We ran toward the tree where the observation post stood.
Rion kept falling behind, tugging on the hand she held tightly.
“W-Wait…….”
Sorry, but I didn’t have time to listen to her right now.
With all this commotion, goblins or Orcs would obviously come to investigate. If we failed to escape in time, we would simply be caught between the goblins and Orcs like a sandwich and hunted down.
‘It really smashed everything to pieces.’
I had fled the mutant Hobgoblin’s attack so frantically that I couldn’t remember the route exactly. Fortunately, the mutant had demolished trees and rocks with its body slams, so it wasn’t difficult to find the way back to the observation post.
“Hah. Here it is.”
Even in the Jar Warrior’s body, which had excellent stamina, I was slightly out of breath.
I had rushed here this desperately because there was no telling when this damned game might trigger another [Bad Event].
It felt malicious enough toward the player to—
“Gasp, cough, keh-hehk.”
Damn it.
Something finally happened to Rion, whom I had already been worried about.
“H-Hngh, khk, kehek!”
Rion lost her grip on my hand and collapsed where she stood.
She coughed so violently that her light-green hair shook, gasping as though she were hyperventilating.
‘Is this the Bad Event?’
Was this Bad Event simply one companion falling under a debuff?
Thinking that, I seated the blue-faced Rion on a nearby rock. Fortunately, she seemed to improve little by little with every breath she managed to take.
“Are you all right?”
Nod. Nod.
Unable to answer, Rion only nodded while taking deep breaths.
‘Tsk. She’s still my companion, at least.’
The Ogre’s stomping continued in the distance.
It almost sounded like a cheerful tap-dance rhythm.
Five Orcs wouldn’t last even a minute against the Tyrant, so reinforcements must have arrived from the Orc camp.
‘Then we might have some time.’
Based on my experience playing the game, we might have around five minutes.
Slosh.
I took the last potion from my crossbody bag.
A little less than half a bottle of red liquid swayed inside the glass container.
“Don’t gulp it down. Drink it a little at a time.”
I removed the cap and handed it to Rion. She steadied her breathing and carefully drank the potion in small sips.
Her face, which had been blue, was now white as paper. Blue veins were beginning to show beneath her thin skin.
‘This isn’t Mana Backlash, is it?’
If it was, that would be the worst outcome.
It would mean gaining another burden in this situation.
Still, I could visibly see Rion stabilizing each time she swallowed a little potion.
“Rest here for now. I’ll gather some loot in the meantime.”
“O-All right.”
I turned away from Rion, who remained seated on the rock.
Normally, I would’ve fled without caring about loot. But we now needed time for Rion to recover, and it seemed we had a few minutes to spare.
Gathering the loot I had planned to abandon was the efficient choice.
‘Leave everything made of wood.’
I didn’t collect the wooden armor worn by the goblin soldiers. It had been made for goblin bodies and couldn’t be worn by humans, so it was worth no more than firewood.
Instead, I collected all their weapons.
I stuffed scimitars, spearheads, and the staff into my crossbody bag.
‘The backpack is impossible, right?’
I wanted to climb the tree and retrieve the backpack from the observation post, but there wasn’t enough time.
“Oh, a Silver Coin?”
Among the loot dropped by the roughly ten goblins were not only Copper Coins, but also a Silver Coin.
After playing this game for several years, I could estimate a monster’s level from the coins and loot it dropped.
‘One Silver Coin means around Level 11? Maybe 12.’
In the game, ten Copper Coins were worth one lump of copper, and one lump of copper was worth roughly one Silver Coin.
Creatures that dropped Copper Coins were generally below Level 10.
The exact number varied depending on the amount they dropped, but knowing roughly that much was enough.
‘The mutant that dropped the lump of silver was around Level 20. Now that this is reality, do monsters level up too? If they didn’t, the goblins would have no reason to train. If several coincidences hadn’t worked in my favor against that mutant, I would’ve died.’
I hated admitting it, but this hunting ground was too much for me.
More precisely, I was barely strong enough to survive here.
Unless I caught them by surprise, facing three Goblin Mutants meant risking my life.
The power of numbers was greater than I had expected. I needed to become much stronger or move to a hunting ground where monsters mainly traveled alone.
“Rion, are you feeling any better?”
I swept the loot into the crossbody bag, returned to Rion, and knelt before her.
