In the blink of an eye, the street was completely swallowed by darkness.
Pitch-black gloom where I couldn’t see an inch ahead.
The only things visible were the red glows in the orcs’ eyes.
“Chwik! Chwiiik!”
Their rough breathing reached my ears.
Dugu-dugu—
It seemed some of them were pounding the ground, as if celebrating their victory.
“Chwiiik!!!”
“Kuo-o-o-o!!!!”
One piece of common knowledge no Hunter could fail to know:
When night falls, monsters grow stronger and more ferocious.
They said even cowardly goblins, who normally did nothing but run away, would pick up clubs and chase you once night came.
‘Something’s strange.’
Strangely enough, they weren’t charging at us.
What reason could there be for creatures born with such warlike temperaments not to rush in?
Could the shaman who had blocked Rachel’s sword energy have done something?
Considering how the ground had been shaking as if there were an earthquake since earlier, surely…
“Ah.”
Now that I looked, the source of the tremors was somewhere else.
“How dare it block my sword? Embarrassing me in front of Brother…”
Maybe she was furious that her sword energy had been blocked by the shaman orc earlier.
Even to me, a complete outsider when it came to swords, an incredible aura was pouring out of Rachel’s body.
As if frightened, the orcs’ red glows receded like a wave.
“Let’s see if it can block this too, shall we?”
【Sword of Divine Punishment】
When the enraged Rachel raised her sword, cracks formed in the darkness that had covered the sky.
White rays of light poured through the gaps.
As if a nuclear bomb had fallen, they incinerated everything on the ground.
The fleeing orcs, and even the zombies I had no idea when had risen, all vanished from the earth.
The only ones unharmed by that explosion were Rachel and me.
Even the shaman orc who had been standing on the wall laughing, Orc-hahaha!
was reduced to dust and evaporated.
The darkness blocking the sky disappeared, and the sun rose again.
“Pay for humiliating me in front of Brother in hell.”
Clack!
Rachel muttered as she sheathed her sword.
Even after using a technique like that, she didn’t look tired at all.
‘Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.’
Even the battles of rankers that sometimes circulated on community boards hadn’t seemed this flashy or powerful.
When I wondered if it was some kind of ultimate move and asked her,
“I didn’t use my strongest technique because Brother might get caught up in it!”
“This is the fifth strongest technique I have. Of course, I weakened its power as much as possible.”
This was fifth? And this was as weak as she could make it?
Every structure, including the walls, had been reduced to powder, and the whole area had been devastated.
To the point where not a single living thing, including the trees, remained.
Even this alone was practically nuclear-bomb level, and she was saying she could make it even stronger.
‘Wow, I really summoned well.’
If I were alone, forget an orc, I’d have had a hard time killing even one goblin.
But with Rachel, conquering the Tower seemed like it would be absurdly easy.
‘Could I really become the strongest in the world, just like the meaning of my name?’
My original goal had been to clear the 10th floor and modestly farm some cash.
But now that things had come this far, I wanted to leave my name in the history books at least once.
“Conquering the Tower is utterly trivial. Therefore, I shall stand at its summit.”
Orc-hahaha!
Just as I was expressing my determination to conquer the Tower while mixing in all sorts of memes, a familiar laugh reached my ears.
…No way.
Now that I thought about it, even though all the orcs should have been killed, the clear message hadn’t appeared.
『Number remaining until completion: 1』
I unconsciously raised my head and looked toward where the wall had been earlier.
And there stood the shaman orc, holding its staff.
Had it not died earlier? No, it definitely had died…?
“It seems I held back too much.”
Another bombardment shot down toward the ground.
If earlier had been an area attack, this time the concentrated fire was focused on a single point.
After being hit by an attack of that scale, everything should have turned to dust, but—
amazingly, only the staff was completely intact.
And the number remaining until completion was still 1.
At this point, I understood.
We had to break that staff to get out.
“Rachel, we have to break that.”
“…Let’s see who wins, then.”
Bombardment continued to rain down on the staff.
But the staff remained intact.
And after roughly ten seconds, the shaman orc popped out from somewhere.
“Orc-hahaha!”
On top of that, after another minute passed, the orcs revived, and even the citizens who had died woke up as ghouls.
“What are we supposed to do about this? No matter how many we kill, there’s no end.”
“I’m sorry, Brother. It’s because my skills are lacking…”
“No, if it weren’t for you, I’d have died long ago. There’s still a little time before they revive, so rest for a bit.”
“…Yes. Then, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll rest for just a moment.”
Even the powerful Rachel looked a little tired.
Her sword gradually slowed, and the revived ones took advantage of that gap to charge in.
