“Gasp.”
The ogre was faster than he had imagined. Stricken with terror, he threw himself aside with all his might.
Kwa-kwaang!
The stone slabs where he had been standing shattered into pieces, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. Considering that a wooden club had smashed apart such massive stone slabs, it was easy enough to guess the extent of its strength. Dokgo Seong had been reminded of trolls, huge but somewhat sluggish in their movements, so he could not help but be shocked by the ogre’s reaction speed. That enormous bulk could move this quickly… The ogre’s speed was almost on par with the footwork of a martial arts master using a movement technique.
But he could not simply stand still, so Dokgo Seong continued to dodge. Judging by the situation, it was obvious that the moment he was struck by that club would be the moment he departed this life. Of course, he could not even dream of attacking; he could only evade the club with all his strength. Fortunately, the instincts he had honed on the battlefield were still intact, and Dokgo Seong was able to discern in advance the blind spots from which the ogre would attack, allowing him to barely avoid them.
As its prey kept slipping away by a hair’s breadth just when it seemed about to be caught, the ogre’s ferocity surged to the extreme.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
The beast let out shriek after shriek as it chased after Dokgo Seong. With arms as long as befitted its imposing height of 4.5 meters, the ogre kept swinging its club toward the path its prey was taking.
Whoooosh!
An unprecedented force came crashing down with a tremendous sound of splitting air. Realizing that it was falling precisely in the direction he had thrown himself, Dokgo Seong instantly spun his body around. Using his left foot, which he had planted with all his might, as an axis, his body sharply changed direction.
Kwa-kwaang!
A tremendous shockwave erupted behind him along with a deafening roar. Feeling shards of shattered stone fly into his back, Dokgo Seong threw himself forward once more. His destination was between the legs of the ogre, which had closed in and was trying to seize him.
Bwoong!
A hand the size of a cauldron lid brushed past his body by the narrowest of margins. Having escaped the crisis, Dokgo Seong slipped between the ogre’s legs and hurled himself onward without hesitation.
‘The monster is faster than I am. If I don’t want to be caught, I have no choice but to keep changing direction.’
Having missed its prey yet again, the ogre let out a shriek and chased after Dokgo Seong. Its massive body changed direction as if it were a lie and began to charge. Though Dokgo Seong was running with all his strength, the distance between them was gradually shrinking.
Dokgo Seong kept changing direction so he would not be caught. But despite briefly faltering each time, the ogre followed after him without much difficulty. To make matters worse, his breath was growing ragged, but Dokgo Seong paid it no heed and focused only on running.
“His movements are truly astonishing. To think he can slip out of an ogre’s grasp so easily.”
That was Sergey’s honest impression of Dokgo Seong’s movements. He was currently seated with Benitez above the underground prison, watching the bloody struggle unfold.
“Truly astonishing. A Twin-Head Ogre is fast enough that even most knights would have trouble handling it.”
“But it doesn’t look as though he’ll be able to endure for long. All he can do is dodge here and there; he doesn’t even dare to attack.”
Even setting aside its terrifying speed, an ogre was first and foremost a monster with incredibly thick hide. In most cases, stabbing it with ordinary weapons only resulted in one’s sword breaking in vain. On top of that, the upper body, where its vital points were concentrated, was located so high that human hands could not reach it. It was no exaggeration to say that an ogre was such a powerful monster that no one but a skilled knight could dare to take one down. Of course, it could be slain if a large number of soldiers were deployed, but in exchange, one had to be prepared for enormous casualties.
Thus it was only natural that Sergey and Benitez did not consider Dokgo Seong’s victory a possibility. In their eyes, Dokgo Seong already looked like nothing more than a lump of meat that would be torn to pieces and enter the ogre’s stomach.
“So, he asked you about his fate?”
“Yes. He asked what would happen if he won this duel.”
“Is that so? How did you answer?”
“I answered based on what His Grace the Duke said last time. I told him that if he survived, he would either be put to labor here or conscripted as a soldier.”
“Of course, that’s only if he survives, isn’t it? But judging from the situation, I don’t see any chance of him living. What do you think?”
“I am of the same opinion.”
“Indeed.”
In stark contrast to the two of them leisurely conversing, Dokgo Seong was literally hurling himself about with every last ounce of strength he possessed.
Kwa-kwaang!
The stone slabs around him shattered as if they had been struck by bombardment. Because of the wounds inflicted by flying stone fragments, Dokgo Seong’s entire body was drenched in fresh blood. He was already panting as if his breath had risen to his throat. Yet the ogre showed not the slightest sign of tiring.
“Huff, huff.”
His body felt as limp as a soaked bundle of cotton, but even so, Dokgo Seong did not give up throwing himself out of the way. He was not afraid of death in the slightest. But if he became the ogre’s prey here, who would avenge the fallen Guardian Demon King Army?
Because of that thought, Dokgo Seong could not easily give up on life. Just then, the ogre’s attack exploded right beside him, showering his entire body with fragments of stone.
“Ugh!”
Along with a stinging sensation, blood streamed down from his forehead. Blood covered his eyes, causing his vision to blur. To make matters worse, the ogre’s rough breathing came from directly behind him. It was clear the beast had closed in. In every sense, the situation was utterly desperate, and he clenched his teeth so hard they felt as though they might shatter.
“Huff, huff. If this keeps up, I’m done for.”
