Chapter 46: King of Iron Mountain (2)

༺ King of Iron Mountain (2) ༻

– Kwaang! Kwagang!

The trees of the forest were being swept away by the birchwood club of the infuriated ogre.

Nature was being destroyed. The green remains scattering everywhere made its onlookers realize that humans weren’t the only cause of the destruction of nature.

“What a tough bloke.”

Twin-headed ogre.

It was a conjoined twin ogre that had two heads. Normal conjoined twins were said to have under-performing immune systems and a high metabolism rate which shortened their life span, but for some reason, conjoined twin demonic beasts had more than double the power of their originals as if they drank the blood of godzilla.

How is this even possible though? Does it make sense for them to get stronger just by gaining a head?

“A birchwood club huh...”

“What about it?”

In a corner of the forest, Old Man Haman was hiding at the same place as me but unlike myself, he wasn’t even carrying a weapon. Despite coming all the way here, he seemed to have no plans on helping me.

“Back when I was in middle school, the teacher used to smack me on my bum a few times with a similar stick.”

Of course, the stick from then was far from being taller than my height, though.

“Oh. I guess you weren’t a good student then.”

“Personally, I do think I used to be one of the model students though.”

Did I bash kids up or smoke cigarettes or what? Aside from having bad grades, I was a great student.

“Well. Anyway... When are you going to kill that?”

“Let me just wait until that guy uses up more power. Ehew. Seriously, he’s very strong isn’t he?”

“...”

Old Man Haman silently agreed to my decision with a grin.

A few days ago, we discovered the cave that was being inhabited by the twin-headed ogre, but I had no plans of running in like a fool.

Old Man Haman and the people from the Alliance were only here as support in case things turned south. Even though they would help me if there was a serious risk to my safety, that would mark an immediate end to my grading test.

Firstly, I started off by investigating the area around the twin-headed ogre’s cave, and on the presence of other demonic beasts nearby and what the ecosystem was in this forest.

“Report what you have discovered from your investigations. Korin Lork.”

“From the surrounding footsteps, I have found traces of the ogre moving together with long hounds. That pretty much confirms their cohabitation.”

“How many long hounds are there?”

“It’s three.”

“Hooh? There are only two sets of footsteps of four-legged animals following around the ogre though?”

“It’s because one is a female that is pregnant.”

In response, Old Man Haman floated a smile while the evaluating guardians of the Alliance started writing things down on their notes.

“You look like you know the answer already, but give us an explanation.”

“Aside from the footsteps, there is also a trace of a dragged beast. That means instead of eating the hunted animal there, they dragged it all the way back to the cave.”

Although the twin-headed ogre and the long hounds were in a symbiotic relationship, hunting was mainly up to the hounds. The ogre was just a deterrent to stop other enemies and its job was to protect the long hounds from other demonic beasts.

“Both the ogre and the long hounds aren’t the types to store food. That means they have a kindred that cannot move, whom they are bringing the food for.”

“Magnificent.”

– Scribble!

I could hear my evaluation of the Alliance members rising.

“Now, Korin Lork. How are you going to hunt the young semi-Grade 1 twin-headed ogre and Grade 3 long hounds?”

“Firstly, I will separate the ogre from the hounds.”Upstodatee from n(0)/ve/lbIn/.(co/m

“How?”

“Since we’re humans, we have to use our brains.”

Unfortunately for them, I was a professional at things like this.

****

Humans broadened their borders, founded cities and created highways to increase the number of man-made structures in the continent, but most of the world was still being occupied by naturally-made ones.

No matter how many trees were cut down by humans; no matter how many forests were to be broken down to turn into farms and no matter how many animals were to become extinct, the demonic existences were still imposingly standing in place, threatening humanity.

The ruler of this forest was one of them.

This forest with little passersby was like a kingdom to the twin-headed ogre who was reigning as a dictator.

– Woof! Woof woof!

The prey hunted by the hunting dogs today was another source of delight. A deer as large as this was enough for both the tyrant and the hunting dogs to have their fill.

The hunting dogs grabbed on the remaining leg of the deer and started dragging it behind them, as the tyrant leisurely followed them through the foggy forest for a stroll. Even though it wasn’t even an adult yet, the ogre still reached 4 meters in height and had to break the branches while walking through the woods.

Even though it considered itself the ruler of this forest, its scope of activity wasn’t very big. Despite the mist, there was no way it would get lost while returning to its habitat.

– Woof! Woof!

The hunting dogs were the first to notice a change. They were very sensitive to the foreign scent that had infiltrated into their base because a pregnant female was by itself inside the cave.

They had been careless because no-one had dared to trespass their territory ever since they became the ruler of the forest.

