The awkward dance between the 3 parties continued for a while but surprisingly the first to tire was not Ray, it was the orcs.
<"How is this damn human so nimble!?" "Nimble? How come this human won't get tired?!?"> The difference between a human and an orc in terms of stamina was not actually that great. While the orcs were generally stronger and better than humans in every physical way including stamina, they also consumed more stamina thanks to those very traits.
This was not enough to make a difference on its own. The main problem was that the orcs were running on pure stamina while Ray was using mana to conserve his actual stamina.
By reinforcing his body with mana, some mana was spent in place of stamina. He was still slowly tiring out and the strain on the body, especially for the untrained, could easily leave one bedridden but Ray was a trained knight. His stamina was already greater than most humans.
