Chapter 16 | The Assassin Fights Orcs
The sun was sinking low into the horizon, and everyone was in their places.
Naoise, Tarte, and Epona were the vanguard.
I was stationed as the middle guard. My job was to take out orcs with magic and then support the vanguard if anything went wrong. Dia was in the back, focusing on ranged spells.
Farther behind her, Rachel and Professor Dune were waiting in reserve. Their role was to assist us if we fell into a dangerous situation and to stop any orcs that broke through. They were also standing ready to replace anyone who became unable to continue the battle.
“The orcs are here.”
What little I could see through the gaps in the choke point that Dia and I had created was painted dark green with the skin of the approaching monsters.
Regular soldiers had been stationed above the ravine to make up for our limited visibility. They would report on any unusual movement.
The three-meter-tall giants marched through the canyon. Soldiers from above fired arrows, but the thick-skinned orcs suffered no injury.
Just as we’d intended, the monsters were slowed by the mass of earth Dia and I had constructed. As soon as Dia and I were assured of that, we began our incantations.
We finished our spells the moment the first orcs passed through the entrance. Both of us cried out, “Crimson Explosion!”
Crimson Explosion was the twentieth fire spell bestowed by the gods upon repeated use of fire magic. Most mages died before ever learning it. As you might’ve expected, it was very powerful.
Fireballs the size of basketballs flew over the wall in parabolic arcs, landing amid the horde of orcs and exploding. Red flames roared to life amid the army of monsters.
A soldier observing from above called out, “The spells made impact! Eight enemies are down!”
Orcs really were tough. Despite being elite mages, Dia and I only took out four orcs each using an advanced spell.
However, we didn’t have time to despair. Our role as mages was to use the wall as a shield to launch as many spells as we could. The more orcs we took out, the easier a time the vanguard would have.
Of course, the vanguard’s role was to eliminate any orcs that passed through the entrance. They were intercepting the first two orcs that managed to get through right now.
Epona charged at one of them.
“Die!”
She simply rushed up to it and swung with the back of her fist. Its abdomen rippled and then ruptured. Its top half was cleaved from its bottom half and was sent flying, wedging into the dirt wall.
Epona didn’t use weapons. Her strength rendered weapons unusable because they couldn’t handle the force of her attacks and ended up breaking.
“Let’s go, Tarte!”
“Okay!”
Naoise and Tarte engaged the other orc together. It was an improvised attack, but they skillfully trapped the monster by flanking it. While the orc was unsure of what to do, Tarte pierced an eye with her spear, and Naoise sliced off a hand with his sharp sword.
That was skilled. Orcs were protected by thick, armor-like skin and fat. Any normal attack couldn’t damage them. Despite that, Tarte had taken out an eye, and Naoise easily cut through the creature’s wrist, leaving a growing pool of red fluid. Despite the blood loss, the orc continued to rage until it collapsed less than a minute later and went cold.
At the rate things were going, we would be able to defeat the orcs without overextending ourselves. As long as they used the path we’d created, no more than two, at most three, of the monsters would be able to get through at a time. Epona, Naoise, and Tarte could handle such an amount without issue. As they took care of the orcs up front, Dia and I burned those caught waiting at the choke point.
It was going to be an intense fight, but our victory was inevitable. All we had to do was maintain our current pattern. The only uncertainty was whether we’d be able to take out all the orcs before we ran out of strength.
And so began a test of endurance.
Thirty minutes flew by, but our fight had still not concluded. Something felt unusual.
We should’ve taken out more than one hundred orcs by now, yet the onslaught showed no signs of letting up.
The wall kept us from seeing the whole picture, forcing us to rely on reports from the soldiers above on the sides of the canyon.
Naoise yelled at the soldiers, rare frustration breaking through his usual calm demeanor. “How many more of them can there possibly be?!”
“By our estimation, one hundred and twenty!” came the reply.
“What do you mean? We’ve already killed at least a hundred of them!” Naoise exclaimed.
“They’re getting reinforcements from somewhere.”
An extra fifty had been bad enough, but now there were sizable reserves.
