n

n「UOOOOH! You pig-headed cowards! Do you not have the courage to come and face me?!」

nWith a disheveled mane and bared fangs, Vigaro let out a roar and jeered at the Orcs. Though the Orcs and Goblins standing in his way likely didn’t understand his words, they retreated as if they were afraid of him.

nVigaro’s role in this battle was to act as a diversion.

nOne glance at Vigaro was enough to tell that he was highly-ranked among the Ghouls. Leading a group of ten warriors including female mages, he made a show of rampaging around, defeating every enemy that came into his sight. The plan was to have a separate group including Basdia rescue the captive women while this was happening.

nIt was a simple plan; if their enemies were humans, they would have quickly realized that it was a diversion. However, it worked against monsters.

nAggressive behavior is something that all monsters have in common. With members of their own race being killed by Vigaro and his group, they could not help but to focus their attention on him. Orcs in particular were a race that were quick to become enraged, and Vigaro had even quickly defeated the leaders like the Orc Generals. There was no time for them to gather their troops together.

nA rare kind of Orc called an Orc Tamer set monsters like Wood Wolves, Huge Boars and Giant Pythons on the Ghouls, but even those were easily crushed. They were nothing compared to the Undead led by Vandalieu.

n(I didn’t have a hard time at all fighting against the Orc Generals that are supposed to be of the same Rank as me. Rather than me having become stronger, this is Vandalieu’s work.)

nThe effects of the【Strengthen Followers】skill and the battleaxe that was a Magic Item that Vigaro had been given. Even the various supportive spells cast on him by the mages were still active because Vandalieu had transferred his Mana to the mages to recast them.

nAnd when Vigaro and his group had encountered Orc Mages and Goblin Mages that would have been difficult opponents, Vandalieu had appeared out of nowhere to release a black fog that surrounded the enemy mages and sealed their magic.

nThat was why they were experiencing such an overwhelming victory with not even a single injury, let alone a casualty.

nThe Ghouls did feel a little shameful to be completely dependent on this child, but Ghoul society placed value on ability. It was only natural for superior individuals to stand at the top.

nAnd Vigaro understood that Vandalieu was superior to himself.

nWithout a doubt, Vigaro had the advantage in muscle strength and physical ability. In battle techniques, too. However, Vandalieu had the overwhelming advantage when it came to magic and Mana. And above all, he possessed the【Strengthen Followers】skill, the skill that a superior individual should have.

n(I have the capacity to become the chief of a hundred Ghouls, and Vandalieu has the capacity to stand above me.)

nVigaro understood this. However, he couldn’t help but to feel pathetic. As he was now, wasn’t he pathetic for someone serving under Vandalieu – no, for someone who was Vandalieu’s family member?

n「BUGAAAAAAH!」

nThat was why when Vigaro heard a roar even more powerful than an Orc General’s, both corners of his mouth twisted upwards in a smile.

nThere was a young Noble Orc whose body that was over two meters tall made Vigaro look small in comparison. His features seemed to be made out of pure ugliness and pride other than his brilliantly-shining blonde hair.

nAs his rage-filled pupils spotted Vigaro from a height of three meters, his expression softened into one of scorn.

nHe would scatter these insolent small-fries in place of his useless subordinates.

nThat was clearly what he was thinking.

n「A Noble Orc!」

n「Vigaro, what are we going to do?!」

nSeeing not an enemy of the same Rank as Vigaro like an Orc General, but a powerful Noble Orc that was clearly a superior foe, even these elite Ghouls couldn’t conceal their unrest.

nVigaro was a Rank 5 Ghoul Barbarian, and this enemy was a Rank 6 Noble Orc. Though the number was only different by one, the actual difference was significant. Generally, in battles between monsters, if two monsters face off head-to-head starting at healthy conditions, the higher Rank one will win unless the other monster has some significant advantage.

nNo matter how much experience a fox has and how much it practices its skills, there is no way it can win a head-on fight against a tiger. Vigaro himself had once said that if he were to fight a Noble Orc, he would definitely lose.

