Chapter 97: Joining Forces To Kill
“Someone found the Blood Strange Flower on the second day. This assessment has produced some good seedlings.”
A charming voice came from the black horse carriage parked at the foot of the mountain, but the only response at this time was the Black Stork on the branch.
“However, that two-headed big dummy isn’t easy to deal with. I wonder if this child can survive. How about we make a bet?” She stretched her snake-like wrist out the window, and the Black Stork immediately flew down, landing on her outstretched wrist.
“It’s a pity you can’t speak. It’s indeed a bit boring for me to sit here alone watching the show.”
“Lead the way ahead and take the horse carriage to Heide’s place.”
Then this red-beaked Black Stork flew up, flapping its wings and flying in front of the horse carriage, pressing one claw on the mane to wake the black horse that had its head down with eyes closed.
Blood-red eyes opened. This black horse snorted loudly to drive away the Black Stork on its head, then shook its body and stepped forward again, following the Black Stork above.
……
In the forest, Xilutiya looked up at the colossal being in front of her. This Ogre had two strange heads, a body about four meters tall, as if it could oppress the sky behind it with a powerful sense of pressure.
Race: Ogre（Variant）
Status: Healthy（Bloodthirsty）
Talent:
Brute Force【Excellent Grade】: Ogres are naturally outstanding in strength, their tall stature and physique bringing power far surpassing that of same-rank lifeforms.
Fate Card:【Two-headed Ogre】（Second Order·Blood Law）
‘A mutated individual among Ogres, about one in fifty Ogres has two heads. They have two hearts, sharing double the strength, making them powerful and troublesome individuals among the same rank.’
–
Effect:【Brute Force Body Lv.5】, the talent in your bloodline lets you innately gain powerful Brute Force and physique. Even an elephant becomes a plaything in your hands.
–
Effect:【Dual-core Drive Lv.2】, you have two hearts and two brains. All low-rank abilities receive double reinforcement.（Abilities originally no higher than Lv.3）
Ability Card:
【Blood Devouring Technique Lv.4】（Blood Law）: Can digest devoured flesh, scales, bones, converting them into your own ‘Blood Law’ Nature power.（Due to ‘Dual-core Drive’ from Lv.3→Lv.4）
【Red Tough Hide Lv.3】（Blood Law）: Tough thick hide, hard for guns and swords to pierce, heat-resistant, flames hard to damage.（Due to ‘Dual-core Drive’ from Lv.2→Lv.3）
【Deterrent Aura Lv.4】（Blood Law）: After killing many creatures, you gain an aura that intimidates other lifeforms, making them lose all will to fight, not daring to resist, even shattering the hearts of weak lifeforms.（Due to ‘Dual-core Drive’ from Lv.3→Lv.4）
When this Ogre appeared in front of Xilutiya, an invisible aura spread, like a shockwave, shattering the insects in the mountain grass. Xilutiya’s chest tightened with some pain.
A very terrifying enemy. The maiden reached this conclusion at first sight. If this was the final third target, the difficulty was already beyond imagination.
But now was not the time for random thoughts, because the Ogre in front of her began to move.
He stepped out with his left foot, swung the thick iron rod in his right hand toward the maiden in front of him. The whistling sound through the air chilled the heart, and the wind it brought lifted Xilutiya’s hood, revealing her overflowing black hair.
Her heel kicked off the ground. Xilutiya circulated her Breathing Technique, leaping forward forcefully to dodge the smashing iron rod, then escaped the oncoming broad hand, rushing into the forest on the side.
Seeing that he hadn’t grabbed this maiden, the Ogre strode after her, with constant sounds of breaking tree branches along the way.
The mountain paths were not easy to traverse, often with steep slopes. At such times, Xilutiya could leap lightly, while the Ogre could only laboriously push aside branches and climb the mountain slope with difficulty.
Speed not matching Xilutiya’s, seeing this maiden about to escape his sight, this Ogre roared in fury. The surging soundwave aura spread, making the maiden running ahead feel as if her heart was gripped by an iron hand, extremely uncomfortable.
Her step faltered, nearly stepping into a gap between stones. Fortunately, she steadied herself at the last moment, took a few more steps forward, left the Ogre’s sight, and entered the secluded forest.
It was hard to defeat this two-headed Ogre head-on; she could only think of another way.
……
Because they entered deep into the forest, the danger level began to rise. Many students felt unwell; some found spring water and directly withdrew, not daring to go deeper. Some with slightly better luck desperately defeated monsters of the ‘First Order’, then took the monster’s head and water bottle together to turn in upon return.
