Volume 1, Chapter 4: Ogre
Once he integrated his body and mind, he looked for a secluded place below the cliff, then looked up at it. Only when he had reached a calm state of mind did he raise a loud warcry as he ran up the cliff. As he did so, an extremely loud sound resounded in the vicinity, along with a vertical trail of dust and sand that was slowly falling down the wall of cliff.
「HAAAA! 」
He swung his sword along with its scabbard to the tip of the cliff.Then, using the recoil, he instantly took a leap. The only one who could pull off such a feat, while clad in Organ armour, in the entirety of the continent of Worimia was Lambert alone. In the past era or current one.
I can still move like I did when I was still alive… Having an undead body is truly a wonder. As if I still have my own weight and flesh.
The matter was just as he thought. It was thanks to Maniga’s necromancy. Therefore, the current Lambert had something called the『Pseudo Flesh』 that was made with a special mana alteration. In short, it’s a skill that let an invisible layer of mana cover his bones, and gave him the feeling of weight and power, therefore letting him move just like he did when he was still alive.
『Pseudo Flesh』 was in fact a mere energy body, the only recourse for the undead to move around. And if Lambert tried to stab his sword into his neck, that sword would pass through his 『Pseudo Flesh』 , directly severing his bone instead,because the skill didn’t protect his bones at all. It differed from common flesh.
Despite the shortcomings of the skill, Lambert still had the greatest armor covering his skeleton- The Organ armor, or its rather long and tedious official name 『Regionix Orgaziera Armor』. Aurelia’s predecessor, during his reign, gathered and commissioned famous craftsmen to create it, pouring in resources of all kinds. There were only four such armors in the world.
It was the equipment that could only be worn by the four great generals of the Kingdom of Regios. Them and only them alone were allowed to don those armors. They were otherwise known as the four demon generals. And Lambert was one of the successors of those original four demon generals.
No methods and attacks could put a scratch on this armor. However, this armor was not the reason why the four demon generals were a terror on the battlefield. The reason why they were known thus, was because…they could run across the battlefield wearing that heavy armor as if it were featherlight.
That being said, he continued to run after reaching the peak of the cliff. Right now, thanks to his armour, with each step he created a loud sound inside the silent forest.
During that time, he sensed a malicious aura. Although it was the first time he sensed this kind of aura, he could guess the identity of the owner of that malicious aura.
Is this…… demon aura?
Demon was the kind of beast who was born from a well of mana. An undead who was born by the power of mana was included in its ranks. The current Lambert, whose death was distorted by mana, was also an undead. A demon-kind.
Normally, it’s only after living beings were born that they would have mana within them, and this also included normal animals. To be more specific, God bestowed mana upon living being as a proof of His blessing. It was different with demons because they were born from a well of mana -the exact opposite of a living being. That was why they were treated as the wicked life whose very existence was a sin.
And since demons were born from mana, their mana sensing abilities were beyond comparison. Especially for the undead, who by nature envied the living and thus were extremely sensitive to mana and life force. And, that’s the reason why he had gained the ability to sense and seek mana now, something that was impossible when he was a human.
However, since Lambert had only recently become an undead, he didn’t have the confidence in his newly acquired abilities. So, he needed to confirm his deductions. That’s why he decided to go toward the direction of the malicious aura.
He had no idea about where to go anyway, and he had nothing to lose by doing it anyway.
Thus, Lambert saw the source of the aura. In front of a big tree, glaring at him and standing upright, was the figure of a big demon.
That big demon was a size bigger, and rounder than Lambert with his armor. Its flesh looked like a mass of muscle with bulging blood vessels. Its thick horns that were smeared with blood rendered it an even more menacing appeal. The sharp claws along with the tusks that peeked out from its mouth also added to the menacing intent since their sole purpose was to kill the prey.
It’s called an Ogre- the standard of a powerful demon, the kind of opponent that humans couldn’t win in direct confrontation. Especially because, when compared to it, the human race was way too inferior in terms of physical power.
Not to mention the long arms that ogres had, allowed them a longer reach. The difference in the physical power and the reach of the long arms, between the two races, wasn’t something that could be overturned so easily.
And, while a first-rate wizard might be able to defeat an ogre by attacking its Achilles heel, usually wizards were not the ones dispatched to deal with it. Normally, a single ogre was dealt with by four 1st class warriors.
After all, while the ogre had a belligerent nature that made their attack pattern way too predictable, dodging its ramming attacks was a completely different matter. Numerous warriors had died due to these very ramming attacks.
The ogre had also sensed Lambert’s mana and stood there in silence. It was the King of this forest, and everyday, the demons in the forest had always brought a part of their food that they had hunted, as an offering for the ogre.