n「What are we going to do, you say? … WE FIGHT!」

nBut right now, he didn’t feel as if he would lose!

nLetting out the roar of a lion, Vigaro closed the distance between himself and the Noble Orc. Looking down at him, the Noble Orc performed a sideways sweep with his own axe that was even larger than the axe that Vigaro had received from Vandalieu.

nVigaro crouched close to the ground as if crawling to avoid the blow that could have sent his head flying if it connected. He felt anger at the fact that some of his mane was cut off, but before paying too much attention to that, he used three of his limbs to leap sideways.

n「BUGIH!」

nThe reason Vigaro did that was because the axe that was supposed to pass over his head instead came swinging down with a loud crash.

nNormally, axes have bad balance and after swinging them once, time is needed to prepare one’s stance again. Regaining one’s balance immediately after swinging an axe is impossible. But the Noble Orc’s incredible physical ability made it possible.

n「BUOOOOH!」

nIt swung its axe consecutively with no technique, only pure physical strength. It seemed that there were plenty of openings in between, but if Vigaro were to let up his focus on evasion to attack that opening, he would likely be cut to shreds.

nVigaro kept dodging the attacks nimbly.

nOne of his hands was still holding his axe while the other gripped the earth and helped him kick his body off its surface to avoid the Noble Orc’s attacks.

nEach of the Noble Orc’s swings contained terrifying power, and its physical strength made them quick as well. But each of its movements was obvious and linear.

nAgainst an opponent like Vigaro, it was like telling him,「I’m going to attack like this, right now」, before every swing.

n「GAAAH!」

n「BUHIHI!」

n「WAAUUH!」

nVigaro, the Noble Orc, and the warriors that each of them led were engaged in battle.

nVigaro had an idea of how the battle was progressing through the Ghouls’ battle language, but the Noble Orc’s head was completely focused on his Ghoul opponent in front of him.

nWhy wouldn’t any of its attacks land on him?!

nHe was one of his great father’s sons, the strongest of them all, Bugibulio! Why could he not land a single attack on something like this Ghoul?!

nFor Noble Orcs, male Ghouls were just small fry and female Ghouls were nothing but meat pots! So why were such Ghouls making him embarrass himself in front of his subordinates and slaves?!

n「BUGAAAAAAH!」

nWith his rage and irritation taking over, the Noble Orc unleashed the martial skill,【Bisection.】It was a level 2 martial skill but even if a human were to use it, it would be powerful enough to cut down a tree in one strike. If a Noble Orc used it, it was capable of smashing a boulder.

nHowever, the more powerful the Noble Orc’s attack, the larger the opening following it was.

nVigaro avoided it and made great use of the chance at a counterattack that he had finally found.

n「【Axe Whip!】」

nVigaro’s long arm bent loosely like a whip.

n「BUOH?!」

nThe Noble Orc immediately tried to bend backwards to avoid it, but Vigaro’s long arm bent once more and his axe inflicted a deep cut in the Noble Orc’s right arm.

n「GAAAAAAH!」

nVigaro’s right hand left the handle of his battleaxe. And then he gripped the mid-air battleaxe with his left hand and –

nHe used his martial skill once more.

n「Bu-buhyiih!」

nThe Noble Orc deflected the axe aimed at his neck with his own axe. But after Vigaro’s axe was repelled, his arm suddenly changed direction and severed the Noble Orc’s right leg, which the Noble Orc hadn’t been paying attention to.

nUnable to keep his balance, the Noble Orc toppled over sideways. This time, Vigaro’s axe dug its way deep into his neck and decapitated him.

nThe【Axe Whip】technique in which the user increases the flexibility of his arm and flings it like a whip, and the【Triple Axe Whip】technique in which the process is repeated consecutively. These were martial skills taught only to the long-armed Ghoul men.

n「Uoooooh! Who’s next?!」

nVigaro let out a roar of victory and stamped down on the head of the Noble Orc, which was still wearing the screaming expression at the moment of his death. Seeing this fearsome sight, the Orc knights began to fall apart and flee for their lives, but… there was no way that these slow Orcs could get away.

