31. Siege
After the rest period ended, Song Ji-yu became a bit more blatant.
"Do-hyeon~. How did you get that cloak?"
She asked that while we were out hunting monsters.
Yesterday it was Seo Do-hyeon, and today it's Do-hyeon, huh.
I should toss Song Ji-yu some bait here.
"I had a fortunate encounter in a cave."
"Ohh~. So it's hard for you to get more too?"
"The magic items themselves are a fortunate encounter I can keep getting."
Song Ji-yu's eyes widened at that. Her behavior was sly, but her reactions were honest.
"That's possible?"
"I have to pay a price, though."
Probably, once we subjugate the orc stronghold tomorrow, I'll be able to earn a large amount of Merit Points again.
"That price—could someone else pay it for you?"
"No. It requires a currency only I can use."
"Really? That's a shame."
Her face didn't look regretful at all.
I gave Song Ji-yu, who was asking about this and that, appropriate answers.
Then we found a monster and hunted it.
Unlike yesterday's Kwon Chae-a party, where each person earned 400 experience, once each person had earned about 300, Song Ji-yu declared we were heading back.
"Already?"
"Three hundred per person is more than other level 3s get, you know?"
"Well, yes, but you haven't forgotten that we have to return to Earth, right?"
"We'll climb slowly but steadily, so don't worry~."
Then, I decided to check on Jo Su-min, who had been dispirited for a while, and started to approach her—
"Why? I thought you weren't interested in Su-min?"
Song Ji-yu blocked me.
"When did I ever say that?"
"You're interested, and that's how you treat a girl?"
Song Ji-yu shuddered exaggeratedly.
"Anyway, because of you, Do-hyeon, Su-min apparently has a fear of men for the time being. If you have something to say to her, tell me."
I smiled at the sight of her blocking any contact with Jo Su-min.
"Really? Just pass along my regards."
"Hmm~ is that all?"
"What else would I have to say?"
Jo Su-min's condition was worsening, and Song Ji-yu was cutting off contact with her.
This meant Song Ji-yu was losing her hold over Jo Su-min. If it were still solid, there would be no reason to block me.
What reason could there be for her hold to weaken? I had to assume that pressure greater than anything so far was being applied.
Before long, Jo Su-min would likely come find me. At the end of that road, Song Ji-yu would be tied up as well, but I was the only one who knew that.
***
Seventeen days since falling into the labyrinth world.
Tia looked to be in a good mood. Maybe it was because the work of looking after the students had ended yesterday, and now all that remained was for the two of us to roam the labyrinth.
"Tia, don't get too excited. Today is the day we raid the orc stronghold."
"Don't worry, Do-hyeon. I am sufficiently prepared."
Tia proudly held up a quiver packed with arrows.
"No matter how powerful the orc horde is, if you and I are together, we can beat them safely."
And so, in perfect condition, we entered the closed-type labyrinth, the cave.
On the cave's second floor, the hobgoblin forward base we were visiting for the first time in a while was filled with fervor.
"How many of them are there?"
"It looks like hundreds."
A horde of hobgoblins and goblins numbering in the hundreds stood in formation, listening to a speech.
The longer the speech in the goblin tongue went on, the more the fervor could be felt rising.
Eventually the speech ended, and when the forward base's gate opened, group after group passed through it.
"The goblins have already lost their discipline."
Unlike the hobgoblins, who maintained discipline right up to the moment they passed through the gate, the sight of the goblins loosening up as soon as the speech ended was a little disappointing.
Tia and I followed the tail end of those groups.
It didn't take long for this army to reach the orcs' stronghold.
"Didn't they say they'd sent scouts ahead?"
"The map we were supplied with was excellent too."
The orcs' stronghold was an earthen fortress—a castle built of dirt.
Its scale wasn't particularly impressive, but crude wooden palisades had even been erected atop the walls.
So we had to break through that place.
***
The siege that began before long took place in darkness.
That was because both races possessed Darkvision.
If anyone carelessly lit a fire, they would draw concentrated fire from ranged attacks flying in from far away.
We watched the battle from a temporary position set up outside the maximum range of the orcs' javelins.
First, goblin warriors loosed arrows from a distance.
Because the goblins' shortbows could shoot farther than the orcs' javelin range, the orcs had no choice but to use the walls as shields and endure the attacks.
While the orcs hid their bodies like that, hobgoblin warriors advanced with shields raised.
But once they drew within a certain distance of the earthen fortress,
"Kweeek!"
An orc who appeared to be a commander shouted from behind an embrasure. Given that the sound reached all the way here, he must have used some kind of magic item.
At the commander's shout, the orcs raised their heads and hurled javelins from atop the palisade.
The accuracy wasn't high, but as countless javelins rained down, hobgoblins took hits.
"Raise your shields high and hold!"
Pushing through that rain of spears, the hobgoblins charged forward with shields raised.
"Kruk! Krek!"
The goblins raised their shortbows and poured arrows toward the castle where the orcs stood.
It was indiscriminate fire aimed at a place outside the goblins' field of vision, somewhere they couldn't even see, but as the numbers piled up, it became threatening.
"Kweeek?!"
A few orcs fell to arrows, but after taking cover briefly, they hurled fresh javelins.
Before long, both sides entered each other's field of vision.
Across a gap of 18 meters, those trying to hold and those trying to break through collided.
"Lock shields and protect one another!"
Once they entered view, the hobgoblins raised their shields with even greater care and moved slowly toward the gate.
Javelins rained down on any hobgoblin who stood out, but most were blocked by shields.
"Guhk!"
Still, some hobgoblins ultimately fell, struck by javelins.
