I Became a 6★ Gacha Character-Chapter 564: Wild and Feral 4

The named-rank lieutenant had deserted because the Orc Champion was acting too stupidly. It sounded reasonable at first glance, but I wasn't quite ready to believe it. After all, this was someone who had casually used another tribe's sacred relic and was caught spying under invisibility.

If he hadn't been caught, he might have gathered information and fled, or perhaps used that newfound intelligence to plot something sinister.

That's why the orc, stripped of the sacred relic and thoroughly searched, was now surrounded by beast-kin, receiving their glares. Though he'd lost all his equipment and looked rather beaten up, he was still smiling cheerfully, which was strangely impressive.

"You know what I mean. I don't have any weapons or anything, so you can watch me or imprison me, just don't send me back!"

"...If that's an act, we should hire orcs for theater."

Getting knocked out after being attacked without warning, being disarmed and taken prisoner—yet he was still grinning happily. I wondered what kind of monster this Orc Champion was, if his subordinate was providing such a vivid demonstration of "escape according to intelligence level."

The beast-kin also seemed curious about the Orc Champion who had conquered the native village on the 70th floor so quickly, as they surrounded the orc and bombarded him with questions. Akutuhum had mentioned that the Champion would force one-on-one duels, but... putting it differently, that pathetic scrap was all the information we had.

Knowing one core pattern didn't tell us how he would move, what his objectives were, or anything about the 70th floor's gimmicks beyond combat.

"Answer, orc. What is your leader trying to do?"

"Well, I know I'll sound suspicious saying this, but..."

"Don't be difficult!"

Grrrr— Angry beast sounds circled in the beast-kin natives' throats before leaking out, finally causing the named-rank orc's expression to darken.

But the information that flowed from his mouth was completely different from what we expected.

"There... there is no plan."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ah, it's true! He's just mindlessly charging forward! Like, he smashes anything in his path, and if there's nothing, he just runs. That's how mindlessly he's moving right now."

To describe the Orc Champion simply, you'd have to use words like muscle-brain, battle maniac, or battle junkie. Literally someone whose brain was made of muscle, incapable of thought.

So according to the deserter named-rank orc, the Orc Champion fit those descriptions perfectly.

His plan was to advance

If there was a village, fight

If there were good items, loot them

Keep advancing until forest fairies appeared

Fight them, and the hero would find him eventually

"...The leader came up with that kind of strategy?"

"That's why I ran away, isn't it?"

Listening to him spill everything like an office worker venting at a drinking party was quite the spectacle.

He'd wake up in the morning and advance in whatever direction he felt like. If he encountered monsters or beast-kin, he'd fight them himself to "warm up." If time passed without fighting, he'd get bored and beat a subordinate to death. He'd spend the day like that, and when evening came, he'd clear the surrounding area and sprawl out to sleep.

If it had been a normal human army, someone would have immediately attempted fragging by stabbing the commander in the back, but the Demon Lord's army was built on brainwashing. And there was no way ordinary orcs could defeat the Orc Champion, who had attained the position of Heavenly King in an orc's body.

"It seems he plans to wreak havoc in the forest until the hero arrives."

"Having spoken with Lord Akutuhum, I'm reluctant to say this, but that's truly disgusting."

So while he was trashing the forest like a drunken troublemaker causing a scene in front of a store, the Great Night Bird tribe apparently decided they'd had enough and confronted him.

The forest was vast enough that orcs could do whatever they wanted without consequences, but the Orc Champion was gradually approaching the beast-kin village based on information their shamans had risked their lives to obtain. The beast-kin had tried to intercept him before he reached the village to minimize damage, but... naturally, ordinary NPCs couldn't defeat one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

No game would include a story where "the Demon Lord's Heavenly King died after being pummeled by mountain cat beast-kin, and peace returned to the world." That was no ordinary boss, after all.

"In that case, we need to move as quickly as possible."

"Do you have a method, human child?"

Everyone's expression became urgent at the news of a crazed orc launching an invasion based solely on his physical prowess. Thinking about it, these warriors had run hundreds of kilometers because of a forest fire. They couldn't just sit around when some crazy orc was destroying the forest and had now demolished a village.

But even moving from the 66th floor to the 65th was hundreds of kilometers. If we conservatively estimated it at 500km per floor, going up to the 69th floor to stop the Orc Champion would mean traveling 2,000km.

