Ch.7777. Corrupted Ogre

Monsters, like hunters, possess their own unique abilities.

For the Ogre, it was [Natural Recovery].

[Natural Recovery]

– Grade: A+

– Passive Skill

– Greatly increases natural life force recovery proportional to Health stat. (Current: S, +600%)

– Greatly increases damage reduction proportional to Health stat. (Current: S, +35%)

– Provides a grace period for all injuries below fatal wounds proportional to Health stat. (Current: S, 3 seconds)

“What kind of ridiculous skill is this?”

Since my eyes were calibrated to SSS+ grade skills, I initially thought an A+ grade skill wouldn’t be much. But seeing it in action, I immediately understood how these bizarre phenomena were possible.

I had always assumed that an Ogre’s strong vitality came simply from its high health stat. But after seeing the detailed contents of this skill, I finally understood the source of the Ogre’s vitality.

It wasn’t just its natural constitution.

With this broken skill supporting its tough body and hide, it becomes practically immortal, unable to die even if it wanted to.

I watched in amazement as its neck reattached itself.

The neck reconnected in less than five seconds, and despite blood still flowing from the wound, the Ogre moved its newly attached head to check it was working before roaring again.

“GRAAAWR!”

So it’s true that ordinary attacks can’t kill it.

But I wasn’t particularly afraid.

After several exchanges, I’d figured out the Ogre’s tricks.

If I had cut its neck again while it was trying to reattach it, I could have killed it.

The Ogre isn’t invincible—it just recovers quickly.

THUD!

I half-severed its neck again and, without giving it time to reattach, finished the cut. The Ogre’s head fell with a look of disbelief as our eyes met.

Its massive body remained standing while the head fell.

Its arms flailed trying to catch the falling head, but commands from a detached head couldn’t possibly reach the body properly.

The body knelt down, groping the ground to reattach the fallen head.

It was an absurd situation, but even more absurd was the reality that if the head reattached, it would come back to life.

This wasn’t like the childish logic that food picked up within three seconds of falling is still clean.

A skill that lets you live if you reattach your head within three seconds of it falling to the ground? Really?

Unfortunately, the Ogre couldn’t produce a miracle beyond those three seconds.

The pathetically fallen head and the body that had tried to retrieve it now lay pitifully on the ground.

Seeing this, I shed a tear.

“Slurp… looks delicious.”

I generally avoid eating humanoid monster meat, but Ogres are an exception.

Strictly speaking, while Ogres walk on two legs, they’re difficult to classify as humanoid monsters.

They’re more like giant cows.

Just as a Centaur is technically a human-shaped cow monster but is correctly viewed as a cow rather than human, Ogres are properly classified as bovine monsters.

Above all, Ogre meat is incredibly chewy and delicious.

Though the meat wasn’t the only thing making my mouth water.

“La-di-da. Happy butchering time.”

It took quite a while to butcher the massive Ogre, but seeing the resulting products made me happy.

“Hehehe.”

Meat. Hide. Bones. Blood.

I carefully packed everything into my inventory and took a moment of silence at the spot where the Ogre had been.

“I’ll eat well.”

It wasn’t that big a deal.

If I didn’t have the SSS+ close combat weapon ability, Leaping Slash, or Double Cut…

Could I have defeated the Ogre so easily? That question was difficult to answer.

The overwhelming attack power to penetrate the Ogre’s hide and cut its vital neck within three seconds, the agility to deliver multiple attacks, and a movement skill to instantly reach the Ogre’s neck.

Of course it was easy.

I had every element needed to perfectly counter the Ogre’s only advantage.

“Sorry to the Corrupted Ogre. If anything was wrong, it was running into a 10-year farming world veteran like me.”

I had briefly considered between the SSS+ Summon ability and close combat weapons.

If I had chosen SSS+ Summon for the romance of it, could my still-tiny SSS+ summon have won against the Ogre?

What about the previous owner of Lulu, the previous ruler of the Rift Dimension? With Magic SSS+, could they have defeated the Ogre with just two skills?

