Chapter 25: It was a good decision to bring it

There are monsters commonly referred to as “Greenskins.”  

Goblins, orcs, trolls—  the trio of green-skinned creatures.  

They typically live in forests, and with their remarkable vitality, if you take your eyes off them for a moment, they multiply like crazy.  

Trolls at least give birth one at a time, but goblins and orcs reproduce so prolifically that you have to wipe them out every time you spot them.  

Heck, goblins are great at digging burrows, and orcs have such well-balanced physiques that they thrive wherever they go.  

Truly, they’re monsters you can find anywhere—plateau orcs in the highlands, cave orcs in caverns.  

In forests, they’re just called plain old orcs.  

“Squeak!”  

Having lived in their environments for so long, even their skin color adapts.  

The gray orc in front of me was a beast that could hardly be called a “Greenskin” anymore.  

“Squeak! Squeak!”  

Still, that distinctive pig-like snorting remained unchanged.  

How is it that even as the world changes, these guys stay the same?  

Feeling a strange sense of familiarity, I drew the sword at my waist.  

It wasn’t a holy sword.  

That one, though I could still wield it, was a blade I shouldn’t draw without a just cause.  

This was an arming sword made from monster materials, bought at a department store near my house.  

The craftsmanship must’ve been decent because the quality wasn’t half bad.  

In my other hand, like a proper student, I held a shield.  

The stability of balancing a sword and shield far outweighed the recklessness of swinging just a sword around.  

[The Goddess lets out a momentary sigh.]  

Even if an unexpected poison dart came flying, I could block it—clank, clank, clank—with ease.  

If this were a speedrun, I’d charge in with just a sword, no hesitation.  

But with two stamina-drained mages in the party, we’d take it slow and steady.  

Safety was the top priority, after all.  

“I’ll hold the front line, so you mages get your spells ready.”  

“I-I’ll assist!”  

Sephine raised her hand eagerly and quickly chanted a spell.  

As mana flowed into the iron ingot she always carried, it began to writhe.  

It molded itself into the form of a splendid female warrior clad in iron armor.  

Pink-haired Maho, with a smile, muttered something quickly—perhaps a spell—and Imir, in the rear, stayed alert for any surprises.  

With everyone fulfilling their roles, the orc pack finally made its move.  

“Squeeeeak!”  

Orcs are a tribe where every member is a formidable warrior.  

The gray-skinned orcs, wielding swords and halberds, charged at us with guttural roars.  

There were six of them in total.  

Their weapon-wielding arm muscles flexed, hinting at the sheer force behind their swings.  

The first to reach me swung a halberd.  

I lowered my center of gravity to brace for the impact and angled my shield diagonally.  

The iron shield, bought from Latte Department Store, met the orc’s massive halberd head-on.  

BOOM!  

A loud crash reverberated as the shield took the brunt of the blow.  

Absorbing the orc’s initial strike with ease, I lifted its weapon upward with my shield and stepped in toward its torso.  

The halberd rose momentarily, exposing the orc’s vulnerabilities for a split second.  

Having closed the distance, I subtly extended the arming sword hidden behind my shield.  

Stab! Slash!  

One to the neck, one to the heart.  

With no weapon left to deflect my attack, the cave orc helplessly took the blows.  

Even a troll would struggle to survive such fatal wounds. The orc’s eyes rolled back as its body crumpled.  

I pulled my sword back behind the shield and maintained my combat stance.  

“Squeak?!”  

“Rooaaar!”  

The next orcs charging in seemed to sense something was off, their eyes widening.  

But in the narrow passage, it was hard to stop their momentum.  

Swords and halberds swung wildly.  

CLANG!  

I met a sword slashing down from above shoulder height with my own blade, clashing against it.  

A halberd, swung with the orc’s full body weight, I deflected with my shield.  

As one orc stumbled sideways, unable to handle its own strength, I drove my sword into its neck.  

I traded two more blows with a panicked sword-wielding orc before personally beheading it.  

By then, a hammer-wielding orc reached me—but my mages weren’t pushovers either.  

BOOM! I blocked its strike with my shield, redirecting it to the side.  

