Orc Hero Story: Discovery Chronicles

“Wow, what does this mean, Barabara Do Banga is running away? What a disgrace for someone so brave and bold!”

Voices of surprise could be heard from the audience, and the place was filled with boos. He knew what it looked like. He had come to the Arena of his own free will, and now, in the semifinals, he was running like a rabbit. How pathetic he was. What a coward. Barabara himself had never thought he would run away like this. He had intended to face any opponent fairly and squarely. But that was not the best thing to do. That would not be enough to win. With that he could not protect Donzoi’s pride.

“Huh!” As he ran, he aimed for Bash’s joints. Joints, shoulders, armpits. The armor wasn’t carved from a single block of iron. There were always fastenings. There were fragile parts.

He aimed there. Or so he intended.

“Mmm!”

Then Bash counterattacked with precision. A mass of murderous intent passed over Barabara’s head. A shiver ran down his spine, if he had taken another half step…. The strength of the armor was great enough to keep him from death. But if it had hit him in the head, he would have been knocked unconscious.

In any case, it was an attack with a lot of strength. Every time he took a step forward, he must have been constantly applying load to the ankle supports. That would constantly wear out them.

If the hardware around the feet could be worn down, the next step was the shoulder area. Finally, if the hardware around the torso could be destroyed, destruction of the armor would be inevitable. He would take his time, carefully provoke his attacks and invite the opponent to self-destruct. He would attack alone at the end. He would slowly destroy the armor first. This was not a dwarven way of fighting at all.

This plan could be ruined by a simple mistake. If he failed to evade a blow. Or when Bash realized he wasn’t serious in his attacks. But Barabara was confident it would work out.

With the next step, the ankle braces should break. His confidence was born of his own assessment. Primera’s smithing skills and his own physical strength. He weighed the two and was confident he could go all the way.

“Mnh!”

“Hmph!”

With a metallic clang, the sword grazed his helmet. Bash’s sword was trying to overcome Barabara’s evasive movements. It was natural. The opponent was a superior warrior. Besides, Barabara was not so good at evading his opponent’s attacks. No matter how much of a safety margin he thought he had, there was no way he could keep running.

But there won’t be a next time. Barabara thought so. Because now Bash’s ankle braces couldn’t take any more load and would break.

In other words, they wouldn’t hold as well as before. But Bash was still forced to attack. In this tournament, if a stalemate occurred and neither could continue to fight, the winner was determined by the damage to the other’s armor. All parts of Barabara Do Banga’s armor were still intact. With only one part damaged, even if it was that small piece of metal at the ankle, Bash would be defeated. Forced to attack, but without much force, Barabara Do Banga countered Bash by aiming for the shoulder area.

“Mnh!”

“Ngh!”

By the time he realized it, it would be too late. Bash had gone deeper than ever. It was as if he was saying, “Oh? I think I can step a little deeper today”.

The mass of iron approached Barabara Do Banga’s head at tremendous speed. Barabara watched it as if in slow motion. He realized there was no way to avoid it. He put his strength into his stomach, trying to stay conscious at least.

He took the blow.

“…”

Barabara Do Banga’s consciousness flew away in an instant. But just before it did, he saw it. Bash’s ankles. The metal fittings that should have been broken were good and intact.

Primera, you’ve grown…

That was Barabara Do Banga’s miscalculation. That his unsuccessful sister had improved her skills in this tournament.

As expected of the Orc Hero…

Barabara Do Banga fell to the ground, praising Bash for bringing his foolish sister, who hadn’t changed her mind no matter how much Carmela tried to convince her, to this level of maturity.

“Winner, Bash! Advance to the finals!”

There was no applause.