Brutal takedown

"BU-HIIIIIIIII!"

"!!!"

Judging by his reaction, the Boarkin Orc's squeal must have been something deeply disrespectful towards Ross. Thick veins bulged out on his neck, and the blackish-red glow surrounding him intensified as he unleashed a roar so bloodthirsty that his opponent faltered and took a step back.

Making sure that he is constantly blocking the human girl with his body, the Pigkin Orc charged at the disarmed Boarkin orc.

"...!"

The monster glanced towards the weapon it dropped but that once again cost him the precious time - with that repeated mistake it became clear that it wasn't used to facing an opponent alone.

When it looked back at the charging Pigkin orc, it was already too late for it to dodge without exposing itself to an attack, so it prepared itself, raising its shield and spurring it with both arms to brace for an impact.

"BU-HI!"

"BHIIIIIIGH!"

Ross roared and didn't even try to change the trajectory of his Morningstar, slamming it into the Boarkin Orc's shield and piercing right through - both the shield and the Boarkin orc's arms, causing it to howl in pain.

Ross then tore his weapon out, scraping off the flesh of his opponent off its bones and even taking its shield with him.

"BU! HI!"

As the Boarkin Orc swayed back, gritting its teeth and trying to get more herbs from the sachel at his side - that turned out to be already empty - Ross growled and began to pummel it down with enough strength to break off the stone spikes of his enhanced weapon.

The first hit was almost blocked by the Boarkin Orc raising its mutilated arms over its head, but the following ones reached their target, and the monster fell to the ground, where the upper half of its torso ended up brutalized into mincemeat woth blood splatters reaching at least dozen of feet around.

"...hmph…"

After being satisfied with the outcome, Ross straightened his back and scoffed, breathing out steam from his nostrils as the blackish-red glow surrounding his body faded away.

"Ross…!"

"...?!"

As the Pigkin Orc relaxed and put down his weapon, he was unexpectedly hugged by the human girl who approached him from behind.

"C-Cat-rine…!?"

"Ah! U-umm… s-sorry…"

Ross called out, and the black-haired girl gasped and backed off, blushing in realization.

"Y-you came to my r-rescue again. Th-thank you."

"..."

Catherine fidgetted and bowed her head gratefully, but Ross didn't respond.

"...?"

Worried that she had done something wrong, the black-haired girl looked up only to witness that the Pigkin orc was looking away from her with an embarrassed expression on his beastly face that was a lot more pink than normal.

"...Cat-rine…"

"Y-yes…?"

Ross spoke up, and the girl timidly perked up.

"...when… when I charged this one… What language was I speaking? Common or Suidae…?"

The Pigkin orc asked awkwardly, not being able to face the human girl properly.

"Y-you weren't speaking c-common…"

"G-good…"

Catherine tilted her head and answered, making Ross breathe out in relief and turn to her.

"Were you out hunting?"

Despite calming down, Ross still decided to steer the subject in a different direction before Catherine would ask some follow-up questions.

"Oh, umm… a-actualy I was l-looking for you…"

She fidgeted and admitted while lowering her gaze bashfully.

"...what can I help you with…?"

The Pigkin Orc raised his brows and asked.

"Th-the thing is… M-Melinda told me that-that you wanted to l-look around the c-city, a-and that it would be p-possible if you w-wore the c-control collar b-because it would not w-work on you b-but it would a-appear as if it d-did, so…"

Catherine spoke up nervously, taking out the blue collar with a large silver buckle and timidly offering it to the intrigued Ross.

"I.. I just thought th-that…"

"!!!"

The human girl fidgeted and mumbled while the Pigkin Orc perked up and grabbed her, hugging her tightly and pressing her head into his chest.

As Ross was raising his shield, a random maid just materialized in front of the pair, seemingly out of thin air.

"READY!"

"?!?!"

Without giving either the Pigkin Orc or the girl in his arms time to understand what was going on, the maid turned her back to them and called out.

Before the maid even finished shouting, the thicket towards which Ross was holding up his shield rustled, and a carriage-sized Armored Boar charged out in the open in a mad dash.

A robust beast with four-foot-long tusks and mangled stell-coated fur that ended up naturally woven into a chainmail-like structure.

"...!"

Ross stopped caring for the maid for a moment and instead braced himself for the impact, holding Catherine in a protective embrace.

"...?"

But the impact never came; the Armored boar just ran past them, and although its hooved feet made the ground shake, no harm came their way.

The monster wasn't aiming at the maid either, as it rushed past her, too.

Then Ross flinched. For a split second, he managed to glance at the Armored boar's eye as it passed, and the Pigkin orc immediately recognized the emotions driving the creature.

It wasn't rage that its species was known for.

There was no anger whatsoever.

It was pure animalistic fear.

And as it turned out, it wasn't misplaced fear either.

When Ross barely lost sight of the Amrored boar's eye, something shot out from the same thicket the monster came from.

Whatever it was, it had a weird property to it - it was producing a somehow whistling sound but the sound was delayed…! The unidentified object burrowed into the Armored boar's flesh, but what the maid, the Pigkin orc, and the black-haired girl heard was that it flew out of the thicket, giving the situation a completely surreal image.

Then, the Armored Boar split in half along the line of its spine.

With the monster's front left leg about to move forward, it buckled down, causing the creature's entire left side to drop down and tumble to the side.

On the other hand, somehow, the creature's right leg was in the middle of kicking off the ground, and the momentum of the movement carried over, pushing the beast's right side forward until it nose-dived into the ground where it was halted so abruptly that it did a partial head-stand, spilling out its guts, before pitifully plopping down to the side.