Before I slide down and die from fall damage, I twist my body so my legs are crouched against the wall, and push off, firing myself at the orcs. With 90% of my hit points gone, thanks to [Blood Frenzy] I should be hitting almost twice as hard as before.

  I'm at the group in barely a second, grabbing onto the staff of the great hammer. My shoulders scream from the tension as I turn like doing a flip, and sm the weapon’s head into the ground.

  [(Active) Pound the Great Hammer into the ground to create earth spikes in a 3m radius around you, dealing STR (32) damage. Cooldown: 60s]

  The orcs around me cry out as spikes explode out of the floor and pierce all through their legs and abdomen with a massive 75 damage damage a piece. [Blood Frenzy] and the Amulet of Retribution are doing some serious work.

  The orcs impaled by multiple spikes stand no chance, dying almost instantly.

  [HP: 20/20]

  [MP: 1/5]

  [You are healed to full HP. All negative status effects have been cleared]

  [You have leveled up!]

  [XP: 145/2,500]

  [You have 3 attribute points to allocate]

  The remaining orc scrambles back, his legs mangled beyond recognition. His eyes bulge from the sockets and he whimpers as I approach.

  [Gained 100xp]

  [ has deactivated]

  I run a hand through my hair and giggle. Not the teehee kind of giggle cute girls do, but–alright, it's a cackle. You got me, I'm a mad woman.

  Holy shit! Who knew killing could be so fun?

  After replenishing my MP with a Minor Mana Potion, I allocate my 3 attributes all into STR. Just 1 point off being able to wield the Lizard King’s Great Hammer in one hand. With 245 out of the required 2,500xp needed for Level 6, that means I'd need to kill another 23 orcs to get the required STR.

  I continue through the door the orc group hand come from into another room, this one empty save for a table with bowls filled with a sort of greenish-grey porridge. No thanks. Unlike Goldilocks, I'm not that desperate for porridge.

  The hallway beyond this room branches in two directions; left and right. This is a bit of a pickle if I clean up one way looking for the portal, and the others go the other way.

  Scooping up blood and guts from the remains in the previous room, I smear them in a shape of an arrow on the wall. Hopefully they can figure that one.

  I then head down the right path, in the direction of the arrow I made. After a few twists and turns, I finally make it to a rge wooden door. I push it open a jar and count 10 or so orcs on the other side.

  Not a boss room, but sadly not an easy one either. I'd lucked out earlier with the reinforcements being tightly packed together, but this room is spacious enough that the orcs are fairly spread out. The great hammer’s active ability would only take out 3 at best.

  I take a deep breath, a pn formuting in my mind. I would kick the door down, hopefully taking out one orc in the process, then–

  “Excuse me?”

  Behind me are the two other Rankers, linked in a handholding chain with the three children, simir to a kindergarten walking bus. Kataclysm is at one end of the chain, and Andrew is at the other.

  I put my finger to my lips under the face mask, and convey with my eyes that there are almost a dozen orcs on the other side of the door.

  Sadly humans have yet to develop telepathy.

  Kataclysm withdraws a compass from her pocket. “This is a special item of mine. It points to the nearest exist portal, which is down the other way.”

  “B-but–,” I stop myself. She's right. Taking Captain Shitpants and his two sidekicks, Pissle Dee and Pissle Dum, to safety is the top priority. It was the whole reason I even came here in the first pce.

  What's getting into you, Hana?

  I briefly gnce back at the door–I'll be back for your XP, I try to tell it–and head back down the hallway, staying ahead, but following Kataclysm’s instructions.

  We finally take a left and find ourselves in the portal room, guarded by four orcs. Before the woman has a chance to tell the kids to get back, my hammer has already demolished the kneecaps of the closest guard.

  With the room containing a dozen-or-so orcs and the boss room still to be done, I really want conserve my [Berserk]. This unfortunately puts me in a position where my Amulet of Retribution, granting me 25% bonus damage to orcs, is my only damage buff. 70 damage on a hit wasn't necessarily bad, it just wasn't “obliterate everything” standards.

  I smack the fallen orc hard on the spine, hyperextending his chest with a nasty snap that would make the kids soil themselves if their bowels weren't already empty.

  [Gained 100xp]

  The next two orcs die in a simir fashion, and my great hammer soon fractures the skull of the fourth. I raise my weapon like an executioner, grinning like an idiot under my face mask, and deliver a second blow to his skull, spraying his brains in a 60° cone.

  [XP: 645/2,500]

  With the threats gone, Andrew takes the three mentally scarred children through the exit portal, leaving me alone with Kataclysm.