In Loki's Honor

I didn't feel bad hiding all the stuff I got to Sariandi. While she was helpful, she was also my jailor. The greater good could shut up and go suck a porcupine, for all I cared. They scheduled me to go out hunting with Taeral and the knights. I would have sixteen level fifty-plus elven warriors to protect me.

Yeah, right. More like to keep me from escaping.

I even had a plan to deal with the council but I lacked authority. After all, until I turned two hundred years old, I'd be a child in Elven eyes.

Getting levels, perks, and whatnots were nice too. And I could trigger {Self-Sacrifice} or use {Last Stand} against a wolf or even an ant. And poof, no more elf princess.

We set out to, surprise surprise, destroy another settlement of monstrous humanoids that were encroaching on the edge of the forest. Elves vs Orcs this time, a classic matchup. They were also assassinable, a boon that I was fully willing to exploit.

If my wardens would let this prisoner have her way. I was growing more and more impatient with them.

"The orc chieftain is level sixty-three!" Taeral half-shouted at me. Forget about the proper way to address me. I glowered at him and he added, "Your Highness."

My angry face broke and I chuckled. I couldn't bear to see him embarrassed because of that social faux pas. He was one of the elves that always treated me right. I put my hand on his shoulder, "I hereby grant Senior Ranger Taeral the right to address me in any way he wants without being an offense. That includes the right to berate and curse me."

"Your Highness is too kind," He mumbled, even more embarrassed.

"To my friends. Now, I'll show you what I do to my enemies. Level sixty-one, right? Well, I had a third of my current HP when I killed the second Demon Lord. I think I'll be fine."

The chief of my guards, whose name I purposedly ignored and omitted from this chronicle, protested. "We can't risk you..."

"{Royal Order}, All knights are to stand by here and wait for my return. Senior Ranger Taeral can do whatever he wants," I stared him down. "Good. Now let this Death Princess go assassinate some orc chieftain and reap some sweet, sweet, Exp."

The biggest boon of my armor was that it shifted with me so long the shape I chose was relatively humanoid. I became a were-cat, remembering to keep my fur black. But chameleon was my best stealth tool so I undressed. The men looked the other way. I laughed.

"Well, I'm off to murder some orcs. You boys 'be nice' and wait for us to come back. Taeral, you follow me from a good distance and let me work."

, he replied in ranger sign language.

It felt good to be on the prowl, to be hunting again. We scouted the orc camp. When I was sure we were out of hearing range for the knights, I broached the subject.

"Taeral, can the royal family commit treason?"

Just like the UK Queen doesn't need a driver's license because she is the one to issue all of them in her realm so if she says she has one she does.

"That's a dangerous subject, Alloralla."

"Humor your princess," I nudged his shoulder. We were side-by-side, watching the orc sentries watch the sleeping village. They were nocturnal.

"Are you going to destroy Fulgen?"

I crossed my claws, "I swear I have the best interests of the People and the Forest in my heart, and that I wish for Fulgen to prosper."

"What's on your mind?" He asked noncommittally to evade my first question.

"The council needs to be put in its place. They grew too haughty. Do you think the way they are treating me is right?"

"You are a child in the eyes of the People. You need to be protected."

"Bullshit," I barked then regretted raising my voice. Instead, I growled. "You know who I am. I died once to protect this forest. Alone against an army."

He took a deep breath, "Your Highness. You have my vow of fealty. If you want to move against the council, my bow is yours."

"Thanks, Faeral. When we come back from this, I'm going to see Velora. I have a boon for her."

He smiled, "She'd be honored by your visit."

I sighed, "I wish Renyn was back. Then we'd have everyone together again."

"He's made quite the name in the human realms. They find his performances quite exquisite."

I let the conversation die. I focused and summoned Apricot's memories and expertise. It was murder time.

Let me tell you. {Claw Mastery} is a hundred times better than bloodletting. The orc duet patrolling the outskirts of the village I pounced bled silently in seconds. It was like they had an artery exactly where I cut. I also used {Assassinate} and scored critical hits on them which further multiplied the bleed.

Assassination successful. Contract fulfilled.

You killed level 27 Orc. You gained 168,339 Exp. (Base 7,290 x 23.1 modifiers).

You killed level 29 Orc. You gained 194,271 Exp. (Base 8,410 x23.1 modifiers).

Your Exp will be auto-assigned using your last setting in 24 hours.

