The woman opened and closed her mouth several times. Once she finally regained her senses, she pressed her forehead against the ground before me.
“Th-Thank you! You saved my life!”
“……Are you all right?”
“S-Sniff! Yes!”
Had she been certain that the Orc was going to kill her?
The woman was sobbing miserably, to the point that she could barely pronounce her words properly.
Still sniffling, she raised her head and wiped away her tears with hands that had been scraped raw and covered in blood.
I turned my gaze away from her and looked at the Orc’s remaining lower half.
This was an F-rank Gate.
An Orc, a C-rank monster, should never have appeared here.
Yet one had.
Rubbing my chin, I questioned the woman.
“Setting that aside, where did you encounter the Orc?”
“I-I do not know. I just kept walking through the forest…… Then I suddenly heard a commotion.”
“And?”
“I-I was curious, so I went to see…… There were several Orcs standing there.”
Several Orcs?
My eyes widened at her words.
Merely recalling the sight seemed to terrify her, and her body trembled as she continued.
“So I ran away immediately…… but there happened to be another Orc in the direction I fled. After that…….”
“And that brings us to now.”
Nod.
The woman silently nodded.
She had run as hard as she could, but as an F-rank Hunter, she had been unable to escape the Orc and had nearly died.
Then I had saved her.
That seemed to be the general course of events.
“Hmm.”
I rubbed my chin and looked in the direction from which the woman had fled.
Orcs……
I was suddenly curious.
An Orc was a C-rank monster.
That meant it was vastly stronger than a Goblin.
“Even an Orc could not withstand the Black Dragon’s power.”
Perhaps they were weaker than I had expected.
I had thought that a C-rank monster might be enough to increase my Synchronization Rate.
Yet even an Orc, the quintessential C-rank monster, had burst apart from a single blow.
At this rate, my Synchronization Rate might not increase even after I became a C-rank Hunter.
‘I need to experiment a little.’
I lightly stretched my neck and glanced at the woman.
“Do you need help walking?”
“What? N-No!”
“Then please return on your own. I think I should go and take a look at those Orcs.”
If my Synchronization Rate did not increase even against C-rank monsters, then I would truly be in trouble.
It would mean that I was unable to satisfy Black Dragon.
I needed to confirm whether that was the case.
Leaving the frozen woman behind, I headed in the direction from which she had escaped.
“I-I think there was an extremely large Orc there too…….”
I did not hear the woman’s belated muttering.
***
The Orc had left a remarkably clear trail while pursuing the woman.
Thanks to that, finding the other Orcs was not particularly difficult.
As I continued forward with my skill active, I glanced to the side.
“Can you…… hear me?”
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld asks what you are talking about]
Good heavens.
It really could hear me.
Then had it also heard what I said at home yesterday?
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld replies that it did]
Oh.
I pressed my lips into a firm line.
Why had it been listening?
Had it not implied that it would never speak to me again?
Cold sweat poured down my forehead like rain.
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld snorts at your fear]
Right.
If I could communicate with Black Dragon, perhaps there was no harm in asking.
Swallowing dryly, I clenched my fist and addressed Black Dragon.
“……If my Synchronization Rate increases, will you take control of my body?”
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld tells you to think whatever you please]
“Tsk.”
As expected, it would not tell me.
Clicking my tongue quietly, I took a slow breath and looked at Black Dragon.
‘……Is it not as bad as I thought?’
Perhaps I had only been so frightened because it had overwhelmed me when we encountered each other inside the Tutorial Tower.
After briefly speaking with it, I began to wonder whether it might be more favorably disposed toward me than I had assumed.
I continued onward while cautiously gauging its mood, until the trail suddenly disappeared and drove all distracting thoughts from my mind.
‘The trail ends here.’
That meant the woman must have encountered the Orc somewhere nearby.
I crouched to examine the ground, then surveyed the surroundings.
[The Master of the Twisted Netherworld says there is something to your right]
“…….”
So it was to the right.
I had already known that.
An ominous presence was clearly emanating from that direction.
I rose and headed right.
***
The area was enclosed by towering cliffs, as though marking the edge of the Gate.
A mountain of bare rock stood within it.
I stopped and stared at the enormous green giant in the distance.
He held a stone hammer and wore a necklace made of bones around his neck.
“That does not appear to be an ordinary Orc.”
Everything about him, from his gaze to the presence he exuded, was far removed from ordinary.
Especially when compared to the other Orcs surrounding him.
He had enormous tusks and a body at least twice the size of an ordinary Orc.
Unlike the other bald Orcs, he also had a single long braid of black hair.
Everything about him was different.
He lowered the hammer, which was nearly as large as his torso, onto the ground and released a deep growl.
“Grrrrr…….”
THUD, THUD.
At the sound of his call, the numerous Orcs scattered throughout the area began gathering around him.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Why is there an Orc Lord here?”
An Orc Lord.
The ruler of the Orcs and a being capable of wielding the power of the earth through mana.
Unlike ordinary Orcs, which were classified as C-rank monsters—
“A B-rank monster…….”
He was classified as a B-rank monster.
And now, he was staring at me with vivid yellow eyes.
I clenched my fist tensely.
“Damn it.”
I should not have come here.
I should have left the Gate and reported that Orcs had appeared.
Perhaps there truly was a reason people said curiosity killed the cat.
I calmly regulated my breathing and stared at the Orc Lord.
He remained silent with his hammer resting on the ground.
His yellow eyes were fixed solely on me, leaving no room for excuses or misunderstandings.
A B-rank monster.
