezed just a bit harder and his eyes got wide. Whatever he was going to say though was lost as my expanded senses caught another orc swinging a heavy wooden club at me. I raised my left arm to block the blow.

I might now be strong enough to take the impact, but I did want to take any chances. A surge of ki was sent from my core into my arm, activating Iron Body. For a moment, my skin became almost as hard as iron. We had done some testing and I could block a fairly strong sword blow, but it could still cut me and that was without factoring any type of magical blade or one made from a higher quality metal like mithril. This new skill was only at level 1, so it had room to grow.

The wooden club didn’t fare as well as a sword would have. It splintered against my arm, but the force behind the blow still pushed me back. At the same time, I threw out a quick kick. My foot drove into the attacking orc’s armored gut. A combination of the way I was pushed back by his blow and his armor saved him from vomiting, but he still doubled over with the impact.

Iron Body +1

A smile crossed my face. Apparently, the skill needed actual combat to grow faster.

I allowed the force to move me around and spun the orc who’s wrist I was holding until he was between me and the orc who had just attacked. Another half-dozen orcs came out with the same insignia on their armor. Apparently, there was a convention in town.

The one who had been called captain yelled, “Brenson may have been out of line, but no one lays hands on the Iron Shield and lives to talk about it.”

The ranch hand started to speak up, “Sher…”

But I whipped my head to him and put my finger to my mouth. I needed this, and I really didn’t want mercenary companies coming into town thinking they could tear the place up. It was important that Yonderton get the right reputation.

I didn’t respond to the captain since anything I said would have either been stupid or given him a clue about who his men were fighting. I tugged on the arm of the orc who was in my grasp. He stumbled into me and I drove my knee into his gut. Then, as his body bent over, I picked him up and threw his body at the captain.

That got all the other six riled up. I allowed a second for my expanded senses to search the grounds. I couldn’t find any more than these nine, but I still spun my core faster and pushed more into my brain meridian. It used to be such an odd feeling as my sense of touch expanded out away from my body. Now, I was used to it.

Sharper hearing and sight were important, but the ability to feel the movements of everyone around me was next level. I expanded my senses out a hundred feet so that it reached up to the roof of the bar. As I had expected, there were two more orcs up there with crossbows. Josie would never forgive me if I let a bar brawl end up with me taking a bold to the chest.

Now I spoke up as I said, “Be right back.”

Then I leapt up to the roof. With my Strength closing in on 200, it wasn’t even necessary to pump extra ki into my legs, although I felt like since reaching B rank that my body did it on its own. Just like it pumped blood, ki also seemed to be sent to the parts of my body which needed it, without me having to consciously order it.

I landed on the roof as the two orcs were fumbling to load their crossbows. I grinned. They must be truly drunk because weapons came easily to orcs. Without a word, I cross the distance at maximum speed and slammed my fist into the unprotected face of the first orc. His hands were still on the weapon and he never managed to even get his guard up.

It was necessary to pull my blow a bit. I was still learning just how hard I could hit someone without causing permanent injury. While I wanted to cut loose a bit, it wasn’t a good idea to start killing unnecessarily. That wasn’t the reputation I wanted for Yonderton anymore than the flip-side.

I felt his face crumble under the punch. Note to self, that was a bit too hard. It still accomplished what was necessary,, and I sent a quick telepathic message to my wives. “Brawl at William’s bar. Gonna have a few wounded. Send over a healer.”

I didn’t get a response since they must have noticed from the way I delivered the message that I was in the middle of fighting. The more I used telepathy the easier it was to understand the intent behind the words, especially with my soul bonded wives.

I spun towards the other orc. He was reacting by now and had started to drop the now loaded crossbow. It was probably a wise move on his part because if he had actually tried to shoot me, I would have broken his neck.

Instead, I simple jumped forward fast enough to slam my foot into his knee. I didn’t aim for his knee, as I was still pulling my punches. The force was enough to take his leg out from under him though. Before he even hit the ground with his arms flailing, I fired off half a dozen rapid fire punches into his body.

His head bounced off the roof and the sound of air exploding from his lungs told me he was going to be down for a minute. I picked up both crossbows and swung them into each other, breaking the mechanisms and ruining them. They were gonna be pissed about having to replace the weapons, but I wasn’t going to leave them behind with living enemies.

