Chapter 53
Phew...
I steady my breathing and check my current status.
Kudo Kazuto
Level 13
HP: 82/100
MP: 13/13
Strength: 83
Endurance: 79
Agility: 224
Dexterity: 193
Magic: 0
Magic Resistance: 0
SP: 3
JP: 6
Job
Assassin Lv. 9
Hunter Lv. 6
Unique Skill
Early Bloomer
Skills
Silent Movement Lv. 6, Night Vision Lv. 4, Vital Strike Lv. 4, Presence Concealment Lv. 7, Appraisal Interference Lv. 4
Enemy Search Lv. 7, Telescopic Vision Lv. 3, Agility Enhancement Lv. 7, Dexterity Enhancement Lv. 4
Observation Lv. 9, Keen Hearing Lv. 4,
Physical Enhancement Lv. 9, Swordsmanship Lv. 4, Stress Resistance Lv. 6, Fear Resistance Lv. 7, Poison Resistance Lv. 1, Paralysis Resistance Lv. 2, Virus Resistance Lv. 1, Heat Resistance Lv. 1, Provocation Resistance Lv. 1, HP Auto-Recovery Lv. 1, Hostility Detection Lv. 6, Danger Sense Lv. 9, Concealment Lv. 2, Escape Lv. 4, Defensive Instinct Lv. 1, Item Box Lv. 10, Email Lv. 2, Concentration Lv. 3
Party Members
Momo
Assassin Dog Lv. 2
Aka
Red Slime Lv. 7
My HP is low.
That was the blow I just took from the High Orc.
That single attack took nearly twenty percent of my HP.
If I take a direct hit, I'll definitely die.
"But... I have no choice but to do this..."
Our Skills and strength as they are now.
We have to give it everything we've got, or we won't be able to beat this thing.
I ready my weapon and glare at the High Orc in front of me.
First, I need to confirm it.
"Here I gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
I ran forward with a shout.
Perhaps sensing my resolve, the High Orc grinned.
A vicious grin filled with murderous delight.
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!"
Neither of us hesitated as we charged forward.
The High Orc's raised cleaver came hurtling toward my eyes.
'Danger Sense' and 'Hostility Detection' began sounding their alarms.
I'm scared! I'm scared!
But don't look away!
Use 'Observation'! Watch its movements! Watch the blade's trajectory!
Use 'Swordsmanship' and 'Defensive Instinct' to deflect the blade.
"Uoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
With a shrill clang, the High Orc's cleaver sliced through empty air and plunged into the ground.
I did it. Somehow, I managed to deflect the attack.
"!?"
The High Orc's eyes widened.
Surprise, astonishment.
That tiny opening hindered its movements.
This is my chance.
I threw an object from my Item Box at the High Orc.
A point-blank throw.
Now, what will you do?
"Guaaaaaaaaaah!"
The High Orc roared—and dodged it.
It forcibly twisted its body and pulled the cleaver from the ground.
While it was distracted, I put some distance between us.
"So that's it..."
Its actions convinced me that my prediction had been correct.
The sense of wrongness was taking shape.
It had been worth taking that risk to confirm it.
I watched the High Orc while maintaining my distance.
"I thought there was something strange about it from the start."
"Gaa..."
I didn't know whether it understood my words.
But the High Orc listened to what I was saying.
"I wondered why you let us go that time..."
I murmured.
As if explaining it to Momo and Aka.
As if confirming it to myself.
"You were actively hunting humans. You slaughtered everyone who had holed up here, as well as the Self-Defense Forces. So isn't that strange? Why were they killed while you let us go? How did we survive?"
Saying it aloud made the unnaturalness of it all clear.
I hadn't thought deeply about it because my life had been spared, but the more I considered it, the stranger it seemed.
"And it wasn't just us. Nishino-kun and the others, too."
They had also survived an attack by the High Orc.
At first, I thought it had simply been acting on a whim.
I thought it had let us go because we were weak and not worth bothering with.
"But that wasn't it. It wasn't a whim of yours."
There had been a reason.
There was a reason it had let us go—or rather, a reason it had been forced to let us go.
I released it above the High Orc's head. Not just one, but several, dozens of them.
I released them as high and as wide as possible, right to the edge of the Item Box's effective range.
Otherwise, it would dodge them.
"This is―――"
I pointed my index finger toward the sky.