No matter how sturdy the beast-kin were, no matter how powerful a superhuman body might be, that wasn't a distance to travel on foot. Considering they'd have to fight one of the Four Heavenly Kings after a forced march of thousands of kilometers, there was really only one answer.

"If we find those strange stone structures I asked about yesterday, we can move instantly."

Basically, we needed to bring in the wizard geezers to open gates.

※

Mages had arrived at the temporary base on the 65th floor.

"Hee, hee, ears, animal ears and pointed ears."

"If ears are positioned there, what happened to the skull?"

"Would there be differences between humans and beast-kin when using sensory magic?"

"My, such a mana-rich forest. And this is... an egg?"

"A sacred relic that enlightens orcs?! If I could just try it once..."

The Great Night Bird's sacred relic had given wisdom and caused one named orc to desert, but the other four sacred relics were the real problem.

I had no desire to engage in single combat with an Orc Champion armed with Zeus's lightning spear (plagiarism) and Athena's aegis (knockoff). It was an obvious setup—if the player didn't collect these items, the Orc Champion would wield them.

Even if his muscle-brain made him hand over the foam fang dagger and the lantern of unknown purpose to his subordinates, losing the lightning spear and shield gimmicks would clearly make the boss fight more difficult.

"I feel like we're doing something we shouldn't."

"Hahaha, ma-mages are full of the spirit of inquiry, after all."

That's why we had also pulled out the Magic Tower card as reinforcement.

The deep forest where forest fairies lived, a fantastical layer with magical creatures like the shadow fang tiger, starlight finch, and wraiths. Closed gates activated by the finch's starlight mana, and two different communicable non-human races—forest fairies and beast-kin.

It had been more tempting than drugs to the mages, causing quite a commotion. They had frantically ridden on the backs of high-rank mercenaries while we searched for gates with the help of wraiths and beast-kin. So even mages, when in a hurry, didn't use magic to travel but rather piggy-backed on superhumans.

These mages had essentially bought time with money by hiring aura-wielding superhumans as packhorses. Though it probably wasn't just money—they likely had connections through previous requests.

"Do humans ride each other like this?"

"Maybe they carry their elderly humans."

"Humans take better care of their own kind than I expected."

'That's not it...'

Mages panting for breath while riding on the backs of high-rank adventurers, gazing at the beast-kin. I could feel the beast-kin natives' image of humanity being utterly demolished.

I was a bit concerned that the Magic Tower lunatics would become the universal image of humanity, but the geezers who were already researching gate magic were continuing to dig deeper, so there was nothing I could do. This happened because magic was processed and presented in the form of academic papers.

Unless you were exceptionally thick-skinned and brazen, you wouldn't dare touch a research topic that caused elder mages to burn through their lives and remaining lifespans.

"Human child, we've found one for now, but... why did you bring those old men?"

"We need to keep the gates open for you to use too."

Anyway, the reason for calling the Magic Tower mages was simple. The reason we'd been wandering around alone like some bloodbath hunting clan monopolizing a hunting ground in an underground game was because of the gates. We needed to open the gates to receive support.

"Now, now, I understand why you're excited, but let's hear from the hero first? I understand the pursuit of knowledge, but we must maintain boundaries."

"Ahem, understood."

As I glanced sideways at Charlotte Cavendish bringing the mages under control when they were half-crazed over beast-kin, orcs, and sacred relics, a wolf beast-kin quietly approached me.

The one who seemed to be the survey team's leader—possibly the next chief of some village—was bringing the imprisoned orc under guard, approaching me cautiously. The way he looked around made it obvious he wanted to tell me something in private.

I grew curious about why he was coming with the orc, rather than just speaking to me as the survey team leader.

"Hey, I hear you can use something called the holy sword."

"Hehe, is that different from the hero?"

The survey team captain and the traitorous named monster discussing the holy sword—what was this about?

As I was thinking this, the orc stuck to my side like a nightclub tout approaching tourists, rubbing his palms together. Having no desire to share my personal space with a bulky orc instead of a pretty woman, I gave him a slight glare, which slowly made his mouth open.

"I know the Champion's weakness. The method to disable the ritual tool he carries—"

"I'm going to face him head-on without disabling anything."

"I can tell you ho—what?"

I already heard about that from another orc.

Enjoy the chappy!