“Grrrh...!”

The ogre commanded the dogs as the hunting dogs then hurriedly searched through the cave.

It wasn’t there.

The female with a baby that should have trouble moving was nowhere to be seen.

– Woof! Woof woof!

Hearing the call of its friend, the other hound raced towards where the sound was coming from. There, they came across the sign of something that had been dragged outside.

Even though it might be the trace that was created when they were dragging some meat inside, the smell was different.

The infiltrator had dragged the female out of the cave.

– Guwoooooo...!

– Awooooooo...!

The hunting dogs roared in fury. After realizing that their kindred, the female of the group and their baby had been kidnapped, they expressed their pure bestial fury.

The infuriated scream of the ruler of the forest and its subjects made the entire forest tremble.

– Woof! Woof woof!

– Woof woof woof!

Blinded by fury, the two male dogs pressed their king in dissonance. They had to go after the trace. They had to save their female kindred.

The ogre responded to that suggestion without any hesitation. In a symbiotic relationship that was there to supplement each other’s weaknesses through the hardships of nature, both sides had rights and duties.

Action was mandatory. The owners of the forest moved with a clear purpose in mind.

The hounds dashed after the smell of their female kindred as the ogre chased from behind. The two hunting dogs raced across the foggy forest to where the smell led them.

– Woof!

They looked at each other in the middle of their sprint. The smell of their female kindred was becoming denser over time and along with that was the deepening scent of the infiltrator who had snatched the female from them.

As expected,

There was nothing in this forest that could shake them off.

This forest was where they were born, and they knew this place like the back of their paws. Using their tough four legs, the demonic beasts kicked off the dirt and jumped over the thick tree roots.

Now, the foolish trespasser will receive its due punishment for messing with the ruler of the forest.

– Woof...

“...!!”

“...!!”

At the end of their sprint, they came across their kindred that was wailing on the ground.

“Woof!”

“Kii... Iiii...”

The female dog groaned while staying on the ground. Unable to hold itself back anymore, one of the two male dogs dashed forward. It was the father of the baby inside the female’s belly.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

While rubbing its nose on the body of its spouse, the dog confirmed its safety. Right as it was about to support the female to stand up on its legs...

The twin-headed ogre soon fell on its knees. Due to the explosion that occurred inside its body, the demonic beast was bleeding profusely through its two mouths.

“What the heck... Why did I bother filling up my Aura Core...? I didn’t even get a chance to use it.”

This appeared to be the limit of a semi-Grade 1 demonic beast that couldn’t even reach Grade 1.

Due to spending the past few days putting all of his aura into the Aura Core in preparation for a decisive battle, Korin had a dispirited look on his face after the underwhelming outcome of the fight.

****

At the underground laboratory of Merkarva Academy, there were countless test subjects. This was the biggest reason why the professors of the Magic Department rejected the offers of the Tower and stayed at the Academy.

Golden Miss, Professor Deina, who had been working at the Academy for 15 years, put on a thicker layer of makeup and a stronger perfume than usual. That meant that she had gained problems on her skin and a bad odor due to the repetitive late night research.

“Professor Deina.”

“Ohh. Student Marie. You’re here!”

Marie, who had been helping her with the experiments as a volunteer for the past few days, assisted her with the same face as usual.

‘Wow... Look at how soft her skin is. Is this youth...?’

Professor Deina’s skin wasn’t bad by any means. In fact, she looked younger than others of her age due to being a mage, but she obviously did not want to stand side-by-side next to someone with real baby-skin.

Look at how white and moist her skin was, as well as its softness that could probably swallow a finger like a mochi!

Marie had the youthful appearance of a girl her age but the reason Professor Deina couldn’t help but question the fairness of this world was because Marie had also been working late overnight just like herself.

“Student Marie... You’ve been helping me a lot these past few days right?”

“Nnn~. I guess?”

Professor Deina knew herself that even though Marie was the one who volunteered for the task, making a student work three days overnight had been questionable as an educator.

But surprisingly, Marie was showing off her incredible stamina by doing more work than Professor Deina herself.

It should be normal for her to gain some dark circles under her eyes and yet she was still lively like always.

‘Is it because she’s a vampire?’

After recently awakening into a vampire, Marie became the hot potato of the Magic Department. How many professors had joined the fray just to prove that she was safe and rational enough?

Normal vampires had pale skin and were weakened under sunlight, but Marie was proven to be at the level of an elder-rank vampire that was at least 100 years old.

As for vampires, the elder was right beneath the lord rank, and yet Vampire Elders were already in the Unique Grade... in other words, Vampire Elders were already unmeasurably strong so how strong would the legendary Vampire Lords be?

