Chapter 36

12 THE HERO VS. THE NAMELESS WOMAN There was a huge shell. It resembled a turtle shell, a snail’s shell, or even an insect’s cast-off exoskeleton, but it was huge in size. It was taller than an adult male ogre, and the edges of it disappeared into the trees of the forest, making it impossible to grasp the true size of the whole thing. In the midst of the mossy forest, the shell was clear of moss or insects and emitted a mild glow. Naturally, there was heavy rain all around, but the shell seemed to be able to repel the rain, so it was completely dry. If a human priest saw it, would he have declared it an object of divinity? Or a harbinger of doom? The woman stood in front of the shell, looked up at it for a moment, then stepped inside. The iridescent interior was an out-of-this-world sight, but the woman strolled through almost casually, easily reaching the innermost area. At the very back, a stone sat enshrined, a translucent stone like a jewel. The stone was mounted on a crystal plinth. The stem, so to speak, of this mysterious object. The woman casually ripped it from its crystal pillar. There was a sharp cracking sound, then the stone tumbled easily into the woman’s hand. At the same moment, the shine in the vicinity disappeared. The sense of divinity, of otherworldliness, disappeared. It was obvious what had happened. The power had been lost. Eventually, this shell would decay and disappear into the forest. For those who had seen divinity in this shell, this sight might cause them to despair. The woman murmured under her breath. “I couldn’t just go ahead and let Carrot do it…” The woman carefully wrapped the stone in a cloth and put it in her backpack. She stepped out of the shell, looked up at the rainy sky, took a deep breath, and stretched. “Hmm… Phew, I didn’t expect it to take this long… It was a real pain in the butt, like I’d thought it would be. That succubus barrier was a heap of trouble as well.” Countless corpses lay nearby the woman. After the demons’ magical key broke the barrier, the succubus team attacked, mounting a gallant last stand. All of the mud-covered corpses had a sort of beauty to them. Even in death, the succubi still had a mysterious charm. The woman looked down at their beautiful faces, a bored expression on her own face. Then, sensing a presence, she looked up. “…Huh.” Beyond the mound of corpses, there were figures. Two small shadows and one large shadow. They looked familiar. As soon as she realized who it was, anger flared in her. “You darn orc! Why did you bring those children with you again?!” From a woman’s point of view, this was incomprehensible behavior. Hadn’t they made a deal the other day? The orc wanted her, but he’d held back and saved the two children instead. How laudable. Naturally, he was an orc, with strong sexual desires. She’d been thinking that he would stash the whelps somewhere safe, then come after her again, to defile her. Well, maybe he did do that, but the two whelps came trailing after him. Either way, to see all three of them together… It was ludicrous. “I have come to avenge Lady Rularula.” “…Indeed?” Bash’s words quickly took away the woman’s anger. Most likely, after listening to the sob story of the two whelps, he was filled with righteous indignation and offered to help. She had no idea what the orc was doing on his journey, but if it was her, she’d have offered to help, too. And no matter the purpose of his journey, leaving two children under his protection alone would not be a good idea. “…What a surprise. Orcs are surprisingly kind.” Still, she’d never expected an orc to be so nice. The orcs the woman was familiar with would rescue the twins, realize one of them was a girl, kill the male, defile the girl, and then cast her aside. But she wasn’t going to say that out loud. It would sound like prejudice. At any rate, orclike principles and motivations were usually easy to understand. “But you are still an orc. A foolish orc.” “Why foolish?” “You don’t expect to lose, do you? That’s why you came here, so full of confidence.” The woman pulled out her sword, shrugging. What difference did it make? They were both here. They might as well fight. “Orcs don’t think of defeat when we fight.” Bash drew his sword, too. His greatsword had a dull shine to it. For a moment, the woman felt that the sword looked familiar, but she declined to think about it any deeper just then. She wasn’t really particular about swords, and she didn’t tend to recall the ones she’d seen anyway. “I am from the former Orc Kingdom, and I…” “Oh, no, there’s no need to name yourself. I can’t name myself, see, and someone of your caliber wouldn’t know me by name anyway. Besides, what’s about to happen isn’t some honorable duel, just a simple slaying.” With that said, the woman stepped forward. Her movements were silent, subtle, rapid. If Bash was an average warrior, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed that the woman was moving at all, let alone the fact that she had come into range. “It’s too bad. I didn’t want to have to kill you.” It would happen in a flash. The orc’s head, dashed from its body, which would collapse to the ground… Yes, she was sure of it. “…Huh?” However, before the woman’s sword could reach Bash’s neck, its swing was blocked by a thick sword. “Guh!” As her sword was pushed back by an almighty force, the woman spun around. She used her elbow to block Bash’s maelstrom-like slash, but the recoil caused her to spin twice and hit the ground. She danced, avoiding Bash’s attacks. After surviving five slashes, the woman managed to flee from Bash’s