This was incredibly bad.
Not only that, but they were sighted not too far from here.
Near the place that we had fought the hobgoblins.
When I concentrated my consciousness in that direction, I did get a ‘bad feeling’ from it.
It was a similar feeling to the one I got when I was going to the shopping mall from the convenient store.
It seemed that Ichinose’s information was true.
I needed to thank her for it.
I’ll send her a thank you message.
It only took a few seconds for her to reply to it.
As I said, it’s way too fast!
I mean, Ichinose, if you have time to be replying to messages, you should hurry up and get out of there.
“Hmm :”
This really wasn’t good.
It seemed that there were more and more monsters in this area all of a sudden.
And I needed to be extra careful with the pack of shadow wolves and the pack of orcs.
The existence of these two packs was really restricting my movements.
I would have to make a huge detour from my original route.
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
It would take more time, but safety was important.
Mmm? Wait a second.
Wasn’t the home center also close to that area?
I wonder if Nishino and the others are alright?
Well, I had a feeling that they would make it out just fine.
Now, which route should I take
At the same time, at the home center–.
Now that Shibata had returned, Nishino asked him about what had happened.
The returned Shibata was haggard and on the verge of panic.
His wounds were quickly treated, and now that he was calming down, Nishino decided to question him.
Shibata told him in a trembling voice.
They had decided to search farther out and headed for the shopping mall.
And then they had encountered an orc with unbelievable strength.
Everyone but Shibata had died there.
He told him everything without hiding anything.
“I see ”
After hearing this story, Nishino looked up at the ceiling and mumbled.
“I understand. I’m glad that you were able to get away, Shibata ”
He put a hand on Shibata’s tired shoulder.
“ Nishino. I’m a terrible person. I abandoned my friends, and fled by myself damn it! Damn it!”
Shibata clenched his fists with anger and remorse.
He didn’t know where to direct these feelings.
He was usually short tempered and ill-bred, but his feelings of camaraderie were real.
“Yes, I know. But Shibata, we wouldn’t have received this information if you had died. You did well. There is no need to feel ashamed.”
Shibata looked away upon hearing this.
“You don’t believe me? Then let me put it this way. If you feel even a little bad about their deaths, then you should try to live as long as possible. If not, then for what purpose did they die? For what purpose did you abandon them? If you want to find meaning for your actions, if you want to repay them for what happened, then you must continue to fight and live Got that?”
“ Yes.”
He couldn’t argue against Nishino. And so Shibata only nodded.
He wasn’t satisfied with it, but there was nothing else that could be done.
( If he really isn’t able to recover from this, well, I’ll deal with it when the time comes)
Nishino thought, but didn’t allow it to show on his face.
“So, Nisshi. What are we going to do now?”
Rikka, the female high school student saw that they were finished, and raised her voice.
Nishino had to chuckle at her lack of nervousness even at a time like this.
“ Yes. With such a strong monster approaching us, we will have no choice but to relocate.”
“Relocate?”
“The school, or maybe the city office. Both places are quite far from here, but they should have better facilities than here. There will probably be more refugees as well.”
“Will they welcome us there? They probably don’t have room for any more people either.”
“We’ll have to negotiate. In any case, let’s figure out a route so we can leave as soon as we are finished packing.”
Nishino spread out a map.
A route that they could follow with their numbers.
And it had to be a safe one. This would not be easy.
He looked hard at the map as he thought about what they would have to do-then it happened.
“OOoo!”
The cry of a monster boomed in the air.
It was so strong that the entire building seemed to shake.
“Ambush! AMBUUSH!”
“Monsters! The orc pack is here!”
The shouts came from the entrance.
“ It seems like they arrived a lot faster than we’d thought.”
“ Looks like it.”
The two of them picked up their weapons and headed for the entrance.
CH 49
49. Encounter
At the home center–.
By the time Nishino and Rikka reached the entrance, the situation was already bad.
The students and refugees could do nothing but try and defend themselves against the orcs.
“You guys, are you okay!?”
“Ni-nishino!”
“They’re too strong! I, I don’t think I can hold them any longer!”
“What should we do?”
“Damn! I don’t want to die heere!”
“Stay back! You monsters! You! Moonsteers!”
While they were relieved to see the two arrive, they barely had any time to reply.
(This was very bad )
From what he could see now, there were over 10 orcs here.
And each one seemed very strong.
Much stronger than the goblins and lesser wolves they had fought yesterday.
(It’s one thing for my fellow classmates to fight them, but these refugees are clearly outmatched Damn it. They have barely even leveled up.)
In fact, several of the refugees had already thrown down their weapons and returned to the back of the home center.
They seemed very defeated after experiencing the battle yesterday.
“Damn it useless bastards. They complained so much when they weren’t fighting, but now they were fine with being useless.”
It was now clear that those who ran back should not be counted as part of their fighting force.
But this situation was not something that they could deal with, with such few numbers.
And more than anything, he was wary of the bronze-colored orc in the back.
( That was one obviously on a different level than the others. Was that the one that Shibata was talking about ?)
Even now, the bronze orc showed no signs of moving. He was only looking at them from afar.
Nishino felt sweat drip from his forehead.
This was not good. His instincts told him that everything would be over the moment that that orc moved.
“ Rikka.”
“Yeah?”
Nishino addressed Rikka, who stood next to him with her billhook.
“Do you think you could fight that bronze orc over there?”
Rikka answered him lazily and inspected the orc.
A few seconds passed.
Then she sighed.
“ Sorry, Nisshi. Not that one. I’ll die.”
She lacked any sense of nervousness as usual.
Still, more than anything, her reply showed the difference in power between them and the enemy.
“Even if you use ‘Berzerk’ to its limits?”
“Yeah, it’s a nope. I can’t do it.”
If Rikka was so sure of her defeat, then there was no possibility of them winning.
In that case, there was only one thing to be done.
Nishino decided and then shouted.
“All of you! Plan number 4! We’ll survive no matter what!”
“Huh!?”
“Really? 4 ?”
“Is he serious ”
“Hey, hey! Wait for a second, I didn’t hear about any plan 4?”
“Neither have I! What plan is that?”
“Does he have some trump card?”
The opinions of those who heard him divided cleanly into two.
In other words, the students and refugees.