Seolyun had spent Arhan’s absence productively. On this quiet estate, she had devoted herself to the sword and made progress of her own. Her genius was extraordinary; simply swinging her sword on her own was enough for her to gain new insights.

Moreover, she had received instruction from the immortal before Arhan left. Thanks to that, Seolyun had become a better swordswoman than before.

That was why she knew those grotesque masses of flesh before her were formidable foes. Though her swing had been light, they were as tough as enemies clad head to toe in armor. They were chilling creatures, like inanimate objects with no reason in their eyes. Seolyun knew how dangerous such things could be.

And yet...

"...?"

For some reason, Arhan’s back looked different as he stepped forward now.

His appearance had changed, but that was not the crucial difference. As he faced those grotesque enemies, his figure seemed to twist and distort. Just as it had when they first fought in the 「Arena」—when that little boy had radiated a chilling bloodlust and become an assassin from the Free City.

'You really are special.'

Seolyun lowered the sword she had readied and watched Arhan.

At that moment, Arhan’s appearance changed dramatically. His snow-white skin turned green, and his already enlarged frame swelled like a beast’s. His face, beautiful as a woman’s, twisted into a warrior’s ferocious visage, and the dwarf-made steel sword in his hand transformed into an excessively large mass of iron.

The boy Seolyun knew was no longer there. In his place stood an orc. Savage and valiant. A hot-blooded warrior who would never avoid a fight, whatever the circumstances.

* * *

From the moment I faced the enormous golems head-on, my heart pounded madly. My body felt blazing hot. Instead of fear, a desire to fight surged within me. It was not a human heart beating in my chest, but a warrior’s.

The golems before me shimmered once, then took on different forms: mountainlike giants made of rock. Monsters far more threatening and terrifying than golems.

This was no hallucination.

It was a memory. The memory of Berik, the orc Great Warrior, conveyed by the not-yet-fully-digested 「Wildness」. The memory of a swordsman who had chosen to stand against every threat rather than flee.

『Another Monster Wave swept in.』

The orc’s memories slowly overlapped with my present circumstances.

『The monsters that had taken my father appeared once more to trample everything I held dear.』

『One side of the sprawling plains filled with a horde of monsters.』

『The sun shone so brightly it threatened to blind me, illuminating every monster clearly.』

THUD

It was hard to tell whether the vibrations traveling through the soles of my feet came from the giants or the golems the dark mage had created. The vivid memories blurred reality and the past.

『Terrifying monsters whose very names made me shudder swarmed the plains.』

『I could not retreat.』

『Since coming to be called a Great Warrior, I too had found things precious to me.』

『A kindhearted wife who believed in my wretched self.』

『A son who could not yet walk, and a daughter who had not yet been weaned.』

『My family and friends. The neighbors with whom I had laughed and clinked beer mugs.』

But none of that posed a problem.

『Before I knew it, the years had passed, and I too had become an adult who could not flee.』

『Just as my father had once been.』

Because what I had to do was clear.

『I gladly charged into the legion.』

『Giants formed the enemy vanguard.』

As my sword commanded. As my 「Wildness」 told me.

"Roooaaaar!"

I opened my mouth and let out a savage cry. It rang out thunderously, as powerful as the roar of a wild beast. It sounded so valiant that I could hardly believe it had come from my own mouth. At that moment, I felt like an orc—a born warrior who never avoided a fight.

My body burned hot from the instant I roared.

Glaring at the approaching enemies, I charged without hesitation. The memories of Berik the orc Great Warrior flickering before my eyes vanished, replaced by sharp reality. Golems. The dark mage’s puppets.

Keeping my eyes on them, I extended my 「paths」. The golems entered the 「paths」 spread like a spiderweb, and I could see their movements clearly, as though they had slowed.

I would not retreat.

"Hoo..."

I drew in as deep a breath as I could. With it, another power entered the body that had grown through devouring 「Wildness」. My heart beat powerfully, and 「paths」 formed inside me. They immediately narrowed into lines harder than anything else.

