Chapter 64

"Ugh!?"

At first glance, Worm instinctively understood. The ogre before him was one of the commanders who had led the monsters to breach the northern wall—his short, reddish horns stretched high into the sky. Its body was smaller than that of a typical ogre, but its magic and muscle power were densely compressed, as if held back by a small force. The ancient armor, though etched with the scars of many battles, showed no new wounds or dirt.

The mask shook more violently than ever. Worm cursed the mask's lack of restraint in his heart. The golden eyes were fixed directly on Worm. In his right hand, a longsword stained with blood, just like Worm's, and in his left, the head of a human, gripped by the hair. The head bore cuts from a past battle and had been gnawed on to satisfy a small appetite. Despite this, Worm recognized whose head it was.

"...Wake, Al."

It was the head of Al, the squad leader who had been ordered to sweep the northern city and an adventurer. The head was carelessly thrown at Worm's feet, rolling on the stone pavement. Even though Al was a former enemy, Worm tried not to let his heart waver at the death of someone he had fought alongside on the battlefield.

While Worm was doing his best to exterminate the ogres, the ogre before him was also sweeping away the Hyserk soldiers and adventurers. As a wise and armed ogre commander, Worm had a good idea who this was.

"Ogre, Lord."

At the pinnacle of the S-class races and as a commander, the ogre lord leads a horde capable of toppling major cities. It was entirely plausible for him to appear as one of the main instigators of a large-scale rampage. The ogre lord pointed his sword at Worm and indeed smiled. No words were needed. The ogre lord was provoking Worm, saying it was his turn next. Coincidentally, the surrounding area had been cleared by Worm and the ogre lord. With the soldiers and civilians he needed to protect lost, Worm's decision was swift. In an instant, Worm refined his magic. A hot wind blew, and ghostly flames approached the ogre lord. Before the blue flames could wrap around him, the ogre lord vanished.

"Ugh!?"

With a speed akin to being constantly enveloped in wind magic, the ogre lord, crouching low to the ground, closed the distance from the side. Worm scattered ghostly flames in all directions, but the king of ogres neither caught fire nor burned, piercing through the blue flames. A powerful magic barrier blocked the blue flames. Judging from the conspicuous red horns, the ogre lord might even possess fire resistance skills. While the ghostly flames were effective against lesser foes, those with a certain level of magic power could withstand them.

If Worm concentrated his magic on a smaller area to increase the firepower, he might land an effective blow, but the problem was the ogre lord's mobility. Worm parried the blade coming from below with his sword. As expected, it was a dense, magic-infused strike. Even if he deflected it, the intense impact would still knock his sword away. Don't go on the defensive, don't give up the initiative. Worm, urging himself, swung his sword recklessly, but his attacks were blocked by the ogre lord's exquisitely precise and powerful sword skills, and his sword never reached its target.

Worm was barely able to react to the unpredictable slashes aimed at his feet, throat, wrists, and fingers. His reliable ghostly flames were also blocked by the ogre lord's quick reflexes and powerful magic barrier, never reaching their target. In a clash of swords, the ogre lord's superior strength overpowered Worm, and he was thrown to the ground.

To avoid the approaching blade, Worm immediately used wind magic to disengage, but a sharp pain accompanied the blood flowing from his arm. Despite using wind magic to gain distance, he still suffered a wound. Without magic, Worm would have certainly suffered a fatal injury. The ogre lord was superior in strength, magic power, and sword skills.

Still, Worm did not back down. The desire to avenge his subordinates, the girl's wish, and his pride as a soldier drove him to continue the fight. While using blue flames to control the distance and maintain pressure, he launched wave after wave of attacks, but he could not land an effective blow. The king of ogres read the slight premonitions of the ghostly flames and dodged them. Even when he couldn't avoid them, he used a powerful, magic-infused strike to cut through the flames.

Breaking through the sea of blue flames, the king of ogres leaped out. Worm switched to a thrusting attack. He quickly aimed at the throat, feet, and hands, but the ogre lord deflected the strikes, causing them to miss. His reflexes were excellent, but what stood out was his eyes. Unlike Worm's murky eyes, the ogre lord's eyes clearly reflected the battlefield.

Worm deflected the consecutive slashes from the left and right and launched a powerful strike from the middle, but the ogre lord dodged by shifting his upper body. Realizing his mistake as he stepped forward, Worm understood that the thrust to the throat was coming despite the close distance. Leaning his body, he still felt the blade scrape the side of his helmet from a blind spot.

A sharp kick from the ogre lord's foot struck Worm, who was off balance. Despite the armor, the impact penetrated his organs through the magic barrier.

Air was expelled from his lungs, and the taste of stomach acid filled his mouth. The ogre lord's follow-up attack did not stop. With his sword wrapped around his body, he swung horizontally. Holding his longsword with both hands, Worm tried to deflect the sword pressure diagonally upward, but pain shot through his shoulder.

