Chapter 345: Lordship (1/2)

The Evolved Ogre gave a deep and threatening cry as it retracted its hammer to swing it again. The strength it descended with appeared to be one with the world but trying to split it simultaneously.

Arthur punched with his fist, and the hammer bounced away. As the Ogre was about to attack again, Arthur's teleport rune appeared, and he used it on himself. He disappeared from his spot where the hammer descended and destroyed the ground and appeared above the Ogre.

His spiritual powers gathered to form a rough outline of an arm. Using his other hand to cast the Liquid Fire rune, Arthur used it on his spiritual arm.

His ethereal arm turned red, and the rune merged with his spiritual powers, enhancing it further. The monster raised its hammer to attack the descending Arthur, who punched toward the Ogre.

His fist collided against the hammer, and liquid fire exploded. What it touched from the surrounding turned to ashes, and the Ogre's hammer began to melt, but not fast enough to stop it from sending Arthur flying upward.

”Force-III,” Arthur muttered as he directed the force upward, making accelerate back into the ground. He sent an ax-kick toward the Ogre, who blocked using his wrist protector and pushed Arthur away.

Arthur made a flip in the air before landing on the ground. He let go of a breath as the Ogre in front of him strode toward him. Suddenly, a memory appeared in Arthur's mind.

'Didn't I want to fight against unbeatable monsters?'

Wasn't the Ogre in front of him, a giant with scales, the best example of such a monster? The thought filled him with excitement as adrenaline rushed through his veins.

As if responding to his excitement, his spiritual arms bulged and grew bigger, appearing disproportioned to the rest of his body. The Ogre seemed to sense the power within it and roared to hide its fear.

It darted toward Arthur, who rushed forward to meet it. The two attacks collided, and a resounding bang shook the forest as flames and dust flew everywhere.

The hammer flew away from the Ogre's hand, and scales grew on his fist. With a wide swing, he struck Arthur's side. Arthur blocked using his left ethereal arm, but the power of the punch destroyed the area behind him.

”Bastard...” Arthur gave a bloodied grin and spat at the Ogre. Then, clenching his right fist tightly, golden colors exploded from within it. ”Let me repay your kindness.”

His punch connected to the Ogre's abdomen and sent it flying through the air. Before the Ogre got away, Arthur's spiritual arm dissolved and pulled it back toward him.

His right fist connected again to the Ogre's face, who responded in a fist of his own. With each strike, the land around them was flattened further until only a shadow of what it remained.

***

The Knight of Courage looked at the list of people in front of her with a frown. Including her knights and the people from Hidden Gem, there were almost a hundred city residents.

All of them lived in tents now, as the only houses available were the ones that the Seika built. He would have to make more to house all of them.

”Commander,” Big Bear knocked on the door –which wasn't a door as those needed to be installed later– and entered. ”I have a report to make about the Seika's progress against the monsters.”

”That's good. How many clusters did the Seika clear?” Courage said absent-mindedly while going over the list of residents.

”Ten are the ones we managed to track. As for the actual numbers, we don't know yet.”

”Oh, I see.” Courage nodded before pausing. ”Did you say... ten?” She snapped her head toward her captain, who appeared equally disturbed, and nodded. ”By himself?”

”He was alone, yes. The witch and the rest are still in the camp.” Big Bear announced. ”I can only say that the Seika is all over the place.” The captain shook his head.

”Ten...”

Courage repeated with shock. She expected the Seika to clear out two by now, but he cleared out five times the amount. She was at the early stages of the demi-rank with her domain, but she still needed to track and travel to each cluster.

”The last place we tracked him to was...”

Boom!

The captain was reporting when a booming sound shook the camp. The quaking continued for several seconds before it disappeared. Courage and Big Bear had to stabilize themselves before looking at each other with confusion.

None of the two said anything, and they darted outside the camp toward the source of the sound. The sound came from the Ogres Mountain, and they rushed toward it.