The orc king's wives spotted us, leaving no choice but to confront them in battle.
I stood up and moved to the front while Lina followed a step behind. We stepped out of the bushes and faced the orcs directly.
The orc king and its wives glared at us with furious eyes. One of the wives let out a roar, raised her fist, and charged toward us—the speed faster than an ordinary orc.
"Stone Bullet"
I lifted my hand and blew her head clean off. She collapsed forward. That one must've been the weakest if she was sent first.
Seeing their vanguard die instantly, the orc king and the remaining two wives couldn't hold back. They roared and charged with their weapons raised.
"Wind Blade"
This time, Lina acted. The orc king, who ran ahead of the others, raised its weapon to block the Wind Blade, but the force pushed it back. The other two wives had no time to react and were sliced cleanly in half.
The orc king stopped just as the magic's range ended. Offensive magic was divided into range magic and designated magic.
Range magic had a fixed travel distance after being cast from the hand. Designated magic could be cast anywhere within one's field of vision, unaffected by distance.
I narrowed my eyes at the weapon the orc king held. It was a greatsword—but in its hand, it looked same than a regular blade.
The greatsword was filthy, covered in grime and black stains. I couldn't tell what material it was made of, but it was strong enough to withstand Lina's magic.
My instincts screamed: the sword was more dangerous than the orc king itself.
Even so, I raised my own sword, deciding to strengthen myself. As long as my speed surpassed its reaction, it wouldn't be able to hit me. After all—in the world of battles, speed conquers all.
"Lina, I'll need your healing after this."
"Okay. Please be careful."
"Strength, Speed, Defense, Durability, Sharpness"
I stacked the enhancement magics again and added Defense this time. Even if I didn't know whether the greatsword was sharp, something that big would definitely hurt.
I used more years than I had used earlier against the orc group. Before, I had only used the same number of years as my physical age.
Using years beyond one's physical age caused unbearable pain and could make me faint.
Ancient magic could end this fight instantly, but I wanted to leave the body intact—an orc king was bound to fetch a high price.
I was basically entrusting everything after defeating the king to Lina, which I disliked, but there was no choice. Anything qualified to become a king was no trivial monster. Its combat experience and reaction speed would be extraordinary.
Once the enhancements settled, I dashed forward at a speed far greater than before. I aimed to sever its legs first, swinging my sword toward its left leg.
But the orc king read my intention. It reacted instantly, bringing up its greatsword to block. The clash rang out in a deafening metallic crash.
Its reaction speed was unbelievable. Twenty-nine years of enhancement meant twenty-nine times my normal physical ability. Just how many battles had this monster survived?
We locked blades, our strength evenly matched, surprising the orc king as well.
Unable to break the stalemate, I leapt backward. While airborne, I fired a Stone Bullet at its head.
The orc king tilted its head aside, narrowly dodging.
Were my attacks too predictable, or was this thing simply too strong?
Brute force wasn't working. My sword couldn't cut it. That left only one solution—speed.
I sprinted in a wide circle around the orc king, careful not to step on any corpses, releasing Stone Bullets whenever I found an opening.
The massive orc couldn't dodge in time and had to use its sword to block, every single time.
As soon as it turned, I would rush in again. If I couldn't decapitate it immediately, I could still inflict damage, weaken it little by little. Once its movements slowed, it wouldn't be able to keep up with my speed.
Just as I expected, the orc king turned again to block the next Stone Bullet.
I seized the opening—jumping high, aiming straight for its head.
But the orc king didn't stop its rotation. With its right hand, it swung the greatsword toward me as it continued to spin.
It miscalculated, though—my speed outmatched the swing.
I was mere centimeters from its neck.
Yet because it kept rotating, from its perspective I was attacking from its left. Using the momentum of its spin, the impact would've been huge. Even if I successfully cut off its head, the force behind its arm would still hit me.
So I changed my target.
I aimed at its arm.
Steel collided with flesh.
The result was obvious.
The orc king's massive arm—along with the greatsword—was severed and launched far away by the momentum. That alone proved how much force was behind its swing.
The orc king screamed in confusion and agony.
Confusion because my blade shouldn't have been able to cut its thick arm.
Agony because—well—its arm was gone.
I landed, rushed to the fallen greatsword, and grabbed it.
With the weapon gone, the orc king had lost its greatest threat.
It glared at me with hatred, but that didn't matter now.
I dashed forward for the finishing blow.
Perhaps realizing it had lost, the orc king made no attempt to defend itself.
It simply stood there and let me take its head.
Its body toppled with a heavy thud.
Even if it surrendered at the end, it was still my first opponent in which I went all out.
So I decided to keep its magic core instead of selling it to the guild.
Lina ran over.
"Karen, leave the rest to me."
"Wait. We need to store all the orc corpses first."
Lina's storage hole wouldn't fit in the bodies of more than 50 half-orcs.
So before my enhancements wore off, we needed to get everything into the storage hole quickly.
"You can't! The longer you keep the enhancement on, the more it'll hurt!"
She was worried, but I gave her a small smile.
"It's fine. I'll be quick."
I opened the storage hole.
Since it followed me, I sprinted around the battlefield, tossing all the corpses in one after another—including the greatsword.
Then I ran to a tree, used "Detection" one last time, and sensed only three weak reactions. Nothing threatening.
Lina joined me as I lay down against the trunk.
"There are a few reactions nearby, but nothing dangerous. It's all yours now."
"Okay… I'll protect you."
I canceled the five enhancement magics.
Pain surged instantly.
Fatigue, muscle agony, racing heartbeat, dizzy nausea—the sensations were far beyond what my physical age could endure. I couldn't even scream.
I saw Lyna place her hands over me, gathering healing magic.
A soft blue light filled my vision—
—and then everything went black.