The Discarded Son's Skill Market

He frowned; his body tensed as he tried to position himself to minimize the damage while jumping out of a car traveling at high speed. Not only did the car he was in explode, but two others did as well, and even the leader’s powerful armored car veered off the road.

All of this was the work of beasts waiting near the road. Intelligent beasts.

Orcs.

Rank E and D...

After a quick assessment, Zaid realized that none of the Awakened had died. Some were rolling on the ground, while others got down nimbly...

Zaid managed to land nimbly on the ground and held onto a tree to keep himself from rolling backward any further. The multitude of yellow and red eyes staring at the group from the nearby forest made his body tense up even more.

Martin and Finn fell down beside him.

"These damn beasts..." Finn clenched his fists in rage and summoned his dagger, ready to attack.

However, Martin stopped him. "Wait. They’re orcs."

"I know they’re orcs!" Finn replied, furious at being stopped.

"Don’t you get it? What are orcs doing on the side of the road?"

Finn frowned. What are they doing? Trying to kill you! Trying to eat you!

"Orcs don’t usually hang around places where there are a lot of people, because they have their own civilizations in the forest. Especially not during the day. You rarely see these kinds of beasts by the side of the road," Zaid said, joining the conversation.

"Yeah. I think we’ve got a big problem on our hands," Martin added.

There were several dozen red eyes all around them and at the tops of the trees. But in total, there were 15.

Mr. Shoaff’s cars had driven to the other side of the street, so they couldn’t help on this side, even though they were busy enough to try.

There, Lord Shoaff’s personal guards had quickly regrouped, acting as a single unit and advancing against the orcs on the other side of the street.

On this side, the disaster was worse because the cars that didn’t overturn ended up rolling all the way over here, and Khan immediately ordered them to go help Mr. Shoaff and those who weren’t injured by their vehicles overturning or by an explosion.

The rest of the people whose belongings had been destroyed, just like him, had to stay on this side of the road. Fortunately, the crash hadn’t caused long lines of cars because... there simply weren’t any cars traveling on one of the kingdom’s main highways at the moment.

It was still daylight, and the sun was beating down on them, so it was common to see people passing by from time to time. But there was no one here.

"Gentlemen, gather in one place!" Khan’s voice roared out immediately, calling to his allies.

The group of 15 orcs on this side wasted no time. They were skinny, tall, and powerful. Although their muscles were strangely yellow beneath their abnormally red skin, they were so strong that they commanded respect when they moved in unison.

Eight of them leaped toward Khan, whom they judged to be the strongest man in the group.

Four others jumped forward to hold off the two from Platino on this side: Martin and Finn, who rushed toward them.

Zaid looked at Alice. "Don’t move around too much," he whispered, leaving her behind a tree. "Don’t use magic under any circumstances. Your strength will come in due time; for now, stay here."

She nodded... she felt a little guilty, so she lowered her head slightly and gripped the scepter tighter. It was true that her strength wasn’t the best, but her magic...

Zaid didn’t have time to read her intentions; he just wanted her not to use magic so she wouldn’t put herself in danger.

He, along with the six remaining Rank Fs on this side—one of whom was from the academy—faced the difficult task of holding off three opponents, all of whom were Rank E.

Zaid took the lead, striding forward and summoning his two daggers. The system indicated that the beasts in front of him were Levels 14, 15, and 16. One wielded an axe, another a spear, and the third a sword, respectively.

All three wore armor, though it wasn’t particularly thick or powerful. They weren’t particularly well-equipped beasts—that much was clear.

The axe-wielding orc was the one who nimbly took the lead; being thin, his limbs were long. He swung his axe horizontally forward. The force of the attack would have severed his opponent’s head—or even that of his own allies—if it had landed, but the blow missed.

Zaid ducked and then shielded himself from the gusts of biting wind that were hurled at him from behind.

He noticed a man with a large shield rushing toward the beasts as fast as he could, but he wouldn’t make it in time if he kept going like that. The shield was too heavy for him.

Zaid knew immediately what he had to do.

"I’ll clear a path for you!" he roared.

After dodging and defending himself, he charged head-on at the monster and dodged its attacks as best he could until he reached its abdomen. His dagger glowed—[Dagger Mastery] activated its ability—and he struck the abdomen repeatedly. His S-Rank Sense told him that the spot he had struck was a major weakness in his opponent.

At the same time, one of the daggers in his hand shot toward the orc with the sword, halting his advance upon impact before ricocheting off to the side.

They were held back for only a few seconds, but that was enough time for the man with the shield to arrive and take control. The orcs were naturally drawn to him when he activated his ability...

The other attackers followed close behind him; only Alice waited to strike when she saw the danger.

Thanks to Zaid’s skillful handling of his daggers—which allowed him to set the pace of the battle and steer it wherever he wanted—the tank’s quick reactions to his control of the fight, and the sustained damage from the rest of the F-Rank members, these E-Rank monsters weren’t too much of a challenge...

On the other side of the battle, Khan swung a sharp sword in erratic but powerful strokes. Each stroke either split an orc in half or severed its head.

Its power was so great that it was difficult to gauge, but it was surely at Rank B or very close to it. Attacks so precise and powerful that they ignored these creatures’ armor and the defensive properties of their tough flesh could not have been carried out by people with no training whatsoever.

Its level was surely higher than 41.

Thanks to that, the eight orcs who went to try to stop him were taken down in a matter of seconds...

Martin and Finn, although they had a little more trouble than Khan because they were facing D-Rank monsters, were remarkably strong and made a living hunting exactly this kind of monster. Unlike Zaid and the others, who were new to hunting these creatures, they are veterans in this regard, even though they are young.

Thanks to that, they were able to resolve the situation and then join Khan to help the Rank F group finish up...

Once the mopping-up of the Rank E and D orcs was complete, Khan and the rest rushed over to check on Lord Shoaff.

"Are you all right, Lord Shoaff? We tried to get here as soon as we could..."

Shoaff seemed furious at Khan’s words. "Is that what you call arriving early, you damn bastard?!" he roared, pointing directly at him.

The Chief Guard stepped forward as well, the blood of some orc still dripping from his sword, which he pointed at Khan’s neck.

Khan frowned and took a step back. That sword was dangerous. He felt a chill run down his spine as he felt its coldness lightly brush his neck, and even that slight touch opened a small wound that caused blood to trickle down his neck.

"All of you were hired by my master to protect him, but I saw you fighting on the other side, looking very happy. Do you want to scare my master to death? My master needs the protection he paid so much money for—right by his side at all times!" roared the Chief of Guards.

Khan couldn’t believe what he was hearing... That sounded so... stupid.

What on earth was wrong with these people? he wondered.

Are they really high-level businesspeople?

Khan swallowed hard. "Sir, you may not know this..." He wanted to explain, but Shoaff suddenly jumped up to point at him.

"Do you take us for idiots too, you damn bastard?! You’re the most powerful one—I’ll admit that the other idiots aren’t as fast, but you should’ve been the first one to come here to protect me!" He pointed at himself and then stomped his foot on the ground. "What would’ve happened if one of those damn orcs had sneaked up on me from the shadows to kill me?"

Khan tried to speak again... It was clear that he was the most knowledgeable person present. That Chief of Guards had nothing but brute strength and no brains. Lord Shoaff is even more stupid...

However, as he tried to speak again, Khan once more felt the chill on his neck as the Chief’s sword drew near him once more, this time pressing in a little closer.

Khan felt the pain of being cut. Rage welled up in his heart and flashed in his eyes.

"Oh. This is going to get ugly," Martin whispered, genuinely amused.

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