Chapter 78
Chapter 78
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Guardian of the Dark Forest
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The black-furred orc picked up the Tome of Demon Annihilation that Jade had dropped.
It hadn't been a large book to begin with, but in his grasp, it turned into something like a cute little notepad.
"I saw one of those guys get annihilated. Was that you?"
The orc asked.
Jade glanced toward his back.
The rhinos were still impaled on arrows, writhing and groaning.
"Can't you understand me?"
When Jade hesitated to speak, the orc asked in another language.
It seemed to be the tongue of the Kun tribe, but of course, Jade couldn't understand it.
Jade swallowed hard and asked in Elven.
"How does an orc know Elven?"
The orc smirked and said,
"The language you and I are using right now isn't Elven—it's the common tongue. Every race uses it."
"Humans don't..."
"They did in the past. You lot abandoned it yourselves."
Jade was left speechless in confusion.
The pain in his gut was so intense his body felt numb, and even breathing was a struggle.
The orc asked again.
"I'll ask once more. Can you annihilate demons?"
"Yes."
"With this?"
The orc held up the book.
"That's right."
The orc examined the book front and back, then knelt on one knee before Jade.
He grabbed Jade by the nape and waist.
Jade cried out in panic.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Bite down hard. I'm gonna pull you out of that tree."
"Wait! You're not pulling the branch out of me—you're pulling me out of the tree?"
"If you keep talking, I'll bite your tongue off!"
The orc warned.
Jade had no choice but to take a deep breath and grit his teeth.
The orc lifted Jade and yanked him free from the branch.
Even bracing with all his might, a scream burst from his lips.
"Uwaaaagh! Urgh!"
The orc pulled a cloth from the pouch at his waist and pressed it against the hole in Jade's side, then tied it tight with a strap.
It was a brutal excuse for emergency treatment.
"Now, show me. Make a demon vanish."
The orc forced the book into Jade's hands and said.
Jade, gasping through the pain, asked,
"It's a shame you never learned Elven curses. Why the hell should I prove it to you?"
"Two reasons. First, if you have that power, I need it badly. Second, if you don't prove you're not a demon, I'll kill you."
The orc glanced down at Jade's belly and continued.
"You don't even need to kill yourself. Without treatment, you'll die anyway."
"Is that supposed to be a threat? You almost killed me once already!"
Jade growled.
The orc peeked at Jade's wound and shook his head.
"You won't die from this. Hurry up and show me."
Jade didn't have the energy to think deeply.
"Damn you. Fine, I'll show you. But I can't move, so drag one of those bastards over here."
The orc turned, dragged over a rhino impaled on an arrow, and knocked it out with a punch when it resisted.
The rhino's eyes rolled back as it slumped before Jade.
"Do it."
The orc said.
Jade was dumbfounded.
'Another guy who beats on demons like toys shows up in front of me.'
Even unconscious, the rhino twitched.
The revulsion made him want to annihilate it all the faster.
Jade opened the book and said,
"On the way here, there was a demon called the Tyrant caught the same way, engulfed in blue flames while impaled on an arrow...
The orc silently watched Jade's actions.
Jade found and recited the passage for annihilating darkness demons.
White light transferred from the book to his hand.
Jade knelt and placed his hand on the rhino's temple, asking,
"...Was that your doing?"
"Yep. I heard the Gotking of the Kuman Plains got killed—know anything about that?"
"One of my comrades did it."
Jade incinerated the rhino with light.
Even though it was a nameless lesser demon, the backlash of annihilation shoved him back.
Still kneeling, Jade fell flat on his butt.
It was a drop of barely a handspan, but the impact was enough to nearly knock him out.
"A true annihilation mage, huh."
The orc, with his fearsome features, said in admiration.
"What's your name, human?"
"Jade. You?"
"Merald."
Clutching his belly, Jade asked,
"You're the Guardian of the Dark Forest, right?"
The orc nodded and replied.
"Yes."
Before fighting Buffalord, Ruby mentally replayed her battle with Heldra.
When she severed the snake head, it reattached itself while the other heads attacked vigorously.
They shared the pain.
When one head suffered, the other four screamed.
But that didn't stop their movements.
Even after she broke off the goat's horn and jammed it into the lion head, only those two paused—the snake head still spat venom, and the lion head endlessly spewed fire.
'I need to rethink my strategy and come back later.'
Ruby blinked a few times.
Her blurry vision cleared briefly, then clouded over again. Her mouth felt dry, and sensation dulled at her fingertips.
