I Must Get Stronger! (7) - Sudden Intruders
I Must Become Stronger! (7) - Sudden Intruders
[ Thump- Thump- Thuuump- ]
Making the ground tremble, what walked out from within the fog towards the party was an Ogre.
Even larger than the giant Barek, twice his size,
an overwhelming mass easily exceeding 4 meters in height.
"An Ogre... Were there Ogres that looked like this?"
Luke stumbled backward, unable to hide his shock.
The creature's oppressive aura didn't just come from its abnormal size.
Clinging to its entire body were rotting swamp mud and black Demonic Energy intertwined, covering its entire form like natural armor,
and in its hand was a gigantic club made from the entire root of an ancient tree, as large as a house.
What was most terrifying was the crimson glow emanating from its two eyes—
It wasn't the gaze of a beast that had lost its intelligence, but the cunning and cruel light characteristic of a Magical Beast that reveled in slaughter.
"Groooaaaar-!!"
The Ogre let out a roar that seemed to tear eardrums—
with an explosive speed unbelievable for its massive size, it charged forward.
"Everyone, scatter! Don't face it head-on!!"
With Carlton's shout, the Mercenaries scattered in all directions.
Sven, who was at the very back, as he was far enough from the creature, pulled back his bowstring even as he retreated—
[ Pishoot-! Ping! ]
[ Kagaang-! Kaang! ]
Even though it was an arrow tipped with steel,
it couldn't pierce the creature's armor, hardened with mud, and bounced off uselessly, like a wooden stick hitting a rock.
"Its body is much tougher than we thought!"
"Krrrk!"
The Ogre looked down disdainfully at the humans who had scattered and created distance, and instead of deliberating which one to crush first—
[ Kwaaaaaang-! ]
"!!!"
It slammed its gigantic ancient tree club down onto the ground.
"Uwaaak!"
"Watch out!"
As if an earthquake had struck, the ground shook violently, and the Mercenaries lost their balance and fell.
Rotten swamp mud and rock fragments flew up in all directions like bombs.
But—
[ Tatat- ]
Exploding Mana at her feet, Rose soared into the air, extending her left hand, clad in a Gauntlet, while airborne.
"Tear apart!"
[ Chwaaaak-! Chwaak! ]
Amplified through the Gauntlet, sharp blades of wind were fired in quick succession,
and with a tearing sound slicing through the air, invisible slashes directly struck the Ogre's chest and shoulder.
[ Kwagagagak-! ]
"Kueeeoh!"
It scraped off the creature's mud armor and left scratches, but that was all.
The attack had scraped off the skin's surface, but hadn't reached the muscles or bones.
'Too tough. If I try to peel off all that armor this way, my Mana will run out first!'
Rose bit her lip tightly as soon as she landed.
The creature's weaknesses were its face, the joints not covered by mud armor, and its nape.
But the creature, unfitting for its massive size, swung its ancient tree club with terrifying speed, not allowing any approach.
Even attacking its desired weak points was not easy in this situation—
"Everyone, support Rose-yang!"
"!!"
As if they had read Rose's dilemma,
the Mercenaries, having regrouped,
using Carlton's shout as a signal, charged at the Ogre from four directions.
- If you encounter a difficult opponent, while we distract it, please defeat it.
This is that time—as if to say,
[ Chwaak- Chwaaak- ]
[ Spat- Chwiiik- ]
"Krrraaraaaah-!!"
Indeed, from four directions, the Mercenaries were distracting the enemy.
Although their attacks couldn't even scratch the creature's armor, the Ogre's gaze began to waver back and forth as if chasing annoying flies.
As Rose, watching for an opening, gathered Mana and prepared to leap out—
[ Teol-sseok- ]
"Ah!"
Luke, who had been distracting the creature by slashing its leg from the left, tripped over an exposed tree root in the swamp and fell.
"Kyaaaah!"
The Ogre, noticing this, didn't miss the opportunity,
and as if crushing an annoying fly, its gigantic club swung through the air towards Luke's head—
"!!!"
"Luke!!"
[ Teong- ]
Rose, who had instantly darted forward, pushed away the fallen Luke,
and extended her Gauntlet, imbued with Mana, to block the creature's attack.
No, it seemed like she had blocked it for a moment, but from that attack—
"Aaaahk-!!"
[ Kwajik- ]
Rose's body flew like a piece of paper and slammed into a thick tree trunk.
"Rose-yang!"
Carlton's piercing scream.
'That was a foolish choice—'
Amidst the throbbing pain in her ribs, Rose barely managed to get up, and thought.
According to the plan, as they had previously agreed,
if she had aimed for the opening right after the Ogre's attack on Luke—
she could have inflicted a fatal wound, be it on its nape or anywhere else.
Of course, if she had done that, Luke would have been crushed by the club and turned into a lump of meat.
'I can't do that.'
Rose had no intention of sacrificing someone to that extent to defeat the creature.
It wasn't simply because she was still a weak, novice Guardian—
"Huuuuh..."
As if embracing the Rapier clutched in both hands, blue Mana shimmered like a haze.
It was because Rose was confident she could win against the creature.
Without sacrificing anyone.
"Everyone, stand back!"
A risky gamble.
Drawing out Mana to its limit, like Risolde had done when she cut down the Golem, to cleave the creature in two with a gigantic sword of light—
She would collapse from Mana depletion immediately afterward, but she believed the creature's massive Mana, which she would absorb right away, would restore it.
