Ch.160Chapter 160. A Second Master…?

‘Death.’

My strength drains from my body as my head is severed.

That was how Kamach perceived his end.

As the one who beheaded him had said, no matter how much fighting spirit he displayed, his life would be broken meaninglessly before overwhelming power.

‘This is death.’

But perhaps that final moment had not completely passed yet.

Even with his head on the ground, Kamach was still aware of the world around him, his wide-open eyes fixed on the outsider who had cut him down.

His gaze remained locked on his enemy, who was already preparing to turn away after finishing the battle.

‘If he leaves, they die. My people will… die.’

The moment he realized those footsteps were heading in the direction his people had fled, a tingling sensation began to return to his fingertips.

Joints that should have been stiffening gradually extended, and his outstretched hand even showed signs of reaching for his fallen head on the ground.

‘Do you desire power?’

As he struggled to raise his dying body, fragments of the past hazily surfaced in Kamach’s mind.

The ravine they had reached while wandering in search of a place to live with his people.

The cup filled with blood offered by the powerful being who had overwhelmed him when they first arrived here.

‘If so, then drink. Drink and obtain power.’

He felt tempted when facing that cup because he instinctively understood that by drinking it, he would be reborn as a new being.

To truly achieve the honor he desired.

And to protect his people, he would need vast power to defend himself from all dangers in this world.

‘What is the price for obtaining this power?’

And such power would certainly not be given freely.

To this anticipated question, the being had answered with a deep smile.

‘Everything.’

After drinking from the cup, he would become the being’s slave from the moment he needed that power.

If that happened, he could no longer call himself an Orc, nor could he pursue honor following the Orc ways he admired.

“My people, must…”

But he had prepared himself for this.

Even if he became something else, even if he fell to being someone’s slave.

“Protect my people…!”

If he could protect his people at that cost.

Because he believed that everything he had accomplished would remain in this world through them.

***

-Thud!

As the headless body rose and charged forward, I quickly moved aside and stared at the creature’s body.

“…What is that?”

A headless Orc was standing.

It had risen holding its own head, charged forward, and destroyed one of the settlement’s buildings with a fist pulsing with magical energy.

How is this possible?

It wasn’t a mistake in targeting a vital point—I had completely severed its head. How could it still stand?

“I… am… Kamach.”

My first thought was that it had revived as an Undead, but the feeling was fundamentally different from the Undead.

There was no ominous energy characteristic of the Undead, and the body showed no signs of decay. The blood spurting from the severed neck seemed forceful—certainly not my imagination born from panic.

“Must… protect… my people.”

This bizarre situation where a voice emerged from the cross-section of the neck.

The magical energy rising from its body concentrated in the head it held, which it then began to swing toward my position.

“You will… never pass… AAAAHH!!”

BOOM!!!

The head, swung like a flail, mercilessly demolished the settlement’s buildings, and the accompanying mana spread violently, turning the surroundings into chaos.

Its ferocity was incomparable to before. I could feel my breathing becoming labored as I struggled to approach.

Damn it, what’s going on? It’s not an Undead, so why did it suddenly come back to life?

-ROAAAR!!

But whatever it was, if it had revived, then I just needed to kill it again to put it down.

With that judgment, I created another spear of magical energy and threw it, but the spear only pierced through the creature’s body without stopping its thrashing.

What about explosions then?

-BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Multiple simultaneous explosions from the weapons embedded in its body.

Though such impact should have stopped its movements, the creature showed its determination by continuing to swing its head toward my position.

It wasn’t accounting for damage while attacking. The flesh torn and blown away by the explosions was regenerating at a visibly rapid pace.

I reduced its body to tatters, yet it returned to its original form in just 10 seconds. How is that even possible?

“Hon…orrr!!”

The only fortunate thing was that the severed neck wasn’t regenerating, and perhaps due to impaired judgment, it wasn’t trying to reattach its head but merely swinging it as a weapon.

In fact, while it initially felt like a major threat, after some confrontation, it seemed to be striking at places where it sensed an enemy rather than directly perceiving its target.

Its attacks were fierce but with less than 50% accuracy. If I continued this probing battle while attacking, I might somehow be able to subdue it.

“KYAAAAH!”

But then screams began to ring out.

I quickly turned my gaze to the side and saw expedition members who had been captured by the Orcs trembling and screaming.

And though the creature’s vision was blocked, it could now locate enemies through its other senses.

“Hu…mans… enemies of my people!”

Damn it, at this rate, everyone will die.

But since it regenerates from all attacks, overwhelming it with firepower isn’t a solution either.

Judging by the current distance, the survivors would be massacred before I could destroy its body enough to stop it.

“Hon…orable war…rior… for Hell…cry, AAAAH!”

I have no choice.

I gathered as much magical energy as possible into my armor and prepared to charge at the Orc.

Whatever happened, I needed to physically intercept it and draw its attention toward me.

-ROAAAR!

But just then, something flew rapidly from the side and embedded itself in the Orc’s body.

Upon impact, the Orc’s body froze in place, and its previously rampaging form suddenly stiffened and stopped moving.

Why? How could a creature that regenerated even after explosive attacks suddenly stop?

“It seems to be an Orc who drank vampire serum under some circumstances.”

A familiar voice reached me amid my confusion.

I quickly shifted my gaze to see a short-haired boy in a black cloak walking toward me.

“Though it’s merely a half-blood rather than pure-blooded, unlike normal vampires, it has strong resistance to sunlight, allowing it to exhibit regenerative abilities even during the day—quite troublesome.”

