Chapter 179 – Cannibals (6)
【Nord! Right Waist!! It’s an accessory hanging there!!]
‘──That’s it!’
In a split second my eyes spotted something round hidden in the ogre’s flank.
We thought while planning.
If they couldn’t be decapitated by surprise, the ogre calf would spend the mana it had saved up for battle once cornered. After searching for it, it’s savings, it’s fucking worthless, and it’s useless.
But here’s the problem.
If the ogre cub starts spending the mana he has saved up, will our odds be over?
‘No, it can’t be.’
The power of magic was the product of mana consumption and proficiency.
It’s good to think that my 〈Burning Hand〉 had a hard time even burning firewood at first. Even if he was prepared to waste mana, there was a low chance that we would be wiped out in an instant.
So, my role in the operation was only one.
─Shupat!!
I took the spear and stepped on the advance. The ogre set up a guard and took a counterattack stance. Very good. I won’t have to worry about getting beaten up. I writhed and whispered.
“〈 Summon Cloud〉.”
Fuhuaaaaa~!!
Mamamoo (魔磨霧), my non-tempered weapon, filled the 3 meters around the ogre with tremendous momentum.
“Wooooo──!!”
The ogre roared and moved like a beast.
I might have noticed my purpose with my brawny brain, but I was faster at this timing. That bastard wouldn’t have thought that he’d get back the swapping liquor he used when he jumped. It was an unexpected smoke screen operation counter.
Even during hand-to-hand combat, I couldn’t use my gun to save this magic.
It’s because I had to succeed in a perfect surprise attack on that bastard, even just once.
──My operational role.
It was to take away the ‘item that accumulated mana’.
“Break the savings account, bastard. You will have to pay for your funeral.”
He lowered his body as if he were crawling on the ground and swung his spear.
─Suddenly! The blade of the spear secretly cut through the ogre’s waist like a pickpocket.
I stretched out my hand, grabbed the artifact of an ancient civilization that the ogre had hidden in his waistband, and leisurely escaped.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
For a bastard thief, it was the duty to retaliate by stealing.
“——Give it to me!!!”
It was the moment my hand took the treasure from my waist. The ogre shook the ground and lunged at me. Flashing lightning from his eyes, he avoided the bastard’s hands as he checked the artifact.
A rune stone that looks like a royal seal somewhere!
That was the ‘artifact that collects mana’ that the ogre had. I took the thing and twisted the corner of my mouth.
“Ogre King. Bone marrow. There would be no territory and no people.”
“Sounds stupid!! Britannia is my land!!!”
The ogre lowered his guard and waved his hand to take the seal. I concentrated on avoiding him. I was the one who avoided straight-line jabs. There was no way he could be caught by the random hook.
“Jim is the owner of this land!! The Overlord of Oghes who will reclaim the land of the old royal family from inferior species and rebuild the dynasty that I should have inherited!!”
The indignant ogre shouted sophistry and charged. I was impressed by the ogre’s shout.
‘Is there even an ogre race that can talk?’
Then he might be a member of that higher species. This was information to keep in mind.
“〈 Ice Arrow 〉.”
Tirshi’s magic flew into the body of an ogre who was struggling to get the disk back from me. The ogre hatchling’s frenzy increased.
“Inferior species and stragglers gather together!!”
The ogre let out a roar. I thought I was good at using the spear as a weapon. If I hadn’t, I would have had a gourd of that bastard’s spittle on my face.
Perhaps intelligence remained, but it was a face that was a monster itself, separated from fluent pronunciation.
“A lowly human being!! You bastards, what qualifications do you have to interfere with my defeat!!”
“This is a fucking crazy bastard. You robbed first. Fuck you.”
I let go of the spitting ogre.
It would be a luxury to have a logical conversation with a criminal, but that was too absurd. The ogre fired at me with a savage bullet.
“It’s not even a childish commotion, you’re trying to steal the treasure of this body for just that reason!!”
“Aye.”
“This, this cheeky inferior bastard!!!!”
“Yeah 1mi.”
Even if I refuted with dignity as an intellectual, the words did not work. As expected, the ogre kid didn’t have the conscience to sympathize with my words.
