Future Knight

Chapter 68

This was an outcome Garman had already anticipated.

It was a well-known fact that capturing an ogre required at least two Sword Expert-level knights.

Of course, the ogre that had defeated fifty hunters was also in poor condition.

The ogre, having been hit five times by a gigantic crossbow measuring two meters, had sharp spikes protruding from its back, and one of its eyes had been pierced by a hunter’s quarrel, causing it to bleed continuously.

The ogre panted heavily, but it didn’t seem like it would last much longer.

“Yes, you killed my kind to protect your life, but I won’t blame you for it. I hope you are born into a happier existence in your next life.”

Garman, who had prayed for the mere monster, turned to walk his own path.

At that moment, he heard what sounded like a baby crying.

“Why would there be a baby crying here?”

With a puzzled mind, Garman turned back.

He saw the dying mother ogre uncovering her hidden baby ogre to nurse it.

Only then did Garman understand why the ogre had fought so desperately against the hunters.

The mother ogre had not spared her own body to protect her offspring.

In that moment, Garman felt something swell within his chest.

As a parent himself, he thought of the children he had left behind in his territory.

He quietly watched the mother ogre’s death.

After a while, the mother ogre, still holding her baby, fell silent, and the only sound in the forest was the wailing of the baby ogre.

The cry sounded even sadder, as if it knew its mother had died.

Garman intended to ignore it and leave.

However, his feet wouldn’t move, and he knew that if he left the young ogre alone, it would not survive the night against the beasts drawn to the scent of blood.

Finally, after much deliberation, Garman approached the dead mother ogre.

Ogres were known for their tenacity, and even a Sword Master like him could suffer a fatal injury if he approached carelessly, thinking it was dead.

Cautiously, he confirmed that the mother ogre had indeed died and looked at the baby ogre nestled in her arms.

Despite being a baby, it was as large as a seven-year-old human child.

He worried whether he could raise this ogre.

In the history of the Arkandor Continent, there had never been an instance of an ogre being tamed.

While there were cases of taming wyverns or trolls, there were no stories of taming an ogre.

True to its name as the strongest monster, its instincts were brutal and ferocious.

But his worries didn’t last long.

Garman quietly vowed to himself that he would take care of this baby ogre for the rest of his life and picked it up.

This was the first meeting between the blue ogre Loki and the continent’s strongest knight, Kalitz Garman.

* * *

Loki thought of his late father while tending the precious vegetable garden they had cultivated together.

“It’s almost been a year since Father passed away…”

Loki knew well that he wasn’t his real father.

But to Loki, that small man was the strongest person in the world, a strict yet caring father.

After he passed away, Loki felt incapable of living alone.
The absence of his father weighed heavily on him.

However, determined not to become a disgraceful son before his late father, Loki gritted his teeth, enduring sadness and loneliness, and had cherished everything he had shared with his father.

This vast vegetable garden was one of the precious treasures he had cultivated with his father.

The garden, filled with his favorite potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins, had grown to more than twice the size it had been when he had tended it with his father a year ago.

This was a testament to the love and dedication Loki had poured into the garden.

He devoted all his time to the garden, except for the time spent training in mana.

The reason Loki trained in mana was because Garman had taught him mana cultivation techniques since he was young.

This was the method Garman had chosen to suppress the ogre’s brutal and ferocious instincts.

As Loki grew, his ogre instincts became more savage, and Garman found it increasingly difficult to suppress them with force. Thus, he began infusing his mana into Loki’s body.

When he did this, Loki’s aggressive behavior would momentarily calm, and from then on, Garman started infusing his mana into Loki’s body every day, whenever possible.

Training an ogre in mana was no easy task.

Garman had lost half of his own mana in the process.

Through Garman’s devoted sacrifice, Loki became the first ogre on the continent to sense mana, and he could perfectly control his savage instincts, becoming the gentle Loki he was now.

“Father…”

Thinking of his father, Loki’s eyes filled with tears when he suddenly detected the scent of an unfamiliar intruder.

“Sniff! Sniff! Huh? What’s this smell? It’s not the scent of a monster.”

The strange, somewhat nostalgic yet fearful scent made Loki tense up.

He grabbed the giant hoe he used for farming and prepared to face the uninvited guest.

“My goodness…”

Kang Chan couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked at the enormous silhouette standing confidently in the vegetable garden.

Although it was somewhat smaller than a Gigantes, the ogre was undeniably massive.

While a wyvern was also huge, the ogre standing on two legs was just as gigantic as a wyvern lying on the ground.

Erika was also speechless at the sight of the ogre, simply holding her breath as she watched.

“It looks like the village people have already been dealt with.”

“Look at that weapon it’s holding. I’ve never seen such a primitive weapon before.”

The hoe Loki was holding was a farming tool he had made himself, a primitive contraption crafted from a large conifer tree trunk and a stone tied with a cord. To Erika, it appeared to be a primitive weapon.

“Huh? That ogre’s color is a bit unusual. An ogre with blue skin?”

