Ilia emerged from the ladder in the basement of the shed, and said so clearly.
To her right was a bloody orc head, and her clothes were stained with blood.
“Wha,what are you saying! Ilia is the strongest in here!
Anri is confused.
This situation must be reported to the country.
If she fails, it’ll be an irrevocable situation.
The most useless individual here is not Ilia, but me.
Then Ilia gently placed the orc’s head on the floor.
“This orc, doesn’t seem to be just an orc. I don’t know if it’s a variant or a mutation, but they seem to have, such a mysterious ability to take in the power of others.”
“Take in the power of others? What do you mean?”
“Yes, the orcs I encountered were just assaulting another party. The orc absorbed the body of a person…… Well, it’s an act that’s like eating, but it seems that it absorbed his power. It’s power and speed after doing that, became on par with me, and it is no exaggeration to say that. I was really lucky to have won.”
Ilia said so with a serious expression.
“The, then! Ilia should escape even more!”
It absorbs the average warrior, and that’s it.
If Ilia is absorbed, no one will be able to compete with it.
“No, I’ll hunt as many orcs as I can.”
“Why!? What if Ilia got eaten!?”
It’s not that Ilia doesn’t understand Anri’s point.
However, she didn’t change her viewpoint stubbornly.
“Calm down both of you. …… Anri, your opinion is plausible, but Ilia’s thoughts, are not unclear to me. If Ilia’s story is true, the rest of those guys have already been absorbed. It’s the orcs that we were fighting some time ago. That’s why, we can’t win if Ilia is absorbed. “
“That’s right! Therefore––––“
“–––– But if we leave these hundreds of orcs as they are …… there is no doubt that the country will perish. …… those orc bastards should be hunted as much as possible here and now. I, recommend Ilia’s judgement.”
“Are you saying that it’s okay for Ilia to die!? Then, I will stay here too!”
“That’s no good. Right now, the most out of force here is, Anri, it’s you. For those guys, we are a feast. If that is so, the strongest person, and also those individuals who were easy to be aimed at will be their target. Do you understand what I mean?”
Actually, Ilia is going to be the first to be targeted.
Since she’ll stay in that place to save time, and let Anri and her companions escape.
Their next target, would be Amanda and Reina, so Amanda’s words were probably correct.
Anri clenches her fists strongly.
However, over time, she released the force in her fist.
“I get it.”
At those words, the three people are relieved.
But the next moment ––––
“It’s bad! They’re coming!”
Breaking through the shed, an orc appeared from behind Reina.
Reina receives the whole body blow that the orc swung with both her hands in a hurry.
“Guh!?”
However, its power was overwhelming.
Reina broke through the shed by the impact of being hit by the orc, and was knocked to the rocky area outside.
“Anri! What are you doing! Run away!”
Her body that had stopped finally reacts to Ilia’s voice.
Anri instantly thought.
If she goes underground, she’ll have no escape at worst.
Then how about outside.
Anri immediately grabbed her cane, and jumped out of the shed.
However, the orcs outside stood up as if to say that they have been waiting.
Amanda swept them away with her large sword.
“Amanda!”
“Go! Go and tell the country!”
Anri clenched her teeth, and turned her back to Amanda and the others.
◇
Anri continued to run without thinking.
Anri’s feet are already covered in blood, after falling on unbalanced scaffolding many times.
However, Anri continued to run without stopping.
She almost has no magic power left.
Her physical strength had significantly reduced, and all her thoughts were going in a wrong direction.
Anri repeatedly looks back to see if there are any orcs.
She repeats that many times.
It’s already useless.
The terror increased her fear, and Anri was in a state of panic.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.
It was the next moment when Anri looked back in fear.
The orc was about, to pierce Anri with its sharp fangs.
But the next moment.
–––– The orc’s head, flew in the air.
Slowly, as if the flow of time had slowed down, the orc’s head falls to the ground.
And then, she hears a man’s voice.
It was a ridiculously bright voice that didn’t suit this place.
“–––– Hey Frey! From my blood vessels, there’s something like, pyuu! There’s a lot of blood there! Is this really okay!? I, can put my faith in Frey, right!?”
【……Umu!】
“–––– Umu! I’m not stupid!”
Anri turns her muddy face to the voice she heard.
I was saved.
From such relief, her tears didn’t stop at all.
Pain runs throughout her body, and she’s about to throw up from excessive tension.
But immediately, Ilia and the others’ faces went to her mind.
Anri clings to the boy, and spins her words as if squeezing it out.
“Ple, please ……! My, my companions! My companions are dying because of me! Please, save them ……!”
If it’s the usual Anri, she will always use money, people, status, and honor as a source for negotiations in such situations.
That’s natural.
From this boy’s point of view, Anri is nothing more than a stranger.
Anri may be lying, and is trying to decoy the boy to the orcs.
After all, human beings are creatures that move with profit and loss in the end.
That’s why, Anri should have made a reference from it.
However, right now, Anri has been cornered to her limit by the orcs, so she could only beg the boy for help.
…… However, it might have been, a good thing.
“Oh, leave it to me”
The boy, with such light words, put his hand on Anri’s head.
