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The battle had dragged on. The woman defended herself against Bash’s stormy strikes. The battle continued under the pouring rain. Although the ground was muddy, neither of them faltered, and the battle continued without hesitation.
Bash’s blows didn’t even touch the woman, and her counterattacks did reach him, but they only cut his skin, and no blood spilled. It was like a dance, but it wouldn’t have been possible if either of them hadn’t been skilled enough. If the woman’s skill wasn’t enough, Bash’s sword would cut her, and if Bash’s skill wasn’t enough, her sword would sever his veins. The difference was that the first could win the battle with a single strike, while the second would take longer to finish him off, but if the result was death, it was the same.
Although those strikes capable of ending her life in a single blow passed near her body many times, she remained composed. She repeated the same actions, unconcerned and mechanically. She adjusted her pattern by observing the beginning of each strike: she evaded if Bash swung his sword, she evaded after a while if she sensed a feint, and she evaded if the trajectory of the sword changed mid-strike after she had parried it with her own sword. If the trajectory of the sword changed during a counterattack, she used her own sword to block and evade it. Bash also evaded them. She knew that if he backed off any further, he wouldn’t be able to avoid the next attack, and if she backed off too much, she knew that Bash, who had paused in his evasive maneuver, would launch a strike that would be harder to dodge. If she avoided the difficult-to-dodge strike, she would lose her position. If she tried to avoid another strike after losing her position, she would lose it even more. The end result was a “deadlock.”
If that happened, the woman wouldn’t stand a chance. But she knew it. And her opponent knew it too.
Bash was calm. He wielded his sword so calmly that it was hard to believe he was an orc. He always took the best step and made the best thrust. If he became impatient and faltered, the woman’s sword would instantly pierce him. If he shed even a drop of blood, the tide of the battle would turn against him. The end result was a “standstill.”
However, if the situation continued like this, Bash would have the advantage. An orc’s body was much larger than that of a human woman, and his endurance was still greater. It was almost certain that the woman would run out of stamina first.
That’s why the woman took a more offensive stance.
“So, this is the Orc Hero. No wonder everyone admires you,” the woman murmured a few words and took half a step back. Bash’s next strike was stronger than usual, and then he delivered a slightly deeper blow. The strike grazed the woman’s neck but didn’t even become a superficial wound. The woman changed her stance and readied her sword. Bash retracted his sword and then delivered a strike that she couldn’t avoid. “But you’re still an orc.”
For a brief moment, Bash’s strike was hindered by doubt. His gaze fell upon the woman’s chest, his nose twitched, and his mouth relaxed.
The tip of the sword passed from the woman’s shoulder to her left hand, and the impact sent flesh flying and shattered bone. The woman took a step forward, but instead of being intimidated by the impact, she twisted her body and drove the sword in her right hand into Bash’s neck.
A gush of blood spurted out.
“…!”
Bash’s head didn’t fall off. His carotid artery had opened, and blood gushed out like a fountain. It was a hemorrhage that could have been fatal if he had been human.
“I’m glad it worked… but I didn’t expect you to be able to react to that,” the woman, on the other hand, looked in another direction, at her mangled and uncontrollably bleeding left hand. The chest of her clothes was torn, and her two large mounds protruded. “Well, but now comes the hardest part… I think my bones are about to break… if they haven’t already…” The woman prepared her sword again. She knew that the orc in front of her wouldn’t stop even at the point of bleeding profusely from the neck. The orc’s eyes hadn’t lost their light, and his body was radiating heat, evaporating the cold rain. Not even the wounds that would despair a human would stop the orc warrior.
He is stronger than expected… this is the Dragon Slayer Hero… Rather, the woman was impatient. If she hadn’t carried out that plan, she would have been able to avoid Bash’s sword at the last moment. Once, she had defeated an orc warrior in the same way she had just done. He was also a famous warrior, but she assumed that the one with the title of Hero would be even better than that.
In this case, orcs and human women had different body structures. The woman was at a disadvantage. Although Bash had lost a greater amount of blood, it was the woman who first slowed down and ran out of strength.
Therefore, she moved forward. She prepared her sword to sever Bash’s neck like a great tree with another strike. But Bash, on his part, was not deceived this time by the woman’s charm and delivered a strike to her head.
“Healing Wind.”
Bash’s sword cut through the air. The woman turned around, simulating taking a step in the air, and was enveloped by a magical wind. The wind, similar in color to fairy dust, instantly healed her wounds.
The woman’s wounds healed, leaving only Bash injured. The situation was reversed, but only slightly.
“…!”
But Bash’s strikes were fast. The speed that everyone talked about with a shiver had overwhelming destructive power, and the number of blows he unleashed was even excessive.
Bash never missed the opportunity when his opponent recovered with magic. With one or two strikes, the woman’s stance crumbled. The situation was exactly what would have happened if she had even taken a step back. The third strike crashed into the woman’s torso.
“Nnnnghhhh!” The woman clashed her own sword with Bash’s sword approaching in a more frenzied manner than ever before.
A tremendous metallic sound resonated through the forest. The demonic sword, called indestructible, collided with the woman’s treasured sword, creating an unusual impact. Even Bash’s body moved smoothly with the impact and was sent flying several meters backward. When he looked up through a cloud of dust, he saw the woman flying through the air while spinning.
The woman must have used magic because she regained her position in the air and landed on a tree branch.
“Haah! Haah! Haah!” The woman breathed heavily, and her exposed breasts rose and fell. However, it was probably more in response to the near-death experience than due to exercise. She had just experienced being on the verge of death. Bash’s speed was greater than she expected, and she had no chance to recover. Bash’s strike was also powerful. The woman’s torso would have been cut in half if she hadn’t compensated for it with a large amount of magical power in her sword.
“…!” She didn’t have time to catch her breath. The woman immediately jumped from the tree branch. In the next moment, the tree she used as a foothold broke at an incredible speed and flew through the air, crashing into the surrounding trees.
The woman landed smoothly and crouched down. Bash’s sword passed over her head. The shockwave made her spin and change direction, driving her elbow into the ground. She redirected the rotational force to the sword and drove it into Bash’s ankles, which were right in front of her. At the same time, a vertical strike from the Orc Hero landed behind the woman.
In the sand and the dirt they were jumping, the woman felt a response and quickly moved away, crawling on all fours. Instinctively, she defended herself by brandishing her sword. The woman herself didn’t know where the strike had come from, nor even in which direction she had defended. However, as she was launched away with a metallic “ging” sound, she understood that she had not made a mistake.
She had no idea that Bash’s vertical strike had pierced through the ground and hit her from below as it passed behind her.
“Haaaah!” Despite the stroke of luck that befell her, the woman felt no pride and prepared her sword to launch a strike at Bash.