Zikyon’s eyes were filled with curiosity as she stared at the blue-skinned ogre for the first time in her life.

However, Kang Chan had no interest in the ogre’s color. He only wanted to finish off the ogre in front of him as quickly as possible. He felt an inexplicable sense of unease from the ogre.

But Kang Chan forced himself to ignore that feeling because he knew it was fear.

“Why am I feeling this way? It’s just a mere monster…”

Kang Chan couldn’t allow anyone else to deal with the ogre that caused him such fear.

“I’ll handle the ogre alone. Zikyon, check with Erika if there are any survivors.”

Zikyon bristled at Kang Chan’s words.

“What? You want me to do what? Why should I care about the safety of those lowly beings?”

Ignoring Zikyon’s protest, Kang Chan growled.

“Attacking humans… I’ll send you to hell.”

Filled with anger, Kang Chan gripped his dagger and charged toward the ogre, but Zikyon, who had been quietly observing the ogre, quickly intervened.

“Hey! Wait! That ogre…”

But Kang Chan had already thrown himself at the ogre.

In the blink of an eye, Kang Chan flew to the ogre’s side and unleashed the Aura Blade, a power only possessed by Sword Masters, with the intent to slaughter the ogre in one swift move.

It was the moment when the gigantic ogre, nearly five meters tall, was about to lose its life at the hands of a human no taller than its knee.

However, Kang Chan, Zikyon, and Erika witnessed an unbelievable sight.

The ogre emitted an Aura Sword with the hoe it was holding.

Kang Chan was momentarily taken aback.

“Gasp! An, Aura Sword?”

And it wasn’t just any Aura Sword.

Like the Aura Sword of a Gigantes, it was extremely large, measuring a whopping three meters in length.

As the enormous Aura Sword came down, Kang Chan couldn’t dodge it in time and had to block it with his own Aura Blade.

Boom!

The ogre struck Kang Chan as if swatting a fly, and Kang Chan crashed into the ground with tremendous impact, like a fly hit by a swatter.

Zikyon and Erika, watching this, screamed in shock.

“Chan!”

“Kang Chan!”

The three suspicious figures appeared in front of Loki, who was already tense.

They weren’t the least bit afraid even after seeing him.

Instead, they observed him with curious eyes.

Watching them, Loki recalled his late father’s words.

“Loki, I worry about you being left alone after I’m gone. But no matter how lonely you get, you must never go to the human world. If humans ever come to this forest, avoid meeting them. If you do encounter them, you’ll undoubtedly get hurt… And most importantly, be cautious of those who aren’t afraid to meet you. They are surely here to kill you…”

Loki understood why his father had warned him against getting close to humans and why he should be wary of those who didn’t fear him.

They wanted his blood and skin.

Loki’s face filled with anger.

‘Are they hunters coming for me?’

Shortly after, one of the three, unsurprisingly, rushed at him with a weapon at lightning speed.

Loki was momentarily flustered by the incredible speed that rivaled his late father’s.

However, having sparred countless times with his father, Loki calmly launched a counterattack against the intruder.

The strength that emanated from Loki’s gigantic body, which was nearly five meters tall, was beyond imagination, and the power of his Aura Sword was on a different level than that of a human.

Kang Chan, struck by Loki’s surprise attack, flew through the air and landed hard in the vegetable garden.

Seeing this, Zikyon’s eyes flared with anger.

“You damned ogre! How dare you!”

As Zikyon hastily released his magic, hellfire flared up in both of his hands.

It was Hellfire, the ultimate single-target attack spell of the 10th Circle Fire Magic.

Moreover, it was a Hellfire at least three times larger than usual.

No matter how strong the ogre Loki was with his Aura Sword, he wouldn’t stand a chance against Zikyon’s special Hellfire and would be reduced to ashes.

Intimidated by Zikyon’s overwhelming aura, Loki backed away from Kang Chan without making another move.

His monster instincts sensed the immense threat from Zikyon.

Just as Zikyon’s completed Hellfire was about to engulf the ogre, Kang Chan’s voice rang out.

“Wait!”

At Kang Chan’s shout, Zikyon paused his attack.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

In the dusty vegetable garden, Kang Chan, dressed in a black combat suit, slowly stood up.

“I’m fine. I told you, I’ll handle that guy.”

“Whatever you say…”

Despite his words, Zikyon seemed relieved to see that Kang Chan was unharmed.

Zikyon extinguished the Hellfire blazing in his hands and spoke.

“Don’t expect any more help, even if you beg.”

As Zikyon returned to his observing stance with his arms crossed, Kang Chan smiled wryly at him and turned his intense gaze toward the ogre.

“It’s impressive that a monster can use an Aura Sword. But you only get one chance to let your guard down.”

With that, Kang Chan unleashed his Aura Blade again and charged at the ogre.

Loki also smiled wryly as he watched Kang Chan.

He knew well that today would be his last day.

He couldn’t even guarantee victory against the human charging at him, and the mysterious, threatening woman standing behind him offered no hope at all.