CH 18

If you were to name the most representative monster among those considered top-level monsters, it would undoubtedly be the Ogre, whose impressive size is its most notable feature.

Among those Ogres, there is a particularly impressive one that boasts incredible strength, and that is the Twin-Headed Ogre.

Surprisingly, their grade is on par with that of a high-level monster, reaching level 6, just below the grade referred to as “disaster.”

There was a time when they were called “disasters,” and they were truly terrifying monsters. However, that monstrous power was crushed so easily that it was almost ridiculous.

Crack!

Although it seemed like a light punch, one of the Twin-Headed Ogre’s heads was completely crushed by it, and the other head let out a crazed scream.

“Kraaaawwww!”

The sound was so loud that it made the nearby bushes shake.

“Quiet!”

However, to the man who overwhelmed them, it was just a noisy sound.

With a wide open mouth, he dug in all the way down to the monster’s shoulder, and even the remaining head was relieved of the weight of life.

It was the moment when the high-level monster called Twin Head Ogre kneeled down.

The owner of the mountain let out a low groan as he watched the scene.

He became more alert at the thought that Baron’s abilities were far greater than he had anticipated, and he had only thought that baron had arrogantly challenged his territory.

The sight of his followers, who had been brought along to assess his abilities, being crushed was shocking in many ways.

Especially when some of the high-level monsters, including Twin Head Ogre, who could be considered the most powerful among them, were destroyed, it was enough to make one feel fear for a moment.

“Kreuuuur…”

From a human perspective, there were six Level 5 monsters and three Level 6 monsters!

That incredible power was shattered in an instant.

Even if he had called all of his scattered followers, he knew that there would be no answer.

Perhaps the low groan was an instinctive expression of emotion, trying to dispel the creeping fear from such a scene.

Baron asked, “Hoo… Is this it? Is there nothing more?” as he wiped the blood off his face and fists.

The owner of the mountain, the moon Bear, continued to howl and circle around Baron.

Although there were still monsters waiting in the back, compared to the “subordinates” sent out earlier, they were merely “slaves” lacking in strength.

Finally, the time had come for Baron to take matters into his own hands.

“I finally get a taste of it.”

A hint of excitement could be seen in Baron’s eyes.

If the owner of the mountain had roared before he found Lim Seon-hee, who knows if Baron would have made an excuse and immediately chased after the roar.

That was how curious he was.

“Let’s see the skills of this guy called ‘disaster level’.”

He had a suspicion when he heard the roar, but seeing him face-to-face and commanding several level 6 monsters made him confident.

Level 7!

The owner of Bukhansan was the highest-ranking monster recognized by the world.

He didn’t know how such an absurdly ranked monster was in Korea, let alone in Bukhansan, and he didn’t even want to know.

It’s just that his curiosity was piqued enough to want to confirm just how bad the highest-ranked monsters in the world could be.

“I hope it’s really the level I’m thinking of.”

He let out a dry laugh at this point.

‘I came here because I didn’t want to fight, so what the hell am I doing now?’

He couldn’t help but crave the taste of combat and the battlefield, ingrained in his nature.

“Graaah!”

Suddenly, with an angry scream, the moon bear leapt forward and rushed towards him.

It was an incredible speed that didn’t allow even a blink of an eye, causing an illusion that it was approaching by folding space.

Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack! Quack!

As Baron turned his body to avoid the attack of the bear, it looked like the grass behind him was exploding with a scream.

It was a terrifying charge that reminded him of an angry wild boar, and the destructive power was truly enormous.

A straight line of several dozen meters was created.

Of course, the trees in the way were crushed to the point where they were unrecognizable, and were even reduced to dust.

“Hmm…”

Baron whistled lightly and gave his review.

“It’s impressive, but brutish.”

However, he felt that the power was undoubtedly there.

Looking at the path of destruction, he felt that the power on display was even greater than what he had initially thought.

Of course, if he had the Samshinki, the story would have been different.

“Without the Samshinki, it would be hard to match that level of power in a purely physical state.”

If the moon bear hadn’t stopped itself, the path of destruction would have been even longer, perhaps stretching for hundreds of meters, or even a kilometer.

There was certainly enough power in the moon bear’s charge.

“This is funny,”

He felt a creepy sensation rising on his skin almost imperceptibly.

This kind of tension was truly rare.

Looking back, after the war with the demon king was over, he had spent almost half a century living a life completely unrelated to battle, mostly just fooling around.

Although he had accumulated some experience, it was still a period of time when his senses could not help but rust.

“Hah… It’s not really in my nature to fight.”

