Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The carriage tipped over, and everything inside tumbled to one side.

Of course, I was no exception.

Before I could even try to steady myself, Cecil grabbed hold of me first.

“Lord Ran!”

Though she only had one arm, she showed no sign of struggling under my weight.

“Are you all right?”

“Thank you, Cecil.”

Cecil responded with a smile instead of words.

We were the only ones left inside the carriage.

Breaking through the tilted carriage door and stepping outside, we found ourselves surrounded by all kinds of monsters. Most were merely low-tier beasts, but one among them was exuding a notably fierce aura.

It seemed likely this one was the culprit who had overturned the carriage.

‘A group of ogres…?’

Ogres were a staple on the list of monsters that were notoriously difficult to deal with.

They had thick skin that couldn’t be scratched by normal blades, brute strength enough to tear apart the jaws of a Lycan Wolf with bare hands, and even possessed remarkable regenerative abilities.

But even so, that one wasn’t an ordinary ogre.

‘Wait. It has two heads… Don’t tell me it’s a Twin Ogre?’

A rare mutated ogre said to be born once every twenty years.

According to scholars, a Twin Ogre was born when ogre twins, conjoined and formed in a zone dense with magical energy, managed to grow to adulthood without dying.

But the important thing wasn’t how it was born.

‘The question is how to kill it.’

The first to burst through the door was Lin Winterbell, who cursed under her breath while holding a massive greatsword.

“Goddamn it. Now even weird freaks are blocking the road?”

“…There’s even a Twin Ogre.”

“It just proves we’ve finally reached the Bakal Mountains safely.”

The Winterbell bloodline had already begun the hunt.

Lux Winterbell, standing at the front, swung his sword with each motion scattering chunks of monster flesh into the air.

The golden aura trailing from his blade was so dazzlingly beautiful that it almost hurt the eyes—but where it pointed, only death awaited.

“……”

The man who always wore a smile now cut down monsters with a blank, emotionless expression—it felt strangely out of place. Yet his cold, precise swordsmanship seemed to assert, beyond all doubt, that he too was of Winterbell blood.

Compared to him, Lin Winterbell looked more like a battle-crazed demon. She charged forward, swinging a greatsword far larger than her own body as if it weighed nothing. The sight alone inspired fear.

“You filthy trash! How dare you block our path! Die! Die! Die! Die, you garbage!”

Her ferocious temperament manifested in her ruthless swordplay. But this too was unmistakably Winterbell.

‘And Marian, by contrast, is shockingly composed.’

My quiet sister, who always stuck close to Lin Winterbell, moved as calmly as ever. Silently, yet swiftly, she reduced the enemy numbers.

If Lux Winterbell was a hexagon, Lin Winterbell leaned heavily on strength, while Marian Winterbell was overwhelming speed.

Each time her slender rapier danced, monsters dropped like flies. Unlike Lin Winterbell, who turned her foes into pulp, Marian’s victims were all struck directly in their vital points—dying instantly.

It was, quite literally, movement like lightning—swift and sudden.

Marian Winterbell, with graceful motions like a butterfly in flight, relentlessly targeted the enemies' vital points. Somehow, she felt like the most threatening one of them all. Was that just my imagination?

As I was enjoying the spectacle of my siblings’ swordplay with interest, a monster crept toward me.

“…How dare you lay a hand…”

Slice!

I didn’t even need to move. A goblin’s head rolled across the ground.

Cecil, wielding a dagger from who-knows-where, had taken its head off in a single stroke.

“Are you all right?”

“…Uh, thanks.”

“No need to mention it.”

From the moment she effortlessly lifted me with one arm, I already knew she wasn’t an ordinary maid. But even now, I couldn’t fully grasp the extent of her combat ability.

“Cecil.”

“Yes, Lord Ran?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“What kind of work did you do before becoming my personal maid?”

She looked at me with a faint smile.

“…I was a maid.”

I took that as a subtle rejection. Since it wasn’t an urgent matter, I decided to ask again if the opportunity arose later.

“Shit! Why the hell won’t this bastard die? Is it some kind of immortal or what?!”

“…That’s abnormal regeneration.”

As expected, Lin Winterbell’s cursing voice rang out from afar. Thanks to my siblings’ stellar performance, most of the monsters had already been dealt with.

“Lin. Take care of the two beside you.”

“Don’t order me around!”

Now, only five ogres and the Twin Ogre leading them remained.

If it were any other type of monster, it would’ve been over already. But due to the ogres’ trademark traits—defense and regeneration—things were dragging out.

‘To be precise, it’s because they haven’t figured out the real weak point of the Twin Ogre.’

We weren’t exactly being pushed back, but the situation wasn’t improving either.

From what I could tell, my siblings were holding back their strength in preparation for when we’d enter the mountain range in earnest.

If they’d used even half—or a quarter—of their strength from the start, this wouldn’t have taken so long.

This mess was the result of their decision to conserve power combined with the Twin Ogre’s unique traits.

‘If we leave it alone, we’ll kill it eventually, but there’s no need to waste more strength here.’

Truthfully, it was a monster that could be killed easily if you exploited its weakness properly.