I didn't have the {Favored Enemy} perk for orcs. I didn't level up because my Exp was set to manual. But I got a warning that I had 24 hours to do it or the System would auto-apply my Exp.

With the bodies in my storage, I let the pseudopods clean the blood on me while I moved to the next group.

Actually...

I paused and did some math. Then I checked my racial perks list and moved back to Taeral's location. He looked concerned.

he signaled.

I sent back.

We moved out of the patrol range so we could speak.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm going to pick {Favored Enemy [orc]). I need some time to mess with my System."

It totes made sense. I would use a perk, gain significant bonuses against the orcs, improve my survivability, and get a nice 7.57 multiplier to all the other orcs' experience. That would catapult my levels even further, paying off for the perk.

I applied my level up.

You reached a True Hero level 13

You gained two True Hero perks.

You reached Royal Moon-Blessed Elf [star] level 12

You gained two Royal Moon-Blessed Elf [star] perks.

You reached Spirit Surgeon level 10

You reached Alchemist level 10

You gained 10 Attribute Points.

Attribute points over the cap redistributed.

All of your Attributes are at their caps. Withholding excess points. 56 / 100 Attribute points withheld.

What was the System doing with my Attribute points this time? Was there another set of hidden Attributes to unlock? I dumped some Skills and the ninety-six SP from this level-up in Wyxnos' Horadric Cube. It hadn't an actual shape.

{Combine Skills} activated. You are sacrificing the following Skills:

Weaving 9, Leatherworking 9, Tanning 9, Cleaning 9, Butchering 9, Fire Building 9, Sewing 9, Mining 9, Singing 9, and Identify 9.

Plus 160 Skill Points.

Confirm? [YES] - [NO]

You gained the Outfitter (very rare) Skill. You are proficient with processing plant and animal materials to crafting clothing and objects. Increase quality and durability of crafted products.

Your Outfitter Skill level is Journeyman 42.

It meant I could dump random Skills along with the ones I wanted just for the points. This Skill would help me with my silk threads too. Now, the perks.

You gained the Favored Enemy [orcs] (uncommon). Treat all your combat and furtivity Skills as one rank above when fighting against orcs.

You gained the Elven Grace (uncommon) perk. Your furtivity, defensive, and movement Skills increase in biomes with sufficient vegetation.

Following the trend, [True Hero] also had some {Favored Enemy} perks to pick from. Not wanting to commit the same mistake, I picked them too.

You gained the Favored Enemy [dragons] (rare). Treat all your combat and furtivity Skills as one rank above when fighting against dragons.

You gained the Favored Enemy [abominations] (very rare). Treat all your combat and furtivity Skills as one rank above when fighting against abominations and chimeric creatures.

The monsters in that Dungeon I haunted as a banshee would fit that latter designation. I hadn't noticed, but {Favored Enemy} now expanded to include furtivity.

I adjusted my fake level by eight before I turned to talk to my ranger bodyguard.

"I'm all set."

"Eight levels. Impressive," Taeral said and sighed. "I'm sorry. I forget how easy are the earlier levels."

I punched his arm. "Stop that!" I raised in protest.

"Sorry?"

"Beating around the bush here. We're on the field. Teammates. You won't offend me or hurt my Royal sensibilities. Just be yourself. I'm still that little one-armed girl you picked up at the edge of the Forest."

He looked at me seriously. "I can only promise to try."

"And pay no mind to the council's bullshit. I bet they got your ear for a couple of days to lay a hundred rules on how to behave next to me."

We started to move back to the orc village when he chuckled, "Couple of days? They entrapped me for a week."

I hunted patrols for the rest of the afternoon. The sky was growing darker.

I played a game of "vanish the orc". Pounce, {Assassinate}, store the body, clean the blood. I had Nenandil's magic and my Silkie Skills to do the scrubbing. Bonus points for execution and speed.

Orcs had a highly hierarchical and militarized society. The strongest orc ruled, and the assigned functions cascaded from there. Lieutenants, sergeants, then the grunts and scouts. The jobs nobody wanted fell on the lower-leveled orcs. They didn't use military patents themselves but it was easier for me to organize them like that.

The patrols were thinning when I felt a surge of energy. My fatigue washed out and I felt stronger. Looking up, I saw that two moons came to greet us. Ayla the White and Sylvis the Green made the foliage came alive against the dull shaded backdrop of bark and dirt.

It was breathtaking. The leaves seemed to glow. But I would have centuries to gawk at the beauty of this world if I could get my way. Now, I had a job, to farm these orcs for Exp. I pinged {Detect Favored Enemy} and found them entering the edge of my range.

