"Hunt and eat," I murmured.
The moment those words left my lips, my eyes locked on to the orcs and goblins that continued to pour out from the Dungeon. Although the Heroes had arrived, none of them were at the level where they could deal with these Monsters easily.
The strongest person here was definitely the Beast Tamer, but he didn't seem to be making use of his tamed Monsters. Maybe he wanted to save them for the Boss Monster.
I looked down at my blood-stained sword.
'Envy… gluttony,' I thought.
In the past couple of seconds, I've come to realize that I possess both of those traits. I'm envious of others' power and I am gluttonous, not when it comes to food, but when it comes to my desire for that power. I want power… badly.
So, without another thought, I decided to give in to my gluttony.
Grasping my sword with both hands, I rushed towards a group of four goblins that were fighting a single Hero. It looked like the Hero was having a bit of trouble, but I just completely ignored him, only focusing on the goblins.
I was coming up behind them and once I got close enough, I tensed my arms. I swung my sword twice as fast as I could, beheading two of the goblins before they could even notice my presence.
It was only when the two goblins' heads and blood spilled onto the ground that the other two noticed me.
However, at that point, I was already preparing my next attack.
Quickly exhaling and inhaling, I curled my arms with my sword in hand.
I aimed for the third goblin's undefended waist. Then, I swung my sword like a baseball bat, twisting my waist to add more force to the attack.
"Urgh!" The goblin cried in pain and surprise as my sword tore through its stomach.
The goblin's entire upper body fell to the ground, detached from its legs. Its blood and innards spilled from the gaping opening.
As I turned towards the last goblin, I could see a flash of movement from the corner of my eye. My body was in a mode of complete focus.
Stepping forward, I dodged the spear that was aimed at my head. Then, letting go of my sword with my left hand, I lunged toward the last goblin, the one that had tried to attack me.
My right arm shot towards the goblin. In an instant, my sword impaled the goblin through its sternum.
My body moved on autopilot. I quickly retracted my sword and slammed my shoulder into the goblin, pushing it to the ground. Before it could do anything, I stabbed my sword into its throat.
"Hey!" the Hero yelled at me, "You just stole my kills!"
I ignored the Hero that I'd just helped. I took deep breaths, looking around for nearby Monsters. At this point, I realized that my magic energy had replenished quite a bit. There wasn't enough to use Instant Motion, but I had enough to use Leg Strengthening for a while.
I wasn't experienced enough with using Skills to be able to turn my Leg Strengthening Skill on and off quickly, so I wouldn't be able to make the most of my little magic energy.
I spotted a pair of Heroes, an archer and a tanker, struggling with two orcs. The tanker was using Taunt, a deep red aura surrounding his body. The archer was trying his best to help the tanker, but his arrows weren't able to pierce the orc's body.
"I need help!" The tanker screamed in a panic as the orcs attacked him from both sides.
Activating Leg Strengthening, I tensed my legs and jumped with all of my strength towards the orcs. With my sword held out in front of me, I was able to cover the distance in only a second or two.
My sword, which was previously moving at a high speed, pierced right through the tough skin of the orc. My blade went through one of the orc's necks, spraying blood all over the place.
The orc let out a strange gurgling sound before dying. At that, the remaining orc's attention was drawn towards me. It stomped towards me, raising its club and swinging it down.
Gritting my teeth, I was barely able to get my sword out of the dead orc's neck before narrowly parrying the strike.
At the last moment, I tilted my blade slightly, to try and not take the full force of the orc's club. The club hit my sword and slid off of it, but even so, I felt pain in my legs and shoulders from the impact.
The moment I tried to move, the pain in my legs flared up, but I still tried to move away from the orc before it could attack me again.
"Over here, you swine!" I heard the tanker yelled as the red aura glowed around him.
The orc who was trying to approach me halted and turned towards the tanker, an enraged expression on its ugly face.
Forgetting about me, the orcs charged towards the tanker.
Leg Strengthening was still activated, so once again, I used all my strength to stride and leap towards the orc. Pain flared in my legs as I jumped, but I tried my best to ignore it.
In the air, I raised my sword and aimed the edge of my blade at the side of the orc's neck. Once I got close enough, I swung my sword, hitting my target right where I was aiming.
My sword broke when I hit it. The broken pieces of my blade were lodged in a large gash that I'd made with my attack. Blood poured from the wound.
The orc gasped in pain, clutching its wound with its hand. However, that only made it worse as more blood flowed out. The orc wobbled on its feet, its face completely pale, before falling to the ground.
I bent down, placing my hands on my knees as I caught my breath.
"Er, your weapon…," the archer said from behind me.
"It's fine," I responded in between breaths.
I looked down at my destroyed sword. Then, my eyes fell upon the dead orc's greatsword.
