"Everyone, get back!"
A small but familiar back suddenly appeared before Sanson. Patrick, having chased after the King Ogre and run faster, now blocked the path of Sanson and his soldiers. The moment they saw the two swords held firmly in his hands, the soldiers shouted.
"Young master!"
"Young master, you mustn't." "Get away!"
The soldiers yelled loudly. They themselves didn't matter, but Patrick shouldn't be here. Wasn't the future awaiting the boy named Patrick Schneider too brilliant for him to die so meaninglessly here?
A figure who might remain as a great legend in the continent's history should not lose his life alongside mere nameless soldiers. The soldiers, finding courage from somewhere, ran in front of Patrick to block the King Ogre. But in that moment...
"Huuuuu...."
The blue aura coalesced on Patrick's swords began to shrink. Was it fading? That wasn't the feeling.
Rather, it felt closer to being condensed. The shrinking aura finally seeped completely into the swords. The aura completely vanished from the swords in Patrick's hands, leaving them looking like simple, smooth iron swords.
And right after that...
"Hap!"
Along with Patrick's shout, a much brighter and clearer aura than before took form in his hands.
Fzzt!
A materialized aura, not shimmering like a heat haze, but taking the distinct shape of a sword. What that symbolized was none other than...
"A... Aura Blade?"
"Seven-star...?"
The soldiers' jaws dropped. How many times had it been today? They thought they had already been surprised as much as they could be.
They thought they had finally confirmed the true skill of the boy named Patrick. But Patrick had a depth far greater than they could have imagined. Twin Dragon Eight Sword Forms Second Form Soaring Dragon Cross Slash In that moment, the soldiers saw it.
As Patrick's body shot forward, two slashes centered on him drew lines of light in the air.
One horizontally. One vertically.
The moment the two slashes overlapped in the form of a cross (+), a massive Aura Blade grazed past the King Ogre.
And Patrick...
"Keoheok!"
He passed right by the King Ogre and collapsed onto the ground behind it, unable to even land properly.
"Young masteeeer!"
The soldiers shouted until their throats were raw, but Patrick didn't stir. And the King Ogre... -Grrr...?
Grr.
It was bewildered, not understanding what had happened. That being from a moment ago had emanated a strange presence and done something. It knew that much had happened, but nothing had occurred afterward.
What was going on? Wait, more importantly, the enemy was weakened. Seeing it collapsed and twitching on the ground, anyone could tell it was weakened. -Grrrrrrr· As the saying goes, a beast of prey's spirit revives when its enemy shows a weakness.
The fallen Patrick was no longer an unknown, fearsome entity, but merely weakened prey. The King Ogre turned its body, intending to crush Patrick with a single fist.
"Stooop iiit!"
"Protect the great warrior!"
"Young masteeeer!"
Seeing the King Ogre's actions, the Orcs and soldiers all shouted in one voice and rushed at it. But their actions were meaningless. -Sssk... The moment the King Ogre turned around, a cross-shaped line of blood appeared on its body.
And from that line, blood slowly seeped out, accompanied by a pain incomparable to before. -Keu..., Grruuuuuu.... The Ogre pressed its head from both sides with its hands, instinctively trying to hold its splitting head together.
But... Chwaaaak!
Soon, the Ogre split into four pieces, starting from its neck. Entrails and a massive amount of blood poured from its huge frame, and in an instant, the smell of blood filled the air.
"Uh.... Uh uh?"
"My god, he just took down a King Ogre..."
The soldiers were horrified as they stared at the corpse of the King Ogre, its body split and fallen. It was so surreal. The day they would see the corpse of that calamity, which in the worst case could drive a nation to ruin, with their own two eyes?
Faced with a reality they had never even imagined, the soldiers' bodies froze. Then, Sanson, the first to come to his senses, shouted.
"The young master. Get the young master!"
"Oh, right, the young master!"
"Young master. Are you alright?"
The soldiers hurriedly ran to where the fallen Patrick lay. And Patrick, lying there, coughed up a mouthful of blood and spoke.
"Took you... long enough. You rotten...?"
And with that, Patrick closed his eyes.
It was a familiar occurrence, but no matter how many times he saw it, he couldn't get used to it. The face of his worried friend, that is.