The High Orc followed my lead and looked up.
At that moment, its expression changed.
It immediately tried to run, but it was too late.
"This is the answer."
For a fraction of a second, water rained down on both me and the High Orc.
Cold droplets soaked my body.
What I had released above us was
water.
Dozens of plastic bottles I had stockpiled.
With their caps open, tossing them overhead turned their contents into an improvised 'rain.'
"Gwooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!"
The effect was immediate.
The drenched High Orc began to suffer, smoke rising from its entire body.
A large number of plastic bottles fell to the ground along with the water.
This was the reason it had let us and Nishino-kun's group go.
Just as slimes are resistant to physical attacks but weak to fire,
and Shadow Wolves excel at smell and speed but have low physical defense,
Orcs had a genuine 'weakness' too.
"I never would have guessed that weakness was water, though."
The clue had been that exchange just now.
The mass attack I had launched from the Item Box in desperation.
The thing had casually deflected or kicked away rocks and wrecked cars, yet for some reason, it had 'dodged' the Tabasco balls and plastic bottles.
I could understand why it would avoid the 'Tabasco balls' because of its keen sense of smell, but I couldn't understand why it would avoid plastic bottles.
Why had it dodged something it didn't even need to bother avoiding?
That was the 'sense of wrongness' I had felt.
The moment I sensed that wrongness, the questions in my mind fell into place.
Why had we been spared?
Why had Nishino-kun and the others managed to escape?
It wasn't because we were weak, nor because the rain had prevented it from following our scent.
Maybe it simply hated getting wet.
To confirm that, the moment I dodged its blade earlier, I threw a 'plastic bottle' at it.
It went so far as to lose its balance trying to avoid something that was almost useless as a weapon.
That was when I became certain.
Its weakness was water.
And this was the result.
Still... I never expected it to be this effective.
The improvised 'rain' had blistered the High Orc's skin, leaving it looking as gruesome as if it had been doused in sulfuric acid.
A species with tremendous strength, a terrifying roar, and armor of hard muscle, yet one that took damage from mere contact with water.
That was the monster known as an Orc.
"Momo, now!"
"Woof!"
This was our chance. We couldn't let it slip away!
Momo unleashed its 'Shadow,' while I launched mass attacks from the Item Box at the High Orc one after another.
"Gwooooooooooooooo!?"
Momo's 'Shadow Spear' pierced it, eliciting a scream.
It seemed that getting wet had also lowered its defense.
I pulled out more plastic bottles from the Item Box and made it 'rain' again.
The High Orc screamed.
Something like steam rose from its entire body, and blood poured from wounds all over it.
But even so―――
"Tch...! You've got to be kidding me, you...!"
The High Orc was laughing.
It looked like it was having the time of its life.
As if this was exactly the situation it had wanted.
"―――Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!"
The High Orc roared.
The next moment, the High Orc's body began to change.
Its copper-red skin turned dark red, the black parts of its eyes turned red, and the whites turned black.
"What is this... Could it be!?"
I had seen a state similar to this before.
It was exactly like the form the high school girl who had been with Nishino-kun had taken when she fought.
"You've got 'Berserk'...!?"
I didn't know the details, but it was probably a Skill that strengthened the body.
This really was an unbelievable monster.
It had already been incredibly strong, yet it still had another trump card.
The High Orc, now berserk, charged straight at me.
So fast―――!?
"Gah...!"
I couldn't see it at all.
Before I knew it, I had been sent flying.
If Aka hadn't absorbed the impact, that single blow might have killed me.
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!"
Hey, wait a second.
How the hell did it catch up with me after sending me flying!?
I barely managed to see the High Orc thrust out its fist.
"~~~~!! (shiver, shiver)"
Aka expanded again and enveloped its fist.
But it seemed unable to absorb all the impact.
With a pop, Aka's body, its disguise undone, went flying through the air.
The force Aka couldn't absorb struck me.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
A violent pain churned my insides as if my organs were being stirred around.
This is bad. I'm about to lose consciousness.
Hold on! Hold on!
Barely keeping hold of consciousness, I created an improvised wall with the Item Box.
My body numb from the impact, I immediately retreated.
"Gwooooh!"
But the wall was destroyed, and the distance between us vanished in an instant.
Through my tear-blurred vision, I saw the High Orc's vicious expression.