nThe few remaining Goblins and Kobolds followed their masters into the grave.

n「Grrr! How’s that, Vandalieu? Your family is strong!」

nThere was a small child who had called the Ghouls his family, gotten involved in a battle he didn’t need to get involved in and even took on the Title of King. Even now, he was working harder than any of the Ghouls. How could Vigaro call himself a young chief, a warrior, if he didn’t produce results that could make that child proud?

nStanding in a pitter-pattering rain of blood, Vigaro gave a pride-filled roar.

nBugogan’s third son, Budibis, had absolute confidence in his own beautiful looks and his skill with a bow.

nHe wasn’t proficient in close-quarters combat like his brothers. But he believed that a noble should not clash with their inferior prey directly and become stained in an unsightly way by their blood. He believed that a noble should shoot their prey from a distance with elegance.

n「Bugoh, buhihiih?!」

nWhen he had heard a report that there was a group of Ghouls being led by a female Ghoul, he could only think of how fitting the prey was for him.

nThat group apparently contained many female Ghouls. His only thoughts were of capturing them, picking out ones that he fancied, presenting the other attractive ones to his father and distributing the rest among his subordinates, thus placing him in a superior position to his brothers.

n「Buhiiiiih! BUGYAAAAAH!」

nHe had no intention of letting his guard down. He had given five Orc Knights the honor of serving as his advance guard, and also brought with him ten Orcs and thirty small-fry Goblins.

nAt first, things were going well. The warriors serving as Zadiris’s advance guard were unable to completely stop Budibis’s subordinates, and his arrow powerful enough to pierce straight through an adventurer in full plate armor was only barely stopped by the female Ghouls’ wind-attribute Magic.

nAt this rate, the female Ghouls would run out of Mana in less than five minutes, and then the Orcs could push into them. Budibis was confident in his victory.

nAnd then much more than five minutes passed and the female Ghouls had showed no signs of running out of Mana.

n「GUOOOOOOOH!」

n「GEEEEEEH!」

nInstead, a group of Undead attacked from the side. With clouds of the Rotten Beasts’ poisonous breaths floating around and a Phantom Bird’s long-ranged fire from its spirit wings raining down, Budibis and his subordinates were shaken.

nIn the opening created by the Undead, the female Ghouls rallied, causing even more unrest in Budibis’s forces, and then the Rotten Beasts rushed in.

nThe female Ghouls had been supposed to run out of Mana long ago, but they were releasing spells towards Budibis even now. Budibis’s subordinates who were supposed to have pushed into the female Ghouls were instead pushed into, and turned into twitching, bloodstained corpses.

n「Buhiiiih! BUGIBULIO! BUBOBIO! BUOOH!」

nWith his face that he conceitedly believed to be beautiful twisted in fear, Budibis called for help from the brothers that he secretly looked down on and the father that he despised. However, what reached out to him was not the helping hand of his family members, but the cold hand of death.

n「Tch, how noisy!【Great Wind Blade!】」

nThe enormous, greatsword-sized blade of wind created by Zadiris’s spell cut Budibis in half horizontally as he tried to make an unsightly escape.

nBudibis managed to take a few more steps with the top and bottom half of his body still intact, but then his strength gave out and he collapsed, his organs spilling onto the ground.

n「Fuh… Surprisingly, he was not a greatly difficult foe, but he was a noisy rascal with a scream that pierced the ears. Boy, we are fine now.」

nAs Zadiris exhaled, a semi-transparent, thin, string-like object detached from her shoulder. This was Vandalieu’s Spirit Form that had been transferring her Mana.

nHe had apparently attached it to Bone Bird and had it bring it to her.

nWithout even seeing Bone Bird off, Zadiris raised her staff high.

n「Everyone! There are few enemies left! But do not let down your guard!」

nA short while earlier…

nThe group of Ghoul warriors including Basdia quickly finished securing the building containing the captive Ghoul women.

nThere had been Orc guards here as well, but it seemed that their primary job had been to make sure none of the other Orcs did anything excessive to the women rather than to prevent the women from escaping. As they hadn’t planned on killing members of their own race, they weren’t very well-equipped.

