TL/Editor: raei
Status: 5/Week Mon-fri
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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A terrifying giant charged from beyond the horizon.
With each step, the soft earth cratered as if hit by shells. Its thick, swinging arms exuded a more menacing aura than siege weapons.
This tower monster could easily crumble the small walls of a rural lord's castle like toy blocks if it charged head-on.
Yet, instead of cowering at this frightening sight, some were licking their lips in anticipation.
"Shiik- Such a large enemy, excellent!"
"My, I've read the documents, but seeing it in person is so much more vivid."
Well, a person and a naga were.
Manaashi puffed up his muscles like an animal threatening its prey, raised the snake part of his body he usually kept low to the ground, and filled his trident with aura, ready to greet the ogre.
Meanwhile, Maelis, delighted to observe a named monster she'd only seen as mana stones in the Magic Tower under the hero party's protection, pulled out a recording magical device from her bosom.
Seeing these two, completely devoid of tension, the rest of the group also entered battle stance, fingering their sword hilts or tapping their bowstrings. Though they briefly flinched at the 8m tall, elephant-sized beast charging on two legs, our team had dealt with this before.
"Roland, shiik- I'll- take- the- shiishii- lead-"
"Alright, just don't overdo it."
"Shiik shiik shiik- What an amusing concern-"
As the group spread out to surround the ogre, Manaashi, hissing with excitement like a riled-up viper to the point where his words were barely audible, advanced with his trident.
The ogre, not yet in berserk mode but clearly excited at the sight of humans, charged forward drooling like a rabid dog. Manaashi, hissing harshly, stood rigid and rushed to meet it.
Though Manaashi was nearly 3m tall, he looked puny compared to the 8m berserk ogre. It's like how an anaconda might seem huge until you put it next to an elephant.
"Come on――!"
"I-I should cast protection, right?"
"Leave me out of it."
"Huh? Um, alright."
Irene was flustered by Manaashi's boldness in facing the ogre head-on. Still, she wasn't going to just stand by, quickly casting her barriers.
Shining white barriers enveloped everyone, starting with Manaashi who had rushed far ahead. I waved my hand, declining the barrier. I'd noticed that if the barrier blocked attacks, my passive skill wouldn't activate.
My passive reflected damage, but if the damage itself was nullified, the skills didn't mesh well. It was a trivial amount of damage compared to the ogre's health, but the K-gamer mentality in me didn't want to miss out.
The close-combat warriors, except for me, charged forward under personal barriers, while Irene, Grace, Han Se-ah, and Maelis took aim at the ogre from within a hefty large barrier.
The ogre's footsteps grew louder as it approached, the ground trembled, its roar was deafening, its eyes gleamed with killing intent and malice, and its heavy fist cut through the air with a threatening sound.
"Come on― The Goddess's great warrior is here―"
"Wh-what?!"
Manaashi charged towards the fist swung like a siege weapon. Han Se-ah, who had been dramatically filming the scene with her camera, couldn't help but cry out in surprise. But what shocked us even more was Manaashi's reaction right after.
Manaashi planted his trident in the ground with his charging momentum, then launched himself into the air like a pole dancer, swinging his tail horizontally.
...What the fuck was that?
"You think, I haven't, killed, a giant or two, you fool! Sha sha sha!"
"Holy shit, was Manaashi a wrestler instead of a spearman? Well, he's a snake, a naga, so I guess..."
Even the ogre never imagined the snake-man charging at it would suddenly spin horizontally like a top, causing its fist to slice through empty air.
As the terrifying fist that could damage not just palisades but even castle walls cut through the air, the ogre's weak point was exposed. Its hide was so thick that ordinary blades couldn't even scratch it, so it had put its full strength into the punch, trusting in that... but Manaashi was a veteran warrior who had fought dozens of wars against the Demon King's army.
Manaashi's lower body, whipped around like a lash, wrapped around the ogre's outstretched arm like a magnetic bracelet at an amusement park.
-Oof, shit;;; That looks painful even to watch
-I was lying down watching this and my elbow twitched, making me drop my phone on my face, fuck lol
-I thought Manaashi was just a spearman, but there was a reason he introduced himself as a warrior
-Damn, if Manaashi had appeared as a monster on the 40th floor instead of a companion, we wouldn't even have been able to pick up our bones, would we?
-Any ordinary party encountering Manaashi in the swamp would get wiped out by just his tail, it's so brutal
Manaashi quickly launched his body using the momentum from his tail wrapped around the wrist and the muscles of his body, letting go of the trident shaft. With his tail around the wrist and his body coiled around the forearm, Manaashi firmly grasped the ogre's shoulder and shiny bald head, glaring at its eyeballs up close as it stretched out its other arm in confusion.
