Chapter 46
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: God's Agent (1)
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The duel took place in the center of the sanctuary.
It was held in the circular clearing right in front of the torch-bearing statue.
A snowfield that looked like a greatly expanded wrestling ring, surrounded by a throng of ogres.
In an arena the size of a grand stadium, the ogre chieftain stood, holding a hammer.
“I will face him.”
As I was about to step into the arena, Choi Kangwoo grabbed my shoulder.
“It’s fine.”
“I’m not saying this out of needless worry. That ogre high priest is completely different from the patterns we’ve been briefed on. We have no reports of him using a warhammer. Besides…”
Choi Kangwoo’s eyes narrowed.
I already knew why.
The moment he picked up that warhammer, the ogre high priest was no longer an ordinary C-rank monster.
The chieftain’s rank, confirmed through the Sage, was 5-star.
“Are you really sure you’ll be okay?”
“It won’t be much help for you to step in at this point, Guild Leader. To be recognized as God’s agent, I have to show my strength myself.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Don’t worry. I know how to swing a sword, too.”
“I understand. If that is your wish, Hunter Kim Hanul.”
His eyes were still filled with worry.
But he didn’t try to stop me any further, lowering his dark longsword and stepping back.
As I stepped onto the snowfield, the chieftain standing in the distance let out a low growl.
[Just because you received the oracle, I will not try to spare your life.]
He was saying he wouldn’t hold back.
“Then let me say one thing, too.”
The gazes of all the ogres, including the chieftain, focused on me.
Receiving all their stares, I shouted.
“I’ll end this in a single blow.”
Of course, the taunt didn't reach the chieftain.
Odolph wasn’t here to translate for me.
But the chieftain instinctively paused, as if trying to understand my words.
And I didn't miss that opening.
[Raven's Wingbeat (A)]
The purple orb embedded in the pommel of my sword emitted a glow.
I kicked off the ground.
My form was imprinted on the snowfield for a moment, then vanished.
“...!”
For a brief moment, the chieftain couldn't grasp the situation.
But he soon spotted me rushing toward him and stomped his foot with a monstrous roar.
Thump!
I was still about thirty meters away.
RUMBLE!
The ground vibrated as if an earthquake had struck, and a chilling killing intent washed over me.
I stopped my charge, kicked off my left foot, and leaped to the right.
At the same time.
CRUNCH!
A sharp rock shot up from the ground, missing me by about ten centimeters.
‘A little closer and I would’ve been skewered.’
This wasn't among the patterns Choi Kangwoo had briefed me on.
It was clearly a special ability of the newly empowered chieftain, now wielding a warhammer.
The first wave came to nothing.
But it wasn't over.
The ground began to vibrate again.
RUMBLE!
A second wave was approaching, tearing through the snow.
The first wave, having failed to land a hit, also started moving again beneath the ground.
It was as if two giant serpents were chasing me.
CRUNCH!
As I was now, I could easily evade the attacks.
I took half a step forward.
CRUNCH!
A huge rock shot up right behind my heel.
Using that rock as a foothold, I crouched down and then, extending my legs, activated a skill.
[Raven's Wingbeat (A)]
Whoosh!
My body, propelled by the momentum, shot forward like a bullet.
The chieftain's massive body grew closer with every passing moment.
I didn't just run straight ahead. I would charge, then pause for a split second, repeating the process to control my speed.
The shockwaves chasing me dove under again, aiming for my position. This time, I shifted my body half a step to the side.
CRUNCH!
A sharp rock burst out from below on my left, missing me by a hair's breadth.
I stepped diagonally on its tip.
[Raven's Wingbeat (A)]
And accelerated once more.
From a diagonal line.
CRUNCH!
Again, diagonally.
The shockwaves rushing to impale me were reduced to mere footholds and springboards.
After leaping diagonally six times like that.
[This...!]
I was suddenly in front of the chieftain.
His scar-covered face was contorted in bewilderment.
But the chieftain reacted instantly.
[You rat-like...!]
With a roar like a lion's, the warhammer rose high like a guillotine.
The muscles under his yellow skin bulged as the raised warhammer fell vertically.
I raised the Emperor's Vestige.
And I angled my sword to block his warhammer, then...
“?!”
Whoosh!
I twisted my body with all my might and rolled to the side.
KWAANG!
The hammer, as large as a human torso, grazed my ankle and dug into the ground.
A difference of 0.1 seconds, a hair's breadth.
Covered in dust, snow, and the shockwave, I steadied my staggering body.
If I hadn't dodged, it would have been instant death.
But it was the best I could do.
That thing was not something that could be parried with a mere sword.
“Grraaaah!”
The strike missed.
