Chapter 363

War Junkie in the Ogre Nest

It did not take long for us to annihilate the orcs. Obviously, part of that was due to the experience that Daniela and I had with dealing with them. But it also had to do with my sudden boost in speed.

It meant improved defense and offense. My attacks were faster and I could dodge their attacks. I had thought that I was pretty good at this before, but everything felt perfect now. Yes…this was the ideal version of me.

“That was incredible… Who are you?”

“I’m Asagi. A ruby.”

“Damn it. You guys are different…”

Yes, I was among the strong now… Hehe. It had been a while since I felt so good.

Now that the dust had settled, I asked them what had happened. Apparently, they had been ambushed from both sides of the road as they were passing through. While they had been on their guard, the only one in their party that was able to use Presence Detection had been wounded the previous day, which put them at a disadvantage.

“Bad things just keep happening to us… And so we’ll be returning for the day.”

“Yes. I’m worried about the guy we left behind. And there’s no need to rush.”

“Well, be careful.”

“Aye, you two as well. You’re going to the Ogre Nest, aren’t you? The ogre ghost sometimes appears there.”

“A ghost…?”

Daniela folded her arms as she asked with interest. And so the Adventurers told us of a certain rumor.

“Aye, you’ll find the nest if you keep going straight down this road. It’s really just a ruin of an old ogre settlement. However, people have heard sounds there. The voice of the dead ogres…”

“It’s been heard by many Adventurers. They say it’s a rumor. But it’s the truth.”

“Hmm…”

Daniela pondered over this information. While she was playing it cool, she just hated ghosts. I knew.

“Thank you for telling us. We’ll keep that in mind.”

“Well, you did save our lives. It would be a sad thing for you to fall to an ogre ghost right after that. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth. Well, thank you for everything.”

They said as they began their descent. I tried using Presence Detection, but there were no other monsters in the area, so I didn’t have to worry about them.

“A ghost…huh…”

“Are you scared?”

“Well, it is only a rumor with little to back it up… But then again, what if…”

“Ah…”

Apparently, it had been heard many times, so what if it was real…?

“…There is no point worrying about that now. We should go.”

“Yeah… Also, it just feels stupid, trudging our way up now. Let’s do this quickly.”

I had lifted my ban on Legs of the God Wolf and Godspeed, and so I picked up Daniela and dashed through the sky.

□ □ □ □

I could see the ruins below me on the side of the mountain. They were all made of stones that had been cut out and piled on top of each other. While they were said to have lived even before the ancient elves, and you couldn’t underestimate them. They clearly had incredible skill with architecture. The buildings had retained their shape quite well.

We cut through the wind and landed in an open area. It looked like a townsquare, and the remains of the old structures surrounded us.

“So, this is the Ogre Nest…”

“There is a lot more to see than I was expecting.”

“Yeah, I’d almost believe that people had lived here not too long ago.”

Yes, it was like one of those villages that have been abandoned. The kind that if you look hard enough, you might find at least one person who still lives there.

“Well…maybe there is.”

“You are trying to scare me. Hmm… Yes, there is no one.”

Daniela said, clearly scared enough to make sure, as she activated Presence Detection.

But there really was no one around. Not even Adventurers.

“So… I’m sure this place has been combed to death already, but we might as well look around.”

“I will look over there.”

“Got it.”

And so we split up and started to search through Kimon. I went inside of the abandoned stone buildings, but there was nothing inside. Which was no surprise. This place was really just a short hike from the town. It was boring.

Still, sometimes it was places like this that actually had things to discover. Secrets that were hidden in normal places.

□ □ □ □

But I was disappointed.

The sun had come down, and it was currently midnight. As there was an empty house with the remains of a bonfire in front of it, we decided to make ourselves comfortable there. But since there were monsters in the area, we had to take turns on the night watch.

“Phew…”

I finished some simulations with Jack of all Trades, Master of None. I had ideas of things that I might be able to do now that I had new equipment. Being able to do this without physically moving your body really was an incredible advantage. And the movements would be automatically carved into my body.

You just had to do it in your head once. It was like seeing someone do a backflip on tv, and thinking, ‘hey, that looks cool.’ And then you imagine yourself doing it. Yes, there you are, doing a clean backflip and landing perfectly. The moment you see it is the moment the skill is activated. And just like that, you can do it for real.

Thinking of it like that, it really was a crazy ability. It made me think that I had not been using it well this entire time. Perhaps I was too focused on the name.

“It’s more efficient to do things with Godspeed instead of Legs of the God Wolf…but the burden is also increased…”

‘God Wolf Sword Reach’ was perhaps the height of my abilities with a sword that used Legs of the God Wolf. It was a technique that involved using maximum wind speed while moving and cutting into the enemy.

Furthermore, I could use Eyes of the God Wolf in order to see my opponent from every possible angle, which would allow me to find any openings. The enemy would always have their weakest area targeted. And at a speed that was faster than the eye could follow.

I never had to use it for very long, as no one could withstand it. However, the enemies we encountered were getting stronger, and the burden just increased.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have set the limit to five minutes.”

The simulations showed that if I exceeded that, I would start bleeding through the nose and even vomit. But I was cutting it too close. I should have stopped at three minutes, then I wouldn’t have suffered any side effects to begin with.

“But then again, I would have lost some of those fights if I hadn’t…”

Yes, most of the events that pushed me towards becoming a monster, were events that I could not have avoided.

Still, I was back now! I had the Gleipnir! …Well, it was not quite that simple.

After all, Eyes of the God Wolf was still taxing, even if I used Godspeed instead of Legs of the God Wolf. If anything, it might have gotten worse. After all, I was much faster now.

“Damn it…”

Everything had a price. There were merits and demerits. My skill was supposed to help me adjust.

“Well, I think I accomplished that for now… If only an enemy would appear so I could…”

“Oh? Then why don’t you fight me?”

“Whaat!?”

I was so shocked by the sudden intrusion, that I kicked the pot that hung over the fire. And like that, our morning soup was all over the ground.

“Wha…t…”

“Hahh… It is I, Levee.”

“Uh…oh…”

I turned on Nighteyes and saw that she was standing in front of the entrance. She was also using Nighteyes to look at me. She had an exasperated expression.

“Do you really have an alias?”

“They like to call me… Silvergreen…”

“Well, nevermind that. So, how about a duel?”

While she made a show of disinterest, her eyes suddenly glimmered. Yes, she was obsessed with fighting… And she just had to set her eyes on me…

“I suppose you aren’t going to take no for an answer?”

“Ah, you know me too well… Hehe. Shall we go outside?”

“Wait a minute. I’ll wake up the referee.”

I wasn’t exactly the least competitive person in the world either. And so I wanted things to be fair.

“Daniela. Get up for a minute.”

“Mm… Already…?”

“No, it’s still my watch. But I want you to be our referee.”

“…Huh?”

I waited for Daniela to get up and then explained to her that Levee had paid us a visit.

“…So, that’s where you come in.”

“But surely you do not have to?”

“I do. …Look. Those eyes are serious.”

I said as I looked at her with Eyes of the God Wolf. She was excited over being able to fight someone strong. Even her breathing had quickened.

“I don’t know what will happen if I refuse.”

“I see… Damn it, how annoying.”

“Hello? What’s taking you so long? Can we start already?”

She said when she had run out of patience. Honestly, I believe she was ready to straight up stab me in the back.

“Alright, alright. I’m coming.”

Hah. Why… We had a lot of exploring to do in the early morning.

I sighed and took out the demon armor sword from my bracelet. Then I attached it to my belt and walked out of the house. It was time to fight the war junkie…