The girl started chanting a spell, creating a ball full of concentrated wind from the air. The foxanoid started running towards her with dual daggers in hand at quick speed and leaped at her.

At that instant, a thunder attack was shot at her. Even though she blocked it with her daggers, the impact pushed her back. When I looked beside me, I saw Leon holding a wand in his hand.

"Very good, Leon! You did a great job attacking her at that moment" - Kex

The girl then shot her wind strike at the foxanoid, but this time, the orc stepped in and deflected it with his big axe like it was just a gust of wind.

"Looks like this time, it’s gonna take a while to kill all of you. Interesting... I'll kill the boys first and have a nice meal with the girls later," the orc said, his eyes filled with both lust and confidence.

After the orc's declaration, I wielded my sword and asked my companions to take up whatever weapons they had. Standing in front of everyone, I said, "Do not fear the orc or the foxanoid. Just back me up—I’ll fight the orc, and the rest of you take care of the foxanoid."

The orc charged at me, swinging his axe towards my head. I took my stance and parried the attack with my sword, but the axe’s pressure was too strong. The orc continued his relentless full swings from all directions, and all I could do was parry them.

"Southern Sword Style, huh? I fought someone with that same stance before… Parrying until the right moment to end it in a single critical strike. Do you think you can kill me with those basics today?" the orc taunted.

He then took a stance, holding his axe backwards before lunging at me. I parried his attack, but this time, my sword couldn't stand the attack and broke in two.

I glanced around and saw that the others were keeping up with the foxanoid, one was using martial arts attacks, and another girl was using bow and arrows, while the driver stood by the carriage, watching the battle like a spectator.

I had trained in the Southern Sword Style for a year. Though I had only learned the basics, I excelled at critical strikes rather than parrying. My master had once told me:

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"The Southern Sword Style, also known as the Generous Sword Style, was created to show mercy to opponents. But, when necessary, it delivers a single decisive strike to eliminate them. That is the way of the Southern Sword."

At that moment, I realized—if I didn’t kill this orc and his companions, we would all die here today.

Even though I had never killed anyone before, for my sake and for the others, I would do it.

I took a stance, bending my knees with my broken sword in hand, and charged at him at my maximum speed. The orc swung his axe in fury, but I dodged his attacks, and I lunged forward at full speed, piercing my broken sword straight into his stomach. Without hesitation, I dragged the blade downward, tearing through his gut.

The orc dropped his axe, collapsed to the ground, and screamed in agony before his breath faded away.

The foxanoid turned her head to see what had happened. Upon seeing her comrade lying in a pool of blood, her face twisted in devastation, and she charged at me with killing intent radiating from her.

Leon shot another thunder spell at her legs, causing her to stumble and fall. I pulled the broken sword from the orc's body and walked toward her. As I got closer, she began throwing her daggers, screaming for me to stay away.

I grabbed her by the neck, lifted her, and sliced her body in two. Her yellow blood splattered all over me, its smell utterly revolting.

Meanwhile, the girl used her wind slashes to kill the driver before we could even question him for information.

I cleaned myself with water, changed into fresh clothes, and we gathered in the cart. Sitting together, we shared what little we knew about the route ahead, but none of us had any idea where we actually were.

We divided the money collected from the dead equally among ourselves. The boy whose used martial arts introduced himself as Akon, saying he knew how to drive a cart. We entrusted him with the job, and we set off once again, moving forward into the dark forest.

Due to the fatigue from battle, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was shocked—the entire road was covered in mist.

Feeling uneasy, I asked Akon, "When did this mist start?"

"Out of nowhere, it just appeared," he replied.

As we continued forward, we spotted a human figure standing in the distance. As the cart drew closer, the girl who had killed the driver suddenly jumped out and ran towards the figure.

With a joyous voice, she shouted, "Big sis! Big sis! Where have you been all this time? I thought you were killed by those criminals!"

But before any of us could react—the human figure transformed into a gigantic centipede with humanlike face and wrapped around the girl tightly.

She didn’t even realize what was happening. She was under hypnosis.