Ch.1225I Might Have Gone Too Far

I won.

“Grooooar—! Don’t run away, you cowardly human—!”

“Run away? You’re just too slow to catch me.”

The half-torso giant, though weaponless, still maintained his fighting spirit and kept charging at me with his crumbling mechanical armor… but in the end, he was just a cripple without legs.

“How frustrating. If only my legs were intact…!”

“You have no reason to feel wronged. It’s not like you lost them in an accident—you just couldn’t read my attack and paid the price.”

Unless I deliberately let myself get hit out of curiosity about how much it would hurt, there was no way his club would reach me as he crawled across the ground, unable to even walk.

“Kuh, urghhhh…!”

The other enemy, Caljarat, was no longer a threat either.

He was barely supporting himself by leaning on his broken greatsword stuck in the ground, clearly looking like he was already dying.

“Not yet, not yet…!”

Even in that state, he was still gritting his teeth and burning with hostility, but growling was all he could manage.

He probably still had quite a bit of energy left, but the vessel to contain it—his physical body—was too broken for it to mean anything.

He must know this too—no, being his own body, he would know better than anyone.

That struggling would only result in destroying himself with his own power. That his injuries had already reached that stage.

“Not yet… I am…!”

Yet why was he struggling so desperately?

It couldn’t be because he didn’t want to die… If he valued his life that much, it wouldn’t make sense for him to have come back to challenge me again in the first place.

Then… even in this state, did he have something up his sleeve? Some trump card I hadn’t noticed?

Or perhaps—

[How amusing. Brave but reckless, full of spirit but foolish. Those who yearn for a glorious death rather than life have always acted like this.]

Or perhaps, as Hersella said, he simply yearned for a place worthy of burning his life brilliantly.

If it was the former, I should kill him without delay, but if it was the latter…

‘…Could I make use of him?’

He might have some value. The moment I thought that to myself, Hersella immediately denied it.

[A moth seeking a place to die? Nonsense. Taking in such men never ends well.]

‘I suppose you’re right?’

Even I have to admit it seems like a dangerous tightrope walk.

Bringing a demigod who might stab me in the back at any moment under my command would essentially be like sleeping with a tiger next to my bed.

If well-tamed, it could become a reliable guard protecting its master day and night, but if I let my guard down completely, it wouldn’t be surprising to have my neck bitten off at any moment.

That was the issue with bringing Caljarat in as an ally. So even if the idea suddenly occurred to me, it wasn’t something I could rashly act upon.

…Well, that’s assuming he would accept my offer in the first place. If he refused, all this deliberation would just be a waste of time.

In other words, before weighing the benefits and risks, I needed to make the offer first.

“Let me ask you one last thing, Caljarat.”

“A question… at this point? Ha, how human-like to be so curious…!”

So I threw a question at him—a blunt and direct question to see through his true intentions.

“Do you want to fight and win? Or do you want to die fighting?”

“…What?”

Caljarat’s eyes trembled for a moment. His delayed response showed neither confusion about what I meant nor anger at being insulted.

“You’re wavering. Did I hit the mark?”

“Don’t spout nonsense…! Me, wanting to die? Ridiculous. I have a mission to revive my kind—”

Mission, he says.

“Would someone like that act like a battle maniac? Something that would be dangerous even with nine lives?”

Caljarat’s mouth closed again as he was about to launch into a tirade.

Yes, he must know it well himself. That his words and his actual actions were completely at odds with each other. Such a contradiction.

“If you were truly seeking to revive your race, you would have valued your life first. Right? If you die, the only lifeline would be cut off.”

“That’s…!”

“To find a strong and capable vessel? That still doesn’t explain it. Even if that were the case, you should have given up if you knew you couldn’t win.”

Would someone carrying the fate of their entire race throw away their life twice just to find a good wife? That would be insane.

Of course, this orc’s actions do seem a bit crazy, but even so, he couldn’t be that far gone… probably?

Assuming he’s not, the conclusion was clear.

“There’s only one answer. You don’t believe it yourself.”

His talk of “reviving his race” was just empty words, and in reality, even he didn’t think it was possible.

“What… did you say…?”

“You say you want to revive your race, but deep down you’ve already given up, thinking it’s impossible. And now you’re just looking for a place to die out of guilt.”

I delivered this judgment in a definitive tone, pressing him.

“After giving up, you felt ashamed before your dead comrades? That guilt and frustration made you throw yourself into battles, intoxicated by the struggle. Just like a dropout trying to forget their sorrows with alcohol.”

If you die, you no longer need to feel that guilt, and if your final moments were a legendary battle, you could even save face before your comrades when you meet them again. Right?

“Kuk…!”

I must have hit the mark perfectly, as Caljarat’s face contorted indescribably.

This is interesting.

“Pathetic escape, wretched self-deception. The name ‘warrior’ would weep. In reality, you’re just a suicidal escapist.”

“You dare…!”

Caljarat ground his teeth with a face like a vengeful spirit. If his body had been intact, he would have rushed at me and swung his greatsword like a madman.

He seems to be burning with rage. Good, now what words should I use for the final blow—

[…Didn’t you say you wanted to recruit him? Why are you stabbing his heart with your tongue? Typical of you, though.]

‘Ah, right. That’s what I was doing.’

I made a mistake. Hersella’s incredulous chuckle snapped me back to reality.

Come to think of it, my goal wasn’t to verbally beat him down, but to probe his true feelings and then make a recruitment offer.

The satisfaction of verbally striking him in the solar plexus was so delicious that I got caught up in it and momentarily forgot my original purpose.

‘Hmm… if I take back what I just said and offer him the greatest battlefield worthy of burning his life…’

[Would that work? Just look at those eyes. Aren’t they looking at you like a mortal enemy?]

…That’s not wrong.

The look in Caljarat’s eyes as he glared at me was as fierce as if red flames might pour out. Even if I had killed his parents, he probably wouldn’t have made such a face.

Even if he nodded, I could be certain it would be to deceive me, pretending to accept my offer only to kill me when I let my guard down.

I scratched too deep with this one.

[To draw such hatred with just a few words—at this point, it’s rather impressive.]

Another of Hersella’s usual sarcastic remarks. But this time, I had no rebuttal. Even I could see that I had made a mistake this time.

“…But I can give value to such an escape. So kneel before me. I’ll gift you the greatest battlefield where you can burn your life without shame.”

Still, I felt I should finish what I was saying, so I delivered the recruitment line I had prepared—

“Stop your nonsense…! In the name of Caljarat, I swear I will, no matter what, tear out your tongue…!”

Predictably, all I got in return was a hate-filled glare and venomous curses. There seemed to be no room for persuasion.

…Can’t be helped. I’ll have to give up on recruiting Caljarat.

This was already a case where even the power of stars and dawn, which maximizes all possibilities and transcends them by burning divinity, couldn’t get a positive answer.

And then.

“…Can you swear that on your divine name?”

The next moment, a positive response came from a direction I hadn’t even considered.

“What…?”

I turned my head toward the voice, questioning. It was the half-torso giant looking up at me, with his broken axe handle planted in the ground like a pillar.

“Answer me. Can you swear it? If so… then I will surrender.”

An unexpected plea for life.

The giant, who had been struggling desperately even with half his body gone, suddenly put down his weapon and asked if I would spare him if he surrendered.

I was wondering why his attacks suddenly stopped—he must have paused his attack thinking there might be a way to save his life.

I’m not sure if I should call this quick-witted or cowardly. Either way, it was an offer I had no reason to refuse.