nAnd the ones who had come here to procreate had been even more poorly-equipped; they might as well have been fully naked.

nThe outer wall turning into Wood Golems had caused the village to fall into a state of chaos; most of the Orcs had tried to run out of the buildings while Goblins and less intelligent Orcs tried to get into them. Basdia and her group had charged in during the middle of this large traffic jam and cleaned them up quickly before things escalated into a proper battle.

nThe women inside the buildings were in a terrible state. In order to keep captive the Ghoul women who possessed the【Superhuman Strength】skill, their bodies had been immobilized by being half-buried in boulders, likely with a spell cast by the Orc Mages or Noble Orcs. In addition, it seemed that they had been tormented; there were whip-marks on their skin.

nThere were some women who weren’t in this state, but they had been treated just as horribly – their hands and feet had been deliberately broken.

nGhouls had much more vitality compared to humans, so they functioned as tools to give birth to Orc children with no problems even if they were treated horribly. That was why they had been treated this way.

nThe human women in the same building… The Ghouls expected them to be in better conditions, and that expectation was correct. They couldn’t say this out loud after seeing their actual situation, however.

nUnlike most monsters, the Ghoul women had a sense of values. Perhaps this was why they were not rendered mentally crippled, even after receiving such deep emotional scars.

n「What do we do with these women…?」

nBut the human women seemed completely broken. Their eyes were lifeless and their bodies were limp, like corpses.

nEven though the humans were mortal enemies for the Ghouls, as a fellow woman, Basdia couldn’t help but to sympathize for them.

nShe wanted to do something for them, but…

n「GRRRRR!」

nHearing words from her allies’ in the Ghouls’ battle language, Basdia recollected her thoughts.

nThe meaning of those words were,『A powerful enemy is approaching.』

n「BUOOOOOH!」

nBasdia came out to the front of the buildings to see an enraged Noble Orc with fangs bared, as well as Orc Knights guarding him with shields raised.

n「GRRRRRRRRR!」

nHer companions didn’t hesitate to call for reinforcements. None of the Ghouls here, including Basdia, possessed outstanding ability in combat. They could easily defeat Orc Knights, but a Noble Orc would be too difficult.

nEven factoring in the supportive spells and difference in equipment, there was no way that this group of Rank 3 and 4 Ghouls could win against ten Rank 4 Orc Knights led by a Rank 6 Noble Orc.

nIn fact, they would be trampled one-sidedly.

n「Did their leader decide to dedicate some of his forces to recapture the women? I would have thought that they would be headed to where Vigaro and the others are.」

nSeeing the Noble Orc arrogantly looking down upon them, Basdia couldn’t help but to wonder this out loud. In fact, the reason the Ghouls had come here was so that the Noble Orcs and their subordinates wouldn’t use the Ghoul women as hostages.

nBut on the other hand, there was nothing more of value here.

nEven if the Noble Orcs defeated Basdia and the other Ghouls here, the battle would definitely not go well for the Orcs as the groups led by Vigaro, Zadiris and Vandalieu would be able move about freely.

nRecapturing the women would increase the Orcs’ morale to some extent, but it would not increase their strength in battle.

nCommon sense would have told the Orcs that it would be a better decision to leave Basdia’s group alone, instead dealing with Vigaro and Zadiris’s groups. Of course, most monsters didn’t possess common sense, but everyone had expected that at least monsters with the Noble Orcs’ intelligence would have made that decision.

n「Bubuh, bufufufu.」

nHowever, the young Noble Orc looking down on Basdia and her group, Bubobio, was a Noble Orc that defied those expectations.

nHe was aware that the battle would not turn around with just the efforts of his subordinates and slaves, but had confidence that if he stepped into battle himself, he could win.

nLike his brothers, he led his subordinates to act separately from them and add achievements to his own name. The thought of helping his brothers didn’t occur to him at all; his head only contained thoughts of defeating them and currying favor with his father.

n「Gubububuh.」

nThat was why Bubobio had chosen to secure the women. There were no Noble Orc or Orc women; they were races made up entirely of males. In order to preserve themselves, the females of other races were absolutely necessary.

