Songs in the Void

ICDS World, 1st Dungeon, 5th Floor.

In the Boss Room, Tatsuo slowly dropped into his fighting stance. Meanwhile, the fifteen orcs in the room stared at him menacingly. The room had fallen into a tense silence. Then as if it were a signal to begin the battle, the Orc Lord roared angrily.

Immediately, after the Orc Lord's roar sounded, twelve of the fourteen normal orcs, with their glaives raised, charged forward. Meanwhile, the other two orcs, wielding bows, knocked arrows and took aim.

'I gotta get rid of these normal orcs before I can deal with the boss.' Tatsuo thought to himself as he dashed forward as well. 'And those two with bows have to go first."

As that thought passed through Tatsuo's head, he reached the front most of the charging orcs. Bending his back to limbo under the horizontal swing f the orc's glaive, Tatsuo pushed his right fist into the ground to support himself. Then, he kicked off the ground, sending himself into a spin and whipping his legs at the orc's front leg.

As a result of his leg sweep, Tatsuo knocked the orc off balance. Then, he sprung up to his feet and threw an uppercut into the orc's lowered jaw. However, instead of simply knocking the orc's head back, the blades on Tatsuo's knuckles dug into the orc's lower jaw, causing its blood to splash all over him.

In the next instant, Tatsuo spun to his right. As he did so, he swept the blade of his right knuckle duster across the orc's throat, causing it to drop its glaive and try to stem the bleeding with its hands. At the same time, Tatsuo's spin took him out of the path of a second orc, who stabbed its glaive at his side.

"That's one." Tatsuo muttered to himself as he once again started sprinting forward, passing the orc he just killed.

However, before he could even take three steps, Tatsuo was forced to a stop when a glaive descended vertically in the spot where his head would have been had he taken two more steps.

*Clang!*

Thanks to Tatsuo's sudden stop, the glaive slammed into the floor. Then, after taking another step forward, Tatsuo stepped on the shaft of the glaive before he leapt straight up with a spin. At the same time, he lashed his left leg outward, causing his heel to connect with the side of the orc to his right's head.

*Crack!*

The sound of a bone breaking could be heard when Tatsuo's foot connected. But he instinctively knew that the orc had not been killed by that kick. Still, once he landed on the floor again, he dashed forward leaving the orc be, as he still intended to deal with the two archers as quickly as possible.

Thanks to his speed, Tatsuo was able to pull away from the eleven remaining melee orcs. All the while, he used his agility and bladed knuckle dusters to avoid being hit by any of the incoming arrows.

At the same time, while Tatsuo approached, the two archers distanced themselves from each other, leaving Tatsuo with a decision to make.

'It doesn't really matter which one I go after first.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'But after I've taken care of one of them, I'll have to run past the Orc Lord to get to the other. And that could be dangerous.'

Despite those thoughts, Tatsuo decisively chose to go after the archer to his left. While dodging the arrows coming from his right by ducking and twisting his body, he cut down the arrows coming from the front while still outpacing the melee orcs chasing after him.

Eventually, Tatsuo got close enough to the orc with the bow, that shooting arrows would not be effective. So, the orc gripped his bow with both hands before swinging it at Tatsuo like a club.

Reacting quickly, Tatsuo ducked under the bow. Then, when he stood back up, he used the bladed knuckle duster in his right hand to cut the bow string. After that, he kicked the inside of the orc's front knee. And all though the kick was not strong enough to break the orc's leg, it did cause it to stumble forward while grunting in pain.

Taking advantage of the orc's unstable position, Tatsuo flipped his weapons around, now holding the knuckle dusters with the blades sticking out past his thumbs, rather than in a reverse grip, crossed his arms, then used the blades like scissors to cut the orc's throat.

"And that's two." Tatsuo whispered to himself once again.

At that moment, an orc wielding a glaive arrived behind Tatsuo. As it did, it raised its glaive over its head and brought it down at Tatsuo's back. In response, Tatsuo flung himself backwards, slamming his elbow into the orc's abdomen.

Forced to double over by the elbow strike, the orc was unable to react when Tatsuo spun around to its back. A moment later, it felt a weight on its back, as Tatsuo had jumped on its back. Then, it felt tearing sensations on the sides of its neck as Tatsuo punched the blades on his knuckles on either side of its neck before kicking off its back to avoid a stab from behind and a slash from the side.

"That's three." Tatsuo muttered as he flipped over the orc that tried to stab him from behind. Then, as he fell to the ground, he flipped his weapons back into a reverse grip and stabbed them down into the orc's head from above. "and that's four."

As soon as he landed o the floor, Tatsuo turned his body to avoid another glaive. Then, he sprinted towards the other archer, who had not been able to fire at Tatsuo in fear of hitting one of the orcs that had gathered around him instead.

