Orc Extermination (5)
The command tent was steeped in heavy silence. On the table lay leather armor, axes, and spears stripped from the still-bleeding corpses of orcs. From outside the tent came the faint murmur of soldiers talking among themselves. The sheer volume of their unease spoke volumes about how grave the situation had become.
Arisha ran her fingertips along the torn edge of the armor.
“There are signs of sewing. It’s not just crudely stitched leather. The stitches are spaced at regular intervals.”
Garan nodded beside her.
“The spears are the same. The blades are rough and uneven, but there are clear marks of sharpening.”
“Which means….”
Garan voiced the possibility he himself hated to speak aloud.
“Yes. It means they know how to make weapons. Even if the quality isn’t particularly high….”
“The real problem is that these monsters have grasped the concept of weapon crafting.”
One of the veteran soldiers attending the meeting swallowed hard.
“The orcs… are arming themselves like humans?”
A short silence fell over the tent. Arisha bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
“This is a phenomenon we’ve never seen in low-risk, lesser monsters. Especially not among beast-type monsters like boars or hounds that act purely on instinct.”
“It’s true that some mid-tier monsters occasionally use weapons taken from the humans they kill, but…”
Then she recalled a disturbing report she had received recently.
“Garan.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Now that I think about it, you were the one who reported sightings of armed kobolds recently, weren’t you?”
“Yes. At the time…”
Garan gave a concise summary of the incident once more. The bone-forged spears. The superior variant that had commanded the kobold pack. The existence of a Kobold Shaman. Because the report had involved a special variant capable of using magic, it had stuck in Arisha’s memory.
Arisha examined the equipment the orcs had used with renewed scrutiny.
“These things…”
A creeping dread settled over her. An alarm bell rang inside her head. The instinctive certainty that if they did nothing, far greater danger would follow.
“We can’t afford to delay any longer. This… has become all-out war.”
At that moment, a fierce wind howled into the tent from outside.
“Just who is that new recruit, anyway?”
“Hm?”
While Garan was returning to the vanguard unit he had originally been assigned to after leaving the command tent, a familiar voice called out to him. It was thick with curiosity.
Garan turned toward the source of the voice. A woman was staring at him with an odd expression that mixed bewilderment and fascination.
“Trisha?”
Her name was Elina. Unlike Garan, who led the 4th Search and Reconnaissance Unit, she was the squad leader of the 1st Search and Reconnaissance Unit.
When Garan tilted his head in confusion, Elina asked again with that same strange look on her face.
“That new recruit. The one who came back alone carrying an orc corpse on his back.”
“Ah, you mean Jungwoo.”
“Is he even human?”
Garan couldn’t help but let out a dry chuckle at the obvious question.
“Of course he’s human. What exactly do your eyes see him as?”
“I’m asking because he keeps doing things no ordinary person could. You know that.”
Garan understood the intent behind Elina’s question. It was true that Han Jungwoo was different from a typical soldier.
“The guys from our unit who went on reconnaissance with Squad Leader Garan told me about it. He took down an orc by himself and immediately came to support them. His strength, speed, and overall physical ability far surpassed the average soldier. And to think he carried an orc corpse all by himself… Even a well-trained veteran would struggle to display that kind of monstrous strength, wouldn’t they?”
Among the six soldiers who had gone on reconnaissance with Garan, one belonged to Elina’s 1st Search Unit. After returning from the mission, the soldier had shared his eyewitness account with his comrades and superior, and the story had been nothing short of shocking.
The combat prowess he displayed was impossible to explain as belonging to a mere new recruit. It was more than enough to make the soldiers think deeply.
“That’s true.”
Indeed, Han Jungwoo’s combat ability far exceeded the average of an ordinary soldier. It had been that way from the very first time Garan saw him in the forest. He displayed inexhaustible stamina and always fought at the very front during engagements with monsters. Garan couldn’t even begin to count how much he had relied on the young man’s bold aggression, strength, and endurance.
And yet Jungwoo constantly pushed himself, searching for a fighting style that suited him. Learning magic from Arisha was simply one of the methods he had found to grow stronger.
Han Jungwoo was still growing stronger even now.
Garan recalled the expression on Jungwoo’s face the moment he had slain the orc alone. Though he had kept a calm exterior, his hands had been trembling with the certainty of his achievement and the rush of exhilaration that came with it. He had tried to suppress those feelings, killing them off and restraining himself so they wouldn’t show.
The way he constantly reflected, struggled, and worked without rest in pursuit of growth and greater heights, that sight filled Garan with pride.
“He really is an impressive young man.”
If only he could continue growing like this. How wonderful it would be to watch over him from the side.
Garan smiled faintly.
“You’re making the face of a parent hearing praise for their child…”
“Do I look like that?”
Elina’s assessment of Jungwoo sounded rather pleasant to his ears.
“Yes. You do.”
While Garan looked pleased, Elina let out a long sigh.
“You’re lucky, Squad Leader Garan. To have such a reliable subordinate you can depend on…”
“You look quite exhausted.”
“I am. Really. It’s too much.”
Elina nodded vigorously in agreement, as if she had been waiting for him to say it. She had only recently taken on the position of squad leader for the 1st Search Unit. A few months ago, during a reconnaissance mission, her superior squad leader had died, and she had somehow ended up inheriting the unwanted role.
‘I thought the atmosphere inside the 1st Search Unit wasn’t that bad.’
The position of squad leader that had fallen to Elina seemed to carry a heavy burden without proper mental preparation. The workload had increased dramatically, and the responsibility of holding every soldier’s life in her hands weighed heavily on her shoulders.
