Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: The Ogre's Sledgehammer
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Lee Si-woo's party steadily made their way toward the mid-slope of the mountain range where the ruins were located.
The path was quieter than expected.
This was partly due to the effectiveness of Van's concealment magic, and partly thanks to the unexpected performance of one individual.
When they reached a fork in the road, Yahalong called out to Lee Si-woo.
“Lee Si-woo, which way should we go now?”
At Yahalong's question, Lee Si-woo took out a ruby necklace and some pearl powder from his inventory ring.
Lee Si-woo used the pearl powder to draw three arrows: one pointing left, one center, and one right.
Next, clutching the ruby necklace tightly with both hands, he closed his eyes and bowed his head.
Like a priest offering a prayer, Lee Si-woo focused his mind in that posture, then slowly opened his eyes and shook the ruby necklace.
*Vwooom.*
The string of the ruby necklace, which had been vibrating faintly and swaying from side to side, snapped with a *ping* and fell onto the left arrow.
The ruby rolled around on top of the arrow.
Having divined the path they should take using 'Fortune-Telling', a 1st Circle mystery magic derived from Harman's knowledge, Lee Si-woo spoke.
“It's the left path.”
Ppan-ppan glanced sideways at Lee Si-woo, who had answered with a voice full of conviction, and muttered.
“So he really is a multi-root mage... Quite impressive, isn't he? To handle mystery magic. I hear it's not complex, but it's a magic you can't learn without considerable intuition.”
Van scoffed and said.
“What's the use of handling various schools of magic? By the time we reach the 2nd Circle, that fellow will still be a perennial 1st Circle mage. I heard he has six magic roots... At that rate, he might not even dream of reaching the 3rd Circle before he dies of old age.”
Van's reluctance to acknowledge the human Lee Si-woo was a manifestation of the beastman race's typical habit of looking down on humans, a habit he couldn't shake.
Ppan-ppan, who only reached Van's waist, nudged his thigh with an elbow and chided him.
“I understand how you feel, but you should restrain yourself. If you don't mind the time and place, Lord Yahalong will be furious.”
Displeased with his situation of having to be mindful of Yahalong, Van clicked his tongue softly and shut his mouth.
Meanwhile, Yahalong was stroking his chin, lost in thought.
“This way is quite a detour...”
As Yahalong kept glancing at the faster central path instead of the detour to the left, Lee Si-woo spoke firmly.
“The fact that you, Lord Yahalong, who already know the way, asked me for directions must mean you were looking for a safe path, not a fast one. Please don't lose the greater good for a moment of greed.”
It was the right thing to say, and it was true, so Yahalong smacked his lips and agreed.
“That's true. Alright, let's take the left path.”
However, had it been about twenty minutes since they chose the left path and started walking?
Yahalong frowned and grumbled.
“Hey, you said this was the safe path?”
Seeing the enemies blocking their path and exuding a piercing killing intent, Lee Si-woo shrugged and replied.
“Fortune-telling isn't always one hundred percent accurate, is it? And honestly, we've avoided enemies for quite a while now.”
In truth, Lee Si-woo felt that rather than his divination being wrong, this path was still safer than the central one, even if they had encountered enemies.
This was because fortune-telling only pointed to a relatively safer path, not one completely devoid of danger.
As soon as Lee Si-woo finished speaking, the inventory ring of one of the enemies in front of them began to glow.
An elven woman, who had drawn a bow-shaped Mabo, pulled back the string. The wind born from her fingertips transformed into the shape of an arrow.
[2nd Circle Elemental Magic: Wind Slasher]
As the wind arrow, enhanced by the Mabo, flew toward them fiercely exuding currents of wind, the party scattered in all directions.
The wind arrow pierced straight through the center of their formation, tearing the concealment magic to shreds and revealing the party that had been hidden behind the space.
The elven woman asked in a voice thick with hostility.
“Are you the ones who killed Marvin?”
Though he didn't know who Marvin was, Yahalong had a good idea who she was referring to and retorted sarcastically.
“Ah, that little rat who was spying on us? He crossed over to the other side a long time ago.”
They had already crossed a point of no return to be settled with just a few words.