All the while, the Orc Lord, had been observing the ongoing battle. Every time he lost one of his subordinates, he grunted in dissatisfaction. And when the fourth of his orcs fell, his anger had reached its peak.

"Rahh~~~~~~!" The Orc Lord roared with mana filling its shout.

{Orc Lord used [War Cry].

-All orcs have been cleared of any negative status effects.

-All orcs temporarily become super-armored and their attack power increases by 50%.}

"That won't matter if I kill them in one hit." Tatsuo muttered to himself as he arrived in front of the last orc archer. "Super-armor only matters if they live through the first strike."

Like the last orc archer, this one swung its bow when Tatsuo was within melee range. However, unlike what he did with the last archer, Tatsuo spun around to its left side. Then, as he faced behind it, he swung his left arm at the back of its head, stabbing his blade into its brain from behind. And thanks to the material it was made of, he faced little resistance while stabbing through its skull.

'This is the second one I've killed like that.' Tatsuo thought as he pulled his blade from the dead orc's skull. 'And both times, my blade cut through their skulls like butter. This material is amazing.'

By now, the glaive wielding orcs had caught up to Tatsuo again. However, unlike last time, kicking and punching them to disrupt their balance would not work thanks to their super-armored states. So, Tatsuo focused on dodging their blows while landing lethal strikes to their necks, heads, and hearts with is weapons.

"Six… Seven… Eight… Nine…" Tatsuo counted as he slashed orc throats, stabbed their heads, or pierced their hearts.

*Clang~~~~!*

After killing the eleventh of the fourteen normal orcs, Tatsuo was forced to roll away from where he stood, using the space between an orcs legs as an exit. In the next instant, the sound of metal slamming into the stone floor echoed throughout the Boss Chamber.

"I guess he couldn't wait any longer." Tatsuo muttered as he saw the Orc Lord, who was head and shoulders taller than the other orcs, raising the glaive he had just try to split Tatsuo in half with from the floor. "Luckily, it looks like the super-armored state is over. So, I should be able to kill the other three before he uses [War Cry] again."

Taking a deep breath Tatsuo charged into the group of orcs once again. Then, while avoiding the Orc Lord's glaive, he managed to kill the other three normal orcs, making this Boss fight a one on one battle.

After killing the last orc, Tatsuo put some distance between himself and the orc Lord. Meanwhile, the Orc Lord looked around the boss chamber in rage. All of his subordinates had died and dispersed into motes of Mana, leaving him all alone. With that realization, the Orc Lord raised his head to the sky and roared once again.

"Rahh~~~~~~~~!" The Orc Lords angry, anguished roar echoed through the Boss Chamber.

{Orc Lord used [War Cry].

-It cleanses itself of all negative status effects.

-Because there are no orc minions in range, the Orc Lord's attack increases by 100% and its defense decreases by 50%.

-It temporarily becomes super-armored.}

"You dare kill my orcs!" The Orc lord shouted in rage as it charged forward.

"Damn right, I do." Tatsuo replied with a nseer.

With its shout, the Orc Lord charged forward, swinging its glaive ferociously. And with Tatsuo's reply, its eyes turned completely blood shot in anger. However, despite its increase in attack power, Tatsuo was able to avoid its slashes, sweeps, and stabs with ease. But when an alert rang from his [System], Tatsuo flinched, almost getting hit by one of the Orc Lord's slashes.

{[Agility has increased from E+ to D-.}

Although there was no sudden improvement in the way he moved. Tatsuo's movements were a bit faster than they were when the fight began. He also found reacting to the Orc Lord's attacks a little easier, as well.

'I guess real battle is the best way to improve yourself, huh?' Tatsuo thought to himself while continuing to dodge the orc Lord's attack as he snuck in counterattacks whenever the opportunity presented itself. 'After reaching E+ Rank in all my [Stats] almost a year ago, no matter how hard I trained they never increased. And although most of my improvements came from the Dungeons Stat Points, this is the first time a [Stat] has gone up on its own in over a year.'

"Rahh~~~! Human! I'll kill you!" The Orc Lord shouted in rage as it raised its glaive high above its head.

Taking a step back after feeling something gathering on the blade of the Orc Lord's glaive, Tatsuo realized it was mana once the glaive began glowing with a black light.

'So, I guess this is the [Sword Blast] Kang Shin mentioned in the novel, huh?' Tatsuo thought to himself as he saw mana, or [Energy], for the first time.

A moment later, after charging up its attack, the Orc Lord swung its glaive down. With that, a black, crescent-shaped blade of energy flew forward along the trajectory of the slash. Luckily, Tatsuo was expecting such an attack. So, he calmly side stepped it before charging forward.

*Screech!* *Squelch!*

{Critical Hit}

Then, when he was close enough, Tatsuo dove forward, stabbing both blades through the Orc Lord's armor and into its chest.

