87 – I Am the Boss – 2

Had the news of Gi-jun killing an ogre in a single blow somehow spread among the other ogres?

From then on, the ogres also began to move cautiously.

It was easy to underestimate their intelligence based only on their giant muscular bodies, monstrous strength, and ferocious personalities, but as ogres reigned as the kings of terrestrial monsters, they were clever, and their hunting methods were also incredibly vicious.

Had they decided to designate Gi-jun, who was already stained with the blood of their companion, as an enemy to be executed? The beasts set traps and launched surprise attacks wherever he went.

Furthermore, the creatures, who were known not to behave in packs, somehow appeared in pairs to raid him—at this point, it felt less like a faction war and more like he had entered the ruins to clear them alone.

—Boom!

Of course, no matter how much they went wild, they were simply killed in a single blow just the same.

—The level of the Moonlight Blood Fangs (L) skill has reached 15. The blood-red moon melts more naturally into the fangs.

—The level of the Moonlight Blood Fangs (L) skill has reached 15. The blood-red moon melts more naturally into the fangs.

“Since they are setting traps wherever I go, it feels as if they already know my destination.”

Gi-jun muttered calmly as he drew the blood of the ogre that had just died.

Ogres were monsters with nothing to throw away, so their tendons (U), bones (R+~U), teeth (U-~U), and claws (U-) were used as weapons; their thick, tough hide (U-~U) as defensive gear; and their blood (U) as an ingredient for magic reagents or a catalyst for metallurgy utilizing magic metals.

Only after drawing as much blood as he could and tearing out the ogre’s teeth and claws, which had not yet dissolved, did the corpse of one beast finally disappear.

From the other one, he extracted a significant amount of hide and the entire spine (U); despite each individual bone being hard and sharp, the beast’s spine bent and stretched freely, to the point where it could be used as a whip on its own.

…Of course, it had the drawback of being damnably heavy and large, making it difficult to wield.

‘It is good for me since I can pack them by category, but…’

Gi-jun recalled the tutorial once again.

Compared to the continent of Leta, the judgment for butchery in the tutorial had been generous, so even if he killed just one monster, he could usually harvest all the parts he wanted.

Thinking about it now, perhaps that was the system’s arrangement to help him raise his butchery skill so he could harvest monsters efficiently even after crossing over to the continent of Leta.

In fact, if Gi-jun had not possessed the Rare-grade Slaughter skill, he would not have obtained even half of the loot he had looted from the ogres so far.

The quality would have been even worse, too.

‘Since the judgment has become stricter, distributing raid loot must have become more complicated as well.’

Even as he shook his head, his movements to gather, organize, and put the loot into his inventory were extremely natural.

—Did you come in here to hunt ogres?

Perhaps they did not like that Gi-jun, who was charged with the faction war request, was leisurely enjoying his hunt in the ruins, for the voice flying out of the transmitter was particularly sharp.

Gi-jun snorted and replied.

“What am I supposed to do when they’re the ones attacking me?”

—There is no need to deal with each and every one of them. Furthermore, if you kill all of those ogres, it means there will be fewer traps to deal with the faction war participants. Please hurry to your position.

“Was there such a clause in the contract?”

—…There is not.

“Then shut up.”

At his cold voice, the other party fell silent.

Originally, Gi-jun was a fine young man who showed manners regardless of the other party’s status, but if that party tried to look down on him or play tricks on him, he would never tolerate it.

There were those who would lower themselves and treat you politely in return when you humbled yourself, and then there were the idiots who looked down on you thinking they were superior just because you lowered yourself.

Although he knew the Guild Union’s tricks, he had complied obediently because he felt there was no need to show his teeth right now; however, if they looked down on him and spouted nonsense, he had no reason to endure it either.

—Kii?

“It is fine, Ur. The lava lake is not going anywhere.”

In any case, the faction war schedule was generous, and the actual participants would not enter until afternoon.

Gi-jun did not rush and continued to orchestrate a fantastic scene of killing the ogres in a single blow without being hit once, despite them attacking systematically in a fit of rage to kill him by any means necessary.

“Well, I guess their brains are not that good. Even though they know they will die, they are trying desperately just to land a single hit.”

—Kiii.

