Lord of Rot

Trevor, the Mercenary who had been waiting in the rear, stepped forward on his own, without needing a signal from Leech.

It wasn’t that he wanted to avoid work; rather, this battle had convinced him of one thing: Baron Porcupine would not lose.

As far as Trevor knew, some of the Transcendents from Porcupine Territory hadn’t even joined the fight yet.

The monkey Soldiers might be numerous, but their defeat was a foregone conclusion.

And when a battle is guaranteed to be won, you fight with everything you’ve got!

Only by giving his all could he hope for a greater reward.

Fight to the death when the odds are in your favor, surrender when they’re not. In this, Trevor was a professional.

”My lord, I’ll hold her off!” He looked toward the well-built ’woman’ with the long, lolling tongue. But she didn’t even spare Trevor a glance, pouncing toward Leech instead.

”Fool. I can’t save you even if I wanted to!” Trevor spat.

He knew the Baron was quite lenient with Transcendents.

’These Transcendents are probably just hired hands. If I can subdue one of them now and convince them to surrender after the war, the Baron will gain a new talent, I’ll get the credit, and I’ll even have someone who owes me a favor.’

As for why he chose the woman... did he even need a reason? He wasn’t about to go save some stinky guy, was he?

But since she was so eager to die, Trevor had no choice but to intercept the other man, a skinny fellow.

’This is war,’ he thought. ’No matter how much the Baron values talent, he can’t afford to show mercy now.’

”Four arms?” The man looked at Trevor with great interest.

”I’m saving your life!” Trevor said. ”When you make it out of this alive, don’t forget to repay the favor!”

”Heh!” The skinny man chuckled and lunged at Trevor.

The moment they clashed, Trevor sent the man flying with a single punch. However, the arm he had used for the blow suddenly went numb and sore.

”Poison?”

Trevor was starting to think the man was an idiot. ”I’m trying to save your life! Can’t you just let me beat you up a little? Why are you in such a rush to die!”

’It’s just one arm out of commission. No big deal,’ Trevor thought. ’I’ve got four of them, after all.’

And he was confident he could beat the man’s skinny frame half to death in just four punches.

In his time at Porcupine Territory, he’d been eating prime meat and grains and had been training hard. He was much stronger than he used to be.

”I was hoping to just give you a few flesh wounds. We might have ended up working together, after all. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to go all out! I’ll try my best not to kill you.”

...

Leech gripped the hilt of his sword with one hand.

He lifted the 200-pound greatsword and slammed it into the ground with a THUD.

Three Transcendents stood before him.

One was the woman with the long, lolling tongue. Her body looked extremely flexible.

The second was a short man with a droopy catfish mustache and a pigtail braid. He snorted with every breath, much like an orc.

The third was a handsome man, but his eyes were covered in scales, leaving only black pinprick holes to see through.

”What a big sword,” the long-tongued woman said with a grin. ”I wonder if your *other* sword is just as big.”

Leech gripped the sword with both hands and charged forward.

The only one on the field who posed even a slight threat to him was the bizarre man with the scaled eyes.

”Look at me~” The long-tongued woman deliberately got in Leech’s way, charging at him with her tongue hanging out.

Leech planted his left foot, abruptly halting his charge. The momentum swung the Dragon-Slaying Sword in a semicircle around him. He added his own strength to the motion, making the blade whistle through the air even faster.

A crescent arc of steel flashed.

The greatsword swept through, and the woman fell to the ground in two halves.

Without slowing, he continued his charge toward the other two. A moment ago, the Transcendents had been confident, but now they could feel their hearts THUMP-THUMP-THUMPING in their chests.

’He killed a Transcendent in a single blow?!’

”ARGH!” The orc charged at Leech.

He threw a punch at Leech, who raised the Dragon-Slaying Sword flat-side-first to block it like a shield.

CLANG!

The fist met the blade, and neither man gave an inch.

It looked like a stalemate, but then Leech stomped his foot. A fresh surge of power erupted from within him, forcing the orc backward.

This was the first time Leech had ever met an opponent stronger than himself. However, his body had a store of medicinal power built up, and unleashing it allowed him to shatter his limits and overwhelm his foe.

The orc’s face turned beet red as he howled, his heels digging into the earth, but he couldn’t stop the backward slide.

A sharp gust of wind suddenly shot toward him, and Leech quickly backed away to dodge.

It came from the handsome man with the scaled eyes.

’I still don’t know what kind of attack he uses.’

The handsome man rushed to the orc’s side and questioned him furiously, ”What’s in that thick skull of yours?! There’s no way the two of us can beat him in a head-on fight!”

He had been about to say it would take all three of them, but then he remembered how Leech had just killed one of them with that heavy slab of iron. ”We’d need at least four people!”

But the orc just got angry. He bellowed, ”My skull is thick? W-well, I’ll have you know... how many... how many veins are in *your* brain, huh?”

”You dumb pig!”

”I’m telling you, I’m gonna...”

WHOOSH—!

A gust of wind suddenly rushed past. The handsome man rolled out of the way, but when he saw what had caused it, he turned and fled.

’What’s the point of even fighting?!’

The orc, however, reacted on pure instinct. He spun around, raised his hands, and managed to block the charge from behind.

The one charging was Rocket!

”SCREECH—!”

Rocket bucked and charged, easily breaking the orc’s guard and sending him flying.

It flapped its wings in pursuit, bent its head, and pecked him a few times, leaving several bloody holes in the orc’s body.