I Became a 6★ Gacha Character
Chapter 578: Orc Run 3

We ran through dense forest without a single path in sight. Even the Wave Serpent tribe of reptilians had created hidden trails, but the Great Night Bird village didn't have even that—we could only follow the general direction.

Fortunately, Han Se-ah had been clever enough to record our heading. During the rapid forest regrowth, she'd deployed her camera drone and used the minimap function to mark which way we needed to go.

She truly showed talent in the strangest situations.

"Is this the right way?"

"Yes! Straight ahead!"

Having quickly marked our path on the minimap, Han Se-ah naturally pulled her staff from her inventory and rested it on her shoulder. This time, since we'd need to run for quite a while, I hadn't tucked her under my arm or placed her on my shoulder, and she seemed absolutely thrilled about it.

Perhaps being held in my arms made her feel like she was on an amusement ride. After all, running by yourself and being carried by someone else would feel completely different. She was a mage with underwhelming physical abilities, after all.

She swung her staff casually within my arms, wearing an expression of pure excitement as if riding a roller coaster. Predictably, the viewers had plenty to say about this.

"Wow, so instead of dangling or being carried on your back, getting properly held in your arms feels this good? Have I been getting discriminatory treatment compared to Irene mama this whole time? Come to think of it, being held like this is sweeter than I expected, Roland."

-Mom why am I not Han Se-ah? Mom why am I not Han Se-ah? Mom why am I not Han Se-ah? Mom why am I not Han Se-ah? Mom why am I not Han Se-ah? Mom why am I not Han Se-ah? Mom why am I not Han Se-ah?

-Look at her trying to rile everyone up lol Is she trying to trigger all those gay gay gay fanboys?

-When I grow up I want to be Han Se-ah When I grow up I want to be Han Se-ah When I grow up I want to be Han Se-ah When I grow up I want to be Han Se-ah When I grow up I want to be Han Se-ah

-The ride quality must be amazing lol World's only owner of a natural 6★ mount, Han Se-ah class lolololol

-Seeing how happy she looks, I kind of want to hold her upside down like baggage and shake her up and down

I'd put my shield and warhammer into my inventory and was carrying her gently with both hands, like you might hold a cat or a baby. Thanks to this arrangement, Han Se-ah could openly display her minimap and use her staff to point directions while Grace darted around us, nimbly climbing trees to scout the surroundings.

With no paths to follow, Katie and I had to move more slowly through the trees, while the fast and agile Grace bounded through the treetops with such grace she seemed more like a fairy than an archer.

As we naturally formed a triangular formation due to our different speeds, someone came running up beside me.

"Human warrior!"

"What is it?"

"We're heading west from here, and the World Tree tribe is going east! The rest will figure things out themselves!"

As we happened to be heading directly south, the bull beast-kin from the Stone Hoof tribe delivered this message and darted away without waiting for a response. I could hear the forest being destroyed with cracking sounds as he plowed through without bothering to avoid trees.

...Wouldn't that be more troublesome considering the debris?

Anyway, the Stone Hoof tribe began advancing brutishly while the World Tree tribe quietly climbed into the trees—a stark contrast. Watching them spread out widely to the left and right was incredibly reassuring. How wonderful to have a hundred high-ranking warriors searching on our behalf.

Han Se-ah wore an expression of absolute confidence as she slightly adjusted her camera, capturing the beast-kin dispersing to either side rather than Grace leading the way.

"Do we keep going straight?!"

"That's right! Just keep going!"

After briefly slowing down to watch this, Grace skillfully dropped down beside me. As she landed lightly and naturally began weaving through the trees with us, Han Se-ah waved her staff to indicate the direction.

Seeing Han Se-ah so comfortably leaning back in my arms as if she were in a luxury car seat made me feel both proud and tempted to give her a light smack on the head.

We continued our forced march, simply moving forward with Han Se-ah occasionally correcting our course using her minimap when we had to deviate to avoid trees.

To minimize rest time for fear of losing the Orc Champion's traces, we didn't even set up tents, just took brief 1-2 hour breaks while continuing to press forward.

"I see it! Roland! The traces of those creatures!"

"Great, so he really just charged straight ahead!"

All that effort finally paid off.

On the third day of our forced march, we discovered traces of the Orc Champion.

The tracks appeared to have stopped regenerating midway, creating an unnatural break. Signs of destruction ran in a straight line through the middle of an otherwise pristine forest.