"You awake?"
"Why is your ugly face the first thing I see when I wake up?"
"Seeing you spout nonsense, you must be fine."
Ugly Dragon Scholar, Jegal Hyeon. A tragic genius abandoned by his own clan due to his ugly appearance and twisted personality, but he was still one of Jin Cheon's few friends.
"Ugh... what's the situation?"
As Jin Cheon tried to force his body up, Jegal Hyeon frowned and spoke.
"Our side won. Thanks to some crazy bastard who charged blindly and took the head of the Poison Blood Hand, Jang So, one of the Ten Great Evils."
"Good. Then that's all that matters."
"All that matters? ALL THAT MATTERS?"
Jegal Hyeon's face contorted. As Jin Cheon thought that the ugly guy looked ten times uglier when he scowled, Jegal Hyeon unleashed a storm of nagging.
"You crazy son of a bitch. I know our allies were in danger, but to charge alone at one of the Ten Great Evils who had a protective formation of corpse guardians? Do you have fifteen lives or something?"
"Stop nagging. We won, that's what counts."
"Well, look at you, running that mouth of yours just because you can. You wouldn't reflect on your actions even if you died."
"Hmph, I, the Radiant Dragon Grandmaster Jin Cheon, have never once reflected on my actions in all my forty-five years."
"Proud of that, are you, you crazy bastard!"
"What? What? What? Why? Why? Why? So what? What are you gonna do about it? You ugly bastard."
"Hoh, so you're curious what I'll do?"
No. Now that I think about it, I'm not that curiou...
"I'm telling your Master."
"Ah, whyyyy?"
"And I'm telling your wife, too."
"Don't cross the line, you ugly bastard."
"A crazy bastard is talking about lines. When she gets here, she's going to ask me anyway. The Divine Physician Saintess of Sichuan needs to know what kind of crazy stunt you pulled to get your body wrecked like this..."
"Die, you ugly bastard!"
Jin Cheon forced his aching body up and lunged at Jegal Hyeon. It was because he felt a sense of crisis, that if he didn't silence this bastard by killing him now, his own life would be in danger.
"You ugly bastard!"
Patrick shouted as he sat up. No, he tried to.
"Aghhhk~!"
He would have, if not for the immense pain that washed over him the moment he tried to move.
"Young master?"
"Young master, are you awake?"
Sanson and Oliver hurriedly approached Patrick and spoke to him.
"Ughhh... Do I look okay? You idiots."
"Ah... Aah... You are okay. That's a relief, young master."
"I said I'm not okay! My meridians are severed and twisted all to hell right now."
Sanson and Oliver looked at Patrick with expressions that said, "What's that?"
Ah, right.
Of course they don't know.
"Forget it. What would you guys know?"
These ignorant fools... Patrick just lay back down forlornly. His qi and blood were all twisted, and some of his meridians were severed in places.
All the muscles in his body were torn, and it was hard to find a joint that wasn't damaged. It was a great fortune that he hadn't died, but it seemed it would take some time to get his body back to normal.
After all, he had forcibly drawn out his aura to unleash the Soaring Dragon Cross Slash with this body. Honestly, it was an attack he'd unleashed prepared to die, but thankfully he hadn't, and his dantian was intact. It was at a level where it could be fixed, one way or another.
Perhaps thanks to the density of energy in this world being much higher than in the Central Plains, he seemed to have consumed less innate qi. 'Still, it'll be a pain to heal.' It was a great relief, but the conditions for healing were so poor that he had more than a few regrets.
It would be nice if he had a pill to treat internal injuries, but no, forget all that... 'Tsk, is it because I saw her in my dream? I miss my wife from my past life.'
Tang Su-ryeon, known as the Divine Physician Saintess of Sichuan. Her medical skills, his wife's, were among the top three in the entire martial world. If she were here right now...
"No, no. It's better that wench isn't here."
Patrick shuddered as he recalled a memory from the past.
[Hoooh. You're hurt? Then you need treatment. Come here. Hold still.]
She treated him more perfectly than anyone else, but in return, he had to endure countless nagging and treatment that involved excruciating pain. The pain was so terrible that even the great Radiant Dragon Grandmaster Jin Cheon would scream. He would sometimes writhe in such awful pain that he thought it might be better to just leave it untreated.
