Chapter 21 - From Victory to Terror
From Victory to Terror
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Translator: Dusky90
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: From Victory to Terror
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In the blink of an eye, the hail of arrows pierced through the ogres, leaving them looking like hedgehogs.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
*Creak* *SWOOOSH!*
From a massive crossbow mounted on a wheeled cart, an iron spike chained to its base fired out, skewering the ogres clean through.
“Uwooooh!”
“Graaaargh!”
The ogres were unable to resist the Lota army’s surprise attack.
Since they were already exhausted from fighting among themselves, they couldn’t fight back against the humans’ assault.
*Thud!*
*Boom!* *Crash!*
One after another, the ogres fell to the ground.
"Keep firing."
Yet Otto refrained from deploying his soldiers, choosing instead to rely solely on ranged attacks.
‘He’s cold-blooded.’
Camille was secretly surprised.
‘Even in a situation like this, he’s still holding back the order to attack.’
It was the perfect moment to order a charge.
Despite that, Otto still restricted his army to long-range attacks only.
As if he didn’t want his soldiers to get too close to the ogres...
And that was true.
“Grrr...”
“Uwoooooo...”
Even though the ogres were on the verge of collapsing and dying, Otto did not give the order to charge.
“Firing complete!”
“Firing complete on this side too!”
Otto finally gave the order to charge once every last arrow had been spent.
“All troops, charge.”
Only then did Otto give the order to advance.
“Waaaah!”
“Get them!”
Rushing forward, the soldiers mercilessly drove their spears into the necks of the ogres, who were on the brink of death, ending their lives.
No close-quarters combat occurred.
There was only slaughter aimed at the dying ogres….
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The soldiers shouted their victorious battle cry.
During the past few years of Otto’s tyranny, the army of the Lota territory had never even hunted ogres, let alone dispatched the common goblins.
Given that the army had actually succeeded in hunting the ogres, their morale soared through the roof.
“Congratulations on your victory.”
Camille knelt on one knee before Otto.
“For this? It’s only the beginning,” Otto said casually.
There are about 40 to 50 ogres inhabiting this region.
To wipe them out completely, this operation would need to be repeated three or four more times.
“Still, a victory is a victory.”
“Thanks.”
Otto said with a smile.
“For now, let’s head back and rest.”
“Understood.”
Thus, the first ogre-hunting mission came to a successful conclusion.
* * *
Camille couldn’t help but be surprised at how Otto’s operation was based entirely on pragmatism, seeking maximum efficiency.
Otto lured the female ogres to where the male ogres were gathered, letting them battle each other, while he carefully avoided any direct confrontation, exploiting only ranged attacks to his advantage.
As if not a single soldier loss would be tolerated….
Even by the fourth ogre-hunting mission, none of the soldiers had been killed or seriously wounded.
There were minor injuries, but those were only from twisting ankles on rough mountain paths or getting scratched by branches.
‘If I were to meet a commander who used such strategies and tactics on a battlefield…’ Camille thought to himself.
Camille was deeply impressed by Otto’s strategy.
‘Just thinking about it makes my chest tighten.’
It was the same when facing Condor before, but seeing it now, he clearly understood.
Camille observed that Otto never fought a battle he couldn’t win.
Even before it began, Otto had already prepared the battlefield in his favor.
There was no need to make reckless moves or suffer losses.
He only had to thoroughly pressure the opponent, trick them, and eventually make them collapse on their own.
To those suffering it, it felt like being tossed into a spin dryer and shaken apart.
‘When on earth did he study strategies and tactics like this…’
Camille was struck by how unfamiliar and astonishing Otto’s change was.
“Is today the last one? La-la-la~~”
Otto looked very pleased.
“You seem in good spirits."
“The ogre hunt’s nearly complete. This region will become a merchant trade route, and I’ll be collecting tolls steadily. Hehehe.”
“Do you really like money that much?”
"It’s good, right?"
Otto replied, as if the question were ridiculous.
“For people like us, money is essential. Even now, our finances are barely keeping afloat.”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“And the timing couldn’t be better.”
“Uh…?”
“No~.”
Otto teased lightly.
“By chance, a promising merchant guild might be stamping their feet trying to meet a delivery deadline and could become the first customer on our trade route~.”
".....?"
“That merchant guild has great potential and might become big in the future? We build a good relationship with them and both win… something like that?”
“Well… that would be great, but whether it actually happens….”
Camille didn’t pay much attention to Otto’s words.
He regarded it merely as Otto’s hope.
Meanwhile, the final ogre-hunting operation progressed without issue.
Before long, the operation was approaching its final phase.
“Uwooooooh!”
“Uoo! Uoooooo!”
With the male ogres knocked out, the female ogres clashed violently among themselves, engaging in a brutal struggle.
At this point, all they had to do was wait for the female ogres to wear themselves out.
“It looks like you can give the attack order now.”
“Hmm, shall we? All troops, charge!”
At Otto’s command, the soldiers charged toward the worn-out ogres.
But then.
“Something’s coming this way!”
A knight shouted, pointing at the sky in the distance.
‘No… it can’t be.’
A chilling thought crossed Otto’s mind.
‘That guy, already…?’
He quickly raised his head and looked toward the sky.
A giant, winged lion was hurtling toward them at an alarming speed.
But there was a problem, the beast didn’t just have one head.
“Roar!”
The middle one was unmistakably a lion’s, but the two flanking it were something else entirely.
“Skreeee!”
“Meeeeeh!”
