Chapter 32
After Rei saw off the party of 3 that had rescued the 2 women caught in the Orc settlement, he stored the corpses of the Orc General he defeated and the Orc whose head Set crushed into the Misty Ring. As for the two Orcs that the other 3 adventurers had defeated previously, as he didn’t want to take the Orcs that other adventurers had defeated and left them as they were. He would only take his own kills. Anyway, as the other 3 people would come back immediately, he judged that there wouldn’t be a problem.

「Guru~」

Seeing flames rising in many parts of the settlement, Set gave a small, vigilant cry

Rei lightly patted his back, turning his eyes to the darkness and casually readying the Death Scythe.

「Bumo~!?」

An arrow was shot from the darkness and was casually cut down, an Orc Archer raised a voice of confusion……the next moment, before he was aware, Rei was in front of him swinging down the Death Scythe, his skull was split and he died.

「Did it get separated from the rest of the Orcs?」

While thinking about this, Rei stored the corpse of the Orc Archer into the Misty Ring.

Currently, Rei and Set’s location was North of the settlement, aside from the shack where the female humans had been captured for the Orcs breeding, there was only a small hut for Orc guards. Even though there was a guard hut, it was silent as they seemed to have been sent to the East where Axe of the Thunder God had caused a commotion. As for the shack where the women had been confined, Rei doubted that an Orc would come to embrace a woman while a night attack was occurring……

「Did I underestimate the sexual desire of the Orcs? Or……」

On one hand, it might have been an individual action taken by the Orc Archer. If it were a normal Orc that is, but because an Orc Archer is a high ranking species, he thought in his mind that there could be another possibility.

(Anyway, I’ve obtained the magic stones of the high ranking Orc Archer and Orc General. However, considering Set and the Death Scythe, I would like to obtain one more Orc General magic stone to share……it would be best if I can find a magic stone from an Orc Mage. At the same time, there’s the magic stone of the guy leading the Orcs.)

Muttering to himself, he was cautious of the surrounding sounds. Metallic clashes from swords, angry voices, curses, and explosions that could be heard from around the settlement. Fortunately, the Orc Archer was the only one which had taken independent action, the rest of the Orcs had headed East, where the main battlefield was, none of them went North to where Rei was.

About 10 minutes later, the party of 3 finally came back.

「We’re sorry, did we keep you waiting?」

The swordsman who was the party leader asked, Rei shook his head.

「No, you were faster than I thought. How were the captured women?」
「They’ve been sent to where Hobbes is. ……It’s at these times that adventurers should be providing mental relief to the women……it’s irritating.」

TLN: He’s irritated in the sense that he can’t do more.

Even if you said that Hobbes was a retired adventurer, he still boasted decent strength. Therefore, Hobbes stayed back at the field headquarters during the night attack without any guards. At first, several adventurers were going to guard him, however Hobbes insisted that they should maximise their combat force as the number of Orcs was greater than expected, with that it was accepted.

「Anyway, I’ll leave the Northern attack to you. Set and I will return to the sky for guerrilla attacks.」
「Ahh, thanks for saving us.」

While hearing the voice of thanks, Rei got onto Set’s back……then suddenly turned to face the leader.

「I forgot to say, the bodies of the two Orcs you defeated are over there. I’ve collected the Orc and Orc General that Set and I defeated, is that okay?」

At those words, he glanced at the bodies of the two Orcs and gave a small nod.

「Ah. No Problem. Are the bodies of the Orcs in the item box?」
「That is so. Then, I will be leaving. Set!」
「Gururururu~!」

Giving a sharp cry at Rei’s voice, Set rose into the sky after a run up of a few steps and a flap of his wings. The 3 adventurers who saw the person and animal leave, went to the bodies of the Orcs that had fallen. Rei and Set advanced to the center of the settlement where more Orcs had gathered, seeking their next prey.

