26 | Warmonger and Shaman

Vi's warning is late, although she doubts Keen is oblivious of it himself.

As his body shoots towards the room's corner, a trap activates and generates metal spikes aimed straight at him. The ogre commander's throw has so much force that even the red-clad finds 'surprising' to deal with.

The tattooed ogre leaps to follow up on its attack with two spears and two fists. If needed, it is also willing to use its mouth as a weapon to seal victory.

Instead of fear, Keen feels exhilarated with a mere level thirty monster being able to throw him like that. And so, with a quick spin, he slices the metal spikes waiting for his flesh using his two katanas.

The enemy's excitement dawns quickly as it came, for it realizes the strategy failing. However, with so little space to move about around the corner, the red-clad is almost certainly to fall within its grasp. Or so it thought.

A mission tab is actively blinking in Keen's System.

[ Mission: Consume the Warmongering Ogre Commander ]

[ Reward: Map material (high-grade) ]

[ Reward: 4000 EXP ]

[ Reward: 200,000 Gold Coins ]

[ Reward: 1,000 Silver Coins ]

[ Reward: Beast-skin Shin Armor ]

[ Accept Mission? YES | NO ]

A single breath allows steam to leak from his mouth. "Of course."

The red-clad throws one of his katanas towards the ogre commander's torso while Vi attempts to give him support by throwing a bone lance from behind.

He follows his katana and changes its course using the connecting blood string it has with the other weapon in his hand right at the moment the tattooed monster is about to deflect it. As a result, it still slices one of the monster's forearms.

Without even bothering with pain, the monster tries to pin him down with its two spears. However, by this time he is already too close to its torso and extending a hand through its thick muscles.

"," he whispers as he crushes the monster's core.

Blood, instead of splashing all over the place with Keen's brutal action, accumulates as bandage-shaped liquid suspended in the air and starts seeping into his own body through his hand.

Vi's eyes watch in shock upon seeing the scariest skill her mentor has used so far. The boss-level monster's body does not disintegrate. Instead, it is consumed completely including the core.

Her mind is suddenly wrapped in confusion. The guild master has been refusing to destroy monster cores since his first day in Esprit, but willingly did so this time.

"What the hell is happening?" She prepares her poison dagger and Clone Ring.

◎◎◎

Esme arrives at a dark, secret room at the basement of the fortress. This is where their archer David sensed the presence of at least one Transfer and an ogre. Most probably, this is where the red-clad brought the hostage.

"That must be an ogre commander disguised as a human," White Cloak bites her lip nervously.

The trap-setter shakes his head. "It's impossible. With that kind of body build and insane physical prowess, it's more possibly…a demon."

Petunia's guild master eyes him scornfully. "The existence of demon-kin Transfers and monsters has not been confirmed in Esprit."

Heavy Armor stands beside their berserker. "We must deal with this more carefully."

"Anyway, we must save that girl!" White Cloak interrupts impatiently.

David nods dismissively. If their healer goes on a tantrum again, she will refuse to heal any of them for days. "Of course, of course. Saving her is top priority. But it is too dark here. Throw a signal light somewhere. There may be monsters lurking for —"

His senses jolt him to a defensive stance. With quick reflex, he pulls the strings of his Spirit Bow and conjures three lightning arrows.

Esme also realizes that they are suddenly surrounded by a horde of ogres standing three meters high after hearing a large growl from somewhere deeper into the room. "Ambush!"

Heavy Armor summons a large shield called Pin Shield. It has some kind of a grimacing human face with hollowed out eyes embossed on its center which continues to murmur in an ominous language. In effect, it draws the attention of the ogres to his direction.

Goggles uses to create explosions far from them to thin out the horde.

"Why didn't we notice them being here? Don't tell me—" Archer uses and validates his fear.

An ogre shaman.

It is a powerful commander-level ogre capable of using magic and curses. As such, it should have been responsible for the disappearance of the ogres everywhere else in the fortress.

Additionally, it is wearing a red cloak with glowing white runes.

"Bastard…," Esme casts to increase her strength and to increase her speed. Her longsword glows fiery hot as she slices her way to the ogre shaman. "How dare you play your tricks on Petunia Guild?!"

With a single horizontal strike, a flaming gust bursts forth from her sword and burns the ogres on her way. She then jumps to a pillar and uses it as leverage to jump over to the shaman's direction.

The enemy commander conjures electricity orbs to envelope its fists, then leaps to meet the berserker guild master midair. Although a magic user, being an ogre still allowed a natural gift for physical strength and combat abilities.

As David's wind arrow swooshes from behind to distract the ogre shaman's attention for a split second, White Cloak casts and to Esme.

"Clear the horde first," barks the berserker.

"Aye, captain." The trap-setter gives a cunning smile behind the scenes. Without much warning, he casts and changes the ground around them to become molten lava that immediately swallows up the foothold of the giant monsters.

White Cloak then uses to grow large vines from the ceiling. She can control these with her will so the team is able to grab large vines protruding towards them to save themselves from the trap-setter's own skill.

David frowns at the reckless guy. "Allan, you punk. You want us to die as well?"

Trap-Setter cackles. "If you're that weak, I wouldn't have shown the slightest interest in this guild in the first place."

"Stop with your arguments, "the heavy-armored guy butts in, "We still need to survey the area to look for that woman."

White Cloak nods with a serious face.

Meanwhile, Esme is still exchanging blows with the ogre shaman.

"Damn you, where's that girl?!" she makes a semi-circular swing with her sword and summons another gust of flames towards the enemy.

The ogre shaman spanks it away like it is some kind of house fly. Then, in an echoing voice, the monster laughs.

"Use my Pin Shield, GM!" Heavy Armor attempts to throw his shield to their guild master, but she signals him not to do it.

"You know that berserkers don't do well with shields, Howl. However, you can use it to defend our other members." She gives him a brief smile before engaging into her battle again.

She is right. Since Allan's lava trap is only devouring the ogres slowly from the bottom, some of them are still able to throw their weapons to the team's direction. They are an open target for the horde to take with them in death.

With his other arm gripping White Cloak's vines, he can only defend with his shield using one arm. "Everyone gather behind me. I'll use Pin Shield!"

The vines start moving towards his back. With the whole guild behind him, Howl activates his shield's special effect.

When other ogres start throwing blunt weapons and axes to them, the Pin Shield successfully defends without getting any damage. Additionally, its self-defense effect activates and creates multiple tendrils that strike back to the attacking ogres.

Within seconds, all ogres are completely annihilated except for the one their guild master is facing.

"Your shield is really scary, you know." Allan shrugs.

Heavy Armor pays no attention to him but instead jumps off the vine and heads for Esme.

He takes out a circular shield with spikes on all sides and throws it like a boomerang towards the ogre shaman.

David's wind arrow follows up behind to give the enemy no time to recover its defensive stance.

This time, Esme jumps while brandishing her sword with runes as she chants a spell called . Her sword becomes even bigger, almost twenty times its original size. She then uses and to power up even more.

"Stop her! She's going to destroy the whole fortress at this rate," Goggles taps David's shoulder with obvious urgency.

But their efforts are already in vain. With a devastating slash, the fortress is split into two. Including the ogre shaman who is first to experience the berserker's full force.

◎◎◎

Keen drops on his knees, his body shaking.

Vi runs to his side. "What was that skill? Why was the Warmongering Ogre Commander completely consumed without even disintegrating?"

'More importantly, what Release fragment did he gain from consuming that strong monster?' Vi still has her guard up.

"Who...who is that boy?" he whispers to himself. His hands are shaking and he can feel pain stabbing his chest.