Chapter 59 - Even in the Winter of Cutting Winds, Sprouts Still Rise (3)

『It is only a slightly fiercer, slightly larger beast! Do not fall back!』

At that majestic roar, heavy with Fighting Spirit, the Orc Warriors were emboldened a hundredfold and thrust out swords, spears, and axes.

But the monster, the ogre, was far too strong to dismiss as merely fierce and large.

One punch burst an Orc's head apart. One kick folded an Orc backward at the waist. In an instant, five Orcs died with their limbs broken or torn away.

It was an overwhelming gap born from the difference in species, and the ogre was even fighting and eating at the same time.

The ogre shoved an Orc's head into its mouth with a savage chomp and worked its jaws. The body of the Orc Warrior, dangling in midair and flailing, convulsed and then went limp.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

A spine-chilling sound rang out in every direction. The Orc Warriors, who had been charging in bravely, hesitated and backed away.

『You bastard!』

Unable to keep watching, the noble Orc charged at the ogre, swinging a halberd wrapped in Fighting Spirit. The ogre promptly threw aside the corpse of the Orc Warrior it had been chewing on.

SWISH!

With one thrust of the noble Orc's spear, the Orc Warrior's corpse was split in two. From behind the bisected body, a halberd wreathed in crimson Fighting Spirit suddenly shot out.

The ogre swung its fist.

WHOOM.

Just as a heavy noise rang out, the halberd was knocked away with a bang. The noble Orc spun the deflected halberd half a turn and brought it up again.

The ogre punched again. The noble Orc's halberd abruptly changed course and scraped along the inside of the ogre's forearm.

THUNK.

The halberd struck the ogre in the armpit. There was no blood. Even Fighting Spirit comparable to the knights' Sword Aura could not cut through the ogre's flesh.

All that remained was a red, swollen mark.

GRAAAAAH!

The enraged ogre began to rampage. The Orc noble circled dizzily around it, thrusting his spear again and again.

It was impressive, the way he avoided punches that would burst his head with a margin as thin as a sheet of paper and never let up his offense.

"Ho."

The bastard was far more skilled in battle than the Orc noble who had come to Winter Castle before. His standing as a warrior, which Orcs called spirit, was far superior, and his bold spearwork was also mature, honed through countless real battles.

No wonder he came out saying he'd hunt an ogre.

Even as I nodded again and again, the battle between him and the ogre continued.

「Do not fear! It is nothing but a mere monster!」

The bastard encouraged his subordinates. The Orc Warriors who had retreated regained their fighting spirit at their leader's desperate struggle.

The Orcs charged the ogre again. This time was different. The Orcs no longer approached the ogre recklessly, instead circling around it and thrusting in swords and axes whenever they saw an opening.

Its hide was so tough that even attacks wrapped in Fighting Spirit could not cut it. There was no way the Orc Warriors' attacks would work.

But they were enough to divide the ogre's attention.

『For the King!』

The noble Orc roared and thrust out his halberd. Fighting Spirit, clearer than before by an incomparable degree, cut into the ogre's flesh.

Blood sprayed. A fistful of flesh was torn from the ogre's shin.

『Do not miss this chance!』

The Orcs stubbornly drove swords and spears into the wounded shin. The wound quickly turned ragged.

But a monster called the king of the mountains would not kneel from a wound of only that much.

If anything, as if its ferocity had been stirred, it rampaged even more savagely.

The ogre flailed its arms wildly. A few unlucky Orcs were caught in the rampage and sent flying.

CLENCH.

Something suddenly grabbed my collar. When I lowered my head, Adelia, who had half-buried her face against my chest, was looking up at me. A face gone white, an expression so terrified she looked ready to cry at any moment, a body trembling like an aspen leaf.

And two eyes where red and yellow energy flickered.

"Goddammit."

I had been so absorbed in watching the fight that I had forgotten for a moment. Who I was with.

The stench of blood was thick in every direction, and in my arms was a madwoman who went wild for blood.

"No. Hold it in."

