Ch.159Chapter 159. Fanatic Kamachi

“Hero! Heroooo!”

“W-what’s going on? Why?! Weren’t orcs supposed to not kill women?!”

“Kyaaaah! Kyaaaaaaah!”

“Silence, wenches!”

The chieftain slammed his totem down before the panicking expedition members.

The impact alone made the ravine tremble, and as the air shuddered from his roar, the previously screaming expedition members fell silent all at once.

Soon, the chieftain began to make threats in the silence.

“Did you really think we would spare your lives? We brought you here solely to perform our ritual!”

“R-ritual? Orcs?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“You want an explanation? Then open your ears and listen carefully!”

The chieftain’s hand gradually moved sideways, eventually pointing toward the massive stone monument erected at the center of the village.

Carved on it was the figure of the being they worshipped as a god.

The reason it looked familiar to the expedition members was because this figure was infamous enough to have wanted posters issued for it.

“You shall engrave in your ears the teachings of our god, the great Orc Hellcry, whom we serve!”

Great Warrior Hellcry.

Despite being born an orc, he had proudly claimed a position as a top executive leading the Demon Lord’s army that had invaded this world by tearing through the dimensional wall.

“Hellcry…?”

“He’s an executive of the Demon Lord’s army. And you’re calling him a god?”

“Despite being born an orc, he accomplished what was thought impossible. Is it not fitting to call him a god?”

-Kuung!

The orc chieftain struck the ground with his totem once more.

As the already flattened meat was pressed even thinner under the attack, the expedition members’ faces turned pale again.

Facing the pale crowd, the chieftain soon spoke.

“He always said that an orc’s life is merely about living according to instinct from birth until death… Isn’t such a limited existence incredibly empty and wasteful?”

Yes, the purpose of the orcs here wasn’t lust, but rather admiration for the orc they worshipped.

Although he had completely severed ties with other orcs when he joined the Demon Lord’s army, orc society had undergone massive changes after witnessing his achievements.

“That’s why he always pursued honor. By pursuing honor, he transcended the limitations of being an orc and joined the legion where the most powerful beings in this world gather!”

Honor.

It was a concept that didn’t exist in the society of dull and foolish sub-races, but the fact that an individual pursuing it had transcended his origins was enough to bring about change to the entire species.

“Although I don’t know exactly what honor means. I only understand one thing—that just as he rose to become an executive in the Demon Lord’s army by denying his orcish instincts, suppressing the instincts that rise within us when we see you is absolutely necessary.”

Denying instinct.

It meant strengthening their belief that they could rise to a higher existence by going against their primary instinct to preserve their species.

“That means resisting the urge to violate you right now… doesn’t it mean taking a step forward to becoming honorable orcs!?”

“W-what? What are you saying…?”

“Kill them!”

As the expedition members were shocked by this conclusion, the surrounding orcs began to shout.

“Kill the women! By killing women, we prove our opportunity to demonstrate our honor!”

“Kill more females! Kill more women!”

“For the great orc, Hellcry!”

Woooooooooah!

A scene so intense it made their skin tremble with sincerity… beyond that, even madness.

Facing this, the expedition members’ expressions began to show despair beyond fear.

“Th-they’re insane. These orcs are insane…!”

And it wasn’t just simple insanity.

To think that a concept of fanatical faith would emerge among sub-races that only knew reproduction.

Was such a thing even possible?

“Hiiik, save me. Please, someone save me!”

“Yes. That’s a very good scream.”

The orcs’ bodies trembled upon hearing these desperate cries because the screams stimulated their innate, vigorous sexual desire.

But if they destroyed these beings who provoked such desires with their own hands, they would be reborn as higher beings for accomplishing such a difficult task.

This belief, firmly grounded in precedent, was compelling them to suppress even their instincts and urging them toward a single action.

“Now we shall perform the ritual for the great orc, Hellcry! Everyone, raise your weapons and shout!”

Destroying the source of desire with their own hands.

Sharing it with everyone to take a step toward the one they admired.

“Woooah!”

“Hellcry is with us!”

“My heart for the orcs!”

What would follow would be a merciless slaughter before the stone monument made in the image of the god they worshipped.

Rounding up powerless females of different races in one place and brutally butchering them with the weapons in their hands…

A horrific scene that no human could bear to watch was about to unfold here.

“…I can’t watch this anymore.”

A weapon thrown from the hand of a man who had been watching in hiding struck the back of an orc’s head.

The orc, stabbed in the back of the neck by the sharp blade, convulsed painfully in place before exploding with a bang! and spraying blood in all directions.

“Everyone freeze! Secure the flanks!”

The chieftain immediately raised his guard and commanded his group in response to the explosion.

This action was possible because he had anticipated such an attack to some extent.

There were humans they hadn’t managed to deal with in the previous battle, and there was a possibility they would come here to rescue their comrades.

What he hadn’t expected was that the escapee had brought a “new group” with him.

“Talking about honor while killing women who can’t even resist… Hellcry would lament what you’re doing if he saw this, you ignorant fools.”

Emerging from the bushes surrounding the village was an otherworlder wearing black armor.

As the orcs became excited by his presence, a human boy behind the otherworlder carrying an axe began to speak.

“Wouldn’t it be better to keep watching from hiding?”

“Well, bringing a troop and crushing them would be the most reliable way, given their numbers…”

The man’s gaze gradually shifted sideways, toward his trembling kinsmen surrounded by orcs.

“…But that would be too late.”

It wasn’t just one or two, but dozens who would be brutally slaughtered by hundreds of orcs.

