[Last Emperor] Chapter 10 - Stinky Plans Made (Patreon)

Tao Zi laid on the floor and kept himself small. Hiding in the bushes and behind the dead trees that surrounded the clearing he had been. He watched through the gaps as something large walked through the bushes on the other side of the clearing. 

It was huge. 

A massive chimp like creature that was very much unlike anything he had seen. Seven foot tall, yolked like Ronnie Coleman, but silver grey skin color and not a single hair. Blood red eyes that surveyed the area with more intelligence than something that big and powerful should have. Its flat nose sniffed back and forth trying to find something, but it ended up shaking its head.

It stepped to the dead chimp and sniffed one more time, gagging at the horrific smell. A massive axe strapped to its back.

Tao Zi had not noticed it in the adrenaline rush he had been experiencing. Rushing through the motions to finish the battle. Collecting as many of the roots and fast as he could without anything stepping into the clearing while he was unprepared. Except that was exactly what happened. 

He let the system scan what was in front of him. 

System Analysis - 

Orc-oid

Mortal Stage Bottleneck - Qi Gathering Realm

Body Tempering Journeyman Stage 2

Warning -

Faster, stronger, bigger, maybe even smarter than you.

While it had no Qi cultivation, it could be a tank compared to him. The warning was right. He would need to use a serious amount of Qi just to break past its skin and muscles to inflict damage to anything important. He doubted pain would be an issue for it, blood red eyes usually meant significant pain resistance and the drive to murder anything standing before it in Tao Zi’s encyclopedia of eye colors. 

It was not something he wanted to fight if he could escape the area. It would cost him more than he could afford in terms of injuries and damage. He wasn’t sure the Spiritual Medicine Pills and the beds recovery functions worked on missing limbs or a caved skull. 

Tao Zi was sure most cultivators would be happy to take the risk. Maybe get an ambush from this precarious position, but not him. He wanted to plan more than simply jumping out of the bushes. Make them lose their balance. Get their attention faced away as he snuck up. Drop them into a pit of spikes. Anything was better than facing what amounted to a tank head on.

Said orc tank spat on the dead goblinoid. It then turned its attention to the rest of the clearing, studying everything with intelligent eyes. Searching for something. Eventually its gaze landed on the roots. Half of which Tao Zi hadn’t had a chance to stuff into his ring. 

He cursed mentally as the orc picked one up and sniffed it. 

Only to let out a relieved breath as it dropped the root, turning its attention to the ground around the hole. It touched the dirt, taking some between its fingers and rubbing it. Again sniffing it. The orc grunted to itself as it turned around eyes searching for something. 

Holy shit! It’s going to find me! Has it been tracking me? What the hell am I going to do now?

Tao Zi slowly got up. Doing his best to not make any noise. 

Except that it was impossible. The bushes seemed to scream and shout that he was hiding between them. The roots snapped and cracked, echoing through the entire clearing. Even the tree groaned at him barely touching it. 

The orc snapped its head towards him. 

He ran away, unwilling to fight something stronger than him in its most advantageous skill. Head on, he had no chance to kill it. At least for now until he leveled up. Maybe when he broke through to the Journeyman rank he would be able to deal with it, but that was a distance away, assuming the fifth stage is even longer to finish than the fourth stage he just finished. 

The orc charged after him. Roaring a loud battlecry and crashing through the bushes, trees, and anything else in its path. Gaining ground on him. It pulled out its massive axe and began to swing it. 

He could feel the wind at his back. 

Turning left and right and attempting to lose it did not help. He had gotten a couple chances to get it out of sight, but it kept finding him no matter where or how he went about it. Tao Zi cursed. It had probably locked onto his smell. Something beyond what a normal human could achieve. Like a hunting dog.

But he refused to keel over and die. Sprinting away as he tried to think of how to either distract or defeat it. 

Wait!

It hit him. Tao Zi jumped over a couple bushes into a clearing he saw from a distance a massive area that would give them some space. He pulled out a soiled underwear and threw it to the side. Before turning around and facing the other side. Waiting for the orc to either burst through or throw its axe at him. He was prepared to delay and fight for as long as he could until his plan succeeded. 

The orc did not act as expected. It stopped just outside of the clearing, covered by the shadows from the sun. Its red eyes glowed ominously as it studied him from a distance. The orc carefully stepped into the clearing. Its nose worked over time, smelling the stench of the underwear. 

It shook its head and covered its nose. Sniffing deeply into a rag it had tied to its wrist. A counter to affecting its sense of smell and any attempt to disorient it, Tao Zi noticed. This wasn’t just a brute with large muscles. This was an intelligent hunter and warrior with vast experience. Remembering what it had gone through and figuring out counters. 

He knew this was the worst case scenario. Thankfully that had not been his plan from the start or he would have been screwed. 

Facing a strong beast was nothing like fighting something intelligent, much more than simple tactics and battle plan like the goblinoids. It could find weaknesses and take advantage of them. Work on its own and figure out ways to work around them. 

It watched him from the edge of the clearing. The heavy axe in its hands was massive, as wide as Tao Zi’s torso and as tall as him as well. He couldn’t imagine how much it weighed or how that thing was swinging it around like it was weightless. Tao Zi could imagine tipping over just trying to hold it up. 

I need to buy some time.

“How are you? What are you doing?” Tao Zi said. His blade erupted with blue flames. A threat if the orc wanted to fight. 

It grunted. “Human!” 

Tao Zi’s eyes widened at the words. He had not expected it to respond, even if the words sounded like it should not have been physically capable of saying them. Almost like grunts and guttural sounds. But it was real. It spoke a clear word he could understand. 

“Not welcome. Die!” It roared. Spittal flying out of its mouth far enough to reach him. 

“Introduce yourself—”

It stepped forward, grip tightening around the axe audibly.

“You’re a warrior right? Warriors don’t fight without introducing themselves.” Tao Zi said as he prepared to kite it.

The orc stopped. “Zarfu! Warrior. Hunter. Hunting puny human now.”

“I am Tao Zi. Human, cultivator of these gorgeous blue flames. Warrior too. Why do you hunt me? We don’t have to fight, you know? You go about your way and I don’t have to cut your head off its shoulders, you know? Being executed does not feel good. Having a nice head to put on your big shoulders is perfect for you. Trust—”

“Human speak too much!” The orc roared and charged him. 

Tao Zi lunged away from the underwear. He needed it to always be closer to the orc than himself, keep the orc between them. Or he risked his plan backfiring worse than the current issue he found himself in. His death was almost guaranteed otherwise. 

It slammed the axe into the ground. Barely missing Tao Zi with every massive swing. 

Though Tao Zi was kiting and dodging, it didn’t mean he wasn’t actively fighting back. He just needed to make sure it didn’t result in opening himself up with a counter. The orc would survive a dozen of his strikes, but he doubted he could survive one if he was lucky. Otherwise, he just end up cut in half through the sheer weight of the weapon being thrown around like a lightweight polygon version of it. 

He struck back with Qi every chance he got. Cutting deep but otherwise he did not get anything deep or clean enough to even slow it down. Just enough to see it bleed green thick blood. Even if it acted like it hadn’t noticed.

Fuck! This isn't going to last much longer!

Tao Zi had made a massive gamble. It was that simple. All in the hopes it would work and give him enough time to escape. But that was the issue, he had no idea if it would work how he thought it would. He could only pray in his mind for success.