A boom rang out as Ouka caught a blow from one of the lead monsters on his axe, their weapons locking in a battle of strength. The huge green beast had swung a tree trunk like a club at the frontline warrior. Now it strained to overpower Ouka, but the big man held firm, muscles visibly straining in the contest against the large category monster. All of this gave Chigusa time to aim and plant an arrow right in the beast’s eye, allowing Ouka to break the deadlock and cleave right through the monster’s chest. That was just the lead fighter, though, and three more of the Orcs soon replaced their fallen comrade, surrounding Ouka and letting out bloodthirsty war cries.
The large vanguard desperately fended them off as Chigusa fumbled to provide him protection. To his right, Mikoto dodged and weaved around her own barrage of attacks, surrounded as she was by four other enemies. Her high agility made it possible for her to successfully evade numerous threats, even while surrounded, but she was pressured enough that she wasn’t able to strike back decisively. Ouka, on the other hand, was forced to block and parry heavy attacks from three different directions at once. He was already getting tired, but Chigusa had been forced to train her fire on the other Orcs that were attempting to bypass their vanguard. Mikoto eventually managed to hit an Orc in its magic stone, causing it to disintegrate on the spot, while Ouka also managed another lethal blow on one of his opponents, but both were thrown back on the defensive as reinforcements took the place of their fallen comrades.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if they had only needed to handle a dozen, but more Orcs were pouring into the room to supplement the first group, drawn as they were to the bait. Rivulets of sweat trickled down the faces of the two vanguard members as they fought with everything they had just to stay alive. Asuka managed to score a lethal blow on an Orc that got past the frontline, while Chigusa managed a lucky hit on an Orc magic stone, but there were too many of them. Takemikazuchi Familia seemed seconds away from collapse when a firm voice rang out across the battlefield.
“Mikoto, to your left! Dodge that Orc and attack the one with its back to you.”
Shocked, Mikoto obeyed orders on instinct. She rolled under the legs of the Orc to her left and found another enemy with its back to her. It was wide open, and she didn’t hesitate to jump, straddle the monster on its back, and open its throat from behind. This gave Ouka, the man being targeted by that Orc, the breathing room to score another lethal blow on a second enemy in his encirclement. Mikoto then jumped from the falling corpse of her most recent victim towards the third enemy that had been pressuring Ouka. Taken by surprise, the Orc didn’t even have time to scream before Mikoto’s katana took it in the eye. That took care of the three who were bothering Ouka, but it left the several opponents who were attacking Mikoto with no distractions. With nothing to inhibit them, they began to charge the undefended rearguard. As Ouka and Mikoto moved to help, however, two more Orcs reinforcing the first batch moved forward to attack them. Luckily, one of these was hit right in the throat with one of Chigusa’s arrows, and strangely enough, the other monster was quickly peppered with other projectiles as well. Crossbow bolts sank into the stomach, shoulder, and eye of the attacking Orc, causing it to flail in pain and anguish. The onslaught was followed up with another command from that same voice from earlier, high pitched and female yet not coming from Chigusa or Asuka.
“Mikoto and Ouka stick together and intercept these four. We’ll cover you.”
It now became clear that Lilli had entered the battlefield. Shouting commands, she directed the frontline adventurers in the most efficient way possible, preventing their imminent collapse and helping to thin the herd when needed. Adama had long understood that his prum friend was quite intelligent, making her a natural born strategist. This would be and excellent proving ground for her in that regard. The vanguard fighters hastened to obey her orders, crashing down on the four attempting to assault the rearguard with all haste. But even after they took care of those enemies, another half dozen Orcs was already bearing down on them. Chigusa and Lilli attempted to back away as Asuka, Mikoto, and Ouka fought side by side to fend off the horde. But there was no obvious end in sight, as more and more enemies bore down on the beleaguered fighters.
As they tired, they began to take more injuries. Ouka had suffered a gash on his back where he had been grazed by one of the enemy’s natural weapons. Flying rocks and debris kicked up by the Orcs powerful attacks ensured that every fighter was covered in a litany of tiny cuts. One particularly unlucky rock had grazed Mikoto’s temple, and now she fought with her right eye gummed shut with blood. The relentless press of the monsters meant that no one had the time to drink any potions, which meant that these injuries were here to stay, the blood loss only further aggravating their exhaustion. They fought for breath with increasing desperation, and the clarion orders and warnings of Lilli began to be drowned out by the increasingly triumphant cries of the lumbering beasts.
