Welcome to the True Man's World – 1.5

Max ran towards the magical staff.

He didn’t want to leave the woman’s body in that place, but neither he nor the girl would survive if he tried to carry her.

He consoled himself, telling himself that the woman wouldn’t care.

She wouldn’t care at all, as long as he managed to save her daughter from the same horrible fate and from death. Those beasts had torn apart an adult woman, so what would they do to that girl who seemed ten, twelve at most?

God.

He didn’t even want to think about it. His blood boiled.

The staff hung on one of the walls like just another trophy. Fortunately, among the other things the orcs counted as trophies, there were no decapitated heads, not to mention other, even more grotesque possibilities.

The other orcs were almost upon them. All of them eager to gut him.

To protect their reputation, apparently turning him into a lesson. And, he supposed, as a succession ritual. Whoever killed the one who killed the former chief would prove worthy to rule.

A brutish and cruel society based on strength.

A bunch of animals, nothing more, nothing less. They were almost upon him.

"Girl, close your eyes, you don’t need to..." Max quickly silenced himself. He hoped she hadn’t, but she had surely seen her mother being torn apart. Seeing her body after the act wasn’t much better.

He couldn’t think of anything worse than that.

He wasn’t protecting anything by telling her to close her eyes at this moment. He had arrived too late for that; the damage was done.

The little elf obeyed anyway, squeezing her eyes shut tightly, trembling slightly in his arms. Max swallowed hard. It was important to maintain some perspective. It wasn’t too late. The orcs were rushing at someone who had defeated their old king in mere minutes with a remarkable lack of fear. Eager, even, to prove their worth.

Max preferred not to think about how much the little one he was carrying might be motivating those beasts.

He sowed death with a single hand, holding them at bay.

He had to climb an elevation like a natural bridge crossing the cavern. It was the opportunity to outsmart his enemies, something he had been waiting for since he arrived in this world.

You didn’t have to be a genius to think of this, but he kicked one in the chest and watched it tumble down. It wasn’t the only one to fall, or at least stagger from the impact of the moron on his way down.

He heard what was surely a head smashing like a ripe melon.

As soon as I get a moment to breathe, I’ll ask her what her name is, he thought. Desperate, almost caressing the possibility that neither of them would make it out of the cavern. Not alive.

As if he saw it coming.

That they would knock him down, attacking him from behind and in front, an ambush he couldn’t have seen coming just a few meters from the staff. That they would tear the girl from his arms while she cried and kicked in vain. Not even the paternal rage that left him trembling, baring his teeth like a wild animal.

“No! No!” the poor girl screamed.

Max lunged forward, shaking off those who had piled on him. He was struck several times, but the maces and their spikes didn’t dent his armor, and the knives didn’t penetrate it.

He threw himself on top of the filthy bastard who had caught her, knocking him down. The little one rolled out of the arms of that abomination and got up as quickly as she could...

She ran away from him.

Towards the staff, of course.

Max stabbed the downed orc through the brain and ran after her. She had good intentions, obviously. She only wanted to help, but they could catch her again if she wasn’t careful. Or just because. She was a child, meaning short legs, and there were too many orcs everywhere.

But they didn’t catch her.

Not until she laid hands on the staff. So when she hit the ground, so did the instrument for magic. The orc who stopped her did so by grabbing her by the leg, and now he was squeezing her; Max saw her little face covered in sweat, twisted in pain. Others were surrounding her. Max plunged into the middle of it all, his sword becoming a whirlwind, howling like those wolves. He was wasting oxygen, but he couldn’t help it. He had lost control.

Not that it was a bad thing in the end.

The Sword of the War God. He didn’t like that title, but it was like Ares’ shadow. What could better represent war than this savage rage, this loss of control?

He felt like he was getting stronger by leaning into these aspects of what he was now, whether he liked it or not, for the moment.

At the very least, he took down more than a dozen bastards, reached his ward, and severed the arm of the orc who was grabbing her leg before it broke. Surely, healing magic existed. Surely, that wouldn’t mean she’d be disabled for life, far from it. But he didn’t care. The mere thought fed his boundless rage even more.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He kicked the same orc in the head, crushing it against the wall.

A distant part of his brain screamed that there were too many. No matter how unstoppable he felt, they would eventually wear him down. He had to get out of there. He had never expected to be able to slaughter them all.

The elf girl got up with the severed arm still attached to her. When cut, the orc’s fingers had gripped tighter instead of letting go.

If it weren’t for the fact that she must have been in shock, the little one would have fainted. She only looked a bit sick and confused, as if unsure whether this was real. If it was happening.

Max had quickly adapted to his new reality, but he wasn’t just a kid. And he wasn’t normal.

“Come here. No matter what, I’ll protect you. I swear I’ll protect you.”

But this time it was the other way around. The girl had been murmuring something when she hit the ground with the staff, and a crystalline barrier made of blue-colored energy formed around them, just big enough for the two of them. In other words, tight.

“I told you... I could help,” she said, her voice trembling as her shoulders did. Max placed his hands on her shoulders. Her small body. Her desire to protect him with that little body felt sacred.

The girl was on the verge of breaking down, but she knew she had to be strong and was determined to try. Despite everything.

Max tugged at the severed arm still hanging from her leg, letting it fall to the ground.

"How long will it hold?"

The girl swallowed.

"I don't know."

"Alright. Follow me, quickly."

