‘Ugh… this is bad!’
The manager of the group, who got up and saw the situation, went stiff.
This wasn't a good situation.
He could say so because of the number of times he had been on such missions in which he had met quite a lot of bandits and thieves.
The ones surrounding them and grinning at them, however, were no ordinary thieves.
If bandits were normally those who coveted riches through violence and intimidation, then these orcs seemed to be interested in just violence rather than the treasures they possessed.
Reflected by the light magic, the glow in the eyes of orcs was creepy.
“Kill them all.”
The manager's worries reached an extreme when the Orc, which looked like the leader of the orc bandits, opened his mouth.
An immediate order for execution without negotiations!
And the Orc spoke in the continent's official language.
Its intention was obvious. The Orc was aiming to make the humans fall into fear and confusion.
Of course, the merchant group would fall into chaos.
However, the manager of the merchant group moved forward and spoke in a loud voice.
“Everyone halt!”
An unfamiliar and shrill voice.
The orcs that were closing in stopped.
The voice of the manager held the charisma of a leader who had accumulated years of experience through leading multiple mission groups across the northern parts of the continent.
But there was no guarantee that the orcs would stand still for long.
And urgently, the man spoke.
“We are the Mark mission group under the protection of Count Nubes! The moment we lose one of us, I vow to avenge their loss by mobilizing the forces of the Count!”
This was the truth.
Count Nubes wasn't a belligerent person, but he was the loyal kind, and he wasn't one who would ignore losing people under his wing.
And the number of troops under his command was high.
The person in charge of this hoped that Count Nubes's name would work well, and that the threat would be understood.
This fight had to be avoided at all costs.
No matter how many strong people there were, even including Ilya Lindsay, it was obvious that the damage would be extremely high if a fight took place.
“skxorhdwk aksgdl tkfkdgowntpdy.” ⁽¹⁾
After a while, the bandit chief said something.
A language that nobles and the higher members in the mission group wouldn't understand.
However, the experienced manager of the mission group knew.
‘Kill that bastard.’
It was the moment he was about to step back in fear of losing his life.
One of the orcs in the front row showed a sneaky smile.
As he saw the axe blade come flying in, the manager screamed inside his head, and the mercenaries held their breath.
At that moment, a silver-haired woman appeared and deflected the axe blade in an instant with her sword.
Clang!
Ilya Lindsay slashed the weapon away with a simple movement.
Some orcs were bewildered about how what they saw had happened, and a sigh of relief escaped from the merchants.
Even though the manager was shocked, he tried to pretend to be calm.
“Thank you.”
“Please step back.”
“Yes, yes. I will.”
The manager listened to her right away.
He knew instantly that this wasn't his place to be arrogant.
The mercenaries who also knew that, immediately moved and formed a defense line.
And then came the stillness.
The mercenaries, the bandits, everyone stayed still for a while.
However, the grim eerie atmosphere was still present. Especially the dangerous look on the face of the bandits.
With eyes full of interest and curiosity, the orc chief looked at Ilya, Irene, Bratt, and Judith.
When Ilya turned nervous at the sight of the Orc accurately finding the strong ones, the orc chief lifted his finger.
“Come here.”
“Spdspd.”
The Orc which threw the axe blade stood in front of the chief.
It was a polite expression different from the fishy smile he had a moment back.
And then, the chief of the orc bandits slammed his fist into his head.
Pung!
Six pieces scattered in all directions.
At the completely unexpected situation, the people of the group became even more scared, and the orc chief laughed.
And then the rest of the bandits also laughed.
Hahahah!
Hahah! Uahhaha!
Hehe, uhaha! Huhuhu…
And the eerie feeling spread.
The sound of the creepy laughter and the gleaming eyes of the chief.
After a while, he stopped laughing and then spoke in the official language.
“You have good skills. I will give you a chance.”
“…”
“A one-on-one match. If you beat the guy I sent, we will leave quietly.”
Snap!
The orc chief didn't bother to say, ‘if you didn't win’.
He snapped his fingers, and an Orc came down from a horse and moved forwards.
The Orc had a solid and heavy figure, as if its whole body was filled with muscles.
And he was holding a club that had iron thorns around it.
Ilya felt it.
‘These are no ordinary bandits.’
She knew it the moment she saw them.
The new Orc that appeared in front of her wasn't much behind an Expert.
Considering the strength of an Orc warrior, which is known to be stronger than a human, she thought that the Orc would be like the elite warriors in the Land of Proof.
But she didn't think that she would lose.
Even now, although she wasn't sure of her goal, she was still a Sword Master.
What she was more concerned about was…
“Move.”
Hearing that, Ilya felt troubled.
Judith approached her and then stood in front of her.
And then she looked at the chief of the bandits.
“I will deal with that asshole.”
“…”
“How about it, you Orc bastard? Fine?”
“Kuak! do what you want.”
At the provocative request from Judith, the orc chief nodded happily, and the merchants were now worried.
They knew that Judith was a swordsman with great skills, but she was still inferior to Ilya Lindsay, the Sword Master.
