All of her aggression centered on Alice, and every living thing in the square turned to face the girl. Her life was in her own hands now. With that in mind, Leon got to work.
“Recievest ye my hammer, that thy sins may be absolved and truth restored to the world.”
He recited the scriptures, calming his heart. The plan he was about to execute would demand his fullest concentration, and so he excised all idle thoughts from his mind—including those of his disciple and the heartless end she was about to meet.
“Come, scale-bearer, and weighest thou my heart. On the right lieth faith. On the left lieth humanity. Virtue lieth in their balancing, and in their imparity lieth corruption. When the holy fire cometh, blessed be those it consumes.”
Alice fought bravely, not stopping for a moment. It was like a miracle; as if her talents reached their fullest potential on the border of between life and death. Everywhere she looked, there were orcs coming for her, but each of their attempts ended in failure. She flitted in between their attacks with grace and dexterity, all without neglecting her duty to destroy the eggs.
She was at the same time a beautiful butterfly and a vicious bee. But she was human, and only a novice adventurer at that. There were limits to what she could achieve.
“Haah…haah…haah…”
Her breaths grew ragged. Sweat dripped down her face like bullets. There was no way out. It was no longer a question of if she would die but when.
But Leon had erased her existence from his mind. It wasn’t because he didn’t care about her—it was because he did. To save her, he had to forget about her.
Then, he lifted his mechanical arm and pointed it ahead. He lifted his mechanical leg and placed it firmly on the ground. All his crimson eyes perceived were the monsters he needed to kill. With his heart purged of impurities, he began to speak.
“Let grief be my guide. Strike of Velclast. The Almighty’s light. The black dragon’s roar.”
In concert with his clear timbres, Leon’s mechanical arm and leg began to glimmer. Then, they began splitting and merging, like a hive of insects, recombining into the form of an enormous cannon.
“Arts of Steel, Deploy. Abominable Armament Number One: The Unsoiled Martyr’s Glory, All For One.”
This was Leon’s supreme technique. The first of the Abominable Armaments and an ultimate killing move. When his mechanical arm and leg combined, they emitted a radiant, golden light.
“Let thy sins be cleansed in holy fire, and be thee guided into the bosom of the Lord. Iä cthul shtagn. Let it be so.”
With the verse’s closing words, Leon fired. A beam of golden light shot from the barrel; a ruinous fire that, while it could smite any foe, also caused untold damage to the person who launched it.
Leon’s custom prosthetics were made possible by Emilia’s genius and were supposedly the ultimate conceivable tactical weapons. Their power was unparalleled, but they provided no protection at all for their wielder.
For example, Abominable Armament Number One generated a tremendous amount of heat, which dissipated throughout the wielder’s body and roasted their flesh. Not only that, but the shockwave produced by the supersonic projectile inflicted bone-shattering amounts of pressure that crushed the bearer’s organs.
That was why no living man could use this weapon. Only an abomination with superhuman regenerative capabilities could wield it. Hence, Emilia dubbed them the Abominable Armaments and gave them to Leon.
Now.
When the beam of light dissipated, the Orc Queen’s piglike face…was utterly obliterated.
“Y-you did it, Master!”
Around Alice lay several dead orcs. Not only had she survived a fearsome pack of Class Three monsters, but she had even managed to take out about half of them.
“You’re the one who deserves praise, not me. Well done. I mean it.”
But Leon could see that she, like him, was severely wounded. If he had been a second later, or if anything unexpected had occurred, the two of them might not have made it out alive.
The old me would have died today. Shaking in my boots, unable to summon up even the slightest drop of courage. I’d die, cursing my life and my past that led me here.
But that didn’t happen. I’ve grown. I feel closer now. To my master and to my fellow disciple. Perhaps now…I’m ready to face him.
Pushing aside his emotion, Leon felt around in his waist pouch. The activation of All For One had drained him of Source, and as it was, he was finding it difficult to even stand. He needed to replenish, but killing the Orc Queen would soon turn all of her subjects into rotting meat puddles. With no way to devour their flesh, Leon was left with little choice but to rely on this.
He produced a small leather sack, at one end of which was a sharp hypodermic needle. Inside the sack was monster blood, which Leon could inject into his own. Leon jabbed the needle into his right femoral artery, letting the contents enter his bloodstream. His Source power thus slightly restored, Leon found himself able to stand upright again.
“…At least now I can make it back to town,” he muttered.
Leon took a few deep breaths and turned to face the dead. But just as he was about to offer his usual parting words, he noticed something deeply unsettling.
“They…haven’t liquefied?”
All dead monsters turned into fetid puddles. And yet, those littering the floor, even the headless queen, were still very much solid. This could only mean one thing…
“W…w-w-we…weeeeee!”
It was not over yet. From out of the headless queen’s lifeless neck sprouted dozens of…things. They were tiny pig’s heads. They squealed, squirming, and grew their own necks.
When Leon saw it, he realized at once what was really going on.
“The Orc Queen…she wasn’t just a single being!”
The wretched nun who fell from grace—she was only one of many. One of many brothel workers who sought love, only to have it taken from her again and again. That was the true nature of the monster known as the Orc Queen.
“Oink! Oink, oink!”
“Ba…ba-ba-baby…”
“W…w-w-weeee!”
All the heads spoke in different voices, but they all wanted the same thing: the eradication of those two intruders who stood before them.
“Rgh! Run!”
But it was already too late. Alice was completely surrounded.
“Uhh…”
She emitted a tiny squeak as the orcs tore off the clothes covering her dainty figure. They didn’t want to kill her. Instead, they tossed her to the ground, crowded around her, and revealed their swollen members, as if presenting them to the girl.
“Rgh…!”
They were each as thick as a man’s arm, hard as boulders, and throbbing right under her nose. Alice could only watch, her teeth chattering with fright, as they brought those brutal instruments closer.
Leon saw the predicament his apprentice was in—but he couldn’t move a muscle.
“Khh!”