## Chapter 179 – Dancing With an Orc
The orc’s corpse was split from shoulder to heart.
It was definitely an absurd wound.
Whether it was the influence of a distorted reality or not, I still felt like my mind was wavering. I thought the fact that this orc bastard was almost split in half was somewhat of an exaggeration.
But even after washing my eyes and looking again, the orc was in a horribly dead state, just as it appeared.
I didn’t even chop down with the blade, I just pushed it with force. It was physically impossible to create such a wound with that kind of attack.
“Holy shit? Did I cut it like this?”
It was unbelievable.
“Huh? Katt, didn’t you do it?”
“Yeah, I did, but… it seems like the wound is a bit exaggerated. I think there’s some exaggeration mixed in.”
“Exaggeration? Ah, you were just talking nonsense. It seems like you had a bit of a tough fight. Katt, rest for a bit and tell me when you’ve calmed down.”
Cloudy said that and examined the corpse.
Was it that after all?
The unknown power that soared during the fierce battle.
My guess was that it was the fierce and brutal ancient power that had existed since the Precambrian era, which was no different from the arena of Evolution Deathmatch… of course not. It didn’t seem like a human being pushed to the brink transcending their limits either.
Isn’t that too much of an exaggeration for that?
“But.”
But this much was clear.
The moment I overwhelmed the orc, I felt infinity.
I felt like I had reached the world of macho.
Am I a Heavenly Demon after all?
“Heavenly Demon Descent Steps.”
I took another step to test it.
Nothing happened.
“Heavenly Demon Splitting Sky Palm.”
I spread my palm and struck out strongly to perform the Heavenly Demon Splitting Sky Palm, the greatest palm technique of all time. —Whoosh! There was a sound of wind, but nothing happened.
“Sis, get the darkie back to his senses. I don’t think I can do it. Look at him. He’s not just muttering, he’s even doing crazy things now.”
“This is serious. Katt, come here and sit down?”
It seemed that the strange power that had soared had disappeared.
Well, my actions just now might have seemed bizarre. I explained that I just had something to test, but Cloudy just smiled and didn’t seem to believe me.
This sister’s kindness sometimes stabs me in the heart.
Smiling isn’t everything…
Anyway, I leaned against a tree and sat down.
The battle was over.
Cloudy got 1 kill.
Winia got 2 kills.
Copson and I achieved 1 kill and 1 assist.
I should rest a bit before collecting the loot. I was strangely lacking in strength. I felt dizzy for some reason… what was it? I’ve never been like this after using my strength before? My whole body was beyond lethargic, and I felt like I was about to lose my mind.
I opened the lid of my canteen and drank the water.
I could feel the cold water flowing down my throat and cooling my stomach. I was severely thirsty, probably because of the strenuous activity.
“Hoo…”
“That being said, you’re really amazing, you barbarian bastard. To cut down an orc in one go. You must have landed a very clean slash.”
Copson was also impressed by the orc’s corpse.
He seemed to just think that I had cut it like that, but he probably didn’t see me because he was busy with his own work.
It wasn’t a slash.
I just pushed it with force.
It was physically impossible.
The suspicion only deepened… Even if the orc was standing still, saying, ‘Please cut me, squeak,’ it would be impossible for me to split it all the way to the heart like that.
“Katt. Are you calm now?”
“Yeah… I think I’m okay now. I felt a little dizzy, but I think I’m fine now.”
I wasn’t really okay, but I said that. Cloudy held out her hand. Copson went to sort out the loot, and Winia was observing the orc’s corpse that I had killed.
I took her outstretched hand and went to the front of the corpse.
“Katt. Don’t you think this corpse is a little suspicious?”
“…Yeah. This is definitely suspicious. It transcends my strength. It’s impossible for me to break the shoulder bone and cut all the way to the heart like this with my strength alone.”
I explained to Cloudy and Winia about the strange feeling I had felt during the battle. Looking back, I always had a surge of crazy courage whenever I fought, probably because of the adrenaline.
I listed them all, and explained that this time the degree was especially severe. I added that the orc was split when my strength reached its peak.
“Hmph… yeah, yeah. So that’s what happened.”
Cloudy, who had been listening to the explanation, started to giggle.
She covered her mouth with her hand as if trying to hold back the laughter that was leaking out, and finally burst out laughing. “Heu, heuheuhut!” S, sis, what’s wrong. I was embarrassed because she suddenly started laughing. There’s nothing scarier than someone who suddenly laughs.
Cloudy, who had barely stopped laughing, came to me.
“Heu, heuheu… Certainly. Shall we check something for a moment?”
“W, what?”
Then she started groping my body. No, sis, not here? I don’t think this is right, even if… Contrary to expectations, Cloudy wasn’t trying to knock me down.
“Hmm? I don’t feel anything special…? But certainly…”
Cloudy, who suddenly had a troubled expression, stared at my face. What didn’t she feel? As she was doing that, Winia intervened between us.
“Sis, back off for a second.”
Winia, who had intruded, lifted my quilted armor and put her hand on my bare abdominal muscles, and started wiggling her fingers. My abs, which had become half chocolate-like, were very vulnerable to this hot and soft touch.
“Heuek!”
“Don’t make that disgusting noise. Stay still.”
Winia gave me a jab when I groaned.
“…I think I’m thinking something similar to what Sis is thinking right now, but… I don’t know. What is this? I felt it momentarily earlier, but now that I see it, it feels like I’m mistaken again, but when I see this corpse, it feels like it’s right.”
Winia said that and started sharing her opinion with Cloudy. Seeing them talking only to each other, leaving me, the person involved, made me feel happy that they had become close, but at the same time, I felt an unknown sense of alienation.
