Chapter 26
I stared blankly at the outcome.
"No way...?"
The words slipped out in a murmur.
The Self-Defense Forces, who had overwhelmed the ordinary orcs, were wiped out by that High Orc just as easily.
I couldn't take that fact in.
"It's too strong..."
That was just absurdly powerful.
Although they were both higher species, the High Orc was worlds apart from the Hobgoblin I'd fought earlier.
The Hobgoblin had still been within the bounds of what I could accept.
Its strength seemed like a natural extension of a goblin's. That's how it felt.
But that thing was different.
The High Orc was clearly in a different league from an ordinary orc.
Strength that seemed 'abnormal.'
Once the High Orc confirmed that the Self-Defense Forces had been wiped out, it let out a triumphant roar.
Perhaps that was the signal, because the orcs inside came out.
There were eight of them.
More than yesterday.
So there were others with it after all.
The High Orc pointed the meat cleaver it held in one direction.
Several human figures stood that way.
Judging from the direction, they weren't the same people I'd seen earlier.
They'd probably seen the helicopter and rushed over from elsewhere.
The moment they saw the orcs and the Self-Defense Forces soldiers' bodies, they fled at once, each trying to get away first.
But the High Orc roared again.
At that signal, the orcs took off running.
Unlike when it came to me, it had no intention of letting them escape.
I really had been lucky.
Despite their massive bodies, the orcs moved with surprising speed.
Those people would probably be caught. It wasn't hard to imagine what would happen to them afterward.
I stopped watching.
"Phew..."
This is bad... What am I going to do?
I'd gotten a new Job and Skills and been riding high after defeating a higher-ranking goblin, but my mood had plunged into gloom in an instant.
...Should we run, Momo?
"Whiiine?"
I hugged Momo's fluffy body as I made the suggestion.
But Momo's reply lacked enthusiasm.
"We're going to run away—to somewhere the High Orc can't reach."
That should be the best way to survive.
But Momo tilted its head.
Why?
"Ah..."
After thinking for a moment, I finally understood, too.
Where exactly would we run?
The city was overflowing with monsters.
There was no safe place left in this town.
The fact that the Self-Defense Forces had come, with Skill users among them, meant that monsters were certainly present in other towns and prefectures, too.
Worst of all, what if an 'even more powerful monster' was waiting wherever we fled?
Something like a dragon or phoenix, for example.
If there were something like that, we'd just end up fleeing again and again.
It would be an endless flight. Surely we'd eventually run out of options.
"Is that why you're against it, Momo?"
"Whiiine..."
Momo nodded.
Apparently Momo had been thinking the same thing.
No, Momo seemed to be seeing reality much more clearly than I was.
I let out a deep sigh.
"...So, in the end, we'd just have to keep leveling up little by little without being found by any powerful monsters, huh?"
In the end, that was our only option.
To survive.
Hunt monsters and level up.
Develop my Skills.
There was no other way.
In other words, wasn't that exactly what I'd been doing until just now?
Why had I been agonizing over it?
Ah, of course.
It was probably because, somewhere deep down, I'd been thinking that 'someone else would take care of it.'
The sight of the Self-Defense Forces' helicopter had brought those feelings rushing to the surface all at once.
"I need to pull myself together."
I slapped my own cheek as hard as I could.
Smack! It made a satisfyingly sharp sound.
"Owwww!"
All right, moping won't accomplish anything!
I've just got to keep going with the attitude that everything will work out!
I took some water from my Item Box and gulped it down.
"All right! Let's go, Momo. We've got to get a whole lot stronger!"
"Woof!"
Unlike before, Momo nodded enthusiastically this time, too.
It was as if Momo were saying, 'That's the spirit!'
"For now, let's head to the home improvement store."
The home improvement store was in the opposite direction from the shopping mall where the High Orc was.
There should be all kinds of things there that could make for stronger weapons.
My kitchen knife was starting to wear out, too.
I wanted a whetstone and some spares.
Besides, there was also a drugstore nearby.
Hospitals probably weren't functioning properly anymore, so I wanted to stock up on at least some medical supplies.
"Shall we go, Momo?"
"Woof!"
All right, our next destination was the home improvement store.
We rose to our feet with renewed vigor and left the rooftop.
―――And after they left, a girl emerged from the shadows on the rooftop.
She was a petite girl carrying a rifle nearly as long as she was tall.
"...Looks like they left."
Murmuring that, the woman gazed wistfully at the spot where they'd been.
"...They never noticed me after all."
Indeed, she had been 'there' on the rooftop the entire time.
She had been eating lunch alone in the shadows, munching away, when they suddenly came onto the rooftop; she had nearly had a heart attack.
Perhaps thanks to the 'Skill' she possessed, it seemed they hadn't noticed her until the very end, but...
"I wish they'd stayed a little longer..."
If they had, maybe they would have noticed her.
Actually, she had thought about calling out to them herself many times, but each time she'd lost her nerve.
Because every time she tried to speak, she broke into a clammy sweat, her heart began pounding, and she got dizzy.
She could remain perfectly calm when looking through her scope, so why was it so difficult when she was face-to-face with someone?
She let out a deep sigh.
"As I thought, talking to strangers really is a pretty big hurdle..."
Her mutter reached no one's ears and simply faded away into the wind.