Raani moved through the bodies quickly.

She was checking for survivors. Looking for anyone they could question. The Dragon Maidens were doing the same. Going through the fallen attackers with controlled anger. The fact that they were attacked on their way to the land of Roakan meant that they were unable to protect their young master and couldn’t see the ambush, even though they were cautious.

"This one’s alive," one of the maidens called.

Raani moved to that position. Knelt beside the man. He was badly wounded but breathing. His mask had come off during the fight. His face was young. Maybe thirty. Unremarkable features. No identifying marks.

Raani pulled down his hood completely and grabbed him by pulling his collar.

"Who sent you?" she demanded.

The man’s eyes focused on her and a smile crept up his face.

It was not a nice smile.

"For the true heir," he said. His voice was weak and broken.

"Clan Raikarndel falls today."

Then his jaw moved. A deliberate motion. Biting down on something.

Raani realized what was happening and tried to stop him but she was too late.

The poison worked fast. The man convulsed once. Foam appeared at his lips. His eyes rolled back. Within five seconds he was dead.

Raani stood up and checked the other bodies.

They all had the same thing. Poison capsules hidden in their mouths. Pre-positioned for exactly this scenario. Every single one of them had used it rather than be captured.

"Fanatics," Maudlina said quietly. She was standing nearby with blood on her robes. Not her blood. "Trained and prepared to die rather than talk."

"Someone really wants Jake dead," Ankerita added.

Jake was cleaning his blade on one of the robes. He looked at the bodies scattered across the road. At the burn marks from the initial fireball. At his people’s checking wounds and counting losses.

They’d lost two iron-suited soldiers. Three more were wounded but not critically. The Dragon Maidens were all intact. Maudlina and Ankerita were fine.

Chelsea and Gran Rosalinda were still in the carriage. Jake had made sure that they were safe.

It could have been much worse.

Jake was about to say something when he felt it again.

That pressure in the air and the prickling sensation of something aimed at him.

The blood sense triggered. Stronger this time.

[ WARNING: MULTIPLE LARGE HOSTILES APPROACHING ]

[ THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME ]

The sound came from deeper in the forest.

Heavy footfalls. Many of them. Getting closer. Something big was moving through the undergrowth with the kind of noise that meant it didn’t care about being quiet.

The Dragon Maidens turned toward the sound.

Raani’s hand went to her blade.

The first black orc came out of the treeline fifty meters down the road.

It was massive.

Easily eight feet tall. Broad across the shoulders with arms like tree trunks. Its skin was black. Not dark grey or dark green like normal orcs. Actually black. Like shadow given flesh. Its eyes glowed red. Its tusks were huge and filed to points.

It carried a club the size of a man.

Behind it came more.

Ten of them. Fifteen. Twenty.

They kept coming out of the forest in a line that spread across the road. Black orcs. All of them are huge. All of them armed. All of them moving with the same focused intent.

Toward Jake.

Raani swore quietly.

"Black orcs," she said.

"We need to move. Now. We can’t fight this many in the open."

Jake looked at the line of orcs spreading across the road.

He felt the bloodline surge again. Felt something older and deeper than the techniques rise up in his chest. The system was showing him options, but he wasn’t reading them.

He was looking at the orcs.

At their size. Their strength. Their weapons.

And he was thinking about what the system had told him five days ago when he’d first checked his stats.

His body was different now. Stronger. Faster. Enhanced beyond what Class V had been capable of.

He wanted to test that.

"No," Jake said quietly.

Raani looked at him. "Young master?"

"We’re not running." Jake stepped forward. Away from the protective circle of Dragon Maidens. Toward the line of black orcs. "I’ll handle this."

"Jake—" Chelsea’s voice came from the carriage.

Jake didn’t turn around.

He walked toward the orcs with his sword in his right hand and the bloodline singing in his veins and the system going quiet like it knew what was about to happen and had decided to just watch.

The lead orc roared.

It charged.

