Chapter 45
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Ogre's Sanctuary (2)
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*Thud!*
The ogre's massive body, struck in the head by the staff, collapses onto the freshly fallen snow.
“……?”
Choi Kangwoo looked back at me.
“……”
I deliberately avoided his gaze.
There was nothing to say.
And it was only after Odolph returned, dragging the unconscious ogre behind him, that I understood why.
“My Lord. It is the way of my kind to strike first; only then will they listen. An ambush to seize the initiative is not easily accomplished, but we were fortunate. Perhaps because it was a young one, it let down its guard as soon as I told it a few delightful tales of adventure.”
Odolph explained with a benevolent look in his eyes.
It was such a plausible reason that I found it convincing. Though I did feel sorry for the ogre who must have listened to the adventure tales with sparkling eyes.
“I see.”
When I finally looked back, for some reason, Choi Kangwoo was also nodding his head.
* * *
The unconscious ogre soon came to its senses.
It stared blankly at Choi Kangwoo and me for a moment.
“Groooar!”
It let out a roar and struggled to get up.
However.
“!”
The moment Odolph, who had approached my side, pointed to the ‘staff’ in his hand with a benevolent gaze.
It sat down quietly, looking remarkably calm.
“……”
Choi Kangwoo stared at this nonsensical scene with a dumbfounded expression.
I was a little taken aback myself.
After all, it was no different from being sucker-punched out of the blue, so why was it being so docile?
No matter the power of a preemptive strike, that ogre was abnormally intimidated.
And so, the two ogres finally began to converse.
About thirty minutes later.
Odolph approached me as I stood a short distance away, gazing at the snow-covered landscape.
“My Lord.”
“Any progress?”
“Yes. This fellow’s name is Ak-Katum, the 23rd descendant of the Great Warrior Katum…”
“No, not his personal information.”
I didn’t have enough time to learn about an ogre’s ancestry.
“For now, he has agreed to guide us to the place where the Ogre's Sanctuary was built.”
“Anything else?”
“I wasn’t able to find out much more. However, based on my personal judgment of this young one.”
A hint of worry crept into Odolph’s eyes.
“The ogres here are in a state of extreme fear.”
“Ogres can get scared?”
“They can, but they do not show it. Ogres are a race of fighting spirit. Even if they are afraid, they deny the fact itself, battle-crazed beings who would rather choose death than retreat. But this fellow succumbed far too easily. To the point of guiding us to the sanctuary where his kin are gathered just to save his own life.”
As he added the last words, Odolph’s face looked incredibly bitter.
Ak-Katum was still sitting on the ground.
Though smaller than Odolph, it was still a massive creature of 2.5 meters.
But it looked pathetic, curled up like a child.
I glanced at it, then looked away.
“Have any idea what’s going on?”
“Ak-Katum didn't say much. However.”
He continued quietly.
“‘Saksarva has abandoned us,’ he said.”
I already knew from what Odolph had told me.
Saksarva was the god the ogres worshipped.
A world abandoned by its god.
Only then did the sight of the snow-covered dungeon begin to make sense.
“Let’s go.”
The clues were slowly starting to come together.
* * *
Thirty minutes after descending the mountain ridge.
We finally arrived near the sanctuary.
The sanctuary was located at the base of a giant cliff.
A statue of an ogre god, about the height of a 30-story building, stood there.
And below it, large tents were lined up in rows.
“……”
Choi Kangwoo’s expression hardened.
He had spotted dozens of ogres moving sluggishly near the statue.
Of course, that wouldn’t be all of them.
[You have arrived at the Ogre's Sanctuary. Destroy the statue and annihilate the ogres.]
As we neared the sanctuary, the status window flickered.
It was urging me to complete the mission, as if rushing me.
I dismissed the status window.
The snowflakes that had been gently fluttering were now a fierce blizzard, obscuring our vision.
“----!”
Upon reaching the entrance of the settlement, the ogre who had been guiding us let out a cry.
The settlement had no stockades or defensive walls to prepare for intruders.
We walked straight into the settlement.
And then, something surprising happened.
