2 - Deformed stories

Chapter 4: Let's Go to the Hot Springs — Part 2: The Ogre's Assault

≡

Warning: This content may contain explicit or mature themes and is intended for viewers 18 and older. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.

Volume 1: Witch Carly Arc

Chapter 4: Let's Go to the Hot Springs

— Part 2: The Ogre's Assault

After having lunch, the carriage with its coachman, Aurelius, and Magnolia proceeded along the road to the hot spring town. So far, the journey had been peaceful and uneventful.

It would be fine if it stayed that way, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen.

"Hm, there's something there."

Aurelius's detection magic picked up something. To the left was a mountain, and to the right, a forest—it was a narrow part of the road. An ideal spot for a monster attack.

Both the coachman and Magnolia looked up at the mountain. Monsters often lurk in the mountains. If they were to attack, it would probably be from the mountain, or so they thought.

"No, it's the opposite.

A rather large monster is coming.

But before that—"

Before Aurelius could finish speaking, two monsters leaped out from the mountain ahead on the road. Even from a distance, it was clear they were large monsters walking on two legs. They were likely ogres or giants.

And they were charging straight at them.

The coachman instinctively stopped the carriage.

But that was exactly what the ogres wanted.

"Ehhh, two ogres? What the hell is this?"

The coachman, unsure of what to do, was in a state of panic.

"Two of them, huh? We'll have to deal with it somehow."

Magnolia gripped her sword and tried to get out of the carriage to face the ogres.

But their leader was missing.

Aurelius turned around.

"Are you still trying to hide?"

Although they might not understand his words, his fierce demeanor seemed to convey the message. The trees in the distant forest began to rustle, and six more ogres emerged onto the road.

Among them was a particularly large leader-type.

They were now surrounded by two ogres in front and six behind. Anyone who see this would be inclined to flee.

And with the forest now filled with ogres, their only option would be to head towards the mountain.

That was exactly what the ogres were aiming for.

A person unfamiliar with the mountains wouldn't be able to either escape from or fight an ogre that's accustomed to the mountains.

In such a case, they would only have their lives taken away.

"There are more than I expected—I thought there would be at most six, but there are eight.

Can I leave two of them to you?"

"Aurelius is asking too much.

There's no way I can fight an ogre."

"Then, just buy some time."

Aurelius got off the carriage and moved to the back of the cart. The six remaining ogres were right in front of him.

With no time to look back, Aurelius fired a magical projectile at one of the ogres.

It hit squarely, but instead of falling, the ogre stayed firmly in place. Ogres are indeed quite strong.

Nevertheless, when the ogre's legs faltered for a moment, Aurelius fired a fireball next.

It hit the ogre's face directly, but it only seemed a little bothered.

"It's really strong."

Concerned about what was happening behind him, Aurelius made a serious effort to defeat the ogre.

While the ogre was distracted by the magic, Aurelius created a vacuum disk and sent it towards the ogre.

The ogre, recognizing something was coming, tried to block it with its hand. However, the disk sliced through the hand and cut into its chest.

Blood gushed from the ogre's chest, and finally, the first ogre was defeated.

The leader saw this and shouted something. Two ogres then charged toward him.

To defend against them, Aurelius created a wall of air.

The ogres, unaware of the wall, crashed into it and fell down. It was just a matter of hitting the wall with their heads, so they probably just stumbled.

Immediately, another ogre tried to hit the air wall with all its strength. Although it likely wouldn' thave broken the wall, Aurelius deliberately dispelled it.

The ogre, having swung wildly and missed, lost its balance, stumbled a few steps forward, and fell.

Aurelius then seized the opportunity, jumped in, and decapitated the ogre with the vacuum disk.

That made it the second ogre.

Another ogre charged in from right behind.

Despite being a magic user and unarmed, Aurelius didn't retreat—instead, he surged forward.

He dodged the ogre's hand that reached out to grab him and slipped into its close range.

"Haah!"

Aurelius thrust his hand toward the ogre's stomach and unleashed a shock blade spell from point-blank range.

The ogre couldn't dodge the spell and took it directly in the stomach.

At such a close distance, the spell's power was overwhelming.

Even the ogre's tough hide couldn't withstand it, and a gaping hole appeared from its stomach to its back.

Before the ogre could collapse, Aurelius leaped backward.

That made three.

Seeing the hole in its stomach, the ogres were clearly frightened and retreated.

With a gap opened, Aurelius cast a powerful spell that required a long charge time.

"HOOOOoooo~"

The air began to swirl around the three ogres. The ogres, surprised, looked around, but it was too late.

