kscans

Chapter 18 - Confrontation with the Orc King

The A-rank party, 'Beautiful Sword', now stood before the Orc King.

Seeing them, the archer and magician, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire, fled the scene. After confirming that no one else was around, the women silently readied their weapons. The Orc King, recognizing them as powerful opponents, took its stance, holding its great axe in one hand.

The staredown didn't last long. Rumily activated her 'Acceleration' skill and, moving at a speed invisible to the naked eye, blinded one of the Orc King's eyes. As the Orc King covered its eye with one hand, Leona used earth magic to gather earth at the tip of her spear, forming a hammerhead.

Leona drew close and swung it high.

"Rock Hammer!!"

With a shout, she brought it down on the Orc King's head. As the king dropped to one knee, Tina activated her water magic, focusing it into her sword.

"Water Slash!"

The blade of water sliced horizontally across the Orc King's chest. Blood gushed out, and the Orc King screamed in agony. And for the final blow, Milfy, having finished her incantation, simultaneously cast four elemental spells.

"Fireball! Wind Cutter! Thunderball! Stone Bullet!"

Fire burned, wind slashed, lightning struck, and earth collided. The battle was decided.

Though they were dressed like knights, they didn't fight with a knight's sense of honor. They used the fastest and most effective means to survive and hunt monsters. That is what it means to be an adventurer. The Orc King knelt, unmoving.

They thought it was dead, but they couldn't rest easy until they confirmed it had stopped breathing, so they remained on guard.

Their judgment was correct.

Suddenly, the Orc King stood up, engulfed in flames, and swung its great axe.

Seeing it rise, Tina and the others immediately created distance. By a hair's breadth, the great axe missed, and Tina's party suffered no damage. Through the flames of the burning Orc King, they could see two glowing eyes. They were certain they had destroyed one of them. They had heard from the Guild Master that the Orc King had a self-healing ability, but this regenerative power was far too fast. The Orc King let out another roar, extinguishing the flames as it swung its great axe horizontally.

Only burn marks remained on its body, and the slashes had already healed. But even those burns healed before their very eyes, and it was completely restored.

Seeing its regenerative power, Tina and the others knew what they had to do.

"Everyone! Concentrate your attacks before it can regenerate! Don't hold back! Attack!"

It was a sound command and an obvious course of action. Everyone agreed and sprang into motion. The Orc King roared and charged—its target was Tina. It had identified her as the party's leader. Seeing this, Leona moved in front of Tina, raising her shield as she used her magic.

"Assault Charge!!"

Earth-attribute users can use magic to strengthen their own bodies when their feet are on the ground.

However, they can only store one charge. What's more, when storing it, one feels a sense of impurity entering the body, a truly nauseating sensation. But Leona endured it with her indomitable spirit. As the Orc King saw Leona, it brought its great axe down.

She blocked it with her shield. The Orc King's overwhelming power was such that she couldn't parry it, couldn't counterattack; it was all she could do just to stand her ground.

While the Orc King was fixated on Leona, Rumily circled around behind it and, with swift movements, slashed at both of its legs with her daggers. This wasn't to deal damage, but to break the Orc King's stance. Indeed, the Orc King's power wavered from the attack, and Leona was able to shift it slightly to the side with her shield.

The moment the great axe hit the ground, Leona readied her spear.

"Assault Liberation!!"

With that shout, she thrust her spear into the Orc King's abdomen.

The stored power was released all at once, sending a shockwave through the Orc King's body. Leona disengaged. As the Orc King fell to both knees, Milfy activated her water magic.

"Heavy Water Cannon!"

A torrent of water shot from her palm, striking the Orc King directly. The Orc King was knocked onto its back.

At that moment, Tina unleashed her ultimate water magic technique.

"Freeze Sword!"

When water magic is condensed, it becomes a blade of ice.

It consumed twice the normal amount of magic and was twice the size of her sword. She brought the massive blade down with all her might and lopped off the Orc King's head.

The head was separated from the body. It was visibly, completely dead.

The four of them were certain of their victory, and a sense of relief filled the air. Tina was about to give the order to mop up the remaining monsters and end the uproar.

In that instant, the Orc King's body stood up. It picked up its severed head in one hand, placed it back on its neck, and the wound sealed itself.

'Impossible,' the members of 'Beautiful Sword' thought.

They had hunted countless monsters before. Even when facing monsters with healing abilities, they had devised countermeasures on the spot and emerged victorious. For an adventurer, failure means death, so they had always fought with ruthless tactics to win and survive. But even for these seasoned veterans, the reality before them was incomprehensible.

They had never once encountered a monster that could regenerate even after being decapitated. As they stood there, stunned, the Orc King attacked. Leona reacted on instinct, moving to the front and blocking the attack with her shield. But her body was still weak from her previous spell, and she was sent flying, shield and all. Seeing this, the other members snapped back to their senses and began to counterattack.

However, they couldn't move as they had before, and their attacks were little more than wild swings. The Orc King easily grabbed Rumily as she approached its neck and began to squeeze.

"Ah! Gha! Aaaah!"

Rumily's face contorted in agony as she screamed. Milfy tried to cast a spell to save her, and Tina ran in to attack with her sword. Seeing the two of them, the Orc King threw Rumily, still in its grasp, toward Milfy. Seeing this, Milfy instinctively stopped casting her spell and, defenseless, collided with the flying Rumily. Both were sent tumbling to the ground.

