chapter 21

 

Entering the Black Door hidden behind the waterfall, Tsutomu found himself on the 53rd floor . Since the altitude had lowered compared to the previous floor, his ears had finally stopped ringing .

 

“Starting from here, the orcs will be coming out in whole clans . ”

 

“The birds back there were quite scary . I think Camille will be fine, but you and I should start being more cautious, Garm . ”

 

The valley is home to these large birds that like to grab people with their large claws before bringing them high up in the sky and dropping them . Its universally disliked by adventurers, since they often have to use Fly to deal with it .

 

Since Camille is quite adept at aerial maneuvering, she was in little danger; however, there were times where she couldn’t break free easily . Since she had just been sent away by Tsutomu, he was currently crouched nervously on the floor, praying that if a bird came, it would go for Garm instead .

 

After preparing his potions, he looked to the sky and noticed Camille, flying in human form . Behind her, he also noticed a spot, which seemed to be growing bigger and bigger . As Camille drew close, the spot was now big enough for Tsutomu to identify what it was . It was a bird .

 

Tsutomu turned to Garm and spoke .

 

“Practice time . ”

 

Camille landed next to them, grinning . The ugly bird circled them from up high, examining the 3, before swooping down on Tsutomu, firmly grasping him on his sides .

 

“Tsutomu!”

 

Garm’s voice soon faded as he was brought up higher by the bird . Tsutomu could no longer move, it was as though he had been tied up with a rope . Moving his eyes around, he tried to become conscious of the situation .  

 

When Tsutomu finally calmed down, he was greeted by scenery akin to that you would see from a ferris wheel . After letting out a huge roar, the bird sent Tsutomu flying in the opposite direction, falling headfirst .

 

[What is this, what is this!]

 

Beginning to spin rapidly, Tsutomu could not do anything but panic mid-air . It was as though he was inside a washing machine . Stabilizing a bit, the white cane in his hand came to view . Concentrating, he screamed .

 

“Fly!”

 

Soon after, his body slowly began being lifted by the wind beneath him, but it soon stopped . Although his momentum was slightly slowed down, he would still die at this rate . Tsutomu began to think .

 \nUnder the fear of death, Tsutomu could not concentrate well enough to activate Fly . He tried a few more times, but only feels a slight wind blow from beneath him before stopping again . His momentum was continuously decreasing, but only slightly .  

 

As the trees became visible, Tsutomu’s consciousness began to fade . However, a few moments before impact, Camille swooped in and saved him .

 

Slowly decreasing their momentum, they descended safely towards the ground . Tsutomu scrambled to the ground .

 

“Tsutomu, can you even fly? Try it again yourself . ”

 

Tsutomu was shocked at Camille’s face, which was suddenly right next to him . After a while, the wind was able to support his body, and he left Camille’s hold .

 

“How is it? It’s just like swimming in the air, right?”

 

“…”

 

Tsutomu descended again to the ground while trying to conceal his frightened tears from Camille . Camille tapped Tsutomu lightly on the back .

 

“Since it’s your first time in the canyons, it’s okay to be afraid . But just make sure you learn from this and be more cautious around the birds next time, okay?”

 

“Yes, yes . Thanks for helping me . ”

 

From Camille’s face, it was obvious she felt sorry for Tsutomu . He brought herself close to Tsutomu’s ears .

 

“Back when I was still in a clan, we would do this thing when a cheeky newcomer would come . We’d watch them for a while without helping, then we’d help only when they begin crying!”

 

“Yeah, um, let’s get back to Garm . ”

 

“Let’s let him experience it too!”

 

Along with Camille, who had a mean smile on her face, Tsutomu rushed towards Garm, who was delighted to see Tsutomu safe .

 

――▽▽――

 

Since then, Garm and Tsutomu would be abducted several more times by the giant birds . Garm was able to land safely even on his first time, but he hurt his leg a little bit . Tsutomu, however, kept having to be saved multiple times by Camille . \n 

Eventually, Tsutomu learned how to use Fly and was able to land safely on his own . Camille said this was because Fly was easier to learn when you’re only going up and down .

 

As they were climbing up a narrow mountain road, with Garm at the lead, they heard footsteps from behind them slowly getting louder . Tsutomu glanced at the other two, before advancing ahead of them and applying Protect .

 

Suddenly, 3 green-skinned orcs leaped out and began rushing towards them . The orcs were a little taller than Garm and were wearing light brown loincloths whilst holding swords and small shields in their hands .

 

“Combat Cry . ”

 

The orcs were aggravated by Garm’s red aura and drew in faster, slashing at Garm with arms as thick as logs . Garm received the attack with his shield and was forced into the ground .

 

Garm fought back, lunging with his sword and piercing halfway through the orc’s arm, but it did not care . After the orc had regained its footing, it stuck out its shoulder and charged again towards Garm, who was able to withstand the attack . From behind it, the other two orcs also began to charge at Garm .

 

“Shield Bash!”

 

Garm quickly pushed away the orc with his shield, before turning around to deal with the other orcs who were rapidly approaching from around him .

 

Camille showed up and began to attack the orc on Garm’s right .

 

“Power Thrash!”

 

Camille’s large sword swung down on the orc and cut through it like butter, cutting it into two halves . Particles flew around in a flurry as the orc turned into mere gems .

 

As Camille went to fight the orc that Garm had blown away, Garm turned his attention towards the last orc, which was again charging towards him . Instead of deflecting its attack with his shield, he dodged it instead, causing it to fall towards the ground .

