Chapter 74
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Ogre Raid
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"Gyyyaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!"
A scream that seemed to belong to a kidnapped martial artist erupted from the edge of the darkness. Even though it was clearly the final scream of his life, it wasn't a death rattle by any means.
"Nuuuuaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!"
The people who realized what it meant froze like ice.
The martial artist wasn't dead.
He was simply unleashing a scream born from unimaginable agony. Overwhelmed by that piercing wail, none of us could bring ourselves to rush into the darkness.
Even the people who had been shouting to chase the ogre moments ago fell silent. It was as if only the martial artist had the right to make a sound in that place.
"Brreek! Deuk! Kkiiiiiik!!!!"
"Juuuuiiiik!!"
"Huuukaaaaahhhh!!!"
The screams continued. It was as if a hole to hell had briefly opened in that darkness, letting out nothing but horrifically gruesome sounds. Even I was deeply shaken by those maddening noises. What the hell was happening to him in there?
The human imagination is a weapon. It can stab others with its ingenuity, but it can also inflate into wild delusions like a pufferfish and stab oneself. It was all too easy to imagine what he was going through.
"The ogre's scared. It's trying to gain the upper hand by giving us something even more terrifying... Looks like it wasn't sliced deep enough. Couldn't sever the tendons."
Claudia whispered into my ear.
"...Fuck."
At some point, the screams stopped. A complete silence fell, so profound that I could hear the adventurer next to me swallowing hard. After that brief moment of quiet...
—Whish!
—Thud.
Something flew in from the darkness. Kobson, standing in front, cautiously approached to inspect it. That bastard's still alive, huh.
"Th-this is!"
Kobson cried out in horror. Then everyone else followed suit, gasping in shock.
"Uwaaaahhh!"
"That's him! That's the fucker from just now!"
"You fucking bastard! You ogre piece of shit!"
Those gruesome chunks were pieces of the martial artist.
Dissected like a shattered plastic model, the damage was so severe that even the most skilled artisan couldn't hope to reassemble him into anything alive.
Unlike in games, you can't just collect the pieces of a martial artist and bring him back to life. Even I, who'd seen my share of horrors, shuddered at the sight.
The ogre was an extreme sadist.
On a transcendent level.
"..."
What had been thrown our way were the martial artist's arms and legs, along with his torso and head. In the pitch-black darkness, the ogre had ripped off his limbs one by one to wring out those screams, finishing with the head.
And then it tossed them at us like a trophy.
To instill fear.
"Katt. If you lose your will to fight here, you're dead. Turn that fear into rage. That's what a warrior does."
"...I was scared at first too, but seeing it's the martial artist who got fucked up kinda clears the air in my chest."
"Huh?"
"Nah... it's a thing. I'm good. No worries. We'll take that 1 gold."
"Good attitude. That's how a man should be."
The method was brutal. As someone with common sense, I couldn't help but feel rage.
But seeing that the victim was the martial artist actually felt like it cured ten years of indigestion. Who knows, fuck, maybe that bastard was one of the guys who lynched me back then. With that thought, my mood lifted. Martial artists like that piece of shit deserved to die.
"Hoo, alright. Perfect. I'm fine. I'm okay. He hasn't killed me yet."
I muttered to myself like a chant.
Separate others from myself.
That idiot died because he's an idiot, and I'm not, so I'll survive. I'm not an idiot, so I won't die here. I brainwashed myself with that belief, desperately driving out the fear.
"Eeeek!"
"Hey! If you run, you pay the penalty fee! Stop right now!"
Not everyone thought the same. Deserters started fleeing left and right. Sure, they'd have to pay 3 silver, but surviving made it worth it. True to people scraping by, their calculations were quick.
In the worst way.
"Fuck that! If you don't wanna die, run too!"
"We can only survive if we all run!"
"Let's go!"
"Stop, you idiot bastards!"
With nearly ten adventurers bolting at once, even Jauras's fierce shouts couldn't stop them.
"Idiots."
Claudia murmured softly.
Then she sneered.
"They're all gonna die. The darkness right now is the ogre's territory. It'll kill them all before they even make it halfway down the mountain and come back up."
"We're fucked."
I sensed we were utterly screwed.
Our numbers had dwindled. Moral was in the shitter, literally.
The high spirits had plummeted to rock bottom. I hadn't seen this coming. With so many people, I figured even if it wasn't easy, we'd win somehow.
Who could've predicted this?
"Kuh... My head feels like it's gonna split. What happened to the ogre, Sir Jauras?"
"The ogre ran away."
"I see... I thought too lightly of this. Sir Jauras, gather the people, please."
Lady Isvant approached from behind, clutching her head. Her bun was a mess like a bird's nest, and her fine clothes were torn and dirtied. She'd probably tumbled a few times while flying through the air.
"Everyone, gather at the watchtower! Don't scatter! Stick together to survive!"
It made sense. Sticking together was the way to live. We densely packed ourselves in front of the ruined watchtower. The lady shouted at us.
"Unless I kill the ogre, I have no face to show my father! No matter what, we'll kill it and go back!"
She shouted with some confidence, but it was more like a complaint than a speech. She didn't seem all that bright. Jauras quickly picked up the thread.