“……”
The ogres saw us but showed no reaction.
They were covered in snow.
And simply went about their business sluggishly.
“What in the world…”
Not just Choi Kangwoo and I.
Even Odolph wore a look of utter bewilderment.
To put the situation in extreme terms, outsiders were trampling on their settlement and sanctuary with one of their own as a hostage.
Yet they remained indifferent.
Among them, some ogres stared at us with fear in their eyes.
Indifference, or fear.
Neither word suited them.
“Groooar.”
Suddenly, Odolph growled, shoving Ak-Katum.
The ogre ducked its head and nodded.
When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, Odolph answered in a low voice.
“I told him I wish to see the chieftain.”
His voice was as hot as if it had been doused in lava.
He was furious.
“I was wondering why the clear time was getting abnormally fast…”
Choi Kangwoo, walking beside me, muttered.
“If the ogres were like this, it makes sense. I received reports that the dungeon monsters’ aggression had decreased, but.”
This wasn’t just decreased; it was as if it had vanished without a trace.
The Pungbaek Guild members should have reported the situation in more detail.
I walked in silence.
And as I walked, I thought.
About the ogres’ changed behavior and the meaning of being abandoned by their god.
The connection to the snow-covered field.
By the time I reached a conclusion, we were in front of a massive tent.
A flag made of red cloth fluttered in front of the tent, which was piled high with snow.
“Groooar.”
The ogre who had guided us pointed inside.
Odolph pushed open the tent flap, and Choi Kangwoo and I entered in turn.
And then.
“……”
The floor was covered with the hide of some unknown beast.
At the far end of the floor, on a throne also wrapped in a beast's hide.
Sat an ogre with a deep scar over one eye.
“The Ogre High Priest…”
Choi Kangwoo muttered first.
This large ogre was the dungeon’s boss monster, the being commonly known as the ‘Ogre High Priest.’
The boss monster simply stared intently at us with its one eye as we reached the boss field.
One hand was propped languidly against its chin.
The scars from stab wounds etched across its yellow skin twitched.
And finally.
“Gro, oooar.”
A deep, guttural sound rumbled from its throat.
At that moment.
*Boing!*
The Sage, who had been quiet until then, bounced excitedly.
‘Sage?’
[The Sage can interpret that ogre's words. The Sage is happy to finally be of help!]
‘You couldn’t interpret the other ogres’ words until now, could you?’
[That is because the previous ogres spoke a simple, fragmented language that was too primitive to interpret. ( ˘･з･)]
‘I see. Then translate for me.’
[The Sage is interpreting the ogre chieftain's words…]
Simultaneously, a status window appeared.
[Have you come again to trample upon us and destroy our god’s statue?]
‘Us’ must mean the ogres.
And the ‘statue’ must be the sculpture embodying Saksarva.
The chieftain was perfectly reciting the ‘mission’ given by the dungeon.
While emphasizing that we weren’t the only ones who had committed such acts.
“My Lord, the chieftain says…”
“No, I understood. Odolph.”
Odolph looked surprised.
“Relay this.”
I continued quietly.
A story that could never be known just from the dungeon’s mission.
“I have come to meet your god.”
“My Lord. By ‘your god’… do you mean Saksarva?”
Odolph asked.
He looked as if he never expected such words to come from my mouth.
But he soon relayed the message.
As soon as Odolph finished speaking.
“……!”
The chieftain reacted.
His single eye widened.
And suddenly.
“-------!”
A furious roar erupted from his mouth.
My whole body tingled.
It was filled with a dense, murderous intent.
[You speak utter nonsense!]
The chieftain had already straightened his posture.
The languid figure with its chin in its hand was gone.
In its place was a beast that looked ready to leap forward and crush us at any moment.
[Are you not satisfied with trampling us countless times and shattering our god’s statue? The words you deliver, dragging one who appears to be our kin like livestock, are merely that? Speak. How much more must you humiliate us before you are satisfied?]
Odolph wore a troubled expression.
His face showed he had no idea how to convey words so sharp they felt like they could slice his skin.
“You can just relay my words. I can understand what that ogre is saying.”