As someone who also led a squad, Garan understood that sense of responsibility better than anyone. As a senior who shared the same worries and burdens, he sincerely hoped this newly appointed squad leader would do well.
“If you ever need advice or help, just say the word. I’ll do whatever I can.”
“In that case… Could you lend me that new recruit named Han Jungwoo for a few months? Even if it’s just a temporary dispatch, somehow…”
“Haha, I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”
“Then why did you offer to help in the first place!”
Elina pouted and scolded her senior.
Beyond the forest, a village spewing smoke came into view. Roughly woven wooden fences. Tents. And piles of charred animal bones scattered everywhere.
“…It’s the orcs.”
“Is that… a village…?”
The soldiers’ voices trembled. Even Jungwoo felt a chill run down his spine. The sight before them looked eerily like an imitation of a human settlement.
Arisha’s command rode the wind and echoed across the entire extermination force. Her voice, amplified by the magic known as Wind Command, instantly unified the entire unit with a single, powerful momentum.
Jungwoo moved. Before his mind could even process it, his body was already obeying her order. His feet, wrapped in Hoshin-ganggi, dug into the dirt, sending a cloud of dust exploding upward.
Two orcs that had sensed his presence burst out from the village entrance, swinging their axes. Jungwoo twisted his waist according to the swordsmanship he had newly learned and thrust the tip of his blade forward. The massive orc staggered and collapsed.
“I’ll hold them here!”
Garan immediately led the reconnaissance unit in a flanking maneuver. Magic fired from mana rifles rained down like a storm. The orcs answered with guttural roars.
The village transformed into chaos in an instant. Though it couldn’t be called perfect, it had been a successful surprise attack, yet it still failed to overwhelm the orcs. The creatures hurled wooden spears with tips sharpened to deadly points, as if throwing javelins.
Arisha issued the order urgently. The wooden spears arced through the air and slammed into the soldiers’ shields. A harsh metallic clang rang out as the soldiers were pushed backward. The weight of the impact was so heavy it was hard to believe they had collided with mere wood. The soldiers were stunned.
“Kgh…!?”
“Hold the line!”
Other soldiers rushed in to brace the backs of those about to be knocked off their feet.
“Those bastards…!”
The soldiers were certain now. The orcs clearly operated with organization. They weren’t simply swinging violence according to instinct. They understood the roles assigned within their system and knew how to use and exploit them. Orcs in the rear throwing spears, orcs in the front holding shields to block. These were actions that required intelligence and cunning.
It wasn’t just Jungwoo who broke into a cold sweat at the sight of movements that seemed to imitate human tactics.
‘There it is.’
Jungwoo was convinced. There was a ‘leader’ commanding them. Looking at the orcs’ formation, he had no choice but to believe it.
“Just what the hell… are those things…”
A soldier’s near-scream of a mutter cut through the noise of the battlefield. Mana rifles, having finished charging, fired once more like pouring rain. The orcs roared in furious rage as their tents were torn and collapsed.
Jungwoo entered from outside the firing line and steadily reduced the number of orcs one by one. He swung his sword at an orc’s fist flying straight toward him. The blade tore through thick green skin and tough flesh, severed muscle, and shattered bone. It split the fist apart and drove even deeper.
‘Don’t hold back any strength.’
He didn’t stop at simply cutting through the fist. The line of his slash had to continue without interruption, carving through the orc’s entire body. Eventually, the tip of his sword reached the orc’s throat. A strike carrying the full power of his body sliced through its neck. Without even sparing a glance at the head that fell to the ground with a dull thud, he continued advancing.
With the ruined village before them, Arisha’s extermination force finished their engagement with the orcs and received the casualty report.
“Thirteen lightly wounded. Four seriously wounded. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. The four seriously wounded are currently being treated by the priestess’s magic.”
The lightly wounded would be able to return to combat immediately after receiving simple first aid and Seo Hayun’s healing magic.
“…That’s a relief.”
Arisha breathed a sigh of relief. Above all, the fact that there were no deaths was the greatest blessing. Having a priestess assigned to her unit was nothing short of heavenly luck.
She shifted her gaze toward the protagonist of this battle. There stood Han Jungwoo inspecting his weapon, with Seo Hayun carefully checking his condition beside him.
“……”
What was this feeling? Arisha felt a strange emotion stir within her. It had begun the moment Garan first brought him to her. The time he boldly asked her to teach him magic. The moment he showed her that insane spell she had never seen before. The absurdly powerful combat ability he continued to display afterward. The fragments of his past that she had only learned about through records.
What was he thinking? Why did he want to become stronger? How was he able to grow so quickly?
She was curious. Embarrassment, doubt, interest. A personal curiosity toward one individual. Arisha did not yet realize that a complex emotion she couldn’t quite define was quietly taking root inside her.
While she watched Jungwoo, lost in thoughts even she herself hadn’t fully recognized—
“C-Captain!”
A soldier rushed out from one of the collapsed tents and urgently called to Arisha.
“What is it?”
“P-Please look at this…!”
What the soldier had brought out from the tent was a tattered piece of cloth.
“This…”
Arisha’s hand trembled as she took the cloth. Though stained with blood and dirt, there was no way she could fail to recognize the emblem engraved upon it.
“Captain… This flag is…”
Not only Arisha, but Garan—who had served alongside her father for many years—also recognized the pattern. His expression hardened.
Arisha’s voice shook.
“It’s… my father’s flag…”