"You heard her? We can only go down after killing the ogre! And we have the strength to do it! A few idiots ran, but the ogre's badly wounded too! We can do this!"
Hard to say. But since it was hurt bad, a little more and we could take it down. The bleeding was heavy. The more that massive body moved violently, the worse it'd get.
—Uwaaaaaahhhh!!
Then a scream echoed from somewhere on the mountain. It wasn't hard to guess it belonged to one of the adventurers who'd just fled. As Claudia said, the ogre was probably racing through the darkness, hunting the deserters.
A human not in a group is just a frail monkey. Lose your reason to fear, and you're less than that. The price of a foolish choice was death.
"Hear that? No more penalty fees or bullshit—if you run now, you die. Fight to the end."
Jauras said with a cold expression. Now it was kill or be killed. Extreme binary choice. Otherwise, pray the ogre leaves or wait for dawn.
The night felt endless.
In endless tension, we prepared for the ogre's assaults. Jauras and Winia gathered with the lady and Claudia. The lady had called Claudia over after seeing her moves.
They devised a plan of sorts. Roughly: when the ogre shows, Winia blinds it with magic, the lady takes the front, Claudia the rear, and soldiers and adventurers block the left and right escape routes.
Claudia explained the plan to me, and Jauras relayed it to all the adventurers. We ran through the motions on the lady's signal. For an impromptu plan, the coordination was decent. Everyone was dead serious, desperate to survive without losing a single soul.
All we needed now was for the ogre to show up.
"Dumb nigger. Still not dead."
Winia muttered as she passed by. I tried to retort, but she didn't wait, just kept going. That bitch curses and runs!
"That guy over there..."
"Katt."
"Yeah?"
"It's coming soon, so stay sharp. It's close."
"Jesus."
I whipped my head around in extreme tension, scanning everywhere.
Nothing. All I could see in the darkness were the trees at the edge of the clearing. The ogre would come from somewhere in between.
Ah... fuck. Scary as shit.
Even with my resolve, fear crept up like worms. Anything but having my limbs ripped off like that Soviet exploding. Body hair, skin, received from parents. For someone from Confucian roots like me, dismemberment was a grave insult.
Before an ogre, a human is just a piece of meat on a cutting board. In the heavy night air, the trees at the boundary looked like moving monsters. Swaying like smoke in the wind, as if a giant would burst out any second...
—Thud.
"It's here."
I said it aloud. Strength gripped my sword hand. It's fine. I won't die. Claudia's beside me. With her, what do I have to worry about?
—Thud, thud.
The sound grew closer.
The adventurers around us stirred. The tension made it feel like the thuds were echoing inside my skull.
—Thud, thud. Thud!
—Thud!
Shaking the earth, it announced its arrival.
—KKKKKKkuRrrrrrrRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
"It's here!"
Suppressing the urge to plug my ears against the deafening roar, I recalled the plan. Everyone else did too. We moved in unison, just like in practice.
—Kuuugaagaa!!
The ogre burst from the darkness like an American football player, charging straight ahead. Incredible speed. Explosive velocity from muscles packed tight over its entire body!
"U, uwaaaahhh!"
"It's coming this way!"
"Get out! Move! You fucking retard! Move!"
The plan went to hell as its guerrilla strike targeted the soldiers' flank. Everyone scattered in panic. If it went according to plan, it wouldn't be a plan.
Fuck my mom, this is hilarious.
"Total collapse, motherfuuckers!!"
We were done. Formation broken. A scream burst from my mouth. No one's dumb enough to think huddling up against a charging bus will win. As the ogre charged, plans be damned—everyone scattered for survival.
Now it was the ogre's turn.
"Uwaaaahhh!!"
It sprinted full tilt, snatched one of the scattering people under its arm like a pro kidnapper, and vanished back into the darkness. Kidnapping skills on point. That thing was born to be a top-tier rapist.
"It grabbed another one!"
"Bruter! Where's Bruter!"
"Lord of Order Izermart, please save us..."
Voices exploded in rage and shock, laced with fear underneath.
The ogre was cunning.
Cunning enough to be smart.
After testing us and seeing it wouldn't work, it switched straight to guerrilla tactics.
"Too chaotic. If they'd just stay still, I could find an opening..."
In contrast, Claudia looked bored. She'd barely reacted even when the martial artist's limbs flew in.
She couldn't get a shot with everyone fleeing wildly. But no way would the adventurers freeze as she hoped.
After that, the ogre started popping up east, then west, snatching people one by one. Soon screams would follow, and it'd burst from the north next.
Like Hong Gildong flashing east and west.
But instead of embezzling riches, it was stealing lives.
People vanished one by one. From two platoons' worth, down to one.
The ogre bounded through the darkness like it owned the place.
The furious lady charged it every time it appeared, but the ogre ignored her completely. Claudia kept waiting for her moment too, but the fleeing adventurers everywhere limited her movement.
In the chaos, the ogre racked up gains.
It was dawn, but sunrise was still far off.
Would it go for the kill, or keep picking us off?
Suppressing my anxiety, I could only stick close to Claudia.