Orc Harem Vol 1 Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Orc VS Ancient Demon Bug

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I hurriedly returned to the village.

And then I cut through the village without stopping and headed toward the world tree’s shrine.

I left Tita behind.

If my worst estimation was correct, then even a second was precious. I had no confident that I would be able to fight while covering for Tita.

The possibility of a dangerous opponent showing up was just that great.

I rode on the wind while running and accelerated even faster.

Like that, I arrived at my destination the world tree’s shrine.

This place was located around two kilometers from the residential area. It seemed this place was connected to the world tree underground.

Usually there would be someone stationed here to protect the world tree.

However, that protector was called back in order to protect the village and there was nobody here. The door that was sealed was broken.

「So my bad premonition comes true.」

I had several misunderstandings about the attack to elf village.

First, in the first place the thought that the seal of the forest being broken by the humans from the outside was wrong.

The barrier was broken at the same timing the humans were called here just to make everyone here thought like that.

But actually the barrier was broken from the inside by an elf.

And then my second misunderstanding was the enemy’s aim.

At first I thought it was to kidnap the elves and sold them as slave, but that wasn’t it.

It was the liberation of the thing that was sealed in the world tree’s shrine. That was all.

There was no doubt that the humans called here were planning to obtain some slaves, but the guy scheming this didn’t care at all about their success or failure.

I arrived at the deepest part of the world tree’s shrine.

There a male elf was standing.

I called out to that guy.

「Why did you do something like this? Do you hate the elf village that much?」

「That’s not the reason. If I’m forced to say, then perhaps I should say it’s because I’m bored.」

It was a man who had slender body that was typical of an elf and an air like a scholar.

I think, Tita had introduced me to him once.

In a very rare occasion, the elf village would really need something that could only be obtained from outside. So someone would have to go outside to buy it.

This elf’s job was that.

And then I recalled. When I held that cooking class, this was the man who glared at me and left as though to run away when our eyes met.

「Bored? Is that really all?」

I didn’t know what was kept here.

But, I could sense that something with overwhelming power was sealed here.

A gloomy and black power.

……I also understood what would happen after that power was liberated.

「Well, that’s not all. If I release this, I’ll shine at a place that can recognize my strength. A new life is waiting for me.」

「That’s why you betrayed the elves? Was Tita getting captured as slave your doing to show your worth? You tricked a stupid girl and made her got kidnapped by humans to set the stage and earned their trust. And then after earning their trust you were entrusted with even bigger job and things reached this point.」

I felt something was out of place when I heard Tita’s story.

The situation when she got kidnapped was too convenient.

I also smelled the scent of city from this man.

The scent of the elf villagers also smelled like forest because they never touched anything other than what was in this forest.

But from this man I smelled the smell of things like spice, perfume, beef, wine, things that could only be obtained in human city and absolutely couldn’t be obtained in this village.

This man had been totally immersed in human culture.

The smell wouldn’t be this strong if he was only going outside for shopping sometimes.

「How did you」

「It’s your smell. I can smell a lot of things from you. How about I also continue more from there. You are just a gofer in the elf village who isn’t popular with the women, a lump of inferiority complex. But when you went out for shopping, humans talked to you. They flattered you to the heaven and made you cocky……they must be telling you something like this. The elf village is crazy, there is other place that will recognize your true worth.」

The male elf bit his lip.

It looked like I hit the bull’s eye.

……The advance knowledge I had about him was too few, so I picked my words while observing his reaction. What I said mostly came from my imagination, but it seemed that I hit the mark.

He was glaring at me during the cooking classroom must be because he was displeased seeing me blending with the villagers and having fun even though I was just an outsider.

The mastermind behind this guy was really dangerous.

That mastermind noticed that this elf harbored dissatisfaction toward his village, that he would be able to guide his thought and control him easily just by pampering him a little. And then, he also carried it out perfectly.

Not only that, the mastermind had carried out every preparation that was required beforehand.

Most likely this wasn’t the work of an individual, but an organization that possessed considerable power.

「Wrong, I’m different.」

「I’m not wrong. You have high conceit even though you’re an incompetent. You are an idiot who don’t even realize that you are being used.」

「There is no way that’s the case. No one is using me.」

「I’ll restrain you for now. I’ll make you spit out everything later.」

「You think that a mere human can capture this me?」

Even though he was having inferiority complex in the elf village, he was looking down on everybody who wasn’t an elf.

I smiled and closed the distance instantly.

He couldn’t see my movement. I punched his solar plexus and made him fainted.

「I’m not a human, I’m an orc. I take after my mother and my appearance is almost no different at all from human though.」

For now, I succeeded in neutralizing him.

He seemed loose-lipped. He would surely confess everything with just a little torture.

I wanted to gather information about the mastermind just in case of the future.

But, the problem was this seal that was impossible to be repaired.

The world tree’s shrine shook.

The thing that was sealed in this land was trying to crawl out with the seal broken.

I had noticed since stepping inside here that something unbelievable was sealed here.

But I was made to realize with this.

The thing’s power was still being suppressed. It hadn’t even exerted a tenth of its power.

When I entered here, I had the confidence that even if the thing that was sealed here was liberated, I would still manage somehow.

But, this.

「……It’s stronger than me.」

The thing here was stronger than me who was trained by the greatest teachers in the world.

I carried the stupid patsy elf whose name I didn’t even know and ran out from the shrine.

