CH 31

The morning before we headed out to defeat the orcs, it was still raining.

It was not a downpour, but the fine rain was blowing with the wind, and it was very bothersome.

There were fifteen villagers participating in the assault, all wearing leather armor and raincoats.

The temperature and humidity were so stifling that they were sweating just standing there.

“Everyone get ready. The opponent is orcs, which are not as easy to defeat as goblins, but they can be defeated if you have the right number of men to do it, in either a five-man team or a three-man team. Make a final check in the carriage so that you can move without confusion. Then, get in!” (Zeol)

There were seven people on each side of the wagon bed, with the extra person leaning on the very back.

They all took off their raincoats, wiped off their sweat, and looked a little relieved.

Mr. Zeol sat on the left side of the driver’s seat, and I sat on the right, keeping a wary eye on our surroundings as we proceeded.

Yesterday, the orcs were said to have appeared right in the middle of Atsuka and Kidai, but we could not be too careful.

It is quite possible that the orcs are on the move.

“Nyango, use body enhancement magic and keep an eye on them. The situation between us on the road and the orcs hiding in the forest will depend on how quickly we can spot them.” (Zeol)

“I got it…” (Nyango)

Although I said that, the rain was making the surrounding scenery look hazy.

I tried my detection magic, but the standing trees and bushes were in my way, and it was unlikely that I would be able to detect them.

On both sides of the road, some areas were covered with grassland, while others were close to the forest.

The forest, foggy from the rain, is dimly lit, and even though the path is usually uneventful, it feels eerie, as if something might pop up at any moment.

“Don’t work yourself too hard… but the orcs are not always hiding in the forest. Sometimes they lie in wait in the meadow’s hollows.” (Zeol)

“How do you spot them there?” (Nyango)

“It’s just like the openings in staff arts. We are not gods; we can’t see through everything. We will try to see through it and be prepared in case we can’t.” (Zeol)

“I see… I understand.” (Nyango)

This time last year, I would not have been able to prevent the orcs from attacking if they got close enough, But now that my void magic is more powerful, there are ways to counterattack.

After that, the only thing left to do is to be prepared to act calmly and appropriately without panicking in the event of a sudden situation.

Two hours had passed since our departure, but we had not seen any orc-like shadows.

I was beginning to think that they would not appear today since they had preyed on one horse and a driver yesterday, but Mr. Zeol had something else in mind altogether.

“Everyone, start preparing. Make sure you drink plenty of water while you’re at it. Once the fighting starts, there won’t be time to drink water. ” (Zeol)

Mr. Zeol looked back from the coachman’s seat and said these words, and the air inside the wagon suddenly became tense.

The fifteen participating villagers had taken off their raincoats when they boarded the wagon, but they did not put them back on.

“Where are the orcs, Mr. Zeol?” (Nyango)

“We won’t see them yet. I don’t see them, but they’re close.” (Zeol)

“Eh, that’s…” (Nyango)

“Hmm, intuition, it’s intuition.” (Zeol)

Mr. Zeol’s mouth relaxed into a grin, but there was an unusual light in his eyes.

Then, less than five minutes after Mr. Zeol’s warning, the attack began.

“Neigh!” (Horse)

The horses pulling the wagon panicked, startled by the logs that suddenly fell in front of them.

“Here they come! The forest on the left!” (Zeol)

Thick branches, crushed logs, and stones came flying from the other side of the dense bushes.

“[Wall]!” (Nyango)

A wall of air is made to protect the wagon and horses.

Thanks to the fact that I overcame the magic element rampage, it is strong enough and can be deployed over a wide area.

If we had simply pursued hardness alone, it would have broken, but it has the elasticity to prevent it from cracking.

This is the result of the ingenious use of materials ranging from hard to soft.

