NSE-Chapter 27

Chapter 27

A horde of Orcs giving off a menacing presence.

Their numbers alone went well past a hundred. What’s more, Orcs kept pouring out one after another from the huts in the village.

Being a D-rank Gate, their average Level would exceed 100 at the very least.

‘Tough from the very start, huh?’

Marveling, he finished getting ready to summon Undead.

The moment the Orcs moved.

The battle would begin right away.

Just then.

―Snort! Wait a moment!

An old Orc raised a hand high and spoke. An Orc with an oak staff loaded with leather pouches. Judging by his appearance, he seemed to be a Shaman.

―Bektar! What is it?

―That human’s body holds the energy of a brave warrior. The ancestors told me. Look closely!

Soon, the Orcs’ gazes poured in.

―……Snort. Ugly human, looking closely, I like him.

―I feel a warrior’s energy. A human who lives up to his face. Bektar was right.

The Orcs’ appraisal session continued.

Perhaps because they were a race whose standards of beauty and ugliness were the reverse of humans’, unsparing harsh criticism poured out.

‘This, somehow, feels like we won’t be fighting…….’

Normally, this shouldn’t happen. Orcs and humans were archenemies who fought each other to the death.

‘Is it because of the Title?’

One Acknowledged by Mutakta.

Its effect was to give Orcs an intense liking for him and to create the possibility of opening a special route.

Maybe that was why.

‘A special route, huh. In that case…….’

First, he’d try talking.

If there turned out to be nothing to it, it wouldn’t be too late to deal with them then.

Kim Min-woo made up his mind.

“I’m someone who was acknowledged by Orc Hero Mutakta!”

―Snort. Mutakta?

―I’ve never heard that name?

Just then.

The Shaman Orc’s eyes flew wide.

―Snooort! C-Could it be! Are you speaking of that Mutakta!

―Who is Mutakta, snort?

―Snort! Fools! How could you forget the name of the one who performed the Ascension Ritual!

―A-Ascension Ritual?

―Was he a great Orc?

The Orcs’ murmuring grew louder.

Kim Min-woo’s curiosity was amplified as well.

A fragment made by cutting a piece out of another world.

That was the inside of a Gate.

Just because the inside of a Gate was of the fantasy type didn’t mean it was a single fantasy world.

Fantasy World A.

Fantasy World B, and so on.

Because even within fantasy, the genre could be divided into several lines.

It meant it wasn’t strange for the Orcs here not to know Mutakta.

Even so, the reason he’d said it like that was to seize the initiative first.

In any case, to give off the nuance that he’d been acknowledged by some guy who seemed like somebody.

‘But, he knows it?’

He looked at the Shaman called Bektar.

“Yes. That Mutakta.”

―……Snort. A person of honor has come to the village! A great warrior!

Just as Bektar began to speak, visibly thrilled.

Thud!

A big Orc revealed himself with heavy footsteps.

[The boss of the Ice Forest, ‘Chieftain Urkan,’ appears!]

The Orc, raising an axe in an arm full of veins, said.

―Snort. Urkan doesn’t know hard words. Warrior. Fights well. Human, only talk.

―Snort! Chieftain is smart!

―Snort! As expected, the best warrior in the village!

The Orcs began to cheer fervently at the Chieftain’s words. Bektar did not stop the Chieftain either.

Instead, his eyes sparkled as he looked at the Chieftain and at him.

It was behavior truly befitting a battle-mad Orc.

‘A boss, huh.’

Normally, it seemed the pattern was to sweep away this Orc horde and then proceed with what came after, but.

“So, you want to have a go?”

Nod.

The Chieftain nodded.

“Well, fine. Anytime.”

He drew his sword.

He looked considerably stronger than the other Orcs, but an Orc was still an Orc.

He was thoroughly accustomed to combat.

An Orc in a D-rank Gate wasn’t even a mouthful.

The same went even if it was a boss.

“Bring it.”

―Snort!

The Chieftain charged like a buffalo, and.

Kim Min-woo’s sword and Urkan’s axe collided violently.

* * *

―Snort. Chieftain is getting beaten up!

―Snort! Ugly human, too strong!

The Orcs murmured.

The human’s skill was truly beyond imagination.

He flowed away the giant axe swung by the village’s best warrior as if water were running, and kept jabbing his small sword into its thigh, thrust after thrust.

A stab or two could be withstood with sheer fighting spirit, but when that became ten or twenty, it was a different story.

Urkan let out a mournful cry and collapsed limply to the floor.

After that, it was a feast of one-sided violence.

Smack!

Smack!