An extreme strategy that only a rookie Guardian who still lacked total Mana could attempt.
If she couldn't finish it in one go...?
'...Let's not think about that.'
Rose, having made up her mind, gathered more and more Mana at the tip of her Rapier—
The Ogre, sensing this unusual energy as well,
raised its gigantic ancient tree club and approached.
[ Thump- Thump- Thump- ]
'Just one chance. I have to evade its attack, and defeat it in a single blow!'
Both Rose and the Ogre, as well as the surrounding Mercenaries, held their breath, instinctively knowing this single strike would decide the outcome—
[ Swaeeaeek-! ]
Someone rushed out.
From within the fog,
a silver-haired swordswoman.
[ Chwaak- Chwaaak- Chwaak- ]
"Kraaak?!"
From the creature's flank, a longsword swiftly slashed its leg.
With that attack, the hard mud armor was cut away—
and as a deep wound was inflicted on the flesh beneath, dark red blood gushed out.
"...Who...?"
"Kraaaaaah!"
The enraged Ogre, forgetting even Rose, who was emitting Mana right in front of it,
turned its body and kicked towards the woman who had suddenly intervened—
As if she had already anticipated it, the swordswoman threw herself aside, narrowly dodging the attack—
[ Chwaaak-!! ]
"Kraaaaaaah!!"
From the opposite side, another swordsman appeared and deeply slashed the back of the creature's calf.
A strike much deeper and more fatal than the swordswoman's previous attack.
As blood gushed out like a fountain,
the massive body of the Ogre staggered and lost its balance.
'What the, without even using Mana, how could they...!'
The armor that Rose had found difficult to pierce even with Mana-infused attacks was easily split open,
and the two people inflicted fatal wounds on the creature's core.
"Tch, I intended to cut off its leg, but its body is tougher than I thought."
But the Blond Swordsman, frowning in dissatisfaction as if even that blow wasn't to his liking,
[ Hwiiiiiing-!! ]
without dodging, he swung his longsword towards the Ogre's gigantic ancient tree club that was swinging down at him.
[ Woo-woong- ]
His sword, from which a dazzling white Aura bloomed.
[ Kukwakwakwa-Kwajijijik- ]
"Kueeeeuuuk-!!"
The impact of their attacks colliding.
A deafening roar erupted as if exploding—
The swordsman was pushed back several meters, dragging his feet on the ground.
But what surprised everyone who witnessed the clash was not the Ogre's monstrous strength that had pushed him back so far—
but the Ogre's gigantic club, which had shattered into pieces upon colliding with the swordsman's longsword.
"Karrrr..."
The Ogre, bewildered by its broken weapon.
"No... that brute force, head-on... "
The Mercenaries were astonished by the man who had withstood the creature's attack.
"Damn it, it's stronger than I thought! Sherin, what are you doing?!"
But perhaps the situation wasn't as leisurely as it seemed, as the Blond Swordsman shouted with a crumpled expression—
"...I will attack."
The silver-haired swordswoman, Sherin, who had approached silently from behind, swiftly attacked the Ogre's back.
Aiming for the deep wound the man had inflicted earlier,
[ Chwaak- Chwaaak- ]
a persistent attack that continuously hacked at the same spot.
But perhaps her sword didn't possess the same destructive power as the man's,
or perhaps the adrenaline surging in the moment of crisis had numbed the creature's pain,
"Kraaak-!!"
With a furious roar, the Ogre wildly swung its two gigantic fists into the air—
and the two swordsmen had no choice but to create distance and evade its indiscriminate attacks.
"Hey, Guardian over there! Aren't you aiming for its Mana? Don't just stand there stupidly, if we've done this much, you finish it yourself!"
"Uh... ah... yes...!"
Rose, who had been watching the fight in a daze, snapped back to her senses at the sudden address.
"Alright, let's scatter and go, Sherin. This time, it's just a distraction! Until that foolish Guardian moves!"
"Yes."
The two scattered left and right and ran out.
And the Ogre, even with its leg wounded, raised both arms high into the sky and roared as it faced them.
"Kraaaaaaah-!!"
Rose once again gathered Mana with her Rapier to create a gigantic sword of light,
[ Woo-woo-woong- ]
kicking off the ground and soaring up.
'I mustn't use all my strength...!'
Unlike before, she didn't gather Mana to its limit with the resolve to throw herself into the attack.
Because the Ogre was already wounded and couldn't pay attention to her—
Besides, those two people, whoever they were, were somewhat unsettling opponents, and she didn't want to use all her strength with them around—
[ Swaeeaeek-! ]
A blue flash of light sliced through the air,
[ Puu-wook- ]
Though she had left some leeway, it was a powerful strike—
As the beam of light extending from the tip of her Rapier pierced through the Ogre's thick neck,
"Keo...heo...keueu...."
The Ogre, clutching its neck and staggering, its massive body finally toppled backward.
[ Kung-! ]
At the same time, she felt the immense Mana gushing from its body swirl and get absorbed into her.
A tremendous sense of fullness she hadn't felt from other Magical Beasts in the swamp.
"Huuu..."
As Rose exhaled roughly and retracted her Rapier,
the Blond Swordsman, confirming the situation was over, approached.
"You're slower than I thought, but passable. Deluna's Guardian, Risolde."
"...Ah. I'm not Risolde..."
"......Huh? Then what are you?"
To ask 'what' to a person.
With an expression that said, 'What about you—'
Rose looked at the two people in front of her.
< Illustration - Sudden Interruption >
