"BUU-HIIIIIII…! FGH…!"
*CRUNCH* *SPLAT* *SQUELCH*
"!?!?!?"
"!?!?!"
The ground suddenly trembled, and the earth rampart exploded into a cloud of dust and debris while the horrified squeals of Boarkin Orc Warchief and his Battle-Scar Blood Boarkin Orcs being tossed into the air and crushed into the wall of the cliff followed right after.
"BU-GAGH!"
"Urgh…!!"
The shockwave alone, even though weakened by the rampart in the first place, tossed the hooded individual and the black-haired girl around like ragdolls, slamming them at the same wall…
The girl was lucky—her burly ally cushioned the impact for her but for him…, the difference in the sounds they made was rather apparent.
Both of them were too disoriented to realize, but even before they properly hit the wall, all Boarkin Orcs crushed into it, splattering against it like mosquitoes drunk on blood.
With the same effect, too.
"?!?"
"!!!"
The second after they cried out, the girl and her ally were showered in the crimson rain of gore mixed with earth, stones, dust, and chunks of trashed equipment.
And then, as if a follow-up, they were pressed against the wall by a gust of wind that cleared the air and stifled the reigniting flames of the forest fire.
Speaking of fire, both attacks didn't seem to damage the flaming head in the slightest, although they did succeed in taking out its flames - momentarily turning it into just a levitating head.
"Ross! Why do you try to ruin my mood? I had some quality time with Zane, and I don't want it all to get soured by you getting killed or poached! You promised me you would pick herbs in your favorite spot! What are you doing three miles away?!"
The next situation seemed like a dream because a gold-eyed girl with slicked-back golden hair walked out from a crater and began to complain in a voice that showed more worry than anger or annoyance—albeit only slightly.
The gold-haired girl wore a spotless white shirt with two frilly stripes running parallel to the button line. She also wore back pants from a male school uniform and black loafers with what appeared to be white socks.
She walked with confidence and a seemingly complete lack of situational awareness, approaching the hooded individual still protectively hugging the black-haired girl—currently still covered in stone armor—while completely ignoring the giant floating head-skull that turned around and focused on her.
*whoo*
The monster's crimson fire reignited, engulfing it in a mane-like fashion and restoring its fiery mustache and beard.
*WHOOOOOO*
Fully focused on the girl, the flaming head opened its jaws - unable to produce any voice on its own but using the howl of its fire as a replacement for a roar - and launched itself at the defenseless gold-haired girl, clearly intending to bite her in half.
"Screw off! I'm talking here!"
The gold-haired girl spared the rapidly approaching monster a single glance before snapping her hand at it as if it were an annoying fly and…
*SNAP* *SHING*
"!!!"
The shockwave that her fingertips created sliced the flaming head in half, separating its upper and lower jaw from the rest of its skull.
*tsssss*
The crimson fire went out again, for good this time, and the creature's jaws dug into the ground a foot or two before the girl, while the part starting with cheekbones and above flew over the gold-haired girl and crashed into a tree, breaking it in half before falling to the ground and rolling to the side with its empty eyesockets vacantly staring into the sky.
"Hmm… Boarkin Orcs having a pet Fire Skull Champion… I guess there's a first time for everything, eh?"
Only after dispatching it with no effort at all did the gold-haired girl furrow her brows and pay more attention to both halves of the dead creature.
"Damn, this thing gets hot! How much HP did this thing have?"
She added that she put her hand under her shirt's collar as if something she wore underneath caused her some discomfort.
"Nhaah, it doesn't matter. Ross, do you have enough mana to heal yourself? Or do you want me to heal you?"
The girl scoffed, turning back to the hooded individual and asking.
"My lady… I… bhh… I cannot hear you…"
The hooded individual, apparently called Ross, gulped down his saliva and grunted, raising his left hand and pointing at the area near the top of his hood.
As if to further showcase his answer, a drop of blood slid down alongside his jawline and dropped on the ground.
"...crap… Your eardrums burst, didn't they…? And we're out of combat… wait a moment."
The gold-haired girl groaned to herself, biting her lip before reaching her hand with only her index finger pointing up.
"I'll be right back."
She added while squinting her eyes. She looked around, frowning until she picked a direction seemingly random and left.