I hurriedly calmed Adelia. The faint light unique to the War Maniac and Butcher traits that had risen in her weakened. But it did not disappear completely.

"If you wait just a little, you can rampage as much as you want. So hold it in for now."

Adelia buried her face in my chest again.

I heard her hissing breath.

Through the thick fur and armor, I felt the heated breath she exhaled. In the small gap between her face and my chest, yellow and red light seemed to flicker.

Her body trembled like an aspen leaf, but I no longer felt that it was because of fear. For some reason, I got chills, thinking she might be smiling.

There was another monster here.

A being of chaos I had experienced any number of times, yet could never quite get used to.

If I had my way, I would have thrown her back into Winter Castle right then. But I could not.

Because the karma to be accumulated on this mountain trip was not mine alone.

As I held Adelia's head tightly and kept her from springing out, the group that had fallen behind appeared.

The group who saw the clearing beyond gaped. Even the Rangers, who had experienced monsters to the point of exhaustion, had their eyes wide, apparently shocked by the brutal battle.

"The North truly is an astonishing place."

Erhim Kilinger murmured in admiration.

Erhim Kilinger was amazed, saying that until he had come here from The Capital, he had never imagined that such monsters existed.

But it was still too early to be amazed.

Because the ferocity of the king of the mountains was not limited to just that.

The Orcs seemed to know that as well, and they were desperate to somehow cripple one of the ogre's legs before it revealed its true nature.

GRAAAAAH!

As if mocking those efforts, the ogre roared.

Its yellowish massive body abruptly flushed red. Its muscles swelled to their limit. Its gleaming eyes rolled white, then began to shed a yellow light.

Erhim Kilinger's expression hardened at the sight.

"What in the world is that..."

"That is a real ogre."

The essence of the being that had been inherent from birth. The ogre was a predator with endless appetite, and a born Butcher.

CLENCH.

Adelia began to go berserk in my arms.

It was because the Butcher trait she possessed had begun reacting sensitively to the aura of another Butcher. I wrapped both arms tightly around her.

I held on tight, enduring so the struggling girl would not spring out.

Because it was not yet time for us to interfere.

It was not wise to face an ogre that had only just revealed its essence.

We would step in after the ogre's atrocious appetite had been somewhat filled.

Of course, the meal would be the Orcs.

The noble Orc drew up his Fighting Spirit to the limit.

『Ogre!』

At that majestic roar, the ogre twisted its mouth.

A cruel and savage smile.

The ogre launched itself. The noble Orc stamped his foot, gathering Fighting Spirit fully into his halberd. But it was useless.

Because the ogre had not been aiming for him from the start.

"Grnngh!"

"Gah!"

Screams erupted everywhere. Arms and legs flew in all directions. The ogre, which until now had done no more than swing its fists, bared its teeth and tore the Orcs' bodies to shreds.

A dozen or so Orc Warriors died. It truly happened in an instant.

『You bastard!』

Witnessing the scene of horrific slaughter, the noble Orc flew into a rage and thrust his spear. But the ogre had already left that spot.

More Orc Warriors were reduced to bloody lumps and sprawled across the ground. Corpses of Orcs with their limbs torn off flew everywhere.

A feast of slaughter.

The festival conducted by the Butcher had only just begun.

The Orcs, overwhelmed by that brutality, charged in with swords and spears, driven by desperation. But they were no match.

As if playing, the ogre ripped apart the Orcs' tough bodies.

"Are you telling me you meant to hunt that thing?"

Erhim Kilinger asked me. The brave knight's face was clearly pale with horror.

It was only natural.

An ogre that had revealed its essence as a Butcher was an existence equal to a Sword Master. For me, who was at best only a Sword Expert, to say I would hunt it was absurd.

But that was why it had value.

If one only did what one could do, one could never grow one's own standing. A knight's standing grew when he made the impossible possible.

Just like the monster right before my eyes.

"Get ready. Looks like our turn is coming soon."

