I will. The amount is up to before Chapter 5, and I plan to delete it as of midnight tomorrow. Well then,
that’s all. ^^
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Orc warriors were hurriedly following behind Damon.
“Not bad.”
Having run out to the clearing outside the outpost, Damon tilted his head. His expectation that the ogre would be mindlessly devouring the orc it had dragged away had been completely off the mark.
Grrrrrr.
Though it was in the darkness, a silhouette massive enough to recognize at a glance stood beneath the moonlight. The orc that had been dragged out lay limply at its feet. Judging by the grotesque way its neck was twisted, it seemed to have died instantly.
Without paying the limp orc any attention, the creature fixed its gaze on Damon. Two orbs gleaming in the darkness swept over Damon’s body from head to toe.
From its appearance, Damon could tell that his opponent was a one-headed ogre. It was weaker than a twin-headed ogre, but superior in intelligence, making it an opponent one could never afford to underestimate. Glaring at that ogre, Damon began cautiously closing the distance.
Long ago, when Damon had first come here, he had been forced to fight an extremely difficult battle against an ogre. It had truly been a life-or-death struggle. He had ultimately won, but as the price, his body had been left a wreck……
But now it was different. Hadn’t dozens of ogres already departed this world by his hand? Though he was constrained by being unable to use magic, an ogre of this level was by no means a match for Damon. And so Damon strode straight toward the ogre.
“Kroa?”
Seeing the brazen orc sauntering toward it, a mocking light flashed through the ogre’s eyes. Since ancient times, for a hyena to face a lion, it had to attack in a large pack.
To a fully grown ogre, five orcs were not even worth a bit of post-meal exercise. Moreover, its opponent was nothing more than a wandering orc who did not even look like a warrior. To think such a thing was approaching alone—it was too absurd for the ogre to take seriously.
However, the creature was a seasoned ogre that had survived countless brushes with death. As if to prove it had not grown old for nothing, the ogre looked around, scanning its surroundings.
First, there were three orc warriors seemingly trying to cut off its retreat. Though they wore armor, even at a glance they were greenhorns not even three years old. They were no different from the one whose neck it had snapped. Since it sensed no other orcs lying in ambush, the ogre completely dropped its guard. With defenses like these, there was no need to go around; it could simply break through. But the ogre never dreamed that this would shorten its own lifespan.
Intending to kill the fearless wandering orc approaching it first, the ogre turned its head, only for a look of bewilderment to suddenly rise in its eyes. The one who should have been right in front of its nose was nowhere to be seen. As it looked around searching for him, a terrible pain suddenly shot up from its lower abdomen.
“Kuwaaak!”
The ogre sprang into the air. The pain was so terrible that its mind went blank, and it could only hop up and down on tiptoe to try to ease it. Tears and snot welled up, leaving it unable to properly see what was in front of it. Beside it, a small green silhouette slipped quietly away.
“Well, well. Did I miss?”
The green figure that had lightly stepped back and was watching the ogre go berserk was none other than Damon.
“Damn it.”
He suddenly put on a displeased expression. He had discovered that the spike of his gauntlet was smeared with blood and, at a glance, filthy excrement.
The place he had attacked was the ogre’s Huiyin point. It was an acupoint between the anus and the genitals where nerves were densely clustered; if struck there, one could not walk properly. He had intended to bind the creature’s feet that way and dispose of it leisurely, but because of the ogre’s thick hide, the spike had slipped and ended up stabbing its anus. In plain terms, the ogre had taken a direct hit to the rear.
“Filthy bastard. You don’t even wipe properly.”
Glancing at the ogre as it clutched its backside and hopped up and down, Damon grimaced, then picked up some leaves from the ground and wiped his gauntlet. Along with the blood came a smear of dirty waste.
Watching that, the ogre’s fury rose all the way to the top of its head. It had never dreamed that it would suffer a surprise blow from a trifling wandering orc whelp. Thinking to crush the creature flat, the ogre desperately endured the pain and turned its body.
Whoooosh.
The ogre surged toward its opponent like the wind. It had no doubt that a single punch would turn him into a bloody pulp…… The ogre’s movements were indeed exceedingly fast. Closing the distance in the blink of an eye, the ogre swung its cauldron-lid-sized fist at Damon without mercy.
Papapap!
At the tremendous sound of air being torn apart that burst out at just the right moment, the watching orcs felt their knees go weak. If one were hit by that fist…… body and armor would surely be mixed together in perfect harmony.
The ogre’s fist shot out with great momentum. Unfortunately, however, it struck nothing. Damon, who had waited until the fist came close, merely turned his body slightly, and the punch missed him by literally a hair’s breadth. There was no way Damon, a battle-hardened fighter through and through, would miss that opening.
Thud.
When he drove the spike into the crook of its arm, the ogre leaped as though struck by lightning. The pain of metal digging into a place where nerves were extremely concentrated was so intense it could not be described in words.
“Kuwooo.”
The ogre stood with its mouth wide open, its body trembling in pain. But Damon’s attacks continued without pause. Regardless of whether his opponent resisted or not.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Damon’s spike dug into the ogre’s vital points wherever it could. He did not care which were death points and which were fainting points. Any acupoint he found, he simply drove the spike into without leaving a single one untouched.
The ogre continued shaking as if it were an aspen tree.
