Chapter 172: Jet-Black Og
◆ Og ◆
“Please wait, Captain!”
As I was heading toward the massive horde of orcs, I heard the voices of my subordinates from behind.
“We will fight too!”
“You idiots, can’t you see that? You’ll die, you know?”
Fighting together, do you guys want to die?
“If you say that, the same goes for you, Captain. Don’t say such distant things like going alone!”
While trembling, my subordinates raise their voices saying they will fight with me.
“You guys…”
At the stout-hearted way my subordinates spoke, my chest unintentionally grew hot.
“By the way, who are those old men over there?”
Then, I noticed the presence of mysterious old men behind my subordinates.
“What are you saying. You’re the one who called us, ain’t ya.”
“Eh? Me?”
I called them? What are they talking about?
“You see, you said to look for hunters as reinforcements to intercept the flying monsters, didn’t you.”
Ah-, come to think of it, I did say that.
“Ah-, sorry about this, old men. You can forget about that now. We’ve all decided to run away.”
However, the old men shook their heads.
“Nah, we gotta stall ’em either way, or our village’ll get attacked too. My grandson who came with me to sell catch went to inform the village, so we gotta buy time ’til the folks who hear that escape.”
“Well, in short, we were also thrilled by your words.”
“Yeah, yeah. Young… young? Well, whatever. A reasonably young guy like you is puttin’ your life on the line. Us old folks gotta put our lives on the line for the young ‘uns too.”
“You guys…”
I see, so these old men have also firmed their resolve to fight to protect what’s important to them in their own way.
…As for me, I selfishly issued an evacuation order to the townspeople feeling like I’d just flee to a foreign country if push came to shove, so I feel kinda apologetic, though…
“Well either way, an old man’s slow legs’ll just drag you young ‘uns down. In that case, ain’t it better to stay on the wall and shoot down the flyin’ monsters that come? And we’ll leave the monsters down below to you guys.”
“Yeah! Leave it to us, old men!”
My subordinates, deeply moved by the old men’s resolute words, responded.
“Hahahaha, I always wanted to climb up on the defensive wall once!”
“When you entered the station, it was always only when you messed up somethin’ and got thrown in the underground jail, after all.”
The old men are making merry, but there’s a limit to false bravado.
“I’ll have you know, this fight is strictly to buy time until everyone escapes, got it? There’s no need to fight to the death.”
Stopping for a moment, I look at everyone’s faces.
“You guys will get on horses and go out in front of the orcs. Then split left and right to guide the orcs. And once you succeed in guiding the orcs, secure a distance where you’re neither too close nor too far and make a run for it.”
“We can’t ride horses, so we’ll stall ’em ’til the end.”
“No, you old men too, if the enemies get right up close, go into the station’s underground jail and lock it. If you’re lucky, you might survive.”
Saying so, I entrust the key to the underground jail to the old men.
“Hoh, this time we’re puttin’ ourselves in the jail, eh.”
“Hahahaha, to think we’d be protected by a jail meant to lock people up, livin’ long ain’t so bad!”
“If we play dead, won’t the orcs mistake us for corpses that died of old age?”
“Ain’t that the truth! They wouldn’t even wanna eat corpses of skinny old men like us!”
” ” “Wahahahahahaha.” ” “
The old men laughed merrily, then tightened their expressions and headed toward the station.
“Then you guys give it your best too, alright?”
“Don’t die either, old men.”
Parting with the old men, we got on the horses tied behind the station.
“Then you guys! Let’s give ’em hell!”
” ” “Yes, Captain!!” ” “
Alriight, let’s go, you orcs!
◆ Og’s Subordinate ◆
“Haha, this is amazing.”
Going outside the town, we were terrified by the overwhelming sight before us.
What spread out there was a horde of orcs filling our field of vision.
“That guy, how could he subjugate this many orcs…”
Seeing this sight, Captain Og mutters softly.
Defeated this massive army of orcs? Could that perhaps mean that S-rank adventurer?
“Captain! The sealing of the gate is complete!”
A colleague who descended from the defensive wall by rope reported while getting on his horse.
“Good work. With this, our escape route is gone too.”
“Even so, that number, can we survive?”
“No, that’s impossible…”
I understand well how my colleagues feel intimidated seeing the massive horde before our eyes. Because I feel the same way.
