Chapter 59
Chapter 59
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: Even in the Winter Blown by Cutting Winds, Sprouts Emerge (3)
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"It's just a slightly fiercer, slightly bigger beast! Don't fall back!"
The orc warriors, emboldened a hundredfold by the noble roar laced with fighting spirit, thrust forward with their swords, spears, and axes.
But the monster—an ogre—was far too strong to dismiss as merely fiercer and bigger.
One punch shattered an orc's head. One kick folded another's waist backward. In an instant, five orcs lay dead, their limbs twisted or torn apart.
The overwhelming gap born of species difference. And the ogre was fighting and feasting at the same time.
It shoved an orc's head into its maw with a crunch, jaws grinding away. The orc warrior, dangling limp in midair, convulsed before going slack.
Crunch crunch.
The chilling noise echoed everywhere. The brave orc warriors who had charged hesitated and fell back.
"You bastards!"
The noble orc, unable to stand it any longer, swung its battle axe-spear wreathed in fighting spirit and charged the ogre. The ogre casually spat out the orc warrior's corpse it had been chewing.
Slash!
The noble orc's spear thrust cleaved the corpse in two. From behind the bisected body, the axe-spear surged forward, rippling with crimson fighting spirit.
The ogre swung its fist.
Whoosh.
A heavy thud echoed, followed by a clang as the axe-spear bounced away. The noble orc spun the rebounding weapon half a turn and thrust upward again.
The ogre punched once more. The axe-spear abruptly veered off course, grazing the ogre's inner forearm.
Thud.
The axe-spear struck the ogre's armpit. No blood flowed. Even fighting spirit rivaling a knight's sword aura couldn't pierce the ogre's hide.
All that remained was a swollen red mark.
Groooar!
The enraged ogre went berserk. The noble orc circled it dizzyingly, jabbing relentlessly with its spear.
Dodging punches that would shatter heads by a paper-thin margin, it pressed its assault without falter—an admirable display.
"Hoo."
This one was more battle-hardened than the noble orc that had visited Winter Castle before. Its warrior prowess—what orcs called "realm"—was superior, and its bold spearwork was honed to perfection through countless real combats.
Worth stepping up to hunt an ogre.
As I nodded repeatedly, the noble orc and ogre's duel raged on.
"Fear not! It's merely a beast!"
The noble orc rallied its subordinates. The retreated orc warriors regained their fighting spirit at their leader's valiant stand.
The orcs charged the ogre again. But this time was different. They no longer rushed recklessly but circled, striking with swords and axes at any opening.
Even attacks brimming with fighting spirit couldn't pierce that tough hide. The orc warriors' blows stood no chance.
But it was enough to distract the ogre.
"For the king!"
The noble orc bellowed and thrust its axe-spear. A far sharper fighting spirit than before sliced into the ogre's flesh.
Blood sprayed. A chunk of the ogre's shin was torn away.
"Don't miss the chance!"
The orcs relentlessly stabbed swords and spears into the wounded shin. The gash quickly frayed. But such a wound wouldn't fell the monster called the king of the mountains.
Instead, its ferocity surged, rampaging even more viciously.
The ogre flailed its arms wildly. Several unlucky orcs were caught in the frenzy and flung away.
Grip.
Suddenly, something clutched my collar. Looking down, Adelia stared up at me, half her face buried in my chest. Her face pale, eyes wide with terror on the verge of tears, body trembling like an aspen.
And her eyes shimmering with red and yellow energy.
"Damn it."
Caught up in the spectacle, I'd momentarily forgotten. Who I was with.
The air reeked of blood, and in my arms nestled a blood-crazed maniac.
"No. Hold it together."
I hurriedly soothed Adelia. The faint glow of her [War Maniac] and [Slaughterer] traits dimmed. But it didn't vanish completely.
"Just wait a bit, and you can rampage all you want. Hold on for now."
Adelia buried her face in my chest again.
Hissing breaths reached my ears.
Through thick fur and armor, I felt her heated exhales. Between her face and my chest, that narrow gap seemed to flicker with yellow and red light.
Her trembling body no longer felt like fear. I got chills, sensing she was smiling.
Another monster here.
A chaotic existence I could never quite get used to, no matter how many times I'd seen it.
I wanted to toss her back to Winter Castle right then. But I couldn't.
The achievements from this mountain trek weren't mine alone.
Holding Adelia's head tight to keep her from bolting, the straggling group finally arrived.
Seeing the clearing beyond, they gaped. Even seasoned rangers who'd faced monsters aplenty were stunned by the gruesome battle, eyes round.
"The North truly is a place of wonders."
Ehrim Kiringer murmured in quiet awe.
Until coming from the capital, he'd never imagined such beasts existed, he marveled.
But it was too early for awe.
The mountain king's savagery was more than that.
The orcs knew it too, desperately trying to cripple one leg before the ogre revealed its true face.
Groooar!
As if mocking their efforts, the ogre roared.
Its yellowish bulk suddenly flushed red. Muscles swelled massively. Its glossy eyes gleamed with yellow glow.