I checked her pulse with the fingers of my left hand while examining her complexion.
Her face remained pale, and her pupils trembled faintly.
‘Her heartbeat is strange too.’
I had no experience as a doctor or medical worker, but even I could tell that Rion’s irregular heartbeat was clearly abnormal.
‘The potion isn’t healing her?’
As I struggled to decide what to do, a sticky drop of blood ran from beneath the hair beside Rion’s ear.
“Were you injured?”
Without waiting for an answer, I examined her.
There was a torn wound beneath the hair on the side of her head. It must have split open when the mutant struck her and knocked her down.
Ah, shit.
The crashing sounds had stopped, and it felt as though we were out of time.
We needed to run.
-Abandon her. Leave her behind.
Bullshit.
I ignored the nonsense that surfaced in my mind.
I took the remaining potion bottle from Rion’s hand and poured it over the wound. I wanted to wipe away the blood and disinfect it, but there was no time.
I worried that the nearly empty potion wouldn’t be enough.
Fortunately, the potion bubbled when it touched the wound. It didn’t heal the injury completely, but it stopped the bleeding.
“How many do you see?”
“Two? Three?”
“Exactly.”
“Two. But they’re shaking a little.”
It seemed like a mild concussion—
Rustle. Rustle.
The bushes shook, and a blade suddenly thrust out between them.
“…Parikete.”
A green-skinned demi-human three times the size of a goblin and slightly larger than a human emerged.
An Orc.
Its yellowed tusks protruding past its lips stood out immediately.
“KWAAAAARGH!”
“Oh, fuck.”
Leaving Rion behind, I charged the Orc and swung the longsword upward.
CLANG—!
A slash that would’ve cut a goblin in half was knocked aside by the Orc’s descending blade.
“KRWAK!”
It swung again, and I met it with my longsword.
“RAAAAAH-!”
“KWAAAAAH-!”
We roared as we pressed our blades together.
The creature was forced backward one step at a time, but when it leaned its weight onto its sword, I nearly became the one being pushed away.
CREEEAK.
Sparks flew from the crossed blades.
“Haaap!”
I drove my forehead into the nose it thrust toward me.
Blood ran from its upturned, pig-like nostrils.
‘Strength alone won’t work!’
I dodged the sword it swung in rage.
A Common Orc was Level 15.
What level was this one?
At most, perhaps Level 16 or 17.
WHOOSH.
I ducked under the blade flying for my throat. Several strands of hair were cut away, but I ignored them and rushed into its reach.
We were too close for it to stab with its sword, so I seized it firmly by the collar instead.
“Uaaah-!”
With a shout, I threw it over my body.
The creature tried to brace itself, but when I slid an arm between its legs and lifted, it rose into the air.
‘Heavy.’
Its weight was on an entirely different level from an ordinary goblin.
The mutant had only been easy to throw because I had used the force of its charge against it.
The Orc struggled so violently that I nearly lost my grip.
-You can’t even use the skill properly. Look at you struggling desperately.
“AAAAARGH-!”
I slammed the thrashing creature into the ground.
But the result wasn’t satisfying.
“Grrrrrgh.”
The creature used a breakfall, so its neck didn’t snap.
Still, it groaned from the impact.
I really couldn’t waste any more time.
Even the faint vibrations that had reached us before were gone now.
Apparently noticing that my attention had wandered—
“KURWACHA-!”
The Orc threw a furious punch.
THUD.
While I was distracted, its fist struck my face.
My head snapped to the side.
That hurt quite a bit.
“Urk.”
Then a kick drove into my stomach and sent me backward.
My posture collapsed, and I lost my balance, landing on my ass.
Whoosh.
At that moment, a gust of wind blew, and a line appeared leading toward the Orc’s temple.
TWANG.
With the sound of the string snapping forward, a bolt flew in a straight line.
RIIIP.
The Orc noticed the Wind Path and jerked its head backward, but the wind-borne bolt was faster.
The arrowhead tore a long line through the Orc’s skin, and blood burst out.
“KRWAK.”
Blinded by the blood covering its eyes, the Orc panicked and rubbed at them.
‘An opening.’
“Haaap!”
With a shout, I slashed diagonally across its chest.
CLINK.
The blade bit halfway in before the sword the Orc swung reflexively knocked it away.
The Orc hadn’t dissolved into dust, but one more blow would be enough to finish—
“Cough, kehek.”