“Understood, my Lord.”
“I intend to identify the problem here and solve it. Simply put, I want to help you. To do that, I need to meet your god, Saksarva.”
Odolph relayed my words exactly.
The moment he uttered the name ‘Saksarva,’ the chieftain looked ready to charge forward.
But as the full message was delivered, he narrowed his one eye.
[You want to help us?]
“If not, I would have already reached this place by paving a road with your corpses. But look, I haven’t killed a single one of you. And this one next to me is following me of his own free will.”
Odolph relayed my words again.
But he added one more thing.
That he had acknowledged me as his lord of his own will.
The chieftain was silent for a moment.
Then he asked in a low voice.
[How did you know the god’s chamber was here?]
Bingo.
Calling it the god’s chamber meant there really was something corresponding to a god here.
‘Good, it worked out.’
My initial statement, ‘I have come to meet your god,’ was a kind of bait.
Through Ju Jisan’s report and Asha’s story, I knew that another monster existed in this dungeon.
If Ju Jisan’s report was accurate, that monster was the ogres’ god.
And that it had a similar appearance to the so-called ‘Saksarva.’
I threw out the bait based on that information, and this ogre took it perfectly.
“How did I know?”
Of course.
I had no intention of spouting such a provocative line.
Therefore.
“A divine revelation.”
“?”
I decided to say something far more persuasive.
“Your god called me to this place.”
“?!”
Choi Kangwoo and Odolph turned to me at the same time.
But my expression didn’t change as I continued with a dead-serious look.
“One day, Saksarva came to me in a dream. He was a great ball of fire, and his heat was so intense that even knowing it was a dream, I feared I would burn to death. But he did not burn me. Instead, he told me this: that he was in great peril, as were those who followed him. He revealed this location to me and asked that I seek him out.”
“…My Lord, should I convey that as is?”
Odolph asked.
I nodded.
Choi Kangwoo was now staring at me as if he had just discovered a piece of space trash.
I didn’t know what his ability was, but he seemed to have figured out that everything I said was a lie.
However.
[…A divine revelation was given to you?]
The chieftain did not dismiss my words.
“That’s right.”
[O Saksarva, did you have so little faith in me? To deliver a divine word to a mere human in such a grave situation. Is this truly the path you have chosen?]
The chieftain’s remaining eye filled with sorrow.
And I knew exactly what stance to take in a situation like this.
“Is that all a chieftain and high priest can muster, such shallow thoughts!”
“?!”
The chieftain flinched at my roar.
“Does the fact that he gave a divine revelation to a mere human not show how much Saksarva loves you! Saksarva did not wish for his children to bear such a heavy burden. Thus, he chose a human, one with no connection to him, as his proxy.”
I pressed on before he could have any doubts.
“You foolish one, why can you not fathom the god’s profound intentions! It is because he loves you that he entrusted such a heavy burden to a mere human!”
A brief silence.
I stood ramrod straight with my hands held high.
“And so I have followed Saksarva, the great foreign god. Behold! The god’s proxy now stands before you.”
I had fully embodied a prophet from some holy scripture.
At this sight, Odolph’s expression became uncertain.
“……”
Choi Kangwoo looked at me as if I were insane.
[…Is that so. O Saksarva, you have not abandoned us yet?]
The chieftain nodded, his eyes full of melancholy.
He had completely fallen for it.
I put on a solemn expression and said.
“Do you understand now? The reason I sought your god.”
[I understand.]
“Then quickly, to the god’s chamber…”
[However.]
The chieftain slowly rose from his seat.
[Even so, I cannot guide you to the god’s chamber right away. Only those who have earned the recognition of all tribe members may enter the god’s chamber.]
The massive body moved.
A rough hand gripped a giant warhammer that had been leaning behind the throne.
[You must prove yourself before all the tribe members. The path to the god’s chamber is permitted only to those who have received the recognition of all.]
The chieftain bared his fangs and continued, his voice like a growl.
[I am the one who stands beneath the highest sky, Garad Matum. I now challenge you, who claims to be the god’s messenger, to a duel of proof.]