Chapter 12
Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Battle with the Ogre
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"It's better if you know."
Arin had warned him.
"The fact that I came looking for you means the Demorus heir war has begun."
Heir war.
The war to select the next head of the Demorus family had started.
"The road to Demorus will be your trial."
This was a test.
No.
'Main quest.'
It would be the main quest of this final life given to him—the life of the underworld's heir.
"The powerhouses of Demorus can seek out the Demorus bloodline and have the qualifications to become their guardians."
And so.
"You might encounter them on the road to Demorus."
Arin had clearly warned him.
"Another Demorus."
He would encounter someone like himself.
"Ha."
Sein scoffed.
"Similar to me, huh."
What Arin meant was simple.
The same bloodline.
Those who had inherited the power of Demorus.
He grinned.
"But if that's all..."
Step.
"Daring to compare yourself to me."
He and they could never be similar beings.
Grip.
He tightened his hold on the sword in his hand.
That said, he didn't ignore Arin's warning.
This was a world similar to yet different from the one he knew.
He couldn't predict what differences existed, nor could he assume they weren't dangerous.
"But that changes nothing."
By now, Sein's eyes had calmed.
"I..."
He halted his steps.
"Will survive."
He would survive.
He would survive and finally move toward his goal.
The world he once loved so dearly.
The world that had now become his prison.
"If the place I live is hell..."
The world where he had fallen and had to pay the price.
If that place was hell.
"Then I'll just turn it into heaven."
The spot where Sein had stopped was a low mountain in Borfeo.
It was the Borfeo Iron Mine, once said to produce enough iron ore to sustain a kingdom.
But shortly after the old empire fell, it filled with monsters, making iron production impossible, or so the tales went.
"Hey!"
Here stood Sein Demorus, heir of the underworld.
"Take a customer."
This was the starting point of his heir war.
Rumble!
The iron mine began to shake.
Rumble! Rumble!
Noises loud enough to hint at what was happening inside echoed out.
"Good thing. I was about to break down the door if you kept me waiting."
Sein's voice rang out.
Thud!
With another resounding noise, someone emerged from the iron mine.
It was a hulking figure so massive it could be called a giant.
Over two meters tall, with closely cropped hair.
"A thief?"
A voice like tearing cloth.
That was the guy.
"I thought you'd only gouged out the Cyclops's eye, but you took its eyeball too?"
They advanced toward each other.
"Do I look like a thief to you?"
"No."
Sein looking up, the ogre looking down.
"You look like a stray mongrel."
That was the moment they faced off.
Boom!
With a roar, the ogre's fist smashed down on where Sein had stood.
Dust scattered.
Amid the dispersing smoke, a faint tremor appeared.
"You're a real ogre, huh?"
Sein's sword was blocking the ogre's fist.
*
*
*
The man called the ogre.
The man who one day came to Borfeo and single-handedly took over the back alleys.
The man who, for daring to defy him, took someone's eyeball, someone's arm, someone's leg, someone's ear.
Boom!
He truly had the strength and body worthy of being called an ogre.
"Ha."
Sein let out a hollow laugh.
He leaped back, sword at the ready.
But that sword was trembling.
Shock from the clash just now.
Crack!
In an instant, Sein's sword shattered into pieces.
"What kind of strength is this?"
He hadn't unleashed aura.
This was just a greeting.
Yet his body, honed endlessly through training, inherited with past stats after the tutorial ended.
He staggered.
It was hard to withstand the ogre's power.
"You endured that."
The ogre's voice boomed.
"Did you just endure?"
Sein replied.
Drip, drip.
At the sound of droplets falling to the ground, the ogre's eyes widened.
Blood beaded on the fist that had struck Sein, trickling down.
"It's you."
The ogre spoke as if realizing something.
"The mad dog that's the talk of Borfeo."
Sein drew another sword.
It was a longsword he'd hastily modified, without time for proper forging.
"You only heard that much?"
"...Demorus? Is it true?"
"I can hardly believe it myself."
Sein assumed his stance again.
"You..."
Before Sein could finish.
Whoosh!
Sein's figure shot forward like a bullet, appearing right before the ogre.
"Share the same blood as me."
Slash!
The downward strike.
Different from before.
Unlike the greeting, it gleamed with mana light, enhancing the longsword's durability and cutting power.
And yet...
Tremble!
The ogre blocked Sein's sword.
Boom!
Light emanated from the ogre's fist.