Even if our goal is to guide them, against that number, I don’t feel like we can survive at all.
“Then do you want to run away with everyone in town even now? If it’s now, you can still ask the old men to open the gate, you know?”
Told by Captain Og that we could run away, we felt a little relieved, but we can’t possibly run away after coming this far.
“Wh-What are you saying! We are the Og Unit! Of course we will fight together with you, Captain!”
“That’s right! We won’t let you fight alone, Captain!”
That’s right, those are our true, unfeigned feelings.
At that time, even though it was an order, when we were told to leave the Captain behind and run away from that monster, deep down we felt saved.
That this monster is impossible for ordinary people like us.
That it’s easier for the Captain to fight alone than having us dragging him down.
After all, the Captain is a former A-rank adventurer.
But that was a misunderstanding. The Captain was human too.
The figure of the Captain who safely returned after that was covered in blood.
Although his life wasn’t in danger, even so, the Captain’s prized armor made of dragon materials was completely wrecked, and that made us feel like the fact that we abandoned the Captain and fled was thrust before us.
That’s why we swore.
That we won’t run away from the Captain this time.
That we won’t just be protected by the Captain, we will fight together with the Captain too!
“Good grief, you guys are stubborn too.”
The Captain laughs as if exasperated, but you’re stubborn too, Captain.
With the ability of a former A-rank, he could easily run away anywhere by himself.
“Alriight, then let’s go, you guys!”
” ” “Yes, Captain Og!” ” “
This is, this is the true sortie of our Og Unit!
” ” “Uwoooooooh!!” ” “
We galloped our horses and headed toward the massive horde of orcs.
Similarly, from the orcs’ side, a dozen or so orcs broke away from the herd.
“Woah!? What are those guys!? Orcs with horse lower halves!?”
“That one’s an orc with a wolf lower half… wait, it looks hard for it to run.”
What on earth are these orcs?
“Captain, like those guys from before, are those orcs too!?”
We are bewildered by the never-before-seen figures of the orcs.
“Who knows, it’s my first time seeing orcs like that too!”
“Even you don’t know, Captain!?”
To think there are monsters even the Captain, a former A-rank adventurer, has never seen; the world sure is vast.
“Well, whatever they are, it’s helpful if they come piecemeal like that. Let’s turn the tables on ’em to get us fired up!”
” ” “Roger!!” ” “
As Captain Og at the front increased his speed and headed toward the four-legged orcs, we also accelerated our horses so as not to fall behind.
“Oraaaaa!!”
And similarly taking the lead, Captain Og parried the spear of the protruding horse orc… Centaur-orc with his sword… however…
Surun
” ” “Eh?” ” “
To our surprise, the Centaur-orc’s spear was split cleanly in two!
“Oohops!?”
And right when Captain Og lost his balance, the Centaur-orc whose spear was cut charged in.
“Look out, Captain!”
At this rate, he’ll collide with that giant body!
The Captain hurriedly twisted his body while changing the horse’s course, dodging the Centaur-orc by a hair’s breadth.
At that time, the sword that was still thrust out hit the orc’s body, but hitting it in such an off-balance state, the sword would be blown aw…
Supa
With a quiet sound, the sword passed through the Centaur-orc’s body.
And a few seconds later, the Centaur-orc’s upper half and the lower half of its arms fell to the ground.
” ” “Wha!?” ” “
Without even noticing that its upper half had fallen, only the lower half horse part continued running as it was.
Or rather, he cut it!? In such a messed up posture!?
“Th-The orc was split in two!?”
“Amazing!”
“Truly a single strike!”
“You guys! Don’t think about finishing them off! Inflict wounds and make blood rush to their heads! Anyway, just think about stirring up the battlefield!”
When we hurriedly turned around at the Captain’s words, we were left speechless.
“Oraaa!”
As the Captain swung his sword, the approaching orcs were split in two one after another and slammed into the ground.
“You say there’s no need to finish them off… they’re already long dead…”
We were surprised by Captain Og‘s fierce god-like strength.
When Captain Og swung the black sword, no matter how sturdy the orcs were, they were split in two along with their weapons and armor.