Without expecting anything in return, the boy follows the path Anri took to come here straight.
Anri didn’t understand.
Why did the boy, nod to Anri’s words.
Why did he believed in Anri, and went deeper into the forest.
Anri didn’t really understand it.
…… There was only one thing that Anri could understand.
That is, that boy, that boy is –––– a true hero.
It was just, only that.
◇
“As expected, this number is hard.”
Ilia’s right arm was completely broken, and her left eye was covered with blood.
Amanda was also hit on her right foot, and the next battle will probably be her last.
“If you have any last words, I’ll listen.”
“That’s right. …… If I knew this would happen, I should have spent a little more of my savings.”
“Fuh …… me too.”
There are a total of three remaining orcs in this area.
None of them are injured, they are in perfect condition.
The situation in this place is overwhelmingly bad.
If there was one more person, another person who is on an equal footing with them, it might’ve been possible for them overcome this place.
However, reality was cruel.
…… And, there was no way that the orcs would have missed such a chance.
It was the orcs that moved first.
When the orc closed its distance to her with a quick movement that is unimaginable from its huge body, it twisted its upper body like a spring, and it sent its stout arm with its entire weight to Ilia.
However, Ilia wasn’t perturbed.
Until the orc’s fist comes to the tip of her eyes and nose, as if she was acting no resistance to it, she watches it silently.
––––Instantly, Ilia disappeared.
That was thunderclap.
It was synonymous with Ilia, and she leaves even the sound of it behind.
The heavy blow of the orc which lost its destination, together with its tremendous shock waves, created a huge crater on the spot, which cause dusts to fly up.
Ilia mitigates the impact with the orc’s body.
In that moment, Ilia went around to the back of the orc.
And in Ilia’s left hand, the long sword with a tremendous magic power which has been raised to the limit, runs through the back of the neck of the orc in one go.
The hard muscles of the orc melted like butter, and its head fluttered in the air.
Before anything else, it was the moment when she was relieved.
Squeezing through the clouds of sand, another orc was running viciously with grown sharp fangs towards Ilia.
Ilia immediately, once again, catches the orc’s back with thunderclap.
However ––––
“Nandomo Onajite Hakuwan (Frequent same move meaningless)” (TN: The words in the parenthesis is just my rough translation of what this orc is saying, cause seriously, it’s not understandable)
“……!?”
It was the orc’s words.
Such difficult words, as if it was saying words entirely for the first time.
Such a voice, reached Ilia’s ears.
A she noticed that, a wildly wielded orc’s fist pierced into Ilia’s flank.
While feeling the dull sound of her bones breaking, Ilia is knocked to the ground as it is.
Then, the sound of footsteps slowly approached her.
“Omaetsuyoi. Omaeke ba, Ore ha mott Tsuyo kunaru (You’re strong. If you are, then I’m stronger).”
Her body won’t move.
When she tried to raise her face from the ground where she has fallen, she saw Amanda lying down.
Next to her, lies the corpse of an orc.
It seems like Amanda, defeated the orc in exchange for her own life.
Then, the orc in front of her pulls out a right arm, which is unknown to her, from its waist.
It’s not Ilia’s.
It’s not Amanda’s or Reina’s either.
Then who does this right arm belong to.
On the right arm, a plate with a number, which is the proof of being a hero, was attached like an accessory.
Ah …… so that’s what it was.
Ilia noticed.
It’s most likely the right hand of hero Bail, who probably was the first to fight this orc.
Ilia speculates so.
It’s reasonably strong.
This orc had already absorbed everything except Bail’s right arm.
There is no way this opponent can be beaten.
The gray orc, slowly chewed Bail’s arm.
There’s no one in this place who can stop it.
She doesn’t know why this orc left only his right arm, but perhaps they have a limit to their ability to only absorb once a day.
As the orc swallowed Bail’s right arm, its body expanded and even its skin quality changed.
It’s just like steel.
Its skin changed from gray to black steel, and its sharp fangs become even more vicious, which is peering through its mouth.
No matter how she thinks about this, Ilia has no chance of winning.
In front of this grown orc, Ilia came to such a conclusion.
“…………”
But Ilia stood up.
Instead of a cane, she forcibly makes her trembling feet stand up like a new born deer using her sword.
Ilia stood up in order to increase the chances of her companions to escape for as long as possible.
–––– In the end, it’s hero vs. orc hero.
Ilia thought about such a thing in her heart.
The orc picks up Amanda’s great sword in a relaxed manner and wields it lightly.
It didn’t put its hand to Amanda.
Apparently this orc, chose Ilia for trying out its new sword.
The orc slowly, approaches Ilia.
“…………”
Ilia has overcome these kinds of predicaments many times so far.
She has been fighting as the protecting side, and not the side to be protected.
But Ilia sometimes thinks.
That if Ilia is in trouble, there is such a hero who will appear dashingly, and protect Ilia ––––
…… Well, in the end, such a person did not appear, and Ilia arrived in this place.
Ilia’s adventure, closes its curtain here.
Ilia gently closed her eyes, as she watched the great sword being swung down at her.
Ah, at one time, love…… I wanted to try it.
With that in mind, Ilia waited for the orc’s blow.