Ch.169Chapter 169 – Albheim (2)

I ran toward the sound, turning my head to ask Christina, who was on my back.

“Christina, do you know anything about ogres?”

“Only what’s common knowledge.”

Christina raised a finger as she clung to my back.

“I’ve heard they have extremely tough skin, incredible strength, some intelligence so they can use tools, and they’re huge.”

“Any other characteristics?”

Christina furrowed her brow slightly, as if wringing out her memories.

Soon her face brightened.

“Oh right, they can also manipulate a bit of magic and perform an attack called Howling.”

“Howling?”

“It’s like an arrow of sound. They say if you get hit by it, you can see trees being uprooted completely.”

And at that moment, I saw a tree flying through the air in front of us.

Christina smiled brightly as she shouted.

“Like that!”

“……”

This didn’t seem like something to smile about.

Fortunately, Christina herself seemed to realize belatedly that this wasn’t a laughing matter, as I could see her staring blankly at the flying tree.

‘An arrow of sound, huh.’

It was just a description, but it didn’t sound like a cute attack.

Either way, knowing one of the enemy’s attack methods was good news.

At least I wouldn’t be caught off guard by some kind of sonic attack.

Preparing for the possibility that things might not go well, I looked at Christina and said:

“If things get bad, we might need to run, so hold on tight.”

“Yes.”

Christina pressed herself against my back as she answered.

“By the way, I finally get to be carried properly…”

Christina seemed somewhat happy about this.

Meanwhile, a giant figure appeared before us.

It held a massive wooden club in its hand, and looked like a troll I’d seen before but with about four times the muscle and three times the height.

‘So that’s an ogre.’

I asked Christina again.

“Do these monsters live in groups?”

“No. I’ve heard they usually wander alone.”

I nodded at Christina’s answer and set her down.

“No wonder the rangers looked so desperate.”

There were two ogres.

They were being confronted by three elven rangers.

Behind the rangers were two elves—one unconscious with injuries and another with what appeared to be a broken arm hanging limply.

‘The elves are at a disadvantage.’

If the elves tried to concentrate their attacks on one ogre, the other would target the injured. If they tried to protect the injured, the other ogre would target the elves. It was a difficult situation.

And as one of the ogres licked its lips, Christina remembered something and said:

“Oh, and ogres are known to eat humans too.”

“That’s not something to say so casually.”

Whether they were hungry or just wanted a snack, I couldn’t tell, but it’s not common for animals to pass up prey they’ve almost caught.

Knowing this, the elf who appeared to be the captain shouted with a frustrated expression:

“Damn it, two ogres appearing? Where did they come from?!”

“If we hold out, reinforcements from another squad will surely arrive, somehow…!”

A ranger member shouted, trying to raise morale, but her own expression was grim.

‘I recall that elven rangers patrol extremely wide areas.’

I couldn’t calculate the exact range, but I’d heard that in a forest, one squad covers an area larger than two districts of an average city.

Being forest folk, elves can move through forests almost as if flying, which is how they cover such vast areas.

But in the current situation, that had become a disadvantage.

It meant that other squads that could help them were patrolling outside that vast area.

They might notice something unusual and come, but by the time they arrived, either the elf squad members or the injured would likely become ogre food.

‘What should I do?’

I quickly assessed the ogres.

After briefly considering whether to ignore the rangers or help them, I made my decision.

‘…Better to help.’

If I left those ogres alone, they might attack our group next.

We probably wouldn’t lose a fight, but someone could get hurt.

To avoid that situation entirely, it would be better to help the rangers here.

“Let’s go.”

“Master.”

Christina grabbed my hand with a worried expression.

But soon she shook her head, sighed quietly, and said softly:

“…Please don’t overdo it.”

“I won’t.”

Christina then raised her stone staff.

“When I draw their attention, approach the elves and fight alongside them.”

“Yes.”

As soon as I heard Christina’s answer, I immediately changed my weapon to a bow.

Then I aimed an arrow at the ogre that was trying to approach the injured elves while avoiding the rangers.

-Swoosh!

-Graaah?!

The arrow flew and struck the ogre’s nape, and immediately the ogre turned to look at me.

The elven rangers also noticed me and shouted:

“What! Run away! It’s dangerous!”

-Graaaah!!