The chieftain immediately flexed his arms to lift the warhammer.
No, he *tried* to lift it.
“?!”
Normally, he would have lifted such a lump of iron with ease.
He would have lifted it and casually blocked my swinging sword.
But now, a brief opening had appeared.
The layered snow.
That was the variable.
The warhammer, slammed down by the enraged chieftain, had dug deep into the layers of snow that had compacted into solid ice.
CRUNCH!
The lump of iron, buried in the hard ice, couldn't be easily freed, and that delay of just over two seconds was the chance I had been given.
I gripped the lowered Vestige Sword diagonally with both hands.
Whoosh!
From bottom left to top right, I slashed upward diagonally toward the ogre’s massive body.
[Insolent...!]
This time, too, the chieftain reacted.
Even in that fleeting moment, he readjusted his grip, holding the warhammer’s handle wide with both hands as if to brace for the blow, and brought it down to receive my sword.
An agile speed unthinkable for an ogre.
The hard handle of the warhammer blocked the path of my sword.
At this rate, I would either be thrown back by the recoil or lose momentum and stop completely.
There was no time to retract my sword. My body had already moved forward, and the Vestige Sword was surging onward in a graceful arc.
‘I have to settle this here.’
Retreat was impossible. This single clash was the first and last chance I would get.
And so, this was a kind of prayer born from desperation.
Just before the blade touched the thick, hard steel handle of the warhammer.
I murmured the name of a skill that had been dormant in a corner of my status window.
[Lord's Swordsmanship]
In that moment.
“!”
A tingling sensation, as if an electric current was coursing through me, shot through my entire body.
Time slowed. The swirling snowflakes became sluggish. The path of the fiercely surging Vestige Sword was drawn in my eyes. I could see the twitching of muscles preparing to absorb the impact.
Suddenly, I was certain.
This is it.
Right now, I can cut him down.
[Simple Horizontal Slash]
CRUNCH!
An explosive power was added to the two arms swinging the sword. It wasn't a power derived from simple stats like strength or agility. It felt as if someone had possessed my body, correcting my entire posture from head to toe.
My back straightened, the center of gravity in my legs and ankles standing on the snow shifted, and the muscles in my arms gripping the sword twisted delicately.
When that momentary correction was complete.
The strike, which had been as clumsy as a child's sword fight, transformed into a slash that could tear through a steel ingot.
KAAAANG!
“Grooooo?!”
A sharp, piercing sound erupted as the Vestige Sword clashed with the warhammer's handle.
One of the ogre's eyes bulged as if it would pop out. It was because the handle of the warhammer that received the blow, and the muscles holding it, were vibrating uncontrollably. But the stalemate of strength didn't last long.
SCREEECH!
I didn't stop.
Stronger, with the momentum to cut down everything in front of me. With the resolve to bisect and cast aside whatever it was.
Continuously, tirelessly, bit by bit, I pushed forward even harder.
CRACK!
“...?! ”
Something strange happened to the warhammer that was blocking my blade. Unable to withstand the force, the warhammer was being ripped out of the ice entirely.
The chieftain's mouth fell open in astonishment.
[What is th...is?!]
And as the snowflakes fluttering between me and the ogre formed countless concentric circles and scattered like pollen.
SCREEECH! CRACK!
Finally, the Vestige Sword swept away both the warhammer and the ogre's giant body from before my eyes.
Thwump!
Struck by the shockwave of the sword aura, the warhammer and the ogre were flung into the air. The ogre, flying through the silent snowfall, resembled a broken scarecrow or a damaged marionette.
If its ascent was an instant, its fall was a fleeting moment.
KWAANG!
The warhammer, easily weighing over 200 kilograms, crashed down first.
SWOOOSH!
The ogre slammed down a moment later, bouncing and flying several dozen more meters.
THUD!
Only after flying over a hundred meters did the ogre's massive body, having lost its inertia, finally crash to the ground.
“...”
All around was silent. It was a silence born from no one being able to comprehend what had just happened.
I walked along the path the ogre high priest had left like a scar as he was thrown back.
Slosh, slosh.
Steam rose from the snow that had melted from the frictional heat.
At the end of that battle path, I pushed through the mist.
Click.
I aimed the vivid blue blade right under the ogre's chin.
I didn't utter a single word.
My heart was pounding as if it would burst, and my face was flushed as if it would melt at any moment.
But that image was carved so vividly it was almost blinding.
“...”
“...”
The ogres still made no sound.
They just stared with bewildered faces at me, and at their chieftain who was panting with a blade at his chin.
As they began to realize their chieftain's powerlessness and an aura of despair slowly emanated from them.
This was the moment to deliver the grand finale.
