Bookworm had made his decision as the brain of the team, but there was an important point he had missed; whether his father's power animal, Pehlivan, would accept this decision or not.
"Little one, you might think you're a genius among these poor in intelligence, but where I am, especially when making a decision concerning me, you have to think twice!"
When the purple-robed orc turned toward the human as tall as his father, he saw a smile spreading across his face; he knew very well what this meant.
"Great warrior, Cimmerian King Barbarian Pehlivan, did you not like the warrior I chose for you?"
Alyon's power animal, who started laughing by tossing his blond hair, began to speak after managing to gather the attention of everyone around onto himself.
"What is there to like about him? Look at his state? Okay, physically he's not bad, but his overall vibe is mediocre!"
Bookworm turned and looked at the trio waiting below once more, and took action to play his final trump card.
"I understand, the others might look more imposing, but did you notice, the clothes on the man they call Savage don't look like they were forced onto him?"
Pehlivan, slightly turning his head to the right and looking at the opponent deemed worthy of him out of the corner of his eye, turned to his master's son with question marks forming in his eyes.
"I think he resembles you in many ways, and more importantly, he reminds me of someone you don't get along with very well. What do you say, if you fight him, I'm sure interesting things will happen!"
Pehlivan squinted his eyes, roamed for a while in his mind that deep thoughts had turned into a battlefield, and finally gave the answer two minutes later.
"Alright, accepted, but if I'm not satisfied, I'll take it out on you!"
Bookworm, nodding his head as if to say 'okay', said his final words upon the swearing and challenges coming from twenty paces ahead of the walls increasing considerably.
"Brother-in-law, you will fight Arrogant, the Leader of the Nameless Ten, you will fight Reckless. The faster, the better, but your priority is not to die!"
Even though Pehlivan gave him a hard time, the other two had accepted Bookworm's leadership and ran down over the walls of the castle to the ground without needing to say anything else, but unlike them, Alyon's power animal was stubborn enough to make sure the heavy metal gate was lifted.
"Dad, I am wary of my power animal, I don't let it develop because I think I wouldn't be able to control it. How did you have the courage to consent to Pehlivan taking a human form?"
Alyon could hear exactly what his son right beside him was saying, but his gazes were on the power animal moving towards the other two warriors.
"Bookworm, it's not just me, the whole world knows you are smarter than all the other orcs. There is no limit to the knowledge you've accumulated in your brain, and you can recall them whenever you want as if you just learned them. You are strong; even if your intelligence and wisdom overshadow this, I can clearly see where your power reaches, but you lack something very important regarding power animals!"
Even though the father and son were talking among themselves, the nine members of the Nameless Ten were listening to them with rapt attention. They couldn't stop themselves while two people, whose pictures they had seen a few times before and whose names spread by word of mouth they had heard, were discussing a topic they were curious about.
"What is the very important thing I lack, dad!"
Bookworm, whose words made it clear he was a bit offended, perhaps wasn't aware, but his voice was lingering a bit higher than its usual tone.
"Experience, my son! Even though there are attempts to define power animals generally, they are beings that are very difficult to explain using logic or knowledge templates. While their first forms might be more primitive, more understandable, when they transition to the second form, the possibilities are limitless, and do you know what the best part is? They are all only related to you!"
When Alyon spoke in riddles in a manner completely unexpected from him, the nine orc warriors couldn't understand a thing, but this wasn't the case for Bookworm, whose purple pupils flashed with lightning. He was experiencing a small moment of enlightenment and it was obvious he would want to continue this, but the six warriors who made eye contact had no intention of allowing it.
"Of all people, they sent such a loser against me. Look at him; his stance, his gaze, the air he gives off, a complete loser!"
Arrogant spoke without pulling his spear from where he thrust it; he looked so relaxed next to his weapon he leaned his body against that it was clear the Hammerstriker a few paces in front of him wasn't worth a dime in his eyes.
"Let's see if you can talk like this when I crush your head?"
The thick and massive sword, Abarran's creation, came down to where Arrogant was a breath after it was raised into the air, but the man in the target was now dozens of paces away. Hammerstriker immediately brought his sword in front of his body and took a defensive stance, and the answer to this would be Arrogant's joyous laughter.
"So you're a coward too; did you really have to send the most worthless among the orcs against me?"
When he finished speaking, he moved to the left and widened the distance between him and his other two friends considerably. He didn't feel the need to hide his speed; his self-confidence was so high that all his cards were on the table.
"Bookworm, will your brother-in-law be okay?"
Alyon liked the orc who was his son-in-law and couldn't help but worry about him after the initial moves.
"I don't know what will happen for my brother-in-law, your son-in-law, but I hope the orc warrior named Hammerstriker will emerge victorious from this struggle!"
The single answer hid more than one message within it, and Alyon, just like his son, didn't have time to think much about this matter because Reckless, raising his mace covered with spikes into the air, had launched an attack toward the orc warrior standing right across from him.
"It's been a long time since I ate orc meatballs. Let me tear you up properly and turn you into minced meat so you can become a nice appetizer alongside my wine!"
When the massive mace of the weapon, which a human could only hug, came down to the ground, the person he targeted wasn't there. The Leader of the Nameless Ten used a sword like his other two friends, and now he had drawn it and was swinging it at the enemy.
Reckless, taking the blow coming from the side directly with his armor, was tossed like a severed kite; as he slowly got up after flying meters to the right, his weapon was still in his hand. Following the event that no one expected, including those on top of the walls, the orc warrior, thinking this was his chance, quickened his steps and headed toward the person he wanted to kill without allowing him to recover.
Movement had started on the two flanks, but the weapons of the two people staring at each other for a long time hadn't been raised yet. While Pehlivan watched him with eyes shooting fire, Savage possessed the unresponsiveness of a dead body. When his name was mentioned, it was very natural for you to think he was someone bloodthirsty, burning with the desire for battle, eager to kill anyone who crossed his path, but the scene was completely different.
While some parts of his hair, which looked like it had been plucked out, were cut in a strange way, other parts had managed to start growing back in patches. Savage had a wilder appearance and aura than what his name evoked; this state of his was attracting Pehlivan's interest just like the others.
"You've been shouting for an hour, here I am before you! What is this attitude of yours, aren't you planning to attack like your friends?"
Pehlivan's voice was booming; while his body, except for his furred leather boots and the underpants covering only the area of his reproductive organs, was bathed in the silvery river of the moonlight, he drew his sword from his back and took it in his hand.
"I didn't like you!"
Two words spilled out of Savage's mouth, which hadn't opened for a long time, and rest assured these were not things anyone could have expected to hear.
"Look at this! You didn't like me; what a great coincidence, I didn't like that deadpan face of yours either!"
Following his words, which he completed with a mouthful of laughter, Pehlivan, taking the initiative and starting to advance, was as joyful as children going to an amusement park, not a battle to the death.