Along with the captain’s urgent voice, the ogre I had shot began charging toward me.

Meanwhile, I saw Christina hiding in the underbrush as I fired another arrow.

The ogre was hit by another arrow but didn’t slow down, reaching me in an instant.

-Groooar!!

“No!”

The monster roared and began swinging its club down at high speed.

At the same time, I heard the piercing scream of a female elf.

Of course, that didn’t slow the ogre’s club.

The club appeared increasingly large through the gaps in my helmet, and…

“Too slow.”

I dodged it easily.

I immediately changed my weapon to a greatsword and swung it at the ogre’s wrist, causing blood to spurt from its wrist as it dropped the club.

-Urgh…!

The monster clutched its wrist and backed away.

Then it turned its mouth toward me, and I heard a sound like it was swallowing air.

‘Is this the Howling?’

According to Christina, Howling was an arrow of sound.

This was clearly preparation for that.

If I hadn’t heard about it beforehand, I would have been in trouble.

As the monster’s mouth opened, I quickly jumped to the side.

Just then, I saw a tree behind me being uprooted and flying away.

‘That would hurt quite a bit if hit directly.’

Even knowing the attack method, I didn’t know its range, so jumping far away was the right choice.

The tree that took a direct hit flew away with a hole punched through it by the sound, and I could see branches breaking on nearby trees as well.

‘But it’s meaningless if it doesn’t hit.’

With this attack, I roughly understood its range.

The ogre began to use Howling again, and I moved quickly in response.

The monster’s eyes gradually filled with confusion, and it soon began swinging its fists at me to keep me at bay.

-Urooah!!

The ogre brought both hands together and slammed them into the ground.

Instantly, dust spread everywhere, and I could see the ogre catching its breath slightly, as if relieved to have shaken me off.

It seemed to be preparing for another Howling, but…

“You should be careful when obscuring vision.”

Creating a dust cloud to block my vision also meant blocking the ogre’s vision.

I used the dust cloud to my advantage and approached the ogre, causing the startled monster to hastily fire a Howling at its own feet.

But I had already climbed onto its shoulders.

I raised my greatsword and brought it down toward the ogre’s neck.

-Ugh…ah…!

‘It’s quite tough.’

But it wasn’t difficult to cut through. The sacred relic’s sharpness had no problem penetrating the ogre’s skin.

Gripping the greatsword that had pierced the ogre’s neck, I spun my body around as I jumped off the ogre.

Naturally, the greatsword piercing the ogre’s neck also rotated widely, and the ogre’s head flew into the air.

“That’s one down.”

Without watching the ogre’s head complete its arc through the air, I turned to look toward the other ogre.

-Flap flap

‘Hmm?’

Hearing the sound of wings flapping in the distance, I quickly scanned the sky, remaining alert.

Meanwhile, Christina’s voice suddenly reached me.

“We’re finished here too!”

I saw Christina waving her hand and smiling among the elves.

‘I guess that wraps things up.’

After breathing a sigh of relief, I looked up at the sky once more.

“…What was that?”

I definitely heard the sound of large wings flapping, but due to the trees limiting my vision, I couldn’t see anything in the sky.

‘I should head back for now.’

It felt a bit unsettling, but I also thought it probably wasn’t anything serious.

I prepared to return to the carriage, watching Christina approach with a bright smile and the elven rangers exchanging high-fives in celebration.

+

Shortly after, I returned to the carriage where our group was waiting, accompanied by the elven rangers.

“Oh, you’re back?”

I saw Beatrice, who was smoking a cigarette, brighten at the sight of us.

Of course, I could tell she had been vigilantly keeping watch even while smoking.

Soon, Sera and Eve approached.

“Mr. Kay, are you hurt anywhere?”

“Kay. You didn’t overdo it again, did you?”

“Uh, yeah.”

I felt slightly intimidated by the two of them approaching so intensely.

Fortunately, Christina came over with a smile.

“He doesn’t seem to have overdone it, but let’s examine him anyway, Master.”

“Let’s go right now, Mr. Kay.”

Sera immediately began pulling my arm.

Given that Sera could easily throw an adult man, I quickly shouted to avoid being dragged away unceremoniously.

“Wait, we have guests right now! And there are injured people!”

“Guests?”

Only then did Eve and Sera notice the elven rangers standing behind Christina.