Max immediately chose a direction and started running. In truth, he had no idea where he was headed. He didn’t know the inside of the cavern, but it was important to fake confidence. It was important as a bulwark against her fear. The orcs wasted no time, throwing themselves against the barrier, bouncing off, and rolling away. Every time he heard an impact, his heart leaped into his throat, thinking that would be the moment the barrier finally collapsed.

He figured he could only keep it up for so long, but interference wouldn’t help.

He doubted it was a perfect defense that would hold as long as he had the magical energy to sustain it.

In any case, fast, fast, they had to run as quickly as they could. And they did, vanishing into the tunnels of the cave. The girl sealed the entrance before most of the orcs could get through, only three managed to slip in—sly bastards. How did she do it? Ice. She created enough ice to block the hole in the blink of an eye.

Max probably could have escaped without the elf girl’s help, but she was proving to be a useful ally, despite her age.

He felt a bit guilty depending on her even in the slightest when he was supposed to be saving her, but he had to be realistic. Pride wouldn’t help either of them.

"Drop the barrier. Stay behind me. Just enough to let me through, unless you’re running out of energy."

The girl shook her head.

Well, fine. Better safe than sorry.

Max took a few steps forward to face the orcs. The tunnel was narrow enough that they had to come at him one at a time. There were only two, but it could have been twenty, it wouldn’t have made a difference.

And it didn’t. Max killed them quickly and efficiently, with barely any resistance. His anger hadn’t subsided, not by a long shot—it wasn’t something so cheap—but he tried to be less brutal, less savage.

The girl couldn’t be more traumatized than she already was, but precisely for that reason, there was no need to make her see more than necessary.

What would he have gained by saving her body but not her mind? Maybe it was a stupid concern compared to the danger their lives were in. Regardless, it didn’t stop him from ending the fight decisively and without injury. And if in future fights he had no other choice, well, then he’d do what he had to, of course.

He would do what he had to, no matter what.

"Sir…" She was nervous, eager to continue, clearly.

"Max. Just call me Max. Give me a moment."

He muttered status screen, making it appear along with a notification that had had the decency not to bother him in the middle of the fight. He’d leveled up again after defeating Azgrom, and like before, he had five points to spend.

Before deciding, Max glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eye, wondering if she could see the screen.

She hadn’t reacted in surprise, and he doubted it was because Systems were common in this world. She probably thought he was a lunatic, fiddling with the air. He blushed slightly.

He distributed the points as follows:

Strength: 8 > 10

Constitution: 5 > 6

Endurance: 5 > 7

He wasn’t sure if he’d made the right choices, but what was done was done.

Thanks to his Class Skill, War Cry, he had to add ten to each stat to get his true numbers. They’d returned to normal because he wasn’t actively engaged in a fight, though Max believed that a chase should count as enough of a threat.

"Sorry, I’ll explain it to you once we’re safe. Just trust me. Let’s go."

The girl nodded.

The girl this, the little elf that.

They set off again, the elf dissolving the barrier to, presumably, conserve energy.

"What’s your name?"

"Helen."

Max blinked.

Maybe he’d read too many fantasy novels, but that didn’t sound very elven to him.

This wasn’t the time, though—they were running for their lives, and could be found at any moment. So, he bit his tongue, but the girl—Helen—must have seen the curiosity on his face, even in the dim light.

"I was named after my grandmother. My father was human."

Was. He didn’t miss that.

Not only had she lost her mother brutally and horribly, but her father was also dead. No matter how he had died, the fact remained that little Helen was alone in the world.

Max placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

"I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again."

Max didn’t smile. It was too solemn a moment to force a smile with any real effectiveness, but he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed to show his solidarity. To try to prove beyond a doubt that every word he said was serious.

That he wasn’t just going to abandon her once they were out of the cave with some vague promise that the nearest orphanage would find her a better home or something like that. No, he fully intended to take responsibility for her.

And to protect her.

Helen’s eyes filled with tears. She smiled as if saying she didn’t believe him, but that it was a nice thought, a gesture she appreciated.

He didn’t find it funny, but there was nothing he could do about it. Not yet. He had to show her he was trustworthy little by little, day by day. It was natural that she wouldn’t trust a complete stranger, even one who had saved her life and then some.

They continued through the tunnels, searching for the exit practically blind, save for a bit of magical energy Helen was using as a blue fire torch.

He was worried about an ambush.

Obviously, but for more than just the obvious reasons. It had to do with his Stats. More specifically, his only Skill so far. It only added ten points to all his stats while he was in a fight. So, if they took him out before he could engage in a fight, he wouldn’t be a factor. He could easily survive a certain attack with fourteen Endurance, but with only seven?

He didn’t like thinking about it. What reassured him was that orcs weren’t exactly subtle. He should be able to hear them coming, and he doubted they’d try to ambush him in the first place.

But it didn’t matter.

He’d survive, get out of this cave, and face more dangerous opponents. It was a problem he had to find a solution to, sooner rather than later.

He heard footsteps nearby.

Max signaled for Helen to extinguish the magical torch, so to speak, and then pressed her against the wall, placing his hand over her mouth to muffle her breathing. Naturally, he held his own breath.

The orcs passed by, grunting in frustration. He wondered if what they craved most was killing or violating and spreading their filth across the world. Wiping them out one by one wouldn’t be an easy task, but it felt like his duty now. He removed his hand once he was sure it wasn’t some surprisingly clever trap for a pack of wild animals, and they continued through the unfathomable darkness, searching for the light.

Helen didn’t summon it. Too dangerous right now, he could hear the orcs walking nearby. He could even smell them.