Under the tree shade, Karen gripped her longbow and proceeded, her footsteps silent, eyes scanning the surroundings. At this time, she heard faint water sounds from a distant mountain hollow, thinking it might be the Sweet Water Spring mentioned by the Instructor. Karen quickened her pace.
Several minutes later, at the Sweet Water Spring, Komiya and Karen hugged each other.
“Woo, Karen sister, you’re here.” Komiya hugged Karen’s waist, happily on the verge of tears.
“These two days I was so scared, afraid of encountering monsters I couldn’t beat. If not for the dough accompanying me, I would have gone home yesterday.” She spoke intermittently about the situation these two days and how she relied on the ‘dough’ to find this spring.
“I thought surely others would come looking for spring water, then I could meet classmates and team up with everyone to return.” Her idea was indeed good, but not every classmate encountered was trustworthy.
“Alright, now that I’m here, it should be fine.” Karen touched Komiya, then looked around and discovered under the tree shade not far behind Komiya, a white Ti Lang cautiously hiding behind a tree peeking, a bit afraid of her.
Is this Ti Lang so timid? Karen thought, then inquired of Komiya.
“It’s always like this, so I don’t expect it to fight.” Komiya said, summoning this Ti Lang, pressing its head to stroke it, introducing it to Karen.
“But it’s very obedient and can help us find many things.”
“In that case… meeting up with Tiya, Mike, and the others would be very helpful.” Karen said thoughtfully.
“Right, I can have it help me search for Tiya and them.” Komiya happily bounced up at this.
So the two took spring water and set off again.
……
Afternoon, sun setting in the west.
Mike followed Jie Luo’s intermittent descriptions and found the Ogre’s lair, discovering the blue-skinned Ogre napping.
So big? Mike gripped his sword tightly, slowly approaching, preparing to sneak attack while it slept.
However, he was just an Adventurer by origin, without systematic training in assassin techniques. Before getting within five meters, he was sniffed out by the Ogre and discovered, then it propped itself up to stand.
The opponent’s massive body blocked the sunset light, casting a long shadow over Mike.
The air seemed to cool somewhat. Facing the Ogre over a meter taller than him, Mike rushed forward quickly, then leaped up, slashing down forcefully with his raised longsword.
The steel longsword smashed onto the thick wooden club blocking horizontally, splitting a deep crack, with broken wood chips flying, and the counter-shock force making Mike’s hand slightly numb.
Missing the strike, Mike adjusted position, sidestepped and rushed again, swinging his longsword in a huge arc in the air, slashing diagonally down from the Ogre’s shoulder.
The sharp sword blade cut open the thick hide, tearing out dark red bloodstains. The Ogre in intense pain roared angrily, eyes bloodshot. It covered the wound with one hand, and swept horizontally with the wooden club in the other, hitting Mike who couldn’t dodge in time.
Even with the longsword blocking, the huge force still sent Mike flying. The broken end of the wooden club smashed into Mike’s head, making him dizzy, nearly kneeling, and then warm blood trickled from his forehead.
He was injured, but not seriously.
Seeing the wooden club in his hand damaged, this Ogre first grabbed a stone by its foot and smashed it at Mike. The hard heavy stone hit Mike’s back like a millstone, making his chest stuffy as he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Soon after, this Ogre strode close. Even with a long gash on its body, the bloodthirst and excitement in its eyes unchanged, its outstretched hand grabbed directly at Mike’s shoulder.
Those thick fingers were like grayish stones, full of wrinkles, with thick dirt and bloodstains under the nails, emitting a foul smell. When gripping Mike’s shoulder, it was like iron pliers, causing Mike pain.
He gritted his teeth, tore open the straps on his chest, then unbuckled the leather shoulder armor on his shoulder, escaping and stumbling toward the mountain forest.
After that, this Ogre chased all the way. Injured Mike couldn’t run fast, their speeds not differing much, proceeding along the mountain slope like this.
This situation ended only when an arrow shot from the woods hit the Ogre’s eyeball.
Komiya and Karen stood on the mountain slope, one with wide eyes swirling gray mist disrupting the Ogre, the other continuously drawing bow and shooting arrows, hitting the Ogre’s eyes, throat, knees, exhausting its strength until it slowly fell on the slope.
The three now gathered, and under full cooperation, killed the ‘First Order’ Ogre monster.
At this time, there were still three ‘First Order’ Ogres and one ‘Second Order’ Ogre in the mountain forest.