The wind quickly intensified into a violent tornado, pulling in the surrounding dust and sand.

The ogres soon disappeared within the ferocious whirlwind.

"GAAAAaaah!"

Inside the tornado, the ogres' cries could be heard, and blood was swirling around. There was no way the ogres inside could have survived.

When the tornado finally subsided, the leader stood among the remains.

No, the leader was holding the bodies of the two fallen ogres in his hands.

It seemed the leader had used his comrades as shields to protect himself from the wind blades.

As the tornado cleared and the ogre leader saw Aurelius, he discarded the corpses of his allies.

"GAAAaaaaah!!!"

The ogre leader roared loudly, but Aurelius, undeterred, immediately cast another spell. An explosion erupted right in front of the leader's chest.

The ogre leader staggered a bit but appeared to be otherwise unharmed.

"GAHAAaaah!!!"

When the scream was heard again, Aurelius was pushed by something. Despite this, he managed to shield his face with his arms and hold his ground.

It seemed the ogre leader had imbued its scream with magic.

He withstood it this time, but he wasn't sure he could next time. If he took that scream without a proper stance, he could be easily blown away. He couldn't afford to let the ogre leader gather more magic power.

Aurelius immediately cast a spell.

Fire magic seemed ineffective, and wind magic lacked power. So, he chose earth magic, which was definitely both effective and powerful.

Earth magic was slow, making it unsuitable for quick opponents, but it should work against the large and slow-moving ogre leader.

He created and launched an earthen spear with magic.

The ogre leader struck it with his fist, shattering it.

Undeterred, Aurelius launched another earthen spear. The fist might miss, or at the very least, it would likely cause some damage to the ogre leader's fist.

Furthermore, if the ogre leader backed off, it would give Aurelius time to cast more powerful magic.

So, knowing it would be blocked, he launched another earthen spear.

However, instead of backing off, the ogre leader stepped closer to Aurelius.

This reduced the distance even more, giving Aurelius less time to cast spells.

Aurelius stepped back, trying to gain some distance.

At that moment, as if waiting for it, the ogre leader did not deflect the earthen spear with its fist but took it directly into its chest.

"GAHAAaaah!"

Then, taking advantage of the moment, the ogre leader let out a voice imbued with magic power.

"What—"

As he tried to step back, he was pushed from the front and fell, unable to maintain his stance.

The ogre leader immediately ran and jumped towards Aurelius, stomping down with its full weight.

Thud!

A heavy sound echoed as the ogre leader's body landed. It was an impact that no human could withstand.

"That was close."

But Aurelius was unharmed. He had quickly created a wall of air to protect himself.

The ogre leader couldn't believe he hadn't crushed his foe and stomped repeatedly. But such indiscriminate attacks only created openings.

Calmly, Aurelius tilted the air wall.

The ogre leader's foot slipped sideways as he stepped there. Having exerted all his strength, he couldn't regain his balance and fell.

"This is the end."

Aurelius thrust his hand in front of the fallen ogre leader's mouth and prepared to cast a spell.

The ogre leader attempted to release a magic-charged voice.

However, Aurelius's spell completed first, with a magic projectile piercing through the ogre leader's mouth.

The impact ruptured his mouth, traveled through his skull, and crushed his brain.

This marked the end of the ogre leader.

Yet, the battle was far from over.

The coachman swung the borrowed sword vigorously to keep the ogre from getting closer. Although victory was impossible, he needed to buy time. His only priority was to avoid death.

Out of the corner of his eye, the coachman caught sight of Magnolia dodging the ogre's punches and slashing repeatedly, but she had no leeway to assist. He could only hope the fight would end quickly.

"Haa, Haa, Haa, stay back, stay back…"

Breathing heavily and losing his grip due to unfamiliarity with the sword, the coachman almost dropped it. Nevertheless, he had no choice but to keep swinging to stay alive.

But he couldn't sustain it for long.

As the ogre approached, the coachman was forced to retreat.

Both his arms and legs were at their limit.

His retreating foot landed awkwardly. Normally, this wouldn't have been an issue, but his legs lacked the strength to support him.

"Ah, shit…"

The coachman lost his footing and fell.

The ogre, seeing this, charged at him.

"AWAWAWAWA—"

No matter how much he shouted, it was futile.

Thinking it was the end, he closed his eyes.

But the impact never came.

"If you have time to scream, then fight."

When he opened his eyes, he saw Magnolia's sword intercepting the ogre's fist.