As if they had no reason, their eyes were entirely white.
“Kuo-o!”
“Chwiiik!”
The charge of ten thousand orcs.
It felt like experiencing the Rumbling from a Japanese anime in real life.
No, maybe they were closer to zombies than giants.
Because no matter how many we killed, they kept swarming in endlessly.
My strength was gradually draining away, and an ominous premonition wouldn’t leave my mind.
No, this is Hell difficulty? The balance is completely off.
At the very least, it should be at a level a person can clear.
I’m not going to die here like this, am I?
“Brother, don’t worry. No matter what happens, I’ll protect you.”
But beside me was Rachel, who did not let go of my hand.
Honestly, if Rachel had been alone, it would have been easier for her.
She wouldn’t have needed to control her strength.
‘No, in the first place, since she was summoned by contract, if I die, she might be able to return to wherever she originally lived.’
Even so, Rachel was still fighting only to the extent that I wouldn’t be caught up in it.
As if she hated even the thought of me getting hurt even if she died, she kept glancing sideways to check that I was unharmed.
“They really are persistent. But if we keep going, in the end, we’ll be the ones who win.”
“……”
“So don’t lose hope either, Brother.”
Had she read my emotions?
The warm temperature I felt in my hand snapped me back to my senses.
‘It’s a little hopeless, sure. But in the end, we just have to kill ten thousand of them.’
Come to think of it, a fight with a set ending was less burdensome.
If we killed them one by one, the end would eventually come.
‘The me who was trapped in that five-hundred-million-year world must have endured like this too.’
Doesn’t it appear often in novels too?
No matter how hopeless things seem, if you endure and endure, hope will eventually come.
Of course, if I were alone, I probably would’ve smashed my own head in with the axe I was holding long ago.
‘But beside me is Rachel, my ridiculously broken familiar.’
Every time she swung her sword, thousands of orcs exploded.
And even in the middle of all that, she absolutely did not let go of my hand.
If I dared say it, she was a state-level combat force.
And she even came with a soulbound function.
If my guess was right, I could summon nine more souls on this level.
‘As if I’d be crazy enough to give up on life.’
I didn’t feel even the slightest desire to give up here.
‘Come on, think. There has to be a way to get out of this alive…’
I looked around for a moment.
An unbreakable staff, and endless orcs summoned from it.
To break this cycle, we had to break the staff after all.
Was there a way to break that?
…There was.
I lowered my head and checked my finger.
To be exact, I looked at the ring on my right index finger.
If I remembered correctly, one of the abilities attached to this ring was this.
▶ Wood of Ten Cuts (十伐之木): When attacking any tree ten times with an axe, you can fell it.
An ability that could fell any tree.
At first, it had seemed useless, but now I felt like I’d finally found where to use it.
After all, that staff was made of wood.
‘It’d probably be more efficient for the hero to use it than me.’
I took the ring off my finger and tried to throw it to Rachel.
But I couldn’t.
【You cannot unequip gear until combat has ended.】
“Ah, looks like I have to do it myself.”
Well, actually, there was nothing difficult about it.
I just had to chop down a masterless staff.
“Rachel, I’ll try breaking that staff. Can you take me over there?”
“No. It’s dangerous! Brother, you’re not the Brother you used to be.”
My physical abilities right now were far too weak.
With all stats at only 1, forget scratching them, I probably couldn’t even trim their nails.
On the other hand, if I got hit even once, my organs would rupture and I’d die.
Knowing that, Rachel opposed it.
But I had something to trust in, so I shook my head.
“It’s fine. I have this ring. And even if a dangerous situation comes up, you’ll block it for me, won’t you?”
As if she couldn’t bring herself to refuse when I said I trusted her,
Rachel eventually nodded.
“First, let’s open a path.”
“…Yes!”
During that brief conversation, the orcs had been summoned again.
Naturally, they disappeared with one swing of Rachel’s sword.
Time remaining until the shaman orc revived: ten seconds.
The distance to where the staff lay was roughly 100 meters.
“We can’t make it this turn. We’ll have to kill it one more time.”
The shaman orc was spawn-killed.
At the same time, I arrived and picked up the staff that had fallen to the ground.
Contrary to its ominous appearance, the sensation was nothing more than an ordinary wooden stick.
“All right, then. Goodbye.”
I immediately brought the axe down toward the staff.
Once, twice.
Each time I struck it, black mist leaked out as if telling me not to.
It could have been poison or a curse, but I’d recover once I left the Tower anyway, so I ignored it and kept striking.
They said my axe proficiency had increased, and I was able to strike twice per second.
“The last one, ten.”
And finally, the moment I swung for the tenth time.
