kscans

Chapter 17 - The Root Cause Appears

Perhaps thirty minutes had passed since the Monster Uproar began.

At first, the monsters had the advantage in both numbers and quality. They were a cut above any we had faced before, and it was expected that the adventurers would be in for a tough fight.

Now, however, the adventurers held a slight numerical advantage. The reason for this shift was the difference in coordination. Monsters, by and large, are creatures that fight on instinct. Many of them would charge recklessly, eager to be the first to clash with an adventurer. The adventurers, on the other hand, typically fought in parties, their coordination of attack and defense as natural as breathing. It’s no exaggeration to say that this single factor—teamwork—is enough to completely turn the tide of battle.

But that didn’t mean the adventurers were without casualties. Some had been swallowed by the wave of monster attacks, their formations broken, leaving them wounded or dead.

It was a constant back-and-forth, a relentless cycle of attack and retreat.

As the adventurers began to gain a slight edge in the struggle, the rookie adventurers handling supplies and aid in the rear began to think victory was at hand. But in that moment, the rookies had forgotten something.

The root cause of this uproar and its elite forces were still very much alive.

As I cut down monster after monster, a question began to form in my mind.

I tried to recall my first glimpse of the monster horde. I realized there was one type of monster from the initial report that I hadn't seen yet. Orcs. To have overlooked a creature said to stand three hundred centimeters tall was a colossal blunder.

I immediately turned to Bardos beside me.

"Bardos! Have you seen any Orcs in this fight?!"

To which Bardos replied, "Nope! Haven't seen a single one! A beast that big should stick out, but I ain't seen 'em at all!"

Bardos looked around, his voice tinged with surprise.

A dreadful thought occurred to me. The standard thinking among adventurers was that monsters operate on instinct. While some might show hints of rational thought, they ultimately follow their instincts to hunt prey. But what if the creature known as the Orc King possessed not only strength, but intelligence as well?

With that thought, I said to Bardos, "Bardos. It's not too late. Conserve your stamina. And don't use your skills for now."

To which Bardos replied, "Huh? Why's that? The number of monsters is dwindling. We haven't seen any Orcs, but maybe someone already took 'em out, yeah?"

It was a reasonable point, but I had to refute it.

"No, if Orcs had shown up, there would have been a commotion. But there have been no such uproars, no screams. That means the Orcs are still out there, hiding somewhere, waiting for the right moment to strike."

Bardos looked at me quizzically.

"? Orcs aren't that smart. Their style is to crush everything with brute force. Don't you think you're overthinking this?"

Bardos gave the conventional answer. But before I could argue, a war cry echoed from the forest.

Everyone on the battlefield froze.

Despite being in a life-or-death struggle, both adventurers and monsters turned to look toward the forest, as if certain something was about to emerge. Then, heavy footsteps could be heard from within the trees. There were many of them, and the sound grew louder and louder until their forms came into view.

They were immense, standing roughly three hundred centimeters tall. Their bulging bellies suggested obesity, but they carried an air of being well-trained. Their arms were incredibly muscular, easily twice the size of a gorilla's. Their legs were short, seemingly just for support and movement, not for kicking. And their faces were the very image of a wild boar.

Orcs. There had to be at least twenty of them. But even more astonishing was the figure standing behind them. It was a giant, perhaps five hundred centimeters tall, with a build that seemed to double the other Orcs in every respect. In its right hand, it held a massive double-bladed axe, a weapon that would require a human to use both hands just to lift.

It was the monster that commanded the Orcs—the Orc King had arrived.

The adventurers were seized with terror at the sight and number of them.

The other monsters were frozen in place, paralyzed by fear.

Seeing their numbers, I thought to myself, I knew it. For the Orcs to appear at this exact moment, when the adventurers were exhausted from fighting the other monsters… they had brought out their trump card.

Still, there were more than a few adventurers whose will to fight remained unbroken. My partner Bardos, for instance, was grinning ear to ear the moment he saw them, his grip tightening on his axe.

Seeing him gave me a sense of reassurance.