She felt drunk, like after chugging booze.
'This tipsy haze reminds me of that drinking bet with Everick.'
Everick was a legendary dwarf drinker.
He'd swaggered up to Ruby and challenged her.
'No matter how good you are at fighting, you can't beat me at drinking!'
Annoyed by his bravado, Ruby accepted.
She didn't remember how much she drank.
She recalled opening the fourth jar, the shocked stares from Everick and his dwarf buddies, and waking up sprawled on the rock she used as a bed back home.
Somehow she'd made it back alone, but she couldn't recall if she'd won or lost.
Either way, since Everick never brought it up again, she counted it as a win.
But now her mind was even fuzzier than then—definitely serious.
Buffalord didn't come down from the branches.
He was thirty-five paces away.
Or maybe forty.
She couldn't make out the size of the scythes he held, or recall his attack patterns.
'Two double-bladed scythes on chains. A weapon he can throw. So how do I fight it?'
Ruby let the chains dangle side to side, readying for battle.
"Where'd you come from? Support called by the guardian?"
Buffalord asked.
Ruby usually humored opponents before fighting—cursing back if cursed, countering poems with better ones, topping braggarts with worse.
But not now.
Her head spun too much.
'End this quick.'
Ruby charged at Buffalord, swinging her chains without a word.
Buffalord leaped to another tree, dodging her first strike and countering.
The flying chain-scythe attacks were precise compared to the erratic ones.
The strikes slithered snake-like between trees, pursuing Ruby as she darted about like a living thing.
And there were two of them.
'Usually you swing the scythe like a blade and weight the chain end, but he's throwing the scythes? Demons and their damn unconventional weapon use.'
Trees splintered in the scythes' wakes, severed branches raining down.
Ruby shifted positions repeatedly, leaping irregularly left, right, up, down, but the scythes homed in on her like living predators.
She tried timing for when they embedded in trees, but they shredded the trunks in an instant, blocking her view.
Every attack was like that—preempting her offense, making counters tough.
It felt like all her moves were predicted.
Like Buffalord wielded not two scythes, but dozens.
The assault paused briefly.
As fallen leaves bounced from the ground and more drifted down from trees, Ruby focused, pinpointing her foe.
Buffalord kept moving ceaselessly even when not attacking, never exposing his position.
"Looking at you, I don't even need to fight."
Only Buffalord's voice rang out.
"You won't last five minutes untreated."
Enemies always slipped when overconfident.
Right now, he'd revealed his spot the moment he decided to stall.
Ruby spotted Buffalord hiding behind a massive tree.
'Judgment's hazy. Maybe baiting me. Rush in rashly, and those chain-scythes counter. Hit him from here.'
Ruby whirled her chains with a whoosh, extending their reach wider with each spin.
'If you can do it, so can I.'
Buffalord handled chain-scythes freely in this tree-packed forest.
Ruby had observed closely and just learned the trick.
She hurled the chain.
It curved between trees just like Buffalord's scythes, aiming for his hidden flank.
Buffalord dodged sideways in surprise.
'There you are.'
Ruby leaped straight at him, smashing down with her fist.
Buffalord took the hit square to the chest and flew back.
But even then, he slashed Ruby's chest with his scythe, ruining her finishing blow.
Ruby flew in the opposite direction from Buffalord's fall.
Her chest was gashed, but she could land easily from this height.
Before even touching down, Ruby planned the follow-up.
'He'll flee in one of three directions. Vision's shot, but focus on those three, and I'll spot him. Then I've got five ways to smash him.'
Ruby prepped to dash on landing—but contrary to her thoughts, she hit back-first.
"Huh?"
She bounced high like a ball, then crashed down again.
The impact mixed with the poison robbed her senses.
Once lost, her balance didn't return easily; even standing was a struggle.
'Damn. Should've focused on landing, not the next attack.'
Ruby braced on the ground with both hands, panting as she waited for balance and sight to return.
They didn't. Vision stayed foggy, dizziness persisted.
Ruby staggered to her feet.
She first checked where Buffalord should have fallen.
Only crash marks remained; he was gone.
As expected, fled in one of three directions.
But she'd missed the moment, so no clue which.
With her dulled senses, she couldn't tell if he'd simply run or lurked for another ambush.
'If he fled, I can't catch him like this. He won't attack again either. He'll go for Saf instead. Better to take her hostage than face me head-on.'
Ruby turned and headed to where Saf hid.
'Why's Saf alone? Where's Jade? They should be together. If that black cow has Saf, something's wrong with Jade?'
