They held their breaths as the single drop of blood fell into Akhil's mouth. The entire settlement was swallowed by a deep silence, every orc looking at Akhil with unblinking, anxious eyes.

After waiting for several minutes, nothing happened. The orcs shifted, absorbed in worried thoughts.

While they were worried about what to do, Akhil groggily opened his eyes, finding himself suspended in a pitch-black space.

"Where am I?" he asked, his voice echoing eerily through the empty void.

Just then, a mechanical chime echoed in his ears, followed by the articulate, young female voice of a system administrator.

"Player Nexus, welcome to the Games Waiting Lobby."

Nexus's brows knitted at the system's words. This definitely wasn't a dream; he could even see a scenario window shimmering in front of him, displaying the current crisis the orcs were placed in.

{Time left: 21:30}

{Penalty: Death}

Akhil glanced at the series of notifications, then winced, clutching his head as his memories flooded back.

'That's right, I just healed everyone and I didn't realize that my blood essence had been exhausted... I fainted right after that. When did I become so reliant on blood essence?' He knew blood essence was required to use his abilities, but this was the first time he had experienced such a complete collapse.

'Is it because I leveled up? So now, my blood essence can't ever drop to zero without fatal consequences?' Akhil slowly arranged his thoughts. It made sense since actual mosquitoes constantly needed blood to survive.

But being in a condition like this each time wasn't ideal. 'And this stupid system decided to use my life to host a scenario.' Akhil thought, reading the scenario that had been set up.

'It doesn't look like anything they won't be able to do, does it?' Akhil thought with a wry smile, looking at the clearing conditions.

While he was uncertain, he couldn't deny the facts himself. They had been following his orders and listened to him—Aria, Nibo... they were all loyal comrades and had even praised him multiple times for his amazing feats. He would only need blood from one of them!

"I guess I'll just wait and see who it turns out to be," Akhil said calmly. He then shifted his gaze to the space around him. He had heard the system mention the place as the Waiting Lobby, and truly, it looked exactly like the waiting room from the beta test. But if he could still enter the actual lobby from the game, even after the supposed system bug, that begged the question:

'How is the game waiting lobby still functional?' Akhil wondered, staring intensely into the surrounding darkness.

Meanwhile, back at the camp the orcs were still thinking hard on what to do.

'Who could it be? It wasn't Aria. Perhaps someone else who isn't within the settlement?' Ryan pondered, his worried gaze fixed on his leader.

The system notification flashed again:

{Clearing Conditions: The king teeters between life and death. Only the blood of the one who holds the greatest sincere loyalty and admiration for him can save his life. Find this person.}

Ryan's gaze quickly drifted back to the text. He reread the clearing conditions, and his eyes lit up in sudden realization.

'While the title of the scenario makes it look specific to the ladies..... The clearing conditions didn't make it specific at all! It just has to be someone with the greatest sincere loyalty and admiration!'

With that realization, Ryan took a bold step forward, confusing all the nearby orcs. He calmly ignored their lingering gazes, picked up the dagger, and positioned himself over Akhil.

'You believed in me and trusted me with the serum. You healed not just me, but several orcs! I have already sworn my total allegiance to your cause, and I'll stand by your side throughout this journey... I want to see you grow and lead us!' Ryan stared at Akhil with eyes filled with genuine reverence and respect.

Without a second thought, he sliced his own hand, making a small, clean cut on his palm, and held it above Akhil's mouth.

Everyone watched as the blood dropped onto Akhil's lips. A hushed silence followed, and they all waited.

When he saw no immediate reaction, Ryan heaved a heavy sigh of disappointment. But before he could pull his hand away, Akhil's fingers twitched.

Ryan let out a disappointed sigh, but just then, he felt the hairs on his body stand up.

He turned his gaze to Aria, who shot a sharp glare at him. "Tch," she scoffed, looking away. Ryan merely glanced at her and shook his head, choosing to ignore her feigned annoyance.

He then turned his gaze to all the other male orcs.

He briefly explained to them what the system condition truly meant. After that, they all lined up, eager to try waking Akhil.

J came first, looking down at Akhil, his eyes heavy with raw emotion.

"You brat, you gave us a fighting chance," J said, his voice thick. "You healed us, and fought for us... and now you want to die on us? We won't be able to forgive ourselves if you do that. We can't let you die on us, so please! Wake up!"

All the orcs nodded in acknowledgment at his fervent speech right before he sliced his hand, allowing his blood to leak into Akhil's mouth.

The orcs stared with hopeful gazes as the blood dropped onto his lips.

Similar to Ryan's attempt, there was only a subtle twitch, and then nothing more.

Ryan could only conclude that the twitch had something to do with the intense sincerity of their words or emotions right before offering the blood.

The attempts that followed J's failed miserably. No matter how many orcs tried, or what they said, there was no reaction.

To make matters worse, it was as though time was flying by quickly.

After all the male orcs had tried and nothing worked, a palpable anxiety slowly crept into the camp. Everyone was worried, with no idea what to do next.

In a desperate move, Ryan arranged a quick meeting with Aria and J, trying to break down the scenario analytically.

"...If you could try again, Aria," Ryan explained calmly, "maybe this time, try saying something genuinely touching. It could work. I caused a twitch, and so did J. Maybe with you, the result could be different."

Aria took a long, skeptical sigh. "I could try again."

She stood up and moved toward the stone platform where they had placed Akhil, picking up the blade.

But just as she brought the knife toward her hand, a harsh sound shattered the silence.

Buzz!!!!

The loud, grating noise instantly drew everyone's attention, wrenching their focus away from Akhil. They spun around toward the source.

As the figures in the distance became clear, a deep frown settled heavily on every orc's face.

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