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Path to Prosperity - B1 Chapter 47
🕑 Added 2024-07-20 10:00:07 +0000 UTCThey heard the Ogres before they saw the small group of humanoid monsters trashing each other to reach a carcass. The Ogres, green-skinned, with disproportional huge heads, were close to three meters tall and wielded small tree trunks, which they used to hit each other. They looked skinnier than Percy expected from Ogres, revealing their firm muscles underneath the thin layers of fat.
“Good. They’re the inferior version,” Percy heard Melissa mumble.
The Glacia Knights, six of the dozen who’d joined the hunt, unsheathed their swords slowly and spread out to execute a perfect pincer attack.
“You two will team up and deal with at least one Ogre. Don’t use your Monster Cards!” Knight Liam told Melissa and Percy, who stared blankly at the old knight.
It would be too easy with our Cards, and we wouldn’t learn anything.
Percy nodded slowly, but Melissa paled a little. He walked up next to her and smiled encouragingly.
“Do you want me to distract them while you prepare one of your large icicles, or do you want to use the freezing enchantment of your sword, Lady Reeze?”
Melissa glanced at him and took a deep breath.
“I don’t like you.”
Percy raised an eyebrow, “Okay?”
“But not because of the reason you think. You don’t have any responsibilities to shoulder, and you can do whatever you want.”
It was the first time Melissa spoke to him honestly and composed. She unsheathed her sword and skulked past a small tree line toward the closest Ogre.
“I don’t have any responsibilities,” Percy mumbled, “That’s true…but I don’t have a family I love more than anything.”
His words were no more than a whisper, but Melissa heard him. She turned to him momentarily, and Percy could have sworn a faint smile would blossom.
“You are an odd one.”
That goes right back to you.
“I’m going to charge the Ogre and taunt it. There is no way the Ogre will make it through my defense. You would break like a twig,” Melissa’s expression twisted, recalling how Percy blocked the Pleacis’ attack. The gaping hole in Percy’s chest might have healed, but the image of the hole in his chest and the puddle of blood forming around him was still imprinted in Melissa’s mind.
“I will follow your lead,” Percy said subconsciously, which earned him another faint smile from the young noble.
A few seconds later, they reached the Ogres and got into position. The Glacia Knights were also in position and gestured to each other. A moment later, a roar escaped the lips of the Glacia Knights, and they charged ahead.
The five battered Ogres turned to the Glacia Knights and roared in excitement. They split up and charged left and right, raising their tree trunk bats to squash their new toys.
Melissa kicked the ground and shot toward the slowest Ogre with shocking velocity. Her body released a freezing hue, freezing the ground wherever she stepped as she accelerated. Her sword glowed azure as she appeared beside the Ogre, who sensed the mana fluctuations. However, instead of paying attention to the mana fluctuations, the creature swatted to his left using the tree trunk before charging ahead.
Melissa’s eyes narrowed. The Ogre didn’t even look in their direction. It focused on the Glacia Knights just like its brethren. That was a mistake. The young noble dove to the side, evading the tree trunk, and jumped up after a smooth roll on the ground. She slithered across the freezing ground, but that was intentional. She was already familiar with the environmental effects of her Ego and learned how to use it to her advantage.
Melissa appeared next to the Ogre and slashed at the creature’s extended arm with all her might.
A magnificent azure-blue arc whizzed through the air, followed by the Ogre’s arm. Melissa severed it in one go, depriving the Ogre of its weapon arm and the tree trunk in one go.
The [Frostblade] enchantment of her Sword Artifact was active and froze the Ogre’s arm stump before it could start regenerating. Nonetheless, the Ogre noticed what happened. It roared in pain and looked at its puny attacker for the first time. Melissa broke into a cold sweat when the Ogre’s wrath-filled eyes stared down at her. The monster’s bloodlust enveloped the young noble, who froze for a quarter of a second.
A quarter of a second wasn’t long, but that was everything the Ogre needed to gather enough momentum to reach Melissa with its remaining arm. Its intact arm swiped horizontally and threatened to crash hard into Melissa when Percy shot past her, wielding the Silvron Sword in one hand and the enchanted Gnoll Blade in his other hand.
“Calm down, please,” He muttered to Melissa with a smile when he appeared before her.
A few weeks ago, Percy would have considered this move suicidal. Precisely, he had done something very similar and was nearly killed. But Percy wasn’t the same weak kid he used to be. He was stronger and more experienced.
He channeled enough mana into the Silvron Sword until it hummed while doing the same with the Gnoll Blade, except that he activated its [Sharpness] enchantment. Thereafter, Percy circulated the remaining mana in his reserves through his body and changed into a defensive stance.
His feet dug deep into the wet soil, and the muscles all over his body bulged.
I can do this!
