Intensifying Battle

—Raust—

A few seconds later, Narsena and I arrived right before the horde of monsters.
Being in front of them made me feel more intimidated by the sheer number of monsters.

It was better than the mutated hydra.
My feeling hadn’t changed even now that we were getting closer.

However, I couldn’t imagine a future where I defeated the lich who was trying to activate its magic while handling this many monsters.

And yet, if we don’t stop this magic, Labyrinth City will surely collapse.
There is no other way but to defeat the lich.

Inspiring myself, I slashed at the orc at the frontmost of the pack.

「Move!」

Unlike the hobgoblins, the orc responded to my dagger’s movement.
It lifted its thick arm and positioned it to protect its vital from my dagger.
However, it was useless, with my running momentum and the momentum of the swung-down dagger, I sliced off the orc’s hand and neck at the same time.

「Gah-!」

As I caught the orc’s head flying off out of the corner of my eyes, I was convinced this orc was also reinforced.
At least, the orcs I faced so far were incapable of reacting to my slash.

Having said that, the reinforced orcs weren’t difficult enemies either.

Before, I might have struggled somewhat, but not for the current me with strengthened body reinforcement.
I felt a little relieved as I attacked the next orc.

……But, soon that margin disappeared.

「…!」

「Guga-!」

The next orc I attacked also responded to my attack and raised its arm to protect its neck.
Like before, the orc’s arm flew off, but my dagger didn’t slice its head off.

「KILL!」

Probably thinking it was its chance, one of the orcs beside me launched an attack.
It swung its thick as a log arm to try to mow me down, but I avoided the attack by bending down just in time.

This time, the orc that swung its arm exposed a big opening, I stabbed its heart as I stood up while leaning against its body.

「Shhh!」

The reinforced orc lived even when its vital was stabbed with a dagger.
It desperately stretched out its arms and tried to resist.

Ignoring that, I kicked the body, forcibly pulling the dagger out of the orc’s body and turned around to cut off the head of the orc that was trying to attack me with one hand.

My belief that I wouldn’t be blindsided just fighting enemies like these orcs strengthened as I watched the monsters feeling shaken that their comrades were killed in an instant.
The same was true for Narsena and Zieg-san.
However, after fighting the orcs, the frustration inside me became stronger.

——I had a feeling that it would be impossible to get through this pack of orcs and kill the lich in a short time.

「…Kh-!」

I wouldn’t lose just fighting them, but needing to get through them in a short amount of time is a different story.
The orcs are definitely reacting to my movement and can’t be overwhelmed like the hobgoblins.
Unlike the hobgoblins, they don’t have weapons, but they have enough strength to fill that gap.
As a result, the battle with the orcs will surely cut down our precious time, realizing this, my face twisted in frustration.

「If I use a greatsword, then at least…」

Recovering from my anxiety, I cut off the arm of the orc that attacked me with my dagger.
This dagger was by no means a low-quality weapon.
On the contrary, it was a masterpiece that could be called a quasi-magic weapon.

Even so, at present, the dagger clearly didn’t have enough killing power.
I reaffirmed that as I decapitated the orc.
If it was a great sword, then I would have been able to kill this orc in a single attack even if it protected itself with its arm.

「KEEP THE PRESSURE!」

I bit my lip as I moved to the side to avoid the orc’s fist coming from behind.

And that wasn’t the only problem.

「…!」

The orc’s fist grazed my shoulder even though I should’ve avoided it.
It was then that I noticed the difference between my image and the actual movement of my body.

Now, I was more mobile than I was when I strengthened myself with magic power and ki.
Unbeknownst to me, I was still not able to fully control my enhanced body.
Yes, I was currently too mobile for my own good.

In my current state, there was no way for me to reach the source of the magic, the lich.

When I realized that, I looked sideways at Narsena and Zieg-san while being hopeful.
I thought they would be able to do something about it.

——That was naive of me.

「Haaaaaaaaaa!」

Using her fast movement, Narsena toyed with the orcs that surrounded her and beat them with only one blow.
The skill she developed through years of study had unmatched accuracy, the orcs, afraid of friendly fire, couldn’t even launch an attack and collapsed.

Despite this, the face Narsena made under this situation showed her frustration.

It was true that Narsena, with her skills as a martial artist, boasted tremendous strength against a single enemy, as evidenced by the orc corpses lying around her feet.
However, the skill of a martial artist wasn’t the kind that could annihilate a large number of enemies with overwhelming firepower.

Narsena would have a hard time reaching the lich too.
And she was aware of it herself.

Zieg-san wasn’t in a good situation either.
Among the three of us, although Zieg-san had the slowest moving speed, he used a greatsword, a magic sword that highly destructive.
…… But, because there was an ogre that kept him occupied, he couldn’t fully utilize the destructiveness of his sword.

