Chapter 44: White Knight (3)

「This can’t be happening… ugh…」

Finally, the Goblin Lord slowly collapsed to the ground.

The goblins who witnessed this with their own eyes gawked, mouths wide open, causing a chaotic uproar.

“The, the Goblin Lord has been taken down!”

“She’s strong! That woman! We can’t win!”

“Let’s run away quickly!”

“Move! Move!”

“Goblin goblin~!”

With the Goblin Lord fallen, the goblins started fleeing in a panic.

Meanwhile, a scarlet parchment fell from the fallen Goblin Lord’s grasp.

‘…What is that?’

Jan d’Arc slowly picked up the red parchment.

At the center of the blood-red parchment was a pitch-black Black Sun Sigil.

Even just looking at it emitted an ominous aura.

“…”

Suddenly, Jan flinched and dropped the Black Scroll.

From the center of the scroll, jet-black flames erupted, and in an instant, the scroll burned away without a trace.

At that moment—

“Sa-Saintess! The Commander’s condition is critical!”

The Deputy Commander appeared, supporting the injured Commander.

Having fought bravely through the enemy lines, the Commander was covered in wounds, both large and small.

Some of the injuries were severe, making the Commander look dazed.

Jan d’Arc immediately applied Medicasol Ointment to heal the Commander’s wounds.

The bleeding stopped instantly, and new flesh grew over the torn skin.

The recovered Commander checked every inch of his body before bowing his head toward Jan.

“All these wounds… completely healed…?! Ah, you truly are the Saintess! Thank you for performing the Miracle of Healing.”

Jan d’Arc helped the bowed Commander stand up and said,

“All of this was not done by me, but a miracle performed by God. Let us give thanks to the merciful God. Now, let us quickly move the rest of the injured to the fortress!”

“Understood, Saintess. But before that, could you spare a moment?”

Jan nodded quietly, and the Commander slowly rose.

Then, he raised his Sword high and shouted,

“Sons and daughters of Rivera! We have won! We survived! It is thanks to God! And the Saintess who stands with us!”

Though there were many wounded, the death count was zero.

The meaning was clear.

‘Victory!’

The moment the word crossed their minds, the Knights and Militiamen shouted in unison.

“Waaaaaah!”

“Thank you, God!”

“To defeat an army of 400 with only 70… this is a miracle!”

“Long live! Long live! God, long live! Saintess, long live!”

However, just as they began savoring the sweetness of victory—

“Kieeeek!”

“Kyaaak!”

“Keekeek!”

Suddenly, piercing screams echoed from beyond the horizon.

Then, the goblins who had fled started being tossed into the air.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Something was shaking the ground fiercely as it approached.

At that moment, the Goblin Lord—thought dead—barely uttered a word.

“Strong but… stupid fools… coming only now… so slow… exploding…”

With those last words, the Goblin Lord breathed his last.

Then, a gigantic shadow appeared beyond the horizon.

One soldier watching this scene opened his mouth, trembling with fear.

“O-o-o- it’s an Ogre…!”

—Ding!

[Ogre]

• A giant humanoid monster.
• Ferocious and brutal by nature, its intelligence is quite low compared to other humanoid monsters.
• However, its overwhelming brute strength can easily snap even trees, and its tough skin cannot be scratched by ordinary weapons.
• Ogres have a habit of coveting shiny objects, and their lairs are said to be piled high with gold and treasures.

‘…I thought the Goblin Lord was the final boss, but this must be the real boss?’

Nearly 3 meters tall, covered in bulky muscles, with thick limbs like an elephant’s.

Three Ogres, each carrying massive wooden clubs, were approaching.

One of them was even larger and fiercer-looking than the others.

“After the Goblin army, Ogres? No way…!”

“Ogres are monsters that would need an entire squad of elite Knights to bring down!”

“Three of those monsters?! Damn it!”

“God… please save us…”

Despair once again crept into the soldiers’ eyes.

Meanwhile, the Ogres swung their clubs mercilessly, knocking away goblins charging at them.

They seemed too dumb to distinguish between humans and goblins.

‘…They can’t tell friend from foe at all. That’s why they operated separately from the goblin main force.’

Anyway, these three Ogres must be taken down for this battle to end.

But the Rivera Army had just finished a grueling fight.

‘Excluding the wounded, those ready for battle right now are…

Jan d’Arc, the Commander, Deputy Commander.

Five other Knights and ten guards—18 in total.

That’s nowhere near enough power to take on three Ogres.’

…

‘I have no choice. I’ll have to take them down myself.’

I reached out my finger to physically intervene against the Ogres.

Then—

—Ding!

[System]

• Do you wish to intervene physically? … (Y/N)
• Divine Power will be consumed by 50 points.
• When intervening physically against a powerful monster, additional Divine Power will be consumed.

※Should the Wolf and Ogre have the same consumption value? Too expensive? Hey, Creator!

We’re offering you the base cost~

‘…Fifty points of Divine Power?’

I immediately checked my remaining Divine Power.

[Divine Power: 50/480]

Exactly fifty points left—no more, no less.