“Ama~zing…”
“It’s like a black storm…”
At the sight of Captain Og advancing while cleaving through the orcs, voices of agitation rose even from the orcs.
“Look out, Captain!”
It was at that moment. The winged orcs attacked from directly above, aiming for Captain Og.
Those guys are bad news! Because they can fly freely in the sky, even if we try to attack them, they’ll just escape into the sky immediately!
” ” “Fumooooo!?” ” “
However, the attacks of the flying orcs never reached Captain Og.
A massive amount of arrows flying from the rear shot down the flying orcs.
“This is!?”
Looking back, the hunter old men were waving at us while holding their bows.
“Hah-ha-! Leave the flyin’ pigs to us-!”
“You guys focus only on the enemies on the ground!”
“You saved us, old men!”
Thanking the hunter old men, Captain Og dove into the main body of the herd.
“You guys run your horses along the outer edge of the herd as planned! Listen, absolutely do not stop! Even if your horse is taken down and you tumble off, run! If you absolutely can’t escape, then dive right into the enemy’s chest! If you’re in close contact, the enemies should hesitate to attack to avoid friendly fire! Even that monster orc wouldn’t be able to attack a place where its allies are…!”
Cannot, just as Captain Og was about to say that, the monster orc in the center of the herd moved.
“What!?”
To our surprise, the monster orc raised its clenched fist and attacked us along with its allies.
“Ruuuuuuun!!”
We hurriedly fled from the monster orc’s attack.
And the next moment, the ground shook along with a sound like an earthquake.
“Wh-What a guy!?”
Red blood seeps out from beneath the fist the monster orc slammed down.
“He did it along with his allies…”
To attack along with its allies, does that guy not have any sense of camaraderie!?
“Th-That’s right, the Captain!?”
“Eh?”
At my colleague’s words, I realized something.
If I recall, Captain Og should have dove into the orc herd.
That means right in the middle of that monster orc’s attack.
In that place surrounded by orcs, there’s no place to dodge in an instant.
“C-Captaaaain!?”
My vision goes completely dark.
Don’t tell me the Captain too in that strike just now!?
“Even though I intended to fight together with him this time…”
“Could we not protect the Captain again…”
“No way…”
“Bumomomomo.”
I felt like I heard the monster orc’s laugh.
No, that guy was definitely laughing. At having defeated his enemy, Captain Og.
At the victory that involved his allies as collateral damage.
“Don’t screw with me, you shitty pig bastard!”
“Don’t laugh after defeating the Captain along with your allies!”
“And you still call yourself the boss of the herd, hey!”
Anger wells up.
At the enemy’s atrocity, at our own worthlessness!
“I’ll absolutely kill you!”
“I’ll avenge the Captain!”
“Let’s go, oraaaaaa!”
Half out of desperation, we head toward the monster orc.
Fortunately, the massive horde of orcs that spread before our eyes had split left and right out of fear of that monster orc’s attack that didn’t hesitate to involve its allies.
“Well, thanks to that, the obstacles are gone, though!”
“Bumo-mo-mo-mo.”
As the monster orc laughed as if calling us ignorant fools who don’t know their place, it raised its arm again.
And a massive amount of red something rained down like a flood.
” ” “Uwo!?” ” “
We hurriedly dodge those and take our distance for the moment.
“What, a new attack!?”
“No, look at that guy’s arm!”
“Arm!?”
At my colleague’s words, looking at the monster orc’s arm, I witnessed a bizarre sight.
To my surprise, the monster orc’s arm was missing from midway.
And from the tip of the arm, a massive amount of blood was spilling out.
Apparently, that was the true identity of the red rain from earlier.
“B-Bumomo!?”
The monster orc is also bewildered about what is happening to its own body.
“H-Hey, look at that!?”
Wondering what it is this time, looking at the ground, there was the monster orc’s hand… no, not just that.
The one who was there was…
“Ah- that startled me. It suddenly went pitch black, so I wondered what happened.”
Surprisingly, it was the figure of Captain Og.
” ” “Captain Ogoooooo!!” ” “
Surprisingly, Captain Og didn’t have a single scratch.
“H-How did you survive that attack…”
“Look at Captain Og‘s sword!”
“Sword? …What is that!? The sword is, stretching!?”
Yes, to our surprise, Captain Og‘s sword had stretched to many times its original length.
