Chapter 16
When nearing death, one’s abilities are said to suddenly surge. It didn’t seem to be a lie. Under normal circumstances, Jerome wouldn’t have been able to cleanly sever an ogre’s leg like this.
‘It’s almost over.’
The soldiers were steadily dealing damage, continuously shooting arrows at the fallen ogre’s wounds. Was it because one of its legs was now disabled? The ogre let out a sorrowful cry as it helplessly took arrow after arrow.
With that leg, escape was impossible. You could say the hunt was halfway done.
My gaze naturally turned to Jerome.
Baron.
Was it because he was nearing death? When I activated my Heart Eye, I began to see inside him. The aura that had gathered around his dantian was now flowing out in all directions before completely leaking out.
‘It’s over for him.’
Even if, by some miracle, he survived, he would never be able to become a knight again.
I slowly bowed my head toward Jerome, who was coughing up blood.
“… Kha… Hah… Why…?”
“Do you really not know? You vile man.”
At my words, his eyes widened in shock.
He must have figured out what I meant in an instant.
“…How… did you… know…?”
His eyes bulged in disbelief as he struggled to continue speaking. Gradually, his breath began to slow and stop.
His insides were no longer moving.
He was dead.
As strong as the power of darkness was, there was no way for him to survive with his insides completely destroyed. Not even as a zombie.
‘Goodbye.’
Whether he went to heaven or hell, it didn’t matter to me. I would stay in this world, so I didn’t care anymore.
Now it was time to put an end to the ogre that had already been half-taken down.
The ogre lay on the ground, swinging its arm to prevent the soldiers from approaching.
Was it because it had two heads?
It was an especially loud one.
Soon, my circle began to spin rapidly.
The spell I was going to use was Fire Magic.
There’s nothing quite like cauterizing a wound with fire.
The flame that appeared in my hand moved towards the severed leg of the ogre.
Sizzle!
Screech!
Both heads of the ogre screamed at the top of their lungs, probably due to the immense pain.
It wouldn’t last long now.
Three minutes.
The ogre, who had been enduring the soldiers’ attacks, slowly began to lose its breath.
Even when I scorched its wounds with fire or shot arrows into its eyes, it didn’t flinch anymore.
It was definitely dead.
Seeing its corpse made me smile.
Since ogres are such powerful monsters, their by-products fetched a hefty price.
Their blood, guts, and eyes could be used as high-grade magic materials. The leather could be used to craft top-tier armor.
And finally, the meat, if grilled, was said to be quite delicious.
“It’s… It’s dead?”
“It’s not moving.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m telling you, if it were alive, it would’ve moved when we shot arrows into its eyes!”
I shouted toward the bewildered soldiers.
“We did it!”
As soon as I said that, tears welled up in the soldiers’ eyes.
“We… We won!”
“We killed the monster! It’s dead!”
“We survived! Aaaaaah!”
“Wooooooaaah!”
After delivering the simple victory cry, we began the post-battle cleanup.
Naturally, I was in charge.
Starting with Baron Jerome, even the knights, who were the middle commanders, had all been wiped out.
The soldiers followed my commands diligently.
In the past three days, I had earned their trust. On top of that, I had shown them my brilliant magic during the battle with the ogre.
It was only natural that they would start following me.
Out of a thousand men, about two hundred had survived after encountering that thing.
‘This is excellent.’
I smiled as I looked at the remaining soldiers.
They would serve as witnesses and give testimonies for me.
Since they had fought so well in the battle, even someone as suspicious as Adolf wouldn’t be able to question me.
I mean, what could he do? After all, a two-headed ogre had shown up.
He’d just have to accept it.
Soon, the soldiers began to gather the bodies.
“My Lord, what should we do with the corpses?”
There were easily hundreds of bodies. Among them, many were unrecognizable.
With the remaining soldiers severely reduced and most of them injured, carrying all the bodies back was simply impossible.
It had taken them three days to reach this point, so the return trip would take just as long.
What if they were attacked by monsters while carrying all those bodies?
‘That would be a disaster.’
They’d be fighting while burdened with heavy loads, and, worse, the smell of the corpses would attract even more monsters.
The best course of action was to burn them.
“Take care of Baron Jerome and the knights’ bodies, and gather the soldiers’ personal belongings. Burn the rest.”
The soldiers nodded grimly.
They too realized that there was no way to bring back all the corpses, which numbered over seven hundred.
Soon, a fierce blaze rose in the forest.
After conducting a brief funeral service, the soldiers approached the ogre.
Now it was time to collect the spoils of war.
I had the same intention.
‘Could it be in there?’
What I wanted from the ogre was its core.
The internal core of a powerful beast.
Given that this ogre had two heads, the chances were high.
If it had a core…
‘I’ll devour it.’
Cores, sometimes found inside powerful monsters, were incredibly valuable. Even a low-grade core fetched an exorbitant price, and they were hard to come by.
Even the Marquis family didn’t have many cores in their possession.
No amount of connections or favors would be enough to acquire one.
If I could get my hands on this core…
‘I could open up a few more pathways.’
The pathways inside my body were blocked. Currently, I had opened a single path from my right arm to my heart.
Ideally, I’d like to clear them all, but the barrier around my upper body was particularly tough.
It was almost impossible to tear it apart.
With a core, I could use its energy to break through that barrier.
‘I do want to increase my circle, though.’
The reason I wasn’t considering using the core to advance my circle was simple. It hadn’t been long since I formed my first circle, and it wasn’t fully stabilized yet.
If I recklessly tried to expand the circle now, it could be disastrous.
Rather than risking that, it made more sense to focus on opening more pathways.
Opening pathways would still make me stronger.
‘I need to check inside the body.’
