Chapter 71
Chapter 71
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Hatan's Challenge
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Lena slowly opened her mouth at my persuasion.
No, she tried to.
Crash!
If a blood-soaked elf ranger hadn't burst through the door so roughly.
"Darmian?!"
Recognizing the fallen elf, Lena and Milia cried out in shock.
"Urk... grk..."
The elf called Darmian tried to say something, but a gush of blood poured from his mouth.
"Princess, water!"
"R-Right!"
Lena immediately straightened Darmian's posture to clear his airway.
To prevent the spilling blood from blocking it.
A moment later, as Milia carefully poured the water she fetched into his mouth, his lips finally parted.
"A-Ambush... it's..."
"Ambush?! What do you mean, ambush?!"
"O-Orcs... mon-monsters..."
Darmian couldn't finish his words before his head lolled to the side.
"!"
Lena's expression hardened as she held her hand under his nose.
No more breath escaped.
He was dead.
A massive gash ran across the center of Darmian's torso.
Ragged and brutal traces, as if torn by a huge beast's jaws.
For a single blow to devastate an elf ranger who wielded mid-to-high-grade Expert-level power, the culprit had to be at least a tribal chief of a major settlement.
And among them, only one orc could inflict such a enormous wound.
'He's here... Hatan!'
It was that bastard.
This wound was undoubtedly made by the battle axe he wielded, something no human could handle.
"......"
Swipe.
Milia silently closed Darmian's eyes and spoke.
"...Darmian was a kid who loved communing with the spirits. He was so talented with spirit arts that he was selected as a ranger solely on that merit. His future was bright."
Though Milia used polite speech as if addressing me, everyone present knew.
Her words weren't directed at me.
And I added one more thing.
"I can respect your hatred of humans."
I calmly turned to Lena, who clutched Darmian's corpse.
"But are you really going to stand by and watch the lives of those you love vanish so meaninglessly?"
The elves' elite refinement. And Queen Minerva's realm.
Were they truly more valuable than the sacrifices of the elves living now, the next generation that would lead them?
Even after witnessing her kin's sacrifice right before her eyes, was her faith in the Forest Queen still unshaken?
"......"
Lena didn't answer my question.
Instead, she retreated deep into her dwelling and returned with a horn flute.
Bwooooooo—!
She blew a long, drawn-out note.
As if to echo across all of Elunheim.
Even a three-year-old passerby would know that signal announced an attack.
The air in Elunheim shifted at the resounding horn's call.
"...I'll go see the Queen."
After blowing the horn fully, Lena looked at me and said.
How could I not grasp the meaning behind those words?
I nodded at Lena's statement.
Confirming my response, she turned and dashed toward Alpheheim.
"Milia, join Ashy."
"And you, Young Master Jerome?"
"I've got to push back the orcs. I came here for trade with the elves in the first place. It'd be a problem if everyone I want to trade with ends up dead, right?"
Milia bowed her head in gratitude at my curt words.
"Thank you... for your help, Young Master Jerome."
"I'm not just helping out of the goodness of my heart, like Lena said earlier. We're doing this because we want something."
Even at my words, Milia expressed her thanks again.
"First my life, and now my kin's... I'll repay this debt someday."
"Chweek! My king, chweek! Supplies aren't quite, chweek! finished yet!"
Kasim pleaded with King Hatan, who was personally advancing on the elves, to wait just one more day.
It was the great king's campaign.
Perfect preparation was his duty. To greet the king's march in such an incomplete state!
The chiefs of the Red Axe and Blue Sword tribes would mock him for it.
"Chweeeek! Kasim, I know your loyalty well. But."
The king patted his shoulder with a benevolent(?) voice.
"My arch-nemesis, chweek! is there. I can't hold back any longer, chweek!"
Kasim was inwardly shocked at the king's words. An arch-nemesis for this great king? The elf queen briefly crossed his mind.
'Chweek! The king has never, chweek! met that elf. Chweek!'
The elf queen cowering like a rat in their territory couldn't be the king's arch-nemesis.
Then?
"Chweek! Could it be that human you told us not to eat, chweek! that one?"
Defeat was shameful for glorious orc warriors.
Asking about it might seem disloyal, but Kasim couldn't contain his curiosity.
Not just Kasim—human flesh was an unparalleled delicacy for orcs.
Yet the king always forbade eating humans, for some reason.
Even foolish orcs knew the king had his circumstances.
Of course, there had been fools who challenged the king over losing to a mere human.
They all became fodder for that axe, the king's beloved weapon.
After it repeated a few times, no one questioned the king about it anymore.
Now, the king himself mentioned his "arch-nemesis."
He had to ask.
"Chweek! Yes, Kasim. My nemesis, the human Jerome. He's right there. Chweek!"
"Chweeeeeek!!"
At the king's affirmation, Kasim couldn't hide his excitement.
Finally, finally, finally.
The time had come to wash away the Valhalla oath's bonds and feast freely on human blood and flesh!
"Chweeeeeek!! Hear me!! The king has spotted!! Chweek!! his nemesis in the elves' land!!"
"Chweeeeeeek!!!!"
As Kasim shouted the joyous(?) news, the orcs in formation roared in cheers.
They too were weary of holding back from human blood and meat.
"Chweek! Kasim. Advance. Ravaged the elves' land, chweek! Today, we break Valhalla's chains. Chweek!"