At that moment, the power of steel filled my body.

「You have grasped it without being told, young descendant.」

The insight I had gained during the orcs’ coming-of-age rite.

This was how the Caravan line was meant to be used. It was not some finishing move. I had to be able to spread it as naturally as breathing. The true purpose of the Caravan line was to go beyond superhuman strength and create a body of steel.

I had first gained that insight during the orcs’ coming-of-age rite. Now that I had a better body, I could finally master the technique naturally.

"Hooo..."

As I controlled my breathing, I could feel my entire body hardening. I felt as though I had become a sword—a blade that would never break.

I sprinted as though racing across the great plains. In an instant, I reached the enormous golem. I saw its massive arms moving to enfold me.

My 「paths」 extended.

I could clearly see how tough the golem’s muscles and bones were, and how hard the skin covering them was. Seolyun was right. These monsters were like heavily armed knights clad head to toe in armor. Mindless, stupid, and slow, but tough and powerful.

Before, they would have been too much for me.

But not now.

"Hup!"

Because now I, too, had become every bit as tough.

"Raaah!"

Gripping my sword tightly, I swung it in a broad arc. It felt more like swinging a mace than a sword. Carrying the full force of my superhuman strength, the blade smashed through the enemy’s body without resistance. It pierced the tough skin and cut clean through the muscles and bones beneath. Thick blood gushed out.

The golem’s massive arm was severed and fell away. I kept swinging without stopping, tracing reckless, daring arcs, striking again and again without pause.

The golem’s arms were cut off, its chest slashed, its thick bones split. Entrails pieced together from all sorts of animals spilled from its belly. As its innards tumbled out, I pivoted hard on my forward foot and swung my sword.

Its head parted from its body. The head flew high into the air, spun, then slammed into the ground. That killed one.

I had not allowed it to defend even once.

Nor had I defended myself. I attacked and attacked, crushing its defenses and overpowering it with sheer force until it broke. It was savage swordsmanship devoid of any subtlety. But it was just as exhilarating and powerful. It was a very ‘orcish’ sword.

「Yes. No one can block the path of steel.」

With one golem dead, the other two rushed me without showing fear. There was not a trace of emotion in their dull eyes. They simply moved mindlessly, like puppets carrying out prescribed orders.

And my sword was not weak enough to fall to such things.

I raised my sword high and brought it down. The downward slash, carrying its full weight, carved a deep wound into the golem’s body. Filthy blood spattered upward.

I did not stop there. Maintaining the momentum of the downward swing, I spun and turned, slashing upward through the other golem to my right. The blade pierced its tough skin and wounded it. I still did not stop.

The broad, reckless, savage movements continued as though they would never end.

My sword danced ceaselessly, as though I were wielding a great brush, making endless strokes to complete a painting. This was the swordsmanship held within 「Wildness」.

Taking an extreme stance, gripping the very end of the hilt with both hands, putting as much strength as possible into each swing, and swinging again and again in enormous arcs. As long as the swordsman wielding it had the stamina, 「Wildness」 never stopped. It continued endlessly.

Compared with the blades I had eaten so far, it could be called a rather crude sword style. It held none of swordsmanship’s subtleties. Against someone well versed in swordplay, a single miss would leave an opening in those sweeping movements, inviting a counterattack.

Yes, this was profoundly ‘orcish’ swordsmanship.

Berik the orc Great Warrior had not taken up a weapon to explore the limits of the sword. He had fought to protect his people and everything he held dear. He had faced the enemies before him so that he would not flee. That was why 「Wildness」 contained no remarkable subtleties or techniques.

A technically poor sword style created to bring down monsters. Arcs so broad they were inefficient, because he had to face so many enemies alone.

Yet that was precisely what made 「Wildness」 a magnificent sword.

