Reunion with the Black Orc
With a hop—the red rabbit bounded off a tree trunk and launched itself through the air.
“Kiiiiieeeeeeeeek—!”
Now that he could see it clearly, the thing clutched in its hand wasn’t a dagger. It was a short sword, shorter than a standard blade. Still, Ryude wasn’t worried. He had plenty of internal energy built up from all the orcs he’d slain. Against an opponent like this, a guy who had even awakened his mana wasn’t going to lose.
My sword’s longer.
Last time he’d been forced to deflect because he was protecting Alicia and dodging a surprise attack. This time he didn’t have to hold back.
Ryude thrust his blade forward with complete confidence. At this range the rabbit would end up skewered.
“Kyek—!”
“Oh?”
The red rabbit twisted its body mid-leap, changing trajectory. So this was what made it a variant.
“Still not gonna work.”
Without a hint of panic, Ryude swung horizontally. His sword sank deep into the creature’s shoulder.
“Alicia, now!”
“Freeze!”
At Alicia’s signal, three razor-sharp ice spears slammed into the red rabbit’s body with heavy thuds. The creature was nailed to a tree and died instantly.
“Phew.”
Both of them let out sighs of relief and approached the corpse. It hung limp. No matter how much of a variant it was, it clearly only had one life.
When Ryude poked the body a couple times to make sure it was dead, Alicia shouted at him.
“Don’t touch it, it’s gross!”
“We have to harvest the mana stone anyway.”
“This works just fine. What’s the problem?”
A green light flickered from Alicia’s hand and a fierce gust of wind shot forward. The mana stone embedded in the red rabbit’s forehead was carved out with surgical cleanliness.
“That’s convenient.”
“No need to get my hands dirty.”
They stood side by side, examining the stone. Its size wasn’t much different from a normal rabbit’s. The color, however, was slightly different. Mana stones were usually pitch black, but this one carried a faint reddish tint.
“Hmm. Does this affect the price?”
“I don’t think so? From what I know, the redder the mana stone, the higher its purity.”
“Wait, they’re not originally black?”
“Nope. I heard they start out red. They gradually turn black as they lose energy.”
Higher purity meant higher value. They could get an exact appraisal once they returned to the guild.
“Still, that was pretty underwhelming.”
“Yeah.”
Considering how pumped up they’d been, taking down their first prey had been almost too easy. Alicia slipped the small mana stone into her pouch. It felt a little pathetic.
“Alicia.”
“Hm?”
“One of these isn’t going to cover a full day’s pay, is it?”
“You want to go deeper?”
“Probably should.”
The two of them usually earned about one gold coin per day. No matter how special this variant was, a single stone definitely wouldn’t reach that value. The feel of the hunt mattered too.
Alicia thought for a moment, then nodded. Since they’d already come this far, they might as well earn two gold coins’ worth.
“Just don’t let your guard down. We don’t know what else is out here.”
“Yeah, got it.”
—
By the time the sun was directly overhead, they had killed a total of five red rabbits.
“Going smoothly.”
“Why does that sound so ominous?”
These rabbits were even more evolved than the last. Their speed was incredible—fast enough that even Ryude would lose in a pure footrace. He could still catch them, but it required constant focus.
In that sense, having Alicia beside him was incredibly reassuring.
“W-what are you doing!”
He only realized after the fact that he’d been patting her head.
“You did well.”
“Don’t treat me like a kid!”
Even as she complained, she didn’t pull away from his hand. Apparently she liked having her head stroked. He already knew that, of course. He’d done it a few times while she was sleeping and she’d made happy little noises and rubbed her cheek against him.
“Anyway, what now?”
“Good question. Should we head back? It’s already past noon. Just getting out of the forest will take an hour, and we barely ate anything because we rushed out here. Plus we need to check the value of these mana stones. There’s a lot to do.”
“You’re right. It’s the first day, so let’s not overdo it.”
Safety came first, no matter what. The pair turned to head home—
Thump.
Thump.
It was a sound he’d heard before. Irregular footsteps that made the ground tremble. The noise was burned into his mind, and the ominous feeling it brought was never wrong.
“Guoooooooooooo—!!!!”
A roar echoed from far away. Even at that distance it made their ears ring.
“W-what is that?!”
Alicia let out a high-pitched scream. Ryude scanned their surroundings, searching for the source. Something pitch-black moved between the trees and bushes.
It was a Black Orc.
“Alicia, get ready!!!”
“Y-yeah?!”
They had already been spotted. The Black Orc charged forward with terrifying speed, thrusting its blood-stained spear. Trees in its path exploded into splinters. Obstacles meant nothing to it.
There was no option to run. If it had just been Ryude alone, maybe. But he couldn’t guarantee Alicia’s safety if they tried to flee.
“Alicia, intercept it!!!”
“Ugh, I knew this would happen!”
Having confirmed the Black Orc’s appearance, Alicia raised her staff.