“Rion!”
Rion was coughing up blood.
Her face was white, and blue veins stood out beneath her skin.
There was no doubt.
This was Mana Backlash.
It was that damned effect that struck Mana-using characters when they were Dispelled while casting magic or forced themselves to use Mana under a status effect.
It erased ninety percent of their health and left them unconscious.
“Can’t one thing go right?!”
I couldn’t treat this here.
I needed to find a healer in the territory or locate other explorers and obtain a potion.
There was no way I would find explorers in this situation.
More importantly, I couldn’t trust them.
Then we were going to the territory.
“Kerkcha patar.”
I ignored the Orc spouting words I couldn’t understand and lifted Rion onto my back.
I didn’t have time to finish it off.
Miyu cried as though worried about her master, but I simply tucked her against my chest and ran.
In my experience, mages died from shock caused by Mana Backlash more often than they were beaten to death by monsters.
“Don’t die. Please.”
You still haven’t paid me for the summoned beast.
That’s worth at least ten Gold Coins.
***
The blood-covered Orc sat there, seething with rage.
[C-Cowardly human. How dare you use an ambush during a duel?]
With the sound of approaching footsteps, a huge Orc riding a wolf the size of a bull appeared.
A black-haired female Orc mounted on a hyena followed behind the Orc Rider.
The enormous Orc atop the wolf spoke.
[Soldier.]
The Soldier Orc wiped the blood away with its sleeve and opened its eyes.
Then it startled and saluted.
[Honor! Soldier—]
[Forget your rank and name. What happened here?]
[We were searching the neutral zone based on the information given by the Burrow Goblin. We discovered the Ogre fighting the patrol and were heading back to report under the search leader’s orders.]
[…Then why are you here? Did those goblin bastards attempt something?]
[No. We were returning in pairs to make the report when my senior spotted humans here. He ordered me to check the situation and then catch up with him, so…….]
The nervous Soldier Orc rambled.
[You were defeated by humans?]
[Yes. That is correct. Humans had stopped coming after the goblin bastards blocked the forest entrance, so—]
[Understood. Return now.]
The Orc riding the wolf snapped his fingers, and the Soldier Orc’s wounds vanished as though they had been washed away.
[Honor!]
[Honor.]
Once the Soldier Orc disappeared, the rider spoke.
[Lieutenant, what do you think?]
[Those humans appear to be connected to this incident, Lord Taisan.]
[Can you find them?]
[Please wait a moment.]
The Orc lieutenant brought both hands together and murmured an incantation.
A clay figure the size of a small doll rose from the earth.
It was Um, an Earth Spirit.
She said something to Um, and the spirit raised both arms triumphantly.
The soil and sand around it stirred.
HMMMM.
The sand transformed into the shapes of two humans and began reenacting what had happened earlier.
Using Um’s power, she replayed the memories engraved into the earth.
[Fortunately, it seems less than half a day has passed since they left.]
[Then shall we do some work for the first time in a while?]
When Taisan stroked the wolf’s mane, it seemed to understand its master’s intent.
It lowered its nose to the ground, sniffed, then kicked off.
The lieutenant’s hyena followed.
After running for perhaps two hours as though folding the earth beneath them, they passed through the side path and reached the top of a cliff in the Canyon.
[Are those the ones?]
Taisan asked while looking at the humans walking across the grassland below the cliff.
The human man carried a woman on his back.
He staggered as he walked, looking thoroughly exhausted.
Before long, he lowered the woman from his back and placed her on the ground.
[…I believe so.]
Taisan watched the two humans without emotion, then gave his lieutenant an order.
[Send the signal.]
[Yes.]
Light bloomed from the lieutenant’s fingertips.
When she pointed toward the sky, the light shot upward and burst like fireworks.
WHOOSH.
The human man and woman looked toward them on the cliff.
The woman looked deeply startled—or perhaps frightened.
The man stared back with defiant eyes.
One corner of Taisan’s mouth rose at the sight.
The lieutenant shook her head, thinking his old sickness had returned again.
[Lord Taisan!]
Ignoring his lieutenant, Taisan leapt from the cliff together with his wolf.
The wolf seemed accustomed to this situation. It stepped across the rocks jutting from the cliff face and landed on the ground below.
It had been a long time since he last enjoyed such entertainment.