This could be our only chance! I subtly whisper to Seiya:

“Seiya! Now’s our chance! Use Maximum Inferno to create a smoke screen, then grab the slaves and run!”

“Run? When the boss is already here?”

“You can’t beat him, Seiya! Besides, the slaves’ lives are our priority, right?!”

“Well…I guess.”

I somehow manage to talk Seiya out of engaging, but Bunogeos lets out a vile chuckle as if he knows exactly what we’re going to do.

“You’re not gettin’ away from meee. Well, you could run if you wanted, but I’d just chop this slave’s head right offfff.”

Before I even realize, the orc is holding a woman in tattered clothes in one hand. She struggles in agony as he tightens his grip around her neck. That’s when the Hero’s piercing gaze locks onto Bunogeos.

“Goddess, I can’t just abandon that hostage and run. I’m going to defeat Bunogeos here and save all the slaves.”

Mn…! What he’s saying is very heroic, b-but there’s no way he can beat that orc!

Once he realizes that Seiya is willing to fight, Bunogeos tosses the woman behind him and reaches for the ax on his back.

“Chain Destruction…was it? Once I hit ya with this, neither yooou nor the goddess will be able to come back to liiife.”

“Wh-why do you have that?! Did that demon give you that, too?!”

“That’s none o’ yer busineeeeess.”

…While I distract Bunogeos, Seiya infuses his sword with flames. Before Bunogeos can even draw his ax…

“Die…! Phoenix Drive!”

Seiya unleashes an attack with a powerful roar, but Bunogeos deeply inhales with an air of confidence. Immediately, my hair and dress start fluttering as everything around me is sucked in. Bunogeos expels the air he inhaled directly at the charging Hero.

“Mn…!”

The powerful gale stops Seiya in his tracks and extinguishes the flames on his sword as if blowing out a birthday candle.

“Weeee-hee-hee. Wouldn’t want to start a fire, now, would weee?”

Bunogeos neutralizes the magic sword through sheer force alone, but Seiya still leaps at him.

“Then how about this? Eternal Sword!”

Since he can’t use Phoenix Drive anymore, Seiya switches to Adenela’s special attack without missing a beat. I inwardly applaud Seiya for his quick judgment, but…

“Hmm? That ticklesss.”

The orc takes each one of Seiya’s consecutive hits yet shows no sign of injury. But Seiya doesn’t give up. He continues attacking with Eternal Sword until his arm suddenly stops. That’s when I notice…that Bunogeos is holding the platinum sword’s blade!

“It doesn’t really hurt, buuut…you’re starting to annoy meeeeee!”

With his other thick arm, he buries a punch right into Seiya’s stomach. Seiya’s feet lift off the ground with a thud.

“Urgh…!”

“Seiya!!”

The Hero crumbles with just a single punch, and Bunogeos’s expression can only be described as disgust.

“Whaaat? That’s it? I didn’t even need my ax. Didn’t think the Hero would be this weeeak. Wait. Am I just too strooong?”

I-it was like fighting a baby! Seiya didn’t stand a chance! It’s exactly how I imagined it would go down, though. Seiya’s attack power isn’t even high enough to leave a scratch on Bunogeos. There’s just too big a gap between their stats.

We’re no longer in any position to save the slaves! We need to find a way to escape!

I instinctively sprint toward Seiya, but the dog beastkin stops in front of me before chopping my neck with his hand.

“Hng…!”

And just like that, I collapse at Seiya’s side. As I slowly fade out of consciousness, I see the ax on Bunogeos’s back out of the corner of my eye.

Oh… He’s going to use that ax and destroy our souls… Our journey ends here…

“M-mn…”

How much time has passed? I place a hand on my bruised neck while sitting up. The area is dark, but I see thick iron bars before me. It looks like I’m in a cell of some sort. There’s another cell next to mine…

“Seiya?!”

Seiya is curled up on the floor, disarmed and lying on his side.

“Are you okay?! Seiya, wake up!”

“Y-yeah…”

Seiya sits up as if he heard my cries. He clutches his stomach like he’s in pain, but it doesn’t seem to be life-threatening.

“Thank goodness you’re okay!”

But without missing a beat…

“I wouldn’t get so excited if I were you…”

I hear a voice coming from right behind me. I turn around to find the girl Bunogeos took hostage sitting in the corner of the cell. I’m relieved.

“Thank goodness you’re okay, too! What about the other slaves?”

“No clue. Seeing as they’re not here, I’m guessing Bunogeos temporarily removed the curse of the spell stone and sold them somewhere outside of town.”

“Wh-what?!”

“Oh, don’t worry about them. They’re the lucky ones. They’re still alive. We should be more worried about ourselves…”

She continues to speak as if she was talking about something mundane like the weather.

“Because you and me—we’re about to be Bunogeos’s food.”

“H-huh?! You mean he’s gonna eat us?! I thought this town produced slaves?! Bunogeos said—”

“That’s what he says when others are listening. But he secretly likes to eat young women. Oh…speak of the devil. Here he comes.”

The massive orc heavily drags his feet this way. First, he looks at Seiya in his cell and smirks.

“Lord Grandleon’s gonna be thrilled when I hand ya over to himmm. Weeee-hee-hee.”

Cheerfully rubbing his stomach, he walks over to our cell next and carefully stares at me through the iron bars like he’s examining me.

“I caught the Hero. I deserve a special rewarrrd.”

Drool drips down his vile chin.

“Hmm… I think I’ll start with the Goddessssss.”