Chapter 73

I Gathered Them Up

I entered the Great Forest of Elia. It seemed it had not rained lately as the plants and trees were a bit dry.

「These will burn well.」I muttered, surveying my surroundings.

There were barely any monsters around the entrance to the forest since I killed a lot yesterday. I’m just glad there won’t be a bunch of them appearing, I thought as I activated a spell.

「Wind Walk.」

Then the scenery around me blurred past at an incredible speed. Actually, it was me that was moving.

Wind Walk is one of the Skills of a Sage. It’s a wind-type spell that allows one to move at high speeds momentarily.

A difficult spell to master, one small mistake might send you crashing into a tree. But it’s a very convenient spell depending on how you use it. It requires level 20 to be learned. After killing the Heaven-Rending Lightning Dragon, I got some levels and I was able to learn it. This spell will play a huge part in today’s hunt.

「Magic Search.」

I surveyed my surroundings and barely found any monsters in the area. Not even one Hungry Ogre. They’ve probably learned that this place was dangerous after a bunch of their kind were killed. I won’t be able to gather a lot of them here. I’m going to have to go further into the forest today.

「Magic Search. …There you are.」

After going in a bit further, I found almost thirty Hungry Ogres with my Magic Search. I guess there are still a lot of them in the forest, with the exception of the entrance.

My last target is their Boss, the Emperor Ogre. I need to reduce the number of Hungry Ogres first, though. Otherwise, it will be a rough battle having to fight them both at the same time. Even against the lower ranked King Ogre, fighting will be hard if it groups up with Hungry Ogres. I can manage against ten or twenty of them, but there’s still hundreds.

「Magic Taunt. Magic Taunt. Magic Taunt.」

After sprinkling oil on the ground, I moved through the forest while using Magic Taunt, baiting the Hungry Ogres. For the farther ones, I used Wind Walk to get closer before taunting them. I don’t have to avoid causing a forest fire today so let’s light things up.

「Gaaaahhhh!」

「「「Gooooaaaahhhh!」」」

A while after using my spell, the Hungry Ogres started gathering around. Seeing thirty of them together is quite the scene. If I fought them head-on, I’d quickly get overpowered by their numbers. To avoid that, I made some preparations.

「Flame Pillar.」

They inched closer and closer to me, and at just the right distance, I set fire to the oil. Flames ran across the forest floor. Oil burns faster than trees so the flames traced the oil as they spread further.

「「「「Gaaaaaaahhhh!」」」」

The Hungry Ogres started running while avoiding the flames. But Magic Taunt is nothing to sneeze at. It won’t let them forget their rage that easily. As a result, they clumped up together on the path that would lead them to me, all the while staying away from the flames.

There was only one path – the shortest – that led straight to me where they could also avoid the flames. Of course, this was all part of the plan. Hungry Ogres have high intelligence. And as such, they’re easy to manipulate.

「Flame Circle.」

Gathering enemies in a small space is one of the basics of hunting several targets. It holds true whether you use fire or the local geography.

I used Flame Circle to block the Hungry Ogres’ path. At the same time, flames also roared behind them. With this, they’re now completely surrounded in flames.

Grunting in confusion, the cornered Hungry Ogres desperately searched for an escape route. If left alone, they’ll probably mow down the burning trees to force their way through. With their large build, if they tried to do that, they’ll receive damage from the flames but they won’t die.