Nagare: “They just keep coming!”

Now that he found Jing Fu and the kidnapped people, Nagare was leading them to safety, back to their village.

But apparently, not all orcs were killed. There were at least thirty or so remaining.

One after another, they started to attack them.

Even though he was a Guardian, Jing Fu was too injured to fight. Even walking was near impossible in his condition, requiring the aid of two rescued villagers.

In their current predicament, Nagare was the only available combatant.

The idea behind this new form was to maximize his speed and slash in an unpredictable angle, allowing Nagare to behead three orcs with a single motion.

Orcs may not be very intelligent, but their bodies were extremely tough.

Without chi, the blade of a sword would not cut them.

Even with chi, Nagare’s sword was having a lot of difficulty slashing through the orcs.

As far as Demon Hunters are concerned, Nagare was a low ranked one, a 1-star Demon Hunter, so his skills were still not at the level of mastery.

Not to mention the fact that as soon as he runs out of chi, he would be as good as dead.

Jing Fu: ‘His movements are excessive. He has too many wasteful motions. He is unable to use second level of chi, the elemental chi. Not to mention his mastery of swordsmanship seems to be limited to four forms.’

Jing Fu: ‘But compared to me, who can’t even move…’

After fighting the musician, Jing Fu’s body sustained rather serious wounds to his abdomen and leg, and fighting orcs in an effort to save the villagers only made his wounds worse.

It was a rather bad situation, with Nagare having to fight multitudes of orcs and Jing Fu and the villagers unable to do anything but watch.

Jing Fu: ‘What a pitiful Guardian I am. My entire squad got killed and now I have be protected by a greenhorn’

Orcs were relentless.

One of them managed to punch Nagare so hard that Nagare ended up flying and crashing into a tree. Luckily, he only sustained bruises and managed to come out relatively unscathed.

Nagare: “Damn! Those things are excessively strong….”

This one was most likely the leader of the orcs; he was bigger than the rest, with yellowish red skin and wearing a headwear made of bright feathers. Nagare could only guess that it was supposed to resemble a crudely made crown.

The orc leader was twirling a spear in his hands before jumping into the air, aiming to pierce through his prey.

Nagare: ‘Must dodge’

He barely managed to get out of the way before the orc leader skewered him.

But Nagare’s reaction was not quick enough.

Orc Leader delivered a savage roundhouse kick, Nagare attempted to block, only to be blown away by the force of the impact.

Using all the strength in his body, Nagare managed to stand up.

Nagare: “!”

It seems that he did not manage to escape unscathed.

As Nagare reached for his sword, he realized that his right hand would not obey him.

It felt strange.

Once he glanced at it, he could tell why.

His right hand was broken, bending in the direction it was never supposed to.

This was the worst possible scenario.

Nagare may have managed to kill several orcs, but there were still many left. Now his dominant hand was broken. And his so called partner was nowhere to be seen.

This was a picture of impending doom no matter how he looked at it.

Orc Leader roared as he charged at his prey. Nagare closed his eyes, preparing for his untimely demise.

“Kong Ya!”

A strange battle cry followed by a slash, then it was over.

The Orc Leader’s decapitated body fell on the ground.

Standing before Nagare was his savior, a very familiar looking warrior.

Nagare: “You!”

It was the same guy Nagare and Shoyo had saved from that butcher shop, the one with the wooden arm. He was still unconscious when they left him in the village, so seeing him awake so soon was surprising.

“Kai Sura, 2-star class Demon Hunter. I will take over here”

Nagare: “Huh?”

Saying that, Kai charged into action.

He primarily wielded the sword with his left hand, but he would also switch to using his right, wooden arm during the battle.

Nagare: ‘How exactly is that wooden arm functioning like it’s a real one?’

Kai:

An aerial attack, with Kai launching himself into the air, flipping, beheading the target, and then jumping at the next one in rapid succession.

What was most alarming was the sheer speed of his movements. Within a blink of an eye, Kai managed to slay countless orcs.

Nagare: “Wow”

Kai:

Using his left hand, he performed what appeared to be a quick draw movement, but combined with his footwork, he was able to cover a distance of five meters within half a second.

Then, he sheathed his blade.

Kai: “It is done”

The orcs were dumbfounded and so was Nagare.

Jing Fu: “He is good”

Nagare: “Huh?”

The orcs tried to attack Kai, but suddenly, their upper bodies started to slide off from their lower bodies.

They were all cut in half.

Some of them were still alive, desperately clinging to life, and one even tried to crawl towards Kai.

Kai simply stabbed that orc in the head.

Kai: “What a disgusting thing”

Jing Fu: “He is stronger than you are, Nagare-kun, that’s for sure”

Nagare: “Shut up”

Kai: “That was the last of them. I do not sense any other orcs in the vicinity”

Nagare: “Are you sure?”

Kai: “Yes. I can sense most monsters within a few mile ranges”

Nagare: “Then how come we found you captured by a monster?”

Kai: “That was not a regular monster. I assume you were the one who rescued me? You have my thanks”

Nagare: “No need, I should be thanking you”

Kai: “The villagers told me that there was one more person with you, is this him?”

He pointed to Jing Fu.

Nagare: “No, I am not sure where Shoyo is. This is Jing Fu, the Guardian of the Wind”

Kai: “Guardian?”

Jing Fu: “I am not exactly in the best shape, I know”

Kai: “It is an honor to meet you, Lord Guardian”

Jing Fu: “Likewise….Nagare-kun, about your partner, is he going to be ok by himself?”

Nagare: “He will not be when I am done with him!”

“That’s just mean, Naga-kun!”

It was a grey haired man with perpetually closed eyes, hiding in the bushes.

Nagare: “Shoyo!”

Nagare grabbed him by the collar with his left hand and started to shake him.

Nagare: “How could you just leave like that? Are we not partners? Were we not supposed to stick together, huh?”

Shoyo: “I get it; I get it, so please stop shaking me, Naga-kun!”

Jung Fu: “I assume this is your partner”

Nagare: “Unfortunately”

Jing Fu: “Hmm, Shoyo-san, did you by any chance encounter a musician?”

Shoyo: “Yeah, she ran away”

Jing Fu: “And she didn’t try to kill you?”

Shoyo: “If she did, she did not do a great job at it”

Jing Fu: “I see…this is troublesome”

Jing Fu: “For now, let’s go back to the village, we still have to bring them back to safety”

Jing Fu pointed behind him.

The survivors still needed to be brought back to the village.

With confident steps, the Demon Hunters led the way back to the village.