Although he was speaking leisurely, if it had not been for the two weeks of sparring with his party members, he might have fallen for the ogres’ surprise attacks and traps at least once.

In particular, since he had relied heavily on Lucy’s sensory detection in the past, he would have suffered a great setback if he had not been able to fill her absence on his own.

‘There are things that one only realizes after parting from each other.’

Similarly, there were things that could only grow when they were apart.

Originally, Gi-jun’s sensory detection was by no means lacking.

Was he not Gi-jun, the master of Light Mana—which rotated the fastest and spread the quickest among all mana types—who also possessed immense spiritual power?

Although catching up to Lucy, who could detect a vast area in an instant, was a distant dream—as a result of training his senses by repeating realistic five-on-one sparring sessions over the past two weeks, he was confident that he could detect and react to situations faster than anyone else, at least within the range his shield could reach.

—Kuaaaaak!

“Like this!”

As if he had been waiting for the ogre that suddenly surged out from the ground, which looked as though nothing was there—wondering how it had even hidden itself—he slammed down with his shield.

Even if a single hit from the thick arms the beast flailed wildly would crush the shield—an ogre could not display a technique that surpassed Gi-jun’s dexterity, which had reached the legendary realm.

As he evaded all of the beast’s attacks, drove his shield deep into its head, and spun it around, the edge of the shield that had pierced through the thick hide scraped out the entirety of the beast’s brains.

Of course, the beast died.

“Is this place really being managed?”

—We have adjusted it specifically for this faction war.

That was a decent excuse.

Gi-jun glanced at the device attached to his chest, looted the ogre, and finally found the path heading toward the volcano.

He could feel the ground heating up already.

Lifting his head, he saw the crater on the mountain peak over there, which was still spewing smoke even now.

—Kiyiyiyit!

Excited by the intense heat, Ur hopped up and down on the spot and pestered Gi-jun to go quickly.

Although he also wished to lure out and hunt a few more ogres if possible—it seemed that the one he had just hunted was the last one, so Gi-jun suppressed his regret and spoke to Ur.

“Then let’s go fast from now on.”

—Kit!

It must have been waiting for those words to drop.

Ur immediately enlarged its body, took Gi-jun on its back, and began to run rapidly toward the mountain peak.

The movement of the camera, which had been leisurely following behind Gi-jun until now, also became hurried.

—Wait, if you had that kind of ability!

He ignored the voice.

Although not quite as fast as when he rode the flying griffin, Ur—whose Fire Spirit Arts level was growing day by day and was now looking forward to a grade advancement—was also running at an extremely high speed.

Moreover… it was something he only realized now, but it seemed that the effects of the ‘Sky Rider (R)’ title, as well as the ‘Riding (R)’ skill he had obtained while controlling the griffin last time, were also applied when he was on Ur’s back.

This was a much greater deal than he had thought.

Because, not only did the Riding skill allow him to move freely while on Ur’s back, but the ‘10% speed increase’ applied by the effect of the Sky Rider title was also not limited to movement speed.

‘This is not bad. Depending on the situation, I can put this to use.’

Gi-jun, who threw a few jabs in the air, nodded and encouraged Ur.

“Let’s hurry, Ur.”

—Kiyiyiyiyi!

Crying out loud, Ur accelerated further.

Normally, traps were also laid out on the path to the volcano, but since these were purely targeted at the faction war participants, Gi-jun had obtained information in advance and moved while avoiding them.

Indeed, if they had hidden even these, the magic contract would have been triggered due to an obvious violation of the contract terms.

Thinking that his party members, who had headed to the viewing arena by now, would be watching him, they would not be able to pull tricks so openly anymore.

…Actually, he was even wondering why the ogre attack did not violate the contract, so Scintilla might already be arguing with the union.

‘Huh?’

Then, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

Although the faction war had not properly started yet, the magic tool had been transmitting the recorded video while following him around since earlier.

If a lot of people had already gathered in the viewing arena… did it not mean that his slaughter of the ogres so far had received the spotlight?

Since it was said that many nobles came to watch the faction war, perhaps Gi-jun had fully achieved the purpose of accepting the union’s request with just his performance so far?

—Kiyihi.

