Nateaser: Reborn As My Love Interest

Nati - Chapter Eighteen

It saw a human for the first time in this world.

And before I knew it, we fought. Hana disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving a cloud of dust behind. They borrowed a spear from the hunters and rushed into action. Some orcs ran to back them up, but nowhere near fast enough. The best they could achieve was retrieving the orc girl, which I hadn't noticed before.

She lay on top of the small hill.

Her clothing was all black and smoked, she looked young but worn out and badly injured. Charlotte and the adults shielded the children, quickly backing off with them. I wasn't here long enough for such an instinct to kick in, my legs rooted in place, and I couldn't help but watch. This duel was quite the sight.

The human did not carry weapons and wasn't dressed for battle either. She wore long, flowing gray robes, her blonde hair flying in the wind. When she was stationary, at least. But most of the time, she moved faster than my sharp cat vision could keep up.

It was a deadly dance, as much as I could tell. The motions were minimalistic but dangerous, perfectly calculated, and flawlessly executed to flow from one movement to another. She seemed weightless and so fast that sometimes all I saw was her afterimage or the dust that was kicked up.

Hana relentlessly attacked her with a spear, jabbing with both ends of the weapon, and they fought like a whirlwind. Their movements looked less elegant, but there was a tremendous amount of force behind every one of them. Yet the human deflected most of their attacks with bare hands, and even if a thrust hit the mark, she remained unfazed.

Her arms would often glow up with a strange light, she must have used magic to strengthen her body or speed it up, but I understood little of how the all-powerful mana worked in this world.

"Save me, Hank... Help me... I was wrong..." The orc girl mumbled, half unconscious. Two hunters gently set her down next to me and did not waste time treating her, dashing as fast as they could, trying to catch up with the enemy. It didn't seem likely that they would.

"Hah, finally a worthy opponent!" The human yelled, backing away from the orcs quickly. Whenever her fist connected with the tip of the spear, I heard a metallic clang. "How lucky for her, that you were nearby."

Hana did not respond. They bled from multiple scars, even though I didn't see them getting injured. I could not follow the woman's movements at all. What I saw was when Hana almost got smashed by lightning. A sharp flash struck from the human's palm, but the bolt missed the orc at the very last moment. The spear worked as a lightning rod but shattered the tip into a million pieces.

Molten metal rained down on all of us, and I almost missed as the orc girl's hand dropped. I felt a strange breeze on my skin and had to assume, she altered the lightning's path. Whoever she was, at least she tried to help us, and it seemed we needed all the help too.

The spear no longer had a tip, and the hunters lagged too far to be of use. Hana would not let up the offensive, attacking with flurry after flurry using the weapon as a staff. It was terrifying to watch, someone that large should not have been able to move that fast.

It did not last long though, as the woman broke the spear with her bare hands. She was stronger, even if she did not look like it, yet she fell back faster than the hunters could gain on them. I heard a whimper close to me, but I was too taken in by the fight for it to register.

I did feel it when she touched my legs though. The orc's hand was cold, freezing my feet to the ground. Well, it was already rooted in there anyway. She did not seem malicious, and I wasn't in pain, but a sudden cold washed over me, similar to when we entered the old capital a few days ago. It would be an understatement to say, I hated it.