That question aroused her inquisitive mind as a scholar but that wasn’t the important matter at hand.

“Student Marie. What is the state with the demonic beasts that will be used for the experiment with ‘King of Iron Mountain’?”

“Ah yes. They’ve all been isolated.”

“We will be able to carry out a more detailed experiment thanks to your help, Student Marie. The demonic boar of Dingle Peninsula and a Unique Grade vampire... It will lead to a huge progression of the magic industry!”

“Haha...”

Marie gave an awkward smile which was a very rare sight. Seeing that smile, Deina immediately noticed that she had made a mistake.

“Ahh, that’s not what I meant. Of course it’s a huge misfortune that you ended up awakening into a vampire. My apologies. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“It probably doesn’t matter to him whether I’m a vampire or not.”

“Nnn?”

“Oh right! I forgot to give food to the demonic beasts! Sorry. I’m a bit all over the place!”

“Hmm... There’s no need for you to do that much though.”

“I’m fine! And it’s safer for me to go as well!”

“Mhmm...”

Professor Deina couldn’t refute those words.

It was just the day before yesterday when one of the staff members had been greatly hurt while feeding the demonic beasts. She had to pay hospital fees and compensation for both physical and emotional distress.

They were running low on budget due to buying Grade 1 demonic beasts like the King Tyrant and the Melting Dragon. What would happen if there were to be another casualty?

Let alone the screams of the budget team, their research might also be forced to a stop due to safety reasons.

“C, could you please take care of that then?”

“Sure~”

By making use of their budget problem as an excuse, Marie organized the visit to the demonic beasts while carrying food.

– Oink! Oink!

– Oink oink!!

Echoing all the way to the corridor from one of the rooms at a corner of the 2nd basement floor of the laboratory building were the disharmonious grunts of pigs. They were the Grade 4 demonic beasts, Fang Boars, that were screaming due to the distressful experience of having to live in a small fenced-up area.

There had been a huge increase in their numbers due to their recent breeding season and Professor Deina ended up buying a whole bunch of them out of greed.

Although their individual prices had gone down, buying hundreds of Grade 4 demonic beasts in one go might make others question the financial senses of mages, but Marie found nothing wrong with that.

– Oink oink!?

– Oinkkk?

– Oin...

– O...

– Kiii.

The sudden howling voices of the beasts from the echoing sound of footsteps rapidly started to dwindle back down.

Clomp clomp.

When Marie’s beautiful white boots stepped across the stone floor, their changes became all the more apparent.

– Kung!

Her tiny hand landed on the door of the iron fences that had at least hundreds of fang boars inside but what came back was a deathly silence.

......

......

......

Even though the Fang Boars were extremely savage beasts, they became nervous after sensing Marie’s approach. Some of them were even squeaking while driving their heads into the bums of their friends to hide themselves.

– Kung!

Normal staff members would have thrown the food inside from outside the fence but Marie opened the gates and walked into the cage like a madman.

Those Fang Boars that used to threaten every staff that threw the food from outside the doors by pouncing at them were silent and still as if the world stopped.

“Time to have some food.”

Overwhelmed by the demonic aura that was being emanated out of her voice, gaze, and scent. The Fang Boars shivered heavily but still queued up in front of her in a line.

Marie gave the trembling monsters a piece of chicken alongside some small pebbles. Those pebbles that were mixed with the meat weren’t a part of the meal that she had received from the staff.

– Munch munch!

It was when the Fang Boar that was hurriedly trying to finish its food accidentally crunched on the pebble.

– Crack!

– Kki?!

Like a fiend, Marie moved in an instant to grip on the beast’s fang. While holding onto the fang that was several times bigger than her hands, Marie raised the animal up with her monstrous strength.

The Fang Boar floundered in the air but it was unable to escape from her grip with its body that weighed only 400 kilograms.

– Crack! Crackkk!

Her otherworldly grip started causing cracks on the sharp fangs of the demonic beast.

“That’s weird.”

The golden eyes of the amicable girl with water-colored hair started being tainted in red. With their instincts, the beasts sensed the demonic aura of the monster that was wearing the skin of a harmless girl.

– Quak...

– Kiii...

Only one of them was caught and yet all the Fang Boars froze stiff. The one that was being held by Marie was in a worse state, and was even peeing itself.

“Did I not tell you?”

Yellow liquid was dripping down its shivering rear legs. Despite the puddle of smelly liquid, the girl from a family of farmers, who was used to the smell of feces, did not even spare a glance.

“Do not bite on the rock. Swallow it.”

Her eyes that were now tainted in a deep crimson color oppressed the beasts.

Soon, the hundreds of Fang Boars started hurriedly swallowing all the rocks and pebbles they saw as if it was a competition.