Sensing that a battle was inevitable, Yahalong tried to provoke and rattle them, but the elven woman, instead of getting agitated, gave hand signals with a cold expression.
Following the elven woman's gestures, the enemies moved in perfect sync.
The numbers were 4 against 4; despite losing Marvin the space mage, the numbers were even.
Believing they wouldn't be pushed back, the elven woman calmly issued her orders.
“Two of you take the human. The other one will follow me to tie up the three of them. There may be three, but since one is a space mage, it won't be too difficult to handle them. So, you two, finish off the weak one quickly and rejoin us.”
There was no reply. Only action.
Instead of targeting Van, who would be the top priority for protection, the enemies aimed for Lee Si-woo, who they identified as the next weakest.
A kobold mage took out a crystal-shaped artifact from his inventory ring, pointed at Lee Si-woo, and muttered.
“Isolate.”
A crystal-shaped mana field spread out from the artifact, enveloping the kobold mage, a dryad mage, and Lee Si-woo.
It was Isolate, a 2nd Circle space magic that trapped up to three targets in the same space for a short period of about three minutes.
As the enemies blatantly targeted Lee Si-woo using a space artifact, Yahalong spat out a curse under his breath.
“How dare these pathetic things...!”
Yahalong took out an armor-shaped Mabo.
The leather armor, as if alive, wrapped itself seamlessly around the troll Yahalong's massive body.
Seeing the armor-shaped Mabo, the elven woman realized what kind of mage Yahalong was and drew her bowstring.
“He's an earth mage! It'll be a pain if he casts a spell, so interrupt him with a Mez artifact immediately!”
At the elven woman's command, the imp mage beside her took out a candle artifact from his inventory and lit it.
As white smoke rose, the imp mage blew on it with a *huff*.
Yahalong, who inhaled the smoke carried by the wind, staggered from a sudden wave of dizziness and fell to his knees.
Seizing the opportunity, the elven woman's eyes widened as she released the bowstring.
*Swiiish-!*
The arrow, imbued with a current of wind, struck Yahalong directly.
With a satisfying *thwack*, Yahalong was thrown backward.
Blood and flesh burst from his side as if he'd been hit by a cannonball, soaking the ground.
She had landed a perfect blow, but the elven woman had no time to rejoice.
She witnessed Van, who had teleported right next to her in an instant.
[1st Circle Space Magic: Blink]
Van aimed for the elven woman's arm with the scimitar he gripped tightly.
The elven woman, who dodged the attack with the fluid movements of a ballerina, was enveloped in wind.
[1st Circle Elemental Magic: Haste]
Her agility increased by 1.3 times, the elven woman's lightning-fast high kick struck Van squarely in the face.
*Thwack!*
However, with the toughness characteristic of a beastman, Van took the elven woman's attack with a scoff.
No matter how impressive an elf's physical abilities were, they were only superior compared to humans; they were no match for a beastman.
And then, a boulder fell from the sky.
*CRASH!*
[2nd Circle Elemental Magic: Stone Armor]
Stone Armor, originally a buff-type magic, increases defense and strength by 1.5 times, but when wearing a Mabo amplifying armor, it increases to 2 times.
Thus, the current Yahalong possessed twice his usual defense and strength.
Was that all?
His side, which had been torn away completely by the Wind Slasher, had already fully regenerated, and the Stone Armor now covered it.
It was the troll's 4-star Talent, Regeneration.
“Uwahahaha--!”
With a triumphant laugh, Yahalong's stone fist rushed toward the elven woman.
A blow with the force of a charging train.
But it was useless if it didn't connect.
The elven woman dodged the stone fist aimed at her with a somersault.
Soaring above Yahalong's head, she aimed her bow downward and drew the string.
[2nd Circle Elemental Magic: Wind Slasher]
*CRASH!*
The wind arrow shot from above struck Yahalong's head directly, but the stone helmet's defense was so solid that it failed to inflict any significant damage.
The elven woman gritted her teeth and continuously fired wind arrows to keep Yahalong in check, but each time, he just laughed heartily and blocked the attacks with ease.
It was like striking steel armor with wooden arrows.
