Chapter 21

〈 Episode 21 〉Quest 7, Side Story – Transformation

Asha focused on familiarizing herself with the newly learned martial arts skills before the quest. Justitia, who seemed quicker at finding what she didn’t know rather than what she knew, gave Asha a lot of advice on her martial arts skills, and Asha was able to grow stronger quickly by following the optimal path.

[Character Name: Asha]

Strength: 24

Agility: 18

Durability: 21

Stamina: 21

Mana: 18

-Martial Arts LV.6, Mana Usage LV.2, Intercourse LV.6, Hospitality LV.4, Sprint LV.4, Pain Reduction LV.6, Stat Enhancement LV.6, Stealth LV.2, First Aid LV.2, Trade LV.2, Search LV.3, Seedbed Constitution LV.4

Asha, having checked her status window, asked Justitia to reconfirm what she knew.

“You said that time in your world hardly flows while I’m in the waiting room, right?”

“Yes, you don’t have to worry about too much time passing.”

“Okay.”

[Quest 7 will begin in 4H. ]

Asha received leather armor this time. Asha received 2400 Tokens as a reward for completing the investigation quest, but she spent 1600 Tokens on a map item that allowed her to grasp her location and surrounding geography in real time from the store, as well as an intermediate martial arts Skill Book.

‘Spending more here doesn’t seem like a good choice.’

Asha was reluctant to use Tokens again because she didn’t know what would happen next, so she didn’t buy any additional equipment. Asha, wearing the basic leather armor, entered the portal.

[Quest 7: Village Defense]

The goal indicated by the quest was clear. Asha felt strangely awkward at the straightforward explanation of the quest.

‘It’s neat this time.’

The place where Asha was summoned was a place where the village was visible to the naked eye. It seemed that the quest was to protect that village. Asha used the newly purchased map.

Then, her location and surrounding geography appeared in Asha’s field of vision like a 3D mini-map. Asha could see that there was a Labyrinth not far from where she was.

‘Lucy…’

Asha’s heart was already elsewhere, but she headed to the village because she needed to know the basics of the quest in order to deal with it later.

The atmosphere of the village was chaotic even from the outside, and the members of the volunteer army were on guard with stiff faces, but they welcomed Asha as she approached.

“Welcome! Are you the mercenary who was supposed to come here?”

“Yes, that’s right. Can I hear the details?”

“Yes, I understand. Please follow me.”

Asha naturally accepted the man’s words and followed his guidance to the village chief’s house. Asha looked around the village without being too obvious as she walked.

This village, which seemed to have at least hundreds of residents, was quite large. It was difficult to know the exact number of permanent residents in the village, but it seemed that the village itself had an internal system in place to operate a volunteer army. Asha entered the village chief’s house with the volunteer army member. What greeted her was a middle-aged man with a large build and graying hair.

“Welcome. Are you the person who was supposed to come? You’re smaller than I thought.”

Asha retorted to the village chief’s words.

“Just because I’m short doesn’t mean I can’t wield a sword, so you don’t have to worry. Why did you call me?”

“Please sit down first.”

Asha, following the village chief to the table, began to listen to his words. He said that the village was more than 30 years old. He said that there had been no particular threats near the village since it was built, but recently they learned that an Orc village was nearby.

“They won’t suddenly destroy the village, but just having a powerful neighbor nearby is a threat.”

Asha wondered if the village chief was being overly wary of the Orcs.

“The Orcs aren’t going to attack right now, are they?”

“Keep in mind. A good neighbor is only a weak neighbor. It doesn’t matter whether they intend to attack or not.”

Asha shook her head at the words containing the life of someone who had to be wary of their surroundings their entire life in a remote place.

“I’m just here because I was asked to come, so I won’t say anything else.”

“Please observe them without provoking them. It may be a joke to them, but it could be a serious threat to us.”

“Yes. But it may take some time.”

“I’ll consider it.”

Asha, having laid the groundwork appropriately, greeted him and quickly left the village chief’s house and began to move to the Labyrinth.

‘It’s a little different from the quest content…’

Asha was a little suspicious that the village chief had glossed over the facts differently, but anyway, Asha’s top priority was to pick up Lucia.

