Mightiest Melee Magician

Mightiest Melee Magician

Sky Mountain Summit.

The last place the first ogres still lived in.

And…

“……Human? His face is definitely a human’s, but… Sniff sniff. The smell isn’t a human. He smells just like us. Sniff sniff.”

“Human, how do you have Chieftain’s relic?”

“……”

Ruin Ardell.

The first human to set foot in the ogre’s sanctuary.

As soon as I stepped past the boundary, I thought that I had arrived in a different world.

Ogres were wearing leather clothes and wielding blunt weapons while speaking like humans and talking to me……

It was a dizzying feeling.

“Haha…… I also have a lot I want to say.”

I laughed awkwardly and sneaked a peak behind me.

The annoying fly known as a Wicked Mage was observing me the whole time and was approaching the barrier.

What should I do with that……?

As I became distracted for a second, one of the ogres stomped up to me.

“Human. Answer me. How can you talk with us? And why do you have our first chieftain’s relic……?”

“Alright. I’ll answer all your questions. However, not now. I have an annoying fly attached to me.”

“……Fly?”

I pointed behind me.

“That magician over there saw me enter here. If we let him be, he’ll go report to the Magician’s Tower and report this place to all the other magicians. Then, all the humans would swarm here like insects. But I don’t want that. You guys probably don’t want that either.”

“……”

“So, please wait a second.”

I turned around.

For a moment, my eyes seemed to meet the magician’s, but it was just my imagination.

Everything on the outside could be seen as clear as day from the inside, but from the outside, nothing could be seen on the inside.

A one-way-glass cage.

It truly was a different world.

“……Should we finish our game of tag?”

This was the moment I was looking forward to since Tercian.

Despite knowing it was dangerous.

Despite knowing it could be a trap.

It was the perfect situation where the persistent tracker had no choice but to come closer.

A perfect net.

“Got you.”

I clenched my fists at the boundary between the world I lived in and the world of the ogres before punching as I crossed the barrier.

“……You’re it.”

My target? His chin.

Crack!

The punch hit him out of nowhere.

With the sound of something cracking, the magician was flung back without even being able to scream.

However, I didn’t stop my assault.

To make sure he didn’t escape in the same way as last time, I struck the ground with my fist.

Earthquake.

Rumble!

The arid wasteland cracked open as dust and dirt erupted from under him, covering him.

Then, using the weight of the dirt…

Bam!

I dunked him into the ground so that he couldn’t move.

“Cough, cough! Y-you craven bastard……”

As the magician tried to cast a spell and retaliate, I used Bend Time and darted forward, striking his chin once more with a spell in my hand.

Frozen Tree.

Crunch!

“Khuk!”

The magician coughed up blood and his eyes rolled back like he was going to faint.

However,

Shshshshut!

The frozen tree that grew from the split earth had completely confined his body.

Because of the constraining grasp, he couldn’t even fall unconscious.

“That annoying game of tag ends here.”

“……Ooh, uh……”

He could only mutter while hanging there drooling spit and blood through his destroyed chin.

The net and an unexpected ambush.

Perfect domination.

The magician who was hanging onto a thread of consciousness was questioning me with his eyes.

‘How did he get in?’

‘Just what’s in there?’

His gaze held a lot of curiosity……

I didn’t know then.

That this expression would be this magician’s last.

Bam!

“……!”

A gigantic club that could turn bones to dust flew right by me into his face.

Above my head was an enormous ogre that could block out the sun.

“Wh-what did you just do?”

At my question, the ogre nonchalantly answered,

“I’ve only killed an annoying fly, just as you said.”

“……Th-there was no reason to kill him. We could’ve erased his memory, or we could’ve locked him up until my work was done……”

“Too troublesome.”

“……”

I had overlooked something for a moment.

These guys weren’t humans.

“Now that the distraction has disappeared……”

Treating a human life like a fly.

Having the mindset of a beast.

“Answer me, human. Who are you?”

“……”

These were ogres.

* * *

* * *

Yeah.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought about killing the magician that was trailing me.

It was the cleanest method.

The act of killing someone was also something I would’ve had to experience sometime in the future.

However……

Everything happened too suddenly and too simply in this unexpected situation.

“Master. Bear in mind, the ones you’re up against right now don’t care about morals or ethics.”

“……”

I only searched for this place out of simple childishness and curiosity.

But after witnessing someone die right before my eyes, it felt like I instantly regained my senses.

Just as Straang said, I needed to stay focused.

The place I was in now was completely different to the world I knew before.

The next one to become a corpse could be me.

“Follow me.”