reach. The woman could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She’d been caught off guard. Almost died. “…Orc, you’re strong, aren’t you? I’m surprised.” Bash’s series of attacks were intended to finish her off completely. Each slash was incredibly heavy, and each one was accompanied by a strong blast or shock wave. If those hits landed, her body would be pulverized, her skin would split and her flesh scatter, and if she even got a bit too close to the shock wave, she’d end up on the ground. Even more so for a light woman. If the woman hadn’t learned how to dodge such slashes on the battlefield, she would already be dead. Instead of resisting the impact from the passing sword, she rotated and spun her body to avoid them. Requiring a great deal of physical strength and dexterity. “Right back at you.” Bash realized the woman was strong, as he’d expected her to be. “This is the first time since Lady Rularula that someone evaded my first hit. It took all I have even just to dodge you.” “You honor me.” A casual response to the woman’s praise. Any normal orc would be more… Ah, but the woman didn’t really know all that much about orcs. Her orc prejudice was showing again. In any case, the woman realized that the orc in front of her was much greater a man than she had imagined. At the same time, a certain name came to her mind, from her limited knowledge. “An orc of this caliber… You must be the Orc Hero Bash?” “That’s me.” Bash attacked with his sword while replying. The woman kept her distance, avoided Bash’s swing, and made her counterattack. Her slice did not reach Bash, but its slipstream whipped against his skin. A shallow swipe, clearly intended to get the measure of Bash. “I see. I would like to apologize for not giving my name to you, honorable dragon slayer…but I don’t have a name I’d like to offer.” “…” “However, if I’m really up against the strongest orc warrior, I’ll have to take this more seriously.” As the woman spoke, she readied her sword again. Something about her struck Bash as familiar. Her stance was similar to that of a human knight, only a little different. A unique stance. Seeing that, Bash felt his skin prickle. His instincts warned him that this woman was a very dangerous opponent indeed. “Graaagh!!!” To fire himself up, he released his war cry. The battle had truly begun. The battle continued for a long time. The woman counterattacked Bash’s every violent slashing attack. And the battle waged on, in the midst of the downpour. Even amid the mud, neither party slipped nor faltered. They just kept at it. Bash’s blows did not hit the woman, and although the woman’s counterattacks managed to hit Bash, they only took off surface skin, wounds that didn’t even bleed. This delicate, balanced dance was only possible because of their high matched levels of skill. If the woman wasn’t as skilled as she was, Bash’s sword would cut right through her, and if Bash wasn’t as skilled as he was, the woman’s sword would cut through Bash’s veins. Had there been any discrepancy in skill, the end result would be death, even if it took a long time, even if it was not a single blow that did it. No matter how many life-threatening slashes passed close to her body, the woman did not feel panicked. She continued fighting calmly and methodically. The woman observed Bash’s swings, his fight pattern. If the sword swung straight out, she would dodge. If he was feinting, she would wait a beat, then dodge. If the trajectory of his sword changed midway, she would use her own sword to evade. She kept a balanced distance, never too close, never too far, her slashes carefully considered. Bash evaded her, too. She knew that if she stepped too close, she wouldn’t be able to evade Bash’s next attack, and if he pulled back too much, Bash, with extra room, would unleash an attack too powerful to evade. If she dodged too hard, she’d lose her balance, and if he attacked again while she was off-balance, she’d eat dirt. If that happened, the woman would have no chance. But she knew something key. The same thing applied to Bash. Bash, for his part, was calm. He kept on swinging his sword, so calmly, it was almost hard to believe that he was really an orc. His thrusts and attacks were top-notch. But, frustrated by the lack of battle resolution, he could lose his focus and be immediately speared by the woman’s sword. If she drew even a little blood, Bash would lose the advantage. Then his goose would be well and truly cooked. Still, at this rate, the advantage could arguably be said to belong to Bash. The orc’s body was far, far larger than the human woman’s, and his physical strength was much greater. There was a 90 percent chance the woman would run out of stamina first. So the woman went for the victory. “So this is the Orc Hero… Well, who could overlook him?” The woman muttered and took a half step back. Bash was permitted more space for his swing, and this blow of his was even stronger than before. The slash grazed the woman’s neck but still did not bite her. Losing her balance, the woman raised her sword. Bash’s backswing came down, attacking the woman in a way she could not evade. “But he’s still just an orc.” For just a moment, Bash’s slashing wavered. Bash’s gaze fell to the woman’s chest, his nose twitched, and his tight jaw slackened. The tip of the blade passed through the woman’s shoulder and down her left arm, the impact flaying the skin and shattering the bones. The woman stepped forward, but instead of resisting the impact, she turned her body and slammed the sword in her right hand into Bash’s neck. Blood splattered.