The problem was that identifying that weakness was incredibly tricky.

【If you let me devour it, this would be over quickly. Why all the hesitation?】

‘That thing? Can you even swallow it whole?’

【Hmm… I would need a little time.】

‘So in the end, we’d still need to incapacitate it first, right?’

【Correct.】

He bragged confidently, but coming from something that couldn't even properly devour a single ogre in its weakened state, it was almost pitiful.

‘The bluffing…’

【Even if I’m weakened, I’m not going to struggle with some low-tier beast like that…】

‘Cut the nonsense. If you eat that thing, will you get stronger?’

【I should.】

‘How much?’

【Compared to the power I had in my prime, it wouldn’t even amount to one hundred-thousandth of that... but still.】

‘No, I get that you were strong back then. I’m asking you to explain based on your current state.’

【In your hands, it should be... passable enough to use.】

I looked down at the rusted sword in my hand. Just from its appearance, it looked like the blade might snap before it even managed to cut anything.

It really was like looking at an old, diseased sword.

‘Good enough. Let’s use this chance to strengthen it a bit.’

【This is the first time we’ve seen eye to eye.】

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

I stepped down from the wheelchair and began moving forward, casting enhancement magic.

“──Strengthen body.”

I focused more mana on my lower half, which was relatively unbalanced compared to the rest of my body.

Exactly three minutes.

Not more, not less. I planned to finish this within three minutes.

It was a bit embarrassing to just swoop in and take the final blow after everyone else had done the work, but it’s not like I was in a position to care about things like that.

As I approached, Lin Winterbell, who was in the middle of turning two ogres into meat chunks, shouted with clear annoyance.

“Hey, don’t butt in and get in the way. Go sit down somewhere and stay out of it.”

“……”

I ignored her words and passed her by. Along the way, I met eyes with Marian Winterbell, but she didn’t react either.

Lux Winterbell, who was busy hacking away at the Twin Ogre’s arms, turned to look behind him.

“Ran?”

“Brother. I’ll finish it.”

“You will?”

As if to prove its ridiculous regenerative ability, the Twin Ogre’s arms had already regenerated.

If we were only talking about individual strength, I was probably nowhere close to the direct Winterbell bloodline standing here.

And no one was more aware of that than Lux Winterbell himself.

Which is why his expression now clearly showed how absurd this situation felt to him.

“Ran. I get how you’re feeling, but for now, I think it’d be better to save your strength. Even if your lower body has recovered, this thing…”

“Please trust me. Just once.”

I passed Lux Winterbell and moved to the Twin Ogre’s right side. Its attention was still entirely on Lux Winterbell, so fortunately, it didn’t even register my approach.

Pushing off the ground, I launched myself forward and used a second step midair.

A transparent foothold, invisible to others.

It was a creation made using my Makina, which governed Aether, one of the Five Elements.

‘So this is still my limit.’

Just from creating one foothold, a headache hit me. Still, it wasn’t enough to throw off my balance, so I followed through with my plan.

“Concentrated enhancement.”

I poured a portion of my mana into the sword, sharpening the blade.

“Edge.”

The target was the Twin Ogre’s right head.

It might’ve been the softest part of its body, but an ogre was still an ogre. Even the slightest lapse in concentration could result in me taking the hit instead.

That’s why I poured in every ounce of focus.

It felt like the whole world had slowed down.

With not even a hint of hesitation, I swung my sword toward the target.

Slice───!

A clean, ringing sound echoed from the blade.

At the same time, the Twin Ogre’s right head rolled across the ground.

“Haa… Ran, even if you cut off just one of its heads, that thing’s going to regenerate anyway.”

I knew.

Better than anyone else, I knew.

Back in the days when I hunted with the party that went after the Demon King, I’d hunted more of these than I could count.

To stop this thing’s absurd regeneration, you either needed elemental magic powerful enough to overwhelm it—or you had to destroy both of its hearts.

The first heart was located in the right head.

The second heart was…

“Ran!”

The right Achilles tendon.

Some might ask, "Couldn’t it be the left head, or the left Achilles tendon?"

Absolutely not.

The Twin Ogre’s hearts were always located on the right side. I’d killed well over a hundred of them—I could vouch for it.

Why is that?

Hell if I know.

How would I even figure that out?

That’s just how they were made. Uncovering the reason is the job of monster ecologists, not mine.

Honestly, I even doubted whether anyone else knew about this besides me.

“GRUAAAAAAAH!!!”

The ogre, having lost one of its heads, roared in fury and swung its club wildly—but unfortunately for it, I was already at its Achilles tendon.

“You’re loud.”

I swung my sword with full force, but unlike when I took the head, it didn’t even cut halfway through. It felt like the blade got stuck. Maybe my concentration had dropped, because the Edge imbued into the blade had weakened.

‘Behemoth. Earn your damn keep.’

【This is all I can give you right now. I’ve spent all my strength. That thing has to be fed to me.】

Yeah, yeah, I got it.

The old, rusted sword gleamed like it had returned to its youth, showing off a sharpened edge.

Slice!

“Now that’s a proper cut.”

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