Don't run. Fight. Entertain me more. Much more.
That was what it seemed to be saying.
What a monster!
Cursing it inwardly, I raised the 'Orc's Cleaver' in my hand.
A shrill clang echoed through the air.
The 'Orc's Cleaver' was knocked away effortlessly and went spinning through the air.
"Tch―――..."
This is bad, this is bad... This is bad!
I've lost my balance. I can't dodge.
The Item Box, too―――No. At this distance, it would cut through both the wall and me!
Momo's 'Shadow' won't make it in time, either.
It's too far away.
Aka also seemed to be struggling just to restore its body.
I could see my own HP.
12/100
That last blow had nearly depleted my HP.
Auto-Recovery wouldn't kick in fast enough.
If I took another attack now―――
The High Orc's mouth curled into a grin.
It wore the expression of one certain of victory.
Damn it. I thought I'd almost made it...
Death was closing in.
At that moment, I heard a small bang.
"Graaah!?"
"Huh?"
What?
What happened?
The High Orc was clutching its right eye and writhing in pain.
Was that―――a gunshot?
I snapped around and saw a figure on the rooftop of a building some distance away.
It was a petite girl.
In her hands was a ridiculously huge gun that didn't suit her at all.
"Could it be... Ichinose-san?"
As if responding to my muttered words, she gave me a thumbs-up while looking at me.
She was alive... Thank goodness.
She was battered and covered in wounds, but it seemed she was all right too.
I had questions, like why she had come here, but I was just glad she'd saved me.
I'll have to email her later.
But first.
I couldn't let the opening she had created go to waste.
"Take this!"
I made it 'rain.'
I was out of plastic bottles.
This was the last of the rain.
The falling rain mercilessly wounded the High Orc's body.
―――Fall.
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!"
The High Orc roared.
With a terrible expression, it charged toward me.
Even in this situation, retreat didn't seem to be in its vocabulary.
"Wooooooooooooooooooooof!"
Momo barked.
The 'Shadow Spear' pierced the High Orc without mercy.
Even so, the High Orc's momentum didn't stop.
"Take this!"
I launched every mass weapon remaining in the Item Box.
Wrecked cars, rocks, lumber.
Unlike before, they were clearly inflicting damage on the High Orc.
Fall.
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!"
Its roar echoed through the air.
The pressure radiating from the approaching High Orc was simply overwhelming.
It had the desperate ferocity of a wounded beast fighting for its life.
Even so, it was probably enjoying this situation from the bottom of its heart.
Its grin hadn't disappeared.
―――Battle Is Everything.
The last chunk of concrete struck its body.
Its body was already hideously distorted, and the skin across its entire body was crumbling away.
The High Orc and I closed in on each other.
The last thing left in my hand was a small kitchen knife.
It was the first weapon I had held when I first went outside.
After being used so many times, it had rusted and grown dull, but I gripped it tightly.
"Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
With a shout, I squeezed out every last bit of strength.
Enhanced Agility. And 'Vital Strike.'
Just barely, my knife pierced the High Orc's chest before it could raise its blade.
The cleaver in the High Orc's hand fell to the ground.
Fall!
I twisted the blade.
The knife broke easily.
The High Orc roared.
It was unmistakably a death cry.
Then the High Orc fell flat on its back, sprawled out.
As it fell, our eyes met.
―――Magnificent.
That was what it seemed to be saying.
The High Orc's body scattered into mist, leaving behind a fist-sized magic stone.
For an instant, it felt as though time had stopped.
Silence.
The pounding of my heart and the sound of my ragged breathing.
"Did I... win?"
As if answering my question, a voice echoed in my head.
≪You acquired experience.≫
≪Your experience has reached a certain level.≫
≪Your level has increased from 13 to 14.≫
≪Your experience has reached a certain level.≫
≪Your level has increased from 14 to 15.≫
≪Your experience has reached a certain level.≫
≪Your level has increased from 15 to 16.≫
≪Your defeat of Named Monster 'Rufen' has been confirmed.≫
≪You have been awarded a defeat bonus.≫
≪―――
"Ha-ha... We did it, Mo...mo...―――"
I couldn't hear the voice in my head to the end before I collapsed onto the ground.
I survived.
I managed to survive.
Perhaps from exhaustion and the lingering tension, my consciousness sank effortlessly into the depths of darkness.