And...
[Why the hell do you get hurt. You ignorant fool.]
Most of all, the sight of her, thinking he was asleep, speaking with a sad voice and wiping away her tears, was what pained his heart the most.
"Tsk, what a stupid dream..."
"What did you say?"
"Never mind. How long was I out?"
"Three days."
"Really? Our current location is..."
"This is where the Red Rock Orc tribe's village was. The Orcs are diligently rebuilding it."
"What? How can you just stand by and watch? You idiots!"
"... Pardon?"
"Agh. You bastards don't have an ounce of sense. Call the Chieftain, quickly!"
As Patrick threw a fit and shouted, Oliver quickly ran outside. It was welcome news that the man who had been unconscious for three days had opened his eyes. It should have been...
"Ah, he should have stayed unconscious a little longer."
Peace is always short-lived. The Red Rock Tribe had lost much. A significant number of their warriors had died honorably in battle, and their home, the village, had been burned down by Patrick's fire attack.
'But it's okay.’
"Lift that!"
"We're out of usable hides. Someone go hunt some."
"Go cut down some trees for pillars, too."
A smile formed on Turanta's lips as he watched the Orcs diligently moving about, rebuilding their village. Just surviving the fight against the King Ogre was a miracle in itself. There were still survivors, so they would gather their strength again and put down roots in this land...
"Mister Chieftain!"
He was about to, but seeing Patrick approaching with a deep scowl on his face, he started to get a feeling that it might not happen that way.
"Mister, what on earth are you doing?"
"You are awake, great warrior."
"Great warrior my ass, what are you doing?"
"As you can see, we are rebuilding our home."
"Why?"
Patrick spoke with a look of complete incomprehension.
"Why are you rebuilding this place? You're not going to live here anymore."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You have to move. We promised to be neighbors, didn't we?"
"......?" ...?”?"
The two of them looked at each other, not understanding. It was Patrick who broke the silence first.
"Don't tell me you're trying to break your promise now."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"When I agreed to fight the King Ogre with you, I told you, right? That as neighbors, we should protect and help each other."
"I think you might have said something like that..."
"Then the Orc tribe has to help us now. Do you know how many weak people in our fief are suffering because of monsters?"
"No, how could that be? You are there, a great warrior."
"What good is it if I'm strong alone? The rest of them are useless freeloaders."
Patrick's words felt like something had flown and lodged itself in the hearts of the soldiers listening from behind.
And Patrick...
"Aigoo. Aigoo. I helped you with all my might, risking life and limb, and now you're going to feign ignorance? And you call yourself a great warrior?"
"No, wai... wait, I'm just trying to understand the situation..."
"Aigoo. Aigoo, how saaad!"
Patrick then lay down on the spot and started flailing his arms and legs, throwing a tantrum.
"So sad! So sad! It's not even a human, it's an Orc scamming me. Hey! You, the passing Orc. Yes, you. The one with the amazing lats. Listen to this. Your chieftain is now..."
"Wai... wait!"
Turanta was greatly flustered. And the soldiers watching the scene from behind thought. 'Wow, he's started.'
'He really doesn't care who he's dealing with or where he is.’ 'Don't tell me he set fire to the Orc village for this?' Thinking about it, they became certain.
Come to think of it, during the preparations for the fire attack, he had specifically ordered them to thoroughly douse the Orc tents with oil. And look at him, rushing over as soon as he heard the Orc tribe was trying to rebuild their village, and throwing a tantrum like this. It was all one big plan from the start.
"Aigoo! Aigoo! Who calls the Orc tribe a race of warriors who know honor? From now on, they should be called the race of scammers. They're breaking a promise. Breaking a promise!"
"Alright. Alright. I will listen to what you have to say, so just get up first."
"Oh? Really?"
Patrick, who had been lying on the ground crying his heart out, shot up from his spot. And with a silly grin, he said.
"Hehehe. You said you'd listen to whatever I say, right? You really said that, right?"
"I didn't say I'd listen to whatever..."
"Aig..."
"Alright. I get it, so don't lie down."
In the end, the Orc tribe ended up moving their base of operations according to Patrick's will.