Ch.279279. Peter’s Bizarre Adventure (1)

In the Western Continent, there lives a subspecies of giants known as Ogres.

This massive race, standing just over 3 meters tall, can naturally grow up to Grade 6 and possess bodies with supernatural strength that exceeds the standards of living beings.

Tremendous power capable of destroying city walls in a single blow.

Transcendent durability based on skin tougher and thicker than steel plates, along with dense layers of fat.

Intelligence that, while lower than humans, is by no means deficient in judgment.

And… their characteristically violent temperament.

The ogres’ violent nature is particularly infamous, partly because they innately enjoy cannibalism.

Like manticores, they prefer human flesh over other meats as food.

Additionally, they are extremely aggressive in temperament and lack self-restraint. They especially require substantial amounts of food to maintain their enormous bodies.

Therefore, ogres typically wander around working as mercenaries in exchange for large quantities of food, while some with milder temperaments enter cities to work at construction sites like heavy machinery, but…

Naturally, the field where most ogres are actively employed is as cannibalistic bandits.

Ogres who commit the vile act of capturing, killing, and robbing passing travelers of their meat and possessions.

This image has been ingrained in various literary works, becoming the basis for depicting them as a bandit race that appears on roads.

In reality, there’s a reason why ogres are the most common mid-level monsters that knights of the Frankish Kingdom face.

Moreover, these ogres are often seen not just as individuals but as groups roaming together to commit robbery.

Therefore, any adventurer of intermediate level or above would have encountered ogres at least once.

“Oh, going to subjugate ogre bandits? I’ll join you right away!”

“Thank you, Miss Isabel.”

Peter, having returned to his daily life and carrying out requests, was tasked with subjugating a group of ogre bandits.

The client was Pelek Sloth, a dwarf blacksmith who rarely ventured to the surface to live in human society.

The request was to eliminate ogre bandits who had killed his client who had promised to pay him.

As compensation, he offered three rune amulets that he had originally planned to give to that client.

Dwarven rune amulets are precious items that provide tremendous resistance to magic, so rare and valuable that they cannot be obtained even with unlimited money.

“P-Peter! We must get these!”

“…Yes. We should. With these, I might be able to… suppress the demon sword.”

Thus, Peter and his companions decided to subjugate the ogre bandits for the amulets.

Upon hearing this, Pelek Sloth smiled happily and told Peter about those ogre bandits.

They consisted of five ogres in total, and since they were not barbaric ogres but former mercenaries, they were well-armed.

They wore armor that, while crude and of questionable effectiveness, was better than nothing.

Instead of crude clubs, they were armed with massive axes or hammers.

The ogre rifles, almost like cannons, and huge ogre pistols they carried couldn’t be ignored either…

In fact, the most important thing to note was that an ogre’s body itself is a powerful weapon.

Without any special abilities, ogre physiques are rated Grade 6 solely based on physical capabilities, famous for destructive power comparable to massive metal objects.

Well, they also kept kobolds or goblins as slaves and snacks…

But such trivial creatures were as good as nothing before Isabel, so they weren’t worth considering.

It was the beginning of another adventure for Peter.

※ ※ ※

Clop-clop-clop-clop…!!

Peter, Isabel, and Layla set off on their journey, riding special undead horses prepared by Isabel.

To be precise, these were Vampire Horses, which appeared to be ordinary horses thanks to magical armor concealing their undead characteristics.

But regardless, these horses were already dead bodies.

They could run for days without rest if fed a moderate amount of wild animal blood.

After riding for about two days without stopping, they arrived at the location where the ogre bandits were said to appear…

“…Damn it.”

“H-how could this happen…”

“Unforgivable, those evil creatures!”

What met Peter’s group’s eyes was a destroyed carriage, apparently belonging to victims.

This carriage, seemingly shattered as if by thrown boulders, was surrounded by scattered human bones that appeared to have been eaten and old bloodstains.

The abandoned bones showed signs of having been split in half to suck out the marrow, and there were even obvious traces of torture carved into the bones.

As the three were filled with rage, they spotted goblins and kobolds running toward them from the distance, followed by five ogres.

“…Miss Isabel, may I ask for your help?”

“Of course, leave it to me.”

Isabel, accepting Peter’s request with rare calmness, released the power of a high-ranking vampire that she had been unconsciously suppressing.

“《Bloody Rain》!!”

The mass of blood that burst from Isabel’s hand shot up into the sky, then transformed into thousands of blood bullets that instantly swept away the kobold and goblin horde.

Layla could see the ogres, visibly flustered, hurriedly trying to throw stones and other projectile weapons.

It seemed they had planned to buy time by sending their slaves ahead while finishing off the group with ranged attacks, but they were thrown into confusion when their slaves were annihilated so easily.

“《Thunderbolt Lance》!!”

“《Holy Judgement: Flame》!!”

In that moment, Layla and Isabel’s magical attacks struck the confused ogres.

—CRASH!!!

WHOOSH—!!

A pillar of fire summoned by Layla engulfed one ogre, followed by Isabel’s lance of lightning piercing straight through another ogre’s heart.

As the ogres were thrown into disarray by the sudden magical attacks, Peter, mounted on his vampire horse, charged powerfully toward them with his sword drawn.

His target was the apparent leader at the front. Wearing dwarven full-body armor, Peter gradually channeled aura into his sword.

The aura, slightly tinged with darkness, began to shimmer over the longsword and gradually grew stronger. Simultaneously, Peter felt his right arm growing stronger independently of his will.

“…Tch.”

Though he clicked his tongue in momentary frustration, Peter decided to accept the help in the current situation and swung his sword—

—CRACK!!

As the sound of the sword shattering the ogre’s ribs and piercing its heart echoed, Peter quickly withdrew his blade from the dying ogre’s chest and immediately targeted his next victim.

The next target was an ogre whose entire body was scorched by Layla’s magic.

“《Holy Javelin》! 《Holy Javelin》! 《Holy Javelin》! 《Holy Javelin》!”

The ogre, enduring the magic that Lisa was firing at intervals, was focusing all its attention on defending against those attacks with its weapon.

—SLASH!!

Seizing that opening, Peter’s aura-infused slash cut through the ogre’s side.

“■■■■■■■■■—!!”

More than just a cut to the side, it was a severe wound that split the peritoneum and caused intestines to spill out.

The ogre screamed wildly and tried to grab its side with its hands, but…

“《Holy Javelin》! 《Holy Javelin》!”

The next moment, Layla’s magical attacks pierced the ogre’s eyes and reached its brain.

“《Eldritch Smite》!!!”

—BOOOM!!!

At the same time, Isabel had somehow mounted her zombie hippogriff and taken down another ogre.

As she turned to deal with the remaining two ogres, something strange caught her eye.

“Wh-what?!! Hey, come look at this!!”

Surprisingly, the two ogres had already been killed instantly, their spines severed by what appeared to be slashes from someone in the distance.

As Peter, startled by those words, was about to turn his head—at that very moment.

“…?!!”

Alarmed by the strange aura he sensed from beyond, Peter concentrated aura into his eyes.

In his vision appeared an undead knight steadily walking toward them from the distance.

And suddenly, Peter recalled stories he had only heard about a legendary undead.

Death Knight. Tales of a high-ranking undead knight who had returned from death.