Ch. 21
Chapter 21
An orc that had trampled an instructor into paste was pacing in front of me.
The thing carried on its back an orc dummy hiding a sword inside.
To draw that blade, I first had to kill the carrier.
“Kinjo, we need the swords those things are hiding. Check the area.”
“Two more on the right, but they’re a ways off.”
“Belle! Two discarded dummies to your right—rip them open!”
“What? Why do I have to? I’m fighting too!”
“There’s a sword inside each. And you’ve got your own target to kill, remember?”
“Huh? How did you even—”
“Move. If you want in on this...”
I thrust out my right hand, palm up.
“Hand it over.”
“Your tag. I’ll carve your name beside mine on the kill record.”
Belle’s lips curved in a grin as she slapped her military tag into my palm.
“I trust you, Mago. I’ll be right back.”
She bit down on a molar and sprinted off.
The orc wore special armor. Across its shoulder it had slung a two-handed axe whose twin blades were missing teeth. It sized Kinjo and me up like insects.
I tossed my wooden sword aside and tore my own tag free, winding the cord around my right fist so the stamped metal plate rode on top of my knuckles. Belle’s tag I looped around the left.
“Fire.”
The instant I spoke, Kinjo ignited the orc’s axehead.
“The moment my fist lands, light this hand too.”
I raised both fists.
“Got it... I see what you’re doing.”
I started toward the orc.
With a roar it hoisted the burning axe high, flaunting its courage. Humans or beasts, they all sneered at Kinjo’s enhancement magic—and the more they scoffed, the better for us.
“Good... enjoy the show while you can.”
I charged first. The orc threw its weight behind the upswing, and the instant I entered its arc it slammed the blade down. I sidestepped right; the axe bit earth, dragging the orc’s posture low. My left hook was already on its way.
As the fist met the green cheek—
“Kinjo!”
A blossom of flame burst from the metal plate. Before the orc could flinch, the punch landed, branding Belle’s name into its flesh.
[Imperial Army 1st Training Center, 66th Class]
[Trainee #10]
[ Belle Red ]
The embossed letters left a scorched signature.
“Like tenderizing pork.”
The orc staggered—then straightened, closing the distance shoulder-first, meaning to bulldoze me. I twisted left, rolled, and came up just as it shortened its grip on the haft.
“Mago—faster!”
Trading reach for speed, it whipped the axe in a frenzy. I gave ground a step at a time, waiting.
“Mago!”
My back struck a tree.
“So you herded me here...”
The wild swings had been a corral. The orc smirked and slashed horizontally at my waist. I vaulted, planted both feet against the thick trunk, and launched forward, driving my knee into its face.
“Graaah—!”
The nasal bone shattered. Without pause I shot both hands out, seized the orc’s braided hair, and swung behind its neck.
I locked my legs around its neck and pinned it.
Then I hammered its face from top to bottom.
Left fist, right fist.
I struck in a steady, alternating rhythm.
The military tag laced with Fire branded the orc’s skin as I pummeled away, checking its condition while I worked.
Now.
The brute had flipped the axe, blade pointing up, gripping it backward.
It meant to loop the weapon over its shoulder and spike me in the back of the neck.
I raised my left hand and waited for the edge to come.
The moment the axe head swept toward my leg I snatched the handle.
“Bet you’ve never arm-wrestled a human before.”
I held on one-handed.
The orc thrashed, trying to shake me loose.
Just what I wanted.
I uncoiled my legs.
As I dropped, I dragged the axe blade straight into its throat.
The weapon it had reversed to carve off my leg buried itself without hesitation in its owner’s neck.
A wet crack—and the body went limp.
When the dust settled, Kinjo stepped up.
“Tougher than I expected...”
I wrapped both hands around the orc’s axe and split the dummy in front of me like firewood.
Sand poured out.
A hidden sword emerged.
Sheathed, plain-looking.
I blew the grit from the hilt.
Sword in the left hand.
Axe in the right.
“Mago, what are you doing?”
I settled my shoulders and focused on the feel.
Left side.
The sword side felt better.
“I thought about keeping the axe, but the blade suits me.”
I tossed the two-handed axe aside.
“Right! Why didn’t I think of that? We don’t have to find every sword—just use theirs...”
Kinjo picked up the discarded axe.
He gripped it, but couldn’t lift.
“Guess that won’t work.”
He let it fall.
“Mago! Kinjo!”
Belle came running, a sword in each hand.
“Found them. Why are the blades inside the dummies?”
She handed one to Kinjo.
“No idea. Kinjo figured it out.”
Now all three of us held sharp steel.
“Mago, what now? I want the Boss—the one with the necklace.”
“The Boss?”
Kinjo asked; Belle nodded.
“Loud necklace equals Boss—pearl on a pig.”