Asha, having put aside the facts that she couldn’t judge the truth right now, passed through the forest in a straight line while looking at the map. Asha, who was moving quietly and quickly, silenced her voice at the sign of people and cast a stealth skill.

‘Who is it?’

“Humans, always loitering around here.”

“Well, it’s true that we’re uninvited guests.”

“Uninvited guests, my ass! We’ve been living there for 10 years, and those blind bastards didn’t know. It’s annoying… It’s tiring to kill those who would die if you just poked them one by one. My mother also said that humans are not to be associated with.”

“Anyway, it’s not up to us to judge. The chief will decide wisely.”

The forest shook, and giants with bodies two heads taller than Asha passed by, clanging in Full Body Armor.

‘It was an Orc!’

Asha shuddered at the feeling that the forest was being dug up just by their movement, and she became convinced that the monsters she encountered in the second quest were the Orcs she had heard about from Justitia. The Orcs, who were at least 2 meters tall, looked even bigger and more intimidating because they were wearing Dull Armor all over their bodies.

“Hoo…”

Asha held her breath until they passed, and only after she could no longer hear any sound did she move again.

‘These guys seem stronger than the Orcs I met before…’

The Orcs were just as threatening then as they were now, but the Orcs in this forest seemed even stronger than the Orcs she had encountered before. Asha, who only knew that they were overwhelmingly strong in the past, could now feel their strength on her skin.

“Ugh…”

Asha continued to move forward, feeling the confidence she had gained while learning intermediate martial arts skills rapidly shrinking. Fortunately, she did not encounter any Orcs until she reached the Labyrinth, and she succeeded in reaching the Labyrinth. Asha felt a mixture of excitement and anxiety at the entrance to the Labyrinth, which she could see in the distance.

‘I hope it’s not too late… Lucy, I’m going now.’

Asha steeled her heart and entered the entrance of the cave.

Side Story – Transformation

The strongest warrior among the Heidelberg Tribe Orcs was a woman. This would have been an unusual occurrence for humans, but it was a natural occurrence for Orcs. Usually, male Orcs grow to about 7 feet when fully grown, while female Orcs usually grow to 8 feet.

Eva Brunhild, the most powerful warrior in Heidelberg, was particularly outstanding, boasting a huge body of over 9 feet. It wasn’t just that her body was large, but the muscles packed all over her body made other Orcs feel as if an Ash Tree was moving with its roots when they saw her walking.

Eva Brunhild, whom the Orcs called with respect, was one of the greatest warriors not only among the Orcs but also on the continent.

Eva had entered the Labyrinth alone. This was because two warriors who had entered the Labyrinth two days ago, which had only Tentacles and Leeches and did not require much attention, had gone missing. Orcs, who have difficulty with fertilization compared to humans, were very precious to each other. Eva had entered the Labyrinth to investigate the cause.

“Hmm.”

While Eva was passing by, Leech swarms and traps attacked, but they did not cause her any injuries and were crushed without a trace by her fist without even using her beloved Iron Spear.

Eva was only bothered by the fact that the Labyrinth was cramped because of her huge size. Eva had to carry her spear diagonally because she couldn’t even stand it upright.

“Even if those guys are a little weak, they’re not the type to be defeated by these bastards… Where is everyone? Erich! Joanna!!”

Rumble!

Every time Eva shouted loudly, the sound echoing from above caused the cave to vibrate. Small pebbles fell and hit her armor, but she didn’t care and called out to her companions with all her might several times.

Eva, who continued to search the Labyrinth, eventually reached the trap where Asha had fallen in the past. As soon as she reached the middle of the passage, the trap was activated without fail.

“Hmph!”

Eva gave a shout and stuck a blade into the wall and hung on. The brightly shining spear went into the wall silently as if the wall was tofu. Hanging under the trap, she clenched her fist and struck the bottom of the trap attached to the wall.

Kugung–!! Kwajijik!

Cracks like spider webs formed around the spot where Eva had punched, and one side of the trap collapsed and fell to the bottom. Then, Eva kicked the other side with her foot while hanging on the spear, completely smashing the trap. After a while, the sound of the collapsing floors falling below echoed.

