Ch.123Chapter 123

The giant let out a roar as she brought her fist down on the spider’s shell, and her punch collided with the carapace with a cracking sound from pure force alone.

Part of the spider’s shell shattered, and green blood flowed out through the penetrating blade.

“Keeeeek?!”

However, the spider wasn’t so weak that it would die from just a punch. The creature shrieked and shook its body like an angry foal, trying to throw the giant off.

The giant grimaced, wrapped the chain of the blade around her arm, and spat out a curse.

“You damn spider… You’ve spawned too many offspring, just die already!”

“Kiriririk!!!”

The giant held on to the chain like a cowboy performing rodeo on a horse, enduring atop the wildly thrashing spider.

Realizing it couldn’t shake off the giant so easily, the spider moved its legs to aim at her.

When two pairs of sharp legs targeted her, the giant shouted in alarm.

“Quickly!”

“Coming now!”

At the giant’s cry, Gulmarg shouted boldly as he swung his club toward the spider’s head.

The spider was shocked by the stone club flying toward its head and rapidly grew its shell to prepare for the impact.

Bang!

When the club collided with the spider’s head, its body staggered with a thunderous noise like an avalanche, and the hastily formed shell and green blood splattered everywhere.

Barely maintaining its balance, the spider swung its legs and bared its fangs at Gulmarg. Gulmarg clicked his tongue at the spider’s head being tougher than expected and swung his fist.

Several of the spider’s fangs dug into Gulmarg’s tough skin. But Gulmarg stubbornly added more force and struck its head.

Fangs fell off along with flesh, and the spider spat blood as its body tilted. The spider instinctively tried to regain balance by moving its legs, but…

Slash!

“Keeeeeeek!!!!!”

Charging like a beast, Wendigo swung his ice blade toward the spider’s legs. Five or six legs were severed, and cold frost froze the wounds and penetrated inward.

The spider’s massive body collapsed, striking the ground like a small earthquake.

Wendigo was about to swing his sword again but hesitated when he caught sight of Gulmarg.

After all, Gulmarg was the protagonist of this situation.

When Wendigo gave a signal with his head, Gulmarg grabbed the spider’s head and raised his club. The giant looked at Gulmarg with a belligerent smile and shouted.

“Strike it down!”

Gulmarg roared as he swung his club. The raging club shattered the spider’s shell and smashed the brain inside.

The body of the now headless spider staggered, and the giant retrieved her blade and jumped down to the ground.

Thud!

The spider’s enormous body collapsed. Debris poured from its crumbled head, and the giant walked over it as if getting dirty didn’t matter at all, then stood before the two.

The giant smiled broadly, revealing her fangs, and extended her hand.

“My name is Angrid. Honestly, this was an armored spider that had lived so long it would have been difficult for me to catch alone, so thanks to you I can save face!”

Wendigo patted Gulmarg’s shoulder. It would be better for Gulmarg to shake hands since he had business with her.

Appreciating Wendigo’s consideration, Gulmarg nodded and grasped Angrid’s hand.

Wendigo quickly looked over her appearance.

Her skin was as pale as a frozen lake, and her eyes were like a blue moon in the night sky…

Aside from those features, Angrid looked like the word “female warrior” expressed as a giant.

Her hair was cut short for convenience, and her body was full of well-trained muscles and various scars.

Her most distinctive feature was a scar crossing her left eye, which wasn’t a clean cut as if it had been made by something other than a blade.

‘She looks quite fierce.’

Wendigo thought that if an argument broke out with Angrid, fists would fly before words. Honestly, she didn’t seem like she’d make a good companion.

She seemed like the type of woman who would test if you could be cut with a knife during a marital dispute.

Wendigo approached Gulmarg, who was shaking hands with Angrid, and observed his expression.

If Gulmarg didn’t feel attracted to Angrid, they could just end things after establishing a friendly relationship and return…

“My name, Gulmarg. Angrid, beautiful warrior. I, never seen female warrior like you before.”

“Wow. I thought I misheard, but an Ogre really is speaking? And such a kind Ogre at that!”

To think that Gulmarg would say such embarrassing things to impress a woman.

Gulmarg seemed to be quite taken with Angrid. Pleased by Gulmarg’s compliment, Angrid shook their clasped hands up and down vigorously while cackling.

She released Gulmarg’s hand and looked back and forth between him and Wendigo with curiosity.

“Gulmarg? A talking and friendly Ogre is strange enough… but are you actually alive?”

“If having a skull for a head doesn’t mean I’m dead, then yes. Besides, it’s only my head that’s like this; the rest of me is a proper body.”

“Usually when your head rots, you die. But if you can joke like that, at least you’re not dead!”

Angrid burst into laughter, finding something greatly amusing, and picked up her chain blade.

It would be a shame not to chat with such interesting fellows, and proper conversation required appropriate snacks to flow smoothly.