Among the hobgoblins who fell like that, there were probably some who had praised my exploits.
'I should have gotten a bit friendlier with the hobgoblins.'
According to what Tia had researched in the library, those beings were phantasms wrought by Tartarus.
Creatures shaped from chaos, borrowing the appearances and thoughts of those who had once actually existed.
'But that isn't a reason not to get friendly with them.'
They knew my name, while I didn't even know theirs.
The only hobgoblin whose name I knew was Robin, the one I'd first met.
'At least until we break through this labyrinth, I should treat them with some warmth too.'
That was as far as my musings went about the hobgoblins dying on the front line.
The commander summoned Tia and me, who had been held back as a special force alongside the elite hobgoblins.
"The orcs' gate is the problem. Honorable Do-hyeon. We need your help."
It might be possible for me, and they would attach as many warriors as needed. I answered the hobgoblin captain who said that.
"I can handle it on my own."
"How befitting of an honorable one! If you need anything, say the word!"
As for what I needed here,
"Tell me your name."
"My name? For an Incubus to take interest in such a thing. It's Ash."
Like this, I would add the names of hobgoblins I knew one by one.
***
The maximum range of the orcs' javelins was 36 meters.
I prepared to dash out from just slightly beyond that maximum range.
Tia, standing behind me, was looking at me as if uneasy.
"Will you be all right, Do-hyeon?"
"Don't worry. You know I don't do reckless things, right?"
"Well, yes, but......"
I smiled at Tia, who seemed to think that opening the gate alone was too much.
Because Tia didn't yet know what I had gained over the past few days.
"Then I'll be back."
I said that and kissed Tia on the forehead.
"Do-hyeon?!"
"I'll be back before your body cools, so brace yourself."
"Don't worry. My body won't cool while I'm with you."
I stored away the image of Tia smiling softly like that, then activated my Features and spells.
Innate Magic. Combined with Mirage Armor, it was a spell that granted me overwhelming defense.
I had already cast Mage Armor before the battle even began, so there was only one spell to cast.
"Blur."
The edges of my body grew hazy like mist.
To enemies, I would appear even fainter, so hitting me with this would be extremely difficult.
Then, with my sword drawn, I ran straight for the fortress.
Shwoong.
A javelin fell near me, but it was a blind throw.
Ting.
The javelins that occasionally reached my body were deflected by Mage Armor.
There were a few spears pouring down, whether aimed at me or not,
Hwi-ik.
But most of them saw a phantasm and sliced through empty air.
One spear that nearly reached me I knocked aside with my sword.
Charging like that, I reached the gate.
The gate, built of large timbers, looked sturdy just from sight.
On top of that, there were orcs hurling spears from above, so I couldn't approach carelessly.
Trusting my spells and my defense, I took a step forward.
Shwooong.
Even under the rain of javelins, none of them touched my body.
I checked my HP: 28/34. One attack had gotten through and been absorbed by HP, just as I'd calculated.
Reaching the front of the gate just like that, I took the somatic gesture for True Strike, then cut straight down from a high stance.
Just before my sword touched the gate, I knew instinctively. That now was the timing.
"Divine Smite!"
Using the mana that poured from my Secondary Mana Circuit, I cast the spell through a 2nd-circle circuit.
Divine power was added to my sword tip, heavily damaging the gate.
The moment I used it, I knew. That Divine Smite's damage also had Swordmaster's maximization applied to it.
▶Master of the Sword
Damage you deal using a sword is always maximized.
A 2nd-circle Smite dealt 3–24 damage. The full 24 points slammed into the gate.
But that wasn't all. The longsword strike's damage from True Strike was 6-15. A combined 39 damage shredded the gate to tatters in an instant.
It was a shame that, since the target wasn't alive or an equivalent existence, the Vicious Longsword's bonus damage and Sneak Attack didn't apply.
But I still had more moves left.
'Action Surge!'
My Primary Mana Circuit, cleanly drained of mana, filled once more.
I transferred the centrifugal force of the unleashed sword strike upward through a step and a twist of my hips.
A rising slash following the downward cut.
The combined damage of the combo unleashed in a single moment was 54.
Even for a gate, something the orcs had built by lashing timber together couldn't withstand that much damage.
Kung.
The orcs behind were caught up in the wreckage of the shattered gate.
Orcs rushed forward to defend the collapsed barrier with their bodies.
I checked the remaining duration on Blur and Innate Magic. Forty-two seconds.
Enough time to rampage for a while and get back.
Swish.
One orc collapsed from a single sword strike.
The slash damage dealt to a single orc was the longsword's 6-15, Sneak Attack's 2-12, and the Vicious Longsword's bonus damage of 2-12.
All of that damage was fixed at its maximum by Swordmaster.
In other words, no orc could withstand a single blow from me.
As I cut down orcs, supporting fire flew in from behind.
Some of it was Tia's, and some of it was the goblins'.
Fortunately, the distinction between friend and foe was clear, and no arrows came my way.
One died with each blow, and none of their own attacks seemed to get through at all.
When arrows flew in on top of the terror, the orcs lost their will and fled.
"There is no greater honor!"
The commander, Ash, approached me leading his subordinates.
Judging by the timing, they must have followed right after I dashed out.
"I only entrusted you with the gate, yet you've broken through the entrance as well!"
"I did it because I could."
"That very confidence is the mark of an honorable warrior."
Even as he spoke, he drew his bow and shot at a fleeing orc.
"Your martial achievements are more than sufficient, but you don't seem inclined to be satisfied here."
That was only natural. Wasn't this place littered with Merit Points?