“Nyango, are you doing this?” (Zeol)

“It won’t let an attack of this magnitude pass through.” (Nyango)

“Good, once this attack is stopped, the orcs should rush in, so get ready in groups of three!” (Zeol)

“Yeah!” (Villagers)

Following Mr. Zeol, who jumped down from the coachman’s seat, the men of the village dismounted from their wagons, spears in hand, and formed five groups of three men each.

Two in front and one in the back, the three of them form a group of five to fight against a single orc.

The objects that had been thrown at us from the bushes suddenly stopped.

The sound of the rain, which was beginning to get stronger, dominated the area.

“Bumoooooo!” (Orcs)

“It’s coming! Get ready!” (Zeol)

“Whoa!” (Villagers)

The roar of the orcs echoes from behind the bushes, and the men of the village shout back.

“Bumoooo!” (Orcs)

The fact that I was able to react to the orc’s scream that suddenly came from behind was probably the result of my daily staff art training.

Immediately after I jumped into the carriage, the coachman’s seat I was on was crushed by the orc’s club.

The horses went wild with the loud sound of the smashed platform, and the carriage, which had been untethered, began to run out of control.

I used [Step] to regain my position and jumped out from behind the carriage, only to run into another orc.

“Bufuuu!” (Orc)

“[Shield]! Fugyaa!” (Nyango)

I blocked the orc’s club with [Shield], but I was hit by a club blow from another orc approaching from behind.

My body flew through the air like a ball hit by a bat.

I was slammed into the grass beside the road, and as I rolled about, another orc came at me.

“Guu…… [Lance]!” (Nyango)

Forcing my body, which was aching here and there, to rise up, I formed a conical spear that resembled a jousting lance just before the orc that came barreling at me and intercepted it.

“Buugiii!” (Orc)

The orc, pierced from the chest to the back, gripped the invisible spear and stopped moving.

The reason I am somehow able to move is because I had put on full armor made of void magic while jumping into the carriage right after the attack on the coachman’s seat.

Every part of my body is screaming, but now is not the time to rest.

Another orc is approaching from behind the orc who has stopped moving with the spear.

“[Thumbing]!” (Nyango)

“Bugii, giiii…” (Orc)

“From… [Death Choker Type R]” (Nyango)

“Gufu… buu… gii…” (Orc)

The improved version of the Death Choker is not a circular blade, but eight spearheads lined up front to back, left to right, diagonally inward, and connected by a solid ring.

The name is that, well, you get the idea.

In this form, it is sharper, penetrates deeper, and can do serious damage even to an orc’s neck.

In fact, every time the body shook, the spear pierced deeper, and the orc’s upper body was dyed bright red sooner than expected.

A [Lance] also stopped the orc from moving, and after fitting it with the [Death Choker Type R], the [Lance] was erased.

The orc’s body, which had lost its support, fell prey to the Death Choker because of its weight.

“Bumoooooo!” (Orc)

The orc, who had smashed the coachman’s seat and hit me like a ping-pong ball, was about to attack the villagers from behind.

“Let’s do it! Shield!” (Nyango)

“Buugii!” (Orc)

The orc’s face smashed against an invisible shield, stumbled backward, holding its nose.

Using a combination of [Step] and body enhancement magic, I rushed toward the orc in an instant.

“[Spear]!” (Nyango)

With all my speed and weight, I thrust the tip of his wide spear into the orc’s torso from behind at an angle to the left.

Immediately after the spear tip pierced deep, I twist the handle of the spear in a large circular motion and gutted the orc.

“Buhiiii……” (Orc)

The screaming orc turned around and saw me, its face contorted as it tried to attack me and held its side.

The blood that was pouring out of the orc was running down its left leg and beginning to spread a red stain on the rain-soaked ground.

“Hey, come over here!” (Nyango)

“Bufuuu!” (Orc)

I made it about ten meters away, turned my back, and wagged my tail, and the orc came charging at me with a roar of fury.

“[Lance]!” (Nyango)

“Gufu…” (Orc)

“[Death Choker Type R]” (Nyango)

“Gugii… Gufu…” (Orc)

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the sequence of events beginning with [Lance] is an ironclad pattern of attack for the orcs that come charging in.