Sein twisted away in haste, but too late.
The immense power from the ogre's fist.
Bam!
It sent Sein flying.
Sein crashed into the ruins of what proved this was once a mine.
"I can hardly believe it either."
The ogre took heavy steps toward him as he spoke.
"That trash like you shares my blood."
The ogre was like a mountain.
Legs firmly planted.
Fists like boulders.
"Just curious, so I'm asking."
"......!"
He'd felt it clearly from that blow, yet the ogre's eyes widened at the voice from the shattered ruins.
"Was your mother an ogre?"
A chill ran down the ogre's spine.
Swing!
The ogre sensed something amiss and swung his fist, but too late.
That massive height, that swung fist.
Beneath it, Sein flashed a grin.
"You're right. Your mother must've definitely been an ogre."
Stab!
The blade finally pierced the ogre's seemingly impenetrable flesh.
*
*
*
'Strength surpasses even the Dark Hobgoblin.'
Ogre.
'And he definitely knows how to wield mana.'
Among those he'd faced so far, some handled mana.
Darren had, and Cyclops and Wolf could draw out mana, albeit weakly.
But the ogre.
"...How dare you."
He definitely wielded mana.
No, more than that.
He could shape mana and use it.
"My mother... you insult her."
He could manifest aura.
"What insult? It's the truth."
Sein put distance between them.
"I never heard of your seed-sower having a build like yours. I don't ignore genetics, so your mother was definitely an ogre."
"Shut your mouth!"
"If you didn't know, learn now. Your mother is..."
Boom!
The air felt torn apart.
"An ogre!"
"Shut up!"
This time, the ogre moved.
His fist rocketed toward Sein's heart.
'Crazy bastard.'
He'd thought the inhuman strength meant slow speed, but that was a mistake.
That massive bulk and packed muscles produced overwhelming explosiveness.
Sein knew instinctively.
He couldn't block it.
Then.
'I'll deflect it.'
In that instant, Sein reversed his grip on the sword and twisted the blade.
Scraaape!
The ogre's fist met the flat of the sword.
Sparks flew between them.
Both had coated themselves in aura, giving even the ogre's human flesh fist diamond-like hardness.
But sparks meant.
Whoosh!
Sein had deflected the ogre's attack as desired.
Twirling like a dancer, he moved his free hand.
Dagger.
Stab!
It plunged into the ogre's back.
"Feels like fighting a bull."
He widened the gap again.
"Gr... Grrrraaaah!"
A roar filled with rage echoed through Borfeo's dark night.
The ogre turned.
His presence was far stronger than before, incomparable.
"The sin of insulting my mother won't end simply."
"If calling an ogre an ogre is a sin, I'll humbly accept it."
"...Smooth tongue."
The ogre, who moments ago seemed unable to contain his fury.
His eyes changed.
"Bova."
"......?"
"Bova Demorus. That's my name."
Roooar!
Crimson mana surged from his entire body like a geyser.
"What's your name, mad dog?"
Sein hardened his playful expression in the face of that aura.
"Sein."
"I'll kill you, Sein."
Boom!
Crimson mana exploded outward.
It took shape, enveloping Bova's body.
Sein had deliberately taunted Bova to draw out his rage.
The first Demorus opponent.
To gauge what they were, what they possessed.
Crackle!
And now, that secret was revealing itself.
'Ironclad Transformation.'
A rare lineage of skill.
Absorbing the mana of iron, imbuing mana with iron's properties.
Wrapping it like armor.
Boom!
A reinforcement skill that maximized defense, offense, and physical prowess.
Bova's fist slammed into where Sein had stood.
The impact cratered the ground, debris exploding outward.
Sein was gone.
'That was dangerous.'
If he'd blocked or deflected, he'd have shattered instead.
"So that's what you were doing in the iron mine—extracting iron's mana."
The reason the one called ogre holed up in the iron mine was revealed.
"But I'll show you—if that's all you've got."
Sein's eyes sharpened.
His sword, spinning in midair, took on a deeper blue glow.
Vivid aura.
"No need to play around anymore."
Sein's sword swung unhesitatingly for Bova's neck.
An unblockable stance and speed.
However.
Clang!
The metallic ring echoed.
"That's my line, Sein Demorus."
Bova blocked the aura-infused sword with his neck and grabbed Sein's leg.
"Ah. Shit."
Boom!
Sein's body smashed into the ground like a club.