「The battle situation is even……is it.」

Riding on Set, Rei directed his eyes to the ground while flying through the sky.

While a substantial part of the settlement was in flames, a large number of Orcs could still be seen heading East.

Because it was the place where the fighting first started, all the attention of the Orcs was gathered there.

In Rei’s vision, Elk was swinging his huge battle axe cleaving through several Orcs. At the same time, a large amount of ice was shot from Min’s cane, slowly accumulating damage on a large number of Orcs with the bombardment.

Rhodes defended Min. Though several Orcs attacked Min, trying to crush the long range mage first, Rhodes intercepted them with his sword, dodging and evading their attacks. Taking advantage of a missed attack, he did a quick strike, sinking the Orc into a pool of blood.

「I see. So that’s a C rank adventurer. 」

Looking at the situation, Rei muttered impressed. However, his eyes turned to an area a bit away from the settlement immediately. Maybe intending to attack the Axe of the Thunder God from the rear, several Orcs had taken a detour from the settlement to sneak around to the back.

And conveniently, the Orcs were led by an Orc with a cane.

「I’ve finally found an Orc Mage at last. As expected of an Orc Mage, it’s leading the Orcs around it.」

Even if you said that Axe of the Thunder God was an A rank party, when fighting Orcs from the front and behind……it’s clear that they would take a considerable amount of damage if they were to be hit with a surprise attack with magic. Because the person furthest back was the mage, Min, her low physical defense can be imagined.

「Set!」
「Gururu~!」

Giving a short cry at Rei’s voice, Set entered his third dive.

However, as expected of the high ranking species, Orc Mage, the sound of Set’s flapping wings that the Orc Archer and Orc General didn’t pick up was noticed by the Orc Mage. He turned his cane to the sky and began to cast a spell.

「Ignore it, keep charging!」
「Gururu~!」

However, Rei didn’t care about the Orc Mage’s actions and ordered Set to charge. As for Set, with a sharp cry, he dived towards the detachment lead by the Orc Mage.

『Bumorua~!』

The Orc Mage chanted his incantation and invoked the magic. Though Rei didn’t know what effect the incantation had as it was said in the Orcish language, a smile appeared on his face after a fireball the size of his head appeared in front of the Orc.

「Gurururururururu~!」

Set charged while raising a courageous cry. Though the Orcs started to panic, the confusion gradually decreased after the Orc Mage gave a sharp shout and shot the fireball at Set.

The fireball that was shot went towards Set, who was diving towards the detachment at a considerable speed……the moment it was about to hit his body, it was blocked by something and exploded in midair.

「Bumo~!?」

The Orc Mage was surprised at the result. It was the Bracelet of Wind Manipulation that was equipped to Set’s ankle, it had the ability to block a single projectile from a bow or magic spell. It’s effect was exhibited. It could be said that it was a bolt from the blue for the Orc Mage.

The Orc Mage was convinced that it would have an effect, there was no way it could have been avoided at the speed Set was diving……

「Bumooo~!」

Set’s figure exceeded 2m, the Orc Mage was caught by the charge of Set’s wings with the momentum of the dive and was blown 10m away, in addition, he was knocked against the ground several times like a skipping stone on water. It’s neck and most of it’s limbs were bent in awkward directions, it was already clear that it wasn’t breathing.

And……

『Dancing flames, dance. Light up the surroundings with your magnificent dance, burn as you dance and captivate the people.』

While chanting an incantation, around 50 human sized flames appeared. Though it was smaller than the one used in the Forest of Monsters, it was because there were less enemies.

『Dance Fire Snake!』

The moment the incantation was finished, the magic was invoked. The 50 flames moved as if they had a will of their own, crowding to the Orcs.

Confused at the unforeseen situation, they judged it was dangerous and scattered after seeing several Orc being burnt, running away in all directions. However, the flames that Rei created chased the Orcs that ran and coiled them in a scorching embrace, burning them and killing them.