Even during his stormy school days, there were times when nothing happened until someone else made a move first.

“I used to be a pacifist…sigh!”

Unfortunately, the time he spent in that world had thoroughly transformed him into a total warrior.

Otherwise, there would be no reason to be so excited.

As he tried to hide the corners of his mouth that were starting to rise, another storm of disaster level approached from distance.

Kwakwakwakwa…

“Ignorant.”

It was an unchanging charge.

As he retreated slightly as before and prepared to counter with a raised fist, the trajectory of the moon bear veered slightly.

“What?”

At the moment when Baron’s eyes widened, the moon bear and his physical body collided, following the same path as the veering trajectory.

Kwaaaaang!

A massive explosion sounded like a bomb going off. However, it was not the result that the moon bear desired.

It was because Baron crossed his arms to block the reckless charge.

Although he thought he would be crushed, it was an unexpected situation.

“I thought it was a bear, but was it a fox?”

Baron’s voice came from across his crossed arms. At the same time, an emergency signal sounded in the moon bear’s head.

Thud!

At the moment when he thought he could brace himself, the crossed arm swung around and the elbow hit the moon bear’s cheekbone at point-blank range.

As if chasing a large stride, the elbow swung again, and just as it seemed to jump slightly, it hit the exact center of the nose this time.

“Kurung!”

Groaning in pain, the moon bear raised both arms. At the same time, Baron had to step back to stop the flurry of attacks.

It was because a suspicious storm was raging from left and right.

“It’s a wind blade…”

He sensed that this was the ‘ability’ that the moon bear had used.

Even more fierce than those fierce claws, the wind with its sharpness and heaviness swept over where he stood, and surprisingly, a pile of earth seemed to topple over as if it had been turned over by a bulldozer.

“A wind with sharpness and weight…”

When his eyes sparkled, another ability pressed down on him.

The pile of earth that had been dislodged began to move like magic and started to rain down on him.

“Whoop!”

Baron, catching his breath, quickly moved and avoided the pile of dirt. However, there was something peculiarly unfamiliar about his movement.

His arm movements were awkward.

“I need to avoid a direct hit.”

His bones were aching from the previous defense. The impact could have easily broken them. In fact, one of the reasons he had evaded the attack was to reduce the burden on his arms.

He should have used some skills to change the direction of the force, but he had received it head-on out of curiosity, which resulted in a bigger impact.

“By the way… this guy has some impressive skills.”

While evading the attacks with quick movements, Baron suddenly felt the ground shake, and his feet wavered. He realized that it was also the power of the Crescent Bear.

At the moment his feet trembled, the Crescent Bear rushed towards him in anger. Baron’s eyes caught a spark flashing above the bear’s fur.

“Quaaahhh!”

Once again, Baron and the Crescent Bear collided. This time, Baron’s power was not enough to resist, and his feet were pushed back, making him lose his balance.

He was already in a weakened position, and facing the fierce attack with his already injured arm was too much. He couldn’t resist the force pushing him back, so he was thrown away.

Although he looked like he was tumbling, but he didn’t take as much damage as the half-moon bear had hoped.

The Crescent Bear, realizing this, let out a furious roar and rushed towards Baron with another body slam. At that moment, Baron was already preparing to counterattack.

Instead of retreating, he lowered his posture and leaped forward.

While the crescent moon bear may be smaller in size compared to large monsters, it boasted an impressive size compared to Baron, a mere human.

As such, when Baron lowered his stance, he was able to bury himself completely in moon bear’s embrace, with its eyes widening in surprise.

Then Baron launched his counter-attack.

“You’re not the only one who knows how to use body slams.”

Although there was a difference between body slams and headbutts, Baron slammed into the moon bear’s snout as it charged forward.

Thwack!

The impact echoed throughout the area as Baron’s counter-attack landed successfully.

“Owwwww!”

The moon bear howled in agony and doubled over, and to make matters worse, Baron was still inside its grasp and he had no intention of easing the bear’s suffering.

“Let’s see what you’ve got!”

With those words, Baron’s elbow struck the moon bear’s chin, causing its chest to be open wide.

Then came the flurry of close-range strikes: elbows, knees, and body slams, one after the other, relentlessly pounding on the bear.

“Groaaarrr!”

The bear howled in agony, unleashing its full power. The energies of lightning, wind, and earth surged around its body, trying to push Baron away.

Various abilities that could change the shape of a mountain if used intentionally had come together in Baron’s body.

Was that the reason?

His skin, which boasted an unusual toughness, was bruised, torn, and burned, yet Baron did not stop his attack.