This was after distributing various items to believers and continuous participation in battles.

Even if I used all 50 Divine Power points to take down one Ogre, there was no way to handle the other two.

‘…Instead of using all Divine Power on one, I need to find an efficient way to wipe them all out.’

Just as I organized my thoughts, a resounding roar broke through the air.

“Wooooooooh!”

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Ogres charged fiercely toward the Rivera soldiers.

The overwhelming sight caused several soldiers’ legs to give out, and they collapsed.

At the very moment the Ogres’ huge clubs rushed toward the soldiers—

Thwack!

With a heavy sound, one Ogre wobbled and then toppled over.

Afungi charged at lightning speed, lifting the Ogre with his massive horns.

“Gruk! Grrr~!”

Afungi let out a threatening growl toward the Ogre, blocking the soldiers’ path.

His back seemed to say, “Leave this place to me and go.”

Then, Jan d’Arc helped the fallen soldiers and wounded up and shouted loudly.

“Now’s the time! Quickly take the injured into the fortress! If we fight the Ogres in the open plains, we’ll be annihilated!”

Roused by her words, the Commander and Deputy Commander led the soldiers back to Rivera Citadel.

Meanwhile, the Ogres’ eyes were fixed on Afungi, drooling and unable to look away.

Like pirates who discovered treasure, they were completely entranced.

Soon, one Ogre stretched its hands forward and charged at Afungi.

But Afungi was not intimidated.

Raising his sturdy horns, Afungi bravely charged the Ogre.

Kuuuung!

When the Ogre and the Ashura Beetle collided, a powerful shockwave spread around.

But only briefly.

“Grrr!”

“U-woah?!”

Afungi demonstrated terrifying strength, lifting the massive Ogre off the ground.

He was overwhelming the Ogre with sheer brute force.

The Ogre flailed midair before slamming its face into the ground.

“Gruk! Grk!”

Despite fighting one of the strongest monsters, Afungi showed no sign of fatigue.

Then another Ogre swung its giant club down hard on Afungi’s torso.

Crack!

But the one who broke was the Ogre’s wooden club.

The Atlas Beetle possessed legendary defense, capable of deflecting steel.

A mere wooden club couldn’t even leave a scratch on its tough shell.

Afungi immediately twisted his body and rammed into the stunned Ogre.

Bwaaargh!

“Woooah~?!”

Living up to his title as the ruler of the verdant dungeon, Afungi easily dominated the Ogre.

D-But as the saying goes, numbers beat strength.

Realizing strength alone wouldn’t suffice, the three Ogres simultaneously lunged at Afungi.

One by one, the heavy Ogres piled on Afungi’s back.

Resulting in Afungi being crushed flat like a hamburger patty.

“Gruk… grrrrk…”

If this had been an average creature, being flattened by one Ogre alone would’ve left it unrecognizable.

But Afungi shivered and barely endured the Ogres’ massive weight.

Still, it seemed he couldn’t move in that state.

Moreover, Afungi was already worn down from the earlier battle against the goblin army.

Eventually, Afungi began snorting repeatedly, clearly frustrated.

‘…Is this the end?’

Unable to bear seeing Afungi struggle any longer, I reached out and called out.

“Stop the violence! Come back, Afungi!”

A brilliant white light descended upon Afungi, and one by one, the Ogres were thrown to the ground.

Meanwhile, Afungi, summoned onto my palm, was still huffing.

He looked truly angry.

I took a Jellypo from my pocket and comforted him.

“Hey, you did more than enough. Those guys were just being cowardly by overwhelming you with numbers, but one-on-one, you could’ve easily taken them out with just a leg. Thanks to you buying time, everyone safely made it into the fortress. Good job, Afungi!”

Lick lick lick lick lick lick

Seeming a little cheered by the storm of praise, Afungi spun lightly on my palm.

Then he began ravenously licking the strawberry-flavored Jellypo.

His expression resembled a general solemnly finishing a drink after battle.

“You did well. Rest while you eat that jelly.”

Still, I wondered what the odd behavior I just witnessed from the Ogres meant.

Those who were attacking the soldiers suddenly changed targets and charged at Afungi as soon as they saw him.

I carefully reread the System description of the Ogres.

[Ogre]

• A giant humanoid monster.
• Ferocious and brutal by nature, its intelligence is quite low compared to other humanoid monsters.
• However, its overwhelming brute strength can easily snap even trees, and its tough skin cannot be scratched by ordinary weapons.
• Ogres have a habit of coveting shiny objects, and their lairs are often piled high with gold and treasures.

One phrase caught my eye.

‘…They have a strong preference for shiny objects…’

Afungi’s shell emitted a soft, beautiful emerald glow.

No doubt, the Ogres were crazed by the glittering Afungi and charged wildly.

‘Ogre, shiny objects, limited Divine Power, way to wipe them all out…’

I organized the keywords in my mind.

At that moment, a brilliant idea flashed in my head.

‘…Aha, if I use that method, my current Divine Power will be enough!’

I smiled broadly and headed back to the real world.