As I said to Tirsi, if conscience=intelligence, that guy might not actually be very smart. If that was the case, all intellectuals on Earth and in the other world would have been civilized people.
“—Ah.”
It was then. One realization crossed my mind.
I was able to see through the identity of that ogre cub with a refreshing feeling, as if sparkling water had been poured into my brain.
No, it was even too late.
‘Is it… Was it like that?’
Recently, my head was complicated because many goals came up and I encountered various situations.
Maybe that’s why. That I almost forgot my most primal goal.
A vicious egoism that steals the results that Veronica and I worked hard for and uses them as if it were our own.
A mental structure that does not even feel ashamed of itself.
Even if they searched all over the other world for such creatures, they were the only ones.
“You too.”
Inside the body time accelerated to the point where the ogre that started the attack looked slow.
My murmurs flowed out like the feet of my unconscious.
“You were also——a professor.”
What came after realization was self-reproach.
Maybe it’s because Fran and Dana and the three of them spent happily together recently.
Or has it been more than a month since he escaped his master’s degree, and has he forgotten his trauma, like a military barista adapting to society?
Even after seeing the vicious man who extorted what he wanted from others and used it as his own dick, he didn’t even notice that the ogre was a professor.
No, let’s say I am.
It was embarrassing to have the rune’s mana taken away, but the effort I put into obtaining the rune wasn’t that great. That said, it’s much easier to recover.
But what about Veronica!
She was stripped of her mana, which she had worked hard for over the years. Still, he calmed me down and was prepared to face the professor alone!
Compared to Veronica’s nobility, my anger was not even fair enough.
─Roaring!!
The attacking anger was blended with added sadness and guilt.
A white flame reminiscent of a milkshake rose in my image. The flames shone like the sun seen in Veronica and her dreams, transforming into the shape of Professor Slayer.
The sense of time has returned. Professor Ogre’s fist was in front of his nose.
I kicked the floor and escaped that ugly intent to kill. The verdant green of Beast Return left an afterimage like a meteor.
“Keugh?!”
I, who had been in a hurry to avoid the attack earlier, got out of the range of the punch at great speed, and Professor Ogre stopped attacking and was shocked.
It’s like a professor who left to find a job as a graduate student who thought he would be in his hands forever.
─Rest.
I put my forehead on the window sill. Professor Slayer put a hand on my shoulder. Feeling the shaking of the mana catheter used for beast return, he raised his spear.
“Bleed as much as the tears you shed.”
The skill of spearmanship hovered around the mithril spear.
As if desperate, he wrapped his extended fist around it and bounced it off. Professor Ogre’s fists became clenched as he wound the tip of the double-edged spear.
Three fists were thrown at the same time. I turned the window to block it and bounced hard. Knocked down the window
The ogre’s arm, which tried to guard, was cut off.
“Owwwwwuuu!!!!”
One of his arms had shrunk, but the ogre’s fury was still menacing. The fist he threw was heavy, filled with strength that he could not hold out even if he let it go. If there was a miscalculation, it was only that there was no power to pierce the mana hide that covered me.
Realizing his lack of power, the ogre used his severed arm as a discard horse.
I received my spear with a blood-splattering arm. The punch that tore the wind exploded like a blow. Punching, which had no meaning, became Ugong Isan’s tenacity. Dull blows piled up on my body as well.
At that time, the light of reason returned to the ogre’s eyes as if he had forgotten the pain even after his shield arm was cut off. He felt the dragon burp of mana.
【The old wizard gets up and puts the saddle on Sleipnir’s back (upp reis alda gautr ok hann á Sleipni söðul of lagði).】
Runes wrapped around Veronica’s body, who had transformed into a humanoid before she knew it. Tyrsi also raised her wand and chanted together.
The pain in his arm seemed to stop the ogre from losing his sight. The intuition that if you take your eyes off me, you will be followed, actually saved that pup’s life.
To be precise, it only saved his life.
─Suddenly!
The tip of the spear grazed the ogre’s knee. I hit his head with a spear, where his head was bent as his cartilage snapped.
“Aaaaa!!!”
If his jaw swayed, the taste would have to go all the way to my brain, but the ogre kicked me in the side with tough stamina. I was out of position and flew sideways due to the weight difference.
