90-080 Practice (1)

After leaving Mr. Gantz's store, we rushed to the forest and headed deeper into the woods.

That's where Haruka's sword, or should I say small sword, came in handy.

Normally, Toya's sword is used to clear the bushes, but it's not very sharp, so it's only effective for breaking branches. The small sword, however, cut the bushes with a crisp and clean cut, making it easier to make a path.

The sharpness is excellent.

Yes, it is. It's nice to know that you can handle it roughly.

If you only want to clear the bushes, you can buy a magic bag, a machete and a sickle, but it's too much trouble to go in and out of the bag just for that.

It's time for the orcs to move into their territory. ...... We're targeting around 10 of them, right?

Yes. If you have a group of less than that, you can just hunt them as normal.

Wouldn't a group of 20 or so act like ...... that?

If you think they're hunting for food, it's unlikely, isn't it?　The nests we scouted before, there weren't a hundred of them, were there?

No, I think there were about fifty or so in the area we spotted.

Even if we take into account the orcs that weren't in the nest at the time, there wouldn't have been more than a hundred.

If 50 orcs were wandering around outside the nest, they would have been more likely to be caught by my search.

The question is, how many orcs were there? I'm sure there are multiple orc leaders, but I'm not sure if there are any orc captains. ......

It would be too convenient to assume that the orc leader we encountered is the only higher species in the orc nest.

"Is it too simplistic to assume that there is one orc leader per 30 orcs, or that there is one orc captain per 30 orc leaders?

By that calculation, the ...... Orc King would be the pinnacle of the 810,000 Orcs, right?

Yuki, who did a quick calculation, questioned Toya's argument.

I'm not sure if that's true ......?

I'm not sure what to make of that.

I'm not sure what to make of this. It's just a vague feeling, but I think even a soldier guarding the gate is a bit delicate.

If you think about it, 810,000 orcs is unrealistic. The country would probably be destroyed before the number increases to that level.

"What if there are 10 higher species and one higher species?

"Then 30,000 is still realistic?

Still, it's a level that could destroy the country.

"If we assume that, then we'd have a few more orc leaders and no orc captains.

"Let's just assume that for now. I have my own spotters. If it's too dangerous, we can run.

If we're up against a strong enemy, we can get away before they get close. The usefulness of the [Enemy Searching] skill is unparalleled when it comes to ensuring safety.

It is no exaggeration to say that this is what makes our actions possible.

After confirming our plan, we walked around the orc nest, looking for groups of orcs. After about half a lap, a group of eight Orcs was caught in my search. They don't react like orc leaders, so they're sitting ducks. .......

What to do?

I want to fight on the side closer to the road, in case of emergency.

If you fight from this position, you will be limited in the direction you can run when you need to escape. Since the direction of the deep forest and the orc nest are excluded, you can only escape to the left or right.

Eight orcs should be fine, right?　If Nao and Yuki can take out four of them, the battle itself will be over soon, and since we have the bag...

A big magic bag.

To be frank, it's more dangerous during dismantling than during fighting.

You can smell blood, and during dismantling, your hands are covered with grease because you've let go of your weapon, so you can't grab your weapon at a moment's notice. It takes longer than fighting.

The time it takes is also longer than in combat. Since you never neglect your search, you don't have to worry too much about being caught by surprise, but it's a pity that you have to run away without your prey.

What's the division?

Yuki and Nao, as I said before, will attack the four in the rear. Kill them in one blow if you can. I'll go in front of one of them. Natsuki and Toya, take care of the front three.

After confirming that everyone had nodded in agreement with Haruka's instructions, they headed towards the orcs.

Recently, I've been paying a little more attention to my route, and approaching from downwind. If I approach them without paying attention, they seem to notice me even from a considerable distance, in the case of orcs. Maybe they have a good nose.

As for footsteps, Yuki and I are the only ones with [Stealthy Footsteps] at the moment, but even so, we're all able to act more quietly than before, and we can blend in with the various sounds in the forest, so I'm not too worried.

And so we approached for a while. It was not until they were in sight that the orcs responded.

I guess I'll have to work hard to be able to catch them completely by surprise.

"Here it comes!

As the Orcs noticed us, they moved closer and closer, and we moved to the best position.

Just before Natsuki and Toya came into the gap, Yuki and I timed our fire arrows to fire, and the two of us cut into the Orcs who were upset by their fallen comrades.