From there I jumped back down, leaving behind two unconscious orcs. When I hit the ground, I saw that my two deputies hadn’t followed my instructions. I wanted them just to protect any onlookers, but they had both stepped up towards the orcs. If I knew anything from my father- and brother-in-law, it was that orcs took challenges seriously.

The captain now had electricity arcing between his hands while his men were standing with blades drawn. Oh well, playtime was over. It was fun while it started. “Marko, Freina, step back.”

I had landed behind the orc captain who was out in front of the bar. He whirled around when he heard my voice. I saw anger in his eyes, but it was the look of a man who had his back pushed up against the wall one time too many.

“I don’t know your name, so I’m just calling you captain, but you need to know my name. I’m Robert Case, sheriff and ruler of Yonderton. This has gone far enough, but if you attack me, my deputies or any citizens with magic, then blood is going to run and it won’t be mine.”

He growled. “Sheriff, of course. I should have known. Never seen a human before, but you look like a pink, tuskless orc.”

“Not sure why everyone thinks I’m pink. You all must not have seen what actual pink looks like.” I laughed as I spoke, hoping to de-escalate the situation. It was the wrong move, which I realized just a second too late.

“Sheriff or not, no one from some little hick town laughs at the Iron Sh…”

I didn’t let him finish. It was obvious where he was going and if he actually attacked me with Lightning Mana, then I was going to have to take this seriously. I had another option, though. The fact that I jumped off the roof to a spot right in the middle of the orc mercenaries who were still on their feet wasn’t an accident.

Over the past two weeks, I’d been practicing the Ki Slice skill. It had only leveled up a couple of times, but at least I had learned how to do it without going all out. I released a ring of force which burst out from my body. It hit each of the orcs while also tearing into the bar and shattering the rest of the windows. I’d have to pay for the damages but this seemed like the easiest way to knock them down.

They were completely caught off guard. Their armor protected them from getting cut by the attack and since it was chainmail I didn’t have to worry about the armor being bent in and crushing their chests.

I still felt a momentary weakness as the power surged out of me. It only used up a sixth of the power in my core but that was still enough to make me dizzy. The effect it had on the orc mercenaries was far more dramatic.

Their bodies were sent flying in all directions as they spun ass over head to land in groaning piles on the ground. Only the two I had already knocked over were spared the affect since they were below the ring of force.

My balance came back to me after a second and I rushed forward to kneel over the fallen orc captain. My hand snaked out and grabbed his throat. Oh how I wished I could have done this with some of the trust fund babies I used to deal with in Santa Barbara. It probably would have done them some good to realize they weren’t all that.

“This can go two ways. You can pay for the damages to William’s bar, shake hands and put harsh words behind us or I can end you all.”

His neck was too thick for me to completely grasp it with a single hand but the pressure down on his windpipe still cut off air and made him stop thinking about his honor for a minute. Orcs could be reasonable when they weren’t fixating on honor. At least that was what I had experienced so far.

The captain’s hands went to my arm. He tried to push it away but he might as well have tried to bend steel. I didn’t budge at all. I saw the light go on in his eyes as he realized he was good and truly screwed.

I eased up the pressure, and he mumbled, “I yield.”

I stood up then and held out my hand as I said, “Good, then as soon as you all clean up this mess, you can get back to drinking.”

Doubt flashed across his face, but then he grabbed my extended arm and I pulled him back up. I cut off any arguments he might have made when I turned towards the orc ranch hand. His name was Thed, and he had a bit of a reputation for stirring up shit. He was busy trying to creep off through the crowd which had gathered.

“Where do you think you’re going Thed. You get to help clean this up. Apologize for whatever shit talking you were doing and then head back to the ranch.”

“But sheriff, I just got here. I got two days off.”

“And you just lost those two days unless you wanna take your chances with me. These Iron Shields are guests in our town but you know the rules. What kind of town is Yonderton.”

Thed grudgingly said, “Peaceful and prosperous.”

“See, you do remember. Now help clean up this mess.”

I didn’t wait for a response. My extended senses would warn me if he tried to do anything stupid. Instead, I turned towards Marko and Freina. “Deputies, keep an eye on them. If they make any more trouble you have full authority to take whatever steps you need to.”

Behind me I heard a group walking up, but I wasn’t worried about them or the woman overhead. They were four of my wives, after all. It was more the expression I knew would be on Josie’s face.