Episode 45 — The Orc Purge
The Raptors strutted through the forest, tearing the orcs to shreds.
Needless to say, the higher-ranked orcs tried to stop them, but they were too busy just trying to hold back Rune, who was wading in to slaughter them. As a result, the ordinary orcs lost their lives to the Raptors in the blink of an eye.
"Am I actually getting stronger?"
Even aside from Rune, I had been channeling power through the teeth and claws of a whole row of Raptors.
It was the method Pitasha had suggested: attach one scout unit to each Raptor, pull up multiple screens at once, and enchant them in batches. There were plenty of scouts, and even more Raptors — but since I couldn't enchant more than a hundred at a time anyway, it only took about a second per batch.
Either way, even after killing tens of thousands of them, I didn't feel much stronger.
"Ah, the duration went up? Definitely — it's not hard at all anymore."
So rather than blindly increasing the number here, I decided to raise the duration instead. I added a few more and left the rest alone.
"We're finished, Master."
In barely an hour, we had crushed an army of one hundred thousand.
And with barely any friendly losses. A thousand units broken at most? Even that was a number I could more than refill once we returned to the Abyss.
The Machine Legion, standing on the threshold of two hundred thousand, was simply no longer something an orc army could hope to stop.
"Hah… hah… Th-this is… what…"
Trailing behind us was the knight I'd spotted earlier — and behind him, what looked like his squire lugging a heavy pack.
"This is truly… incredible."
"Why are you here?"
Gulp.
The knight had a face that looked young — either baby-faced or actually a kid. At my words, he exhaled nervously for a moment, then straightened his back and answered.
"My name is Fernon. I am a free knight. I have no obligation to defend this territory, and yet the orcs have the people living in fear, so I—"
"Just the essentials."
"…I wish to serve you as my lord. But there are things you would have to—"
"Refused."
"…What?"
Fernon took a moment to collect himself after my flat refusal.
"Why would I take you in?"
"Well, a knight's sworn blades add to a lord's… a lord's…"
As he spoke, Fernon's eyes drifted over the tens of thousands of Raptors sprawled across the field around us.
"Fernon. I have no need of you. A deal, when you should be the one begging for acceptance? Is that what all free knights are like?"
"…I had no choice! The only lord I could ever serve is someone who can slay that creature!"
"That's your problem, Fernon. Why are you forcing it on me? I told you — I don't need you. Now get lost."
God, this place is full of weirdos.
I had Pitasha use the scouts to locate a fresh cluster of orcs. Their main force was slowly advancing from somewhere a fair distance away — the group we'd just dealt with had been only the vanguard. With the vanguard cleared, the plan was to wipe out the scouts scattered across the area, then strike the main body.
After issuing a few simple orders, I put Pitasha and Rune in command of the Raptors in my stead. Meanwhile, I intended to drink another low-grade elixir and build my strength. My mana was still lacking.
"Master! Enemies annihilated!"
"Same here!"
"Then what's left?"
"Only the main force."
By the time I'd drained both elixirs and opened my eyes, every enemy except the main body had been dealt with. All that remained was the main camp.
"Wait!"
"Ugh…"
Fernon, appearing out of nowhere behind me again.
"Grant my request! If you do… I will give you this!"
"A Star Fragment?"
What the boy pulled out was indeed a Star Fragment.
Slay the Ancient Demon Dragon Bakan
Slay Bakan, the ancient demon dragon born from sacrifices offered up by a black magic cult — including Fernon's own younger sister.
Reward: Commander Summon Ticket (1)
"Deal."
The final quest on the path of my inherent trait was to acquire five Commanders. Clearing this one would make four in total.
"R-really…? You do realize the enemy is Bakan!"
"Bakan, is it? Explain him to me."
Gulp.
"He is by no means an easy opponent! He was the one who slew three Sword Masters and two Grand Mages before finally being sealed away!"
"Then why would you ask someone like me to deal with him?"
"He has only been awake for a week! He hasn't had the time or the sacrifices to recover that kind of power, so he is certainly in a weakened state. If he weren't, he would have already come to raze the capital!"
We were currently on Planet All-One — but not in the holy maiden's land of Idel Kingdom. This was Istell Kingdom.
Once called the Istell Empire, the nation had sacrificed the bulk of its strength to seal away Bakan and been reduced to a mere kingdom.
"You are the only one who can handle Bakan! Most of the realm's powers are locked in battle against the evil gods — there is no one left to spare for this place."
Meaning that right now, freshly summoned, was the most opportune moment for me.
The reason Fernon had been out here in the first place was to petition the local lord to lend him soldiers to deal with the creature. But that was exactly when I'd been summoned, and he had witnessed my power firsthand. Hence this desperate plea.
"The three Sword Masters who died sealing Bakan — one of them was my ancestor! I offer you my ancestor's Star Fragment!"