◇

I got out of the world tree’s shrine and heightened my concentration.

I sharpened my senses until the limit and readied my weapon.

It was the short staff with hidden blade inside.

That was the weapon that was presented to me by the great sage Merlin Enlight.

I wouldn’t use it other than when I fought for real.

Its performance was too good. I would be unable to grow if I was completely reliant on it.

However, the opponent that I would face after this was an opponent where victory wouldn’t be assured even after I used all the trump cards I had.

The shaking was getting bigger.

And then that appeared.

Something white and flabby showed its face from deep underground.

It looked similar with the larva of a beetle.

The only difference was the size.

It was an impossible size. It looked like a mountain.

White liquid dripped down from its body surface. When it fell on the ground, the grasses withered and even stone was smoking and melting.

It had eight eyes lined up with size that befitted its large body.

Six of those eyes were glaring at the world tree in the elf village. The remaining two were looking at me.

It was directing hostility toward me.

The next moment after I felt that, mucus was sprayed at me with a terrific momentum.

I jumped backward and avoided direct hit, however some drops got on my clothes and melted it.

……This outfit was knitted from demonic beast skin that could also be used as armor. It was a product that could even withstand sulfuric acid easily.

I took a fighting stance, but that thing ignored me and headed toward the world tree. Its six insect legs were moving without pause and it advanced while dragging its torso.

Its mouth that was occupying more than half of its face was making a big motion.

「Don’t tell me, this thing, it want to eat the world tree!?」

There was no one to answer my question, but those eight eyes were definitely fixed on the world tree. Its legs were heading toward the world tree.

This was the worst.

If it was just a normal monster that came out, the elves could abandon this village and ran away.

However it was a different story if its target was the world tree.

The elves’ mission was to protect the world tree.

In the worst case, the elves would continue to challenge it until they all died.

I clicked my tongue.

There should be three options available, but two of them vanished with this.

Those two unavailable options were praying for that monster to leave, or to give up defeating this monster and focused on evacuating the elves.

However now that it became clear that the world tree was that monster’s objective, only the last option remained. To fight that monster to the bitter end.

「Can I win against that? ……There is no other option than that.」

I’d use the forbidden move.

Usually I only used the spirit crest that was given to me by the Spirit King, the one that was on my right hand.

Even using just that one would enable me to wield my power as a hero.

I would use the other one too.

I took out the spirit crest that I inherited from Kaa-san on my left hand. Left and right, the spirit crests on both my hands shined.

「Twin Spirit Crests」

It didn’t just increase the power by twice, the power increased multiplicatively.

The crests on my hands felt burning hot. They shined even brighter.

「PIGI, PIGIGIGIGIGIGIGIGI」

The giant larva turned toward me.

It seemed that it sensed my heightening power and finally recognized me as an enemy.

「I command under the name of the Spirit King. O fire mana that flow in this world, gather toward me.」

When a normal magician gathered mana that was filling the air and used spirit magic, the best they could do was gathering mana from a radius of dozens of meters around them.

But I who was given the crest from the Spirit King could normally gather mana from one kilometer. And then with the Twin Spirit Crests freed, I could gather mana from ten times further than that.

「Burn to nothingness, Purgatory!」

The spirit magic that I unleashed through such mean was something that surpassed an anti-army magic. It was already at the level of a calamity.

It was a manifestation of purgatory in this world.

Due to the ultra high heat, the flame’s color changed from red to blue, and from blue to white.

White, it was the flame with greatest heat among all flames.

It would change everything into ash. No, even the ashes would be annihilated. Such flame burned the giant larva.

It was the greatest and strongest attack magic that I had.

If it wasn’t killed with this, I most likely wouldn’t be able to defeat this thing.

「PIGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

It screamed.

It writhed in pain.

I couldn’t feel happy from that.

After all that meant it didn’t die from this attack.

It meant that it still had the leeway to scream.

White vapor burst out.

I could only laugh.

It was secreting mucus in the amount that looked like all the water of a lake was poured on it.

The amount of water was just too great that when it was all vaporized, a water vapor explosion was set off and the blast blew away the Purgatory.

The larva’s body surface was scorched everywhere. Its flesh had also been gouged quite deeply. But it was still going strong.

Even if I wanted to fire another magic, the mana that lent me strength had been exhausted. I could only fight with my own power from here.

Furthermore…….

「So it even has regeneration ability.」

The burned flesh was gradually swelling up with new flesh. The carbonized epidermis was turning white.

I couldn’t kill it, but it wasn’t meaningless.

I had made it hostile toward me with this. If it was heading toward me instead of the world tree, I could run to lure it away from the world tree.

I should be able to manage somehow if it was just running away.

And then I would wait for the fire mana to regain its strength while buying time like that.

Even though that was my plan, the thing took an unexpected action.

The giant larva keep heading toward the world tree instead of chasing me.

It was ignoring me even after I attacked it like that.

「Why is it ignoring me!? Even though it should feel danger.」

There was a mistake in my calculation.

I launched Purgatory so it wouldn’t be able to ignore me.

However due to that larva using its stamina to regenerate itself just now, it became even hungrier and couldn’t see anything else except its food.

That food was the world tree.

……It didn’t lose heart even after what I did to it.

Now the only remaining method that I had was to stand between that thing and the world tree and blocked that thing that had a size like a small mountain with myself.

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