Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Elf (2)
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Several days ago.
"Hup—ha! The air's so refreshing with the mountains right there."
Harley had arrived at the Iron Fortress, the border stronghold of the Tulk Kingdom nestled against the Northern Mountains.
Ever since announcing his debut as a mercenary in Tarak, he'd faced all sorts of twists and turns on his way here.
The world is wide, and fools are plentiful.
There had been idiots who picked fights with him, calling his beautiful, massive muscles barbaric and such.
"That guy's the one who smashed Ralph's crew...?"
"Shh! Don't make eye contact."
They'd gained some notoriety, it seemed, and came at him with confidence.
After all, they were warriors skilled enough to wield aura at a decent level.
"He shattered all their limbs with his bare hands, they say...?"
"And swords barely even scratch him?"
When the trouble first started, Harley—who'd never fought humans before—agonized over how to respond.
He was going to be a hero; he couldn't just kill people recklessly inside a city because he couldn't control his strength.
So I grabbed them one by one and neatly twisted their bones!
That way, there was no risk of accidentally killing them!
And in the process, he learned just how much force it took to break a human body—a helpful experience for him.
Plus, I even picked up how to use aura.
The hazy aura rising from their flailing bodies made them harden dramatically.
But when he added more power, they snapped right off. The stat boost itself wasn't bad, though.
Figured it was useful, so I beat it out of them. Good thing I did...
The problem was, he couldn't use it with this body.
His physique was closer to a magical beast than a normal human.
It was only natural he couldn't use techniques designed for human bodies.
Reverting his composition to human levels for aura would make him far weaker than he was now—a total non-starter.
Well, knowing it can't hurt. Might come in handy later.
Smacking his lips in regret, Harley headed into the Northern Mountains in search of prey that would make him stronger right away.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Grraaawr!"
"Hahaha—die!"
His eyes rolling back, Harley cackled maniacally as he swung his axe at a massive bear-shaped magical beast.
His right axe cleaved through the beast's knee as it reared up on hind legs, then his left buried into its ankle.
"Grawk!"
The bear's forepaw slammed down immediately after.
He sidestepped effortlessly to deflect the attack, then jammed his right axe into the beast's elbow.
A refined axe technique that belied his wild appearance.
Twin axes danced graceful arcs, tearing into the beast's body.
Krunch!
"Grooo...!"
As repeated axe blows made the beast stagger.
"Hup!"
Harley inhaled sharply, charged, and twisted his waist dramatically.
Swelling muscles channeled rotational force into amplified power, delivering a devastating low kick to the bear's leg.
Crack—!
The beast's leg bone shattered in an instant, spinning its body ninety degrees through the air before it crashed into the ground.
"Yaaah—!"
The hunter who never missed an opening, Harley leaped and brought his axe down on the bear's neck.
"Guuuk!"
The tough hide and steel-like muscles resisted the blade's bite.
If it wouldn't go in, keep swinging until it did.
Alternating his bulging arms in spirited axe work.
A short time later...
"Kahahaha! That was a tough one!"
Standing atop the finally slain beast, Harley let out a hearty laugh.
He tossed his axes aside and plunged his sharpened hand into its heart.
Claws pierced deep into the sturdy beast flesh.
Soon, a fist-sized magic stone was yanked out into his grasp.
He roughly shook off the blood and crunched it down thoughtfully.
...My bare body is stronger than using weapons...
The brutal truth he'd tried to ignore.
He'd gone to the trouble of getting axes and honing his skills, but they were useless against monsters!
Beasts' bodies, fueled by mutated mana, had insane toughness. Plain weapons without infused power couldn't deal real damage.
For now, his overwhelming strength let him brute-force them, but keep it up and even his black iron axes would shatter.
Dial back the power, though, and he couldn't hurt them—the irony that full-power bare hands were stronger.
It was no different from a hidden master pretending to be weak!
Hm? That doesn't sound half bad...
The temptation flickered, but it didn't fit his goals.
"Hoo—time to collect the bounty?"
Feeling his body shift from the magic stone, Harley sharpened his claws again.
He sliced open the bear's belly to extract the bile sac.
With 'Flesh Transformation' I can use beast strength this easily, so why do weapons... Huh?
His movements froze for a moment.
Beasts' power: vital force from mutated mana in their bodies.
Warriors' power: aura from refined internal mana.
Either way, it's energy processed to suit the body. Just different handling methods.
Beasts instinctively used mana with innate bodies—no complex refining needed.
Humans developed refining aura and wielding techniques through hard work.
Different paths, same goal.
Combine the strengths...
Skip refining, use aura control on vital force?
The core, complex part of aura training was mana refinement—a closely guarded secret of factions.
But wielding it? Not such a big deal.
Not that intricate to begin with.
Drawing on his prior aura knowledge, he got to work.
A few trials and errors followed.
Using 'Mutation' and 'Flesh Transformation' to analyze human vs. current body differences, bridging the gap.
Black magic, blood magic, holy power.
Past experience with energies sped things up.
Munching bear meat to fuel up as he focused on vital force control—
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The individual has met the conditions and gained enlightenment. Acquired special skill 「Bio Aura」. A hazy aura rose from the axe in his hand.
"Heh... Hahahaha—!"
Harley's booming laughter echoed.
The monster in human form had claimed human power.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Slash—!
The ogre's massive head hit the ground.
Thud!
The giant fell, shaking the earth.
"Keh heh... That bastard was tough as nails."
Harley slumped down, then flopped onto his back.
His body was far from fine.