Right on cue, the fully-formed steel warrior appeared and plunged her iron sword into the orc’s torso.  

Stab!  

It was a steel puppet crafted by Sephine Alabard’s magic.  

Aside from texture and skin tone, its form was indistinguishable from a human’s.  

Ohh.  

And the way it wielded its sword was surprisingly polished—better than I’d expected.  

I hadn’t seen many techniques, but that last move rivaled a decent knight.  

Impressed, I blocked another orc’s halberd with my shield, then kicked its torso hard to create some distance.  

“Wind Cutter!”  

From behind, Maho’s voice rang out as a barrage of wind blades flew forward.  

“Squeak…!”  

The halberd-wielding orc, unable to recover in time, collapsed with a pig-like squeal.  

Another, cautiously watching, deflected some blades with its hammer but couldn’t protect its whole body—its left thigh was shredded.  

The steel warrior, brimming with intent to prove itself, swung at the last orc, and soon, the final enemy was down.  

“Phew.”  

Sephine let out a relieved sigh as the first battle concluded.  

A perfect victory with no one injured.  

It had gone so smoothly, without a hint of danger, that I looked down at my shield with a satisfied grin.  

Hmm, good thing I brought this along.  

After defeating three more groups of cave orcs, we reached the deepest part of the cave.  

There, we found a room with an artificial door—the so-called boss room.  

Not every dungeon had one, but if a boss was present, the difficulty spiked, and the rewards grew richer.  

Opening the treasure chest after defeating the boss would yield random items tied to the dungeon’s environment and monsters.  

That meant a higher chance of getting materials for the special potion I needed—so I welcomed it and pushed the door open.  

Creak.  

Thud—  

Beyond the wide-open stone door stood an orc warrior clad in leather armor.  

An elite specimen, its body covered in red tattoos.  

This was a combat tradition of the orc tribe—drawing tattoos with animal blood and dye, a kind of buff.  

Wooosh—  

Red mana flowed from the tattoos, enveloping the elite orc warrior and boosting its vigor.  

Its veins and muscles bulged, transforming it into an even more grotesque figure.  

It was like it had taken natural steroids—its appearance screamed aggression.  

“Be careful! Elite orcs are foes C-rank hunters deal with!”  

Even without the tattoos, it was twice as strong as a regular orc, and with the combat buff, it was the mightiest orc you’d encounter in a D-rank dungeon.  

The elite orc warrior gnashed its tusks and twirled its arms, as if warming up before a fight.  

Then, it grabbed the greatsword stuck in the ground and aimed it at me, standing at the front of the group.  

I didn’t think much of it, but Sephine, right behind me, gasped and muttered,  

“…Th-that shameless thing!”  

“What’s it doing?”  

“I-I heard in the Land Monster Ecology class that it’s a signal orcs send when they spot a male they like…”  

Sephine trailed off awkwardly, but Maho, who’d been listening quietly, chimed in with a sly grin.  

“It says it’ll beat you and make you its groom.”  

“…What? Huh?”  

For a moment, I didn’t understand, but then I remembered this was a reverse world.  

Oh, right—most of the monsters here, including these cave orcs, were probably female.  

So that’s what this was…  

Let’s not think about it.  

Shaking off the dizzying thought, I raised my sword.  

“Wait! Be careful! Elite orcs charge hard right at the start—if you dodge then—!”  

Before Sephine, our party’s speed-talker, could finish, the elite orc warrior, consumed by the red mana of its tattoos, grinned and launched itself off the ground.  

It raised its greatsword high, clearly intending to crush me in one blow.  

Its movements were big.  

The orc’s red-hot muscles surged as it brought the blade down.  

BOOM!  

I blocked it with my shield.  

Sliding it off to the side, I stabbed the back of the collapsing elite orc warrior’s head with my sword.  

The red orc, losing its balance, didn’t rise again.  

When your head turns to mush, you’re usually done for.  

“…Huh?”  

Battle over.  

***

 The fight with the boss ended faster than expected, leaving Sephine visibly stunned, though her surprise didn’t last long.  

We entered a side room behind the boss chamber and found a treasure chest waiting for us.  

[You have obtained a treasure chest.]  

A chest made of silver and iron, no less.