My partner, the man I could trust with my back, was still eager to fight even in this situation. I took a deep breath and put fresh strength into the sword and katana in my hands.

I said to Bardos, "…Shall we, Bardos?"

Understanding my meaning, Bardos replied, "Yeah, Shinsuke. I'm ready whenever you are."

He answered with a brilliant smile.

As a hunter first and an adventurer second, I resolved myself to the task of hunting Orcs.

Just then, the Orc King's roar thundered across the plains, and the Orcs charged, letting out their own war cries. On instinct, the adventurers took their stances, and the monsters, shaken back to their senses by the roar, resumed their hunt.

The situation had turned in the monsters' favor.

The Orcs' entry had drastically increased the burden on the adventurers. Normally, it was said that it took five people to defeat a single Orc. Now, there were about twenty of them, on top of all the other monsters.

For the adventurers, there could be no harder battle. With that in mind, Bardos and I decided to intercept the Orcs. To turn this situation around, we needed to take down as many of the strongest monsters as possible.

I spotted a group of three Orcs.

"First, we take down those three. Lend me a hand, Bardos!"

At my instruction, Bardos nodded with a look of pure joy.

The three Orcs were armed with clubs the size of tree trunks. I engaged one of them. As soon as it saw me, it let out a roar and brought its club crashing down with its left hand. I ran straight at it, then dodged to the right, imbuing my katana with lightning.

Like a reverse-draw strike, I slashed my lightning-clad blade horizontally across the Orc's left side.

The Orc screamed in pain but quickly turned back to me, swinging its club in a downward diagonal arc. I dodged with a backstep, the weapon missing my face by a hair's breadth.

I immediately recovered my stance and imbued my left-hand sword with fire.

"Blaze on!"

I extended the sword in a thrust, and a torrent of fire erupted from its tip like a flamethrower.

The Orc's body was engulfed in flames. It thrashed about, trying to extinguish them, but they wouldn't go out. I seized the opening, imbuing my katana with fire from an overhead stance.

"Flames! Extend!"

With that shout, the fire on my katana elongated, and I brought it down in a vertical slash.

The Orc's burning body was split in two.

At the same time I started my fight, Bardos was confronting an Orc of his own.

This wasn't his first time fighting an Orc; he had fought and won three times before. However, all those were one-on-one battles. He had never faced so many at once. But far from being scared, Bardos was exhilarated. He let out a laugh as he brought his axe down. The Orc met his attack with its club, and their weapons clashed.

Their strength seemed about even, but the Orc used its free left hand to drive a straight punch into Bardos's stomach.

Bardos coughed and was knocked backward, but the iron wrap around his stomach guarded him from most of the damage. As he quickly regained his footing, the Orc pressed its advantage, raising its club overhead as it closed in.

Seeing the Orc coming, Bardos lowered his great axe diagonally and poured strength into his arms.

Both Bardos and the Orc roared as they attacked. Bardos swung his axe in an upward diagonal slash, and the Orc brought its club down. The moment their weapons met, the club split in two. Bardos had put a deep gash in it during their first exchange.

Seeing this, Bardos had gambled that a full-power swing would break it. He had gathered his strength and waited for his opponent, and his prediction paid off. The weaponless Orc looked surprised, but Bardos paid it no mind, letting out a war cry as he swung his great axe in a horizontal sweep, slicing open the Orc's abdomen. As blood sprayed and the Orc dropped to one knee, Bardos brought his axe down from above, burying it in the creature's skull.

The Orc died instantly. As Bardos pulled his axe free, its body collapsed.

I had just finished off my Orc as well. We confirmed we were both unharmed and then glared at the third one. The Orc flinched for a moment but quickly regained its composure and charged.

Seeing this, I called out, "Bardos, you take the left! I've got the right! Let's go!"

To my instruction, Bardos replied, "You got it! Let's give 'em hell!"

He agreed, and we charged forward together.

The Orc hesitated, unsure which of us to attack, and froze. Seizing the opening, I, who was directly in front of it, held my two swords horizontally and made two deep cuts in its left side. Bardos, meanwhile, swung his great axe horizontally, gashing its right side. The Orc screamed, but I ignored it, turning back to slash its left leg. As the Orc fell to one knee, Bardos lopped off its head.