[Hellfire's Flames]
Fwoosh!
In the middle of the snow-covered arena.
Fierce flames erupted from the raised Vestige Sword.
In the center of the clearing, dappled with faint snowflakes.
A crimson flame, more vivid than anything else, raged.
It was a light that these warriors, with only their large bodies, had lost long ago.
“Grooo...?”
The first to react was the chieftain, who had been dazed until just a moment ago.
Clarity returned to his cry, which had been thick with despair.
And one by one.
The eyes of the ogres watching the flames began to change.
The crimson flame dwelling in the sword soared as if to touch the sky.
Thud.
A snowflake brushed past my nose.
When I turned, the chieftain was on one knee, his head bowed.
With his head bowed, the chieftain let out a low growl.
[To rebuke our shortcomings, Saksarva has truly sent an agent. Kneel. Pay your respects to God’s agent.]
Thud!
Heavy sounds began to echo from all around.
One by one, the ogres were kneeling before me.
And so, with everyone surrounding the arena bowing their heads.
Fwoosh!
The flames dwelling in the Vestige Sword burned even more fiercely.
The ogres' bodies stirred.
Forgotten fighting spirit and will to battle.
They began to slowly rear their heads.
The snow covering their massive bodies vanished in the heat I emitted.
Slowly, the snowy ground covering the land began to melt.
And suddenly.
The Sage next to me reacted, his eyes wide.
[The Sage has discovered traces of 'Interference' at the current location. Analyzing the concept affected by the 'Interference'.]
And then.
[Annihilate the ogres and destroy the ogre statue!]
[Ogre %@#%? %^#@# &*%%!]
A change occurred in the status window that had been constantly obstructing my view.
***
“Did you know?”
After the trial had ended.
While the chieftain was receiving treatment, Choi Kangwoo approached me as I was catching my breath.
“What are you talking about?”
“The fact that the dungeon’s mission was… fabricated.”
Choi Kangwoo hesitated for a moment.
It must have been the first time he'd ever seen such a thing.
To think the dungeon's status window was deceiving us.
“To think the ogres we were supposed to annihilate were actually like friendly NPCs, and the real mission was to protect the statue. This isn't just a hidden mission. There's a possibility that someone maliciously manipulated it.”
“You could see it that way.”
I continued to stare at the status window occupying a corner of my vision.
[Rally the ogres who have fallen into helplessness and prepare for the great invasion that will occur in 7 days.]
[Protect the ogre statue.]
This was the original mission this world had intended.
This was why the dungeon's rampage accelerated the more other Hunters tried to clear it.
The mission itself had been urging them to do the complete opposite of the real mission from the start.
“Honestly, I'm confused. Is there a group or entity that would manipulate a mission to cause a dungeon rampage? No, is it even possible to manipulate a dungeon's mission in the first place?”
“I don’t know.”
The perpetrator of the 'Interference' is still shrouded in mystery.
But that's a problem to figure out later.
Right now, it was time to solve the problem at hand.
“Let’s put thoughts about that aside for later. For now, we've confirmed why the dungeon rampage accelerated with each clear attempt, haven't we? So now we need to focus on the newly assigned mission.”
“Right... I suppose so.”
Choi Kangwoo's eyes deepened.
“It might be sudden, but I think you're truly amazing, Hunter Kim Hanul.”
I made a quizzical face at the sudden compliment.
Was this guy usually so generous with his praise?
I thought he was rather stingy with it.
But Choi Kangwoo continued calmly.
“The very fact that you could doubt the dungeon's 'voice' is... well, I can only say it's amazing.”
He might have a point.
After all, the dungeon's 'voice' is considered absolute since it offers the only path forward.
“I was just lucky.”
So I answered along those lines.
“You’re humble. I wish our vice guild leader was even a quarter like you, Hanul.”
“Your vice guild leader has the skills to back it up, doesn't he?”
He's the Flame Emperor, Yoon Suhyeok.
At that level, you're allowed to be a little arrogant.
But Choi Kangwoo raised the corners of his mouth and shook his head.
“I don't know. In my eyes, you seem more outstanding than our vice guild leader, Hanul.”
“?”
Suddenly?
Why is he rating me so highly all of a sudden?
Choi Kangwoo suddenly looked into the air and asked.
“By the way, this ‘great invasion’… what do you think it means?”
“That’s what we need to find out now.”
Although we were free from the 'Interference', the concept of the mission was still vague.
I walked past the ogres and approached Odolph, who was huddled in a corner.
“Odolph, you did well.”
Without his ability, I wouldn't have been able to pull off such a miracle.
“...Odolph?”
But this time, something was wrong with the archmage ogre.