Day 23
The air stained with the scent of blood, the ground broken and torn apart, the creatures littering the ground with their corpses and injured bodies, the smell of agony and rage. The battlefield had been opened and boy, was I bewildered. Everything had actually gone according to my plans.
First, I assumed the Ogre Tyrant would be wary of us, especially after Diane told me that Derbyshire ran off to the east to seek refuge. So him stopping at the wolf hills, seemed the likeliest thing for him to do, although I had stationed a bunch of rat men at other possible locations for him. You see, to get to the center of Larm, you needed to pass through a few hilly areas. According to Diane, the shortest possible route from East to West was through the center and so, using the Wolf Hills was a given.
Him being wary of us, he stopped just at the wolf hills to come explore. Next, I assumed he also possessed the skill [Overlord] so he would simply use it to scan us, not control us. He was probably scared that Minerva might use her [Overlord] skill as well and they would cancel out, so there was no point (I only just realized that the skill only works in one's territory, not another's). So because of that, he would sense the large army that was hiding behind the thick forest in the valley – the place we chose for battle. I couldn't have him finding out about the ambush squad so early, so I made the actual army move out and back to confuse them.
You wouldn't think that would work, right? I mean, an experienced War Mongrel versus not even a month old chick. Was that even a battle? The answer was, yes, yes it was. I was using his experience to my advantage. Surely he would have met someone who had use this method before. I was hoping he would overthink this situation, leading him to think that this was not an actual trap, but simply us realizing we were being foolish in front of his numbers.
How it worked? Don't ask me. Krull was probably the biggest dumb ass of a villain I had ever seen. He sent in the trolls first. The ambush squad did an excellent job whittling down the opponents' numbers before they came out to meet the actual fight.
Damn, the trolls were strong, but the Assault Force was even stronger. They beat the trolls black and blue and forced the orcs and ogres to interfere. Everything seriously was going according to plan and I almost felt like a tactical genius, but I wasn't. This was all luck. Still, it gave me the opportunity to say cringey lines like, "Your first mistake was making an enemy out of me", or "Fall before my tactical might you imbeciles from the east!"
This was fun… Fun till everything went to shit. There really was no smooth sailing. All it took, was one death to change the morale of the goblins. Oda died. Gorm lost composure and almost died. Suddenly, all the goblins froze. Kings joined in on the fun. Oda started glowing creepily then started shooting lightning bolts at everyone. Timber wolves descended and started beating the east. None of this was according to plan. Ah… shit really took a turn for the worse.
At least, Ulva was safe. She was with Diane so she wouldn't be facing stupid situations like this. I mean, our deal was that as long as we kept the fight as far away as possible from their trees, she would give me her word that she would keep the kid safe, so I knew she was definitely safe.
I noticed a huge creature with black scales flying just above the army. There was a fat creature on its back waving a massive butcher's knife around. I could tell that it was the ogre tyrant. I used [Analyst] on him, trying to see just how much of a powerhouse he was.
STATUS
[Name: Krull
[Species: War Ogre Lvl 55/90
[Status: [Anxious]
[Age: 15 years
[Rank: B+
[Race Tank: Tier 2
[Titles: |Of World|, |Cannibal|, |Survivor|, |Merciless|, |Persistent|, |Man-Eater|, |Monster Slayer|, |War Monger|, |Man Slayer|, |Tyrant of the East|, |Ogre Lord|, |Troll Lord|, |Orc Lord|, |Governor|
[Blessings: [Demi-god of War's Blessings]
[Level: 125
[Health: 40000/40000 Stamina: 50000/50000 Strength: 13530 Speed: 11000 Defense: 15700 Dexterity: 12000 Intelligence: 300 Luck: 70
[Skills: … Calculating…]
'Just like Minerva, he has no aptitude for magic. He can't even produce mana. Other than that, what in the actual fuck is up with his stats? And he is only B+ in rank? I don't even want to go to the wyvern on his back.'
My eyes go to the wyvern and I almost pass out. That creature was at C+ with some really good stats. In what world is a wyvern only C rank? Then what about dragons? Were they only rank A or something? Then… the beasts at the top. The S ranks. What the hell were they?
The wyvern came in close. It didn't have a high level, neither did it possess any significant amount of skills. Basically put, the wyvern was the average or standard wyvern. Meaning, from birth these wyverns were living it up at Class C. Damn, the privileged.
I could feel the cold glares of the Ogre Tyrant on my being and I shivered.
"So you are the one standing up against me?"
His body was covered in weird red tattoos much like the hob-goblin leader from Krav. Probably signs that he was blessed by the [Demi-God of War] too.
'System Master! I can't do this! Show some mercy and give me a short power boost or something. You know? The usual Isekai protagonist good luck stuff.'