In addition, the air around the Orc which came forward to fight was unusual.
“Haha…”
Wheik!
And the surrounding energy grew stronger.
It wasn't sure if this Orc knew human language, but he surely understood the circumstances.
However, it was clear that the Orc was angry at the merchants for some reason.
The merchants felt their mouths go fry.
“Can we do it right away?”
It wasn't sure if Judith knew what the merchants were feeling or not, but she looked calm.
Her eyes felt calm, and then she looked at the orc chief.
The opponent ahead didn't seem to care.
As the orc warriors snorted at Judith's carefree attitude, the chief said something.
“wnrdufk.”
Shortly then, the iron club fell on Judith.
Wooong!
People watched the scene unfold, unable to scream. They didn't even have time to open their mouths.
It was because, despite the gigantic size, the club was ridiculously fast.
Neither Kanzel nor Fredric or any veteran mercenary imagined Judith's tragic death to be this quick.
But they didn't know.
She, who had a calm yet grim expression on her face, moved.
Whoop!
Shhh!
Judith, who seemed to have disappeared with a splendid footwork, appeared behind the orc warrior.
And at the same time, the sword cleanly cut through the opponent's neck.
And that wasn't the end.
Clash!
Slash!
Slash!
Judith's slashes came faster, faster, and faster.
And it continued to cut the body of the Orc.
As the body seemed to be hard and made of stone-like muscles, she continued to attack.
Swish!
Judith finally retrieved the sword and wiped the blood on the sword, and looked at the orc chief.
Leaving behind the crumbling figure of the orc warrior, she said.
“Get lost.”
“…!”
“…!”
The bandits and the merchants who looked on dumbly as they were shocked.
It was because Judith's skills were far superior to what they had expected.
They had seen her fight against Bratt, but because of the lack of proper end, they couldn't understand her skills.
In the end, the idea that only Irene and Ilya could tackle this situation faded from their minds.
In such a situation, Judith showed an overwhelming power, and from the standpoint of the merchant group, this was amazing.
Step!
Wooh!
But the fight wasn't done.
The orc chief got down from his horse and swung his fist again. And a fountain of blood spewed out of the neck of the horse that had now lost its head and fell down.
The blood of the horse covered his body.
No, the blood was already on his body when he killed his own subordinate, and now the new blood splattered on him in a weird way.
“It is a forbidden spell. Be vigilant.”
Blood magic which was supposed to have been dead.
It was a technique that had great effects and could enhance the physical ability of the caster.
Of course, the effect was enormous. However, witchcraft like this, that had a price was the same as a contract with the devil.
In return for the power came a bizarre appearance.
Kuvar explained it, and Bratt nodded.
And soon turned towards Irene and said.
“There is no way you are going to hesitate in this situation, right?”
There was concern in Bratt's eyes.
He knew the character of Irene Pareira better than anyone else.
At times, the man was incredibly strong with his will, but when he had to ‘kill’ someone like in this situation, he would turn weaker than even an average person.
“… it is fine.”
Fortunately, Irene's voice didn't tremble.
He thought of one person as he immediately grabbed his summoned sword.
‘Ignet Crescentia’
Her confident eyes as she struck and killed Charlotte and Victory, who were drowning in the darkness.
Irene would probably keep thinking about what he would do, and would think of it even after this situation was over.
But there was one thing he was certain of.
‘Now isn't the time to hesitate.’
Phew, Irene let out a hot breath. His determination was evident on his face.
A look of relief appeared on Kuvar's and Bratt's faces as they witnessed that.
Lulu quickly approached and stroked Irene's hair.
Wooong!
Meanwhile, the energy from the bandit chief was turning more and more ferocious.
From the body of the headless Orc.
From the Orc which was slashed by Judith.
And from the dead body of the horse too.
The blood floated high and then moved onto the chief's body and formed tattoos all over.
“…”
“…”
The four rushed forward along with Kuvar and Lulu.
Everyone felt extremely nervous at what they were seeing.
If this was an orc warrior just using aura, then maybe they wouldn't have been this nervous.
However, it was impossible to predict the enemy's power because of the unconventional and unpredictable usage of the power.
It was then.
Whoosh!
A huge hammer flew in and struck the head of the bandit chief.
Kakwakwang!
The chief who was hit ended up making a huge hole in the ground.
And the entire area where he was hit became covered in dust, and the orcs, along with the other merchants, were all terrified at what happened.
And after a while, once the dust settled, an Orc appeared.
Looking at the axe, which was made of metal from the handle to the blade, Irene and his party could guess who it was.
A member of the continent's 10 strongest people.
The former chieftain of the huge tribe called Durkali.
A warrior better than any and even better than a spiritualist.
And finally…
‘Kuvar's father.’
Orc Karakum.
Everyone in that place held their breath at the sight of him, whose wavy grey hair was fluttering in an extremely daunting way.
⁽¹⁾This is what the author wrote in the raws, and there is no made-up orc language. Just a bunch of gibberish.
