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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Blood Butterfly
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The Black Iron Bomb began to crack, emitting a red light from within.
KABOOM!
The glowing Black Iron Bomb exploded with a roar that seemed to tear through the sky.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Splitting into dozens of fragments, the Black Iron Bomb tore right through the orcs.
"Aaargh!"
"Kuaargh!"
"Grrgh…"
The fragments were small, but the orcs they struck were left with wounds the size of bowling balls. A single Black Iron Bomb had laid dozens of orcs on the ground, dying.
Did I put a little too much energy into it?
"Yuren, what in the world was that? What did you throw…?"
Ilia trembled as she witnessed the power of the Black Iron Bomb.
The Black Iron Bomb was a hidden weapon similar to a modern fragmentation grenade, designed to annihilate enemies with shrapnel from its casing.
While a grenade uses gunpowder, the Black Iron Bomb used internal energy. That's why, unlike a grenade, I could control the detonation time at will.
"It's called a Black Iron Bomb."
"A Black Iron Bomb?"
"I'll tell you about it later. For now, look ahead."
The fight wasn't over yet. The orcs' formation had collapsed and many had died, but plenty of them still remained, along with this episode's boss monster: the Red Orc Warrior.
"Waaaaah! We can do it!"
"Believe in Lord Yuren!"
"Throw another one!"
"We can survive!"
The terrified soldiers, sensing a chance at victory, let out a thunderous roar.
"Kraaaaaah!"
THUD! THUD! THUD!
"Krarara!"
"Grrrrl!"
At the very back, the Red Orc Warrior, Ka-ruda, let out a war cry. Hearing his cry, the other orcs slammed their weapons on the ground and roared back in response.
"Kuaaaah!"
At Ka-ruda's final cry, the orcs charged toward us in unison.
I can use it just one more time.
I immediately created another Black Iron Bomb and threw it into the middle of the charging orcs.
"Krara!"
Seeing this, Ka-ruda roared, and the orcs began to split to the left and right.
He figured out the Black Iron Bomb's weakness already?
Like a grenade, the Black Iron Bomb is most effective against clustered targets. Ka-ruda seemed to have figured out its delay time and was dispersing the orcs where it was headed.
But they were mistaken. The detonation time was entirely up to me.
KABOOM!
"Kuaaargh!"
"Aargh!"
"Grrrl..."
Before the orcs could get away, I detonated the bomb right above their heads. A dozen or so orcs were engulfed in shrapnel and submerged in a pool of their own blood.
"Krara!"
But Ka-ruda and the orcs didn't slow down despite their comrades' deaths, continuing their charge toward us.
"Lord Yuren!"
"Yuren, don't you have any more?"
"It's too late. If I detonate one here, we'll all be wiped out. Their numbers are much lower now. Fight! We can win!"
I summoned Agnes and transformed it into a dagger.
SHWIIING!
WHOOSH!
It wasn't a dagger, but a missile exploding with lethal force. Every single throw was a killing blow; whenever the dagger flew, at least one orc died.
"Waaaaah!"
"We can do it!"
"Kill the orcs!"
"Avenge our fallen!"
My words gave the soldiers courage, and they stepped forward. Their spear shafts no longer wavered.
"Let's give this a try."
Inspired by the soldiers, I too felt a surge of spirit and threw my dagger at the Orc Warrior.
CLANG!
Ka-ruda turned his blade sideways to block the dagger. His combat sense was truly exceptional.
"Krah!"
When the distance between us and the orcs closed to about ten meters, Ka-ruda suddenly leaped.
"Kruk!"
My eyes met his as he hung in mid-air.
It's me! He's aiming for me!
Whether he thought I was a threat or was just following his wild instincts, he was clearly targeting me.
I wrapped an arm around Giranox's waist beside me and used the Lesser Dragon Steps to quickly get out of there.
KABOOM!
"Kuaargh!"
It was just a downward strike, but it sounded like a cannon blast, and the bodies of nearby soldiers simply exploded. The destructive power was terrifying.
Seeing that I had dodged, Ka-ruda started to chase me, but Ilia blocked his path.
CRASH!
Sword met sword, but the sound was anything but ordinary. It was an explosive crash, like a building collapsing.
"Keuk!"
"Grrrr."
Ilia used her fluid sword style to block Ka-ruda's brutal strikes, but the difference in their physical strength was too great for her to absorb all the force.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Ka-ruda swung his sword continuously, as if trying not just to kill Ilia, but to utterly destroy her.
"Haat!"
Even as she was pushed back, Ilia twisted her body to the side, dodged Ka-ruda's sword, and thrust her own into his chest.
KYAANG!
"Keuk!"
But Ka-ruda wielded dual swords, and he blocked her blade with the one in his left hand.
KLANG! KLANG! KLANG!
With each successive clash of blades, Ilia's expression grew stiffer. But as it did, her sword seemed to shine even more sharply.
KLANG!
As the battle wore on, the sound of their swords clashing grew less frequent. It meant she had figured out his swordsmanship.
To have already grasped his style, no matter how simple, when it was backed by such wild instincts... Her Sword Queen trait was truly overpowered.
"Hah!"
"Krak!"
Ilia's sword grazed Ka-ruda's left arm. Cloaked in Aura, her blade sliced through his steel-like skin and muscle as if they were tofu.
WHOOSH!
I continued to kill orcs by throwing my dagger, but I never took my eyes off Ilia.
So far, things were proceeding just like in the novel. But eventually, Ilia would lose.