“Freeze!”
Three ice spears shot forward. Since the orc was charging in a straight line, there was no chance of missing. But—
“W-what the…?”
The ice spears shattered like glass the moment they touched the creature. They couldn’t even leave a scratch.
“It’s fine, keep firing!!!”
Ryude had experience fighting this thing before. Hesitation meant death. Trusting his words, Alicia continued launching spells. The distance between them and the Black Orc was shrinking rapidly.
Whether they could defeat it didn’t matter anymore. They had to.
Ryude concentrated mana into his arms and legs, spreading it evenly so it wouldn’t be biased toward any one limb.
“Come on then.”
“Guoooooooooooo—!!!!”
The last tree standing in its path exploded. The Black Orc thrust its spear and barreled straight toward Ryude.
Clang—!
The tip of the spear met his sword. The metallic ring was followed by an overwhelming weight that nearly crushed him.
“R-Ryude!!!”
His feet slid across the dirt. With just one clash he was being pushed back endlessly.
“Ugh…”
He would slam into a tree soon. Ryude pulled the mana from his legs into his arms and deflected the spear. It was only possible because he had already bled off some of the charge.
“Guoooooooooooo!!!”
The spear, having lost its target, embedded itself in a tree. Enraged, the Black Orc turned its gaze on Ryude.
“Alicia!!! Forget about me and fire at full power!!!”
“O-one shot?!”
“Normal attacks won’t kill this thing anyway! I’m counting on you, Alicia!!”
The situation was critical. Alicia, who had been moving closer to help even a little, stopped in her tracks.
“…Okay. Can you hold out for one minute? No—two minutes?!”
“Two minutes? That’s a piece of cake!!”
Alicia immediately began chanting on the spot. It was a display of absolute trust. Rainbow-colored light swirled around her body. She was clearly preparing something big.
“Having a comrade who believes in you is pretty great!”
Drawing strength from her faith, Ryude knocked the Black Orc’s spear aside with his sword.
“Guoooooooooooo!!!”
“What’s wrong, big guy? Scared?”
Ryude had practically become an orc specialist by now. After encountering the creature twice, he had figured out its abilities. Its raw power and speed were certainly higher than a normal orc’s. But he could handle that much.
The most important thing was its charge attack. Converting momentum into pure power was its specialty. Which meant—
“Once the first strike is over, it’s all downhill from there.”
A Black Orc that had finished its charge had used up its only real skill.
“Guoooooooooooo!!!”
The orc’s spear tore through the air. Ryude dodged the attack with ease and slashed horizontally at its leg.
Clang—!
“Why is it so hard?”
It really was a variant after all. Its obsidian skin seemed to function like armor. With a cheap sword worth only five silver coins, he could only manage shallow cuts. If he coated his blade with mana or struck the same spot repeatedly he could probably break through, but he didn’t need to.
He had asked her for help precisely because he knew this would happen.
“Grrrrk—”
The creature took another charging stance. But it was already too late.
“Ryude, duck!!!”
“Okay!”
Ryude threw himself flat against the ground. The rainbow light on Alicia’s staff had condensed into a single point.
Booooooooooom—!!!!!!
An energy blast erupted from the tip of her staff. The colorful light looked beautiful, but its destructive power was beyond imagination. A gaping hole had been blown clean through the Black Orc’s stomach. The creature couldn’t even let out a final scream before it died.
Ryude stared in shock. What the hell was that, some kind of magical cannon?
—
“Sigh. I’m exhausted too, you know.”
“You told me to use it! So you have to take responsibility.”
Somehow they had managed to defeat the Black Orc. For a brief moment Ryude had felt a surge of happiness. With this combo, aren’t we basically invincible? He would draw aggro and she would fire her magical cannon. It was a simple yet revolutionary idea.
But it wasn’t actually a good plan. It couldn’t be used in real combat. The reason was simple: the side effects.
“Is that move really your last resort?”
“Can’t be helped. My skills are still lacking.”
It was truly a trump card. From what she told him, using it once drained all her mana and left her bedridden for days. Which was why he was currently carrying her on his back as they left the forest.
“Still… thanks to you, I survived. I appreciate it.”
“No, I should be thanking you. I would’ve died without you. We only managed it because we were together. So thank you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
Alicia hugged his neck tightly, swinging her legs happily like an excited child.
“Haah. Looks like we won’t be able to hunt magic beasts for a while.”
“Hm? You don’t have to worry about me. I can go alone.”
“You want me to face those things by myself? Just tell me to die instead.”
“T-that’s not what I meant…”
Today’s harvest: five red rabbits and one Black Orc. He wondered how much it would all be worth. If they were thinking in terms of three to four days’ earnings, it should come out to around six to eight gold coins.
“Guess we’ll take it easy and recover for a while. What do you want for dinner tonight?”
“Me? Charcoal-grilled whole chicken!”
“Alright. Let’s get that then.”