“If I break it this much, no one will be caught here. Shall we go down?”

Kigigik-

Eva, gathering Mana in her fingers, pulled out the spear and slowly scraped the stone wall with her gauntlet and began to descend. After descending along the wall for several minutes, she let go of her hand and jumped down with the spear on her back when she saw the bottom. Eva fell freely for more than ten meters.

Woong–!

As she fell with her limbs spread out, the floor collapsed around her as she landed on the ground on all fours, and shock waves burst out in all directions. Eva’s surroundings were shattered and turned into a mess, but she didn’t have a single scratch.

“Ouch, maybe…”

Eva dusted off her armor and looked around. Soon she was able to find bloodstains that continued somewhere. The Orc’s body was not far from the bloodstains. He was dead with his back against the wall.

“His spine is broken, and he crawled all the way here with both arms. Erich, you’re not the type to die like this… Rest in peace.”

Eva took off the armor from the body and collected the body with the cloth she had brought.

“Wait, Erich and Joanna would have been together? Where is Joanna?”

Eva, thinking of her other companion, quickly cleaned up the body and ran back to where she had fallen. Carefully searching the floor, she was able to find traces of two people falling besides herself.

“One must be Erich’s, but I can’t figure out where the other one, Joanna, went. Hmm… There’s something here.”

Eva stopped still in her place and stopped breathing. Concentrating on the sounds she heard quietly around her, she soon recognized the place where the noise was coming from. Standing up again, she ran out to the place where she heard the sound in an instant.

Kukukuku-

Eva ran, making the cave rumble loudly, and broke through the distance of 700 yards in just 10 seconds and ran towards her destination.

What Eva found when she arrived was Joanna fighting a giant Slime. Joanna was clearly being pushed back by the Slime and was on the defensive.

“Hmph!”

Kwachang!

Eva immediately plunged her Axe-Spear into the Slime’s core with one hand and shattered it. When Eva tried to shatter the core, she felt considerable resistance even though it was a squishy Slime, but that was not a reason for her not to break the core.

The Slime, whose core was broken, soon lost its shape and became limp and spread on the floor. Eva, having dealt with the Slime, approached Joanna.

“Are you okay, Joanna!”

“Eva… Ugh!”

“Your right arm is broken. Is everything else okay?”

The Orc called Joanna looked pale from her injuries and the long battle.

“My whole body aches, but there’s no big problem. Damn it, Erich is dead…”

“I saw it too. Did he not land properly?”

“He had a hammer on his back, and the weight was concentrated, so he fell from his back. Erich’s spine was already broken when he fell. I can’t believe he died so futilely…”

“Joanna, I’m glad you’re alive. Show me your wound. I have a Shamanic Tool that Walter gave me.”

Eva healed Joanna with a branch containing Healing Magic. As expected of a tool made by an Orc shaman who had skills as old as his age, Joanna’s wounds healed quickly. When her wounds had healed a lot, Eva made a brace for Joanna’s arm with the remaining cloth and fixed it.

“By the way, what is that Slime? It’s dozens of times bigger than the wild ones.”

“I saw it for the first time here too. I can’t believe I was pushed back by a Slime even though my arm was broken… It may not have been a big deal to you, but that Slime was incredibly powerful. It broke the entire wall when it attacked me earlier.”

When Joanna showed her the traces that had occurred during the battle, a part of one wall was broken by a strong impact. Eva narrowed her eyes as she looked at the traces.

“It’s abnormal. I think I need to check it out more. I think there’s something else here.”

The two, who had returned to the place where they had fallen at first, had Eva carry Erich’s body on her back and climbed up the wall and lowered a rope, and Joanna was able to grab the rope and be pulled up by Eva.

They couldn’t leave their companion’s body behind, so they decided to part ways here. Joanna, who was returning to the tribe, asked Eva.

“Be careful, Eva. I don’t think you’ll be defeated, but this place is strange… It’s also ominous.”

“You’re right, Joanna. I’ll be careful.”

Eva, having said goodbye to her, climbed down the rope. Joanna stared at the place where Eva had disappeared with a worried look for a long time.