NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27.2
With these words, Donzoi’s heart was struck as if by lightning.
That’s right. It was true, why was he trying to avoid fighting Bash? After all, his goals were the same. Because he wanted to make the final decision with his own hands and declare their emancipation with his own words.
That was also the case. But that was not all. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Donzoi had a thought: “I can never beat Bash.”
That was why he gave up even before the fight. In the past it was different. When all the members of Boulder’s company were alive, he thought he was stronger. In fact, he used to be stronger. For a while they were evenly matched, and then he was outmatched. But even after that, he thought that, if they were to engage in combat, he would not lose. One day, Bash became the best warrior in his unit, and another day he became one of the best warriors in the country… And he was the Hero while Donzoi was a slave.
Now, he no longer even questioned whether or not he could beat Bash.
“…Orc pride, huh?”
Pride. Yes, it was pride that Donzoi wanted to regain. It was that feeling of pride that was lost when he became a slave. After being made a slave, he remembered the words of his owner, a dwarf who said some time later: “An orc is fine as long as he has someone to fight with and a woman.”
Donzoi and his men were valuable slaves. As of recently, the slaves were dragged into the arena to fight each other and let the spectators decide whether they died or not. When they fought in the underground arena, they were forced to use poor quality weapons and wear flimsy armor. If the armor broke, the match was over. The rules were equivalent to those of the Armament Festival. They were forced to continue endlessly in a playful duel in which they would never die.
How could it be a battle between orcs? Orc dueling was more about leaving one’s soul in the fight, something tremendous.
“That’s right. I was wrong.”
Perhaps at some point Donzoi had become weak-minded. Maybe he was so anxious to get out of this difficult situation that he asked the Hero to do the worst thing he could ask him.
“Let me show you dwarves what a real orc duel is like.”
Fight and take what you want. Women, freedom. It was not give and take. Orcs fought and took.
If you were proud to be an orc, you had to fight and win and take the spoils, even if your opponent was Bash.
Bash taught him that again. Thinking about this, Donzoi readied his sword and shield. Bash also prepared his great sword. And then…
“Graaahhh!”
Vibrations ran through the arena. It trembled. Silence fell. At the same time, they remembered. The dwarves remembered. It was not the mournful pig roar they had heard in the arena. It was the roar they had heard during the war against the orcs. The trembling of their bodies and the fear they felt on the battlefield. A true war cry.
“Graaaahhhhhhhhhoou!”
The second vibration was even louder. The war cry shouted by the Orc Hero terrified all the spectators in the arena. At the same time, it made their hearts dance. Now that they thought about it, Bash had not uttered a single war cry in this tournament. Even in that fight against Barabara Do Banga he wasn’t serious. But this was different. In this final, the orc himself, he was serious. The man had been the object of envy and admiration of all the Heroes of the past, all the veterans kept their mouths shut and their faces pale.
The place erupted in excited groans and shouts.
At the same time, the orcs took a step towards each other. Two or three steps, and then they started running. They rushed forward without thought of defense. As soon as they collided, a heavy metallic sound echoed in the arena, as if coming from the bottom of a well.
The final began.