Despite guarding, part of his right arm was cut along with the armor, and blood seeped out. Suppressing the bleeding with his magic barrier, the additional magic consumption put Worm at a disadvantage. Don't stop thinking. Keep moving. If you stop, death awaits.

"Aaaahh!!"

Roaring, Worm attacked the superior opponent. His shins, sides, and arms were slashed and bruised. His ribs creaked and screamed, but his thoughts and body did not stop. Rolling ungracefully on the ground, Worm scooped up the scattered rubble with his sword and threw it at the ogre lord.

The ogre lord did not even try to avoid it, but it was convenient for Worm. In the brief moment his vision was blocked, Worm unfastened his cloak and created a barrier between himself and the ogre lord, manifesting ghostly flames.

The blue flames extended from both sides like outstretched arms, trying to entangle the ogre lord. One side was rejected and extinguished by a powerful strike, and the remaining blue flames were about to be penetrated by the ogre lord's mobility.

What a formidable opponent. Worm even felt a sense of admiration for the ogre lord's skill. Still, this was within his expectations. A certain level of trust as an adversary led Worm to believe the ogre lord would counter his strategy. Worm thrust his sword through the blue flames and his cloak, aiming for the ogre lord's escape path. For the first time, Worm's sword caught the ogre lord, and the ghostly flames melted the armor, scorching the ogre lord's side.

The mithril longsword, gifted by Gerald, worked well with Worm's ghostly flames. The sound of flesh being seared like iron on a grill made Worm smile for the first time. It was a long-awaited sound and a blessing for Worm.

"Do you hate it!?"

In contrast to Worm, the ogre lord let out a cry of agony but quickly switched to a roar, sweeping his sword. While it was only a minor retaliation compared to the injuries Worm had suffered, Worm's sword skills, magic, and vision were honed and transcended in the battle.

Covering the difference in strength with ghostly flames, Worm did not back down. The clash of powerful magic caused the stone pavement to peel and turn into rubble.

The monsters and soldiers caught in the battle were now watching from a distance. On one side was the highest combat power of Dandegue Castle, and on the other, the king of ogres and one of the leaders of the rampage.

It was clear that the winner would have the upper hand in the future battles. After dozens, perhaps even hundreds of sword clashes, Worm was entering a state of extreme concentration.

His mouth, which had been clamped shut, forgot to swallow saliva, and only the necessary information was filtered from his vision. The cuts he had been receiving one-sidedly stopped. When the ogre lord pressed, Worm flexibly parried with his sword skills and magic, and when a small opening appeared, Worm attacked.

The high-pitched sound of swords clashing echoed repeatedly on the battlefield. It was like a duet, and the swords that attacked and defended were instruments. They changed their steps and positions, and despite the short time, they performed a well-coordinated dance. Those who fell behind faced death.

While Worm had injured his left hand and organs, the ogre lord's half-body was being burned by ghostly flames. If the battle turned into a prolonged one, Worm, who had been using ghostly flames, which consumed a lot of magic, even on a small scale, would be at a disadvantage. To break the deadlock, Worm needed to take a risk.

At the end of a clash of swords, Worm used the ogre lord's sword pressure to leap backward and cast wind magic. Worm's body, which had accelerated suddenly, screamed.

As Worm circled around to the rear, the ogre lord, with a surprising agility for his massive body, reversed and slammed his longsword into the landing point. Pulling the sword tip back to the last moment, Worm, despite his ankle twisting and muscles tearing, cast wind magic again.

The ogre lord's blade cut through the armor, but Worm crossed paths with the king of ogres again, completely circling behind him. The strategy of crushing his feet was a one-time use, and Worm burned the stone pavement with ghostly flames, forcefully fixing his feet, and delivered a full-power strike.

Pushing aside the ogre lord's sword, which was hastily pulled back, the sword tip entered the ogre lord's log-like neck, burning and cutting through the flesh, severing the bone, and finally decapitating the head. Worm, confident of victory, grimaced. The ogre lord's decapitated head was smiling.

Worm's position as the victor was about to be reversed. It was a desperate struggle, but a fatal blow for Worm. The fingers of the headless ogre lord approached his face in slow motion. Worm realized that his efforts to move his head and upper body, as well as his magic, would not be in time.

"Damn ogre—"

The sharp fingers filled his field of vision. As darkness spread, Worm screamed in pain, as if his brain was being directly stirred.

"Ugh, gah!! Ah, ah, ah, gah, ah!!"

Unbearable pain shot from where his eyes used to be. The sensation of his nerves being scraped away made it unclear to Worm whether it was pain or not.

His brain split. Split. Split. Worm had no room to thrash his limbs. His body began to convulse involuntarily.

"A, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,