And then, tensing his body―――
Crack――
Gwa, gwaaargh―!!!
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Raei Translations
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No matter how tough and sturdy the ogre's skin was, it apparently wasn't immune to joint locks.
The snake's lower body, which had tightly coiled around the forearm after dropping the spear, concentrated mana that could create aura and more, then bent the elbow backward.
Manaashi's joint lock made even viewers accustomed to monster corpses in this R-rated game, or those enjoying the stream through mosaic systems, jump in surprise.
Well, even armored knights learn sword wrestling, so of course Manaashi, who called himself a warrior, wouldn't be ignorant of hand-to-hand combat.
"Whoa, that sound is pretty brutal."
"Looks like it hurt more than expected, seeing how it's freaking out over losing just one arm."
The ogre's skin was so tough that no bone fragments pierced through the forearm, creating a grotesque sight, but the huge forearm bent in the opposite direction and dangling limply was pitiful to see. Even Lukius and McDonagh, who had been charging forward, couldn't help but comment.
After completely shattering the outstretched right arm, Manaashi moved to the opposite side, using the ogre's nape as leverage. Though the ogre tried to prevent its other arm from being broken by activating berserk mode and tensing its muscles... it ended up facing our group with both arms restrained.
Lukius raised his longsword high over his head, seemingly intent on half-swording against the massive ogre that was growing even larger due to berserk mode. He started by deeply slashing the ogre's broken right arm, initiating the trio of close-combat warriors' joint attack.
-At this point, isn't it more like group bullying? The ogre just seems really pitiful
-Watching them all rush in to beat it up after tying its arms reminds me of school PTSD
-Stop it now it hurts the most don't even blink your eyes ugh
-Damn, seeing it like this, why does the ogre seem so pitiful? At least when teacher beat it up, it felt exhilarating
-It'd feel better if he just smashed it with the warhammer, but breaking, snapping, and cutting makes it scarier
With one arm's joint reversed and broken, and a high-ranking warrior tightly clinging to the other arm in a test of strength.
Meanwhile, small human swordsmen burrowed at its feet, slicing away at its calves, heels, and the limp broken arm with aura, creating a rather horrific scene. It didn't look like a hero party facing a terrifying monster, but more like poachers engaging in animal abuse-level hunting.
Moreover, with Han Se-ah unable to use magic effectively set aside, Grace persistently aiming arrows at its eyes only strengthened the poacher impression.
Seeing that it could be handled without my intervention, I paused to watch Katie's swordsmanship when Maelis's urgent cry came from behind.
"Wait, wait a moment! Is it possible to subdue it?!"
"Huh? Subdue it?"
"Yes! If we can keep it alive even with its limbs cut off, thanks to its unique tenacity, I want to try dragging it to a safe zone!"
This suggestion suddenly came from Maelis, who had been recording with her magical device, while Han Se-ah, finding it awkward to use magic, focused on filming.
Safe zones were originally areas where monsters neither appeared nor approached. So, would monsters react to fake safe zones? Maelis, struck by this academic curiosity, quickly made this request upon seeing the ogre half-dead despite using berserk mode.
What would happen if we forcibly dragged it in? I'm sure I heard something at the guild about the Magic Tower experimenting with this before Han Se-ah logged in. Wasn't it that tower monsters, not being ordinary living beings, would get roasted by divine energy or something?
Certainly, real safe zones were spaces created by the Goddess's divine energy to block the Demon King's invasion. So I was curious what would happen if we threw a monster into a fake safe zone. Realistically, it would be safer and more efficient to grab a goblin and toss it in, but...
"Wow, this sister's eyes have gone crazy. No, I'm not joking or using a metaphor, her eyes have literally rolled back. She was fine until just now, but while filming with the magical device, her eyes got bloodshot and everything, look at this."
-We were saying it was brutal when the arm broke, but here she is saying "let's cut it up" lol
-Is this like a mage thing? "As long as we keep it alive, we can cut off its arms and legs" wtf lol That's scary
-But what happens if you put a monster in a safe zone? There must be a 100% someone who's done an experiment vlog on this
-If you catch a horned rabbit or goblin and shove it in a safe zone, it melts into mana stones
-Yeah, it melts into mana stones, but it dies in a pretty gross way so the video got age-restricted lol
To a mage consumed by academic fervor, words like 'efficiency' and 'safety' might as well not exist.
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