Hot Spring Tour – Hinder
The ogre’s eyes gleamed red as it saw me move. And as if to release a tight spring, its body bounced up from its lowered stance.
So we were both waiting for the right time to attack!
However, I could still face it at this distance. I gripped my sword again with my free hand, and held it above my head.
While leaving a trail of dust, it bridged half of the gap with a single step. It accelerated even more with the next, and its form seemed to blur.
But I could still see it, and it would have to slow a little when going uphill.
“Tsk!”
If I didn’t move, I would follow the goblins to their grave. And so I jumped back while swinging down with my sword.
Clang.
Mine Breaker crashed into the ogre’s leg. It rang like metal, and it was hard to believe that I had struck against flesh.
After that, the wind pressure from the kick passed by. I would have likely died if hit directly by it.
While I had hit its leg, I could not really see it. It was mostly just intuition. As it had used its right leg to attack the goblins at first, I was hoping that it would do it again.
“Graaagh!”
The ogre seemed completely unphased after being hit. It was little wonder. My sword was lodged in its skin, but somehow looked like it did no damage.
And I had charged up Mine Breaker and attacked with a full downward swing. Damn it.
At close range, we glared at each other. Though it was tall, so I had to look up.
But it lasted for just a moment. Without waiting, the ogre moved his leg in order to kick again. My blade was still stuck.
And so I was pulled upwards. Instead of struggling and losing balance, I went along with it and jumped into the air.
And like that, I went flying over its head.
That was close. I was saved by its height. From the moment of the jump, I fell forwards but quickly landed on my knees and stood back up.
It was just as the ogre was turning around raising its other leg.
A roundhouse kick?
While holding my sword diagonally, I kicked the ground with my prosthetic leg and approached the ogre.
“Gah!”
The impact slammed against my sword, and I was knocked off the ground and went rolling.
“Me-zroi-tar-mez-rei. Protection!”
I picked myself up and recast Protection, which had been blown away with a single hit. The only reason I got off so easy was because I was close to the center of the kick.
Still, it had been powerful enough to erase my protection magic. There was no way I could get hit by it normally.
After turning from the kick, the ogre checked to see where I had landed. And there was silence for a moment.
Though, I felt like my heart was beating annoyingly loud.
I breathed gently and tried to calm myself.
The ogre seemed almost surprised that I wasn’t dead yet. And it was as if he was not sure how to deal with me now.
Well, I felt the same. But I could not show it. And so I glared back as angrily as I could manage.
“Graaaahhh!”
The ogre roared, and then charged once again.
Perhaps it was frustrated by the ineffectiveness of its kicks, as this time it thrust its arms out and tried to grab me. With those big hands and sharp claws. I would be crushed or turned to shreds.
If I was caught, that is. Also, offering your hands like that was rather foolish of it. And it wasn’t even moving as quickly as before.
“Hyah!”
I let go of my sword with one hand and took out the short sword at my belt and slashed with it towards the hands. A mass of joints. It would not be able to move its fingers if it was all rigid skin.
And yet, the ogre closed its hands into fists, just before the blade slipped through. It reacted so quickly!
The blade bounced off with a clang. For humans, even the back of your hand was weak. But for an ogre, it was stronger than a short sword.
Still, its thick arms were right in front of me now. This was fine.
I quickly let go of the sword and swung up towards the arm with Mine Breaker.
“Arrraaaaagggh!!”
While getting up, I stopped sending magic energy to my prosthetic leg. Now that it lost its flexibility, the power of the slash attack was not released, allowing the full force of the sword to be felt. Parallel Thought did good work.
Give me your arm!
There was a clang, and the weight pressing down on the blade disappeared. But when I looked…the arm was still there. It had been thrown up, but was still connected.
So that wasn’t enough to cut it… You have to be kidding me.
But it still did some damage, as there was a wound and blood was flowing.
More than that, with its arm up in the air, his torso was now left exposed.
It was my chance!
“Hyaah!!”
Even as I swung back, I doubted that I could cut through its chest or stomach. Still, there should be soft parts in its skin, or it wouldn’t be able to move.
If I can’t cut, then I will pierce! I was known for my precision.
However, just as I was about to switch into a thrusting motion, something moved in between us that was not an ogre or human.
“Gugya-gya!”
The green creature was thrusting its wooden spear at the ogre. A hobgoblin!? It was still here!
Even a fully charged Mine Breaker couldn’t do it. A wooden spear was like a toothpick. The goblin must be mad.
Anger at having its friends killed or perhaps fear of death caused it to act.
In any case, I was not going to stop my own attack.
“Gya!”
The blade went through the hobgoblin, slowing it down. It ruined my aim, and the blade bounced off the ogre’s skin with a clang.
The corner of the ogre’s mouth rose. This guy was smiling.
I braced myself for an attack, but the ogre jumped back before the hobgoblin fell. The gap between us grew. It looked down at the wound on its arm and licked it. Was it saying that it would heal if it did that?
It then lowered its arm with a look of satisfaction. Then it jumped back once again.
Ah, this was bad. Was it going to run away?
“Wait!”
I was just starting to gain the upper hand. It would be a waste to let it go now. I held my sword against my shoulder and ran. Upon seeing this, the ogre turned around and fled.
It was no good. It was so much faster. Its back was growing farther away. There was no hope of keeping up with a prosthetic leg.
Right before I lost sight of it, the ogre looked back once and smiled again.
As if to dare me to follow it.
I slowed down and then stopped. There was no point now. Once I confirmed that it was gone, I scanned my surroundings.
There were no goblins either. It was just as it was before. A quiet forest where only the sounds of the wind could be heard.
“Sorry. I let it get away.”
I said as I returned to the bushes. Urzon and Metto had not left the spot after all. Well, the fight had been over so quickly, so it wasn’t like they had much time.
“Uh, aye. So what will you do now?”
“We should go back for today. If we follow them, we will likely have to fight two of them. I want to avoid charging into that.”
The two seemed relieved. Well, even if I did go, I wouldn’t ask them to guide me any farther. Besides, they probably didn’t want to return alone after seeing the ogre.
Also, there had been no real path to this place, so I wasn’t sure where I was.
We returned to the stream and picked up our belongings and made our way back to the village. No one said anything. A heavy atmosphere hung over us. They really did want me to end it back there. It was a painful mistake.
No. While I did feel bad, there was no way I could have predicted that the hobgoblin would do that. I was too focused on the ogre. That’s how dangerous the situation was.
Still, I hadn’t done too bad. After seeing its power and speed, I had honestly thought that I would do worse.
The reason that I was able to do well, was because the ogre was shaped like a human. When fighting someone, you had to predict their movements based on their muscles and joints. As I was used to fighting humans, it was easier to predict the movements of humanoids.
Thanks to that, I was able to keep up, even if it was faster than me.
It was like all my training was now making my body move. While being hit once would end me, it was basically the same when it came to the master in the royal capital.
I had broken so many of my bones while training. And though three years had passed, they were still burned into my brain. Just thinking about it made me sweat.
Even when I swung on my own, I always imagined it so that it was a part of my body. I was so glad that it had not gone to waste.
And so I felt that it would be fine, as long as it was one on one. So perhaps the guild had not been wrong with its rank after all.
That meant I just had to avoid fighting them at the same time. Then I would not have to give up on the hotspring…I mean, the quest.
As I walked, I recalled what I had seen, and tried to think of a strategy.
And so I did not notice it. Just what kind of looks I was getting from the two hunters.
Thank you!