Perhaps by Biome level 4-5, those abilities might show more spectacular and powerful destructive force than the SSS+ close combat weapon, but right now in Biome level 0, the close combat weapon I chose is stronger than any other ability.

————————–

Forgetting my original purpose, I became absorbed in hunting Ogres until I found myself standing before a tree as massive as a world tree.

“So this is it.”

The Corrupted Tree.

The tree, blackened from absorbing chaotic energy, was emitting an unpleasant aura that suggested it was rotten to the core.

I looked around.

No S-grade Ogre in sight?

Should I wait?

The quest is to remove this tree anyway.

The Corrupted Ogre won’t disappear just because this tree is removed, so completing the quest first and then dealing with the Ogre is one approach.

That’s how this game works.

Monsters guarding resources.

Sneaking past monsters to harvest resources is a standard play strategy.

I raised my sword and struck the tree.

KIKIKIKIKIK!

Cutting the tree produced a sound like slicing through steel.

This felt much harder than cutting through an Ogre’s hide.

After delivering my 12-hit combo to the same spot, I had only cut about a hand’s width into the tree.

Am I doing this wrong?

It seemed like it would take hours to cut down this thick tree, and even then it might not be enough.

There must be some weak point on the tree that would allow me to fell it.

As I was about to move to look for it…

“Ow.”

THUD!

My instincts warned me, and I immediately moved away as something massive crashed down where I had been standing.

It was an Ogre, slightly larger than the young one I’d fought earlier.

The sight of it bringing its full weight down in an attack was terrifying even from a safe distance.

Even with my S-grade health and armor, if I had been crushed under an Ogre bigger than the young one (which already weighed over 300kg), I would probably have been flattened to death.

[Corrupted Ogre]

– Grade: S-(BOSS)

– Level: 36

– Stats: Strength (S+) Health(S+) Agility (S-) Magic(E+)

– Body: 551cm / 501kg

– Abilities:

1. Natural Recovery(S+)(P)

2. Strength Enhancement(S)(A)

3. Power Punch(A+)(A)

Hmm. I really would have died.

In terms of raw stats, it’s on my level.

And the Natural Recovery passive skill that the young Ogre had, this one has at S+ grade.

[Natural Recovery]

– Grade: S+

– Passive Skill

– Greatly increases natural life force recovery proportional to Health stat. (Current: S+, +1,500%)

– Greatly increases damage reduction proportional to Health stat. (Current: S+, +65%)

– Provides a grace period for all injuries below fatal wounds proportional to Health stat. (Current: S+, 10 seconds)

Fortunately(?), there are no additional options, but the numbers themselves are absurdly high.

I didn’t need to worry about how much better its regeneration would be at 1,500% when even the young Ogre’s was impressive, but the 65% damage reduction made me frown.

If my overwhelming damage was the perfect counter to the young Ogre’s damage reduction, then this is an overwhelming damage reduction to counter my overwhelming damage.

Only 35% of my damage gets through.

I need to cut its neck before it can regenerate, and even after cutting it, I need to prevent the Corrupted Ogre from reattaching it within 10 seconds.

And it’s fast, too.

Hmmph-

I try stabbing it once.

PAPAPAPAPAT!

My blade does penetrate its neck.

Having just tried to cut the Corrupted Tree, this definitely feels softer in comparison.

But unlike the young Ogre whose thick neck I cut through in two strikes, I’ve barely cut through 1/5 of this one’s neck.

With damage reduction increased by 30%, my skill’s effectiveness has been reduced by more than half.

More accurately, it’s being cut and simultaneously healing at the same time.

If I could use my skill five times in succession, I could cut through it.

But [Leaping Slash] isn’t a skill I can stack five or ten times just because I have enough mana.

Even without a cooldown, there’s still the time required for the action.

While using the skill, the sword swing incorporates the power of “mana” that transcends physical laws, but there’s no flexibility beyond that.

“This won’t work.”

I realized this wouldn’t be an easy win like with the young Ogre.