Luke Markner.
He was a descendant of the Jinlang race. A race known for their explosive physical strength that defied belief, especially when it came from such a small frame.
In the past, he had been eager to show the world his exceptional abilities as soon as possible.
He had believed he could do anything.
That confidence had led to a fleeting mistake, and now, he found himself in this position.
I need to complete this mission quickly.
His steps quickened.
“Luke. Walk slowly. You need to conserve your strength.”
“Ah… Sorry, Lucy.”
“…You’re feeling rushed, aren’t you?”
“…Yeah.”
The White Whale Mercenary Group.
When the two of them had first laid eyes on the group, it had seemed like nothing special.
Was it even right to call it a “mercenary group”?
The only reason the two had been allowed to participate in the raid was because of the Black Forest commander’s connections.
But before they knew it, two more companions had joined.
One of them, in fact, had even been a priest dispatched by the Church.
And that wasn’t all. Luke realized that every single one of them had undergone impressive growth.
That realization lit a fire in his heart.
“We have to succeed in this mission too. If we do, the time left on our sentence will finally be over.”
“I know that very well. But you’re aware of this too, right? If you act too hastily and get seriously injured, it defeats the entire purpose. Just look at your arm.”
“……”
Luke looked down at his barely functional right hand.
The expedition commander wasn’t exactly known for his kindness.
He had treated the prisoners like expendable tools and never bothered with the inefficient task of repairing what was broken.
“But we have a priest and a mage with us. Don’t you think it’ll be okay?”
“What have I always told you?”
“…Don’t trust others.”
“It’s the same even if that person is a mage. Do you remember how we were used in the last adventuring party?”
Back during the raid, Luke and Lucy had faithfully carried out the orders given by the leader of “Azure Cloud” without even knowing the reasons behind them.
The result of that trust was their current situation.
“But still…”
“You seem to trust that mage quite a bit.”
At that moment, a deep voice came from right beside them.
It was Joseph, the leader of the squad that the twins belonged to.
“Joseph?”
Though he had joined later than the twins, he had quickly integrated into the expedition unit thanks to his impressive skills.
Outside, he had originally been a soldier but ended up here after disobeying a superior’s orders. Or so they had heard.
“As for his abilities… Honestly, I can’t say. I haven’t seen many other mages to compare him to. Still…”
As she answered, Lucy recalled the raid.
“He’s frighteningly calm, and no matter the situation, he always manages to produce the best outcome.”
“I see. He sounds more suited for the role of a commander than a warrior.”
“Well, he is a mage!”
At Luke’s response, Joseph gave a somewhat bitter-looking smile and replied,
“That can’t be right. Mages aren’t usually that clever, Luke.”
“What? Why not? They know so many things.”
“Knowing things and being able to use them are two different matters. It’s the difference between knowledge and wisdom.”
“Hmm…”
Luke wore a puzzled expression, while Lucy nodded as if in agreement.
“Whew! As expected of our squad leader! That was a truly classy remark!”
Someone else jumped into the conversation from nearby.
It was a man known among the prisoners as “Mustache”.
Luke and Mustache had never really gotten along.
More precisely, it was Luke who felt uncomfortable around him.
It wasn’t right to judge people by their looks, but Mustache had a face that could only be described as… well, bat-like.
And his actions weren’t much different, either.
Just watching him sucking up to the timid expedition assistant Braight, in the hopes of getting a bit more food for himself…
Joseph didn’t offer any response to Mustache’s words.
Instead, he turned his gaze toward the wind sweeping across the sandy plain.
“It’s time to see what that mage is really capable of.”
Through the gusts of sand, green-skinned monsters began to appear.
It was a horde of orcs.
***
Within Blackout, orcs were not something to be taken lightly.
Although the Warfield of Ortacus was where the weaker orcs tended to gather, orcs were still formidable beings by nature.
Each one stood well above the average adult height, and from the moment they were born, they were raised as warriors.
“Kuwartada!!”
Letting out a shout in an unknown language, the leading orc swung an absurdly large club.
If that attack were blocked head-on, it would tear the muscles in your arm clean apart.
The prisoners of the expedition team were well aware of that fact and each dealt with the orcs in their own way.
“Wipe them out!”
Some moved swiftly to dodge the attacks, while others deflected blows with skilled weapon techniques and counterattacked.
However, the tide of battle was not so easily turned.
There were more orcs than they had expected.
There were twenty prisoners in total.
In contrast, fifteen orcs were charging at them.
“Hmm.”
While the others were teaming up in pairs to take down a single orc, Joseph faced one alone.
His two axes tore through even the orc’s tough muscles, spilling green blood across the ground.
“The situation’s not looking good.”
Several had already been injured.
To think things would be this bad from the start.
They hadn’t even reached their destination yet. The temple.
The area around the temple was likely to be even more dangerous than this, not less.
That was probably why they had called in the mercenaries.
No matter how brilliant a commander the mage might be…
With just the people here, it would be difficult to complete this mission successfully.
And it wasn’t as if a mercenary group with only four people was going to perform miracles.
Joseph discarded such hopeful thoughts.
The only somewhat reliable factor was the priest’s healing ability.
But there’s no way she’ll fully heal nearly twenty prisoners.
Even the priest’s divine power wasn’t infinite.
They wouldn’t want to start draining their strength this early on.
Many of them will die.
Not that he particularly cared whether the prisoners lived or died.
But their deaths would directly lead to the failure of the mission.
Joseph didn’t want to stay with this insane group for long.
Just as his expression was about to darken—
[Enchantment: Elemental Armory]
[Attribute Enchantment: Fire]
The weapons of those standing at the front lines began to blaze with red flames.