Instead of Saf, a huge stranger stood where she should be.
'Hallucinating?'
Ruby shook her head fiercely, flinging poison from her face and drool from her mouth.
Still the weirdo.
'No illusion.'
He was a black-skinned, black-furred orc.
Ruby had met plenty of elves, dwarves, and orcs in the past.
They were strong races that sparked her fighting spirit, teaching her combat skills directly or indirectly.
But never a black-skinned orc.
'Who is he? No presence when he appeared. The poison?'
Ruby glared at the orc, breathing hard.
He said something. But she couldn't hear well. Ears were muffled.
Come to think of it, the forest sounds had vanished earlier.
'Lost my hearing. Bad news.'
Senses faded; instinct remained.
Instinct warned Ruby.
'This guy's seriously strong.'
More than any demon since leaving the temple.
Maybe even more than the angel from five hundred years ago...
Saf freaked out seeing yet another monster blocking her path.
She thought she'd been taken hostage again.
But he reassured her in a thick, steady voice.
"Saf, right? Don't worry. Jade sent me to help."
"Priest Jade?"
"Questions later."
The black-furred orc hefted a bow nearly as tall as Saf.
He nocked a massive arrow suited to it and muttered,
"Impressive skills. Holding your own against Buffalord like that."
He drew the string, aiming somewhere.
Gathering courage, Saf asked the orc,
"Right now... are you aiming at Ruby by any chance?"
The orc held the pose briefly, then lowered the bow.
"No, Buffalord. But he's sharp as ever. Slipped away again."
"Is Ruby okay?"
"For now. Here she comes."
Soon Saf spotted Ruby staggering their way.
But spotting the orc, Ruby instantly readied for fight.
"It's fine. Jade sent me to help."
The orc repeated to Ruby what he'd told Saf.
Ruby wobbled, then suddenly flung a chain.
The orc snatched the flying chain with his hand and bellowed,
"I'm not your enemy."
Still wary of Ruby, the orc asked Saf,
"This guy can't understand Elven, can he?"
"No! Ruby knows every language!"
"Then he's just some psycho who attacks indiscriminately?"
"No, that's not it! He's hot-blooded, but he always talks to his foes first, judges them by his own standards, then fights."
Saf explained to the orc, then yelled at Ruby.
"Ruby, he's not an enemy!"
She didn't know who this orc was or if Jade really sent him, but he seemed trustworthy somehow.
Above all, he lacked the demons' foul stench—instead, he smelled fresh like grass.
But Ruby might see Saf as a hostage, so Saf stepped boldly in front.
"He's here to help. Don't fight."
Ruby ignored her and threw the chain from her other hand.
The orc caught that one too with his other hand.
Ruby slurred in a barely audible voice,
"Saf, run. Leave this guy to me..."
Saf caught on quick.
"He can't hear! Right—earlier he said the poison messed up his vision."
Ruby could barely breathe, her unfocused eyes staring elsewhere.
The orc groaned lowly.
"Poisoned by Heldra? Then he's done for anyway. Better kill him before he goes berserk unconscious..."
"He won't die!"
"Heldra's poison kills anyone in ten minutes flat. There is a cure, but we can't get there in time. Mercy kill now over a painful death..."
"Ruby can hold out longer!"
Saf shouted at the top of her lungs.
Her voice echoed thunderously through the forest.
Saf was shocked—even she hadn't realized she could yell that loud.
The orc glanced down at her in momentary surprise.
Saf doubled down.
"I'll stake my life on it."
"Fine then. We'll take him alive."
The orc spoke casually, like catching a rabbit, released one chain, tossed his bow aside, and yanked the held chain hard.
Ruby resisted briefly, then used the pull to lunge forward.
Her speed was too blinding for Saf to track.
The orc deflected Ruby's fist and shoulder-checked her chest.
Ruby spat a "Guh!" and slumped limply over the orc's shoulder.
That ended it.
'Ruby...'
Saf wasn't glad Ruby was subdued—she panicked.
'...lost?'
The orc muttered flatly.
"This guy's faster than I thought. If he were in top shape, capturing him alive would've been tough."
Shouldering Ruby, the orc drew a long awl from his waist.
Saf rushed forward and grabbed his forearm.
"Wh-what are you doing with that?"
"Stab it in his neck. Let go."
The orc said with scary eyes.
"I can't!"
Saf shook her head.
"Then hold on."
The orc raised his hand and jabbed the awl into Ruby's nape.
Saf could only dangle from his arm, watching Ruby get stabbed.