382 - Mercenaries of the Tower 2

382 - Mercenaries of the Tower 2

TL/Editor: raei

Schedule: 5/week

Illustrations: Posted in discord

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Having faced many ogres, I was well-versed in killing them. I'd developed a sort of combo or routine. Striking horizontally to shatter their knees, then smashing their fallen heads - a slaughter method too crude to call a combo.

But this one, in its frenzied state, stood at least 10m tall - twice the size of an underdeveloped specimen from the outside world.

So its knees were above my head. I couldn't use the same approach.

If size was the issue, I'd just have to grind it down more meticulously. My warhammer, filled with the stress of repeated knockbacks, crashed down on its instep rather than its shin.

Crack!

"Grooaaaargh!"

My full-force strike didn't just crush its instep - it obliterated it.

We might have been evenly matched in strength, but our durability wasn't even comparable. My mana-infused weapon, unblemished for 11 years, far outclassed mere monster bone and flesh.

Still, one strike wasn't enough. Two, three times. As it howled in pain and tried to squash me with its palm, it made another mistake.

It should have pushed me away like before.

With its instep shattered and knee buckled, it bent at the waist to crush me. No matter how huge, its head kept lowering.

"Wow, that's brutal. Since it's so big, you're just systematically demolishing it from the bottom up like felling a tree. You can really tell you've killed tons of ogres."

What kind of idiot chops down trees by hammering them? LMAO.

-David, you dumbass, forget the sling. If you'd just crushed Goliath's legs, you'd have won. Bad body, bad brain, right?

-How is this lack of attack power? LOL. You're snapping leg bones without even drawing the holy sword.

-The huge giant's gonna use a shrinking spell~

-Today's life hack: If your opponent is freaking huge, just methodically shatter their joints one by one.

Its HP seemed nearly depleted. After just a bit more pounding, it crumbled to a mana stone while still kneeling. As I caught my breath, still seething, both viewers and the few surviving mercenaries gawked at me in awe.

The goblins that had maintained their ranks before collapsing like bowling pins had long since been harvested into mana stones, half-buried in the ground. The centaurs were sliced up by Katie's swordsmanship ages ago.

As I approached the three who barely survived the chaos, they snapped out of their daze and extended their hands as if for a handshake. Given they survived that mayhem, they must have been fairly skilled. They'd already healed up nicely.

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

"Whew, we really almost died..."

"We should start heading back soon, considering our remaining food."

"Our inventory let us come this far on our own, but going further would be pushing it..."

"Yeah, that's right. To stay longer, we'd need a supply contract like the mercenary corps."

So we sat in a circle on the golden grass of the safe zone, chatting and expressing our regrets, but there was no helping it.

I'd been sleeping for days now with my eyes covered by a sleeping bag inside the tent, thanks to the plains' bright sunlight. All those days without encountering a single ogre, just endless "goken-ken-go-go-go-go-ken-ken-ken". It was practically ingrained in my head by now. Those sadistic viewers were even counting and mocking it.

They made all sorts of weird jokes about Mr. Nakamura Goken[1] coming to see the global streamer, placing bets on whether it'd be goblins or centaurs next, dismissing Han Se-ah's cries about the ogre possibility as nonsense - which turned out to be true nonsense since we didn't encounter a single one...

We held out in the plains until our food ran out, so it was about time to leave. After spending a day in the safe zone we stumbled upon, we'd have to make our way back tomorrow using Han Se-ah's minimap and Grace's senses.

Thinking this, I covered my eyes with the thick blindfold bought from the Adventurers' Guild and forced myself to sleep.

"...Roland? Roland!"

"Hm? What is it?"

Grace, who was on watch duty since even safe zones couldn't prevent other adventurers from turning into bandits, urgently woke me. I thought it might be my watch shift already, but her voice sounded too frantic. Was a group of adventurers approaching en masse?

I emerged from my tightly wrapped sleeping bag like a butterfly from its chrysalis, struggling to sleep in bright places. Taking off my blindfold, I saw Grace's fair face flushed with confusion.

"Katie! Hanna! Irene, wake up!"

Grace frantically woke the others, Han Se-ah logged in clueless about the situation, and dozens of people murmured in the background.

"Hey, who are you people!?"

"We're mercenaries under the command of Border Count Baden of the Empire! Who are you?"

"We're researchers from the Magic Tower. Please lower your weapons."

Mages, mercenaries, adventurers, knights and soldiers. Waking up to sudden chaos, I understood why Han Se-ah who just logged in couldn't grasp the situation.

I couldn't either, f*ck.

---

[1. raei: no idea about this sorry. Might be a kr meme.]

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