His stubbornness must be extraordinary, as he'd simply plowed straight ahead. No wonder the beast-kin warriors and Secret Terror who'd gone east and west hadn't found anything. At this distance, you'd normally explore the surrounding area if you found nothing, but he hadn't—he'd just kept going straight.

"Are these guys just running forward from the village without looking around at all...?"

"There's not even a trace of scouting. They're just moving forward."

Advance, then rest.

While Han Se-ah, bewildered by the Orc Champion's stubborn single-mindedness in repeating only these two actions, chattered with her viewers, some beast-kin who had caught up to us stopped and pulled out some objects after discovering the tracks.

Like mages using crystal balls for communication, they manipulated long cylindrical objects that flashed and glowed—perhaps tribal communication tools. If crystal balls were like video calls, these seemed more like pagers.

"What should we do now? Continue the pursuit?"

"Let's follow slowly while taking breaks. We'll have to face other orcs besides the Orc Champion, so we might as well wait for the beast-kin to regroup."

※

The cylindrical device the Wave Serpent tribe had been handling apparently included some sort of tracking function, as the scattered beast-kin warriors began gathering just a day after the signal was sent.

Reforming into a group of over a hundred, we followed the tracks for a full day. Our three-day non-stop pursuit had been effective—we caught up to the Orc Champion sooner than expected.

After following the devastated forest for a day, we spotted dust clouds rising in the distance.

"That's definitely them. They're so stubborn—I checked the minimap and there's nothing in this direction! It's not toward any village and there weren't any gates either. They're just mindlessly charging forward."

-If we hadn't started the forced march on the first day, how would we ever have found them? lol

-Is Han Se-ah freeloading again? This looks like something that should require cooperation between beast-kin and mages, but she's just bulldozing her way through

-For real lol It seems like the mages and beast-kin shamans should be working together to create or upgrade something

-Wait, before that lol where did the baby jewel dragon and 65th floor mid-boss go? lololololol

-True, if the mid-boss was neutral like the Secret Terror or vegan tiger, we should have negotiated to recruit it for fighting the orcs

Most viewers, while wanting Han Se-ah to progress smoothly, paradoxically also wanted to see her suffer, resulting in a flood of disappointed comments.

Meanwhile, Han Se-ah, comfortably transported in my arms, was grinning at the thought of defeating the boss. No matter how hard the viewers tried to scratch at her, they couldn't make a dent in her steel mentality as she controlled her camera and leaned toward me.

"Roland, what's your plan?"

"I'm curious about how strong his subordinates are."

"True, even if we handle the boss, the beast-kin warriors could be in danger."

-"We"? lol Acting like she's part of it when she's just going to let Roland handle the boss lololol

-Wow, this is world-class shamelessness. People need this level of audacity to succeed

-She's right though. Even if they defeat the boss, if all the beast-kin die, it could ruin the game

-We started trading with stone dwarves and harpies, so we should keep the beast-kin alive too—they might help against the Demon Lord

-They're clearly a shaman race. This is definitely a stack-building game, right? Just like choice-based games, saving all these different races probably leads to the true ending

Just as the viewers predicted, she began discussing how the beast-kin shouldn't be annihilated.

The beast-kin champion warriors who had gathered around also listened attentively. The hot-tempered bull from the Stone Hoof tribe was fuming at being ignored, but facts were facts. We didn't know how injured the Orc Champion might be or how hard he'd fought, but the complete annihilation of the Great Night Bird tribe was undeniable.

I was confident I could defeat the Orc Champion if I handled him myself. Considering the level of 60th floor boss monsters and the increasing difficulty of the Tower, the 70th floor Orc Champion should be right at the edge of what I could handle.

But if the beast-kin warriors died or were annihilated in the process, causing problems for later conquest, that would be a serious issue.

"Hmm, it seems like you're underestimating us too much."

"But we should still proceed cautiously. Remember that we've been separated from Mother World Tree and brought to this strange place."

They'd been forcibly moved to the Demon Lord's Tower, not the World Tree's forest, and had confirmed this thanks to the suddenly growing trees. Even the ill-tempered bull beast-kin could only scratch between his horns, acknowledging this reality.

How many named-rank orcs were there? Was there a way to minimize damage while I handled the Orc Champion? As I was considering these questions while we continued to follow the dust cloud, it suddenly stopped and—

"Ro-Roland?!"

"What's wrong, Grace? Is the Orc Champion doing something strange?"

"A dragon! A dragon has appeared and is attacking the orcs!"

Suddenly, a dragon appeared high in the sky.

...What the hell?

Enjoy the chappy!