If I were in the right state of mind, then I would never consider grabbing that sword. I wouldn't have even rampaged like I had. However, the only thing on my mind was killing Monsters right now.
I stretched my fingers before taking a deep breath and lifting the greatsword up and leaning it on my shoulder. The greatsword wasn't that heavy, but it would definitely be weird to use it in battle after years of only using a bastard sword.
My arms will probably get tired after swinging this thing a couple times.
"B-but isn't your Job swordsman?" the archer asked in confusion, "You shouldn't be able to use a heavy sword, right?"
"...," I paused a bit before responding, "Don't worry about it."
After that, I just moved away from the duo. I noticed Uma swinging his greatsword with the yellow aura of Strengthening around his body. He was fighting against three orcs at the same time.
I started going towards him to help. As I moved I noticed a fourth orc on the ground at Uma's feet, dead. That's when I realized that Uma was winning against the group of orcs.
Even though he wasn't having too much trouble, I still decided to help him out. As he was my best friend, it was my first instinct to help him.
I charged at one of the orcs. Holding my greatsword with both hands, once I got close enough to the orc, I took it off from my shoulder and swung it with all my might. Since the orc hadn't noticed me, I was able to successfully hit where I was aiming despite my sloppy movements with the big sword.
The large blade cut open a wound in the orc's side, right beneath where its arm was.
The orc roared in pain, clutching its wound as it turned around towards me with anger on its face.
Sparing not even a second, I swung my sword again, aiming for the orc's other side.
However, my attack was too slow and the orc was able to intercept it with the battle axe that it held.
"Marin?" I heard Uma say my name, "What are you-"
"Shut up and fight!" I yelled without even seeing Uma.
I glared at the orc in front of me.
Using a greatsword to fight was not the best idea considering that my Vitality was my second lowest Stat and Speed was my highest.
Even so, I kept fighting.
The orc pushed my sword away before raising its axe high in the air. It let out an angry cry before sending it down towards me in a vertical slash.
Pushing my aching arms to the limit, I positioned my sword to try and parry the strike with my left hand against the flat of the blade.
The moment the axe hit my sword, it felt like the weight of the world pushed down against me. Pain flared in my arms and legs as I tried to push back against the orc's axe.
However, I wasn't strong enough. The orc pushed me down to my knee.
Taking rough breaths, my wavering arms were stuck in a struggle against the orc.
Then, I took a deep breath and held it. I slowly tilted the blade of my sword, trying to resist the urge to just let my arms give out. Then, all of a sudden, with a bang, the orc's axe slid from my sword and collided with the ground, forming multiple cracks on the street.
Not missing a beat, I immediately stood up.
"Grahh!" I groaned as I tensed up my hurting arms once again.
I used my whole body in the strike.
With both hands on the handle of my sword, I twisted my waist and flicked my wrists , sending my blade into the orc's side with a horizontal slash.
My greatsword dug deep into the orc's body. It groaned in pain, but it was still able to raise its axe with one hand and prepare to attack me.
Seeing this, I quickly let go of the greatsword and dived into a roll, avoiding the battle axe's blade as it swung down into the ground.
Left unarmed, I stared down the orc as it unlodged the greatsword from its body. The sword clattered against the ground when the orc dropped it.
Blood was leaking from the wounds on its sides, but the orc had its eyes set on me.
Without my weapon, there wasn't much I could do against an orc. I didn't run away though. I stood a distance away from the orc, waiting.
It felt like I pulled multiple muscles in my body, but I forced myself to not just fall down.
Then, meeting my expectations, the orc was cut down from behind. Standing over the orc's dead body was Uma, who had already finished off the other two orcs.
"Hah," I sighed, letting go of my stance, "Thanks Uma."
"What are you doing fighting with a greatsword," Uma sighed exasperatedly.
"My old sword broke," I shrugged, "By the way, I'm surprised. You're handling the Monsters pretty well for a Hero."
"These orcs aren't too different from people," Uma looked at the corpses.
The two of us looked at each other for a bit. Uma stared into my eyes, seemingly studying me.
"I'm not going to ask you to leave," Uma sighed again, "I know you won't listen to me. Something must've happened, right? You seem different."
"...You could say that I'm more determined than ever," I smiled slightly.
"...I hope that's a good thing," Uma responded, "Just make sure your determination doesn't get you killed. Anyway, we should focus on fighting. We can talk later-"
"The Boss Monster is coming!" someone suddenly yelled.
Both Uma and I snapped our heads in the direction of the Dungeon Gate.
Standing with the goblin magicians surrounding it was an orc that was taller than all of the other orcs in the area. Letting out a roar, it held out its massive twin battle axes, preparing for battle.