Chapter 4 – Death Game (4)

“Take your weapons, kids.” Said the red-haired man while grabbing his axe softly. “Someone is coming.”

Holding her katana firmly, Yuuko thought about the things that happened after waking in this place.

Though she would have liked to take it as a bad dream, she didn’t have more option than accept it as reality. After all, dreams do not feel so real.

Being a woman of action, Yuuko immediately moved after calming her feelings. Firstly, she left the base where she woke up and tried to reunite information. There, she heard the conversation between the group of strangely dressed people, noticing many strange things.

First, strangely everybody was speaking in Japanese. Strange, because she only noticed a few people with Asian features from the moment when she woke up until now.

Second, the place was apparently dangerous. You only needed to see the strangely dressed people and the ruined buildings to know that this place was not peaceful.

Third, judging from the strangers’ conversation, they were here for some kind of mission.

Knowing that they had more information about the place, Yuuko was tempted to speak and volunteer herself when she was a man leaving with one of the strangers. But thinking about it, it was probably safer to stay here in the base. After all, there is safety in numbers. Besides, one of the strangely-dressed people was going to stay behind to guard the place. She could ask him.

If there was danger in this place, it was probably safer with more people.

Such naïve thought only lasted a few minutes.

Because when the axe-wielding man decided that it was not good for the people inside the base remain without doing anything, hell broke loose.

Do you want to know how to force a group to do your bidding? Easy, kill a few of them.

It was only at that moment that she understood the true terror of this place.

… She learned that numbers do not mean anything against certain monsters.

From then, the axe-wielding man’s words became the law of the base.

So, when he told them to choose a weapon, everybody chose one; and when he told them that they were going to fight against enemies, each one agreed fearfully.

Yuuko was waiting nervously for the enemy. Holding her katana, she tried to search comfort in the familiar weapon.

“He is there.” The red-haired man said. Raising her head, Yuuko tried to search for the enemy.

Then, she saw it.

A green monstrosity appeared in her sight.

The creature, of two meters of height, was of humanoid appearance with green skin and a body filled with muscles. Over its body, a black armor shined with an ominous glow; and its hand was holding a gigantic axe.

If there is a word to describe the creature, it was probably ‘Orc’.

The orc was standing fifty meters away from the base, looking to them with a sinister grin. Then, opening its mouth, it spoke.

“Make it fun.” Its strong voice resounded.

Then, it disappeared.

When Yuuko saw it again, it was lowering its axe towards the red-haired man.

She was unable to react at all, but the red-haired man did. With a cry, his entire body glowed red and his arm received the axe's blow. At the same time, his other hand brandished his own axe towards the orc’s body.

Immediately, a fight beyond the limits of human’s reaction unfolded before Yuuko’s eyes.

The strength of the blows resounded through the place, and the shockwaves of their attacks obliterated the surroundings. The ones closest to them ended like nothing more than blood staining the ground, and the others a bit farther were grievously injured. Even Yuuka, twenty meters far from the epicenter, ended flying for close to five meters before finally landing heavily.

However, their nightmare was just beginning.

The two monsters didn't care about their lives. Instead, they concentrated on their fight, moving insanely fast from a place to another while trying to overpower their enemy.

With each step they took, a human died. Yuuko could only look while her fellow humans were being massacred unjustly. They were completely unable to participate in something at this level.

But at that moment, she heard the red-haired man speak.

“Shot!” He shouted. “Use the crossbows and don’t care about me!”

It was then that Yuuko remembered about the crossbows.

There were ten crossbows between the weapons they could choose, but Yuuko doesn’t choose any of them. She remembered that most of them were chosen for some women.

But, how can someone shoot a weapon accurately without any experience?

When the man shouted, most of the women were unable to shoot, too terrified to hear the man words. And the few that shot, did it without any accuracy. One even shot dead a man beside her.

“Hahahaha! What useless babies!” The orc laughed.

“Useless fools!” The red-haired man shouted enraged after seeing it.

Holding her katana, Yuuko used it to stand from the place she fell while looking to the fight with an astonished expression. The fight, overthrowing all her knowledge about individual power, left her without breath.

But after looking for a few seconds, she finally noticed something.

The red-haired man... was definitively losing.

Though she could not capture most of their movements, her experience as a swordwoman allowed her to notice that the red-haired man was losing ground constantly.

No! It cannot continue! If the red-haired man dies, we will die too!

The only thing separating them from death was the red-haired resistance.

The orc continued attacking with its axe; using it savagely to strike the red-haired man. Yuuka could see him struggling to endure the barrage of attacks.

At that instant, a strange calm took over her.

Holding her sword in her hands, she looked towards the place where the fight was occurring and concentrated her vision.

She could feel it. She could feel that her sword could reach the enemy.

It was a strange certainty, but she knew it was true. It was something hard to explain.

Then, at the instant when the orc was about to end the fight, she moved.

It was definitively the fastest she moved in her life. She could feel the wind impulse her movements.

Then, swinging her sword, she attacked.

“Haaaaaaaa!!”

Putting all her strength in that attack, she cut towards the orc's abdomen.

... But when the sword touched its abdomen, it broke.

Then, she felt the monster arm throwing her body far away.

Blood flowed through her mouth, and her bones broke in many places. She could feel something inside her body trying futilely mend her wounds.

An intense feeling of pain filled her mind, stronger than anything she felt before.

Holding on the last remains of her consciousness, she looked towards the place where the two monsters were fighting.

The last thing she saw, was a pillar of light piercing the orc.