It desperately thought it had to dodge, but it could not move its body at all. Though the attacks seemed like casual little taps, as if in jest, the body it had prided itself on as powerful could not withstand them. The extreme pain rising all the way to its marrow left it utterly unable to come to its senses……
The ogre was a veteran that had overcome countless hardships in its life. It had stubbornly survived by avoiding strong enemies unconditionally and thoroughly crushing weak ones. But for the sin of misjudging its opponent, the creature was forced to meet an utterly futile and miserable end. And also for the sin of having enjoyed eating humans.
When the Dazhui point between its neck bone and spine was torn open, the ogre’s body bent into the shape of the letter ㄱ. Soon, without even a scream, it laid its body upon the earth.
Thud.
The ogre, collapsed with its eyes rolled back, was drenched in blood from head to toe.
“Huff, huff.”
Damon, too, was covered in blood as he panted heavily again and again. Of course, it was not his blood. The tautness of his muscles and the fatigue transmitted from them were refreshing no matter how many times he experienced it.
Damon first removed the gauntlet and put it away. Perhaps because, in his transformed orc form, the gauntlet had not fit his hand properly, his exposed hand was covered in bruises.
“Bastard! Consider this the price for eating humans.”
After spitting that brief remark at the limp ogre, Damon turned around.
“Hm?”
At that moment, his eyes filled with doubt. The orcs were all staring at him with blank eyes. Before long, Damon realized the reason.
The orc race revered strength to an extreme degree. Therefore, their eyes were filled with admiration directed at a great warrior. That was only natural; they had met a warrior who had taken down an ogre single-handedly, so how could they not be astonished?
An ogre was not an opponent even their chieftain, Chugar, would dare face one-on-one. Yet a mere wandering orc had accomplished such an unbelievable feat, so it was only natural. For a while, the orc warriors could not even speak and merely stood there with their mouths hanging open.
Damon barked coldly at them.
“What are you doing? Shouldn’t you call the ones in the village and have them carry the corpse?”
“Chwiik. Y-yes, understood.”
Only then did Turka come back to his senses. He gave an order to one of the warriors under him.
“Shik, go down right now and bring every warrior in the village here.”
“Understood.”
After one warrior hurriedly ran down, Turka looked at Damon with ambiguous eyes.
It was a gaze filled with utmost adoration.
“S-so it was true. The story that you killed an ogre single-handedly……”
Damon shrugged.
“That one was a comparatively easy opponent. In the past, I once fought three twin-heads at once……”
“And what happened?”
As Turka urgently asked back, he felt his eyes flare with fire.
Smack.
Looking at Turka, who was rolling on the ground clutching his head, Damon bared his tusks and growled.
“You fool. If I’m alive, can’t you tell the outcome? It was a little difficult, but every last one of them became a corpse by my hand.”
“B-by the gods……”
Turka and the remaining warrior could only gape in astonishment once again. They, too, were orcs, but they had never once imagined that someone of the same race could be this strong.
Orcs were a race that only became strong when they gathered together. In terms of individual ability, they were by no means a race that could be called strong. Because of that, an extremely outrageous thought was passing through their minds.
“If we wander the wilderness, can we become as strong as you?”
Looking into Turka’s eyes, which gleamed with yearning, a very wicked thought rose in Damon’s mind. As if there was nothing to think about, he nodded.
“Of course. For a wandering orc who endures every hardship and survives, there is a fitting reward from the gods. I merely received that reward.”
“Chwiik. How can that be possible?”
Damon clenched his fist and thrust it right in front of Turka’s nose.
“Fight, no matter what. If you run out of strength while fighting, flee. But if you think you can handle it, then risk your life and cling on to the end. That is the shortcut to increasing your skill.”
“Chwiik. U-understood.”
Turka bowed his head as though deeply honored. Watching him, Damon rose to his feet. Pretending to be greatly generous, he pointed at the limp corpse of the ogre.
“I’ll be leaving now. Since I already promised, I’ll hand over all the ogre meat to you.”
“Chwiik. Thank you. And please take this. It is the mutton we promised.”
Taking the bundle Turka held out, Damon shoved it into his backpack.
“Then farewell.”
After throwing out those brief words, Damon moved on. Turka’s gaze remained fixed on his back as he disappeared beyond the ridge. In his eyes, a yearning rose as though he were hoping for something. As if unable to suppress his agitation, he trembled and barely managed to utter a single sentence.
“Chwiik. If I could become that strong, I would endure any danger.”
By then, the life of a wandering orc had already been carved into his mind. Not a life one was forced into after being driven out of the tribe, but a life chosen of one’s own will.
“Kekeke, stupid orc bastards.”
As he walked along the narrow mountain path, Damon kept wearing a sinister sneer. Though he could not know for certain, it seemed certain that a considerable number of the young warriors of Chugar’s tribe would head out into the wilderness. And Turka would undoubtedly take the lead. Of course, Damon knew well what the price of such reckless bravado would be.
“What could those bastards gain even if they wandered the wilderness a hundred times? Death?”
But along with that, complicated thoughts also surged in like a flood. Having personally witnessed what kind of lives humans lived under orc rule, he could not possibly feel good. From what he had seen, were they not no different from livestock?
In their prime, their labor was exploited, and when they grew old, they had to provide meat. In that sense, their lives were no different from those of cattle. As a fellow human being, it was truly enough to make his blood boil.
“The humans of Arcadia must be living better than these people, right?”
Comforting himself with that one sentence, Damon silently moved his feet. If he had his way, he wanted to cross over to the Central Plains and bring back every master of murim.