The Severed Head of the Demon King, and the Diary (1)
From that day onward, I began that “effort.” Waking earlier than the others and sleeping later. Always clutching a pencil tipped with graphite, and when the lead was gone, scribbling away with charcoal scavenged from the campfire.
…while struggling never to take off my boots around my companions.
Kadros watched me with suspicion. Azalia sensed I was pushing myself too hard and cast worried glances my way.
Crossing rugged mountain ranges already left the body exhausted; with sleep in short supply, there were days I staggered and collapsed, forced to ride on Glazalus’s back for the entire day. True to his gentle nature, he never once complained.
Even so, we pressed steadily northward. The deeper we entered the Demon King’s domain, the more frequently grotesque monsters warped by the magic of the “gods beyond” emerged from forests and mountains alike.
Every creature that detected us had to be slain without exception, and the journey grew ever more grueling.
Then, in a certain forest, we finally encountered one of them—one of the Demon King’s six mighty lieutenants, the “Six Heads.”
There was no need to approach and confirm which of the Demon King’s heads we had met or where it stood. The colossal figure was visible even from hundreds of meters away.
A giant, blackened and twisted by the Demon King’s power, stood ten times taller than Glazalus, tearing through the forest. Its flesh, corrupted and pulsing with dark magic, made its original form difficult to discern, yet something about its skeletal structure… resembled Glazalus.
Kadros furrowed his brow and spat a string of dwarven curses. Azalia offered a brief prayer. Mervin remained silent, his expression tense.
I steadied my trembling voice as best I could and asked quietly, so the giant would not hear. My words came out hollow.
“What… is that…? An ogre… was it?”
Glazalus answered in an uncharacteristically somber tone.
“It is. Gormak the Runner. The One-Eyed Champion. The Demon King’s sixth head. Once the strongest in the northern plains. Once the swiftest. Now he is the most wretched. The weakest. For he knelt before the Demon King, all for a little more power.”
With every step the massive Gormak took, the forest shook like reeds and leaves fell like snow. We all understood: without bringing down this moving mountain of a giant, we would not advance another step.
We conferred in hushed voices. Gormak’s body was enormous, and the skin corrupted by magic revealed no obvious weaknesses. Given Glazalus’s own resilience, Gormak’s hide would surely be formidable as well.
“Whatever kind of monster it’s become, cut off its head and it dies.”
Kadros said as much, but Mervin quietly rebuked him.
“True. If you can leap forty times your own height.”
The dwarf warrior growled, yet Mervin was right, so Kadros merely muttered a few curses and fell silent.
“Still, we’re fortunate to be in a forest. Mervin, can you make use of the plants and creatures here somehow?”
At Azalia’s question, the elf gave a slight nod.
“I can. This place is not heavily corrupted. But we cannot know how much raw strength that giant possesses.”
“Gormak has no intelligence. He gained power and lost his mind. Outthink him and we win.”
Kadros snorted at Glazalus’s words and cut in.
“And you have intelligence?”
The ogre grinned proudly.
“Glazalus is very clever!”
Once the discussion ended, my companions all turned to look at me.
“Why… are you all staring at me like that…?”
“Because you’re the only one here who’s been to university, kid. Aside from that pointy-eared fellow whose schemes we can’t guess, you’re the smartest. Got any bright ideas for us? If solving riddles is what mages do, then this is exactly when a mage should step up.”
Kadros’s words… the shell was mocking, but the core was a request.
He was right. This was clearly an enemy that had to be faced with wisdom rather than strength. Among the party members, the one expected to provide that wisdom was, of course, the mage.
Yet I had never stepped beyond a baking table and a research desk. Even if it were an ordinary riddle, I could hardly conjure the kind of insight that would guarantee victory in a difficult battle.
‘No, Kaira. Pull yourself together, Dr. Lee Sun-hyeon. …Though I never actually got the doctorate. Still, I can’t disappoint my companions. I’ve never been able to heal them properly either, so at least this time…’
I closed my eyes briefly, drew a deep breath, and tried to clear my thoughts.
‘Right. Even if it’s a foolish plan, let’s try something.’
“Kad… ah, no. Son of the White Hammer Andrak, Lord Kadros, do you happen to have any scraps of metal on you?”
“What kind of idiotic question is that to ask a dwarf whose entire body is made of iron? My beautiful armor is forged from meteorite iron refined and imitated by dwarven hands—dwarven star-iron!”