Magnolia defeated her ogre, bringing relief and joy to the coachman. But it was only a fleeting moment.

No matter how you looked at it, Magnolia's strength wasn't enough to withstand the ogre's blows.

"Ugh, GAAAAaaa—,"

Magnolia's arm twisted at an odd angle in an unnatural direction. It was clearly broken.

The coachman realized that Magnolia had shielded him in order to save him and felt overwhelming guilt.

If only he had been stronger, had been able to restrain the ogre, had mastered the sword, had checked his footing, or had kept his eyes open and not given up—he thought of many things, but it was all too late.

He even wished that Magnolia had abandoned him.

"GAHAAa—"

Ignoring the two of them, the ogre swung its fist down again. Magnolia had no strength left to lift her sword, and if things continued like this, she would be beaten to death.

"Look out!"

Without thinking, the coachman pushed Magnolia away.

As a result, Magnolia fell but escaped the ogre's fist.

"GYAAAAaaa—"

Instead, the coachman's legs were crushed by the fist. They were injured so badly that he might never walk properly again.

Even so, if it meant saving Magnolia, he had no regrets.

But it was all in vain.

He only managed to survive for a brief moment.

The ogre, having shattered Magnolia's arm and the coachman's legs, raised its fist once more.

Neither of them could fight back or move properly.

They were destined to be beaten to death.

Still, in an effort to lessen the impact, the coachman covered Magnolia with his body.

Even in this dire situation, he found comfort in Magnolia's pleasant scent and soft touch. He resolved that if dying like this was his fate, perhaps it wasn't so bad after all.

Thud.

There was a shock to his back. However, it was noticeably lighter than he had expected.

When he hesitantly lifted his gaze to see what had happened, he saw an ogre with its arm still raised. But, the hand was missing.

The hand had fallen right beside the coachman. It appeared that the ogre's wrist had been severed while it was raised, and the severed hand had landed on the coachman's back.

But who had cut off the ogre's hand?

"Are both of you still alive?"

The mage had come to help.

"You're late, Aurelius."

"I'll listen to complaints later—for now, let's deal with the ogre."

The mage cast a spell at the agonizing ogre, bringing it down almost immediately. It was so easy it made the coachman's struggle seem ridiculous.

"Both of you have serious injuries. Magnolia has injuries on both arms, and the coachman has a wound on his left leg.

It will take some time, but it might be better to treat them here."

The coachman didn't understand what the mage was saying.

With such severe injuries, one would either have to prepare for a lifetime of disability or pay an exorbitant amount to a magus for healing magic.

For most people, the former is usually the case. The coachman was no exception.

"Ah. Aurelius, please."

Magnolia lay down, and Aurelius came over to her and grasped her broken arm.

Even though Magnolia cried out in pain from her severely broken arm being touched, Aurelius seemed indifferent. Although they were likely lovers, he wasn't showing much concern.

After a while, as Aurelius worked on her, Magnolia's expression relaxed.

"Is this alright now?"

"Yes. It still hurts, but it's at least moving."

"Eh—"

Magnolia moved her arm, which had been broken, and tested the sensation by gripping her hand.

The hand that should have been broken was now healed. It was clear that such a quick recovery was only possible with a highly skilled magus.

The coachman's mind struggled to keep up with what was happening.

"After this, it will heal by moving.

Next, I'll do the other side."

When Aurelius rubbed the other hand for a while, it was healed.

"Next, I'll heal the coachman's leg."

"Eh? Um, HAA,"

The coachman could only respond in a dazed manner.

When he stretched out his left leg, which was in severe pain, and lay down, Aurelius held his hand over it. Then, a warm and pleasant sensation spread over the injured area. Eventually, the pain disappeared.

"I think this should be fine. Please move it."

"Eh? HAA,"

When he moved his leg as instructed, there was a slight discomfort, but it moved normally, despite having been broken just a moment ago.

It seemed that Aurelius was an excellent nage who could heal injuries. He could live comfortably without needing to escort a carriage.

"Eh, can magic really heal this easily?"

"No, it's only because Aurelius is special.

Please don't spread this around—it would cause us trouble."

"Y-Yes."

The coachman nodded energetically at Magnolia's words.

Then, the ogre's corpse in front of them disappeared.

Ogre materials sell for a high price, so it seemed they would store them in a storage box. Normally, a single ogre wouldn't fit in a storage box, but for some reason, all eight fit in.

They must have some special storage box. There were too many things the coachman didn't understand.

Even so, he understood that the job was likely to end successfully.

Chapter 179 - 2