Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: He Has Returned
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Serack!
The Frost Sword sliced through the air.
The sensation of piercing tough scales and shattering bone.
A familiar, thrilling feel in his hands.
Thud!
At the same time, a massive body crashed to the ground.
One of the great jungle predators, the Giant Viper.
The enormous snake monster met its end.
'I've definitely gotten stronger.'
On his way back to Sobkov Territory.
Damian hadn't stopped devouring.
Whenever an opportunity arose, he hunted relentlessly.
To test his new power and fill in the gaps.
'Frost Sword.'
The new weapon gripped in his hand.
The chilling aura from the winter elf's legacy gathered at his fingertips.
A cold, sharp sensation.
'Rending Wind Mana Breathing.'
And the power passed down from the kingdom's greatest knight.
These had elevated Damian to an entirely new level.
Shoooo...
Cold energy flowed along the blade.
An intimidating pressure that froze even the surrounding air.
'This should be enough.'
Now all that remained was reaching Sobkov Territory.
Delivering the prince's letter and joining the operation that was about to begin.
'The problem is...'
No matter how he looked at it, something was off.
Take the Giant Viper he'd just hunted, for example.
A clear upper-tier specimen, not something you'd encounter outside the deep jungle.
'And there are too many of them.'
All the way here, he'd hunted countless orcs and trolls.
He'd even taken down several high-tier ones rarely seen beyond the jungle's edge.
'Just the troll berserkers crossing over caused a huge uproar.'
No matter how he sliced it, the situation was far from normal.
It was right then.
"Grroooaaar!"
Something charged toward him, bellowing.
The figures that revealed themselves amid the savage roars.
'Troll berserkers.'
Bloodshot red eyes, ragged breaths.
A pack of troll berserkers gripped by madness.
'Four of them.'
And their numbers were four.
Even though this wasn't deep in the jungle.
'Something's definitely wrong.'
At this point, it was a foregone conclusion.
Damian readjusted his grip on the Frost Sword.
'Let's end this quickly.'
It used to be different.
Facing even one meant staking his life.
But not anymore.
Flash!
Movements too fast for troll berserkers to react.
Clean sword strikes unfolding simultaneously.
Serack!
In a single blow.
It couldn't even resist.
Its waist had been cleaved in two.
"Grk...?"
The tribesmen's bodies were bisected.
No matter how berserk, they had to hesitate.
But Damian showed no mercy.
Slash!
He severed the neck of the retreating berserker.
Stab!
Pierced the heart of the one charging late.
Scriiik!
Sliced the upper body of the one ambushing from behind.
Thud!
It all happened in an instant.
Damian wasted no time.
'Something's not right.'
No time to savor the aftertaste of devouring.
The moment he tried to mount his horse.
"...!"
He felt it.
A presence from far away.
'Humans.'
Not monsters—clearly human movements.
His honed senses pinpointed their location and numbers.
'Quite a few.'
Damian moved silently toward them.
And soon enough, he encountered them.
"...Sir Damian?"
No one other than Elena Sobkov.
And the routed soldiers she led.
"Lady Elena?"
Their state was wretched.
Torn armor, broken weapons.
Faces smeared with blood and sweat.
Eyes mixed with terror and despair.
"Why are you here...?"
Elena asked in disbelief.
A flash of relief crossed her eyes.
But it was fleeting.
"His Highness the Prince...?"
A question laced with anticipation.
Damian shook his head.
"I'm alone. I came ahead to deliver the news."
Her expression crumbled at his words.
The face of her last remaining hope shattered.
The routed soldiers slumped in dazed despair.
Despair hung in the air.
"What exactly happened?"
Damian asked calmly.
"...An unreal wave occurred."
Elena forced her lips apart.
Her voice trembled faintly.
"On a whole different level from before. Organized, overwhelming in scale."
The start of an unprecedented grand offensive.
"It wasn't just Lament's Ridge. They'd carved multiple paths through the mountains and tunnels."
The mountains were one thing, but the tunnels were fatal.
Silent infiltration impossible to detect in advance.
"Of course, we could hold up to that point. We'd made ample preparations, and the royal reinforcements were still stationed there. We believed we could repel them."
In other words.
They ultimately couldn't.
Elena continued slowly.
"But then... that thing appeared."
"That thing?"
"The true king of the great jungle."
The true king of the eastern great jungle.
Damian's brow twitched at the phrase.
It couldn't mean the shaman king, Kaldaram.
"The true king...?"
"That monster... the ogre called itself that."
An ogre as the true king of the great jungle?
Not the intelligent, shaman-wielding savages?
"Bigger than any ogre we've seen, with two heads..."
Known as the Double-Headed Ogre.
A mighty magical beast from legends.
And such a creature had actually appeared?
Here, in Sobkov Territory?
"When it showed up, everything fell apart."
Tears streamed from Elena's eyes.
Not from fear, but rage.
"Black magic... the power it wielded was definitely black magic."
Black magic.
The name surfaced once more.
"We couldn't stop it. The defensive line collapsed in an instant. In the end, we scattered, and we..."
A far more serious situation than imagined.
Damian asked up to that point.
"What of the Grand Lord?"
The most crucial question.
The survival of Grand Lord Mikhail.
"..."
Elena's expression grew grave.