Covered in blood, he was still vomiting up internals.
'Regeneration' worked nonstop, but his mangled left arm was still mending.
Gurgle—
Amid it all, ravenous hunger hit.
Battle had burned through 'Flesh Transformation', 'Bio Aura', and 'Regeneration', depleting his reserves.
"Urgh... Gotta eat something to recover."
Staggering up, he approached the ogre, infusing aura into his right axe.
Nearly five meters tall, the ogre's body was packed with overwhelming muscle density—inhuman strength and speed.
Its senses were so sharp that even sneaking up on its sleeping bulk triggered an instant counter.
"All muscle, no wonder it's so damn chewy."
Bones snapped, organs ruptured repeatedly in the fight, but 'Regeneration' held him together as 'Bio Aura' whittled its health.
"Hahaha—! Winner's me in the end!"
Laughter finally came.
'Gluttony' must've kicked in—enough stamina to laugh now.
"Strong prey means good gains. Worth the hunt!"
Stuffing himself, stockpiling energy, crunching the magic stone—his body reacted instantly.
Muscles swelled and compressed cyclically.
Bones hardened, nerves sharpened, skin toughened.
"Phew... Nice."
Satisfied with his stronger body, he finished butchering the ogre.
Packing rare materials until his subspace pocket was full, retrieving his lost left axe, he looked around to leave...
"Wait, where the hell am I?"
Deep forest.
The fierce battle had wrecked the surroundings—lost his bearings.
Harley climbed a nearby tree to scout.
The vast sea of trees felt refreshing.
"Ahaha! Got too carried away and went too deep, huh?"
Lately, he'd tracked prey with beast senses, chasing new scents blindly into the depths.
The Northern Mountains' scale plus fixation on genes led to this mishap.
"Eh, at night I'll navigate by stars!"
No big deal.
A year-plus in Outerica, reading stars for direction was easy—no need for teleport circles.
Not that he could anyway, on cooldown.
Descending, he headed deeper to hunt till dusk.
As day faded...
Sniff sniff—
"Hm?"
Beast senses picked up a very familiar energy.
A nostalgic scent like home, long inhaled.
"Black magic?"
A faint trace, suppressed by a concealment field.
From his time in Hans's secret lab, he was 100% sure.
"Necromancer hiding?"
After a moment's thought, he stealthily followed the scent.
Something unsettling about the familiar vibe.
There, he found it.
A black magic barrier.
This feels familiar too.
Hans analyzed it through Harley's eyes.
The barrier from early days, right after Hans claimed the first Fragment of the Immortal King and became a demi-lich.
Oath of Reverse Heaven's concealment barrier.
They were hiding here too? Makes sense—they're too big for just Thalia Kingdom. They had some restriction back then.
All their souls had drained away.
Now Hans could ignore it, but hiding from the saintess meant no searching.
But now we found 'em.
A strange gladness surged...
Hm?
Hans sensed faint black mana flows through Harley's senses.
Sacrifice ritual in progress? And this...
'Forbidden Knowledge' black magic analyzed the situation.
Such rituals always left traces.
They usually moved immediately after, using post-sacrifice black mana for interdimensional gates—untraceable.
Miss them here, who knows when next.
"Heh... Can't let chance like this slip—gotta see their faces."
Grinning fiercely, he drew his twin axes and focused.
Denser aura from the ogre hunt wrapped the blades.
Body-generated bio energy filled them.
"Hahaha—shatter!"
Axes arced hugely from behind his shoulders, smashing the barrier.
BOOM—!
A hole tore open amid the blast, revealing a hidden cave.
Ruckus from inside, but Harley strode in boldly.
"Can't stand seeing you lot thrive."
They'd backstabbed Hans and massacred villagers—same crew.
If exploitable, fine—but otherwise, full sabotage.
Grab loot if possible.
Worst case, bail!
Not doing this for grudges or anything.
Racing toward thick black magic scent, a group of humans burst out.
"What?! Who're you?!"
"Stop him!"
Necromancer minions.
One knight-grade, five mercenary-level.
No need to wait—full power!
Harley's leg muscles swelled; he coiled like a predator.
Then—
Bang!
He was already in the knight's face.
"Urk! You dare!"
Black mana surged on his drawn sword.
Despite the ambush, he deftly parried Harley's axe.
Clang—
"What?!"
But that was his mistake.
As his body reeled from the insane strength—
Slash!
Harley's other axe took his head.
Complacency is your worst enemy.
His skill and black mana should've made it harder, but assuming Harley was normal doomed him.
"Kahaha! All at once!"
Cackling, he charged the rest.
Moments later.
Blood-splattered, Harley raced down the passage again.
Mooks not worth minding. All necromancers deeper in?
Steeling for the showdown—
Something rapidly approached underground.
"What trick is this?!"
No killing intent, but from enemy turf? No goodwill.
As he swung his axe—
"Kyaa!"
A small girl popped from the earth.
Ragged clothes and black collar couldn't hide her cuteness.
Pointed ears, light green hair, orange eyes—elf girl clutching a twig.
In that instant, Harley realized who she was.
"...Hahaha! This is awkward!"
Forcing a hearty laugh to mask fluster, he scratched his head.
"So, little miss. What's your name?"
Confirming directly, smiling as softly as possible.
The musclebound stranger suddenly asking her name in a necromancer den made the elf girl shrink a bit, but she answered honestly.
"Ce... Cecily... Cecily."
In the heart of Oath of Reverse Heaven's hideout.
High elf candidate Cecily met barbarian warrior Harley.