Flanking the lion’s head were two others, one belonging to a wyvern and the other to a goat.
Chimera.
A terrifying monster that treats even ogres as a mere meal.
"Why are you… coming out from there?"
Otto stared at the chimera, his face filled with utter bewilderment.
* * *
Otto was well aware that a chimera lived somewhere around this mountain range.
It was a rare, event-type monster that typically appeared only after a character’s awakening.
Of course, on very rare occasions, there was about a one-in-a-thousand chance that it would appear at the very beginning of the game.
Gamer Kim Dojin had also experienced that absurd situation once before.
The moment he started the game, a chimera appeared out of nowhere, laid waste to his territory, and swallowed Otto de Scuderia whole, leaving nothing but a gray game-over screen.
Still, that had only happened once in thousands of playthroughs, so even Otto could barely recall it now.
There were even times when the chimera never appeared until the very end of the game, so he hadn’t thought much of it.
But for it to appear now of all times…
“Retreat! Fall back!” Otto yelled.
“All troops, retreat quickly! Scatter!”
Otto made no attempt to confront the chimera.
Why?
Because it wasn’t the kind of monster that regular soldiers could defeat with a few volleys of arrows.
“Scatter! Head for the forest! Get as far away as possible!”
Camille, agreeing with Otto’s judgment, also shouted the order to retreat.
However, the chimera didn’t seem willing to let the fleeing soldiers go.
To the chimera, humans were nothing more than delicious snacks with tender meat.
Naturally, it had no intention of stopping its hunt just because the soldiers were trying to flee.
*Whoosh!*
With a near-vertical dive, the chimera swooped down on one of the escaping soldiers.
*Crunch!* *Squerlch*
The chimera started devouring the soldier alive.
“Aaaaaaaaaarrrghhh!!!”
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from the horrified soldier.
Whether one lived or died, the terror of being eaten alive simultaneously by the heads of a lion, a wyvern, and a goat must have been unimaginable.
*Grind*
Otto ground his teeth so hard they nearly broke as he watched the gruesome sight.
But instead of fear, it was anger that surged within him.
He wanted to strike down the chimera that was ravenously eating the soldier.
"That bastard."
Otto reflexively pulled [Kairos's Punishment] from his inventory.
The only way to kill that chimera now was to grab [Kairos's Punishment] and beat it to death.
“Camille. Cover my back.”
Otto glanced at Camille, left those words, and charged at the chimera.
*Ssshhh!*
A chilling cold crept in as an unknown power began to surge within him.
It was the very same power that had smashed Condor, the one who had made a pact with the demon and turned into a terrifying monster!
- Let me ask just one thing.
At that moment, Kairos’s soul spoke to Otto.
* * *
‘What is it? Hurry up and say it.’
Otto replied inwardly to Kairos’s question.
- Did that bastard Argonne really unify the continent and receive the title of Great Emperor?
‘Yeah, he did.’
- And what happened after that?
‘What do you mean, what happened?’
- Is the empire he founded still around?
‘It’s long gone. Around 150 years ago, I think?’
- …I see.
There was a faint bitterness in Kairos’s voice.
- I understand. Thanks for letting me know.
‘Why ask that all of a sudden?’
- I was just curious. Whether the empire he built by betraying me still remains.
‘Ah?’
- It seems you’re in need of power.
‘That’s right.’
- I shall lend it to you for now. But in return…
Kairos placed a condition.
- When the time comes that you no longer need my power… please destroy the mace.
‘What do you mean all of a sudden?’
- I was betrayed by someone I trusted and cherished like my own brother. That betrayal became my lifelong regret… I couldn’t rest in peace because of the bitterness and resentment.
‘Hmm.’
- That’s probably why my soul couldn’t move on and ended up bound to the mace. But now I can’t even take revenge, can I? Far too long a time has already passed....
‘So?’
- When you no longer need my power… melt the mace.
‘What?!’
- What use is it to remain in this world when there’s no one left to take revenge on? I did not live my life so miserably. Rather than staying in this world stuck to such a mace, it’s better to go cleanly to the other side.
Hearing that, Otto wondered if Kairos might not be the fearsome tyrant from the history books.
Of course, since giving premature trust could result in being stabbed in the back, he did not drop his guard....
- How about it? I will no longer try to steal your body. Instead, when the time comes, melt the mace. I want to rest now...
'Fine. Let’s do that.'
Otto agreed to Kairos’s offer for the time being.
After all, once he awakened and became strong enough, he wouldn’t need [Kairos’s Punishment] anymore.
He thought that destroying the mace so Kairos’s spirit could rest sounded like a good idea.
- Alright. I’ll help you take down that monster.
'How…?'
- Throw the mace.
'Throw it?'
- Just toss it!
‘Got it.’
Otto followed Kairos’s command and hurled the mace with all his might.
*Whoosh!*
The mace shot toward the chimera at an incredible speed.
But the chimera wasn’t one to be taken lightly.
*Crash!*
Recognizing that the mace was flying toward it, the chimera twisted its body slightly and lashed its snake-like tail like a whip.
- Swoosh! Swoosh!
As the chimera’s tail whistled through the air, trying to strike the mace down.
*Whoosh!*
The mace, flying straight toward it, suddenly altered its course and slipped past the whipping tail with a sharp motion.
*Whoosh!*
*Bang!*
The mace smashed into the goat head, one of the three heads of the chimera.
".....!"
Otto flinched in shock at the sight.
'What was that just now?'
'No way… was that sword control?'