Hatan's order rang out.
And the orc horde began marching south.
Humans are animals of adaptation, or so they say. A human idiom, but at this moment, it applied to the elves too.
At least Shina felt that way.
At first, facing the orcs so tensely, stiff as boards. But after three days, it had grown somewhat familiar.
Then, something stirred in the orc lines. They began buzzing.
"Hmm, another skirmish?"
Those damn orcs kept picking fights ever since the humans arrived, never tiring of it.
As usual, she reached to ring the bell for skirmish prep, but today felt different.
Whirrrrr!
"Wha...?!"
Normally, no axe would fill her vision like that.
Splatter!
The axe that burst Shina's head like a ripe watermelon arced naturally back into Hatan's hand.
"Full army, chweek! Advance!"
"Chweeeeeek!"
The orcs' war on the elves had begun. Just 30 minutes before Darmian reported to Lena.
The orcs' assault was more sudden than expected.
And far fiercer.
"Chweeeeeek!"
Slash!
A blood-maddened orc cleaved an elf's head with its blade.
Splat!
The orc, eyes bloodshot from the taste, didn't even savor it before its vision went dark.
No creature survived an arrow through the skull, regardless of race.
Amid the flurry of blades and arrows, some fought unusually.
Click!
A small click from the wrist.
Whoosh!
Soon, death's breath spread.
"Chweeeeeek!"
Orcs without poison resistance frothed and collapsed instantly.
But some had grit.
Skin mottled and eyes bulging, they pressed on, swinging blades at the culprits.
Thud thud!
But their blades fell short of the throat.
Tiny needles, barely visible unless inspected closely, studded the fallen orcs' heads.
"Fuck! Why, why does this shit keep happening?!"
Saladin's wail echoed behind Mimi and Nene, who wielded poison and darts.
Perhaps irked by Saladin's scream.
Some orcs turned bloodshot eyes toward him.
Splatter!
But halved bodies betrayed their will and crumpled.
Not a drop of blood flowed from the cuts, halting even the orcs' steps.
"Come no closer, monsters."
The knight forbidding approach with a chilling voice was Beskin.
Far from his usual carefree chats with Jerome, he embodied the Ice Knight moniker perfectly.
"Chweek! Chweek!"
Perhaps daunted by the two humans' auras. The orcs paused to assess.
Thwip!
But arrows pierced heads at blinding speed, forcing them to scramble back.
"Damn it. Of all days..."
Tongue clicking, Ashy gazed sadly at her fallen comrades.
Was resistance here particularly fierce?
The elves, initially overwhelmed, rallied, grouping up for counterattacks.
As casualties mounted on both sides, the fight reached a lull.
Step.
Then.
The orc mass parted.
Hatan emerged.
Grrrk.
Dragging his massive axe along the ground.
Grrrk!
Exuding murderous intent.
Even on the vast battlefield, the axe's scrape rang clear to all.
Thud!
Hatan appeared at the front of the stalled line and spoke.
"Chweeeek! I've come."
He announced his arrival from the center.
"Show yourself! I know you're here! Chweek!"
Whom was he seeking?
Most elves assumed their queen, Paulo Minerva.
But a few knew better.
And Hatan.
"Chweeeeeek!! Your nemesis, Hatan, is here, Jerome! Today, in this place!! I'll repay the humiliation you gave me, chweek!!"
Shouted so the entire Demon Beast Forest would know it wasn't Paulo Minerva he sought.
"Jerome?"
"That human who saved the princess, right?"
Murmurs rippled through the elves.
Why attack their home and call for a human instead?
"Did that human deliberately...?"
Just before dangerous theories—that he'd used elves as shields against orcs—spread.
Step.
Like the axe's drag on the ground.
Step.
Soft footsteps echoed across the field.
Drenched head to toe in gore.
Who wouldn't know it was orc blood?
Seeing the bloodbath's traces, conspiracy-mongers fell silent.
Who could look at him and think he'd schemed otherwise?
Step!
The blood-soaked figure, Jerome, reached Hatan and spoke.
"Long time no see, Hatan."
"Chweeeeeek! Indeed, human. Truly a long time. Chweek!"
Like old friends, they conversed naturally.
"You monster. Who'd have thought you'd try ruling the Dragon Mountains in the meantime. Should've killed you back then."
"Chweeeeeek! I ground my teeth, chweek! for revenge against you."
Suddenly, Hatan bowed to Jerome.
"Chweek! First, my thanks. Thanks to you, I escaped the white flower's poison. Chweek!"
"White flower's poison?"
"You pulled out the white flower's energy I couldn't absorb and gave it to me. Chweek!"
Ah. That energy I'd flicked away back then.
"That energy destroys if overconsumed. Chweek! Absorb only what matches your level, no greed—that's the path to greatest warrior. Chweek!"
What? I'd actually made this guy stronger?
"What a headache."
"Chweek! Gratitude is gratitude!"
Boom!
Hatan slammed his axe blade into the ground and bellowed.
"We have unfinished business! Chweek!"
'So it comes to this.'
Just my luck.
Hatan's realm, felt through my skin, wasn't low.
'Maybe even stronger than me.'
Seemed like the first life-or-death fight since returning to the past.
Meanwhile, even as orcs and elves clashed, and Hatan and I prepared to fight.
The elves' queen, Paulo Minerva, had yet to show herself.