After dinner, when everyone was in their tents, I went into the forest, away from the guards, and quietly called Joule and the others.

  “Everyone, quietly.”


  Sensing that I was paying attention to my surroundings, Joule and the others immediately killed any hint of their presence, nodded quietly, and listened. So I started by explaining that Allen and Elena weren’t here and that there’s an Orc battle tomorrow.

  “If it’s too much for me to handle, I’ll need everyone to help out in the open.”


  (Okay, got it. I’ll leave it to us.)

  Joule answered on behalf of everyone, but they seemed to agree as they nodded their heads in agreement.

  “But in that case, as I told you before, things might get pretty noisy.”


  (We know. It might be annoying, but in return, we will be able to be with you and the kids all the time.)

  (That’s right. It won’t be a problem.)

  (Yes, things will be just all right.)

  (Don’t worry about anything!)

  (It will be okay!)

  We had originally discussed whether to make their existence public, and at that time we decided to hide them for the time being, but since everyone’s attitude was that it didn’t matter either way, I didn’t have to panic about this matter this time.

  “Okay, I’ll be brief, but Joule and Feat will stay in my shadow in case anything happens, I’ll call you to join the battle right then.”


  (Got it~)

  (Understood.)

  “Bolt, I want you to watch over the other troops from the shadows, and help out if things look bad.”


  (You can leave it to me.)

  “Vector and Mile, if you see any Orcs escaping from the nest, sneak up on them and finish them off.”


  (Yay~ I will go on a rampage~)

  “Vector, I don’t know how this is going to play out, so for now, don’t make any obvious move! I’m sorry, Mile, but…”


  (I will look after Vector well! You can leave him to me!)

  After explaining our roles, I sent Joule and Feat back to my shadow, and asked Bolt, Vector, and Mile to stay in the forest, while I sneaked back to the tent.

  The next morning, after we finished preparations, we moved closer to the Orc’s nest.

  “Is everyone ready?”


  “Ou!”


  “I’m ready anytime!”


  I will be the first one to attack.

  “Wind Cutter.”


  First of all, in order to wipe out the Orcs that were wandering around the nest, I released a lot of wind blades with a reasonable amount of magical power.

  (Buhiiiiiii—)

  A lot of Orcs scream and fell down.

  “Oioioi! I didn’t know you could use magic with this much firepower!”


  “How can it be so powerful when it’s only an elementary-level magic!”


  “That’s an A-ranker for you!”


  My fellow adventurers were stunned as they watched the decapitated Orcs fall to the ground.

  “The Orcs are gathering. Don’t let your guard down!”


  Evan-san scolded the stunned adventurers, and they all raised their weapons.

  The Orcs in the nest gathered here with the yells the dying Orcs gave. I could see a few High Orcs here and there among them.

  “Takumi, it’s the High Orcs. They are yours!”


  “Roger that.——(Accelerate).”


  I picked up the Water Sword and used the magic of acceleration to approach the High Orcs at once. I beheaded a few Orcs along the way.

  “First one down.”


  After killing the target, a High Orc, I went to the areas where we were short of hands and helped them reduce the number of Orcs. Then I killed another Hih Orc again. I then continue to repeat this process.

  “Five down.”


  As far as I could see, none of the adventurers were seriously injured, so things were going well so far. However, there were at least five more High Orcs left. In addition, the Orc General and Orc Mages did not show up.

  “… There’s too few.”


  “Indeed.”


  We killed most of the Orcs here, and for some reason the battle calmed down for a while.

  “Did they run off?”


  “No, there’s no sign of them escaping. There are still a lot of higher species out there, aren’t there?”


  “Yeah~”


  “Well, let’s take that as a good sign and set up our position——”


  (Buhiiiiiiiiiiii—)

  I was going to check for injuries, but then I heard a very loud yell, and everyone became more alert.

  “An Orc King!?”


  One of the adventurers muttered in dismay when he spotted a large Orc among the mass of Orcs.

  “It looks like the King has brought his entire force with him.”


  An Orc King is an A-ranked monster. It seemed to be confident in its own strength, and was slowly making its way towards us with an army in tow.

  “W, what do we do!?”


  “Isn’t this too dangerous!?”


  “S, shouldn’t we run!?”


  In addition to the Orc King, there were Orc General, Orc Mages, the rest of the High Orcs, and numerous Orcs, so it was a pretty overwhelming sight. Some of the adventurers were naturally frightened.

  “Even I’m scared because of that many troops.”


  “Takumi-san, what should we do? Our morale is down.”


  Evan-san and Scott-san came up to me. It seems that they want me to make a decision. Perhaps they are also filled with the feelings of wanting to retreat.

  “I’ll go. Can you just take care of the leftovers?”


  “Wha? Wait a minute!”


  As I started to run towards the Orc army, Evan-san and Scott-san came after me from behind.

  “Evan-san. Scott-san, too…”


  “”I can’t let you do this alone, Takumi!”


  “Takumi-san, we’ll keep you company.”


  Apparently, both of them are willing to go along with what I was trying to do.

  “Wind. Reap my enemies apart, Wind Edge!!”


  (Buhiiiiiiiiii—)

  In a position where I was almost in contact with the Orcs, I unleashed an advanced magic that I’ve only used once before——when I defeated the Evil Viper in the Gaya Forest. However, since I couldn’t put my magical power into it as carefully as I did at that time, I was only able to kill a lot of Orcs and High Orcs, but the other higher species were almost unharmed.

  “Wind Cutter.”


  “Buhiiii!!”


  I tried to kill all of the King’s guards first, this time with a smaller but more numerous magic spell, but the Orc King blocked the wind with a large axe he wielded.

  “It blocked it. In that case, how about this!——Air Hammer.”


  I hit the Orc General and the Orc Mages with air pressure to restrict their movements.

  Since it was an invisible attack from above, it was not blocked this time. Well, it wasn’t able to defeat them.

  “Evan-san! Scott-san! I will limit the movements of the General and the Mages for now, so can you take care of the Orcs first?”


  “Leave it to us!”


  “Roger that!”


  I asked Evan-san and Scott-san to take care of the remaining Orcs and High Orcs.

  Perhaps it’s because I have cut down most of the Orc army, but I could see the other adventurers regaining their composure and running towards us to join the battle, so we should be fine.

  “Buhiiiii!”


  “Oops!——Air Shield.”


  The Orc King swung his Greataxe down at me. When I caught it with my wind shield——crack, it made a loud noise.

  “Heavy!”


  The Orc King pushed his Greataxe in with even more force, and I poured magical power into my wind shield to withstand it.

  It was quite difficult to deal with the Orc King while maintaining pressure that kept the higher species at bay… but this is where I have to do my best.