Chapter 1263 (2/2)

“I certainly admire the direct outlook ogres… Acri!” The young man looked upward. From the island, another silhouette dropped down and landed on the ground with a heavy thump. For a second the Ogre Lord thought the new arrival was some sort of large serpent, but as the thing flowed and was hefted by the young man the Ogre Lord realized it was a living weapon of some sort. And rather than a serpent, it was clearly a plant in the shape of a spear.

A spear that was so large that it seemed more suited to the Ogre Lord that to this human.

Thick bark covered the shaft, broken only in a few spots to allow a few verdant tufts of leaves to spring outward. At the tip, three incredibly sharp thorns wound together to create a pyramid whose point made the Ogre Lord feel a sense of dread. In terms of size, the weapon was larger than the young man. Yet he lifted it without the faintest sign of struggle.

All three pairs of eyes narrowed as the Ogre Lord studied the young man. Heavy. That is the sensation that surrounds him. It feels like even thinking is difficult so long as he is near…

The young man glanced at his companions because the Ogre Lord didn’t miss that all three seemed to be struggling with the same pressure that he experienced. Yet all three nodded tightly, indicating that this amount of pressure they could handle.

Then the young man looked at the Ogre Lord and smiled. And that same fire that had driven the Ogre Lord to such heights in the past he saw now in the young man’s gaze, without the gradual weathering that had crippled his own heart due to the passage of time. Still, that fire was enough to bring the Ogre Lord’s own passion surging back to the forefront of his mind.

Kindling slowly grew in his chest. The carefully prepared mentality that the Ogre Lord had cultivated all day was ready to erupt into an inferno.

Breathing heavily, the Ogre Lord spoke slowly out of his central head. “Your name?”

“Randidly Ghosthound,” the young man said. Then he tilted his head to the side and examined the Ogre Lord. “And yours?”

The middle head pressed his lips together but did not answer. The fiery rightmost head laughed. But it was the leftmost head that finally spoke. “We are no one. Today… we are simply the challenger. Don’t disappoint us.”

Without waiting for further talk, the Ogre Lord surged forward. The muscles of his huge body trembled and flexed as he instantly demanded that they squeeze out their full potential to propel him forward toward this intimidating foe. The ground beneath him cracked and suddenly he rushed forward with all the momentum of an avalanche. He raised his crystal ax high above his head and slashed it sharply downward to bisect this Randidly Ghosthound in half.

Standing next to the Ghosthound made the pressure that the Ogre Lord had to endure rise to the point of it being painful, but still, the Ogre Lord pushed himself to follow through with the strike. Because it was in this pain that he finally found the joy that he had been waiting for. No longer would he be stuck on his world, waiting to die. Now he had a path to freedom. He could fight his way out and dominate this other world just as he had with his own.

He could burn to his heart’s content, devouring the rich energy of Earth. As long as he won this fight.

With remarkable speed, the Ghosthound spun out of the way, so the axe blow passed only a short distance behind his back. He then threw his whole momentum in to the sudden twist and brought the butt of the extremely large plant-spear smashing against the Ogre Lord’s exposed chest. It was possible to dodge, but the Ogre Lord felt like taking this sort of hasty blow would help shake off some of the rustiness that shackled his body after a long period of peace. Plus, it would allow him to gauge the Strength of the Ghosthound.

The sound of one of his ribs fracturing informed the Ogre Lord that this had been a bad decision.

When the thick base of the spear smashed against the Ogre Lord’s chest, the Ogre Lord couldn’t help but grunt and take a step backward. Despite the Ghosthound’s small size, the amount of force he built up with that small spin was overwhelming.

In addition, the Ghosthound hopped right as his strike landed. The rebounding force allowed the Ghosthound to create some distance, retreating with all the smooth grace of a stone skipping across a lake. Then he settled into a fighting stance, lowering the point of his spear to aim for the Ogre Lord’s midsection.

Slowly, the Ogre Lord’s powerful Vitality dealt with most of the minor muscle tears that he had received as the other side struck him. The fracture would be painful, but wouldn’t impede his movement much. But even if he could heal the damage quickly, it was a much more daunting task to find a way to handle the casual power that the other side had displayed with the attack.

In terms of Strength, for the first time in his life, the Ogre Lord felt that he was inferior. He wondered if wild swings of his ax would simply be smashed aside by that plant spear.

His grip on his ax tightened. Even worse, the pressure rolling off of Randidly Ghosthound had grown stronger when they had briefly clashed. Rather than shaking off the Ogre Lord’s rust, it seemed that the Ghosthound had released a strange, caustic energy into the air as his body moved. It was a pressure separate from the mental pressure, which was already significant.

And this was all without condensing any of the dangerous images that the Ogre Lord could sense the Ghosthound possessed. This was all raw physical power.

Which was why the Ogre Lord was cautious. He, too, possessed an image that he sharpened to a deadly degree in the past, but since becoming the ruler of this world, he had never been forced to use it. In fact, he had often withheld his image and relied solely on the power of his physical body to crush challengers to his rule.

To have that same method used against him filled the Ogre Lord with the vicious desire to punish this Ghosthound’s arrogance. Yet that vicious righteousness was accompanied by a wild glee. Yes. This is what being a challenger should be like. Push me even further.

The moment stretched as the two studied each other after the initial clash. Then the left-most sneered. “You refuse to show me your image?”

“In the past, I always suppressed my impulses to engage in frontal confrontations with powerful individuals.” The Ghosthound said casually. His gaze was as sharp and frigid as a spike of ice. “Now that I finally have the power that I no longer need to avoid those confrontations… I want to enjoy the sensation.”

“Hmph.” The rightmost head snarled.

The center head looked with a complicated gaze at this young man, already so powerful. “Then I will show you the power of Ogres. I hope you don’t regret your decision.”