Meanwhile, Tina reached the Orc King's feet and slashed at its left leg. She managed to cut it, but the Orc King paid it no mind and swatted Tina away with its left hand. Tina instinctively blocked with her left arm, but the limb broke, and she was sent flying.

The battle was decided. Leona's right shoulder, which held the shield, was dislocated, and she could barely move. Rumily and Milfy were on the ground, coughing violently from their collision. Tina was down, her face twisted in pain, her left arm broken.

The Orc King, on the other hand, was completely healed from the wounds they had inflicted. It moved to deliver the finishing blow. It turned its eyes to Tina first and raised its great axe. Seeing this, she thought, 'This is it,' and gave up all hope. But just then...

A massive stream of fire shot out from Tina's left, striking the Orc King head-on.

The Orc King's body was engulfed in flames, and it thrashed wildly from side to side, trying to extinguish them. Wondering what had happened, Tina looked to her left and saw two figures approaching from behind Rumily and Milfy. One was 'Bardos the Berserk Axe'. The other was a man clad in unfamiliar armor and a helmet. With its upward-curving crescent horns, the helmet brought to mind the image of an oni.

By the time Bardos and I reached the Orc King, it was just before 'Beautiful Sword' began their head-on assault.

Seeing them, I said, "We shouldn't interfere now. 'Beautiful Sword' must have a plan to defeat the Orc King on their own. If we go in now, we'll just get in the way. Instead, let's mop up the monsters heading toward them."

Assessing the situation, I proposed to Bardos that we deal with the ten or so monsters approaching from about two hundred meters behind 'Beautiful Sword'.

Hearing this, Bardos replied, "I'd rather fight the Orc King, but you're the leader, Shinsuke. Alright, I'll follow your lead."

It was a reply filled with dissatisfaction, but I was grateful he agreed.

I expressed my thanks and we headed toward the monsters. As we moved, a thought occurred to me. I had been using a mix of English and Japanese when calling out my techniques in this battle. It was a mess because I was just shouting whatever came to mind in the heat of the moment. I resolved to stick to Japanese and fought the monsters.

It was over in a flash. The area was littered with monster corpses. I was about to suggest to Bardos that we move to the next location when I heard screams and a loud crash from behind.

I immediately turned around. 'Beautiful Sword' was in a desperate struggle. Their leader, Tina, had charged in alone but had been sent flying and looked to be seriously injured. As the Orc King moved to deliver the final blow, I held my sword horizontally and imbued it with fire.

"Flame Demon Thrust!!"

A straight line of fire shot out from the tip of my sword toward the Orc King.

The Orc King was struck head-on and was engulfed in flames, thrashing about violently. Bardos and I immediately rushed to its location.

When we arrived, I scanned the area. The shield knight was down, the magician and the kunoichi-like scout were collapsed in a heap, and the leader was on both knees, clutching her left arm, her eyes fixed on us. I understood at once. They had lost.

The fire on the Orc King went out, and the burned parts of its body were already regenerating.

I had heard from the Guild Master that it had self-healing abilities, but I never imagined it would be this powerful. As I was thinking this, Bardos said, "Nuhahaha! To think it took down 'Beautiful Sword'! This one looks like it'll be a hell of a fight! This is gonna be fun!"

I warned him that laughing in this situation was inappropriate. Bardos replied, "My bad," his cheeks twitching.

And so, the Orc King's body was completely restored.

Seeing this, I took my stance. Tina shouted to me, "Run! This Orc King has the power to regenerate even if you cut off its head! I'll buy you some time, so get out of here, quickly!"

Hearing that information, I realized this would be an incredibly tough fight. If it could regenerate even from decapitation, a half-hearted attack would be useless. It would take a single, extremely powerful blow to win. With that in mind, I looked at my katana and an idea came to me.

I turned to Bardos beside me. "Bardos. I need you to take on the Orc King. You can use your skill if you want. Just buy me some time while I finish it off with a special technique. Please."

When I told him this, Bardos replied, "You got it! I'll buy you the time you need for your special move. But… it's okay if I end up killing it myself, right?"

Bardos threw a line I'd heard somewhere before back at me. I replied, "Yeah, you can kill it. But when I yell that my technique is ready, you get the hell out of there. I can't guarantee your safety."

To my loud declaration, Bardos replied, "You bet!"

Seeing our exchange, Tina cried out, "Wh-What are you saying?! Didn't I just tell you to run while I buy you time?!"

To Tina's anguished cry, I retorted, "Shut up! What the hell can you do with an injury like that?! You're the one who should be running! Get out of here now! You're in the way!"

She was saying such frustrating things that I ended up shouting at her in anger.

Hearing my words, Tina stared at me with a stunned expression and backed away slightly. The Orc King had just stood there silently, watching our human exchange. As I thought, it was better to assume it had some degree of intelligence.

Facing such a formidable enemy, Bardos declared, "Here I come, Orc King! Skill: Berserk, activate!"

With that shout, Bardos charged forward, and the Orc King moved to intercept him.

And I sheathed my sword, took my katana in both hands, and quietly chanted, "Skill, Matter Conversion, activate."

With that, I poured my magic into the blade.