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Poor Asuka was the first to break. The brown-haired girl had put up an admirable showing, given her perfectly natural fear, but she simply lacked the iron will and superior skill of her two companions. They tried to take on the bulk of the fighting, but eventually she was confronted by a towering Orc that launched a vicious kick right at her. She was a hair too slow to dodge and the tip of the creature’s foot launched her small frame right across the battlefield, before landing in an unmoving heap. The attack on his comrade was a momentary and fatal distraction for Ouka, who cried out when he saw the girl go flying. This allowed an Orc to bring its club whistling diagonally towards his head, totally unobstructed, promising a quick and violent death.
Then, another voice echoed across the battlefield:
“Rippling Sword!”
Suddenly, the Orc’s arms were severed cleanly at the joint, sending its strike off target. It looked stupidly at the stumps that used to be its arms before it joined many of its colleagues in pained roars. The newcomer to the fight was the impassive and stony-faced swordsman, whose eyes glinted with a will of steel and a promise of violence. Voice level, he called out orders firmly and clearly:
“Lilli, go heal Asuka. The rest of you, just stay alive.”
Without further elaboration, the Sage marched into the fray. He fired out his Swift Strike magic with total abandon, slicing and dicing the army of Orcs with total impunity. At Level 2, the magic was strong enough to cut right through even their tough green hides, often going through multiple targets before losing steam. The gang of monsters was cut to ribbons under the brutal onslaught, arms and heads going in multiple directions all in the space of a few heartbeats. Even as the lion’s share of their comrades lay dead or dying, however, the remaining monsters were whipped up in a blood crazed frenzy and charged the newcomer. Some of these assailants fell apart before they even reached the swordsman, but at least five managed to reach him. Howling in rage, three Orcs at the front of this pack swung their clubs in harmony, their massive overhead attacks propelled by their momentum bearing down on the lone fighter. He didn’t move a step.
Boom
An enormous crash echoed throughout the room. Adama had caught all three attacks on the flat of his blade, and pressure of their strikes had pushed his body deeper into the earth, the stone splintering and fracturing all around him. His back, however, had remained utterly unbowed after taking all that force, and he swiftly shoved right back, knocking their clubs right away. He counterattacked, swinging his sword three times in a single heartbeat, creating three corpses at the same time.
The two enemies behind this vanguard charged around those corpses recklessly, too caught up in their bloodlust to reflect on their actions. Adama stabbed the one on his right and simultaneously punched the attacker on his left in the chest. The stab to the heart proved to be instantly fatal, unsurprisingly, but the punch to the chest had been delivered with such force that two things happened at once. The shockwaves of the blunt strike shattered the magic stone and caused the creature to go flying backward in a spray of blood. The mist of blood and the flying corpse turned into fine ash before the body even hit the ground, making it almost look like the punch had reduced the great beast to ash on the force alone. Even Tim looked surprised as he blinked and looked down at his fist.
“Strong Body, huh? I could get used to this.”
Of course, the Hunter Ability also increased his status when fighting Orcs, as he had already killed many in the past. Both abilities, alongside his Level 2 strength, were what allowed this absurd and almost effortless display of force. The entire room, once nearly taken over by monsters, was now largely cleared out. A few Orcs lingered by the doorway, but having seen what happened to their comrade, they turned and fled in search of easier prey. In the space of a handful of seconds, an entire pack of monsters had been completely wiped out. Panting, the remaining members of Takemikazuchi Familia stared at Adama with eyes the size of dinner plates. Ouka and Mikoto were so shocked that their weapons fell from tired hands, their arms relaxed almost forcibly from the weight of their exhaustion and surprise.
At around that moment, Asuka woke up. Healed thanks to Lilli’s tender ministrations, she stood up and ran to support her comrades, only stopping and staring in shock when she realized that all the enemies were gone. Looking around, she asked:
“What happened? Where are they?”
Too stunned to answer, the rest of her Familia just gaped at her for a few moments. Adama was the first to break the silence:
“Subpar for the first go around, but there’s potential for improvement. Collect the drop items, then we’ll take a walk to another room and try it again. You can rest during that time.”
Sheathing his sword, he sank into a meditative position, clearly expecting them to start harvesting the monster cores. Besides Lilli, however, Adama’s lower-level companions didn’t move a muscle. They just stared in further shock at the meditating figure, to stunned to do or say anything. Sensing their disobedience, he opened one eye and barked out:
“Go on! There’s training to be done. Daylight wastes as you gape like fish out of water.”
The other fighters sprang into action, then, but as they harvested the corpses, they shot meaningful looks at one another. All of them seemed to be staring at Ouka, begging him to step up and say something, causing the big man to let out a sigh.
He wasn’t looking forward to contradicting their Lord’s chosen guide, but something had to be said.