Chapter 51: A Domain Saved by One Man’s Blade

I ran at full speed to the place where the Monster appeared, and it took only about 10 minutes to get there.

But those 10 minutes were just the time it took me to travel there—it wasn’t the time the Monster was first discovered.

In other words, including the time it took to spot the Monster and Deckard’s travel time, at least 30 minutes must have already passed.

Thirty minutes was an enormous amount of time.

If it was a large-scale Monster, the village would be destroyed in no time, and even if it was a smaller group, the damage would be significant.

“Please, let nothing have happened.”

I was truly running with everything I had, almost to the point of digging into the earth. If I were to count the times I had run this hard in my life, I wouldn’t even need all ten fingers.

Really, I ran for my life, and in the distance, I could see something that looked like a green Monster.

I was still far away, so I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but it was definitely dangerous.

Damn bastards, my fields!

They were trampling over my precious farmland.

Whether it was an Orc or a Goblin, it didn’t matter. Either way, they were invaders encroaching on my Domain.

That meant I had to punish them, and with the hand not holding my sword, I prepared a skill.

“Fireball!”

The Fireball, made by gathering my Mana, spat out scarlet flames and flew through the air.

Shooooong!

It drew a huge arc and landed right in the center of the Monsters’ formation.

BOOM! KA-BOOM!

A huge explosion resounded—so loud you couldn’t even imagine it was just a Fireball falling.

Thanks to that, the Monsters trampling my fields had no choice but to stop, and they started nervously looking around.

It wasn’t just the Monsters.

I could also see the group fighting the Monsters looking tense and checking their surroundings.

My single Fireball had paused the battle for a moment, and in that time, I was able to arrive at the spot where the Monsters were.

“Orcs, huh?”

If it was Orcs, the situation was more serious than I thought.

Right now, I could see about fifty Orcs in front of me. This could not possibly be all of them.

Orcs never move around in small numbers. Usually, they move as a tribe, with at least a hundred or so. This was either a vanguard or a scouting party at best.

Let’s make this quick.

For now, dealing with the Orcs right in front of me was most important.

I pulled a sword from my Inventory.

It was a very ordinary Longsword.

But this ordinary Longsword was about to become anything but ordinary.

If taking it out of the Inventory was like Cinderella before meeting the Fairy Godmother, once my skill was activated, it would be transformed as beautifully as when Cinderella was dressed up by the magic wand.

Oooooong.

Auror condensed on my Longsword.

That Auror was so vivid and intense.

“Now, real Auror…”

My Auror level was now advanced. Previously, I had been at a borderline between low and mid level, but now, while I wasn’t yet a Swordmaster, it felt like I could reach the highest level soon.

“Let’s go!”

Activating Darkrai Oro Techniques, I kicked off the ground.

Thud.

The sound of my foot striking the earth echoed. I dashed forward at a speed unlike any I’d ever experienced before.

Ah, so this is the power of Auror?

I was even faster than when I’d been running wildly, and my body didn’t feel any strain at all. In fact, I felt more energy overflowing in my body than usual.

“Now then—!”

In an instant, I closed in on the Orcs and swung my sword from left to right.

Slash, slash, slash!

“Kurrgh?”

I heard the Orc’s nose being split. And that was the last breath for that Orc.

In a single swing, I cleaved three Orcs in half, but I didn’t stop, I kept moving.

I swung my sword at two Orcs right beside me.

“Darkrai Swordsmanship, First Form: Wild Slash!”

My sword swung furiously, hacking at everything in its path.

Slash, slash, slash!

In an instant, two more Orcs fell.

Puaaaagh!

Blood spurted from the butchered flesh of the Orcs. The green blood soaked the ground, turning it sticky.

At that moment, a notification window popped up.

-Skill ‘Wild Slash’ has been acquired.

So it really became a skill?

Excited, I tried the next technique.

“Darkrai Swordsmanship, Second Form: Gale Thrust.”

Aiming my sword at an Orc standing behind the fallen ones, I lunged, striking the ground.

Puuuk, thudududuk.

My sword not only pierced the Orc’s stomach, but with the momentum, it also ran through two Orcs standing behind it, splitting their bellies open.

-Skill ‘Gale Thrust’ has been acquired.

More notifications followed.

-Level up!

-You have gained 5 additional Stat points.

It had been a while since I saw the level up message, and I couldn’t help but smile.

But as I grinned, Orc blood flowed into my mouth.

Tastes disgusting.

“Die.”

To make them regret ever setting foot on this land, I pronounced a death sentence on the Orcs in the middle of their ranks.

“Kurrgh?”

“Kurrg! Kwar! Kwar!”

At my shout, the Orcs erupted with murderous intent.

All the Orcs’ eyes were now focused solely on me.

They broke away from the group they’d been fighting, slowly advancing to surround me.

There were about thirty Orcs left. Three had been burned by the Fireball, three died in the first strike, two by Wild Slash, and three by Gale Thrust.

All the remaining Orcs were encircling me, but I wasn’t the least bit afraid or nervous. I didn’t feel like I could possibly lose to these Orcs.