A being that an F-rank Hunter who had only just left the tower should not have been capable of even scratching.
Escaping was practically impossible.
That meant I had to fight.
I should have been nervous.
That would have been the natural reaction.
Yet—
“……Why am I not nervous?”
I did not feel nervous in the slightest.
This was a B-rank monster.
A creature said to be beyond the ability of even one hundred F-rank Hunters.
He was an opponent that someone who had left the Tutorial Tower only yesterday should never have been able to face.
Yet he did not seem that threatening at all.
‘Is it because of the Guardian I fought inside the tower?’
Regardless, even if the Orc Lord did not seem threatening, I could not afford to lower my guard.
He had not earned the title of a B-rank monster without reason.
Anyone could see that I was at an overwhelming numerical disadvantage, yet the only thought in my mind was that this was manageable.
I calmly exhaled, took a step forward, and surveyed my surroundings.
Orcs armed with stone axes and hammers.
And behind them, the Orc Lord watching me.
“Come.”
I would send every last one of them to the Twisted Netherworld.
Muttering quietly, I drew in a deep breath and raised the corners of my mouth.
Perhaps that served as the signal.
“GROOOOAR!”
“SNORT!”
“SNORT!”
The Orcs surrounding me charged all at once.
They rushed from every direction.
I had no intention of standing still either.
I expelled the breath I had drawn in and kicked off the ground.
[Black Dragon - Haze]
KA-BOOM!
My fist shot forward, wreathed in billowing mist.
Compressed air split the earth beneath a single punch.
Immediately after retracting my fist, I extended my right hand to the left.
“Grrk!?”
A stone axe thrown by an Orc flew through the drifting dust.
I casually blocked it with my right hand, seized the stone axe tightly, and hurled it back.
“I will return this gift.”
WHIRL—THUD!
The stone axe spun through the air at tremendous speed before returning to its owner’s skull.
Without even confirming that the Orc had collapsed in a spray of blood, I turned my gaze forward, kicked off the ground, and threw myself backward.
“Phew.”
THUD!
A hammer slammed into the spot where I had been standing moments earlier.
That was close.
Had I reacted even slightly later, it would have crushed me.
‘This is definitely manageable.’
One mistake just now could have killed me.
Even so, I could think of nothing except how manageable the fight felt.
Immediately after avoiding the hammer, I drove my fist down onto its handle.
CRACK!
The handle shattered.
I sent the suddenly disarmed Orc back into the earth with a casual punch, then picked up the remaining stone head of the hammer and threw it high into the air.
It rose briefly before its tremendous weight pulled it back down.
The instant it descended to eye level, I relaxed my hand slightly and punched forward.
My fist struck the side of the hammer.
The stone could not withstand the force behind the blow and shattered into countless pieces.
‘That was exactly what I wanted.’
SHNK SHNK SHNK!
The fragments scattered in every direction like pellets from a shotgun.
The Orcs nearby became shields for the flying debris, their bodies mangled beyond recognition.
I no longer needed to worry about the Orcs in front of me.
Every one of them had been struck by the hammer fragments and reduced to red pulp.
True to their stubborn nature, the deaths of their kin did not slow the remaining Orcs.
However, even they could not avoid losing speed as they stumbled over the corpses covering the ground.
Taking advantage of that, I twisted to the left and drove my fist into the earth.
“Gro?”
RUMBLE.
The ground shook as though an earthquake had begun.
When I lifted my hand, a large piece of the torn earth rested within my right palm.
A successful method deserved to be used again.
With a crooked smile, I threw the rock into the air.
Once it reached eye level, I swung my fist again.
The exploding fragments—
“Grk—”
—slaughtered every Orc attempting to circle around from the side.
The ground was dyed red in an instant.
Standing amid the carnage, I leisurely turned my head.
“…….”
The Orcs had stopped.
Their vivid yellow eyes were filled with fear born from the overwhelming difference in power.
It was the terror of creatures staring at something incomprehensible.
Even Orcs were intelligent enough to realize that charging at me would only lead to a meaningless death.
At last, they understood.
They understood who the prey was in this situation.
“G-GROOO!”
One Orc dropped its weapon and turned away.
Only one.
A single Orc among the dozens that remained.
But fear was contagious.
Beginning with that one creature, every Orc in the area succumbed to terror and began fleeing.
Beyond the Orcs scattering in perfect disorder, I looked at the Orc Lord, who remained firmly in place.
“…….”
The Orc Lord had remained silent even as the others were swept away by the fragments.
Still maintaining that silence, he reached out and seized the head of an Orc fleeing past him in terror.
“Grk.”
“G-Grrk…….”
CRACK, CRACK.
The sound of something breaking came from the captured Orc’s skull.
Veins bulged across the Orc Lord’s arm, which was as thick as a log.
A moment later, the Orc’s head burst, and its body went limp.
“Grk.”
THUMP.
He casually threw the lifeless mass of flesh toward the fleeing Orcs.
At that moment, every moving Orc froze as though placed under a spell.
With a single action, the Orc Lord extinguished their panic.
He lifted the hammer he had set down and rested it across his shoulder before opening his enormous mouth.
“GROOOOOOOOOAR!”
RIIIIING!
My ears screamed in pain at the force of the roar.
Frowning at the ringing in my ears, I stumbled backward and stared at the Orc Lord.
“Grrrrr…….”
A yellow, ghostly light began streaming from his eyes.
He was coming.
“You are finally making your move.”
In that case—
“The first strike decides the victor.”
The one who struck first would win.
Smiling, I kicked off the ground with all my strength and charged toward the Orc Lord.