「Bumoo~!?」
「Bumomo~!?」

Though each of them raised a scream, it wasn’t possible to run from the burning embrace, after a few seconds, all the Orcs in the area where dead.

The surroundings were filled with the smell of burning flesh, Set looked at the surroundings with shimmering eyes.

It had been an hour since the night attack began. Though his stomach was probably empty……

「Set, there’s no time to eat now. You’ll have to wait until the night attack ends.」
「Guru~……」

While giving a saddened look, Set nodded quietly.

「I’ll store the Orcs into the Misty Ring for now. Because I’ll serve them after the fight is finished, endure it for a while……okay?」

Then Rei heard footsteps coming closer. It seemed to be a single person running towards them.

「……Is it a detachment of this detachment……or the remnants of this detachment?」

For an instant, the appearance of the Orc Archer he fought in the North of the settlement crossed his mind and considering the possibility of remnants, he readied the Death Scythe.

However, the shadow of the figure illuminated from the flames in the settlement was a human rather than an Orc.

He lowered the Death Scythe while remaining cautious. Set also relaxed while watching at the same time.

Still, they weren’t incautious as there was still the matter of Dark Night’s Star.

And when the figure approached close enough that their face could be determined……he recognised who it was.

「Rhodes, is it.」
「You, Rei……is it?」
「Ah. I mean, who else could take the Griffon aside from me.」
「……Ah, no. Though that’s true……did you kill these Orcs?」

Rhodes asked, directing his eyes to the Orcs that were lying on the ground, partially burnt and cooked.

Looking at the situation, Rei stored the bodies of the Orcs into the Misty Ring, one after the other.

And, approaching the Orc Mage that Set killed.

「Ah. Set killed the Orc Mage.」

Saying that, he stored the Orc Mage into the Misty Ring as well.

「……You, have the strength to take care of all these Orc by yourself? ……No, wait. Why were the corpses burnt?　Isn’t your weapon that ridiculously large scythe?」
「You’re the ridiculous one, making those comments.」

He placed the Death Scythe into the ground while smiling wryly.

「It certainly is my weapon. However, it’s also a magic item……at the same time, it’s also a magic casting tool.」
「Magic caster?　In other words……」
「Ah. Are you used to seeing the cane Min has?　It’s similar to that. However, but the shape is a large scythe.」
「Then, are you a mage?」

Rei gave a small shake of his head while stroking Set’s back.

「Because I can also fight in close combat, if anything, I’m a magic warrior. So, what are you doing here?」
「Magic warrior……ah, no. When fighting with my mum and dad on the East side of the settlement, a large amount of flames were seen behind us. So my mum asked me to check out the situation.」
「I see. Well, it’s no wonder as you have to consider the possibility of being attacked from behind with the low physical defense of a mage. In fact, these Orcs were trying to sneak to the rear.」
「……It’s seems so. So, you saw them from above and made a surprise attack on them instead.」
「……」

Listening to Rhodes words, Rei stared at his face unintentionally.

「What.」
「Nothing, you can make a rational judgement on the spot, I’m impressed.」
「Oi, are you trying to start a fight.」
「Such words, I’ll tell you about what I did later. Set!」
「Guru~」

Set gave a short cry as Rei got on his back.

「Oi!」
「We’ll talk when I get back. You might also want to return to where Elk and Min are. The fight with the Orcs is still going on.」
「I know. Remember now, you’re going to tell me the whole story when this fight ends Remember! Don’t die without my permission!」

While smiling at at Rhode’s increasingly vehement words, Rei returned to the skies above the settlement with Set.

However, he noticed something as he glanced around.

(This……I see, it’s the party Dark Night’s Star. I was wondering what they were up to, they’re here. Even though it’s possible to go out and fight the Orcs, it’s troubling if I only clean up.)

Looking at the Orc settlement from the sky, he could see an area where there was no fire and the adventurers and Orcs were in a stalemate.