“Yeah, I had even forgotten that that was the reason I first came to Cor.”

In the brief moment he laughed, finding himself absurd, Ur reached the volcano peak.

The first thing that came into view was, as expected, the massive lava lake formed in the crater.

Far from being solidified, the sight of the boiling lava glowing bright red was something rarely seen anywhere on Earth.

If he had to recall where he had seen it… yes, it felt like he had seen it in The Lord of the Rings.

“I heard that the temperature of lava lakes on Earth is not that high, so I wonder how hot this place is… Wait, Ur?!”

—Kiyiyiyi!

Ur could not overcome the temptation of the lava calling to it.

After letting Gi-jun down nearby, Ur threw its body straight into the lava.

Watching the lava splash, Gi-jun could only laugh in disbelief.

“It is a child, a child.”

When it was with Lucy, it had often pretended to be gentle, if only to keep her in check, but having spent time alone with Gi-jun, it seemed to have become much more comfortable.

Since it would jump right out of the inside anyway if he just called, and that would look cooler in terms of presentation, Gi-jun decided to leave the creature alone to enjoy this exotic environment.

However, there were those who could not leave it alone.

—J-Jun. Did the Red Flame Beast just go inside the crater?

“And?”

—How is that even possible?! That lava is over thousands of degrees; you cannot even enter it without wrapping your entire body in at least Unique-grade equipment!

“Just tell me what the problem is.”

Gi-jun stood at the peak of the volcano, looked down the mountain to confirm there were no abnormalities, and spat out.

The transmitter remained quiet for a while, but soon a voice low enough not to be caught by the camera floating in the air flowed out.

—These ruins are managed in an uncleared state. The boss monster of the ruins is presumed to be inside the volcano, and so…

“You left it alone because you had no way of catching it, and you could not even drag it outside until now. Is that what you mean?”

—If the boss monster of the ruins pops out, there is a high probability that the faction war itself will become a mess. It would be best for you not to provoke it as much as possible and quickly retrieve the Red Flame Beast.

“Was there such a regulation?”

—Jun, as the final examiner of this faction war, you must ‘personally’ deal with the ‘challengers who reach you.’ If this premise is disrupted, it is a breach of contract!

It seemed they had prepared a retort this time.

If so, it could not be helped; Gi-jun shrugged his shoulders and replied.

“Sure, the contract will be kept.”

—Then please retrieve the Red Flame Beast quickly.

“I will take care of it, so do not worry.”

—…Are you, by any chance, right now—

“By any chance, what?”

—It is nothing.

The device fell silent once again.

Gi-jun asked Ur, who was swimming freely inside the lava, how it was in there.

However, the creature was busy fighting inside the lake and had no leisure to answer Gi-jun.

‘Well, if it is already too late, it cannot be helped. You can do it, right?’

—Kiyiyiyiyit!

Ur, who grew in accordance with Gi-jun’s spirit arts, was still only Rare-grade, and the boss monster of the ruins hidden in the boiling volcanic lava lake must be at least a Unique Elite.

To put it bluntly, it was obvious that there was no chance of winning if they simply collided, but—Ur had Gi-jun on its side.

‘There is still a lot of time left before the faction war starts. Even after it starts, I will probably be free for a while… This is perfect.’

Gi-jun sat cross-legged on the spot and cast Salutaris.

Even without this, Lucy was constantly moving busily and consuming spiritual power; he split the spiritual power and mana restored by Salutaris exactly in half and poured them into Lucy and Ur!

How much time had passed like that? Smoke rose from various places in the ruins, signaling that each race participating in the faction war had entered.

At the same time, the number of cameras flying in the sky rapidly increased, and the faction war began in earnest, but…

Gi-jun remained sitting comfortably, casting Salutaris while his entire body was wrapped in hazy smoke.

—Kiyiyiyiyi!

Rumble, the earth vibrated faintly.

At this moment, only Gi-jun knew what the tremor meant.

A faint smile hung on the corner of his mouth.

Good, if it continues like this, before they arrive, Ur will—

—Contractor…? I think we found something truly amazing. There’s a chocolate factory here.

At Lucy’s voice that flew in at that moment, Gi-jun’s face crumpled miserably.

Dammit, what?