George stared at the opponent without averting his gaze for a long while before speaking in a low, deep voice, "Old man, the next to die will be you."
"Hahahaha..." The orc evil shaman laughed loudly, as though hearing the greatest joke in the world.
After laughing, he fixed George with a snake-like gaze. "Ignorant human, do you think that with some special methods, you can contend with a second-tier high-ranking transcendent?"
"We'll see after trying," George said as he raised his longsword and charged toward the opponent.
Several sword energies appeared in front of the evil shaman. Calm under pressure, he lightly tapped his staff on the ground, and a black circular barrier swiftly surrounded him.
At the same time, George flashed to his left and slashed at the shaman's head with his claws. However, both the sword energies and claws were blocked by the peculiar barrier.
"Hehe, not bad, not bad. This power, and it even contains spiritual energy. You will make for my best experimental subject."
George said nothing. He swung harder at the barrier.
"Bang, bang, bang."
Countless sword energies and claws continued to strike the barrier. Its black surface seemed to crack open.
"Very good, just a little more and you might break through my dark protective energy," the evil shaman encouraged from the side, as if the one inside the barrier was not him.
Just as the barrier was about to be broken, George suddenly retreated. He raised his hand and shot three sword energies, hitting the soon-to-be shattered barrier.
"Boom!"
The surface of the barrier cracked apart, and a surge of intense energy exploded outward.
George crossed his arms in front of his chest to block the shockwave of energy.
"I am becoming more and more impressed with you, human. I never thought you could sense the fluctuations in my dark protective energy."
The evil shaman slowly approached George, his eyes filled with greed, as if he had already decided George's fate.
George remained silent. This opponent, after all, was a second-tier high-ranking transcendent, a completely different level from the goblin warrior he had fought earlier.
Even with his werewolf bloodline activated, he was still no match for him.
But now the opponent did not seem in a hurry to kill him. It was like a cat playing with a mouse.
This was an opportunity. If he could deceive the opponent's psychology, George thought he might still be able to injure him.
The evil shaman slowly walked up to George and began to closely inspect his body.
"Quite excellent perceptive abilities, decent strength... Hmm, it seems your spiritual energy has mutated."
He circled around George and, clearly satisfied, clapped his hands. "Your potential is far greater than the lizardmen of my orc kingdom. If we were on the same level, I would certainly be no match for you. What a pity..."
The orc evil shaman sighed heavily, as if lamenting George's fate, or perhaps mocking his powerlessness in the face of the shaman.
"Enough with the nonsense." Before the shaman could continue, George attacked again from an unexpected angle.
As he had expected, the shaman easily dodged the strike.
The shaman gazed at George without surprise. "I almost forgot. I still need to test your resistance."
With those words, a dark, ominous energy surged from his staff. Several skeletal phantoms hovered around the energy.
The shaman lightly tapped his staff, and with the wailing of the skeletal spirits, the black energy rushed toward George.
George fired the three sword energies he had previously gathered, colliding with the black energy.
It was as if the sword energies sank into the ocean, and they were absorbed by the black energy.
"What?!"
Before George could even be surprised, he was engulfed by the black energy.
Then, centered on his position, the energy exploded outward.
"Boom!!"
The deafening explosion echoed across the battlefield.
The area where George had been was engulfed in thick smoke, and the ground was blasted open, leaving a deep pit.
The evil shaman walked up to the pit, smiling as he looked at the kneeling George through the smoke.
"Your resistance is good. It's time for the final step of the process."
The moment George made contact with the ominous black energy, he felt a suffocating sensation rise within him.
Pain like cutting with knives spread throughout his body, and George struggled to stay on his knees, breathing heavily. Although the thick smoke around him was suffocating, he couldn't focus on it.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching from ahead. It was the orc evil shaman.
At this moment, George thought, I should be able to deceive him now.
The shaman stepped in front of George and bent down to remove his helmet.
Seeing his face, covered with white fur, the evil shaman's eyes briefly flashed with surprise, then returned to indifference.
"Praise the war god Kael, your prayers have finally been answered, Agara. I have caught a mutated human in this little place."
"Hahaha, after I finish my research, I will make those corrupt nobles in the empire regret it."
With those words, the orc evil shaman raised his sharp clawed hand and slowly reached for George's head.
Just then, George, who should have been motionless, used his claws, charged with spiritual energy, to stab the shaman's abdomen.
Green orc blood, unique to the orcs, dripped onto the ground.
The evil shaman staggered back a step, clutching his abdomen. His reaction was swift, avoiding most of the blow.
"Damn human! You still have some strength left, I was careless. But you have no more chances."
Angrily, the evil shaman raised his staff, planning to crush George's head.
Before he could act, a small team of thirty people suddenly appeared from the forest.
Notably, every member of the team was wrapped in a silver-colored glow, their equipment far superior to the soldiers of Regit. Each person's armor was engraved with magical runes.
The leader of the team, a middle-aged man, looked at the battlefield, filled with human corpses, and said with fury, "Foolish orcs, how dare you invade human territory and slaughter my people."
"I, Horst Gerard, will make sure to exterminate all of you orcs."
George, who had been struggling to stay on the ground, looked in surprise at the direction of the man. Even Marcus and Catherine, who were also unable to move, were stunned.
Horst Gerard? Wasn't he supposed to be in his knightly domain? How could he be here?
George hurriedly put on the helmet the evil shaman had taken off and asked, "Uncle Horst?"
The middle-aged man looked at George and comforted him, "George? I knew it was you. Wait a moment, Uncle will rescue you."
With those words, the man led five others to charge at the evil shaman, while the rest of the soldiers moved to clear the surviving goblins.
Though surprised, the evil shaman Agara turned and began dealing with the approaching human team.
Far exceeding the energy from his earlier fight with George, energy surged from Agara's body, forming several skeletal phantoms.
As Agara tapped his staff again, the phantoms merged into the bodies of the already-dead goblins.
Including the goblin warrior, these goblins, long since dead, rose again to attack the human team.