"Krak!"
Ilia's sword pierced Ka-ruda's abdomen. Thinking it was over, a look of relief crossed her face.
It starts now.
I tuned everything else out and focused solely on Ilia and Ka-ruda.
Vwooom.
"Wh-what?!"
Just as Ilia was about to finish Ka-ruda off, his body began to glow, and her sword, embedded in his stomach, started to be pushed out.
"Kaooooh!"
Ka-ruda's body was engulfed in a red light.
"N-no way. An orc using Aura..."
By taking Ilia's Aura-infused attack, Ka-ruda had been forced to awaken his own Aura. The explosive power of this newly unlocked Aura was almost blinding.
FWOOSH!
"Dammit!"
CRACK!
Facing Ka-ruda's onslaught, which was far faster than before, Ilia cursed as she blocked his sword. But the sound of the impact was ominous.
Sccrrreech!
"Aaaargh!"
Against Ka-ruda's explosive Aura, Ilia's sword was being sheared apart. Sensing her own death, Ilia still moved forward. She was determined to land one last blow, even if it killed her.
I can't let her die here.
[Using Direct Shot.]
[Using Curved Shot.]
SHWIIING!
FWOOSH!
KLANG!
KANG!
With two daggers packed with internal energy, I knocked Ka-ruda's dual swords away.
SPLURCH!
Ilia didn't miss the opening, stabbing Ka-ruda in the chest before pulling back.
"Hah, hah! Thank you."
I didn't answer her, already forming a new hidden weapon. My personal creation, one I had only tested once before: the Blood Butterfly.
SHWAAA!
A beautiful, crimson butterfly, looking as if it might fly toward a flower at any moment, settled on my hand.
"Kuooooh!"
Ka-ruda, having forcibly stopped his bleeding, ignored Ilia who had wounded him and charged at me instead.
Flutter.
I sent the butterfly in my hand flying. It fluttered as if it were alive, heading straight for Ka-ruda.
Flutter.
At the beautiful sight of the butterfly's wings, so out of place on a bloody battlefield, both soldiers and orcs paused their fighting to watch it.
"Grrrk!"
VWOOM!
Perhaps because he was wary of me, Ka-ruda did not underestimate the Blood Butterfly. He swung his dual swords in a cross-slash, trying to bat it away.
Flit.
But the blood butterfly deftly avoided Ka-ruda's swords and landed on his chest.
Click.
PCHAK!
A mechanical sound came from the elegantly perched butterfly, and then a fountain of blood erupted from Ka-ruda's chest. The Blood Butterfly had instantly pierced his chest and skewered his heart.
"Karrr..."
A clean, distinct hole was punched through the left side of Ka-ruda's chest, so clear you could see right through it.
THUD!
Ka-ruda finally collapsed to the ground, his blood soaking the earth.
At the surreal sight of a butterfly smaller than a palm killing a monster over 2.5 meters tall in a single blow, no one on the battlefield could speak.
"Hoo..."
It was obvious the Blood Butterfly would be able to approach Ka-ruda, but I had been worried whether it could pierce his Aura-clad body. It turned out to be a needless concern.
The Blood Butterfly had blown through his Aura as if it were nothing and killed him in a single strike. Its power was terrifying.
"Y-Yuren, you..."
"Ilia, how long are you going to stand there dazed? We need to end this battle."
Ilia, who had been hesitating, nodded at my words.
"Only the small fry are left. Kill the orcs! This battle is our victory!"
"Uwaaaaah!"
"Waaaaaaah!"
Seeing that I had defeated the Orc Warrior and hearing Ilia's cry, the soldiers fought with more skill than they usually possessed, wiping out the remaining orcs.
"Victory!"
"We won!"
"Waaaaaaah!"
Having won a battle they thought would be a total annihilation, the soldiers shed tears as they roared in victory.
"Yuren..."
"Ilia, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. This, on the other hand, is hurt..."
Ilia held up her sword, which was on the verge of breaking.
"I owe you my life, so it's hard for me to say anything."
"Haha!"
She was a person who knew her manners. She seemed to have many questions for me, but held her tongue because I was her savior.
"To put it simply, I learned to use hidden weapons, not the sword."
"Hidden weapons? You mean like daggers?"
"The dagger, the black sphere that exploded into fragments earlier, and the butterfly that took down that monster at the end—they're all hidden weapons."
"My word..."
Ilia's eyes wavered as if she couldn't believe it. It was only natural. She had never considered anything other than a sword to be a true weapon.
Today's events would broaden her perspective.
"Let's head back for now. We don't have enough people to recover the bodies at the moment."
"Right. We'll have to come back first thing tomorrow."
Ilia cut off Ka-ruda's head and put it in her magic pouch.
Wow, putting something dripping with blood into a pouch.
"This one is specifically for carrying the heads of enemy commanders. You don't have to feel bad for it."
"Ah..."
Ilia seemed to have read my expression and explained with a smile.
We organized the bodies for now and left markers so we could easily find them when we returned.
"If we stay too late, who knows what else might happen. Let's go for now."
The sun had already set, so we decided to return to Ase Castle quickly. But then, we saw lights approaching from the opposite direction.
"Everyone, halt!"
On Ilia's command, we stopped and waited for the lights to approach.
They are...
This wasn't in the novel, but with the power of my internal energy, I had already identified who they were.
I glanced at Ilia beside me, her sharp eyes not letting down her guard for a moment.
What are you going to do?