I Became a 6★ Gacha Character
Chapter 577: Orc Run 2

Experts have a certain intuition.

Skilled chefs can measure ingredients down to the gram using just their fingertips and cut food to the same thickness with their eyes closed. Not just chefs—professionals in any craft develop this kind of sharp intuition.

In that sense, it was only natural that mages, the ultimate combination of researchers and craftsmen, would have an abnormally sharp intuition about the Tower's ecosystem.

"If you don't want to get caught up in this, head for the village!"

"Whoa, beneath our feet!"

"No, why is it already—gaahhhh!!!"

With Han Se-ah tucked under my arm as she wailed in despair, I stomped on the trees growing beneath our feet and launched myself forward. Glancing back, I saw Grace and Katie also moving quickly with Irene in tow, hopping across the growing trees like stepping stones.

The reason people didn't clear trees in the forest layers or dig in the cave layers was because of the Tower's regeneration.

The terrain would forcibly restore itself regardless of whether people were there or not. If you cut down trees to build a village, trees would emerge from below and push everything away. If you dug tunnels, you'd be buried alive even if people were inside—making construction within the Tower a risky proposition.

"Isn't there a path nearby?"

"The Great Night Bird tribe must not have made roads! Let's get to the village!"

Once something entered the Tower, its original state was recorded like a specimen. The paths around villages probably wouldn't be overgrown with trees.

This was true for both the World Tree tribe with their roads built in the treetops and the Stone Hoof tribe who had uprooted trees to create packed dirt roads. But the Great Night Bird tribe, with their concept of being an assassin's hideout, apparently hadn't bothered making roads.

As a result, we had to stomp on rapidly growing trees as we ran. When they grew too tall, we had to stop and drop down like we were falling.

"Uh, urgh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Did you bite your tongue?"

While Katie and Grace landed gracefully by stepping lightly on branches, I was wearing heavy armor and had Han Se-ah tucked under my arm. After pumping mana into my lower body, I landed heavily, feeling the impact shoot through my ankles and knees with a crack.

The sound must have been rather alarming, as Han Se-ah, despite dangling from my side, showed concern for my knees. Unlike Grace or Katie, she seemed unfamiliar with superhuman physical abilities and often showed this kind of worry.

Of course, I wasn't so twisted in personality that I'd be annoyed by her concern. I just smiled reassuringly while worrying about her tongue. With her professional broadcaster's mindset of never leaving dead air, she was trying to speak even while dangling like baggage.

"Ne-never mind me, the clues...!"

"...Well, nothing we can do now. We'll just have to find a way to locate or lure him."

Was it her gamer's competitive spirit that drove her, beyond her professional commitment to maintaining broadcast audio?

Even after nearly being launched by a tree, being grabbed by the waist and swung around in all directions, landing like she'd been pile-driven into the ground, and biting her tongue in the process, Han Se-ah was still desperately trying to grab the growing trees. Of course, her small hands could hardly stop the primeval forest that now towered over ten meters high.

The massive trees had already completely filled in around the ruins, mercilessly blocking her view.

"The village has returned to normal too. Our tent is draped over that hut over there."

"So this is what it originally looked like."

Beast-kin villages were no exception to the Tower's restoration. As we pushed through the rapidly growing trees into the village, fences shot up from beneath the ground.

You might see trees growing in nature documentaries, with time-lapse footage showing seedlings sprouting. But who in their lifetime would see huts and palisades sprouting from beneath piles of ash? The beast-kin and mages huddled together in the village clearing, eyes wide as they observed the phenomenon.

Those mage bastards... I'd wondered where they'd gone. Realizing the layer would restore itself soon, they'd rushed out without a word to secure research materials. Now they were leisurely observing the surroundings in a clearing where there had been no structures moments before.

'Han Se-ah and all these mages are so annoying sometimes.'

I almost felt a surge of hatred for those scroll-crafters and staff-wielders, but I held back since their selfish actions had actually helped us preserve clues we might have otherwise lost.

Of course, having clues didn't necessarily mean we could track the Orc Champion perfectly.

Couldn't he change direction whenever he wanted? All we could hope was that he'd continued moving forward stupidly in a straight line, making it possible for us to catch up to him if we pursued.