The ogre crawled and ran towards Tyrsi and Veronica.
“Kahhehe!! Heo-eok, hee!!”
Fear flickered in the ogre’s eyes.
The ogre, gasping for breath, ran uglierly on the floor with more limbs than anyone else. If it was for fighting, I would have thought about it, but the bastard’s sprint was a struggle to survive.
Did he say that if you want to know the nature of a person, give him power or drive him into a corner?
As far as I know, this ogre doesn’t have the style to call himself a king.
After abandoning his magic and starting a savage punch, this ogre gave up his stolen seal as well and ran on the dirt floor like a monster.
─Fuhuaaaaa!!
I corrected my posture with the thrust of the compressed jet of steam. It was 〈 Cloud Summon 〉 activated by Shadowless Spear.
I had an intuition that I could do that for some reason even without casting a spell. Professor Slayer clapped his hands in joy like a child at my growth.
“Kaa! Empty Moog Gtazak Tea!”
I let out a meaningless scream and landed a rocket-like flying kick at the ogre’s side.
“Vector – Final Bent!!”
“Woaaaaa!!!”
The ultra-high-speed Nord Kick, released with the thrust of the compressed jet, blew away the ogre’s body.
【He descends into the depths of Niflheim (reið hann niðr þaðan niflheljar til), to the place where the dead dwell (fyr Niflhel neðan; hinig deyja ór helju halir).]
As I listened to Veronica’s chant, I realized that the ogre’s ribs had been shattered.
The body of a thief who dreamed of becoming a king could not withstand the blow of the earth warrior’s leg strength and the white hunter’s season. Fuck you. I made a mistake. The ribs should be eaten whole.
“ᚺ(Hagalaaaaaz)!!!!!”
“〈 Ice wall 〉.”
The ogre rolled on the floor and pointed his free hand at Veronica. A wall of ice blocked the fired torpedo. Tirsi had built 〈 ice wall 〉 with the wand and omitted the chant.
【Bone to bone, blood to blood, limb to limb (ben zi bena, bluot si bluoda, lid zi geliden). Twisting bones, twisting blood, twisting limbs (ose benrenki, sose bluotrenki, sose lidirenki).]
Meanwhile, Veronica closed her eyes and chanted the spell while sweating.
Veronica had difficulty concentrating because of her curse, so she decided to leave the defense to me and Tyrsi during the chanting, but she was not wrong when she said that once was enough.
【The old wizard welcomes the hounds from hell (alda gautr mætti hann hvelpi, þeim er ór helju kom).】
Raising her hand, Veronica completed her magic by sliding her fingers as if reaping her grain with her scythe.
【Sleet showers (Krapadrífa).】
What happened was a blizzard of hailstones that could pierce even rocks.
A shower of hailstones sprang up from nowhere and pounded the ogre’s body as if it were going to grind it. A rock bigger than me in the range turned into crumbs and poured out in 3 seconds.
Indeed, I felt like I knew damn well why rune magic wasn’t for combat.
Even Veronica, who can use magic like that, is only capable of throwing stones at her head with runes.
“ᛃ(Jēra)!!”
The ogre resisted to the end, enduring with magic resistance. He started absorbing mana to avoid death.
“To the millennial kingdom of Oghes!! I don’t need the cursed race!!!”
“No. It is not the executioner who determines the value of the people. The people decide the value of an enforcer.”
It was Tyrsi who responded to the arrogant assertion. Tyrsi raised the wand, speaking in a voice that the ogre could hear.
“A dead man of power who seeks the country and people for his own selfishness, do not pretend to be the king.”
Tyrsi released the middle-level wind magic she had completed by memorizing a spell.
“〈 Etten’s Refusal〉.”
The whirlwind sucked up the hailstone blizzard. The ice fragments colliding and passing by rotated like dust from a vacuum cleaner. As for the ogre, his arms and legs disappeared little by little, leaving behind only shadows like scraps of paper that got caught up in it.
A bag of frozen meat was left in the place where the hailstorm, where each second seemed like one minute, had stopped.
I leaned the blood-stained spear on my shoulder and shook my brain.
“Seonhak said, Paedo deserved to die.”
After all, there was nothing wrong with the old saying.