Natsuki's spear is a one-hit kill. Taking advantage of the difference in height, he pierces the head from under the chin.

Toya shattered a knee with his sword and struck a crumbling Orc in the head.

One of the orcs fell after taking three of Haruka's arrows, and the other sank quickly after being hit by Natsuki's spear and Toya's follow-up blow.

"Phew. ......

I exhaled when I saw the result. The battle was almost instantaneous.

The orcs were killed with little time to resist, and Yuki and I didn't even have to wield our weapons.

That's a lot of room for maneuver.

Yeah. I'm not sure what to do.

Oh, and by the way, you shattered his knee.

It made a pretty nasty sound. The sound of the skull crushing right after that was also unpleasant.

Last time, it didn't shatter when I attacked it.

"Hmm?　Didn't you break it the first time we met?

That was a shield bash with a charge, right?　If you just swung the sword normally, it wouldn't work.

The fact that it can be shattered using only the strength of its muscles without any assistance is considered progress.

It's a bit tricky considering the dismantling. The best way to kill it is with Natsuki.

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that. You have to break it down to reach it.

The orc's head, which is about three meters high, is too high for Toya to attack with a sword.

He had tried to jump and attack it directly before, but it had caught him and he had refrained from doing so. He's more vulnerable when he's in the air.

Can't you just aim from below like Natsuki?　It's not as sharp as a spear, but that doesn't mean it can't pierce, right?

No, Natsuki can do it easily every time, but it's very advanced to penetrate the gap between the arms.

Yeah, I can't do it either.

I've aimed at it before, but it's almost impossible to aim at it in a normal face-to-face situation. Even with a surprise attack, it would be impossible for me.

"Is that so?　That's great, Natsuki.

Thank you.

Natsuki smiles shyly. However, the content of the praise is not in keeping with the expression on his face, but rather the content is very disturbing.

Hey, why don't we clean up the orcs?

"Yeah, sure.

The magic bag I worked so hard to make. The three women unfolded it and put the orc that Toya and I had brought into it. It is thanks to [Strengthening Muscle] that two people can carry an Orc of this size without difficulty.

But when you look at it like this, it's bizarre. ......

Yes ......

You'll be able to find a lot more information on the web.

The bag that Haruka and his team made was sewn in an unusual way, and although it expanded into a two-meter diameter oval, it was only about 20 centimeters deep, and it was quite a strange sight to see the giant body of a three-meter orc being easily swallowed by it.

I've seen magic bags hold a lot of stuff before, but there's a difference between the sight of a number of items that can fit in a magic bag and the sight of an item that can't fit in a magic bag.

"That's fine, it's convenient.

Toya, you're so naive.

I'm sure you're not the only one.　That's what it is, I guess. --Okay, that's it!

He threw in the eighth orc and folded up his magic bag so that it was small enough to fit in a plastic bag. There's a total of 2.5 tons of dead orcs in here. ...... Yeah, Toya's right, let's stop thinking about it.

What should we do?　What do we do now?　Or do we fight some more?

It's all over now, why don't we just go around and fight if we find any, or leave if there are none?

Yeah. We haven't even used our weapons yet.

We haven't used our weapons yet. - No, the situation where Haruka would use them is a bad one, right?　Wouldn't it be better if she didn't use it?

But we need to practice. ...... Next time, if there's room, why don't we leave three of them and fight in the rearguard group?

I agree!　I want to see what I can do!

I have no reason to disagree with you, so I'll nod.

I have no reason to disagree, so I nodded... if we can find the right enemies.

Let's go, then.

As a result, I encountered and fought a group of 10 orcs before I left.

The remaining three were taken care of by the rearguard, and Toya and Natsuki were on standby to follow up at any time.

I was able to kill them relatively easily, but Yuki struggled a bit with her new weapon, but she was able to kill them all by herself.

Haruka, on the other hand, took a long time because this was almost her first time to fight in close quarters, and she had to fight under the watchful eyes of everyone, but in the end she was able to kill it without any help.

Unfortunately, the orc skins became unsaleable, but it was a good thing that Haruka found out that she could cut through orc skins with a small sword.

These orcs were also stored in a huge magic bag, and after moving them to the outside of the forest, we all started dismantling them.

There were 18 orcs in total. The amount of meat is huge, but the amount of waste is also huge.

In the forest, we would have left them as they were, but there were too many to leave here where we could see them from the road.

So we used Yuki's earth magic this time to clean up the mess, and we headed back to the city.