"Nice, a crit!" Tatsuo exclaimed. Then, before the Orc Lord could react, he pressed his feet against the armor covering the Orc Lord's abdomen and kicked off, throwing himself backwards.

Like in RPGs, critical hits are attacks that do extra damage. Usually double the amount of a normal attack, most likely because they landed on a vital spot.

IN the next instant, the Orc Lord began thrashing about violently, swinging its arms, legs, and glaive around as it chased after Tatsuo. However, it was too slow to catch its prey. The force behind its movements, however, did make keeping his balance a bit harder for Tatsuo, as the vibratons and shockwaves from every momement shook the air and the floor. Still, it was nothing he could not handle.

After a while, the effects of [War Cry] ended. On top of that, the Orc Lord had seemed to tire itself out, as it was supporting itself with its glaive while panting heavily with its head lowered.

Taking advantage of the Orc Lord's exhausted state, Tatsuo once again dashed forward. Then, with precise strikes, he slashed both the Orc Lord's wrists, causing it to drop its glaive, stabbed it several times in the chest, and punched the blades on his knuckles into the sides of its neck.

Despite all that, the Orc Lord still was not dead. And when it recovered from its fatigue, it raised its head to once again use [War Cry]. But that was exactly what Tatsuo was waiting for. While its head was lowered, he could not make an effective strike on its throat, after all.

Then, just as the Orc Lord was about to roar, Tatsuo once again crossed the blades of his knuckle dusters in front of him. Then, he slashed the Orc Lord's throat from both sides. As a result, before the Orc Lord could use [War Cry], it raised its hands to cover its neck. Though, a large amount of blood still seeped through its fingers.

*Bang!*

A moment later, the Orc Lord's large body fell forward. And just before it did, Tatsuo managed to step out of the way. Getting crushed under an orc that big who was wearing steel armor would not have been a pleasant experience.

Meanwhile, the Orc Lord, who was laying on its stomach with its hands trying to stem the bleeding from its throat stared at Tatsuo. To Tatsuo's surprise, however, he could not see any resentment in its eyes. Instead, its gaze seemed to be saying: "That was a good fight."

Shaking his head at that, Tatsuo took a step forward before plunging the blade in his right hand into the Orc Lord's head, putting it out of its misery. With that, the Orc Lord's body began braking down into motes of mana. At the same time, a fanfare rang out to Tatsuo.

{A Grand Accomplishment! You have defeated the Floor Master, Orc Lord, alone! Amazing!}

{You obtained the Title, Orc Lord Slayer.

-All Stats permanently increase by 1. (This effect will apply even if the Title is not equipped.}

{You have become Bronze-Rank 6. Congratulations!}

{You defeated the Orc Lord alone. You have obtained the special reward: [Orc Lord's Pauldrons].}

{You obtained 1,000 Gold}

{Choose your reward.

!. [Deific Manifestation] Magic Book}

*Ba-dump!*

As soon as the notifications ended, and before he could choose the only reward on the list, Tatsuo heard his heart beat loudly. He could also feel his heart beat strongly. In the next instant, he felt immense pain in his chest. More specifically, from his heart. Pain so immense, in fact, that he fell to his knees while clutching at his chest.

"What… is this?" Tatsuo rasped out while trying to remain conscious. "It feels like… my heart is… expanding in my chest. Argh! This is… unbearable…"

While writhing in pain, Tatsuo realized that his HP was decreasing.

"Shit… At this rate… I'm gonna die." Tatsuo groaned. "I'm not… losing a week… over something… like this…"

Instinctively, Tatsuo could tell that he would not die from this. However, according to the Dungeon, his vitality would hit zero. And if that happened while inside of the Dungeon, he could be kicked out and band from re-entering for a week. So, to prevent that from happening, he quickly chose his reward before returning to his bedroom on Earth where he passed out not long afterwards.

ICDS World, 1st Dungeon, 100th Floor.

"Hmm… Interesting." Sherifina muttered to herself as she observed Tatsuo until the moment he left the Dungeon. "Something about his body was changing after defeating the Orc Lord. But what was it? And why?"

Sherifina continued to ponder over what could have been the cause of Tatsuo's state. After a while she realized that it had something to do with defeating the Orc Lord. More specifically, defeating the Orc Lord alone.

"I see." Sherifina said as she stared into the darkness of her personal space. "After receiving the Orc Lord Slayer Title, all his stats went up by one. Meaning, he unlocked his mana. But I've never seen a human react like that to the introduction of mana. Very interesting. I'll need to observe him further, though."

Meanwhile, though she had no way of knowing, the being Sherifina both detested and feared, the one who oppressed her on the day Tatsuo arrived in this world, the Void Empress, was smiling happily after seeing Tatsuo's state from the higher dimension.