It was perfect teamwork. We exchanged a look of satisfaction, and then Bardos spoke.

"Hey, Shinsuke. I want a piece of that Orc King. You with me?" he asked, a huge grin on his face.

He was right. In the current situation, we were at a disadvantage. The battle wouldn't end as long as the Orc King was standing, no matter how many other Orcs we killed. So, taking out the leader while we still had the stamina was the quickest path to victory. Besides, I figured the 'Beautiful Sword' party was probably already fighting it. We needed to go check on them and offer support.

I said, "Alright. But if 'Beautiful Sword' is there and it looks like they don't need help, we'll take on the other Orcs instead. You'd be pissed if someone jumped into the middle of your fight, wouldn't you?"

To my words, Bardos said, "…True enough. Alright, if that's the case, we'll handle the other grunts. Heh, Shinsuke, if I wasn't teamed up with you, I probably would've just charged the Orc King without a second thought. It's a weird feeling… not like I'm being held back, but more like I get it."

As Bardos spoke with deep feeling, I replied, "The Guild Master probably figured you'd charge the Orc King thoughtlessly and asked me to be your handler. Anyway, the plan's set. Let's go."

Bardos replied with a grunt of affirmation, and we headed toward the Orc King together.

Meanwhile, the first to challenge the Orc King was not 'Beautiful Sword', but a C-rank party of four.

They were called 'White Wolf', and in terms of skill, they were at the top of C-rank. But they were dissatisfied. They believed their skills were more than enough to be B-rank, but rising from C to B was no simple task. It wasn't just about completing a certain number of jobs and then getting promoted after an interview.

To become B-rank, one needed genuine strength. Those who lacked it would only fail B-rank jobs and lose their lives. In truth, while their skills were top-tier for C-rank, they were clearly lacking for B-rank. They often won their C-rank jobs against stronger monsters by the skin of their teeth, which made the guild uneasy about entrusting them with B-rank work.

That was why they hadn't been promoted.

Then, someone had shot up from D to C-rank in less than a month. And the reason for his promotion was that he had fought and defeated the infamous 'Bardos the Berserk Axe'. They were anxious that this man would reach B-rank before them.

Right on the heels of that came the Monster Uproar, and with it, the appearance of an Orc King.

When they heard of this, they secretly saw it as their chance. If they took down the Orc King in this uproar, promotion to B-rank was a certainty. In fact, they might even make it to A-rank. Their ambitions swelled.

They had received a warning laced with killing intent from the Guild Master, but it did nothing to change their minds.

The members of the party facing the Orc King were a swordsman, an archer, a spearman, and a magician who could use two elements.

Their party coordination was perfect. They were convinced they could defeat the Orc King. No, to be precise, they had deluded themselves into believing it.

The leader declared, "We are the White Wolf! O King who rules the monsters! Now! Let us have an honorable duel!"

He charged forward with his bombastic proclamation.

The swordsman and spearman flanked left and right at the front, while the archer and magician began their attack from the rear. They would fire magic and a volley of three arrows, and while the Orc King was busy intercepting them, they would strike its belly. They were certain this plan would succeed.

However, the Orc King didn't even bother to intercept the magic and arrows; they struck its body directly. This surprised the two frontline fighters, who stopped in their tracks. The next moment, they saw that the arrows hadn't pierced its skin, and the magic had had no effect. The Orc King stood there, perfectly fine. As the two thought, Impossible, the Orc King casually swung its great axe in a wide horizontal arc.

The bodies of the two men were split into upper and lower halves. Their torsos fell to the ground, while their legs stood there, gushing blood like fountains before collapsing. Seeing this, the two in the rear were overcome with terror and froze on the spot.

The Orc King, looking bored, approached them to finish them off.

Just then, from behind the two, a magic attack of a completely different magnitude than before came hurtling toward it.

The Orc King immediately blocked it with its great axe and fell back.

It looked ahead to identify its new foe.

What it saw was the four-woman adventurer party, 'Beautiful Sword'.