Whether they had combined their opinions or not, Winia said to me.
“Darkie, you know what mana is, right?”
“Yeah. Roughly.”
“Don’t lie. What does a darkie know?”
“Actually, I don’t know well.”
Why was she suddenly talking about mana?
Hmm?
—At that time, a realization swallowed my brain. Unknown power. Surging courage. And the collapse of the ancient Precambrian era and the Berlin Wall… the fluctuation of oil prices in the international market and the miserable cries of young children dying of starvation in the Third World! And the completion of the Tower of Babel!
The moment when the languages of mankind came together as one!
“Mana!”
Could it be that the source of that incomprehensible power was mana!!!
—Tremor.
Come to think of it, the pieces fit together. Karin explained that you could realize mana in a fierce battle! I had survived the life-or-death struggles themselves during the past days!
Indeed, indeed!
Did those battles give me mana!
It’s certain!
Whenever I was fighting for my life, I would awaken as a Heavenly Demon or become a Sword Saint or a Fist King! Now the questions about those things have been resolved! I was jumping around in joy!
“Mana!”
“I already knew you would do this. Calm down. Calm downcalmdowncalmdowncalmdowncalmdown.”
“Manaaaaaaaaat!!!!!”
This is Kim Katt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kim Katt class is daaaaaaaat—!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Ma—naaaaaaa!!!!!”
Mana!
“This fucking…”
What stopped my rampage was Winia’s staff, as always. “Kek!” Winia hooked my neck with the ring part of the staff and pulled me. Then she shook me around, waving me back and forth.
“Kek, kekkek! S, stop! Stop it! I’m gonna die!”
“Darkie, have you calmed down?”
“Ye, yes, so stop it now!!! I feel like I’m gonna die!”
“Are you yelling?”
“Aaaagh!”
“Kyahat! Kyahahahaha!”
Winia, who burst out laughing, played with her hands for a while and then released me. This fucking… As I was squatting down, groaning in pain and rubbing my neck, Cloudy bent down and matched my gaze.
“Did you suddenly have strength during the fight… Katt. Is this explanation certain?”
“Hmm? Uh, it’s certain. That’s exactly it.”
“Even if you suddenly had strength, it’s unnatural for you to have that much strength. Right?”
“…I guess so? It is unnatural.”
So it’s mana!
“Then what can be explained is mana after all.”
“Ye, yes! That’s what it was! Mana!!!”
What Cloudy said was in the top ten of the things a man wants to hear before he dies! This made it certain! Cloudy recognizes the existence of my mana! “Manaaaat!!!” An impulse that burst out. I screamed as that soul.
“Yeah. Katt. Yeah. Calm down. Yeah. Katt. Don’t move now. Let’s calm down? Because it’s not certain yet. I don’t feel anything like that from you right now.”
“What!!!!!!!”
In an instant, the excitement that had been burning like water poured on a candle disappeared.
“Haa… Don’t make such a disappointed expression. But there is a possibility. You may have detonated the mana generated during the battle to draw out your strength, or other factors may have acted in combination. Certainly, you killed this orc, Katt.”
“Th, that means…”
She doesn’t know if I have mana or not?
I organized my thoughts. First of all, I might have mana. The evidence for that was the orc’s corpse, which was miserably sliced. But Winia and Cloudy, who can be said to be experts in mana, are not feeling mana from me right now.
Is my mana too small?
I don’t know. Winia said that she ‘felt’ it earlier, so I might really have mana. Maybe I’m completely exhausted of mana right now.
Then?
If I had mana, wouldn’t Winia or Cloudy have noticed it a long time ago? My thoughts only deepened. In fact, I awakened mana when I fought the orc just now, and I used up everything that was created?
As a result, I sliced the orc and became discharged?
Then what about when I faced the dryad and Vulva, and the Kobold Guardian? At that time, although it was a little weaker, a power similar to this ‘mana’ soared.
Of course, it disappeared after the battle ended.
Maybe I ‘recovered’ and ‘consumed’ it.
“Hmm…”
I don’t know for sure.
Even though it was something that happened in my body, I couldn’t know it properly. Mana is such an unfamiliar concept to me. It’s natural to be confused because I don’t know anything and I can’t even confirm that I experienced it directly.
There are many possibilities, but what is certain is that I don’t know for now. But… still. The fact that the orc was split was not an exaggeration, but the truth.
Cloudy grabbed my shoulder, which was lost in thought.
“First of all… this is not something to find out here, let’s go back. Katt, I’m so excited right now that I don’t think I can stand it?”
Her face was reminiscent of a succubus in legends. Hmm, hmm… Well, I caught six orcs, and I think I got enough loot, so it’s okay to go back.
“Okay. I have to go back. I’m the most curious. Let’s just pack up the loot and get out of here quickly.”
I joined Copson, who was diligently rummaging through the orcs’ corpses. The diligent Copson had already taken off everything that could be taken off and sorted it out.
“Barbarian. Do you see?”
“Ooh…!”
The orc’s heads lined up side by side. And the loot was laid out on a mat made of the rags they were wearing.
“This will make a lot of money…!”
First of all, it’s a feathered hat. The hat, which looked like it was worn by an Indian chief, was soaked in blood, but it was decorated with something shiny, so it seemed valuable enough. There were various coins, weapons used by the bastards, and other shiny stones.
There were only four orc heads. One bastard became a Ghost Rider and ran away. It seemed like we just needed to find that and go back.
“Copson. Please sort it out. I have to go find the head of the bastard who ran away earlier.”
“Come to think of it, there was that guy.”
