Chapter 71: Vanguard Battle 1
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
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Contrary to Kaiden's worry of finding too few clues, the forest was teeming with them.
"These guys lack caution."
"It seems they think there's no danger in this forest."
The most powerful monster in the forest on the 20th floor is the Orc Hunter.
Aside from them, we've battled goblins, kobolds, moss wolves, and helmeted deer so much that we're tired of it.
All four of these monster types are prey for the Orc Hunter.
The orcs have no natural enemies here.
Of course, if they meet adventurers wandering the forest, they'll soon discover how mistaken that belief is...
Wee-eek-!
Gruk, gruk!
Just take a few steps, and you can hear pig-like grunts echoing loudly in the forest before Grace even gets a chance to scout.
Follow the noise, and you'll find orcs hunting helmeted deer or moss wolves.
Of course, no matter how many times they hunt these beasts, regular monsters just leave mana stones and vanish.
They catch a fat helmeted deer, cheer happily, and then when the body turns into a mana stone and disappears, they cheer even louder.
When their excitement calms down, they start hunting for other prey.
Their endpoint, endlessly repeating the hunt like Sisyphus* pushing his stone, is Han Se-ah's inventory.
"This feels easier than hunting an Orc Hunter."
"Right. There are lots of them, but they don't try to hide."
Orc Warriors, ranging from three to five, move around in groups, but they aren't particularly powerful.
They're stronger than average people, but they're nothing compared to adventurers navigating the 20th floor.
No matter how many there are, they never exceed five.
Any human who's reached the 20th floor as an adventurer, working with a team, won't be defeated by these orcs.
The front-line fighters holding the line and the back-line fighters providing support fire, just the basic movements give us the upper hand.
It's clear that they're easier to catch than the Orc Hunters, who just set traps and run away.
There may be more of them, but it seems each orc is weaker.
"But it's a relief."
"What is?"
"If the Orcs had rushed into the city like those horned wolves, people would have been seriously injured. Horned wolves lie in wait and attack when people get close, but the Orcs just wander around without a care."
"That's true."
Grace and Han Se-ah, collecting orc loot as they go, chat.
Indeed, if these carefree orcs had shown up in the city, it would have been a real headache.
I'm not sure if it's the quest designer avoiding repetition or taking the players' convenience into account, but I'm grateful that the orcs haven't shown up in the city.
With these thoughts, I follow the noise through the forest for a good while.
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Raei Translations
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Grace, who's leading us, suddenly stops and alerts the group.
"There's something odd up ahead."
"Odd, how?"
"No, it's just... really loud. Much louder than I expected...."
After Grace's warning, I take a few more steps, and a rowdy noise hits my ears.
The grunting of pigs, the sound of axes slicing into wood.
Even the sound of trees falling and being dragged.
But what can an uprooted tree do to stop me when even a well-rooted tree can't?
I push the fence aside as if swinging open a door with my shield.
An ominous sound rings in my ears as the wooden pillars forming the fence topple over like bowling pins.
The Orcs' roars, shrieking from beyond the dust cloud, reverberate around me.
-Is that really a human, or a bulldozer?
-Shouldn't he have a different title apart from Paladin?
-Paladin (Strength Specialization)
-A Paladin that relies on physical prowess rather than holy power...
The erected fence tumbles backward.
The trampled ones, the ones rolling about, the ones fleeing, and the ones charging towards me the Orcs display a variety of reactions.
However, there's only one thing I'm prepared to offer the Orcs.
I charge ahead, my shield leading the way.
Like a knight forged entirely of steel, I advance with a velocity surpassing that of a warhorse.
New clouds of dust billow atop those that had been stirred when the wooden fence crumbled.
In the chaos, an orc struck by my shield is sent airborne, its horrendous form escaping the drone camera's capture.
This tactic isn't unusual outside the tower as well.
Especially when I went on quests with Rebecca, we used this strategy frequently.
I would barrel through, demolishing structures, and Rebecca would decapitate the stronger foes in the ensuing chaos, with the remaining opponents dealt with by the following mercenaries.
"Ughaahhhhh!"
I let out a battle cry, imbuing it with all the mana my lungs can muster.
The grumbling orcs drop their weapons, clutching their ears and crouching on the ground.
If the wooden fence has collapsed and the warriors have been frightened into submission, something else should come out.
If the orcs are a hint, what resides in the central building
-Why isn't the orc's underparts blurred?
-The game's 19+, but I really don't want to see an orc's thingy
-Now, I really don't want to go to the 20th floor.
-This is fitting for a shaman
-Did Roland charge in alone to check that?
An orc shaman appears, a distinctive feature visible beneath his leather loincloth.
His garb is impressive: a robe made from the hide of a moss wolf, a hood fashioned from deerskin and antlers.
Given that the 20th-floor moss wolves and deer drop no loot when slain, the shaman must have spawned wearing that outfit.
The issue is the lack of anything worn beneath the robe, assembled from the skins of moss wolves and deer.
It has the appearance of a robe casually tossed over a ragged leather loincloth.
Even though they've applied dye to the skin, it can't disguise the repulsive appendage hanging freely.
Naturally, the sight of the orc's privates doesn't stop the charge of a 6 paladin surging with magical energy.
Before the shaman, who emerges from the shack to appraise the situation, stands a steel shield capable of shattering a stone wall.
Before it can even blink or scream, it is smacked into a green pulp with a forceful shield strike, rolling several times on the ground.
[Donation of 5,000 won from 'Roland's Mighty Steel Shield'!]
If the orc shaman survives, I'll donate ten million won.
"Do you think it would survive!?"
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Sisyphus is from Greek Mythology, punished to forever roll boulder up a hill for eternity.
Arumdri tree is just the name of a tree in the novel.
5/5 Enjoy the chappy!
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