Chapter 374: Black Hill Tribe 'Tarachen' (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 374: Black Hill Tribe 'Tarachen' (2)
Craaaack!
A long sword scar formed on the ground from the shockwave.
It was a sword strike that could only be described as monstrous.
When the clash yielded no victor, Tarachen swung his glaive wildly.
Boom!
Crash!
A succession of earth-shaking impacts followed.
But.
Surprisingly, it was Tarachen who stumbled.
"Urgh!"
Having lost his center of gravity, his openings multiplied.
How on earth... could such a tiny dagger generate such absurd destructive power?
He had swung his massive glaive with all his might, yet his opponent had effortlessly parried the blow.
"You really are strong. No wonder they call you the strongest among the Orcs."
Jinhyuk whistled softly.
"How dare you act so nonchalant in my presence!"
Tarachen raised his glaive high.
In that instant,
Hummmmm!
Green mana condensed into a swirling vortex.
[Tarachen activates his unique ability, 'Soul Extinction Succession'!]
A unique ability that could summon the souls of the Orc race.
This was the very reason Tarachen was overwhelmingly superior to other Orcs.
Rumbleeee!
Translucent energies rose along the Black Hill, soon beginning to absorb into Tarachen's body.
The mana radiating from his body shifted as well.
[Copy Condition: You can copy the opponent's unique ability if you become an Orc and become Tarachen's successor.]
Needless to say, he couldn't change his race just to acquire a single ability.
Besides, his purpose in coming here wasn't to kill Tarachen or copy his ability in the first place.
'I just need to fight him enough to form an alliance.'
...Here it comes.
Jinhyuk watched the glaive flying toward his upper right.
He could easily dodge it, but to win the guy's recognition...
[Unique Ability: 'Tombgrave's Right Arm' has been activated!]
The appearance of his right arm, which was holding Barnard, transformed.
Kabaam!
A roar that sounded as if heaven and earth were splitting apart.
Two weapons clashed at a single point.
* * *
Craaaash!
Jinhyuk and Tarachen's feet dug deep into the ground.
Dust rose in a thick haze from the shockwave.
As if to show how powerful the collision had been, the hands gripping their weapons trembled violently.
'He's strong.'
Tarachen clamped his mouth shut.
He hadn't let his guard down, yet the cold reality that he couldn't even match his opponent on equal terms hit him hard.
The other Orcs, who had been snickering nearby, had also lost their laughter before they knew it.
It was only natural.
The battle unfolding before their eyes far transcended their imagination.
It wasn't a style of dodging and weaving, but a combat method that purely revered raw strength.
Moreover, wasn't he fighting head-on against Tarachen, who had even unleashed his unique ability?
"Chwiik! What kind of humans are they?"
"To withstand the Chieftain's full-power glaive... Are they stronger than even the Guard Captain?"
"The human who came with him is a monster too. He subdued two of the elite guards by himself."
The whispering grew louder.
Good.
This should be enough of an introduction.
Jinhyuk withdrew the mana infused into Barnard.
"What are you doing all of a sudden? The fight is not over yet."
"True, but what's the point of continuing? We've both seen enough of each other's skills, haven't we?"
He gave him a way to save face while leaving room for conversation.
Going any further would escalate the duel into a fight to the death.
Now was the perfect time to wrap things up.
However.
"You humans are always like this. You try to coax your opponent with smooth words and settle for a half-hearted compromise."
Tarachen's menacing aura didn't diminish in the slightest.
If anything, his pride seemed wounded, making his gaze even sharper.
"I'm not trying to compromise... I'm trying to prevent an unnecessary fight."
"Once blades are drawn, blood must be spilled. That is the conviction of our tribe."
While it might seem ridiculous to associate the word 'honor' with monsters, these proud Orcs were different from ordinary monsters.
Especially the Black Hill Tribe, who could be considered the pinnacle of their race.
'As expected, holding back half-heartedly only backfires.'
Jinhyuk smacked his lips bitterly.
"Kroooar!"
With bloodshot eyes, Tarachen kicked off the ground.
Boom!
Jinhyuk quickly threw himself to the left to dodge the attack.
Tarachen pursued immediately, but Jinhyuk accelerated to widen the distance even further.
"Need a hand? You look like you're struggling."
Cheon Yu-seong, who had finished his fight first, smirked.
Seriously, that guy's nose goes straight into the air the moment he does even slightly well.
"I don't think you're in a position to worry about others right now. Those Orcs aren't the type to tuck their tails just because you subdued one or two of them."
As if to prove his point,
Thud!
Step!
More elite guards swarmed toward Cheon Yu-seong.
If two weren't enough, then ten.
And if that still wasn't enough, it was as if the entire elite guard would dogpile him.
"D-Damn it!"
"That's why I told you to just watch quietly."
Tsk, tsk.
He brought this on himself by trying to act all cool and relaxed.
Crash!
Soon, the entire hill began to echo with the clashing of metal.
To negotiate with the Orcs, he couldn't just kill them recklessly. But holding back completely was incredibly annoying when they swarmed like hornets.
"Urgh! Are we just going to keep fighting like this? If we keep up this war of attrition, we're done for!"
Cheon Yu-seong shouted, the veins in his neck bulging.
With Baktur wielding his long spear joining the fray, the smirking Sword Star now looked like he had a fire lit under his feet.