Altogether, the orc force totaled two hundred twenty. What’s worse, we had no guarantee the number would stop there.
An extra seventy soldiers is too great a number for them to have just been hiding out somewhere… I have a bad feeling about this. We should consider the possibility that there is a demon with the power to produce monsters lurking nearby. This is bad.
“Sorry, I don’t think I can last any longer.”
Looking pale, Dia fell to her knees. She’d run out of mana.
It wasn’t surprising. She’d been casting Crimson Explosion continuously for over half an hour.
Tarte was in trouble as well. Her movements were visibly slowing.
An orc swung at her with its club, and she failed to dodge.
“GAAAHHHHHH!”
Tarte just barely managed to defend herself with her left arm, but her bone broke with a snap, and she was knocked backward onto the ground. It didn’t seem like she was able to stand back up.
An orc turned toward Tarte and reached out toward her. It was going to carry her away.
“You stinking pig!!!”
I stopped my Crimson Explosion incantation and sprinted toward her. I charged and used my momentum to spin in the air, landing with a palm strike that sent the orc flying.
It was the same move I’d used on the vice-commander of the Royal Guard during the entrance exam. It caused an explosion of mana and energy within the orc, ripping a hole through the creature. It bled out and died.
Unlike the last time I’d used the maneuver, I didn’t hold back. This caused an explosion within the monster that allowed me to ignore its thick fat and muscle.
“Lord Lugh!”
“Tarte, fall back. I’m taking your place in the vanguard.”
“I can still fight.”
“No, you can’t! If you can stand, then get up and withdraw.”
Tarte stopped arguing. Doubtless she understood that she was a hindrance now.
I’d trained her better than to fail after only thirty minutes, but she was likely still adjusting to her Tuatha Dé eye. It’d worn her out.
I took Tarte’s place in the vanguard. While covering Tarte behind me, I turned toward an orc.
Tarte fought her hardest against a terrifying slew of enemies. I’ll have to praise her later.
“If you’re moving up here, who will take out the orcs in the back?” asked Naoise.
“If I don’t fight up here, the vanguard will break. I’ll fill in until Rachel and the professor get here.”
“We’ve been fighting our butts off. It’s about time they come and take our place.”
Naoise’s words were in jest, but I couldn’t deny he had it hard. He’d been fighting at the vanguard for half an hour.
Things only got worse from there.
Dia, pale-faced and on her knees, shrieked, “Lugh, our wall!”
“Guess that was all the punishment it could take.”
The orcs stuck outside the ravine hadn’t been waiting patiently in line. All the while, they’d been trying to smash our barricade.
That alone may not have been enough to bring it down. Unfortunately, Epona had unknowingly weakened the earthen structure with all her smashing.
The battle would have ended before the wall crumbled if the orcs’ numbers hadn’t increased from the original estimate. The fight was dragging on longer than Dia and I had built the wall to last. It was only a few moments from collapsing. We’d been too optimistic.
The orcs surged into the barricade. It collapsed, enabling us to see that the orcs’ numbers hadn’t changed at all since the beginning of the battle. With nothing to stop them, orcs charged in six at a time.
I’d known this was a possibility, but it was still a crushing blow to my morale.
We stood no chance against so many orcs at once. Dia and Tarte were also out of commission.
I couldn’t afford to hold back. If I didn’t use my full strength here, we were all going to die. I grabbed one of the Fahr Stones I’d brought as a last resort, and then it happened.
“Finally, a chance to rage to my heart’s content. Every. Last. One of you little goddamn maggots is so annoyinggggg. I’m going to kill you all!!”
An enraged Epona charged into the horde of orcs, which for most people would’ve only led to getting surrounded and beaten to a pulp. However, she just tossed the monsters aside as she laughed.
The giggling felt far more sinister than jovial. There was a distinct bloodlust to it.
This was what happened to Epona when, as she put it, her vision went red.
Naoise’s face stiffened, and Tarte and Dia cowered. Taking no notice of our stares, the savage beast that was the hero began to tear into its prey.
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