The matchup disadvantage was clear.
Meanwhile, Van was struggling against the imp mage.
*Swoosh!*
The scimitar cut futilely through the empty air.
Annoyed, Van's eyes searched for the imp, but he staggered from the encroaching dizziness and shook his head vigorously.
The imp, seeing Van unable to compose himself after inhaling the smoke from the candle artifact, cackled and cast a spell.
[2nd Circle Elemental Magic: Fire Whip]
The fire whip lashed Van's wrist.
Feeling the searing heat, Van instinctively deployed his mana shield, but the subsequent impact chipped away a large chunk of his mana.
Van groaned in surprise at the violent drain of mana, so intense that his magic roots throbbed.
“Kuh...”
Van's fighting style relied on his superior beastman physique and the quintessential overpowered 1st Circle magic, Blink, but due to the limitations of a space mage being weak to offensive magic, he was inevitably vulnerable in a one-on-one fight.
“Why would a mere space mage step forward like that? You should have just stayed back and provided support.”
The imp, who had been chattering excitedly, suddenly flinched and touched the back of his neck.
He felt a thin, foreign object at his fingertips.
Realizing a needle had been stuck in his neck without him noticing, the imp's jaw trembled.
“A poison needle? Th-that goblin. When on earth...”
Struck by the needle coated in the goblin's 3-star Talent, Paralysis Poison, the imp fell to his knees.
Ppan-ppan, who had appeared silently behind the imp, grinned like a green-skinned rascal.
“Keke, surprised? Well, I am quite skilled, you see.”
[2nd Circle Dark Magic: Shadow Snare]
Shadow ropes shot out from the imp's shadow and bound him tightly.
Suddenly reduced to the state of snared prey, the imp struggled and shrieked.
“Aaargh! When the hell are those damned bastards coming out! Why is it taking so long for two of them to take down one human!”
A calm voice soothed the screaming imp.
“Are you looking for these friends?”
Two heads rolled to the imp's feet.
The imp swallowed hard and looked down at the heads of the kobold and the dryad that had bumped against his feet.
Half of each head was gone without a trace, as if struck by something immense, leaving only one eye on each.
As if filled with resentment, the single, wide-open eyes seemed to speak to the imp.
*You'll be next.*
“N-no way. These guys... they're not the type to go down so easily...”
*THUD!*
The imp turned his head at the heavy sound of a chunk of iron slamming into the ground.
A crude, iron two-handed sledgehammer, the kind you might see at a construction site, was embedded in the earth.
Near the handle of the hammer, which was covered in all sorts of scratches, was an inscription in the Ogre language.
Smash, Crush, Destroy.
It was a truly Ogre-like phrase, and a chilling one for anyone who knew of an Ogre's monstrous strength.
Recognizing the two-handed sledgehammer as an Ogre Weapon—said to be wieldable only by Ogres—the imp's jaw began to chatter.
“Y-you're insane! How can a mere human wield an Ogre Weapon?!”
Lee Si-woo, his entire skin emitting a platinum glow, lifted the sledgehammer.
The simple act of lifting it seemed to use every muscle in his body, and veins bulged on his forehead.
An Ogre Weapon, the exclusive armament of an Ogre over level 450, was not something Lee Si-woo should have been able to handle.
But there was almost nothing in the world money couldn't solve.
By enchanting it with a sealing magic that required an exorbitant amount of points, he had been able to drastically lower the Ogre Weapon's usage restrictions.
Of course, its power was significantly reduced, but that didn't matter.
As they say, quality is quality; even with the restriction lowered to his level of 250, the Ogre Weapon’s fearsome presence remained intact.
“As is often the case in this world, there are few things that can't be solved with money. And well, there are few things as thrilling as spending it.”
Thinking about the entire fortune he had spent to craft the Ogre Weapon left a bitter taste in Lee Si-woo's mouth, but at the same time, he was satisfied with the result, which was worth every penny.
It was a weapon that performed exactly as much as he had paid for it.
With a grunt of effort, Lee Si-woo heaved the sledgehammer onto his shoulder.
“I hear hammers are in season. Care for a taste?”