I followed the ogres deeper into Sky Mountain.

Sky Mountain was split into three major peaks.

Small Summit, Middle Summit, and Sky Summit.

Our destination between these three was the tallest peak, Sky Summit.

The place where the chieftain resided.

After passing through the ogres’ village on Small Summit, we climbed a near 90-degree incline and climbed to Middle Summit.

Only after crawling up the rough rock face was I able to reach Sky Summit.

However, it looked like there was a mountain on this mountain.

“……Huh?”

I had definitely reached the peak of this mountain.

Then, what was this imposing cliff-face in front of me right now?

I lifted my chin and looked upwards.

In that place was a huge ogre that really looked like it reached the top of the sky.

An ogre that I might’ve mistaken for a mountain.

“……Huhu.”

Would the giants that I heard of in legends and folktales my grandparents told me be as big as this?

Well, since there was a dragon that could talk with ogres, it wasn’t too far fetched for giants to exist.

Then, the mountain rumbled.

“I am Harkhan.”

“……”

No, to be exact, it was the chieftain of the Sky Summit tribe’s voice that was roaring throughout the mountain.

The voice of Harkhan.

“You have the relic of Kunkhan?”

“Hmhm……”

I hesitated for a second on whether I should speak freely or give him respect.

But in the first place, we weren’t in the world of humans.

Since this didn’t seem to be important, I just said what came to mind.

“That’s right.”

“How did someone like you get it?”

“Uhm…… I ended up getting it somehow.”

“I don’t want to make the decision to either welcome you as a guest or squash you right here and toss you to the eagles, but I’m getting closer and closer to deciding.”

“……”

That was quite the dangerous threat.

“But that’s the truth.”

“No. That right there isn’t something a human can handle.”

“But I’m a human and Kunkhan’s Tooth selected me. This is an undeniable fact.”

I grabbed Kunkhan’s Tooth from my pocket and lifted it up.

At that, after looking at Kunkhan’s Tooth for a bit, Harkhan spoke with amazement.

“You smell like one of us.”

Saying I smell like an ogre.

Naturally, this didn’t mean that I had that disgustingly pungent smell of an ogre that hadn’t washed for hundreds of years.

This was a scent we could smell from each other instinctively.

The scent of strength.

He was talking about that.

I looked up at Harkhan.

“……You’re right. I’m pretty strong.”

“Alright. Who are you?”

How should I introduce myself…?

Since I’m doing it anyway, wouldn’t it be best to leave an impact?

“Do you know… about Drakagonia? It’s the name of a dragon that lived here before the start of human history.”

“……!”

As soon as I muttered the name ‘Draka’, the mood in Sky Summit shifted.

“You…… How do you know that name……?”

It was a pure and unhidden surprise.

The surprise of hearing the name of a dragon from a human’s mouth.

I put the hammer to that surprise and nailed it in.

“I heard it from Kingram. That Draka was welcomed in Sky Mountain for 100 years.”

“K-Kingram……? Is he still alive?”

“Yeah. He’s alive in the form of an artifact at my academy. He could be considered one of my ‘professors’.”

“……”

A great wind blew through Sky Summit.

This was from Harkhan exhaling through his nose.

A great ogre’s nose wind as he shivered in surprise and excitement.

“Then, I’ll introduce myself.”

I looked toward that Harkhan and spoke.

“The friend of former chief of Sky Summit tribe Kingram, the one selected by Kunkhan’s Tooth, and the human that has inherited the powers of World Ender Draka.”

And for the last part, I smiled brightly.

“Even with all this, will you still crush me and throw me to the eagles?”

“……”

Just as I finished speaking, the mountain shivered.

No, Harkhan was shuddering.

“The human that has inherited Kunkhan’s will. What is your name?”

“Ruin Ardell.”

“You are welcome, at least from me.”

“……That, is welcoming to hear.”

I let out a small breath that I held in for that second.

Thankfully, I had avoided becoming eagle food.

However, I had to repeat what I just did once again.

“But it's not enough with just my welcome.”

“……Eh?”

Because this world wasn’t the world of humans where words alone had enough power to repay even 10 thousand gold.

“You need to go to every ogre in Sky Mountain and show them your worth.”

Here in the wild, if you wanted to be welcomed, you needed to prove your power.

“Show them my worth…… How?”

“The same way that Draka became welcomed by every ogre on Sky Mountain. With strength.”

“……”

The proof of strength.

Yeah.

This was a place like that.

Strength.

With just this, all hierarchies were set and you would receive everyone’s respect.

Harkhan shouted so loud the mountains shook.

“Prepare for arm wrestles!”

——