“N-No, that’s wrong, that’s not a real sword, black… darkness?”
Approaching Captain Og, we realized that sword wasn’t a real blade, but a mass of darkness emitted from the sword.
“Could it be a type of Enchantment Magic?”
“Enchantment Magic? But Captain Og shouldn’t be able to use magic, right?”
But in reality, Captain Og‘s sword was clad in mysterious darkness.
That must be what cut off the monster orc’s arm.
“That’s amazing, Captain! What is that sword!?”
“Ah? Sword? Woah!? What is this!?”
Receiving my colleague’s words, the Captain looks at his own sword and raises a voice of surprise.
“Huh? Isn’t that your magic, Captain?”
“N-No, I can’t use magic. Ah-… maybe it’s because of this sword… I think?”
“The sword? Could this be a magic tool!?”
“Eh? Ah- no, I don’t think it was something like that? Well, it uses a slightly special material, though.”
“A special material!? What kind of material!?”
“Th-That’s a secret. More importantly, we’re in the middle of a battle right now! Concentrate on the fight!”
R-Right! We were right in the middle of fighting that monster orc now!
The Captain dismounts his horse, readies his sword, and turns back to the monster orc.
“Listen up you guys, I don’t really get it but now is our chance! With this sword, I can inflict wounds on that monster orc. Therefore, you guys keep the other orcs in check so I can concentrate on fighting!”
” ” “Roger!!” ” “
Receiving the Captain’s order, we dashed out.
In this overwhelmingly desperate battle, hope has come into view!
With this, we might be able to survive!
Above all, this time we can be useful to Captain Og!
“Ora ora, you orcs-! Don’t get in the way of the Captain’s fight-!”
“Your opponents are us-!”
“We won’t let anyone get in the Captain’s way-!”
At our momentum, the orcs flinch.
Captain, we leave the rest to you!
“Bumooooooo!”
The monster orc’s roar echoes across the battlefield.
It seems it has finally realized that its own arm was cut off.
And with eyes burning with pain and anger, it heads towards Captain Og while swinging its arm around.
“Whoops!”
Captain Og dodges the attack by a hair’s breadth and approaches the monster orc.
And while dodging the opponent’s attacks, he cleaves the monster orc’s arm with the darkness stretching from his sword.
“Bumooooo!?”
The cleaved arm becomes even shorter, and the monster orc’s scream echoes.
“Haha! As if I’d take the same attack over and over!”
Every time Captain Og swings his sword, red blood spray dances like flowers.
“Bumoooooon!”
In place of the shortened arm, the monster orc raises its uninjured arm.
“Hah, as if the same attack would hit! My body has felt strangely light since earlier!”
With his black armor flickering, Captain Og dodges the monster orc’s attack with surprising speed.
But that was a decoy.
To our surprise, the monster orc sank its foot into the ground, dug up a massive amount of earth like a shovel, and hurled it at Captain Og.
“Captain!”
“I-It’s fine! Something like… this! Is just… dirt!”
“Wrong, Captain! The foot is coming!”
“Eh?”
The arm attack was a decoy. But the attack with the blown dirt was a further decoy.
That guy’s main attack was…
“Its aim was to block your vision with dirt, Captain!”
Upon the Captain, who couldn’t see his surroundings due to the massive amount of dirt, the monster orc’s foot is stomped down from directly above.
” ” “Captaaaaaaain!!” ” “
Oh my god! To think that monster had thought that far ahead!
With that, he can’t see the attack, so he can’t dodge or counterattack with his sword!
“Bumomo!”
The monster orc raises a laugh as if saying it definitely killed the Captain this time.
“Ah, no way. Captain…”
This time it’s really over.
” ” ” “Bumooooooo” ” ” “
With Captain Og defeated, the surrounding orcs raise roars of victory.
They’re rejoicing, thinking that no one can defeat their boss anymore.
“Bumo-!”
The excited orcs rush toward us.
Should we retreat? But even if we run, it’s obvious we’ll be caught by that monster orc and the flying orcs.
But even so…
“Dammit, as if we can give up!”
“That’s right! As if we’ll die without landing a single blow on that monster orc!”
“Don’t underestimate humans!”
” ” “Uwoooooooh!!” ” “
We head towards the monster orc, prepared for death.