The number of Orc Warriors, which had been around a hundred, had at some point dropped to fewer than twenty. The noble Orc was still hale, but the ogre thoroughly ignored him and tore only the Warriors to death.

『You beast without even pride!』

The noble Orc roared and shot forward. There stood the ogre, with its back turned as it hunted other Warriors.

"Tsk."

I clicked my tongue. It was plainly obvious to my eyes that the seemingly defenseless ogre was in truth a trap.

Sure enough, the ogre, which had been acting as though it did not even have the noble Orc in its eyes, turned around as if it had been waiting. The halberd that came driving in with intense Fighting Spirit was drawn into the ogre's hand.

GRRRRR.

The ogre laughed, scraping its throat. The Fighting Spirit dwelling in the halberd grew even stronger. The ogre's palm was torn open. Blood dripped down.

But the ogre never let go of the halberd.

SWISH.

The ogre reached out. Belatedly, the Warriors charged at the ogre. The Orc noble drew Fighting Spirit into his fist.

Between the red Fighting Spirit and the dark green warriors, a golden aura slipped in.

It was Adelia, who had leaped out of my arms.

Even when the ogre saw the small human who had suddenly intervened, it did not budge.

That was a clear mistake.

The human it had dismissed as insignificant and ignored was the descendant of the Sword Marquis who had beheaded the king of the giants that once ruled the world.

The sword she had learned was the slash that had felled countless giants in the past.

And the ogre was a remnant of the old era, inheritor of the blood of the exterminated giants.

"When one sword was swung down."

A voice that sounded utterly exhilarated pierced my ears.

"Blood flowed and became a river, and flesh enriched the earth."

At that moment, the golden sword-light that had merely seemed auspicious expanded explosively. And within it dwelled killing intent toward the dominant race that had once looked down upon the world.

It was part of the karma piled up by a woman of House Bayern in the distant past, and the sprout that had bloomed from the seed I had planted in her descendant.

It was one verse of the Poem of Opening woven by the Sword Marquis.

GRAAAAAH!

The ogre abruptly let out a monstrous scream. It seemed to have realized it too late.

That the small, insignificant human woman was its natural enemy.

But it was too late.

For the karma and sword of the woman who had slaughtered countless giants had already manifested.

Even if its power was so faint it could not be compared to what it had been in the past,

it was enough to cut through the ogre's flesh.

SLASH!

The ogre's mouth gaped wide. A crimson line appeared down the ogre's back. The line, at first so thin it was barely visible, split wide open.

A fountain of blood surged up.

And within that fountain of blood, Adelia smiled brightly.

The ogre roared.

It was a savage sight, one that had forgotten even pain in its essential hatred toward its natural enemy.

But the ogre could not have known even in its dreams.

That there were two people here connected to the one who had annihilated the dominant race.

"With the blood and flesh of giants, this land shall be made anew."

Another verse of the Poem of Opening that Adelia had recited flowed from my mouth.

『The Poem of Opening is being sung.』

『With your current ability, you cannot bear the poem's grade.』

Amid the pain of having my heart carved away in a chunk, a dazzling five-colored flash dwelled at the tip of my sword.

* * *

Erhim Kilinger's eyes flew wide open.

The frail woman he had not understood why they had brought on this arduous mountain trip drove a slash into the back of the savage giant.

The hide that had remained firm no matter how desperately the Orcs struggled was torn apart in an instant, and a fountain of blood surged up.

In the middle of that pouring rain of blood, the drenched woman smiled brightly.

Erhim Kilinger stared blankly at the sight.

If he had not heard the ogre's savage roar, he likely would not have been able to come to his senses for a long while after.

He gripped his sword. He rotated his Mana Circuit and prepared to leap out. But before the energy he had gathered could even reach his sword, Erhim went blank once more.

The ogre's fingers, thick as an ordinary woman's wrist, were cut off in a chunk. Before it stood the First Prince, holding a dazzling five-colored light. His arrogant eyes looked down on it.

"You are the beginning."

The First Prince said to the monster.