No demon in the forest was ever careless enough to pass before the ogre, even when they came to offer their spoils from hunting. They usually hid themselves silently so as to not rouse the sleeping ogre. It was a kind of law, so as to shield themselves from the violent rage that the demonkin unleashed at times.
However, Lambert had only just approached the place with the large mana, completely oblivious to this fact Seeing Lambert’s action, enraged, the ogre leapt at him at once. And, even though it was enraged by the rude intruder in its territory, it was also curious at the same time or perhaps it might want to verify who was better- itself or the intruder. After all, it could also sense Lambert’s mana, and it had never met any creature that had such an intense mana besides itself.
As it leapt, the ogre lowered its waist and stretched its arms forward to the ground taking a stance to ram Lambert. In response, Lambert unsheathed his sword to fight the ogre even as he continued to run forward.
「GUUU…」
The ogre growled in a low voice, baffled at Lambert’s action because Lambert was full of openings.
At the sight of an exposed Lambert, the ogre thought that irrespective of how it would ram into him, Lambert’s defensive and evading tactics wouldn’t be able to protect himself, surely making him the next victim of its claws.
Ogre was a race gifted with high combat ability right from their birth. They were able to see through the unguarded sides and moments of lapse in attention of their prey, and go directly for the kill. And, in this Ogre’s eyes, Lambert was full of openings.
「GUGAAAA! 」
The ogre then rushed towards Lambert.
In the ogre’s view, Lambert’s reflexes were far too slow. Although at the beginning the ogre felt elated upon sensing a worthy opponent, it eventually felt dejected when it finally saw Lambert’s actions and reactions.
After all, in the face of an ogre’s ramming onslaught, any normal creature would immediately perk up its defenses- eyes wide open, trembling shoulders, even suddenly raising its arms. Or, it would simply shudder all over…basically, a normal creature’s body would instinctively react to the ogre like it would to any threat, as its mind would automatically think of 『How to deal with the ogre?』.
And, as the ogres were gifted with high combat ability, by nature, it could estimate the reflex of any living creature trying to protect itself.
As a result of its innate capability, the ogre concluded that Lambert was weaker than itself.
The ogre thrust its sharp claws into the gap of Lambert’s armor on the neck. Or, so it was supposed to be. It was already imagining the scene of Lambert losing his head.
But its sharp claws didn’t even reach Lambert, its arm fluttered mid-air and creating a rain of blood.
As soon as it registered, the ogre felt its body fall backward. It didn’t know how it happened. It only felt its incoming death, and the last thing its brain, that was enhanced by mana, saw were the scenes of its life being played in slow motion.
It was too late, almost at the same time as its arm was being severed, its body was also split in half by Lambert.
Not stopping at just that, Lambert continued with the third deathblow, heading straight towards the ogre’s head. This series of actions, from slicing the ogre’s torso and arms to crushing its head, was carried out in less than a second and before the ogre fell down.
Before its death, the ogre realized that it was just a frog in the bottom of the well. The reason why it couldn’t see Lambert’s defensive measures was because Lambert was far more used to combat than it was. He simply didn’t waste any of his movement. That’s all there was to it.
Realising this fact at the final moment, the ogre finally felt ashamed of its own empty pride. It had failed to measure how weak it was compared to Lambert. However, as a demonic race that was well-known for its thirst for battle, it was proud to be able to battle against Lambert in its last fight.
Lambert calmly stabbed the ogre’s face, disregarding the strong pressure he released. The sound of his sword squashing the ogre’s head resounded in the forest.
Thus, the ogre met its end.
Lambert leaped toward the ogre who was about to ram at him, slicing its arms and torso, and then piercing its head.That was what happened within that single moment of their battle.
If that was done to any ordinary person, they’d already have turned into lumps of meat without even understanding what had happened to them in that single moment; for the ogre to be able to realize what exactly happened to cause its death, that was really a proof of its fearsome capability.
Meanwhile, even after this, Lambert was still running, idly swinging his sword to the side to get rid of the blood on it before sheathing it back to its proper place. That absent-minded action of his gave the feeling that it was something habitual and not worthy of any accolades.
… I see, so my current body can sense the presence of mana. I might be able to use this ability to find a human settlement.
However, without minding anything, his thoughts had already switched from confirming his doubt to using his newly-gained ability. Because to someone of Lambert’s caliber, subjugating an ogre-class demon was way too easy and not worth another moment’s thought.
That’s strange… The terrain and landscape are slightly different from what I remember. Have I ended up in a completely different place?
And at this moment, once again he had mistaken the current situation. Because he didn’t realize that he was resurrected…200 years after his death.