This is crazy. No matter how I think about it, this is a total jackpot. The transcendent Mana regeneration skill is…

What was needed to maintain Auror was Mana.

And that Mana would never run dry from my body. If anything, I had an overabundance.

There was no way I would ever run out of Mana, and even if I used it together with other skills, as long as I only maintained Auror, I’d have no problem at all.

On top of that, there was another reason.

-Skill ‘Auror’ has leveled up.

-Skill ‘Auror’ has leveled up.

My Auror skill level was rising rapidly.

The more I used it, the higher the skill level became, and its power increased while Mana consumption gradually decreased.

At this point, it was practically a broken skill.

“Hahaha! Die!”

I raised my sword at the Orcs trying to surround me, and shouted.

“Darkrai Swordsmanship, Third Form: Spinning Blade!”

As the name implied, my body spun swiftly with my sword in a single rotation.

Without Auror, this technique could only cut as far as the blade reached, but with Auror, it slashed through a much wider area.

-Skill ‘Spinning Blade’ has been acquired.

Slash, slash, slash!

“Kurrgh!”

Five Orcs who tried to surround me had their lower bodies cut off in one blow. The screams they let out in their agony sounded just like pigs being slaughtered.

Normally, I would have finished them off, but there were still plenty of Orcs left.

Orcs are Orcs, but I’m actually grateful when they gather like this.

With my free hand, I prepared another skill.

Maybe sensing I was about to do something, the remaining twenty-five Orcs charged at me all at once.

Just then, my skill was ready.

“Ice Field!”

CRAAACK, SHATTER!

Instantly, the ground around me turned to ice. In a radius of 300 meters, the ground became a slick sheet of ice.

Thud, thud, thud.

The Orcs charging at me didn’t make it far before they slipped and crashed to the ground.

At a glance, this might seem no different from ordinary magic, but this Ice Field was a 5 Circle spell for a reason.

The frozen ground instantly emitted cold air, drastically slowing the movement of anything standing on it.

I swung my sword.

Slash, slash.

My Auror-infused blade easily beheaded the Orcs who slipped on the ice. Occasionally, one would flail a weapon in resistance, but it was a futile effort.

If anything, I’d just finish them off with a skill from my free hand, killing them even more painfully.

After I finished off all the Orcs, another notification appeared before my eyes.

-Level up!

-You have gained 5 additional Stat points.

Then a loud cheer erupted.

“Wah! Long live the Lord!”

“Long live the Lord!”

It was the cheers of the Domain Citizens who had watched my fight from beginning to end. Not just Domain Citizens, but also some familiar faces.

“Truly incredible, my Lord.”

“With skills like that, did you ever really need to hire us?”

“You are the strongest Lord I’ve ever met.”

They were the Mercenaries who had come here recently with the Retainers. It seemed they hadn’t left the village yet.

As I looked at the Orc corpses, wondering how to deal with them, a voice rang out from afar.

“My Lord!”

Jenny and Irene were running toward me. In the distance, the Retainers were also hurrying to catch up.

“Perfect timing.”

I needed to recover the loot, and they’d arrived at just the right moment.

“Are you all right?”

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Jenny and Irene each clung to one of my arms, looking at me with worried eyes.

I shook them off and spoke.

“I’m fine, so look at this for me.”

Barely prying the two off me, I continued.

“Jenny, you know what we can get from Orcs, right? Teach the Retainers to harvest those.”

“Yes!”

Jenny moved quickly at my command.

I sent Irene to assist, and once alone, I headed to where the Domain Citizens were gathered.

“Oh my, thank goodness you’re safe, my Lord.”

The first to scurry up to me was Barakan the Village Chief.

He couldn’t quite approach, fidgeting nervously at a distance.

But I more or less understood why Barakan the Village Chief was acting that way, so I didn’t mind.

Instead, I asked what I needed to know.

“What about damage to the Domain?”

“Thankfully, the Mercenaries acted quickly, so there’s no damage to the village. Only a few children got hurt while running away.”

The Mercenaries were also nearby, so I turned my gaze toward them.

“We’d just finished the job and were about to leave after a day’s rest, but then we spotted the Orc horde from afar and blocked them.”

They spoke as if it were nothing special.

I tossed a Gold coin to the one who’d spoken to me.

“Thank you, my Lord.”

“We’ll take care of the Orc corpses.”

“Understood.”

It was quite profitable for the Mercenaries.

They’d just held off the Orcs for a short while and earned 1 Gold.

With that, they’d have enough to cover their expenses getting to the Capital from here, so they were even happier.

The Mercenaries left the village again.

Though they were leaving a bit later than originally planned, they’d just have to spend the night in the next village.

And the money for that would be from what I just gave them.

Their happy voices drifted to my ears.

“It’s all finished.”

Jenny’s voice came from behind me.

They’d gathered what they could and thrown away the rest, so there wasn’t much.

All the Monster corpses seemed to have been piled in one place, as they were no longer visible. Instead, I could see smoke rising.

Burning the corpses was the cleanest way.

“Let’s head back.”

I led them and returned to the estate.