“It was, wasn’t it… What exactly is that iron like? High hardness like cast iron, but brittle…?”
“No, how many times have I told you? Don’t compare it to that glass-like human scrap metal! It’s a mythical alloy of both strength and toughness. Even if a dragon’s foreclaw struck it, it would only dent slightly—never break!”
I see. That would suffice. I turned to Mervin next.
“Lord Mervin, are there enough vines in this forest to be useful in combat?”
The elf silently pointed to a nearby tree. Something like terrestrial kudzu had completely entwined one trunk. And it was not the only such tree.
“Understood. Lord Mervin, please cut as many of those vines as you can from the upper branches. Higher than an ogre’s height—so they won’t catch on us even if we run at full speed.”
“What are you planning? With that giant’s strength, those vines would snap like hair.”
“Well… actually, hair can be quite tough too……”
I smiled strangely.
“Hey, you black lump! I, the great Kadros, son of the White Hammer Andrak, have come to smash your skull!!”
The moment preparations were complete, Kadros moved to a highly visible spot and shouted. He was the fastest among us, making him the most suitable to lure the giant. Considering his heavy armor and bulk, it was a remarkable feat. And… he was also the one most likely to survive being stepped on. In truth, Mervin’s feet were slightly faster than Kadros’s, but he had to prepare the trap.
Kadros wrapped the “Mobia’s Haste” I had cast around his legs and charged forward with vigor. The plan was simple and reckless: provoke the giant, then lead it to the prepared trap. At first the giant failed to notice Kadros, but when the dwarf’s axe—large as the giant’s own torso—sliced deep into its ankle, it let out a roar and finally registered the small warrior.
Then our proud dwarf guard captain was sent flying at twice the speed he had charged. His magnificent dwarven star-iron armor must have protected him from serious injury. That, at least, was fortunate. The direction he flew was toward the trap we had prepared. Perhaps he had deliberately angled the blow to send himself that way.
The giant thundered across the earth like an earthquake, rushing to crush Kadros. True to his epithet “the Runner,” the speed of that enormous body was tremendous. Kadros had boasted that his armor would remain intact even after several stomps, but it hardly seemed possible.
While Kadros struggled to rise in his heavy armor, a resounding ogre cry drew Gormak’s attention elsewhere.
“Once-strong ogre, Gormak! You are weak now. Glazalus will kill you easily!!”
At the same time, Glazalus hurled a piece of scrap metal toward what was presumably the giant’s head—where its eye should be. Just before the ogre fired, I cast “Menelon’s Honey” on the iron projectile, fusing the scattershot into a single mass so it would strike like a slug.
The aim was not precise enough to pierce an eye, but striking the head at all was enough to secure Gormak’s full attention. Without hesitation the giant charged toward Glazalus. Glazalus, also under “Mobia’s Haste,” ran with all his might, yet the difference in size was so vast that he was quickly overtaken.
Our ogre swung his cannon in a final, futile resistance. The giant’s fist struck Glazalus’s stomach even faster.
“Hurk!!”
The massive ogre was sent flying like a straw. Gormak, apparently intent on finishing him, gave chase. In the very next instant, a thunderous crash rang out as if every tree in the forest were being uprooted at once.
“It caught!”
I had already cast “Melbrick’s Eccentric Character Replication” on the vines Mervin had strung in multiple layers. The spell transferred the physical properties of dwarven star-iron onto the vine trap. I had never imagined the spell I once considered using to repair pencils would be employed this way.
Thanks to Mervin’s mystical nature magic, which had merged the entire mass of vines into a single, kilometers-long strand, the feat was possible. The tangled, thorn-covered vines had become as hard and unbreakable as the finest dwarven star-iron, binding the giant’s legs. It was no wonder such a colossal frame lost its balance.
The moment I saw the giant flailing, I laid “Menelon’s Ice Sheet” beneath its feet. No matter how strong it was, without friction it had no choice but to fall—especially while entangled in steel-like vines.
Seeing the first stage of the plan succeed so smoothly, the tension drained from me and I sank to the ground.
‘Thank goodness……’
Perhaps the relief was too complete.
‘Ugh……’
I had relaxed the muscles in my lower abdomen too much. Just a little… a few drops seemed to have escaped. Since my companions were far away, they probably hadn’t noticed. I only hoped they wouldn’t tease me for being a bed-wetter.
‘Once the battle ends, I’ll have to sneak off to the latrine first……’
With that foolish thought, I pushed myself back to my feet. The enemy we still had to face was not yet dead.