Berik’s life was woven into this swordsmanship, which contained not a single defensive technique. It held his resolve never to flee, whatever came his way, and the heart of a great warrior determined to face every hardship alone and overcome it.

"Hup!"

The two golems’ bodies were torn to rags. The endless attacks, linked through an unbroken chain of movements, scattered pieces of their tough bodies everywhere. Amid it all, one mangled golem suddenly lunged at me. It happened in my blind spot, but I could sense it.

Because it was within my 「paths」.

'Besides, when I use it, Wildness’s weaknesses aren’t even a problem.'

I abruptly changed my grip on the sword I had been swinging in great arcs. Switching from two hands to one, I flicked my wrist and thrust from an unsteady stance that looked as though I might fall backward. Like an acrobat. The flicking thrust drove the sword’s point straight through the golem’s eye, destroying the brain within and ending its life.

Immediately after driving my sword into that golem’s head, I kicked the charging creature in the chest and leaped backward. At the same time, I drew Fang from my thigh and, without even looking, drove it hard into the crown of the golem behind me. The dagger pierced its head and ended the last golem’s life as well.

'If a sword style is unstable, I just have to bring it out decisively only when I need it.'

「Wildness」 was not the only sword I possessed.

I could draw on 「Needle」, 「Fang」, or 「Twilight」 whenever I wanted. Finishing the digestion of a sword meant that everything held within that blade had become fully integrated into my body.

Looking at the three completely motionless golems, I wiped the blood off my body. I flicked the blood from my drenched blade and sheathed it, then spotted the child sitting some distance away with a dazed expression.

"Uh, ugh. Huh? How could someone like that be in a backwater like this...?"

The child seemed quite confused.

Rather than answer the child’s muttering, I gave Seolyun a slight glance. She immediately understood what I meant.

"How could you take on golems with just one sword—ack!"

Still muttering, the child backed away trembling, then tripped over their own feet. From the ground, the child stared at Seolyun as though she were a monster, eyes filled with terror.

"P-please spare me. Please spare me. Huuugh."

As Seolyun approached, the child began crying so hard they could barely breathe. The tears and running nose somehow made me feel guilty.

'Come on, why are you crying that hard?'

Seolyun beckoned to the sobbing child. Though she had not explicitly said anything, the child understood perfectly and hurried over. While the child wept as though being sold off at a slave market, Seolyun spoke curtly.

"Stop crying."

The instant her icy voice fell, the child’s tears stopped as if by magic. Seolyun’s expressionless, emotionless face had the power to make people tremble. Looking at the now-docile child, I scratched my head for a moment, then spoke.

"I have a question for you."

"H-hic, what is it?"

"Your master, the mage who told you to dig here—where is he?"

I saw the child’s eyes waver wildly. Their lips trembled at my question. Apparently, the dark mage who owned the child was quite terrifying, if even in this situation they hesitated to answer.

I glanced at the child, who stubbornly refused to speak, then let out a deep sigh. Having just killed three golems, I was sure their master, the dark mage, would have noticed. I did not want to give him time to prepare.

Nor did I want to leave him alone. If he kept spreading an ominous aura around my precious estate and trying to pull his stupid schemes, things would become rather tiresome. So it was best to get rid of him for good while I had the chance. But if the child would not cooperate, this would take an unpleasant turn.

I frowned.

"By all means, keep your mouth shut."

In situations like this, the orc way worked instantly.

Violence was not the answer, but sometimes it made a very good solution.

Grinning, I slowly made a show of drawing my sword.

And then...

"I-I’ll talk. I’ll talk!"

The child shouted before I had even drawn the sword all the way.

Hmm. I had not expected them to talk so quickly.

I smiled at the child, whose face had gone deathly pale. At my silent smile, the child hurriedly cried out.

"I-I’ll guide, guide you! I’ll lead the way, so f-follow me! All of you!"

Seeing such cooperation made me feel oddly proud. Perhaps I should have been firmer from the start.