Ehrim Kiringer's face hardened at the sight.
"What in the world is..."
"That's the real ogre."
Inherent from birth, the ogre's essence: an endless predator of appetite, a born [Slaughterer].
Thud.
Adelia began thrashing in my arms.
Her [Slaughterer] trait reacting sharply to another's aura. I hugged her tight with both arms.
Holding firm as she struggled to break free.
It wasn't our turn yet.
Facing an ogre just now revealing its essence wasn't wise.
We'd step in after sating its monstrous hunger somewhat.
Of course, its meal was the orcs.
The noble orc heightened its fighting spirit.
"Ogre!"
The ogre twisted its lips at the majestic roar.
A cruel, ferocious smile.
The ogre lunged. The noble orc stomped, gathering fighting spirit into its axe-spear. Futile.
The ogre hadn't targeted it from the start.
"Gaaack!"
"Kyaack!"
Screams rang out. Limbs flew everywhere. The ogre, which had only punched until now, bared its fangs and tore orc flesh to shreds.
Dozens of orc warriors died. In the blink of an eye.
"You fiend!"
The noble orc raged at the slaughter and thrust its spear. But the ogre had already moved.
More orc warriors crumpled into bloody heaps. Torn-limbed corpses soared through the air.
A slaughter festival.
The slaughterer's carnival had just begun.
Terrified yet enraged, the orcs charged with swords and spears. But they were no match.
The ogre toyed with them, ripping their tough flesh apart.
"You mean to say you intend to hunt that?"
Ehrim Kiringer asked me. The valiant knight's face was pale.
Natural enough.
An ogre revealing its [Slaughterer] essence rivaled a Sword Master. For a mere Sword Expert like me to claim it? Absurd.
But that's what made it worthwhile.
Sticking to the doable never raised one's realm. A knight's grew by turning impossible into possible.
Like the monster before us.
"Get ready. It's about our turn."
The hundred-odd orc warriors were down to fewer than twenty. The noble orc endured, but the ogre ignored it, slaughtering only warriors.
"You beast without pride!"
The noble orc bellowed and leaped forward. The ogre, back turned while hunting another warrior, was right there.
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue. My eyes saw clearly: the seemingly defenseless ogre was a trap.
True enough, the ogre that had ignored the noble orc spun around as if waiting, its thrusting axe-spear drawn into the ogre's grasp amid fierce fighting spirit.
Grrr.
The ogre scratched its throat, laughing. The spear's fighting spirit intensified. The ogre's hand tore open. Blood dripped.
But it didn't release the axe-spear.
Swish.
The ogre reached out. Late, the warriors charged it. The noble orc gathered fighting spirit into its fist.
Crimson fighting spirit and dark green warriors—golden aura pierced between.
Adelia, bursting from my arms.
The ogre didn't flinch at the sudden tiny human intruder.
A fatal mistake.
The human the mountain king dismissed as insignificant was a descendant of the Sword Marquis who slew giants ruling the world,
Her sword: the beheading art that felled countless giants.
And the ogre: a remnant of ancient giants whose kin were exterminated.
"One swing unleashes."
A thrilled voice pierced my ears.
"Blood flows into rivers, flesh enriches the land."
In that instant, the once-auspicious golden sword-light exploded. Infused with murderous intent toward the ruling species that once viewed the world from on high.
Part of the deeds piled by a Bayern woman in distant past, the seed I'd planted in her descendant now sprouting.
A verse from the Sword Marquis's [Ode of World Renewal].
Groooar!
The ogre suddenly bellowed. Finally realizing.
That this small, pathetic human woman was its natural predator.
Too late.
The woman's legacy of slaying countless giants had manifested.
Though feeble compared to the original,
Enough to cleave the ogre's hide.
Crack!
The ogre's mouth gaped wide. A crimson line appeared on its back. The once hair-thin line split wide.
A blood fountain erupted.
And amid the gushing blood, Adelia beamed.
The ogre roared.
Ferocious, pain-forgotten hatred toward its predator.
But the ogre never dreamed.
Two linked to the slayer of its ruling kin stood here.
"With giant blood and flesh, renew this land."
Another verse from Adelia's [Ode of World Renewal] flowed from my lips.
Agony ripped through my heart as if chunks were gouged out, yet iridescent light clung to my sword's tip.
**
Ehrim Kiringer's eyes bulged.
The frail woman he'd questioned bringing on this harsh trek had plunged a beheading strike into the ferocious giant's back.
The hide unyielding even to the orcs' desperate efforts tore in an instant, blood fountaining skyward.
Drenched in the pouring blood-rain, she laughed brightly at the center.
Ehrim stared blankly.
Without the ogre's savage roar, he'd have been dazed far longer.
He gripped his sword, spinning the ring, ready to charge. But before the gathered energy reached his blade, Ehrim blanked again.
The ogre's finger—thick as a sturdy woman's wrist—severed clean. Before it stood the 1st Prince, clutching prismatic light. Eyes haughty with disdain.
"You're first."
The 1st Prince said to the monster.