"...Well, we know the direction now, so let's rest today and move at full speed tomorrow."

"If the Great Night Bird village wasn't conquered in just half a day, there should still be traces left a short distance away."

※

We spent the night in the Great Night Bird village that had been restored after being reduced to ruins, alongside the beast-kin and mages.

Though warriors from all four villages had gathered, they were fewer than the population of a single village, so we had plenty of room. The predators must have all fled following the Orc Champion's rampage, as no incidents occurred during the night. We even left sentry duty to the beast-kin warriors and had an uneventful night.

Now we needed to part ways with the mages.

"From today, we'll be running at full speed to find any remaining traces."

"Then we should look for a gate and return to the Thunder Bird village."

The mages' physical abilities were already lacking, which was why they'd been hanging like baggage using telekinesis. With their research equipment and all the samples collected yesterday, they couldn't possibly keep up with superhuman runners moving at full speed.

The beast-kin, with their innate physical abilities and being selected warriors, could manage a forced march, but the mages couldn't.

So the mages would head back down with the few adventurers who had escorted and carried them, while we would move in the direction where traces remained, with Grace and the World Tree tribe in the lead.

Even though the Tower repaired itself, not all traces of destruction would be restored at once. If the battle with the Great Night Bird tribe had been prolonged, and the Orc Champion had recovered corpses here, rested, and moved on, there would be a gap of a few days.

Thanks to that gap, if we could find remaining traces, we could pursue him. If not... well, we'd be screwed.

'What if we set small fires as beacons? Would he see them and come?'

Fundamentally, the Orc Champion was a powerful enemy who had annihilated the Great Night Bird village. He wasn't someone the beast-kin warriors could challenge recklessly.

So our hero party would take the main direction, while the remaining beast-kin and the Secret Terror would slightly adjust their heading to scout the areas around our advance. Without survivors from the Great Night Bird tribe to provide testimony, we had no choice but to proceed cautiously.

As I naturally moved toward Irene, Katie swiftly picked her up before I could. Wondering if she and Grace had conspired again, I glanced back to see Grace's eyes widening in surprise.

"Huh, this works?"

-Inefficient for someone who isn't a cleric

"Oh my! The Crystal Shield is accepting it."

While I was practicing controlling lightning after receiving the Lightning Spearhead, it seemed Katie had accepted the Foam Fang and begun controlling it with her ancestor's guidance. True to its name, her aura bubbled with ice properties.

Could she not only control it herself but temporarily grant ice properties to allies? Even if it was extremely inefficient in terms of mana consumption, as the ancestor serving as the Goddess's speaker said, it was better than nothing.

The Crystal Shield with its holy protection and physical enhancement buff,

The Foam Fang helping ice aura spread,

And the Lightning Spearhead converting mana and impact into explosive lightning.

"Wow, so the elements are all set? Irene mama is rock and fairy, Katie is water and ice, Roland sensei is steel and lightning. What am I talking about? If you don't understand this, why are you even watching a gaming stream?"

-The Goddess Church is fairy-type lol Aren't you forcing these connections a bit too much? lol

-Even filtering out the Pokemon references, the elemental matchups are spot on. Irene mama with light and earth attributes sounds fertile, maternal, plump and bouncy, I agree

-Who was supposed to use the Foam Fang assassin's dagger? Is it being used for debuff and mini-enhancement? The additional freezing stack is insane lol

-Is this really the time for such stupid jokes? If we can't find the Orc Champion, aren't we looking at six months of wandering in circles?

-Honestly, I'd love to see Han Se-ah not meeting the Orc Champion and becoming miserable while wandering through the forest lol

I wasn't sure if Katie had planned this or if she genuinely wanted to enhance the barrier with ice aura. Either way, she had naturally picked up Irene, leaving only Han Se-ah, who was still ranting to her viewers.

"Is this Pokemon or Digimon?!"

"Let's go now."

At this rate, she looked ready to play some nostalgic classic game instead of Heroes Chronicle, so I picked her up without asking permission.

Part of me wanted to tuck her under my arm as we ran, but since we'd be running all day, that would probably wreck my joints.

Enjoy the chappy!

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