He screamed in his mind as he crossed his weapons to block the incoming hand. The Ogre swatted horizontally, its hand instinctively wide open to cover more area. The creature’s hand impacted and crashed heavily into one of the targets, but its enemy wasn’t hurled through the surroundings. On the contrary, Percy was merely pushed back, leaving behind a trail on the ground. Simultaneously, his mana-infused weapons dug into the Ogre’s palm.
Once the Ogre’s momentum was taken, Percy made his move. He twisted the Gnoll Blade in the Ogre’s wrist and ripped it out smoothly as he ducked under the creature’s arm. A quick series of slashes, thrusts, and cuts, replicating a short but impactful sword dance, followed suit.
Why is that thing so tough? My arms are numb, and the Gnoll Blade cannot dig deeper. Not even [Sharpness] is enough at this point.
The Gnoll Blade was a low-quality weapon and couldn’t even salvaged by the [Sharpness] enchantment. It was good enough to deal with Gnolls and other Common Monsters and maybe even to deal considerable damage to the Archyeas, but Ogres were tougher than that.
Good thing they gave me a proper weapon.
The Tempered Silvron Sword, despite not being an Artifact, did considerable damage to the Ogre. Unfortunately, the Ogre’s natural regeneration was too fast. The first cuts stopped bleeding when Percy’s short sword dance ended.
The Ogre turned to Percy, its eyes filled with even more rage than before, and it attacked.
But before it could reach him, Percy’s expression changed drastically. He stared at the Ogre with a shit-eating grin.
A moment later, a massive icicle whizzed through the air and hit the Ogre square in its face. The icicle’s tip pierced through one eye and dug deeper into the Ogre’s skull until Percy heard Melissa mumble, “Shatter.”
The icicle shattered into countless tiny fragments that splattered in all directions. Percy had to retreat to avoid a barrage of the high-velocity fragments, and he shuddered as he imagined what the Ogre’s skull must look like from the inside after the fragments wreaked havoc. The Ogre didn’t growl or groan anymore. It fell over with a resounding thud and never moved again.
“Decent distraction,” Melissa commented before gesturing to him to continue. The fight was not over yet!
Unfortunately, it didn’t take much longer for the fight to end. The remaining Ogres collapsed lifelessly to the ground, either beheaded or their hearts pierced cleanly and their chests frozen solid.
No matter how strong Ogres are….once you get through their tough hide and stop them from regenerating, they’re easy prey.
Percy would have an incredibly hard time killing an Ogre at this point. His equipment wasn’t all that great, and even if he injured the Ogre, it could regenerate. Percy would have to pierce its brain or rip its heart out if he wanted to kill a creature like the Ogre. Everything else would be too little.
Percy looked over to the Glacia Knights. He studied their equipment and the runic enchantments engraved on them and winced quietly.
I have to start using my Ego to gain an advantage. Melissa can use her Ego in combat, but I can’t. Not properly, at least. That means I need to start using it to increase my combat prowess and chances of survival. So what if someone can see me enchant my equipment using my Ego?
He grit his sword tightly until the white of his knuckles was visible. The Ogre fight didn’t last long, but his contribution was the lowest. If not for Melissa, he would have died. Percy turned to Melissa, but she was already talking to Liam.
“Let’s get back to the carriage,” She ordered the Glacia Knights, who stared at her for a few seconds before their gazes moved to the Ogre corpses.
Is she not going to store them? Percy wondered, and he wasn’t alone in his thoughts, but nobody dared speak their minds.
Melissa noticed their stares and scoffed, “I don’t have any space left. I don’t care whether you carry them on your back or leave them behind.”
The Glacia Knights winced but didn’t even consider carrying the Ogre carcasses back to the carriage. They still had some days of traveling left and wouldn’t be able to preserve the corpses that long, either way. In the first place, their bodies were too heavy to carry without a designated spatial device.
Some Glacia Knights murmured in dissatisfaction, but Knight Liam raised an eyebrow and glanced at the young lady before his eyes averted to Percy. Other Glacia Knights followed the old knight’s gaze, but nobody said anything.
Her spatial ring is not full!
There was no interface before him, but Percy knew what this meant. He swallowed hard as he watched the Glacia Knights leave the Ogre corpses behind. Percy approached the closest corpse and pressed his palm against it.
This is…
[Inferior Ogre – Mature(Malnourished) – 13,592 Prosperity]
His eyes widened, and he looked back to Melissa, who glanced at him from the corner of her eyes at the same moment. She diverted her attention in a hurry, but Percy noticed her nonetheless.
Maybe she is not as bad as I thought.
He thought as he walked across the battlefield to claim possession of all corpses that had been left behind and ‘abandoned.’
Percy smiled from one ear to the other, happy to have joined Melissa’s retinue. Whether it was permanent or only temporary didn’t matter at this moment.
He was happy, and that was all that mattered.
[5x Inferior Ogres have been consumed. 68,345 Prosperity has been added.]