He charged with all his strength toward the wall visible ahead. It was the method he had spent the entire night thinking up and preparing in order to survive this duel. To execute it, he was wringing out every last bit of strength he had left. The ogre pursuing him was furious beyond measure.
Ordinary humans would usually have given up fleeing by this point, but this one human alone continued to trouble it to the very end.
Rolling its eyes wildly, the ogre began pursuing him with the momentum of something that would chase him to the ends of the earth. The direction the human was running in led to a dead-end stone wall. Judging that there was nowhere left for him to flee, the ogre, too, drew upon all its strength in pursuit.
As he ran, the stone wall of the underground prison rapidly expanded in his vision. Though his breath came in ragged gasps, Dokgo Seong kept running and running. He continued to charge forward as if he intended to smash his head into the stone wall and die right there.
The ogre was chasing close behind him, and the distance between them was shrinking rapidly.
“It’s over.”
A look of resignation appeared in Benitez’s eyes as he watched the scene. Judging by the situation, it was impossible to even consider the possibility of the outsider holding on any longer. Sergey, apparently having decided the matter was finished, had already given up watching and was rising from his seat.
At that moment, something unexpected happened. The outsider, who had been running as if he would crash into the stone wall, kicked off the wall with the full momentum of his charge and flipped his body once in midair.
It was truly astonishing movement, making proper use of his momentum. The outsider evaded by a hair’s breadth, but unfortunately, the ogre could not do the same. The ogre, which had been charging right behind him, failed to overcome its own momentum and slammed violently into the wall.
Boom!
The entire underground prison shook as if an earthquake had struck. The stone wall caved in deeply, and a thick cloud of dust rose. The ogre’s enormous body rebounded from the impact and tumbled disgracefully across the floor. It was a shock that would have killed a human instantly. However, Benitez firmly believed that an ogre would not die from just that much. That was how resilient an ogre was. In his eyes, he saw the outsider, who had landed unsteadily, rush toward the fallen ogre.
“Interesting.”
Perhaps changing his mind at the unexpected turn of events, Sergey sat back down in his chair and fixed his gaze on the arena.
Dokgo Seong nimbly leapt onto the ogre’s body. For him, the moment the monster had collapsed to the ground was the perfect opportunity. Having jumped onto its torso in one breath, he raised the gauntlet on his right hand. The tip of the single awl attached to the gauntlet gleamed as if boasting of its sharpness.
“Haaah!”
Without mercy, Dokgo Seong drove the awl into the ogre’s eye. He intended to reproduce here the method he had used to incapacitate the troll. The ogre’s eye, half-closed from the shock of colliding with the wall, suddenly widened.
Pshuk!
The long awl pierced straight through the eyeball. Needless to say, it also pierced the ogre’s cerebrum located behind it. The ogre’s body trembled as if struck by lightning. At the sight, Dokgo Seong rejoiced inwardly.
“It worked. It’s over now.”
As he gasped for breath, Dokgo Seong felt the tension leave him for an instant. But that was by no means the end. Something came flying at him with fierce momentum and the sound of splitting air, and Dokgo Seong reflexively crossed both arms to block it. A heavy impact struck him from the side.
“Ugh!”
His small body was sent flying violently. In its pain, the ogre had wildly swung its left arm, and the blow had struck him. Dokgo Seong flew nearly one jang before crashing hard into the ground.
If there was any fortune in this, it was that at the moment of absolute crisis, he had used a breakfall to reduce the impact.
Barely regaining his senses, he saw the ogre slowly raising its upper body. The ogre was trying to rise while clutching its remaining head with both hands. It seemed to be trying to protect its eye. The head that had been attacked appeared to have completely lost function, hanging limply.
“Damn it. That bastard had two heads.”
His strength drained away, but he could not give up here. If the ogre stood up, he would lose every chance he had to attack. He forced his body, whose every bone seemed to scream, back to its feet.
Crack, crack, crack.
Something somewhere must have been badly broken, for intense pain pierced through his entire body. He desperately ignored the agony and charged toward the ogre again. The ogre, having raised its upper body, was crouched down, trying to turn itself over while tightly covering its eye with its hand. If it stood up, he could consider himself dead on the spot, so Dokgo Seong ran with all his might.
But the target he needed to attack had already vanished. The ogre was already completely covering the eye on its healthy head with its hand. It seemed utterly impossible for the awl on his gauntlet to pierce through the ogre’s thick hand. No, even if it did pierce through, considering the thickness of the back of its hand, the awl would clearly be unable to reach the eyeball. But Dokgo Seong was not one to give up because of that.
“Haaah!”
The ogre was crouched down, trying to rise. Using the momentum of his run, Dokgo Seong leapt onto the ogre’s back. He felt the startled ogre twist its body, but Dokgo Seong paid it no mind. Planting his feet firmly in the center of its back, he searched for a place to drive in the awl.
“Here.”
The place Dokgo Seong chose was where the bones of the ogre’s shoulder blades met. In human terms, he had chosen the location of the Mingmen acupoint, a fatal vital point. His judgment took only an instant, and his action followed just as quickly. The awl attached to his gauntlet stabbed mercilessly into that spot.
“Kuaaaargh!”
A scream of agony burst from the ogre’s mouth. Considering its size, one might have expected it to feel no more than being pricked by a needle, but the ogre’s reaction was completely unexpected. From that sight, Dokgo Seong realized one fact.
“This bastard’s acupoints are the same as a human’s.”
Now that he had grasped the most important point, there was no need to hesitate.