Cheska Flandor.

After identifying him, I stared blankly as he passed by me and approached the stiffened, headless Orc.

“Of course, even with sunlight resistance, there are still ways to kill it. Since its power comes strongly from blood, as is characteristic of vampires, its immortality also originates from blood.”

Cheska raised his finger toward the Orc’s chest.

As I stared blankly at the silver stake clearly embedded there, he quietly continued his explanation.

“For instance, if you drive a thick weapon like a stake into the heart to block the body’s blood flow, the blood that forms the basis of regeneration cannot spread throughout the body, significantly reducing regenerative abilities.”

Drip, drip. Bright streams of blood flowed from where the stake was embedded.

As Cheska said, the blood wasn’t being reabsorbed into the body but was falling and soaking the ground.

The body was trembling as if trying to resist, but it couldn’t translate that into movement.

“The next step in how to handle it is simple.”

From the moment the stake pierced its heart, this Orc became incapable of movement.

With absolute confidence in this, Cheska casually took something out and began sprinkling it on the Orc.

The faint smell that wafted over was similar to the distinctive scent of oil.

“With blood flow blocked, burn all body parts that would need to regenerate.”

After striking a match and tossing it with a light gesture, flames quickly spread across the Orc’s entire body from where the oil had been applied.

The massive body that had been rampaging moments ago transformed into a giant burning log in an instant.

“When severely weakened regenerative abilities are completely blocked by fire, the force binding the heart also weakens, so you can simply pull it out.”

As the Orc collapsed powerlessly and burned in the flames, Cheska pulled on a thread connected to the stake.

The heart, extracted with that light pull, was still pulsating even after being removed from the body.

But despite its abnormal signs of life, it was now just an organ that had lost its owner.

“…This is how you eliminate cross-species beings that have undergone vampirification.”

-Splat!

Cheska crushed the heart under his foot after throwing it to the ground.

Despite his foot and clothes being soiled by this action, Cheska paid no mind and began to stare at me.

“Is there anything from my explanation that you didn’t understand?”

The cold gaze felt through his glasses.

Though his expression was as impassive as usual, with his feet covered in blood, his face seemed different somehow.

“…You,”

I couldn’t help but feel tense.

He had calmly thrown a dagger at an enemy that even I, a Hero, was struggling with, and then recited its weakness as if it were nothing.

“How did you just do that?”

“Anyone can learn how to hunt aberrant beings if they search through records.”

“No, that’s not something you can just learn…”

“I should mention, though it’s a bit late.”

While I questioned this, Cheska freed all the captured expedition members and patted their backs encouragingly.

After helping them up, he began moving in the direction the Orcs had fled.

“You needn’t worry about the Orcs that escaped. I’ve already anticipated their escape route and set traps.”

“…What?”

“Though they possess intelligence, their behavioral principles tend toward physical solutions. Rather than erasing their traces or creating diversions, they have a habit of fleeing in directions that would be physically difficult for pursuers to follow.”

Saying this, we arrived at a steep slope not far from the settlement.

The terrain, with its steep incline and dense trees and undergrowth, looked difficult to traverse quickly without the robust physical abilities of creatures like Orcs.

But what appeared at the bottom of the slope were the corpses of the Orcs who thought they had escaped. Seeing over a hundred dismembered Orc bodies scattered at the bottom of the cliff left me breathless as Cheska approached the trees on the slope and began pulling on something tied between them.

With a sharp sound, he retrieved what appeared to be blood-stained wire.

I understood immediately.

While I was fighting the Orcs, he had already anticipated their escape and set traps along their likely retreat path.

And he was certain that all fleeing Orcs would die without exception, so after setting the traps, he returned to help me capture the revived leader.

“So, what will you do now?”

Despite orchestrating all this, he didn’t celebrate but simply turned to me as if he had just completed a routine task.

My instinctive recoil came from the gut feeling that the person before me was not just some noble clan head.

“W-what do you mean?”

“We’ve defeated the Orc leader and successfully occupied the settlement by eliminating his subordinates.”

In front of me as I felt this unease, he was calmly explaining the situation as he understood it.

“But these subordinates can’t be all of them. From what I’ve observed, though their numbers are fewer than expected since they don’t aim for reproduction, based on investigations so far, I estimate there are quite a few Orcs who have migrated here from outside.”

Unlike me, who was unable to make proper judgments due to the sudden situation, he had a clear grasp of the circumstances.

Nevertheless, he wasn’t taking direct control but was asking for my opinion.

“Whether to stay here and continue the subjugation, or to return after replenishing supplies and manpower from nearby… that should be decided by you, the leader of the expedition.”

It was as if, despite holding noble status, he didn’t consider that position as his identity.

-Gulp.

As my throat dried inexplicably, I somehow managed to suppress the sensation and give my answer to his question.

“…We need to subjugate them.”

“You’ve decided to stay and continue the subjugation… is that correct?”

“Yes, we stocked up on supplies before coming here, so we have some reserves…”

“Understood. I’ll first have the prisoners join the main force, then bring the expedition here to establish a base.”

With those words, Cheska Flandor began to move away from me.

As he persuaded the trembling prisoners to follow him, I took the time to examine one of the notes I had in my possession.

[I’ve written about how to persuade the second mentor who will help your growth. Please open this after completing your first large-scale subjugation mission.]

The first large-scale subjugation mission was clearly about these Orcs occupying the ravine.

So does this mean that following Jean, Cheska is meant to be my second mentor?