How could anyone, as a human, calmly ignore such a scene when they had the power to stop it?

“Kraaah! You! Do you dare to interrupt our ritual?!”

An orc began charging toward the man, provoked by his presence.

The club swung by the orc, whose size far exceeded that of a human, would surely crush and burst an unprepared body.

“Are you really sure you’ll be alright alone?”

Despite facing such an attack, the man merely aimed the axe in his hand at the approaching club.

“I’m fine, so get ready to add another line to the evaluation report.”

And with a crack!

The massive body was cleaved along with the club.

“The man before you would have died long ago if he couldn’t gauge a winnable fight.”

As weapons materialized in both hands of the man who had crossed the bisected body, the orcs, having lost their reason, began rushing toward him.

“Kill that human! Avenge our comrade!”

They were willing to sacrifice themselves despite seeing their comrade mercilessly slaughtered.

This was absolutely unheard of behavior for orcs who possessed fear, but the sense of honor that had awakened in them was forcing them to suppress even that fear.

Honor is a concept that shines not only through personal pride but also when conveyed to those who stand with you.

The camaraderie that developed from this had led to an absolute belief that even if they died, their comrades would avenge them.

-Slash!!!!

But the man who jumped into their midst knew.

No matter how firm the belief and how many people supported it.

That even such honor would be futilely broken in “war.”

-Slash! Crack!

The sword strike, empowered by this understanding, decapitated the leader.

Following that, magical weapons materialized in the empty spaces and embedded themselves in the bodies of the approaching orcs, causing explosions.

Boom, boom! The blood spray from the explosions obscured vision.

Despite this, the man who rushed into the midst of the persistently charging orcs gathered mana around his body.

-Swish, crash!

Flying axes and glaives hit the mana surrounding his body and bounced in all directions as he spun.

Simultaneously with this evasive maneuver, his sword strikes mercilessly severed the orcs’ bodies.

Weapons embedded themselves in the bodies of orcs charging from the sides, exploding and hindering the movements of nearby orcs.

-Slash!

Lives were extinguished by attacks thrust into the momentary gaps.

-Boom boom! Slash!!!

As corpses piled at his feet with the repetition of such offensives, fear began to grow in the hearts of the orcs watching from behind.

It wasn’t just fear of dying.

The fear of death had long been suppressed by the belief that their comrades would remember their deaths and fulfill their wishes.

Nevertheless, the anxiety felt at this moment had developed from doubting whether they could truly kill this man rampaging among them with their own hands.

-Slash, cut!

If they couldn’t grasp victory even after sacrificing themselves, was there truly meaning in their deaths?

Could rushing into such a scene of futile death really be called “honorable”?

“Wuoooooooooooh!!!”

Amid the trembling orcs, one orc began to advance with a roar.

The man, facing the strike of the totem that followed, quickly gathered mana in his armor to withstand the attack with his body.

-Kuung!

The body that had been rampaging freely until now was pushed back, and the advance that had been proceeding smoothly was momentarily halted.

Seeing this, the despair that had bloomed on the orcs’ faces began to recede.

Yes, they realized that even that absurdly powerful monster wasn’t invincible.

“Everyone, fall back. I will handle this one!”

However, despite sensing an advantage, the chieftain who had struck the body ordered his subordinates to retreat rather than join the attack.

“Chieftain, what are you…!”

“If we all die here, who will pass on what we have achieved?!”

-Kuung!

The chieftain slammed his totem into the ground, making the earth tremble.

His flashing red eyes were directed not at his kin, but at the human who had momentarily halted his advance and taken a defensive stance.

As if to show that he was prepared to accept whatever happened next.

“Death that comes from rushing in without leaving any meaning is mere recklessness… Even courage that doesn’t fear death needs to leave something behind to have meaning!”

“…Chieftain.”

“So go. And if I don’t return, escape from here, gather our kin in the future, and develop the strength to defeat powerful ones like him!”

Honor means having pride in oneself and passing it on to those who inherit it.

Although his understanding wasn’t perfect, he believed that the orcs who remembered him would complete it.

“…Human, tell me your name.”

The chieftain, standing at the front of the orcs who were preparing to retreat, quietly faced off against the otherworlder in black armor standing on the field of corpses.

Having barely shaken off the recoil from the previous collision, he materialized a sword in his hand and quietly said:

“Hyoseong Woo.”

This was not an easy opponent, so he couldn’t approach carelessly either.

Stimulated by these resolute words, the chieftain pulled his totem from the ground and shouted:

“Uhyo! Is that your name?!”

“No, not Uhyo, it’s Hyoseo…”

“Human warrior Uhyo! I will remember your name clearly!”

Ignoring his words, the chieftain swung his totem.

As fragments scattered in all directions with a crash! the chieftain, cutting through the dust, proudly declared:

“My name is Kamatch! A devotee who serves the great orc Hellcry, a chieftain who leads the pack, and one who prides himself as a warrior!”

“I offer my heart to him and will avenge my fallen kin with your blood!! Long live Hellcry!”

Boom, boom!

The earth trembled with each step he took.

Facing this charge alone, the man quietly raised the sword engraved with “rune letters” in his hand.

“…Your spirit is good.”

-Whoosh!

Flames began to rise in response to the runes.

The heat from it burned away impurities in the materialized blade, making the sharpness of the aura it emitted even keener.

“But is fighting just about spirit?”

The sword strike that followed completely severed the approaching totem.

-Slash!!

Kamatch’s head behind it soon fell, tracing a parabolic arc.