Angrid approached the armored spider’s carcass they had hunted together and cut off one of its legs. With skilled movements, she removed the shell and offered a piece to each of them.

“Let’s talk while we eat, shall we? Game tastes best when eaten right after it’s caught!”

“Mmm, true words.”

“……”

Wendigo gave a bewildered look at Gulmarg, who had become a yes-man.

However, Gulmarg didn’t seem to care about such glances at all as he took the spider flesh Angrid offered and took a big bite.

Of course, Wendigo didn’t refuse either. The flesh of the armored spider was quite tasty after all.

When even Wendigo started eating the flesh, Angrid sat down with great satisfaction.

“Mmm~ Armored spiders really are tastier when they’re big! If we had some alcohol made from mammoth milk to go with this, ugh~ my mouth is watering!”

“Mammoth milk, huh? If it’s that delicious, I’d like to try it sometime.”

“You have a deer skull but you enjoy eating more than I expected?”

“Dining is one of my few hobbies. But never mind about me… This isn’t your first time meeting an Ogre, I take it?”

Wendigo asked Angrid while savoring a thinly sliced piece of flesh.

Angrid answered while crunching on the shell as if it were nothing special.

“Well, I don’t see them often. Sometimes when the weather cools down, I visit the eastern plateau and occasionally encounter them there. This one…”

“Angrid, you can call me Gulmarg.”

“Thanks. They weren’t as friendly as you, Gulmarg.”

Angrid talked about the Ogres she had met.

In most cases, Ogres almost never attacked her people, the Hrimtur.

Ogres were born as brave warriors, but they weren’t stupid enough to fight without gauging their opponent’s level.

However, there were cases when Ogres would attack even after gauging their opponent’s level.

“Ogres in heat sometimes attack. Whether male or female, they go crazy trying to mate with giants.”

“……”

Wendigo was surprised that liking giants was a normal preference for Ogres, and was speechless at the fact that they specifically attacked giants when in heat.

Gulmarg also seemed not to have expected this, as he froze while nibbling on the spider flesh.

At this rate, he would have to return home sadly without even making a proposal, so Wendigo carefully asked Angrid.

“Then the Hrimtur must dislike Ogres, right? Not just because of their intentions, but because they’re being attacked.”

“Nah, not to that extent.”

“Huh?”

When Angrid snickered and waved her hand dismissively, Wendigo was puzzled. Logically, there was no reason to view monsters that attacked while in heat favorably.

“We take pride in being attacked by Ogres. An Ogre in heat means that nature has recognized you as a powerful warrior.”

“That’s how it works?”

“Does that sound strange? Well, not everyone thinks that way, but most do. Honestly, Ogres are quite handsome, so many women think it’s fine to spend a night with them.”

“I-I see.”

“Right? Just look at Gulmarg, he’s plenty handsome.”

Angrid pointed at Gulmarg’s arm while tearing off armored spider flesh with her fangs.

“Those muscles are rock-solid from birth. It’s amazing how they continue to be trained even after reaching adulthood by beating enemies.”

Next, she tapped his skin with her finger.

“And what about this incredibly rough skin? It’s natural armor that even creatures with sharp teeth and legs like armored spiders can’t easily penetrate.”

Next, she pointed to his chest, specifically the area where the heart and lungs were located.

“An Ogre’s heart is stronger than a giant’s. They say that long ago, an Ogre went berserk and challenged everyone he met to a fight, and only collapsed after the sun rose and set three times.”

Finally, she twirled her finger, indicating Gulmarg’s face as a whole.

“Above all, his face is handsome. Look at that wild face and those large fangs. There’s a beast called a saber-toothed tiger, and he doesn’t lose to it in comparison.”

Gulmarg cleared his throat awkwardly, embarrassed by the unexpected praise.

It was honestly surprising. Not just the unusual aesthetic sense, but the fact that they took pride in being attacked by Ogres.

At this rate, there was hope for Gulmarg.

Wendigo gave Gulmarg a nod as if to say “go ahead.” Gulmarg caught the signal and looked at Angrid nervously.

“Ahem! Angrid, I have something to say.”

“Oh my, did I ramble too much? This was the most robust armored spider I’ve caught recently, so I got excited without realizing it. Please forgive me.”

“It’s fine. What I want to say is…”

It was at that moment.

Just as Gulmarg was about to express his feelings to Angrid, Dario, Jermy, and Anna, who had been hiding in the distance, revealed themselves.

Being somewhat of a retainer, Dario rushed over with a worried face and said to Wendigo:

“Your Majesty! What conversation have you been having that you didn’t even call for us and kept talking…”

“Th-that’s a little person! My goodness, to think such small humans really exist!”

“……”

Angrid jumped up in surprise when she saw the little person from old tales appear before her eyes.

Gulmarg glared at Dario with resentful eyes for stealing Angrid’s attention.