A few prisoners flinched in surprise, but they quickly realized it was the work of the mage standing behind them.
“Oh yeah, let’s get a good whiff of some burning flesh today!”
A prisoner fighting nearby charged at one of the orcs with a flaming sword.
The orc, which should have reacted instantly, responded too late.
That delay led directly to its death.
Why?
Was an orc known for its aggression actually scared of a little fire?
Joseph tilted his head for a moment. He grew puzzled, but only for a moment.
He realized they needed to ride the momentum and shouted to the Jinlang twin siblings.
“Take them down one by one!”
“Yes!”
“Understood.”
They were a troublesome bunch, these prisoners. But at least those Jinlang twins followed his orders well.
However, things didn’t continue going smoothly.
As the stench of burning flesh began to spread thickly through the air, a new group of orcs appeared.
“Kuwortada!”
Ten more orcs emerged, shouting in their own language.
And they hadn’t even finished off half the enemies they were already dealing with.
Even with the mage’s enchantments, they had to be prepared to die.
[Hymnal of Light]
[Life of Light]
A brilliant burst of golden divine power exploded behind them.
It felt as though strength was bursting from every part of his body, and the minor wounds across him healed in an instant.
It was the miraculous power of that priestess with a unique appearance. The girl whose eyes were covered by black bandages.
But the mercenary group’s movements didn’t stop there.
Two warriors from the rear suddenly shot forward.
***
Aiden who charged ahead alongside Maya quickly counted the number of enemies they had to handle.
Five.
Fighting in the spot already occupied by the prisoners made it hard to fully demonstrate their abilities.
So Aiden decided to go for the orcs from behind, while they were still worked up from the smell of blood.
Senior always said the orcs’ strength was what we had to be most wary of.
Sure enough, judging by pure ability, it took several prisoners who were around level 3 or 4 to take down a single orc.
Even in Aiden’s eyes, the prisoners weren’t lacking in skill, and yet that was the level of difficulty they faced.
I can’t afford to take them lightly.
And yet, why did his steps feel so light as he ran?
Aiden couldn’t quite figure out the reason.
Instead, he focused his gaze on Maya, who was already sprinting ahead.
Aiden drew the enemies’ attention first, while Maya blended into the surroundings and slipped in behind the orcs.
“Kueeeek?!”
The excited orcs only sensed Maya’s presence a moment too late.
By then, she had already swept her blades across their ankles.
Normally, their rock-like muscles would have blocked the blades, but the two swords Maya wielded sliced clean through without resistance.
In an instant, three of the five targeted orcs had their movements crippled by Maya.
The remaining two focused on the charging Aiden.
One of them lunged first, recklessly swinging a huge club toward Aiden’s path.
Normally, it would’ve been a blow to block. But instead, Aiden gathered mana in his legs and released it.
[Charge]
Boom!
The ground beneath his feet exploded as he accelerated in a flash.
From the orc’s perspective, Aiden seemed to vanish without warning.
“Kueeh… Kkeeeeaagh!!”
A burning pain suddenly flared up in its side.
Only then did the orc realize that the blond-haired human had slipped past, brushing against its side in a low stance.
A long gash had opened where there had been none before, and blood spurted out.
Slower than I expected.
It was a speed completely unlike the movements he had seen from Bern.
The moment Aiden realized that, he erased all hesitation from his movements.
Senior and Sister Eleanor were right.
His skills were more than enough to be effective even on a level 4 field.
Maybe not enough to be relaxed, but—
It’s not enough to feel threatened.
Aiden turned to the orc, who was now roaring in fury at the sound of its comrade’s scream.
I can do this.
The confidence he had lost after constantly being overpowered by Bern seemed to return.
Aiden spotted Jun from afar, smiling brightly at him.
There was a clear emotion in that smile.
That emotion was “trust”.
A belief that their comrades would never lose.
To honor that trust, Aiden moved.
***
“The mage’s party is that good?”
The battle had ended.
Joseph stared in amazement at the mercenary group that had joined the mission.
It was surprising enough that a four-person mercenary team included a priestess, especially one with a skill level that appeared to be top-tier.
And the two warriors’ skills were nothing ordinary either.
Their abilities are at a level 4 standard.
Their movements were bold.
Their movements were like those of a veteran who had crossed the line of death more than once.
Even convicts who had committed violent crimes hadn’t shown such precision.
Talent? No, that kind of ability can’t be explained by talent alone.
It seemed Joseph wasn’t the only one surprised.
“Was he always that good in a fight…?”
“…I’m not sure. He didn’t seem nearly that skilled when we saw him in the Black Forest.”
Luke and Lucy couldn’t hide their astonishment as they watched the blonde-haired, blue-eyed man.
“To have grown that much in just a few months… could it be the mage’s doing?”
“Stop asking me, Luke. This is the first time I’ve seen a case like this too.”
Meanwhile, the prisoners had started cheering for the priestess.
From their perspective, the priestess who healed them and supported them in battle stood out even more than the two warriors from the mercenary group.
And then there was the mage with the fire enchantment.
“Damn! Everything’s so easy with the priestess here!”
“Look at this! The wound I got during the last mission has already healed this much!”
“For just that? I got a hairline fracture blocking one of those pig bastards!”
“No, I’m telling you, the sword burst into flames! Didn’t you see those pigs freeze up and not do a thing? You saw that, right?!”
They were people thrown into missions where death could come at any moment.
Naturally, there had been no healer among them.
For the prisoners, injuries were practically a death sentence. So their reactions were understandable.
If nothing else, the mercenary group had proven their worth in a single battle.
The prisoners’ cheers were proof of that.
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