“…Looks like those girls were so focused on you that they didn’t even notice the guests,” Beatrice remarked as she put out her cigarette.

Meanwhile, Christina, who had gone into the carriage, came out with medical supplies.

A space was quickly prepared for the injured who had only received emergency treatment with healing magic, and Christina and Sera began examining the two elves.

The elven ranger captain, who had been quietly watching, bowed his head to me.

“I sincerely thank you for your assistance. If not for you, some of my squad members might have become ogre food.”

“Don’t mention it. If we hadn’t dealt with them, we might have been in danger too.”

I nodded lightly in response to the captain’s grateful greeting.

Beatrice approached and spoke to me.

“Earlier, the caravan leader said ogres had appeared. Is that true?”

“Yes.”

I briefly explained what had happened to Beatrice.

After thinking for a moment, Beatrice looked at the elf captain and said:

“Something seems off.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t understand how elves could be in trouble against ogres. If you were greatly outnumbered, maybe, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Why were you in danger?”

The ranger captain hung his head low.

With a slightly flushed face, perhaps from wounded pride, he began to speak.

“We were ambushed.”

“Ambushed?”

“Exactly as I said. We were ambushed by the ogres, which immediately incapacitated two of us, and then the ogres persistently targeted our injured. That’s why we were struggling.”

It was just as I had seen earlier.

But the ranger captain continued with a serious expression:

“What’s strange is that the ogres got close enough to ambush us, yet I didn’t sense anything until then. Did any of you elves sense them?”

“No, sir.”

“I didn’t either…”

The other elves answered, though they were standing some distance from the captain and me.

Eve, who had been quietly listening beside us, spoke softly:

“…While ambushes can certainly happen in forests, they say elves never get ambushed in their own forests.”

“That’s correct, miss. Some might think they can deceive an elf’s ears in the forest, but most of them are discovered by us long before they get the chance.”

The ranger captain spoke with a serious face.

“Yet you allowed an ambush?”

“From our perspective, we suddenly found two comrades down. I don’t even know when we allowed the ambush to happen.”

The ranger captain said this while looking back at the injured.

The elf with the broken arm was now moving it, and the unconscious elf looked outwardly healed.

“I’ve treated them sufficiently, but this person will need to rest for a few days,” Christina said.

“Thank you sincerely, Priestess,” the ranger captain replied, seeming lost in thought.

Seeing this, Eve stepped forward and asked:

“Is something wrong?”

“Well, um…”

The ranger captain looked at us and said:

“If it’s not too much trouble, could you take our injured to the capital…?”

Our destination being the capital was something he could easily deduce, given that this was a single road and travelers’ routes were limited.

I glanced slightly at Eve, and the ranger captain quickly added:

“We will certainly compensate you. So…”

“Compensation.”

Eve’s eyes sparkled as she began to consider what reward to demand.

And just as she was about to speak—

-Flap flap

“That won’t be necessary, Captain Zelkova.”

“Huh?”

Along with the wing-flapping sound I’d heard earlier, a voice came from above.

A massive shadow covered us, and together with the elves, I looked up at the sky.

Beatrice’s eyes widened as she said:

“A griffon rider?”

-Screech!!

The griffon cried out as if in response to Beatrice’s words.

The griffon continued flapping its wings before safely landing on the ground, and a woman on its back addressed the ranger captain.

The ranger captain immediately paled and shouted:

“S-show your respect!”

The rangers hurriedly began to show proper etiquette, suggesting this was someone important.

But the woman quickly raised her hand to stop them.

“I will transport the injured. There’s no need to burden these people further.”

“But, my lady…”

“I will also handle the compensation. Don’t worry, Captain Zelkova.”

The platinum-blonde elven woman with neatly tied hair said this before dismounting from the griffon.

The griffon then approached the injured on its own, picking them up with its beak and placing them on its back.

While my attention was briefly diverted by this, the elven woman had already approached me.

She smiled faintly.

“I’ve been watching your struggle. You were impressive.”

“…Who are you?”

At my question, the rangers’ faces paled slightly, but the elf smiled as if unconcerned.

“My name is Pine. Daughter of Abies, a member of the great Einherjar.”

Pine introduced herself with a hand on her chest.

Then she extended her hand to point at me.

“Kay, I have been waiting for you.”