Jake met it head-on.

The impact when they collided should have sent Jake flying.

The orc was twice his size and probably four times his weight. It swung its massive club in a horizontal arc meant to take Jake’s head clean off his shoulders.

Jake ducked under it.

Came up inside the orc’s guard.

And punched it in the chest with his left fist.

The enhanced strength behind the blow was incredible. Jake felt the impact run up his arm. Felt bones break under his knuckles. The orc’s chest caved inward. It stumbled backward. Gasping. Shocked.

Jake followed.

He didn’t use fancy techniques. Didn’t use shadow abilities or void strikes or any of the things the system had been teaching him. He just fought.

His sword came up in a rising cut that opened the orc from hip to shoulder. The blade cut through muscle and bone like they were nothing. The orc fell.

The next one charged.

Jake met it with pure brute force.

He grabbed its club arm. Twisted. Broke it at the elbow with a sickening crack. The orc howled. Jake drove his knee into its gut. Followed with a pommel strike to the face that shattered its jaw. It went down.

Three more came at once.

Jake moved between them like a dancer. But this wasn’t graceful dancing. This was violence. Raw and efficient. He used his enhanced speed to stay ahead of their weapons. Used his enhanced strength to hit harder than they expected. Used his enhanced reflexes to read their movements before they finished making them.

His sword took the first one through the throat.

His boot took the second one’s knee and sent it crashing down where his blade was waiting.

The third one he simply tackled. Drove it into the ground. Got on top of it. And beat it to death with his fists.

The watching Dragon Maidens stood frozen.

They had never seen their young master fight like this. Had never seen anyone fight like this. Jake was covered in blood. His face was set in concentration. His movements were economical and brutal and completely without hesitation.

He was fighting like something that had been designed to fight. Like violence was a language his body spoke fluently.

The black orcs kept coming.

Jake kept killing them.

Sword. Fists. Knees. Elbows. Whatever worked. He used the terrain. Used their size against them. Used their aggression to create openings. Used everything.

The system was recording it all.

[ COMBAT ANALYSIS: ACTIVE ]

[ TECHNIQUES BEING CATALOGUED ]

[ BLOODLINE RESONANCE: 87% ]

The fight lasted fifteen minutes.

When it ended, twenty black orcs lay dead or dying across the road. Jake stood in the middle of them breathing hard. His clothes were torn. His knuckles were bleeding. His sword was notched in three places from hitting bone.

He looked back at the carriages.

At the Dragon Maidens staring at him with wide eyes.

At Raani’s expression which had gone from concern to something between awe and fear.

At Chelsea who had gotten out of the carriage and was looking at him with a face that Jake couldn’t quite read.

Jake walked back toward them.

His legs were shaking slightly. Not from fear. From exhaustion. From the adrenaline wearing off. From the bloodline settling back down after being pushed that hard.

He reached Raani and stopped.

"The road’s clear," he said quietly. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Raani just stared at him.

"Young master," she said finally. Her voice was different. Quieter. More careful.

"That was..."

"Necessary," Jake finished. "Better to deal with them here than let them follow us."

He walked past her toward the carriage.

Chelsea met him halfway.

She looked at the blood on his clothes. At his bleeding knuckles. At his face.

"Are you hurt?" she asked.

"No," Jake said. "None of it’s mine."

Chelsea studied him for another moment. Then she nodded once.

"Good," she said simply.

She turned and walked back to the carriage.

Jake followed.

Behind them, the Dragon Maidens began the work of clearing the road. Moving bodies. Checking for survivors. Preparing to continue the journey.

Raani watched Jake climb back into the carriage.

She looked at the dead orcs scattered across the road. At the evidence of what their young master had just done with nothing but enhanced strength and a sword and the kind of brutal efficiency that professional killers spent years trying to develop.

"True heir," she murmured to herself.

She had called him that before. But now she understood what it actually meant.

The blood of Raikarndel ran strong in him.

Very strong indeed.