“Bumo-mo-mo.”
The monster orc laughs at us heading towards it as if calling us ignorant fools, and raises the foot that crushed Captain Og.
Are you saying you’ll give us the same death as the Captain? Don’t screw with us!
“Ah-, that startled me. It suddenly went pitch black, so I wondered what happened.”
” ” “Eh?” ” “
“Bumo?”
Into the ears of us who were about to head for a final suicide attack risking our lives, a voice entirely lacking in tension entered.
Looking, there stood Captain Og, who should have definitely been crushed by the monster orc this time, clad in darkness.
“Eh? Captain? Why?”
“Bumo? Bumomo? Bumomomo?”
The monster orc also raised a voice as if saying ‘Eh? What’s going on?’, and alternately compared the sole of its own foot and Captain Og.
“Ah, an opening!”
With a truly natural atmosphere, Captain Og dashed out and sliced the pivot leg of the monster orc, which was standing on one leg, horizontally with the elongated black sword.
“Bu, Bumomooooo!!”
With the leg supporting its body severed, the monster orc’s body falls to the ground.
” ” ” ” ” “Bumooooooo!?” ” ” ” ” “
Caught up in that, a massive amount of orcs are crushed under the monster orc’s body.
“Bumooooootsu!”
Due to the pain of having not just its arm but its leg severed, the monster orc thrashes about, and an even more massive amount of orcs are miserably killed by their ally’s hands, no, body.
“Haha, this is great. Alriight, you guys, leave the herd to that monster orc, we’ll pursue the fleeing orcs.”
” ” “U-Understood!” ” “
I don’t understand the situation at all, but anyway Captain Og is safe, and that monster orc is more than half incapacitated. Having lost one leg and one arm, it will be impossible for it to chase everyone in town.
Then our priority next, as Captain Og says, is to prevent the fleeing orcs from gathering in another place and forming a herd again, huh.
“Listen up you guys! Just like I said before, there’s no need to finish them off! But this time aim for their legs as much as possible so they can’t escape! If you do that, that monster orc will provide cover for the rest!”
“Hahaha! To think you’d turn the enemy into an ally, as expected of Captain Og!”
“Could it be you were aiming for this too? That’s why you intentionally went towards the monster orc to bait its attack?”
“Eh? No, it’s not particularly like that…”
“Amazing! Which means, you were certain you could defend against that attack just now, so you took it intentionally!”
“N-No, that’s wro…”
“Uwooooo-! As expected of Captain Og! You’re too amazing!”
“As expected of a former A-rank adventurer. That equipment was a trump card for emergencies too, wasn’t it.”
“I see, so the dragon equipment was the spare equipment, and that mysterious armor of darkness was Captain Og‘s true trump card!”
“E-Umm… y-yeah. That’s… how it is, this…”
At our deduction, Captain Og, resigning himself that he couldn’t completely play dumb, admits it.
“So that’s how it was, Captain! But keeping it a secret even from us is cruel! We were seriously terrified thinking you had died, Captain!”
“My bad, my bad. This is my true trump card, so I didn’t want to use it casually. Th-This is specially made equipment, you see! I had never used it seriously before, so I didn’t know how to hold back!”
” ” “Ooh-!” ” “
“N-Now then, you guys! Don’t let the orcs escape!”
” ” “Roger!!” ” “
We attack the fleeing orcs with swords, spears, and sometimes covering fire from the rear.
As long as we reduce their mobility without finishing them off, the monster orc will take care of the rest on its own.
To think he had constructed the battlefield thinking this far ahead, Captain Og is an outrageous tactician!
“Captain Og‘s sword is amazing, the orcs are being cleaved like butter!?”
“Yeah, and that armor too. It’s not just a normal piece of armor, being able to run faster than a horse is probably thanks to that too.”
“Where on earth did he get something like that…”
“He probably got it in the deepest part of some incredibly dangerous dungeon or ruin. That equipment itself is exactly the proof that the Captain was a top-tier adventurer.”
“Our Captain is truly amazing!”
“Then we can’t lose either! Let’s reduce the Captain’s burden even a little!”
“Yeah! We gotta fight a battle that won’t shame us as subordinates of Jet-Black Og!”
“Jet-Black…? What’s that?”