Then a screen popped up in front of me
[System Master ##### has refused your request for aid]
'… Wow. Ok… Screw you! Since when don't the system master's cheat for the protagonists!? Whoever is above the system master I call for a refund on mine! I think my system master's broken!'
[System Master ##### has subtracted 5 points from your defense stats]
'Oi! What the hell! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I take it back! You are great! The best!'
[System Master ##### agrees with you]
'Where's my stat points? Oi! My stat points!? System Master!?'
"I see, so you can't speak. Does that mean it was the wench who organized this? She doesn't seem smart enough though."
He voice was cool and it sounded like he wasn't a simple muscle-head. Maybe I could reason my way out of this?
He looked down, scanning through the forest. His eyes moved from the battle field and just looked about, as if he was searching for something. Probably Minerva. The look on his face suggested that he was thinking critically over something. Then now wouldn't be a good time to bother him, right? But then, when else would be a good time?
'Oh, um sorry. I guess this is the first time we are meeting, huh? My name is Hinotori and I'm guessing that you must be War Monger Krull?'
He looked surprised, but then his eyes relaxed.
"So then what the satyr said is true? You led a resistance against me?"
'Huh? Derbyshire? Don't listen to hi-'
"Humph… Silence! I did not give you permission to speak."
His voice boomed and I could feel my eardrums popping. I immediately hunched back and felt overwhelmed.
"The insolence. You! You, a mere chicken dare defy me?!"
He pointed his huge weapon at me and my heart sunk.
'Um… chickens don't fly.'
"Shut your mouth! I will cleave you in half and never speak of this day again. I have never felt so embarrassed before. I was hoping the Mad Witch was just coming up with a good plan I would simply stomp through. Ugh… sigh."
He vented out, making me feel quite insignificant. But at the same time making me feel angry. Everyone only paid attention to me because I knew Minerva. That wasn't all I was good for and I would show them all.
'Ok… Ouch. Mind your tone when speaking to the future ruler of all beasts, and never, ever, look down on me.'
I was using [Devil's Miasma] as well as [Terror] to hopefully cause him to flinch.
He didn't flinch. Instead, he looked angrier than before.
"A mere chicken dares?! I don't know if you know this, but let it be known here and now. I will not fall for any tricks you have planned for me. Even if I do, I'll just break right through them, because I am the War Monger Krull. Destroyer of armies and current Tyrant of the East!"
The wyvern flew at me. I ducked, going underneath it and attempting to [Peck] its underbelly. Its defense was too great for me to overcome. I had to fly out of the way before its tail could hit me. Now that the ogre tyrant wasn't looking at me, I tried using [Fire breath] to attack him from behind, mostly just to see how fast he would react to it.
He did so easily with his huge butcher knife and said something odd.
"Huh? That fire ball wasn't magic? You produce actual fire, I see."
Wondering why he said that, I checked out his sword.
[Item Name: Reflective Butcher Knife]
[Item Rank: Low Epic]
[Description: A sword that can reflect an elemental or magical attack of a certain level.
# Thirty uses per day.
# Magic Attack storage (Temporary)
+150 attack power.]
[Value: 600 Gold pieces]
'Huh? A sword that can reflect magical attacks? Pretty nifty.'
I said to him, honestly just wanting to infuriate him. He squeezed his face and the wyvern let out a roar, probably just as annoyed as its rider. My best option here was probably using [Size Manipulation] to make myself bigger. That would boost my strength stat as well, but then my stamina will go down fast and a bigger me would be an easy target for the ogre tyrant.
Maybe with [Slime body] I could ignore some damage, but if he got serious and chopped me right in half, I would die in that moment. I couldn't find a way out of this to be honest. Maybe I should have eaten more to get more stats using [Predator], but that wasn't really an option since it all depended on my eating capacity. I thought it was big, but it really wasn't.
'Aaarrgghhh! All of this would have been way easier if only Minerva wasn't being a brat about it all!'
So last night, we found out that Minerva wasn't going to participate. She said I got myself into this so I should get myself out. Apparently she never said anything about fighting if I fought. That damned Diane lied to me. There was no way she made a simple mistake like that. When I was free, I would attempt to get revenge at her.
I used [Size Manipulation] to shrink myself and with [Sprint] I was now definitely not an easy target for the wyvern. According to [Hunter], wyverns were mostly calm creatures that weren't used to being startled since they were so big and strong. They mostly lived in mountainous regions with the cold, thin air and their skins were so tough not even fire would hurt them. Magma would though. And their eye sight is poor for some apparent reason. They can't really see anything too close or too far, but their sense of smell was top notch, so startling them definitely wasn't something one could do easily. Also their hearing is horrible and they are sort of like the hyenas of the dragon world. That was weird information.
At least now I knew how to deal with it.