"Wh… wh-what happened…? Aa-and why everything i-is so q-quiet?"
The remains of the stone armor of the black-haired girl crumbled down, and she weakly straightened her back while looking around in disorientation.
She was bleeding from her ears just like her hooded ally, so the verbal communication between the two of them was out of the question.
"..."
Ross raised his left hand and pointed at where his ear was and then reached out towards the black-haired girl, gently touching the side of her jaw, moving his hand back and showing her the fresh blood - completely accidentally giving the answer to her question.
"...? Ohh…"
The girl furrowed her brows, staring at the blood before reaching out to her ears and letting out a gasp of understanding at the sensation of warm liquid on her fingers.
"...haaa…"
She breathed out, blushing a little bit before prudently sliding off her savior to his right and sitting down with her back against the cliffside.
"...eh…?"
The girl looked around, blinking in confusion at the sight of the dusty gore dripping down from the wall, and her eyes widened even more when she spotted half of the bisected monstrous head.
"..."
"...?"
The black-haired girl shook her head and leaned towards Ross, tugging on his loose sleeve until he turned to her.
"A-are we… safe…?"
Fairly certain that she had his eyes on her, the black-haired girl asked and looked around with a worried expression.
"Yeah. All good."
Ross nodded affirmatively in response and reached out to pat the girl's shoulder…
"...!? Oh, d-dear Perseverance! Y-your arm!"
But as she breathed out in relief, she noticed that the sleeve she was tugging on was actually a bit too loose. This led her to discover that Ross's right arm was missing the hand and most of the forearm. The shield—which had already lost the stone enchantment—was attached to the short stump just below his elbow for greater mobility.
"No, no. Look…. old wound."
Seeing her panic like that, Ross shook his head and rolled up the sleeve, showing off the stump all healed up, with a few additional burn marks on his pinkish skin.
"...s-sorry for that…"
The black-haired girl understood her mistake and lowered her head to hide the embarrassed blush.
And then…
*WHAM*
"!!!"
"...!"
They both flinched and even jumped up a bit when the body of a muscular deer-like animal the size of a luxurious carriage dropped right in front of them.
The black-haired girl didn't even realize it at first, but her initial reaction was to cling to Ross's side.
"Wh-what…? EH!?"
The black-haired girl gasped and then let out a shocked voice when the deer-like monster spasmed, revealing that one of its antlers was missing together with a big portion of its cranium, exposing its brain.
"... my lady…!"
"BHEGHBGHEE…!"
Ross gasped, looking to his left where the gold-haired girl was standing with one bloody antler in her hand as the monster let out a horrible growl while foaming from its mouth riddled with sharp teeth that definitely didn't belong to a herbivore.
"Seriously, whether it will be suspicious or not, from now on, I am keeping you in my party, you know? Now attack it and heal up before it can… eh…? Is there someone with you…?"
The gold-haired girl rolled her eyes before suddenly furrowing her brows and leaning to the side to look over the hooded individual's body to see where the black-haired girl was.
Similarly, the black-haired girl decided to lean out to check who the hooded individual was talking to…
"Eh…?"
"M-Melinda…?!"
As their eyes met, the gold-haired girl flinched, and the black-haired girl gasped in shock.
"Cath?! What in the world are YOU doing here?! You didn't go home for the winter break?!"
Melinda called out in shock and hurriedly tossed the bloody antler to the side as if she thought getting rid of the evidence at this point would change anything.
"Eh? S-sorry, I can't h-hear y… eh…?!"
"BUEBGHHH!"
The black-haired girl tilted her head in confusion, moving her hand to point at her bleeding ears, but then let out a little gasp when Ross picked up his mace from the rubble and gore and put it in her hand, going as far as to help her bring it down at the spazming monster's back, causing it to growl.
"Enhanced heal."
"UIIEEEGHHH!"
With that done, the hooded individual let go of Carherine's hand, moved his foot to kick the same spot, and got a much louder reaction and spasm out of the deer-like monster. Then, he reached into his pouch, took out a handful of leaves, and tossed them in the air while chanting the incantation.
The next moment, the leaves swirled around him and the black-haired girl in a twister of green light.