 

“Shield Slow . ”

 

Garm, saying his skill’s name in a soft voice, threw his shield on the orc . The sharp part of the shield pierced through the orc’s torso, before swiftly returning to Garm’s hand .

 

“Holy Wing . ”

 

Tsutomu unleashed his new spell on the orc, which now had a gaping hole in its body . Two large, white wings began to form in front of Tsutomu . When they were fully formed, they were released by Tsutomu and went rushing at the orc, which died and turned into gems .

 \nTsutomu approached the green gems and stooped down, collecting them . At this point, they caught a glimpse of Camille, who was returning after a victorious fight against the remaining orc .

 

From Camille’s side, a red demon bear jumped out of the bushes . It stood up, showing its red belly and letting out a huge roar . It was likely taller than the orcs . Camille, however, ignored it and began to run hastily towards Tsutomu and Garm .

 

The demon bear got on all fours and began heading towards the 3 . Despite its big body, it ran at such a great speed that they wouldn’t be able to outrun it easily . At Tsutomu’s signal, Garm prepared to attack the bear .

 

The bear stepped back and opened its mouth wide, releasing a roar that shook the entire forest before engaging Garm in battle . Its cries seemed powerful enough to rival even Garm’s Warrior Howl .  

 

Garm felt that he couldn’t handle the full force of the charging bear, so he dodged the attack by sidestepping to his right, with the bear grazing the side of his shield . Camille was now urging him to attack the bear, who was momentarily defenseless as it tried to break its momentum . But as Garm moved towards it, it attacked him with its hind legs .

 

If Garm were to take the bear’s attacks at its full force, even at his high defense level, he would likely have broken a few bones . Undeterred, Garm gripped his shield tighter and advanced forward yet again .

 

During this time, Tsutomu had separated himself slightly from the 2, searching around the area in case any monsters were still lurking . However, the bushes that surrounded the path were quite thick, and Tsutomu soon had to rejoin them, unable to see anything . As Garm continued to dodge the bear’s attacks, Tsutomu continued casting Protect while maintaining a vigilant watch for any incoming enemies .

 

Garm was put on a continuous retreat by the bear’s attacks . Due to the frequency of its attacks, Garm couldn’t see any weaknesses that he would be able to exploit . As soon as he was finished blocking the most recent attack, he began to see the bear’s claw closing in on him from his peripheral vision . He plants his feet firmly on the ground and receives the attack with his shield . However, the sheer force of the claw was enough to make him collapse to the floor .

 

Suddenly, while the bear was preparing to deliver the final blow, Garm saw a gigantic sword fly over his head and pierce the bear’s stomach .

 

“Wooooo!”

 

Camille drove the sword all the way through the bear’s belly, splitting its body and scattering its organs on the ground and turning it into yet another flurry of particles and gems .

 

A nervous silence came over the battleground . As Tsutomu surveyed the area around them, he woefully noticed a pack of wolves beginning to circle around them .

 

“Uhh, I wanted to eat lunch already . ”

 

As Tsutomu began giving his instructions to the other two, three other orcs ran into the clearing in front of them .

 

“Garm, you deal with both the orcs and the wolves . Camille, I’ll give you Haste to deal with the orcs . If you can, try to take down some wolves as well . ”

 

Garm immediately activates Combat Cry in response to Tsutomu’s instructions, spreading his red aura across the battlefield . On the other side of the clearing, Camille was using haste to deal with one of the orcs .

 

Garm was now being attacked by two orcs and four wolves . He would periodically blow away the orcs using his shield, buying him time to attack the wolves .

 

The four wolves were now closing the distance, surrounding Garm almost entirely . At this point, Garm’s movement was heavily restricted .

 

As the first wolf lunged at Garm, Garm bashed it with his large shield, sending it flying towards the bushes . Seeing their comrade’s failure, the other 3 lunged at Garm .

 

Garm bashed one wolf with his shield, but the second wolf got through his defense and destroyed his posture and pushed him towards the floor while the final wolf sunk its teeth into his leggings .

 

There was initially no problem, since his legs were heavily armored, but eventually one of the wolves began trying to bite into his neck . Garm tried to twist his body sideways while throwing away one of the salivating wolves .

 

“Air Slash!”

 

The wolves attacking Garm were blown away almost instantly by the spell . Garm got up immediately and kicked the last wolf off of his leg, causing it to give off a shrill scream .

 

Garm turned towards the orcs . He grabbed onto one of its hands, stopping its advance whilst blocking its attack with his shield . Of course, one hand was not enough, and Garm’s feet began to give way to the orc’s force . Breaking off his hold on the orc, he quickly retreated backward .

 

Turning around, he noticed a wolf charging to him from his flank . He dodged its attack and pierced its throat with his sword .

 

Suddenly, he was struck by a strong blow from behind and was sent flying into the bushes .

 

Surveying the battle, Tsutomu clenched his staff .

 

[Let’s end it . Protect 20 . Haste 40 . I don’t care about the aggro . ]

 

Tsutomu slammed his cane into one of the wolves’ skulls, dodging attacks coming from the rest of them while also applying Heal and Protect to Garm .

 

The orc attacking Garm had since been slain by Camille . Garm stood up quickly, recovering easily thanks to Tsutomu’s healing .

 

Garm left the last wolf to Camille and began heading back towards Tsutomu .  

 

As soon as they confirmed that all the enemies had been defeated, Tsutomu began collecting the gems before he reconvened with the other 2 .

 

As he finished up the collection, he rejoined Garm and Camille, remembering to stay vigilant as he made his way up the mountain path .