nIf he were to recapture the women for the village, it would become a highly-valued achievement.

nThat was what Bubobio thought. It was a choice not to win the battle, but a choice brought about by the thought of gaining the greatest achievement to his name while exercising the least effort.

nIt was only natural for him to decide against what would be considered common sense.

n「BUOOOOOH!」

nPointing the tips of their prided greatswords in the direction of the Ghouls, the Orc Knights raised their shields and lowered their center of gravity in a prepared stance.

n「Grr! (They’re going to charge in!)」

n「Garr! (Buy some time!)」

nThey had to somehow hold out until reinforcements arrived. Basdia and the other Ghouls hardened their resolve while the ten Orc Knights simultaneously charged in while using their【Shield Bash】skill… Or as they began to, the ground surface began to move.

n『UOOOOOOOHN!』

nThe ground turned into dozens of Earth Golems that stood to face the Orc Knights.

nBut there was no way that these brittle clay-doll-like Golems could stop the【Shield Bash】of Orcs that weighed over a hundred kilograms. They should crumble instantly, but…

n「BUGYAAAAAH?!」

nBefore the Orc Knights clashed against the Earth Golems, their legs were caught in holes in the ground, causing them to fall down.

nEarth Golems were made from the dirt on the ground. It was only natural that holes with the same volume as the Golems would form.

nAnd then the Earth Golems collapsed on top of the fallen Orc Knights, burying them alive.

n「…」

n「…」

nAfter seeing these unbelievable events unfold, both the Ghouls and Bubobio were silent.

n「They were more effective than I thought, these Golem-made improvised pitfalls.」

n『Oh, such tremendous technique! As to be expected from you, Bocchan.』

n『You even gave them a burial. Though we’ll have to dig them up again later.』

nWith the rattling of carriage wheels, Vandalieu and Sam appeared.

n「V-Van?」

n「Yes, it’s me. Ah, there’s still the Noble Orc left, so let’s not let our guard down.」

n「Y-you’re right.」

n「And the enemy’s head is still intact, so please defeat him quickly.」

n「Well, that goes without saying… Wait a minute, you want me to defeat him?!」

n「Yes, from an Experience-Point perspective.」

nBasdia was flustered and surprised, but Vandalieu requested that she defeat Bubobio as if it was the obvious thing for her to do.

n「It’s alright, I’m going to support you.」

n「No, I think it’s impossible for me to defeat a Noble Orc even with you supporting me!」

n「It’s impossible because you think it’s impossible. Even that **ty professor that valued results over anything said that.」

n「And you’re alright with learning from those words?!」

n「But you know, he was really a rotten-brained, idiot professor.」

nEven though Vandalieu was the laboratory animal, the professor should have been the one taking responsibility when the experiments didn’t succeed, but he always said things like,「You don’t have enough spirit…」He was a nagging, disagreeable fellow. The only time Vandalieu had a positive feeling towards him was when he let out his dying scream.

nLooking at Bubobio, Vandalieu recalled that professor’s blonde hair.

n「It’s fine; if I support you, Basdia, you won’t die. He’s coming this way now.」

n「!」

nWith a sigh, Basdia raised her axe. Bubobio stood before her, trembling with rage.

n「BUGOOOOOOH!」

nBubobio was enraged at the fact that Vandalieu and Basdia had forgotten him and were having an enjoyable conversation together. With a roar, he raised his greatsword. As he did so, the ground beneath which the Orc Knights were buried began to crawl.

nVandalieu was calm. He knew that he hadn’t managed to dig holes deep enough to kill the Orcs instantly, so he had been expecting that they would emerge eventually.

n「Rita, Saria and everyone else, please finish off the ones that are buried. Basdia, let’s defeat the Noble Orc together.」

n「Kuh, alright!」

nStill wondering if she would really be alright, Basdia stepped forward.

nFrom behind her came the screams of the Orc Knights who had managed to finally crawl out of the ground, only to be slaughtered by a glaive, halberd or Ghoul claws.