Of course, Jinhyuk had no intention of trading blows until their mana and stamina were completely depleted.
He had already anticipated this situation.
He had also prepared a trump card to turn the tables.
It was just that...
"Sorry. I don't have a clever plan right now. Just hold out as long as you can. I feel like I'm on the verge of thinking of something."
He just wanted to make Cheon Yu-seong, who had been getting cocky lately, sweat a little.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah. The encirclement needs to thin out a bit more for me to have some room to work with."
Jinhyuk looked away, feigning ignorance.
In the end, Cheon Yu-seong had no choice but to bite the bullet and wait.
Right in the center of it all, surrounded by dozens of enemies.
How much time had passed?
"Pant... Pant... Pant..."
Cheon Yu-seong staggered as if about to collapse.
Drenched in sweat, his breathing was ragged.
His consciousness had already flickered in and out several times.
"Dam...mit. I can't... even lift a finger anymore..."
Right then.
Tap.
Something brushed against Cheon Yu-seong's back.
Jinhyuk, who had been locked in a fierce battle with Tarachen, had made his way over to where Cheon Yu-seong was.
"Tired already?"
"...Are you seriously... asking me that?!"
"Hmm. The great Sword Star is looking pretty pathetic. When we first met, you talked as if you could crush a truckload of Orcs."
"You damn veteran bastard. Even if I die here, I'm taking you down with me."
Cheon Yu-seong's face contorted viciously.
If Jinhyuk teased him any further, that sword might actually point in his direction.
Besides, he had already run him ragged and thoroughly crushed his pride.
'Time to get started.'
The stage was set.
Having made his decision, Jinhyuk pulled a new item from his subspace inventory.
[The 'Cord of Conviction' is activated!]
A power that connected dimension to dimension.
Along with a massive storm of mana, a giant gate appeared before everyone's eyes.
* * *
Honor.
It was the absolute value that Orcs would die for.
They had lived their entire lives for the honor and prosperity of their clan, and they were a race that would gladly throw away their lives to protect what they believed in.
For that reason, it was only natural that Orcs distrusted humans.
After all, humans were notorious for shifting their values whenever it suited their self-interest.
But.
What if those who stepped forward on behalf of that human shared the exact same convictions as the Orcs?
How would they react then?
Here was the answer.
Thump!
Beyond the gate, a blue-skinned race emerged.
They had tusks even longer than those of the Orcs.
Although they hailed from a much lower floor, their stature was by no means inferior.
"...I heard the story through the gnomes. You need our help?"
The Frostblade Tribe.
And their leader, Chieftain 'Caracal'.
Two tusked races met on the Black Hill.
"...?!"
Tarachen, who had been rampaging like a madman, stopped in his tracks for the first time.
"...That flag?"
"How did those guys get here?"
The elite guards who had been pressuring Cheon Yu-seong also stared at the Frostblade Tribe with their mouths agape.
A sudden lull fell over the battlefield.
The standoff stretched on like an eternity.
"Caracal..."
Tarachen spoke slowly.
Caracal nodded immediately.
"Chieftain Tarachen, it has been a long time. Is this our first meeting since the Race War?"
"Why are you standing on the side of humans?"
Caracal brought up the past, but Tarachen had no intention of exchanging trivial reminiscences.
He simply couldn't comprehend why the proud great hero of the Troll race was siding with a human.
"Were you threatened? Or... is your tribe being held hostage?"
Otherwise, it made no sense.
Those wretched humans must have pulled some dirty trick.
But at the words that followed...
"I owe him a debt of gratitude."
Tarachen was thrown into confusion once more.
"...A debt? To a mere human?"
"Yes. A debt so profound that a lifetime would not suffice to repay it."
These words were sincere.
Caracal was more than willing to throw his life on the line for Jinhyuk.
Jinhyuk had granted freedom to his entire clan, ended their lives as slaves, and preserved the pride they so desperately cherished.
And if...
"If you seek to harm our benefactor, you will have to go through our entire tribe."
"Kroooar!"
"Ooooh!"
The warriors of the Frostblade Tribe raised their spears and shields high.
Though their individual strength and numbers were vastly inferior, every single one of them was prepared to fight to the death.
Thrum.
The sky-piercing morale reached Tarachen as well.
"...It seems you are not lying."
It wasn't a matter of winning or losing a fight.
If it was a human whom Caracal and the Frostblade Tribe trusted so deeply...
Perhaps this human was different from the usual trash he knew.
"Guide those humans and Chieftain Caracal to my tent. The battle is over."
Thud.
Tarachen drove his glaive into the ground.
With this, the path to dialogue was opened.
From here on, the negotiations that would determine the success or failure of the 20th-floor raid would begin.
"Whew. Looks like it worked out somehow. What a relief, right, Yu-seong?"
"Grrr! You bastard! You had this up your sleeve the whole time and made me suffer on purpose?! If you had just summoned the Frostblade Tribe from the start, I wouldn't have almost died!"
"Hey, now. All's well that ends well. Why do you always obsess over the minor details after everything is resolved?"
"What? Obsess? Minor details? How can you say that—!"
"Ah! They're telling us to hurry up. Excuse me, I'll head in first."
Jinhyuk trotted off toward Tarachen's tent.