「Graaaaaaaaaahhhh!」

「GAAAAAAAAAA!」

After raising their war cry, Zieg-san and the ogre started the fight.
The ogre was clearly inferior, probably because it was empty-handed.
Still, their match wouldn’t be concluded soon, I couldn’t rely on Zieg-san right now.

Seeing both of them, I wasn’t optimistic enough to have high hope for them.
I charged at the orcs with determination, knowing that I was the only one who could defeat the lich at the moment.

「Uoooooooo!」

Minimize evasion, focus on attacking with stronger body reinforcement.
Although the orcs tried to defend themselves, their head got smashed along with the arm they used to defend, I also broke their attacking arms and legs while keep advancing.
As a result, my body slowly accumulating wound, but little by little, I advanced forward.

The orcs closer to the lich must have been weakened because their magic got sucked by the lich.
If I can go that far, the situation should be better, that was what I believed.

「──!」

…… But that was the time limit.

I was forced to recognize that as the lich’s magic circle that we could see above the orcs’ head suddenly emitting strong light and magic power.

The tactical-class magic would be completed in a bit.

「Damn, damn it!」

I desperately swung my dagger at the orcs and tried to move forward somehow.
From behind, the sound of battle also growing louder, probably from Narsena who desperately tried to advance forward too.
…But it was clear that was futile.

And yet, we still struggled.

Even if the magic was released, we who were close to the lich would be safe.
However, it definitely would cause tremendous damage to Labyrinth City.
The townfolks, especially the one without combat ability, would surely die.

That was why I couldn’t give up.
Full of wounds, I rampaged as I advanced.

「Move out of my way!」

The magic circle shone blinding light as if to ridicule my action.

——It was then a casual voice that sounded out-of-place echoed from above.

「Zieg, you don’t seem to be able to handle the magic sword at all yet.」

「…………Huh?」

The next moment, a gap opened in the shining magic circle as if it had been cut by something.

Before I could understand what that gap was, a huge amount of magic power erupted, all the beings in this place including the monsters stopped moving.
Then, the magic circle that was everyone’s attention currently shone brighter before it collapsed.

「YOU! BASTARDDDDD!」

After a beat, the lich’s voice snapped me back to my senses, and I finally understood what happened.

The owner of that voice from before cut through the magic circle.
The tactical-class magic that was aimed at Labyrinth City was no more.

Relieved, I looked up and saw a man floating in the air, wearing full body armor and in a state of post swinging his greatsword.
Short blonde hair, glasses, and slit-eyed.
I opened my mouth in disbelief as I realized who he really was, seeing that he hadn’t changed a bit over the years.

「Ro-Ronaldo, san? Why are you here …?」

Ronaldo-san laughed briskly at us, as we were stunned to find out why he, one of the world-class adventurers, was in such a place.

「Hey, it’s been a while, you two. I have a lot to talk about, but I’ll do that later. Anyway, now it’s better to hurry and run from there.」

I only noticed the growing magic power and shaking after Ronaldo-san announced that.
I turned my eyes at the source of the magic power with a tense expression, thinking it was the lich again, but what I saw was a woman with bright red hair.

「Ahh, I see…」

We no longer need to deal with the monsters.
When I realized that, I shouted at Narsena and Zieg-san.

「Hurry up and retreat!」

From the face of Narsena who was still surrounded by the orcs and Zieg-san, they looked confused, but they started to retreat in response to my voice.

「KILL! DON’T LET THEM RUN AWAY!」

However, at the same time, lich’s voice snapped the monsters back to their sense, the monsters that were stunned until now began to move.
Narsena and I immediately opened the distance with the orcs with our body reinforcement.
However, Zieg-san who was occupied by the ogre wasn’t ready to move.
Sensing something was wrong, I immediately tried to move to Zieg-san, but before I could, Narsena dashed off.

「Get away!」

「GA!?」

Narsena’s fist slammed the ogre’s wide open back, stunning it.
Without overlooking that gap, Zieg-san’s magic sword cleaved the ogre in two.

「Sorry, and thank you!」

「Let’s hurry!」

The two ran with body reinforcement at full strength and opened the distance with the orcs that came from behind— It was at that moment roaring sound resounded.

Looking back, what I saw was an explosion comparable to tactical-class magic.
It was so powerful that I didn’t even have to think about what would have happened to the monsters caught in the explosion.

And yet, we, who were quite close to the monsters didn’t get affected by it, it showed the skills of the world-class adventurer that cast the magic, Ralma.

「……That was ridiculous, Master.」

For a moment, all we could do was stare in amazement at the place where the herd of monsters had been.
It was the voice of Master, who had no time to spare, that snapped us back.

「Idiot disciple, I’m going to the guild now. Brief me on the situation before we get there.」

「U-Understood.」

Overwhelmed by the unprecedented seriousness of the Master’s tone, I managed to answer.
Master took one look at me while floating in the air, and with a pained expression on her face, she opened her mouth.

「I’ll explain along the way. Anyway, let’s go to the guild.」

What is that look indicate?
At the time, I still didn’t understand……