"He's dead. How does he have a Star Fragment?"
"Because he passed on leaving behind a magnificent deed! He saved the world from destruction."
"So one can become a Transcendent even in death…"
In any case, the Star Fragment was Fernon's personal payment, not part of the quest reward. Before the boy could say another word, I took it.
"You are the hero summoned by a god. I trust you will not betray us."
I gave a careless nod. Since they couldn't ride in what we traveled in, I loaded Fernon and his squire into a standard transport unit.
Our next destination was none other than the orcs' home base. When Fernon saw where we were headed and urged us to deal with Bakan first, I refused. Right now, wiping out the orcs came first.
And since a quest had been issued for Bakan, I wouldn't be reverse-summoned to the Abyss until I cleared it. No rush.
"Pitasha. Situation report?"
"The orcs are already raising their toast, Master!"
Well, the territory we were racing to defend belonged to a viscount. Including the peasants, his fighting force numbered barely five hundred.
Whatever the enemy's thinking was, sending one hundred thousand orcs against that made their intentions obvious. The hundred thousand weren't just meant for this territory — they were meant to swallow every neighboring domain around the viscount as well. Then, having gorged themselves on land and people, they assumed they'd receive the evil god's blessing on top.
"But not today. Rune. You know where you're going?"
"Yes. I will deal with them all."
"Good. Be careful."
"…Yes."
Rune disembarked from the transport and charged straight toward the enemy.
"Summoning Superior Combat Units. All of them."
The number of Superior Combat Units I'd been summoning continuously — a full five hundred.
"Thirty seconds to impact!"
"Raptors, deploy. Snipers, open fire. Take out the commanding orcs first. Heavy Weapons Units, guard the snipers."
I summoned combat engineers, and they began raising a tall tower. The orcs, watching the structure climb skyward in seconds, came pouring out of their tents — but the Raptors got there first.
Raptors ripped out the throats of orcs as they stumbled from their tents, while snipers picked off targets from the improvised towers the engineers had thrown up.
"Reload complete!"
"We don't need orc materials. Fire everything — anywhere Rune isn't."
I ordered the Raptors to halt and advance no further. The moment the orcs moved to chase the suddenly retreating machines, a breath screamed down from the sky and erased them where they stood.
The tents too.
The trees too.
The orcs too.
Where everything had been blasted away, only the mana stones remained, glowing bright against the scorched earth.
"Good. Number two is a bit much, though."
With that, everyone except the ones Rune was fighting was dead.
A circle of orc shamans had gathered to summon something, but a single breath wiped every last one of them out. And the chieftain was Rune's quarry.
"Snipers, support Rune. Heavy Weapons Units, step forward and engage the great warriors. Buy time until Rune cuts down the chieftain."
THOOM.
THOOM.
THOOM.
The Heavy Weapons Units, even more massive and imposing, began to advance. The orc great warriors who had been sprinting toward Rune wheeled around and charged them instead — and the Heavy Weapons Units charged right back.
BOOOOM!
Across the battlefield came the thunder of orc great warriors — fifth tier and above — colliding head-on with the Heavy Weapons Units.
Of course, the Heavy Weapons Units were being pushed back, but they were never fighting one-on-one. Four or more units against a single warrior, with relentless sniper fire raining down from above.
Shff.
By the time Rune severed the head of the chieftain — a seventh-tier orc — every last great warrior had already been wiped out.
"Whew… that was rough."
"You didn't request an Overclock?"
"I wanted to do it with my own strength."
"Hmm. Rune. You are my power. Understood?"
"S-stop teasing me…"
"Hm?"
Thanks to Theostras, teasing the far-more-fun-to-fluster Rune had become a daily routine.
Pinch.
"Ow…"
Out of nowhere, Rune pinched my thigh. Which probably meant Pitasha was close by. She'd gotten bold enough to pinch my thigh now without a second thought.
"Master! Everything's finished! What do we do now?"
"What do we do? We pick up the mana stones, obviously! All right, everyone — collect them all!"
And so the Machine Legion set about gathering mana stones.
Watching the legion and my display of power, Fernon's jaw simply refused to close.
Pfft.
His reaction was so funny I just left him like that. Once we'd actually talked, it turned out he was barely high school age. But crushed under his family's pressure to carry on his ancestor's will, he had fled, abandoning his sister and his house. Then a black magician had kidnapped his sister — who'd been living well after the escape — and summoned Bakan with her as a sacrifice. When he reported it to his family, they told him that as someone no longer bound to them, they could not help. So he'd resolved to handle it alone.
It was pitiful, really — and I had the quest to consider, so…
"Once the mana stones are all collected, I'll deal with Bakan for you."
Chomp.
Maybe he's just still a kid. Cute… no, not cute, exactly. He's more like a nephew you keep an eye on.