Crack—!
A skull pattern floated into the air, and the staff split cleanly in half.
At the same time, a translucent window appeared along with the sound of a fanfare.
『Congratulations. You are the first to clear Floor 2, ‘HELL’ difficulty, with an SSS+ rank.』
『Orcs slain: 2,000,000』
『As a reward, you have obtained D-rank Awakening Stone x10 and the title ‘Destroyer of the Orc Empire.’』
‘Destroyer of the Orc Empire’—When attacking the orc species, reduces their reproduction rate by 99.9%.
“Phew, it’s over.”
“…Brother, you worked so hard.”
Unlike me, who was relieved, Rachel had a gloomy look on her face.
Well, it made sense for her to feel crushed, since the staff that had stayed intact no matter how much she attacked it had broken after just a few chops with an axe.
“As expected of Brother. Even if you’ve lost your memories, you’re still far stronger than me…”
“No, that’s not it.”
All I’d done was place a spoon on the table Rachel had already set.
But was she saying even that was something she should have done herself?
“Earlier… ever since my sword energy was blocked, I kept thinking about it… And when you split the staff, Brother, I became certain…”
“No, certain about what…”
“…That compared to you, Brother, I’m far too lacking, and that someone who struggles on the 2nd floor is unnecessary to you…”
Rachel’s shoulders trembled.
No, after killing two million orcs, acting like that almost felt like flexing.
But she seemed sincere as she approached me, knelt on one knee, and spoke.
“I was happy to have been able to stay by your side all this time…”
“…Hold on, why are you going to such extremes?”
Was she having some kind of breakdown?
Even when I tried to comfort her, Rachel wouldn’t listen and just kept saying what she wanted to say.
“I… sniff. I suppose I’m not allowed to stay by your side, Brother…. I trained so hard because I wanted to be with you, and yet look at me….”
“…….”
For now, I silently listened.
“If… if you’re all right with it, Brother…. Sniff. The contract… hngh! Please cancel— uwaaaah!”
But when I listened, she started trying to cross the line.
“After everything you’ve done for me, why are you getting all discouraged on your own and asking me to cancel the contract?”
“B-but…. If you’re disappointed in me, Brother…. If I think you’ll abandon me again…. I can’t bear it!”
“Hey, you idiot. Why would I abandon you? No, in the first place, so what if you couldn’t break one staff? You killed two million orcs by yourself.”
If I’d been alone, I wouldn’t have killed even one.
No matter how broken my items were, I’d have died before I even got close to that staff.
“What I realized while making it up to the second floor was that I was damn lucky I summoned you, Rachel.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. For one, you’re incredibly strong. And you’re friendly to me. And… well, it’s true you’re pretty, too. If I’d summoned some other soul, I probably would’ve regretted it.”
I’d said it to cheer her up, but every word of it was true.
Maybe she felt my sincerity.
Rachel buried herself in my arms and sobbed her heart out.
‘Since we cleared it, it should be fine to stay a little longer.’
Since no message had come even after some time had passed, it seemed there wasn’t a hidden stage after all.
“Uwaaaah!”
“Yeah. Cry as much as you want.”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
So I spent some time like that, but for some reason, she didn’t stop crying easily.
By this point, my chest was damp and unpleasant.
Sigh, can’t be helped.
“If you stop crying, I’ll give you a present.”
She stopped.
The moment I finished speaking, Rachel’s tears cut off.
“Rachel, don’t tell me you…”
“Hehe. Thinking about receiving a present from you, Brother, made me feel better.”
“They say if you laugh after crying, hair grows on your butt.”
“…There’s no one here. Would you like to check?”
“Sigh, never mind.”
It felt like the mood was about to turn strange, so I hurriedly gave her the present.
“This is….”
A shabby ring lay in her palm.
Soon, Rachel’s face flushed red.
“Y-you’re really giving this to me?”
“Yeah.”
“To receive a ring from you, Brother… I’m so happy!”
After slipping the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand, Rachel squealed and hugged me.
“There has never been a day this joyful in my life. I’ll work really hard so you won’t be disappointed in me, Brother.”
What on earth was she misunderstanding?
I’d only meant to give it to her in advance in case something similar happened next time.
But I couldn’t say that.
“Hehe.”
“You like it that much?”
“Yes, I love it!”
She looked so happy that there was no need to ruin the mood.
“We’ve stayed too long. Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
The moment I stepped outside with the delighted Rachel, a message appeared before my eyes.
【You personally slaughtered the floor boss while none of your stats exceeded 10.】
【Achievement: Miracle Caused by the Weak】
【Reward: Skill Level-Up Ticket X1】