“Hold up, Mago. I’m dying to slaughter every beast here, but our Fellow Trainees come first.”
Kinjo waved his hands.
“The ones who went downhill?”
“Yeah. Unarmed, chased by orcs and goblins. They’re in danger.”
“I have to go after him now...!”
Belle shouted, frustration boiling over.
A scream answered her—one of our own.
“We have to...”
Belle muttered, face twisting.
“Can’t pretend we didn’t hear... Oscar’s probably close...”
We had to choose.
Chase the Demon Beasts.
Or protect our own.
All three of us wanted the kill, but we couldn’t move blindly.
If I hadn’t prepared...
That’s exactly how it would have gone.
“Kinjo, Belle—the trainees are safe. Let’s go after the Boss.”
“Safe? The Instructors were unarmed too!”
Kinjo shot back.
“Ms. El is still at the Training Center—on her way here. She’ll come for Belle especially.”
“Ms. El?”
Belle tilted her head.
“Right—Elizabeth Red.”
“El... unnie is here?”
“An earthquake?”
El flattened herself against the ground and pressed her ear to the floor.
She held her breath, listening.
“No... something’s... off.”
A bad feeling crawled up her spine; she sprang to her feet.
She yanked the armory door.
A gap barely wide enough for a fist appeared—
then the chain-lock snapped shut again and clung to the frame.
“Is anyone out there?”
She knocked from the inside.
“There’s someone in here!”
She pounded again and again, but no footsteps answered.
“Guess no one’s coming...”
When she realized she was alone, her expression shifted—not to disappointment, but to relief.
She focused, drew back, and kicked the door square.
The metal folded like paper and flew across the yard with a thunderous clang and a bloom of dust.
She sprinted straight for the rear mountain where her little brother had gone—
“Ah—”
She veered instead into the building.
When she re-emerged seconds later, her favorite sword was belted at her hip.
* * *
“We’ve got no weapons! No backup! It stings, but we have to pull back!”
Amon thrust the wooden sword high overhead.
“Don’t panic—think!”
He backed away, voice steady.
As leader of the Assassination Team, he watched the trainees retreat behind him.
“A-Amon! They’re catching up!” one sobbed.
“Move faster! Nobody knows this terrain better than we do!”
True to his word, he guided them down the steepest slopes without a stumble.
“Trust me—and trust yourselves! You’ve climbed and descended these paths countless times!”
Still walking backward, he never took his eyes off the line of cadets who followed, wiping sweat from his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Fall back! I’ll take responsibility—”
The sentence died on his tongue; he knew the crushing weight of command.
He had watched his father bear that burden for their Prestigious Family—then watched him give it up.
No one understood the load better than he did.
I’m the strongest in the Assassination Team. I have to see this through. I carry my family’s name—and the nation—on my back. If I can’t even lead my fellow trainees...
Yet doubt gnawed at him:
Could they really all survive against a main regiment, unarmed?
Was it even possible?
Negativity stormed his mind; he tried to shut it out.
—Amon, sorry, but I’ll be the one asking the favor.
Mago’s words from the night before surfaced.
—Tomorrow you’re the only one who can fill my place.
Amon squeezed his eyes shut, the wooden grip trembling in his hand.
“I take responsibility! Stay on my tail!”
At that moment his backward step met something solid.
“Out of my way.”
El’s voice crackled with irritation; she shook blood from her blade.
“Belle?”
“It’s El. Where’s Belle?”
“Who are you...?”
“I asked where she is.”
“If you won’t identify yourself, I can’t—”
“I’m Belle’s older sister—answer me!”
“Belle... will be higher up. The Escort Team left an hour before we did...”
“So she’ll be coming down?”
“Belle’s with Kinjo and Mago. Those three stick together; they kill whenever they can... They won’t retreat.”
El ground her teeth, brushed past Amon, and started up the hill, crimson hair whipping behind her.
“You can’t go up there! I don’t know who you are, but—”
“From the armory.”
“...Pardon?”
Wait—if that’s true, the armory’s open right now?
“Order.”
Kinjo murmured it under his breath.
“They’re moving on orders, aren’t they—those things.”
He nodded toward the orc pack spread out ahead.
“Command probably comes from the Demon King. But what’s the order? Smash the Training Center? Or were they flying somewhere, spotted a cluster of humans, and got told: ‘Dive down and wipe them out’?”
“Shut up. Why the enemy’s moving is none of our business. We see them, we kill them—end of story.”
“Belle’s right, Kinjo. We can chew on the reasons later. Belle, you’re with me and Kinjo. While we hit, you take the Boss.”
“Chase him down. Just what I wanted.”
Belle rocked onto the balls of her feet, ready to sprint.
“Belle, catch this before you go.”
He flung a water flask to her.
It was filled with the liquor that would wake her up.