Leonora, skilled in offensive magic, possessed powerful magic capable of instantly wiping out a wide area. It consumed a lot of mana, so she couldn't use it consecutively, but it had the power to annihilate the surrounding orcs in one fell swoop. Her plan was to use it to create an opening to escape.

But they were currently engaged in close combat within the orc horde. Casting a spell there was too risky.

Anastasia and Leonora were using mana to enhance their physical abilities, but they needed to release that enhancement to use powerful magic. Support magic was structured to last for a certain period, but simply enhancing their bodies with mana meant that the enhancement would disappear as soon as their mana ran out.

In a normal party, the front-line fighters would buy time while the magic users prepared their spells, but they were currently acting as both front and rear lines...

Leonora released her physical enhancement to use magic.

Instantly, her body felt heavy.

The orc attacks, which she had easily dodged before, suddenly became sharp and dangerous.

As expected, while trying to chant the spell, Leonora took a full swing of an orc's club and fell to the ground...

Ana, rushing to Leonora, who was groaning in pain and unable to move, also hastily released her physical enhancement to use healing magic.

An orc wielding a sword—likely one dropped by an adventurer—charged at Ana.

Ana managed to barely block the attack, but the next moment, she was blown away by an orc's punch and tumbled to the ground.

They were in mortal danger...

Being killed wouldn't be so bad. Orcs didn't kill female humans. They used them for breeding. If they were captured, they would suffer a fate far worse than death...

...

But at that moment, several warriors appeared and cut down the orcs around Leonora and Anastasia.

They were members of "Forest Wind," the party Badge and Sapp belonged to. Badge and Sapp, passing nearby, had discovered Ana and Leonora under attack.

"Hey, are you alright?!"

"Here, drink this!"

Ana and Leonora drank the potions Sapp gave them and recovered.

"Th-thank you."

"I told you, being careless can be fatal."

"Well, it can't be helped. Surviving is a testament to their luck. Luck is also a part of skill."

"...Sapp..."

"Hey, how many are there? There are too many to handle!"

"We'll be killed if this continues!"

"Hey, you're a magic user, right? Can you use area-of-effect magic?"

"I can, but I'm out of mana..."

"Use this!"

Sapp threw her a mana-restoring potion.

Leonora drank it in one gulp. Her mana immediately recovered.

She began chanting the spell.

Forest Wind members held off the orcs.

And Leonora unleashed her area-of-effect annihilation magic...

A large area burst into flames, and all the surrounding orcs turned to ash.

"That's...amazing."

But more orcs kept appearing from the depths of the forest.

"Let's escape!"

Forest Wind's members and Ana and Leonora managed to escape the orc horde.

...

Badge and the others joined the adventurers who had been dispatched for the emergency quest. More hands were better, so Forest Wind and Ana and Leonora joined the orc extermination effort.

The adventurers clashed with the orcs again.

Bymark's skilled adventurers quickly began exterminating the orcs...but no matter how many they killed, more kept coming.

"This is strange...how many are there?"

"The report said about five hundred, but we've already killed that many?"

"At this rate, there might be thousands..."

"Let's retreat. We'll return to the city, resupply, and fight again. We might need another siege."

The adventurers began to retreat.

But they encountered Guildmaster Nerina on their way. Was she here to check up on them?

"Escape quickly! Let's retreat to the city..."

But the adventurers noticed a man standing next to Nerina.

"...Silver Mask?!"

"Silver Mask? The one who saved the city by defeating the Catochrists?!"

"I heard that mask is an artifact from an ancient ruin and grants superhuman abilities to the wearer."

...More strange rumors were spreading...

"...Leave it to me."

Silver Mask ran towards the orc horde, leaving the adventurers behind.

"Hey! There are too many! There's no way one person can—"

"It's okay. Leave it to him. You should all return to the city."

"What about the guildmaster?"

"I'll watch Silver Mask's fight before returning."

Nerina heard about the situation through the communication magic tool and decided to capture Ryujeen and ask Silver Mask to exterminate the orcs.

Silver Mask wasn't registered as an adventurer, but the reward would be given through Ryujeen, so Nerina agreed. Since even the lord was in on the "Silver Mask" act, Nerina had no choice but to go along with the charade.

Ryu was surprised that the situation was beyond the capabilities of the city's adventurers, but he readily accepted the request.

Ryu, facing the orc horde alone, drew his magic sword, Fragarach, and began cutting them down.

Even though Ryu had many ways to wipe out the orcs using space magic, he decided to kill them all with his sword.

"Orc-slaying. A thousand? Ten thousand? Either way, it's good training."

It was similar to what Leonora had said, but Ryu was challenging them knowing their numbers and confident in his ability to succeed.

Even if there were ten thousand orcs, he could kill them with ten thousand swings. He occasionally did ten thousand swings in independent training, even with a heavy training sword. It wasn't that difficult. It was more like a practical training exercise.

And Fragarach had self-repair capabilities, so it wouldn't dull like a cheap sword, no matter how many times he swung it.

...

Two hours later, the orc army was annihilated.

At the rear of the orc army, there were the Orc King and an Orc Mage, and behind them, an Orc General. This was quite a clever and well-organized army. Ryu understood now why they hadn't headed toward the city during the stampede, they had increased their numbers and formed an army before attacking.

The mage was about to unleash a magic attack from afar, but Ryu instantly closed the distance and cut down the king and the mage, then the general, completing the mission.

...

Nerina had secretly followed Silver Mask. She didn't have any particular reason, just simple curiosity. She wanted to see Ryu's, or rather, Silver Mask's, power. (They could have handled the orc army with a siege strategy even without asking Silver Mask.) But this time, Ryu had killed them all using brute force, so Nerina didn't see his full abilities.

However, Silver Mask's power was truly terrifying, having defeated over two thousand orcs (*).

Afterward, the adventurers were sent to dispose of the orc corpses, and it was discovered that there were nearly three thousand orcs in total. More than two thousand orcs were still following behind when Silver Mask arrived. That was an enormous number, even considering the increase after the stampede. They were likely a large army from the start.

Ryujeen received a considerable reward for Silver Mask's successful mission. (Officially, Ryujeen received the reward on Silver Mask's behalf.)

It was a substantial amount for the guild, but since Silver Mask didn't want the orc materials, the guild was able to recover a considerable amount by selling the magic stones, materials, and meat.

However, the large supply of meat caused a temporary price drop, resulting in a phenomenon where the city of Bymark was filled with meat dishes. (Orc meat is delicious, like pork, and is popular among people.)

As a result, Bymark's meat dishes became more varied.

Next Episode

Ryu gets rejected.

Stay tuned!