Pouncing out of the shrubbery, I bit the head of one orc and raked the other one with my rear claws. He grunted and fell, bleeding like Shiryu of Dragon on a bad day. I clawed his throat off and clicked my tongue. I got a "failed" on the second assassination, cutting my Exp bonus.

Assassination successful. Contract fulfilled.

You killed level 33 Orc. You gained 1,903,354 Exp. (Base 10,890 x 174.8 modifiers).

Assassination failed. Contract fulfilled.

You killed level 31 Orc. You gained 610,473 Exp. (Base 9,610 x63.5 modifiers).

Now we were talking. I felt a rush of excitement at seeing those seven-digit Exp values again.

That was the reason I didn't fear [Assassins]. Not because I believed myself to be unkillable, but because I knew what was the greatest incentive that made them work. That huge Exp bonus painted on the target's back like a... well, target. With my Soul Attribute at its maximum and my ability to detect and remove the contract, they needed to be super extra motivated to take that extra risk.

I entered the village and searched for enemies again. Yes, pausing to get that perk was the right choice. I found a hut that had two dozen responses. That was strange AF. Why would so many orcs cluster in that small space?

Unless they weren't orcs. I had other favored enemies, and I noticed that female orc were as rare as dry slimes. There might be some of those out there, but I've never seen one.

I'll be honest, this world sucked if you were female. And powerless. Or both.

I ignored that hut for now and went around the outskirts. The orcs didn't have the concept of doors or privacy. Of hygiene. The back of the huts had a pile of offal, rotting and smelling like... orc droppings?

I avoided the huts with three or more targets inside. Those would be troublesome because once the alarm went up, forget assassinations. I killed twenty more orcs and studied my options. The moons were out, and the orcs would be waking up soon.

I had enough Exp. accumulated. No need to take more risks than necessary and causing trouble for Taeral later. Exercising the best part of valor, I withdrew back to where Taeral was watching me.

he gestured.

I sent back.

We went back to collect the knights.

"Your Highness!" the nameless leader snapped to salute me with his knuckles balled over his heart.

"We're back. The village was waking up and I decided to avoid direct confrontation. I killed about thirty orcs, there should be fifty more in the village, plus the chieftain," I reported.

They were still avoiding their gaze. I thought they were being silly about that. My hybrid form was covered in fur.

"How should we proceed," Taeral asked me.

Before the knight could answer, I cut him off. "I want to rescue the human women. The orcs will find their brethren missing. How will they react?"

"As you wish, Your Highness. But it will be a tough fight against fifty orcs with a rank up," The ranger answered with a very respectful tone.

I was delighted that he was playing the game. The knights didn't even bat an eyelash at him.

"Should we mount a frontal assault?" Commander asked.

I nodded, "Yes. Ready your bows, gentleman. We are going to attack the village."

I raised an earth wall to give me some privacy and donned my gear again. This time, I'll play with magic.

The orc village was in a frenzy. Orcs were missing, and by the grunts, they were sharing, the leadership thought they had fled. They saw no signs of combat, no bloodstains.

A group of twenty orcs was sent into the forest to search for the missing scouts. We let them go. Thirty stayed in the village, but those were the strongest ones. The orc chieftain was a monstrosity of a humanoid hog, a mountain of dark green skin wrapping a shit-ton of monster bacon almost three meters tall.

"I'll need to use reinforcements," I told the knights.

"We are too far away to ask for help," Taeral replied.

I shook my head, "The reinforcements are already here. Ready your bows, I'm going to try something new to stop them from charging us."

I looked at the beaten dirt beneath the village. What I wanted was a classical spell. At least in our monthly D&D sessions back in NYC. I called, and the earth answered. I poured my MP into my channels and it took the shape for the spell as if it wanted to do so. I had an affinity for that. If it was this easy to shape the magic with one, I would surely buy affinities for other kinds of magic too.

"Gentleman, nock your arrows," I said to them. "Focus on the weaker ones. I want to whittle down their numbers."

"You heard the princess, men," commander said and I heard the arrows clicking against the bows.

I felt the spell ready to be released. I didn't have to chant or use gestures for the magic I had an affinity to. "I'm casting. {Mass Earth Grasp}!"

Second level invocation plus mass spell metamagic. My magic rushed through the ground and massive hands made of earth and rock erupted from the ground beneath the orcs, grabbing and crushing them.