n「BUOOOOH!」

nBubobio charged towards Basdia with the force of a brick wall. And then he swung his greatsword towards her head with a speed too fast to be seen by the eyes.

n『Evade to the right.』

nBasdia obeyed her instincts to dodge that lethal attack that her eyes couldn’t follow.

n「Buh, BUOOH!」

nAs if dissatisfied that his lethal attack had been evaded, Bubobio forcefully pulled his greatsword back and performed a thrust.

n『A half-step to the left.』

nAnd in the next moment, Basdia had evaded that thrust as well.

n「Buh… BUOH! BUOH! BUOOOH! BUGOGOOOH!」

nAs if panicking now that he had been dodged a second time, Bubobio began unleashing attacks one after another.

nA sideways-sweeping【Single Flash】, a diagonal【Flowing Cut】from above, a【Triple Thrust】aimed at Basdia’s neck, stomach and leg.

nIf any of these brutal attacks landed, they would have been fatal regardless of Basdia’s well-trained body and high-quality armor.

nBut Basdia evaded them all.

nJust how?! How could this female Ghoul move so fast?! Why did Bubobio’s blade not find its target, even though he was supposed to be unrivalled?!

nThe expression on Bubobio’s face had gone beyond anger, and there was now even some fear of Basdia.

n(How am I able to dodge these attacks?!)

nAnd even Basdia was surprised. Indeed, after the battle so far, she had seen that Bubobio wasn’t particularly highly skilled. He was about as skilled as she was.

nHowever, there was a vast difference in their basic physical strength. If Basdia was lucky, she would be able to dodge one or two attacks, but having these attacks unleashed one after the other should have ended in her being chopped to pieces.

nBut for some reason, Basdia had known what she needed to do to avoid dying.

nShe had sensed that she needed to move right, immediately did exactly that and the greatsword had swung down at the spot that she had been standing.

nShe had sensed that she needed to take half a step back, and then the tip of the greatsword had passed right in front of her.

nAs if she could see the future, she had known what she needed to do to survive. It was as if she had acquired the【Future Sight】skill.

n(I see; this is Vandalieu’s support!)

nA cool, soft hand was supporting her. It was this hand that was telling her how to avoid being killed.

nVandalieu’s arm, which he had used【Spirit Form Transformation】on, had fused with Basdia’s back. Through that arm, Vandalieu applied the【Danger Sense: Death】that was constantly active for himself to Basdia.

n【Danger Sense: Death】was a skill that detected the danger of death, which meant that it could definitely detect each of Bubobio’s lethal attacks.

n【Danger Sense: Death】wouldn’t detect the attacks of a Kobold’s sword whose individual swings inflicted only light damage. If Bubobio had simply kept his composure and mixed feints in with his attacks, things might not have turned out so one-sided.

nHowever, the enraged, impatient, scared Bubobio was unable to keep his composure and repeated only these lethal attacks that would kill in one hit.

nThe three brothers, Bubobio, Bubidis and Bugibulio, were weak compared to the Noble Orc race as a whole.

nRather than them having been born this way, their weakness was a result of the environment that they had grown up in and Bugogan’s failure to train them adequately.

nSince they had been born after Bugogan had made his escape from his home into this Devil’s Nest, they had been surrounded by nothing but servant Orcs and slave Goblins and Kobolds from the moment they were born.

nThey had made most things work with the physical strength that they were blessed with from birth, and all the enemies they had faced were foes that were easily defeated by swinging weapons at them, not requiring them to improve their techniques.

nNaturally, they neglected their studies and since they faced only lower-Rank enemies, their levels didn’t increase and their combat-related skills didn’t go beyond level 3.

nThe rivals that they did compete against were their brothers that were just the same as themselves, so rather than working hard, they simply competed over who could get the easiest achievements.

nIf this had been a harsh environment such as the large Devil’s nest to the south that housed many other Noble Orcs and other monsters that could challenge them, Bubobio and his brothers would have been forced to work hard to survive.

nThe Noble Orcs thought that children who could raise themselves were superior, while children that required the parents to directly raise them were inferior. If Bugogan had discarded this notion and trained his sons himself, then perhaps they would have had high-level martial and magic skills.