At my colleague’s words, we tilt our heads.
“The Captain’s figure just now! That figure clad in black darkness mowing down the orcs with overwhelming power! It’s exactly fitting to call him Jet-Black Og, isn’t it!”
“I see, certainly…”
“Come to think of it, top-tier adventurers naturally get aliases, they say. For example, S-rank Twin Fangs Riso, Clear Storm Roddy, Saintess Foca, Heavenly Mage Lamize, and the person newly listed among S-ranks called the Giant Eater…”
“Then the Captain will join their ranks too! He beat down a monster like that, after all!”
What my colleague points to is the giant body of the monster orc writhing with its limbs severed.
“The Jet-Black Og Unit, huh… not bad.”
“Yeah, the Jet-Black Og Unit!”
“Alright, Jet-Black Og Unit! Let’s annihilate the orcs like this!”
” “Ooooh-!” “
◆ Og◆
Uwo-!? What’s happening!?
Surprised that the monster orc’s ridiculously huge hand came falling down, I unintentionally swung the sword in my hand.
It was a meaningless, instinctive action in front of that giant body, but just this once, it succeeded.
To my surprise, black darkness spread from the sword in my hand and cleaved the monster orc’s hand.
Thanks to that, I avoided being crushed by this giant hand.
That’s all thanks to this sword old man Gordov made for me.
Well, I don’t know why black stuff welled up from a normal sword, though.
…Hah, don’t tell me this is the deadly poison of the Great Demon Beast Venom Beat!? Is this alright!?
Come to think of it, when I received the equipment set, old man Gordov’s state was strange too; could it be he was affected by the material’s poison!?
B-But Rex said he detoxified it properly, so it’s alright, right?
Either way, I can’t exactly take off my equipment in the middle of battle.
I’m believing in you, Rex-!
Although I was terrified, I believed in Rex and old man Gordov and fought the monster orc.
Surprisingly, the sharpness of this sword was genuine, easily severing the arm the monster orc swung around.
Alriight, I can win with this! My body also feels excessively light!
Or so I thought, but the monster orc’s blinding attack made me completely unable to see my surroundings.
Oh crap! Just as I thought that, my surroundings suddenly went pitch black.
What? What’s happening? Uoo, my body won’t move somehow!?
Is it the Venom Beat’s poison after all?
Just as I thought that, my surroundings immediately brightened up and my body became able to move.
And for some reason, the monster orc was standing on one leg, so thinking this was a lucky break, I cleaved its leg, and this too split the leg thick as a large tree cleanly in two with one strike.
Seriously, what’s going on with this sword?
Somehow before I realized it, black stuff is welling up not just from the sword, but from the armor too.
Is this equipment really alright? I’m super scared, though.
Anyway, with the monster orc thrashing about in pain, the enemy’s formation collapsed nicely.
Let’s use this to reduce the orcs even a little!
I thought that, but…
“Could it be you were aiming for this too? That’s why you intentionally went towards the monster orc to bait its attack?”
Suddenly, my subordinates misunderstood that I had baited the enemy’s attack completely based on calculations.
No, that’s wrong, you know? I didn’t know this equipment had such an ability, and I seriously thought it was going to be a much more dangerous fight, you know?
But I couldn’t answer that honestly.
Because my subordinates are looking at me with super sparkling eyes!
Besides, in this situation, there’s no way I can say, “Actually I didn’t think that deeply about it, this weird stuff is billowing out but I have nothing else to use so I’m using it even though it’s scary-“!
If I said that honestly on the battlefield, morale would plummet, and they’d absolutely be put off by the fact that I’m using equipment I don’t understand!
So, having no choice, I decided to pretend everything went according to plan.
I’ll give the detailed explanation after the battle is over.
Specifically, after I ask old man Gordov in detail about the specifics of this equipment!
And then later, I’ll make things consistent by saying I was actually told to keep quiet by old man Gordov or something!
Uhahahahahah! If I do that, it won’t be a lie, right! Right!
“Alright, Jet-Black Og Unit! Let’s annihilate the orcs like this!”
” “Ooooh-!” “
“Hah!? Jet-Black? What’s that!?”
“It’s the beginning of Captain Og‘s legend-!”
Don’t go starting weird legends on your own-!!