"Let Fly!" Taeral shouted. "For the Forest!"

The arrows zipped from both sides, delivering the People's punishment to those wretched greenskins. Trespassing our ancestral forest was a crime punishable by death.

"Specters! Heed my call and obey me!" I shouted for a dramatic effect. I pumped the orcish ghosts from my kills full of SP, making them materialize. "Attack the orcs!"

They had enough bottled resentment and animosity for their former leaders to gladly comply. The thirty ghosts rushed into the village, clawing and biting at their living brethren.

"Your Highness?" Behind me, the commander gasped.

"Keep shooting!"

I barked and chanted ice shards at the orcs. This way Nenandil could also cast from her hiding spot inside my soul and it would look like my magic was just stronger.

The orcs struggled to break free from my conjured hands. The hands, in return, squeezed their life out. After combining my elemental magic skills, I became a strong magician. I didn't have the Mind and Willpower attributes to become a powerhouse but there was nothing I could do about that.

Half of the trash mobs were dead when the chieftain broke free. He sent a shower of rock pellets out from the dust cloud the earthen hand had become. The huge boar-man shouted and charged at us.

He had a tree trunk with the tip wrapped in bits of metal that one day could've been shields or armor plating. He beat the specters to their final rest as he moved. I felt his gaze fixed on me.

"{Charge}!" He grunted in his guttural language.

The orc chieftain picked up supernatural speed as he crossed the distance between us in the blink of an eye. I was casting a darkness spell when the club came down on me. Aborting the spell, I felt the urge to trigger {Defensive Roll}.

You were hit by great maul. You lost 6,124 HP (partial critical). You lost 2047 MP (Base 78 x 3.5 Strength x 2.5 Skill x 3 Elfslayer Perk x 4 Critical x 2 Charge x 0.5 Defensive Roll.)

Fuck. At least the defensive roll put a good few meters between him and me. I wasn't totally bashed away by the maul. No. Maybe. I was pissed.

"He's mine!" I barked and spat blood. "Finish the other orcs!"

"Little elf princess! You'll be my broodmare!" The chieftain taunted.

{Enrage Taunt} resisted. You are immune.

"I'm biting your head off, bastard." I shifted into my hybrid form and roared.

I ran straight at the guffawing orc. He readied his maul and brought it forward to score a home run.

"{Bonebreaker}!" He activated some sort of ability.

The maul came straight at me. And passed through without causing harm. I'd become incorporeal, baiting him into just bashing me straight. I went through the orc and latched to his back. Then I started to drain his life.

So. Much. Vitality. I hissed and used {Keenning} without even thinking about it. Feasting on such strong lifeforce was beyond any pleasure food could ever give. The orc chieftain fell on his knee. I pressed my ghostly hands on his temple and sucked his soul out.

Assassination failed. Contract fulfilled.

You killed level 61 High Orc Chieftain. You gained 18,902,680 Exp. (Base 37,210 x508 modifiers).

He gave bonus Exp for rank, Class rank, and size.

I bound the chieftain's soul as I extricated myself from the body and canceled the incorporeality. Around me, the elves were giving me horrified glances.

"Report!" I barked.

"All the enemies are dead, Your Highness!" Taeral shouted back.

I looked at the village and saw one of the most gruesome sights ever. The bodies of the orcs were still being crushed by the hands, blood, and gore gushing between the fingers like the juice of crushed grapes.

I improvised another earth spell and the hands along with the soil around them became spheres of compacted dirt. Once they were solid enough, I released the magic.

Beneath me, the desiccated corpse of an old orc lied. I knew now why the knights were so wary around me. I might've looked like a banshee for a moment.

"All is well," I said and stored the chieftain's corpse and weapon.

"Yes... Your Highness," commander said with great hesitation.

I walked past the knights, "Master Ranger, walk with me," I said. "Knights, go hunt the search party."

The fifteen Royal Knights ran silently through the undergrowth, the vegetation of the allied forest practically parting to let them through.

At the village, I stored the earth balls with pulped orc fillings and dismissed the scout's spirits, letting them pass onto the afterlife. I stopped caring about what the Gods did with the dead.

"Taeral, my friend. I'll tell you, I won't shy away from using the weapons I have at hand."

"You shouldn't, Alloralla. So long you're fighting for the People and Forest, you do what you must."

I nodded. "We're here. The human women are inside. Would you give us some privacy? They might need it."

"I'll scout around. Our fight might've attracted other threats."