Every time the flat of the sword was swung like a whip, Urkan’s flesh flushed red.

“Hey, look at your big brother.”

―Snort. Human! Not my big brother!

True to the Orcs, a race of battle, he showed no sign of surrender, and eyes still burning fiercely with fighting spirit could be seen.

“If you’re weak, you become the younger brother, that’s all.”

―Urkan! Not weak! Chieftain!

“You lost to me.”

―Not lost yet! Urkan fine!

“Want to fight one more time?”

―Snort! Fight! Stand up!

Urkan, trying to stagger to his feet on legs covered in wounds.

The sight was rather pitiful.

“Drink this, and splash some on your legs.”

He tossed the guy a few Mid-Tier Potions.

―Snort? Red. What is this?

“Ahh, that’s called a Potion. It heals wounds.”

―Snooort! Urkan drinks Potion!

Urkan tossed the contents of the Potion into his mouth in a tough fashion.

Soon, the wounds on the guy’s legs closed rapidly.

The Orcs watched the sight with astonished eyes.

―Snort! Chieftain is fine now!

―Snort! Heals faster than Bektar’s sorcery! Potion is great!

The Orcs were shrieking in astonishment like primitive men encountering fire.

It wasn’t strange.

Guys living in ramshackle huts would find it extremely hard to produce Potions. At best, they’d be searing wounds with a few herbs.

“Come at me.”

―Snooort!

Beat.

Give a Potion.

Beat.

Give a Potion.

An infinite cycle began to roll. Perhaps because Orcs were so big, even when they gulped down Potions one after another, overload symptoms didn’t come easily.

When he’d smashed only the legs about twenty times like that.

“Drink.”

―……Snort. Urkan understands. Human, truly brave warrior. Stronger than Urkan.

“Ahh, did you get smarter?”

But this much wasn’t enough.

Verification had to be done thoroughly.

“Who’s the big brother?”

―S-Snort……!

“Want to drink? There’s still plenty left.”

―……Urkan has a big brother. Human is my big brother now!

The guy bowed his head deeply.

An Orc who was proud wherever he went, bowing his head?

It was a perfect sign of submission.

[You have become Urkan’s brother!]

[The Orcs of the Ice Forest are greatly moved by you!]

[The Orcs will now regard you as one of their brothers!]

[You acquire the Title ‘Brother of the Ice Forest Orcs.’]

―Snort! Chieftain lost!

―Human, the best warrior in the village!

―Snort! We must hold a festival!

Soon, a festival broke out in the middle of the village.

‘Got it.’

Normally, even if he’d beaten him up like this, he wouldn’t have received Urkan’s acknowledgment.

Before that, they’d have killed each other or been killed.

But now was different.

He had blazed a route that could become an entirely new branching point.

What he had to do from now on was simple.

To find out what on earth he could do with having become brothers with these Orcs.

‘I need information.’

The only one among these Orcs who could be called an intelligent being was…….

“Bektar, wasn’t it?”

―Snort! Great warrior! It is an honor that you remembered my name!

This old Orc.

“It’s a festival, but there doesn’t seem to be much food.”

All there was were a few small beasts roasting over the bonfire.

It was an amount far too little to fill the bellies of over a hundred Orcs.

Calling this a festival.

At a glance, the food situation seemed to be the worst……

At those words, Bektar’s face grew gloomy.

―Snort! I saw it in a book! It was not like this originally! Warm sunlight, soft earth! Every Orc ate their fill! There were many children too!

“……It wasn’t like this originally?”

―Yes! The Caesar Continent was truly a blessed land! Under the great leader Mutakta, we Orcs even built a kingdom!

[You acquire the Keyword ‘Orc Kingdom.’]

‘Information.’

In Gates, you could find out information through conversations with objects or living creatures. If it was meaningful, it tended to be saved in the form of a Keyword.

“But why did it turn out like this?”

―Snort! Mutakta was too great a warrior. In the end, he was called by the heavens. After that, we Orcs gradually lost our strength.

He nodded.

‘The Ascension Ritual, he’d said.’

When a prospering leader disappeared, a nation’s rise and fall also tended to split. It seemed that after Mutakta left, time passed and it fell into ruin.

“So you were pushed out to this cold place and made a village?”

―Snort! Human! You are mistaken!

“Mistaken?”

―This continent, all of it is cold.

“……All of it? You said it was warm and cozy?”

―……Snort. A cold Ice Dragon, an evil Witch. Two monsters joined hands. The continent froze solid, snort.

[You acquire the Keyword ‘Ice Dragon.’]

[You acquire the Keyword ‘Witch.’]

‘Ooh.’

