Orc Hero Story: Discovery Chronicles

Orc Hero Story

Zell had always witnessed historical moments. If anything, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that every scene Zell had seen had made history in itself, but none had been as important as this one. This would truly go down in history. It would be legendary. That’s what Zell thought every time she saw Bash fight, but today she felt it more strongly than ever before.

The Orc Hero.

The Dragon.

Zell watched from a distance as the two strongest beings on the continent clashed.

“Gyraaaaaaaooooooooaaaahhhh!”

“Gruaaaaaaaaooouuhh!”

In terms of the intensity of their roars, one could say the dragon had a slight advantage. However, the dragon seemed somewhat taken aback by the loud noise coming from the small creature in front of it. Zell assumed it was normal because until now, when it raised its voice, its enemies would do nothing but flee in terror. It had never expected someone to shout back at it.

However, this didn’t change the dragon’s behavior. The little creature in front of it could scream louder, so what? It would turn to charcoal when the dragon breathed fire at it, and its body would be torn to shreds if it were clawed! The dragon could bite and tear him apart in an instant to satisfy its hunger! And it wouldn’t be any different with this creature in front of it!

That must have been what the dragon thought. That’s why it immediately lunged from its low stance and delivered a sideways slash with its thick right claw at Bash. It did so without warning. Very carelessly. As if to say, “This is how I always do it.”

But its speed was tremendous. As soon as the enormous body, which barely glanced at Bash, crouched down, it leaped forward like a cat. No one could imagine that such a massive body could move at such speed. Not even the most imaginative fairy. The moment the dragon moved, Zell let out an “eek” from the depths of her throat and could do nothing but freeze, unable to escape.

If a body as large as a dragon’s were to collide with you at such speed, the fate of a mere mortal would be obvious. You would be crushed in an instant. That’s how fast, heavy, and sharp it was.

But Zell knew. The dragon was not facing a mere mortal.

Kakkiiinnn!

A metallic sound resonated. It sounded as if it had countered with a solid cannonball. It was the sound that occurred when two hard metals collided and one of them shattered.

But it was as if the dragon had just stepped on a banana peel. Its right arm, with which it should have struck, slid along the ground. With a cloud of dust, its upper body slid and rolled, ending up propped on its elbow.

“—?!” The dragon didn’t immediately regain its position. It turned around and propped itself on its elbows, inspecting its claws. The claws, rumored to be harder than dwarven steel, were broken. Then it looked at Bash. An expression of astonishment on its face. Zell couldn’t discern the expression on the dragon’s face any more than she could with lizardmen, but she could still make it out.

There was no one in the dragon’s line of sight. Bash had already moved aside. That eye he had just crushed… it was from its blind spot to its neck.

Bash’s full-force blow struck the dragon’s neck. The grating sound, which could be described as a galing or a gaggle, was a sound that Bash was not accustomed to hearing in battle… the sound of a sword blade being blocked by something solid and unable to penetrate properly.

“Ghi…!”

Bash’s strike definitely hit its mark. It was a deadly blow that cut through everything in its path.

However, it didn’t sever the dragon’s head in two. On the contrary, it only dislodged a few scales and inflicted a shallow cut on the dragon’s neck. Zell was taken aback by this fact. Bash’s blow hadn’t pierced through. So how could he defeat such a creature?

“Gryeeeeeaaaaahhh!?”

The dragon roared. Perhaps it was the first time the dragon had felt pain in its life, as it had been enveloped in tough scales since the moment it was born and had spent many years with them. The dragon’s eyes widened at the splatter of fresh blood, and it screamed in rage. Its movements accelerated. Breathing out its breath, swinging its cracked claws, and gnashing its teeth, the dragon charged with its massive body, in order to crush that small creature in its path. The movement of its giant body created wind, and a storm blew through the cave. Zell watched the battle, desperately clinging to a rock to avoid being blown away.

The dragon was in what could be described as a half-frenzied fury. At first glance, it seemed like nothing more than chaos in the darkness, but Zell could see it. The dragon’s movements were not reckless; it was aiming at Bash with great precision. Was it instinct, or was the dragon, despite appearing partially crazed, surprisingly calm?

Bash, on the other hand, was simply composed. If a claw came flying at him, he countered the blow; if a breath came flying at him, he dodged it; if a fang came his way, he crushed it with his sword; if the enormous body came charging at him, he aimed for a joint and struck it with his sword. Every time he did so, the dragon’s scales would scatter, injuring it and making it roar.

There was an overwhelming difference. Dragons and orcs. As creatures, they were completely different, like comparing a rat and an elephant. Even Bash’s strike, considered a monster among people, could only inflict a superficial wound on it. And surely a single blow from the dragon would kill Bash. Instinct told that people couldn’t defeat dragons.

But more than that, there was an overwhelming difference in technique. Bash was able to repel all of the dragon’s attacks. He had received severe burns all over his body and had dodged every attack that would have killed him if he had been hit. Yes, Bash was overpowering the dragon, landing so many blows that one would wonder if this was truly real. And his objective was clear.