I confirmed that the light disappeared from the eyes of the orc that had dyed the upper half of its body bright red, and I released the death choker.

The three orcs that had attacked us were cleared away, but the battle between the village people and the orcs continued.

Some of the orcs had fallen down and were not moving, but there were also villagers who had likewise fallen down and could not get up.

“Don’t go too far, cut it down, cut it down!” (Villager)

“Bubuhii!” (Orc)

“Hey, this way. Come, come, come!” (Villager)

“Look, there’s an opening!” (Villager)

The men of the village seem to have divided the three remaining orcs, surrounding them with three or four men, and fighting them.

The orcs’ bodies were already stained with blood, and it would only be a matter of time before they were defeated.

“Huh? Mr. Zeol…?” (Nyango)

I looked around the meadow, but could not see Mr. Zeol.

I looked further into the forest, thinking that he had not been killed by the orcs, and saw that he was in the forest.

He was staring at a large orc about five meters away.

Around him lay the trunks of trees that had been cut down, and many of the standing trees had deep scratches on them.

Mr. Zeol was holding a spear with a short handle, and upon closer inspection, it appeared that the original long handle had been cut off.

Surprisingly, the orc confronting Mr. Zeol was holding a rusty battle axe.

The color of its skin was reddish-bronze, and it seemed that it was an orc general.

Well, general or king, he seems to be planning to defeat it, but I thought we were going to drag them to Kidai.

“[Death Choker Type R]… I’ll help you, Mr. Zeol.” (Nyango)

“Nyango, I see you’re all right.” (Zeol)

Mr. Zeol called out to me while keeping his eyes on the Orc General.

“It hurts here and there, but well, I am somehow okay…” (Nyango)

“Well done!” (Zeol)

“Buugii? (Orc General)

Seeing the Orc General suddenly start bleeding from around its neck, Mr. Zeol turned his gaze to me.

“Oy, oy, what’s going on?” (Zeol)

“I have spearheads around its neck, so this is the end…” (Nyango)

“Bufuuuuu!” (Orc General)

The orc general let out a yell and crushed the spearheads that were surrounding its neck.

You couldn’t see it, and its hands were bloody from touching the blade, but it didn’t care at all.

“Impossible, even though I have strengthened it a lot…” (Nyango)

“Nyango, cover me from a distance. If there’s an opening, take it.” (Zeol)

“I got it!” (Nyango)

The orc general escaped a fatal wound, but it was still bleeding heavily from the neck.

But it does not seem to mind the bleeding, perhaps because its body is still wet from the rain.

“Buu… Buuuu…” (Orc General)

The Orc General was breathing slowly as if trying to calm its disturbed breathing, and then it tightened its grip on its battle-axe and stepped toward Mr. Zeol.

“[Blade]!” (Nyango)

“Buugii!” (Orc General)

When I made a thick blade in the image of the Buster Sword and attacked, the Orc General’s arm was crushed by its own weight and the weight of the battle-axe.

“This is the end!” (Zeol)

Mr. Zeol, running up to the shaken Orc General who had lost his battle-axe, plunged his spear deep into its left chest.

“Buguuu… Aaaaaa!” (Orc General)

When the Orc General pulled out the spear with force, blood spurted out like a fountain.

Mr. Zeol pulls out the knife hanging from his waist and watches over it without letting his guard down.

“Bumoooooo!” (Orc General)

The Orc General screamed and rushed forward, but Mr. Zeol easily avoided it with his fluid footwork.

With a roar, the Orc General smashed against a tree that looked to be more than 50 years old, and never got up again.

In the suddenly quiet forest, Mr. Zeol kept his knife at the ready, but when he relaxed, he turned his gaze to me and grinned.

Over the sound of the downpour of rain beating the leaves, I could hear the men of the village shouting the battle cry of victory.

Apparently, the orcs over there had been taken care of.