The scale seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. Each Keyword was enough to make his flesh tremble.

‘This will connect without fail.’

Of course, it probably wouldn’t be right now. If it were, the Gate’s rank would have been S or above, not D.

He looked at Bektar.

“Why did the dragon and the Witch join hands?”

―Cold dragon wants cold land. Evil Witch wants fresh corpses. Ice Dragon freezes. Witch gets corpses.

“So that’s why.”

He nodded.

When living things die, they rot.

But if you freeze them?

Clean delivery becomes possible.

The Ice Dragon was happy to expand his own territory, and the Witch was happy to obtain large quantities of frozen corpses.

Both sides’ interests matched up.

“Haven’t you tried resisting?”

―……Snort. Countless ancestors fought. All died. Now those who survive are only workers like us.

“Workers?”

―……When an Orc of the village dies, we carry the corpse. When we see other corpses, we carry them too. That is how we survived.

Bektar gulped down the liquid in a wooden cup.

―……Snort. But we too will not live long. The cold grows worse. I can no longer remember the sound of a child crying.

Bektar’s pupils blurred as if recalling a very distant past.

Just then.

The faces of the Orcs who had been dancing near the bonfire stiffened.

―S-Snort!

―An evil energy!

As if some learned fear had been injected into him, Chieftain Urkan was trembling just the same.

“Hey, Bektar! What’s the situation right now?”

―S-Snort! This energy is…… th-the Corpse Collector! It’s not the time for him to come, so why……!

[You acquire the Keyword ‘Corpse Collector’!]

Soon…….

A dark shadow began to fall outside the village.

A huge form came into view.

Eight spider legs.

Attached on top of them was the upper body of a werewolf.

The head resembled a lion, and giant pincers hung from the arms.

A monster stitched together from all sorts of living creatures like a patchwork golem.

Only one thing came to mind.

‘A Chimera?’

The exclusive property of Dark Mages.

A Chimera.

And there were a whole five of them.

‘This isn’t D-rank level, is it?’

Chimeras were monsters you’d normally see only in B-rank Gates.

With five of them, it should at the very least have received a verdict of C-rank or above.

Soon, the Chimera pack began to enter the village with grotesque smiles. Bektar hurriedly stepped forward and bowed his head.

―S-Snort! We should have finished delivering last month’s quota, so why have you come all the way here?

―The cold is worsening. As living creatures vanish, your efficiency as workers will drop absurdly. That is why the Witch has made a decision. To dispose of the workers.

―S-Snort……!

Bektar was flustered.

The Orcs, too, were trembling.

Kim Min-woo stepped forward.

“You there, are you the Witch’s minion?”

―Hmm. You…… I can tell by your energy. Are you a Necromancer?

“Yes. That’s right.”

―How fortunate. The Witch needs many talents. Necromancer, come this way. Your ability will be put to important use.

The Chimeras gestured.

Only then did Kim Min-woo realize why this Gate had received a D-rank rating.

‘So it’s a structure where you hold out against the Orcs?’

If you held out, the Chimeras would come and sweep away the Orcs, and you’d end up joining the other side.

Of course, merely surviving the Orc horde would be tough enough, but.

‘It’s not quite a fiery hell.’

That was the moment.

The inside of the Gate stopped, and a message appeared.

[You have reached the Gate’s Branching Point!]

[A special route has been opened!]

[You can make a choice!]

[The ‘Witch’ and the ‘Ice Dragon’ are evil beings dyeing this continent with death. If you join hands with them, you may gain a few benefits.]

[The ‘Orcs’ are a race that has declined endlessly since their past heyday. They are gripped by fear, and their forces are also infinitely feeble. If you join hands with them, you may have to walk an extremely difficult journey.]

[Whose hand will you take?]

Kim Min-woo, who saw the message, grinned.

He’d thought it was a bit dull, but.

Now it seemed it would finally get a little fun.

He looked at the Chimeras.

“What now? There’s one problem.”

―……A problem?

“These Orcs here happen to be my brothers.”

―A curious human. Do you form ties even with vermin?

The Chimeras tilted their heads.

[Warning! If you join hands with the Orcs, unimaginable trials may befall you! Are you really sure you want to choose this option?]

Yeah, this is right.

Shing!

He drew his sword.

He aimed the sword at the guys.

“I don’t abandon my brothers.”

[You have chosen the Orcs!]

[The favorability of all Orcs on the Caesar Continent greatly increases!]

[You acquire the Title ‘One Who Walks the Path of a Hero’!]

[You have become enemies with the Witch and the Ice Dragon!]

[The Gate’s difficulty changes greatly!]

The die was cast.