Her reddened eyes spoke her despair.
"Father..."
She barely continued.
"Said he'd buy time for the retreat..."
But that was it.
She couldn't go on.
It was enough.
"...First."
A moment's deliberation.
Damian spoke.
The urgent matters first.
"Pull yourself together."
"..."
"If the Grand Lord has met his end, then from now on, Lady Elena, you are the Grand Lord of Sobkov."
"...!"
"Of course, I hope that's not the case, but we must assume the worst right now."
At Damian's words, Elena regained some composure.
The mercenary who'd once struggled against a single troll.
Now, he assessed the situation more calmly than anyone.
"...Yes, I'll keep my wits about me."
Damian reminded her of her duty.
He scanned the surroundings briefly, then said to her,
"Lady Elena, from now on, search for the scattered forces and rally them back together."
They couldn't afford to be picked off individually.
They needed to regroup.
Especially to mount a counterattack.
"Can you do it?"
"I'll do it. Somehow."
Elena steeled her resolve swiftly.
Damian nodded.
"Then move out."
"And you, Sir Damian...?"
"I will."
Damian paused.
Then gazed into the distance.
Toward the battlefield, where Lament's Ridge lay.
"Confirm the Grand Lord's fate."
"What? If that's the case, then I...!"
"Lady Elena, fulfill your duty as the territory's heir."
"..."
"That's more important."
"..."
"It's something only you can do."
No room for argument.
In the end, Elena nodded.
"Father... I leave him to you."
"Good. Then."
Damian mounted his horse.
A place that might as well be a death trap.
Yet it stirred a strange excitement.
Toward the battlefield, Lament's Ridge.
Kwaaaang!
The earth trembled.
And blood sprayed.
"...Not a single one."
Grand Lord Mikhail Sobkov.
He stood alone, cutting down hordes of monsters.
An extreme battle to buy time for retreat.
"Will pass."
His breath burned like lava.
Blue steam erupted from his entire body.
'Mana Awakening.'
Different from when he'd faced the earth spirit.
He had fully unlocked the awakening stage.
Thus, his body blazed with blue light.
Slash! Kwaaaang!
The might of a sword expert burning his life force.
For a time, the battlefield was his stage.
However.
'...I don't know how much longer I can hold.'
Mikhail knew.
His life force was dwindling.
The price of full mana awakening would be severe.
"Cough!"
He spat black blood.
Organs twisting and tearing in agony.
The limit approached.
'Still.'
He couldn't stop here.
Not enough time for retreat yet.
He needed to buy just a bit more.
'Especially... that one.'
Mikhail's gaze fixed on a spot.
A colossal monster stood there.
Overwhelming bulk, two heads.
The Double-Headed Ogre.
[......]
The beast that had shattered the battlefield with powerful black magic.
Now it watched the Grand Lord from the rear.
As if savoring the scene.
'If that thing steps in directly...'
It would probably be over.
He couldn't endure in his current state.
"...!"
And that thought bore fruit.
Both heads turned to Mikhail simultaneously.
Four eyes gleaming with mockery and murderous intent.
The right head spoke.
In clear human tongue.
The left head agreed.
Again, in clear human tongue.
'Where the hell did such a monster come from?'
A Double-Headed Ogre, of all things?
And one that wielded human speech as a black mage?
A creature never once observed in the territory's history?
'And it's commanding the monster wave.'
An utterly unforeseen variable.
They'd expected savages at worst.
The true epicenter of this entire crisis.
'We... no, I was too complacent.'
A clear blunder.
But regret was too late.
He could only fulfill his duty.
Until his final spark of life faded.
'If Elena regroups the forces and joins with the royal reinforcements...'
There was ample room for a counterattack.
Especially with Gert Khan there.
And Damian Winter.
'So I must buy time somehow...'
Right then.
The true king of the great jungle.
The monster that had introduced itself as 'Grundashi'.
It extended a massive hand.
Kugugugugu...!
An ominous, evil mana wave.
At its end, a black fireball bloomed.
'...It's coming.'
The black magic flames that had broken the defensive line.
They manifested once more.
To finish off the Grand Lord.
'Can't dodge...'
He'd expended too much power already.
No strength left to survive that massive fireball and its explosion.
The shadow of death loomed before him.
'I'm sorry, Elena.'
His daughter's face came to mind.
Guilt for burdening her with so much.
The black fireball flew at him.
The moment he resolved to accept it all.
Flash!
Someone kicked off the ground.
On a battlefield where only monsters remained.
Who could make such a sound?
And from the direction the flames approached.
"...?"
The Grand Lord opened his tightly shut eyes.
And witnessed the unfolding scene.
'...What's that?'
There was a single man there.
Throwing himself at the black flames.
Swinging his sword simultaneously.
Shuwaaaak!
And that was just the start.
The moment the man's sword cleaved the fireball.
Kwaaaaaang!
A massive explosion erupted.
Scorching heatwave included.
"Urk!"
When the hot dust cleared.
The Grand Lord sensed someone before him.
"You..."
The reinforced Black Viper Leather Armor.
The elven buckler that blocked the explosion's aftermath.
The unfamiliar sword radiating chill.
"...Damian?"
Damian Winter.
He had returned.
At the most desperate moment.
To the most desperate battlefield.