His experience on many battlefields told him that this was the deciding moment.

“I need to finish this before he unleashes his hidden stash.”

He had a gut feeling that there was more to it than just the three known attributes, and curiosity tempted him to explore further. However, he had a sense that doing so would result in a world of hurt.

Even though the injured area was throbbing with pain, he knew that missing this opportunity would increase the likelihood of experiencing even greater agony.

He enjoyed the thrill of combat, but didn’t want to end up incapacitated because of it.

“There’s no saint or regeneration here. I shouldn’t push myself too hard and end up regretting it.”

He acknowledged that his current injuries were significant, but still within a manageable range.

Besides, he had already confirmed what he had been curious about—the standards for disaster ratings.

By fighting with another being from a different dimension, he could clearly judge it’s power. “it’s at the level of a high-grade demon.”

Compared to other creatures in that world, such as the transcendent beings or the titled demons, the moon bear wasn’t as powerful.

However, it had been a long time since he had faced an opponent of this level, and he wanted to savor the experience. But he knew that pushing too far would result in dire consequences.

“I don’t want to eat two defective foods in one day.” He had a way to lead the battle while still satisfying his curiosity.

He decided to avoid absorbing another high-grade magical stone and instead focus on quickly ending the fight within the limits of his physical capabilities before the moon bear’s abilities could fully manifest.

As expected, a few moments later, he felt a surge of energy push against him, making it difficult to breathe.

A new ability had been activated.

“Poison!”

Even as his skin turned red, Baron didn’t stop attacking. From now on, it was a race against time.

He struck and struck again.

Like a leaf or a gum wrapper sticking to a body, he clung to the moon bear and launched a relentless assault from every angle.

At some point, even the moon bear found it difficult to hold out, rolling on the ground while Baron’s brutal punches and beatings smashed his face and squeezed his breath out of him.

The moon bear sensed the arrival of the grim reaper.

It was a crazy sight.

If he could use all his abilities, he could easily shake off Baron and turn the tide, but unfortunately, that was impossible.

He had not fully absorbed the “crystal” he had taken earlier, and because of that, his abilities were limited.

Although he tried to handle it with his basic ability and strength, he felt that it was not enough and awakened the crystal, but even with that, he couldn’t gain the upper hand.

After that, he struggled to awaken the third and fourth ability, but still, the answer did not come.

Going further from here was truly impossible.

Therefore, he had to make a choice.

Should he go on a rampage and die together, or should he flee and live?

Of course, the choice was survival, and the result was enough to astonish Baron.

“Huh?”

His eyes widened as he stared into the air, because he saw something like fog flowing out of the moon bear’s nose and gathering in the air.

“Huh…what? I thought it was a versatile monster, but it turns out to be a possessed ghost.”

Surprisingly, the fog’s true identity was a ghost-type monster that has possessed a moon bear.

“It’s strange. It doesn’t look like a normal monster.”

Based on this sudden situation, his intuition came to a simple conclusion: the moon bear was not a monster that had crossed over the rift.

Even though it was in a possessed state, its ability levels were too high to be attributed to the ghost’s powers.

“It seems a bit fishy.”

Even with its best efforts, it felt like it was only at the level of a third-level monster, and the difference in its power increase due to possession was too great. In other words, this meant that the half-moon bear’s inherent ability levels were high.

There was no time to solve the mystery surrounding it, as the fully emerged ghost suddenly began to flee.

As soon as all the fog had dissipated, the moon bear’s breath stopped completely. It was a truly close call.

“Tsk… how annoying.”

Although it wouldn’t matter if he left it alone, he would feel like he had left something unfinished by not properly finishing the battle. Eventually, he had no choice but to make an uncomfortable decision.

A spatial rift opened and a high-grade magical stone emerged.

“As it is now, I can’t catch it.”

Since it required a minimum amount of energy or ability to make contact with a ghost, he had no choice but to revive the flames with the magic stone.

“If that’s the case, I should have enjoyed it a little more.”

Although he tried to avoid the magic stone and engage in a quick fight, it inevitably led to a situation where the magic stone was absorbed.

“Trying to avoid a cold and getting a fever. Damn it!”

He saw the ghost fleeing into the distance. As it was daytime, its speed was quite slow, but it was still flying away without any resistance, and had already become quite far away.

“Whew…”

Baron took a deep breath, and the ghost flying in the distance was swallowed up in his mouth as if he were a vacuum cleaner.

“Kwaaaah!”

After a moment, an excessively satisfying burp resounded like a trumpet, announcing the end of the battle.