I gathered mana in my right hand and infused it into the ogre’s corpse.
Normally, there would have been some resistance, but since it was dead, the mana seeped in effortlessly.
Carefully spreading the mana throughout the body, I began focusing my mind.
I didn’t know where the core was, but it would naturally draw in mana since cores had a property of absorbing it.
If there was a core, my mana would gravitate toward it.
‘There it is.’
I could feel my mana being drawn to a specific spot. It was located in the upper part of the right head.
‘I have to take it without anyone noticing.’
If the soldiers found out about the core, it would definitely cause a dispute over ownership. A core was a coveted item, even for high-ranking knights like Adolf and Abel.
If word got out, trouble would follow.
‘Is there a way to handle this discreetly?’
Should I split the head open and just extract the core?
That would leave too much evidence behind.
After a moment of contemplation, I came up with a solution.
‘I’ll just take the whole head.’
The core seemed to be located in the brain, so the solution was simple.
I could leave the eyes and say I was taking the head for research or something, and just quietly slip away with the core inside.
If I had only contributed a little, it would be suspicious, but that wasn’t the case.
I’d played a significant role so far.
No one would question it.
“‘If I take this, no one will throw a tantrum at me, right?’
That would be the case even after returning to the territory.
The decision was made quickly.
Soon after, I called a few soldiers and gave them an order.
‘Could you cut off this head? I want to research it.’
The soldiers complied without suspicion. If there had been a baron or even a knight alive, they might have stopped me, but low-ranking soldiers? They obviously wouldn’t.
‘Just take what I need and burn the rest.’
What would they do once I’ve already used it? The core should already be activated inside my body by now.
The right head, nearly 0.7 meters long.
I caught the heavy head with my right arm, where I activated mana, plucked out the eyes, and handed them to the soldier.
‘Use these for distribution.’
The soldiers’ faces lit up immediately.
‘Thank you!’
Ogre eyes. These were expensive magic items.
Thankful, huh. But the value of the core inside this head far exceeded that massive body.
I quietly entered the tent.
I moved my mana, forming a blade, and began splitting open the skull.
Damn, this thing is tough.
But it’ll work if you keep at it.
As soon as the skull split in two, a green core started to show.
It was like a pill, slightly larger than a pea.
‘Nice.’
[Heart Eye is analyzing the item.]
[Twin-headed Ogre’s Core]
[A rare core from a mutated variant of ogres. Though a low-tier core, it contains pure mana.]
‘Hmm?’
It seems Heart Eye can analyze items as well. Judging by the fact that no description appears for ordinary swords or books, it only works on items of a certain rank or those that are special artifacts.
Not that I mind.
If I dissect this brain under the guise of research, I’ll be able to completely hide the traces of the core.
Grinning to myself, I began tearing the brain apart, scattering pieces everywhere.
***
Three days.
That’s how long it took to get out of the forest.
Since we had already cleared out the monsters during our advance, there was only one more ambush, and that was just a small group of goblins. My magic and the soldiers handled them easily.
Meanwhile, I thoroughly dissected the ogre’s skull, leaving the soldiers to dispose of the byproducts.
I had to show them through my actions that I was taking it for research.
As for the core nestled in the pouch hanging from my waist, just thinking about it filled me with a sense of satisfaction, even without consuming it.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t ingest the core right away.
It would release a surge of energy as soon as it entered my mouth.
The top part of my heart was completely blocked right now.
In this situation, controlling the energy entering my body would be nearly impossible.
If that overwhelming surge of energy burst into my body?
The uncontrollable force would tear me apart from the inside.
That’s the danger of unrestrained power.
So, the plan was to melt the core down and absorb it through my right arm.
By processing the core into a liquid, I could channel the energy through my right arm, send it straight to my heart, and fuse it with my mana circle to push it up into my upper body.
As I thought this through, the subjugation force drew close to the outer walls of the territory.
Upon passing the checkpoint and entering the domain, the townsfolk began to buzz at the sight of the returning forces.
Bloodstains all over their bodies, and far fewer soldiers than when we had set out.
A defeated army.
That must have been the first thought that crossed their minds.
I looked much like the soldiers.
I could have used the items in my magic pouch to clean up my appearance, but there was no need. This look was much more useful for shaping public opinion.
People rarely criticize those who have visibly suffered.
‘And the core is safely hidden.’
Inside my magic pouch, the core was securely stored.
Magic pouches have a feature that blocks the internal energy from leaking outside.
It’s similar to a vacuum.
That’s why food stays preserved for so long in these things.
Naturally, the core’s energy was partially concealed as well.
I had considered burying it somewhere, but that wasn’t a good idea.
Since it doesn’t completely block the energy, a monster or animal could end up eating the core. Or worse, someone could find and take it.
Rather than risk that, it was better to keep it close.
So I placed the core in the magic pouch to block the energy and then wrapped it in my mana to completely seal it off from the outside.
Thanks to the mana refined inside my circle, not a trace of the core’s energy was leaking out.
Not even a Sword Master would be able to detect more than the activation of my mana inside the pouch.
Surely, they wouldn’t ask me to open it based on that alone.
As I stepped inside the inner city, the Marquis, along with Abel and Adolf, came running toward us, their faces pale.
Naturally, they looked at me and the disheveled soldiers.
Their faces hardened like slabs of lead.
‘…What happened?’
‘We encountered a twin-headed ogre. Baron Jerome and the knights fought valiantly but… in the end… they perished in mutual destruction…’
As soon as I finished speaking, Adolf’s face twisted as though he had bitten into something foul.
Serves you right, you little punk.
To anyone else, this subjugation mission may have seemed like a total failure.
But for me, it was the perfect result.
—
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