nInstead, what he had produced were three foolish sons who had only experienced easy victories against weaker foes.

nThey hadn’t had any problems with this until now. Their enemies were all inferior, after all.

nHowever, Basdia and the other Ghouls were far more diligent than the Orcs in training themselves.

nVandalieu and Tarea had even provided them with equipment even better than that of adventurers.

nFactoring in the supportive spells and the effects of the【Strengthen Followers】skill, this was more than enough to overcome a Rank difference of one.

nEven then, Basdia would have a hard time defeating a Noble Orc without taking any damage. But with Vandalieu’s support, she wouldn’t die.

nSince a one-on-one battle would only end when one of the participants died, the outcome of this battle was already clear.

n「Buhih, buhih!」

nNow out of breath, the Noble Orc’s movements became noticeably slower and it stopped using its martial skills. Using martial skills normally consumes Mana, but in this case, it also drained Stamina as well.

n「【Bisection!】」

n「Bugiiiiiih!」

nAnd then Basdia went on the attack and Bubobio’s arm was severed by her axe.

nShe unleashed a merciless series of martial skills, as if returning the favor.【Strong Flash】,【Instant Response】,【Single Flash.】

nAs Bubobio tried to turn and run, he toppled forward as Basdia’s axe, empowered by the weapon-throwing skill【Lightning Attack】, buried itself in the back of his head.

n「I defeated him… I defeated him, Van! I defeated a Noble Orc!」

nBasdia was likely exhilarated at the fact that she had gained a large amount of Experience Points by defeating this powerful enemy. She rushed over to Sam’s carriage and picked Vandalieu up and started swinging him around.

n「You defeated him, you defeated him, so please put me down.」

nHe was happy that Basdia was so overjoyed, but having his vision shaken up, down, left and right wasn’t a pleasant experience. The other Ghouls wouldn’t stop cheering, either.

nBut it was fortunate that Basdia had gained the Experience Points, just as he had planned.

nVandalieu couldn’t gain Experience Points on his own because of his curse, and even if he could he was already level 100 so it would have been pointless for him to gain the Experience Points himself. That was why he had wanted Basdia, who could use the Experience Points, to defeat the Noble Orc.

n「Now, we have to deal with these guys’ dad –」

n「BUGOAAAAAAAAH!」

nAn angry roar came from the largest house in the village, interrupting Vandalieu. At the same time, the walls of that house began to collapse from the inside, but even the sounds of the walls falling were drowned out by the roar.

nA Noble Orc well over three meters tall appeared. He was holding a magic sword with a two-meter-long blade and wore an extravagant suit of armor.

nEven Vandalieu and the group of Ghouls that was with him could see this Noble Orc.

nThey were rendered speechless. The happiness that they had felt moments earlier had vanished, and they were now trembling in fear instead. But it couldn’t be helped; this was a true Noble Orc. This was a monster that could rival a Dragon.

nVandalieu took this opportunity to slip away from Basdia’s arms and analyzed how much of a threat Bugogan was with【Danger Sense: Death.】

nHe wondered how they would win this battle.

nIf he cooperated with Basdia to fight him… No matter what he did, Basdia would die.

nIf he waited for Zadiris and used magic as their primary way to fight… No matter what he did, the rear guard including Zadiris and the Ghouls of the advance guard would die.

nIf he used Vigaro at the center of his tactics… No matter what he did, no matter how good or bad his luck was, Vigaro would die.

nIf he used Zadiris, Vigaro and Basdia as the primary fighting force while also combining the strength of himself, Sam and the other Undead… He thought he could win. But no matter how good their luck was, some of them would die.

nIf Vandalieu stepped forward to face Bugogan alone, with everyone else just supporting him… There was more than a fifty percent chance that he would die, but only a ten percent chance that the others would die.

n「Well then, please lend me your support.」

nBefore anyone could express their surprise at these words, Vandalieu used the no-attribute spell【Flight】to float into the air, and then flew towards Bugogan with the speed of a bullet.

n