Mightiest Melee Magician

“……Could you repeat that?”

“I said I can use the chieftain’s tooth to make you a weapon.”

Making a weapon out of Kunkhan’s Tooth?

“Is that possible?”

“Since the chieftain’s tooth is unusually heavy and hard, not anyone can forge it. However I, Ormerush, am the greatest warrior on Sky Mountain and also its greatest steel handler. It’s possible.”

“……”

Steel handler.

It meant the first ogre to handle the huge metal weapons that the ogres used.

In the context of humans, they were a type of blacksmiths.

“The will of the previous chieftain Kunkhan. I want to refine it.”

“……”

Wait.

This was an unexpected gain.

“Is there a specific weight and shape you want?”

“Wait. This is too much too fast.”

“You can tell me later. After all, it’s something that can’t be handled by anyone other than a steel handler from Sky Mountain.”

Because of the question about the shape, I pondered on it a little bit.

Sword?

Shield?

Armour?

Staff?

However, no matter how much I thought about it, my answer was already set.

I smiled brightly.

“Would it be possible if it wasn't a weapon?”

* * *

15 days had already passed since I entered Sky Mountain.

During that time, I stayed in a vacant mud hut on Small Summit, but even if it was called a mud hut, since it was built for an ogre, there was too much space for me alone.

Thanks to this, I was able to get a space for myself, and I spent most of my days training my body here.

I did the quests that I had neglected because of the busy schedule during the Grand Festival.

Of course, even if I was staying here as a guest, I wasn’t just playing around the whole time.

“Where are we going today?”

“We’re going over Senduma Pass to hunt.”

“So it’s wolves.”

The ogres would wander around the entire region of Sky Mountain to hunt and store food.

For certain hours of the day, I would follow along and help them.

It would sometimes be rabbits, sometimes deer, and sometimes wolves.

If necessary, we would sometimes also hunt for wild monsters that were hidden in parts of Sky Mountain.

The surprising aspect of this was, unlike the savage randomly-hunting-everything-they-see I expected, the ogres would never hunt more than they needed.

“Even if Sky Mountain is endlessly wide, all of nature is finite. There are cases where leaving some for later would be better.”

After all, the natural life of Sky Mountain wasn’t endless.

This was a promise to not disturb the cycle of nature.

Yeah.

I had forgotten for a moment because the land was vast, but this place was removed from the outside world by a barrier.

As I stayed here, I naturally came to learn why this place became a sanctuary for ogres.

It was because the shamanistic practices of the ogres were completely different to magic.

Ormerush called this ‘ritual’.

They even had a ‘priest’ dedicated to these rituals on Sky Mountain.

“We will survive until the end, waiting for the day we can rebuild the tribe and move outside the sanctuary.”

“……”

I didn’t know the specifics of the ritual, but it was something close to a mystical hope of regaining their land.

Well, anyways…

Training and hunting.

Other than these two things, I had one more thing that took up the rest of my time in the day.

This was…

“Hey, Ormerush.”

“……You came again, human.”

“Come out. Let’s fight.”

“You’re persistent.”

Having an arm wrestle match against Ormerush.

After I lost against Ormerush on the first day, I challenged him every day without exception.

It wasn’t just because of the quest.

As I continued to challenge him, my competitive spirit became stronger and stronger.

I would go day after day until I won.

However, the outcome was the same.

The results till now were 15 matches, 15 losses.

In a sense, the outcome was expected.

I was a human who only became a player a few months ago, and Ormerush was an ogre who trained himself for hundreds of years on Sky Mountain and became one of its greatest warriors.

“Ormerush never goes easy.”

“That’s what I’m expecting.”

Yeah.

Bending this steel-like arm of an ogre that was multiple times larger than me.

It looked impossible at first.

However, as time slowly passed…

No.

As I continued to accrue the ‘experience of losing’, I was learning.

“Human, if your strength is 100, you aren’t even using 50 of that strength.”

“What does that mean?”

“Use all the strength that you have. Don’t unnecessarily waste your strength.”

“……”

Not wasting my strength.

The ‘right’ way of using my strength.

The way to increase the density of my strength.

I accepted Ormerush’s advice and made an endeavor.

10 seconds, then 20, then 30.

The time I could endure increased bit by bit every day.

After about 10 days, I could hold my ground for nearly a minute.

This wasn’t all.

“……!”

Even though it was just for a moment, I could even push Ormerush’s arm over the halfway point.

As time passed, Ormerush became genuinely impressed with me.

“Human. The pace your strength is increasing at is fast.”

“Is it? But I haven’t been able to beat you yet.”

“No. You’ve gotten a bit of the feel of using your strength.”

“Well, a little.”

“How long until you leave Sky Mountain?”

“About 3 days?”

“……You might be able to defeat me before then.”

* * *

* * *

Just as Ormerush said, the gap between our strengths was quickly decreasing.

It wasn’t simply because of an increase in my strength.

It was proof that I was able to utilize my strength to its fullest.

And then, on the afternoon two days before I planned to leave Sky Mountain…

“Hey, I’m here again.”

“……Let’s start then.”

I faced him on that unchanging smooth rock and grabbed Ormerush’s hand.

But, for some reason, something felt different.

“You… Are you nervous?”

“What?”

“…Nevermind.”

Ormerush was strong as always, but I couldn’t feel the ‘hardness’ I first felt in our first match.

It wasn’t that Ormerush changed.

It was because I changed.

‘Maybe, there’s a chance I can win.’

I put strength in my arm with this thought in mind.

The strengths clashed.

However, it wasn’t unmovable like the first time.

It didn’t feel like an unbreakable wall, and I didn’t have any negative thoughts that dissuaded me into thinking it was impossible.

Our strength was matched in a tight balance, and it held in a shaky form at the center.

“Ooooooooah!”

And so, 3 minutes passed.

As these 3 minutes that felt like an eternity passed, both of us started to sweat like we were sitting in the rain.

It became so tense that the rock we were leaning on started shaking.

As the arm wrestle started to get drawn out, it became a battle of endurance.

Who was more desperate to win?

Who couldn’t afford to give up?

The difference in these had crumbled the tense balance.

“……!”

And, in an instant, the great weight on my arm became light.

Crunch!

Just like how an old tree is felled, accompanying the dense feeling of falling, Ormerush’s arm had collapsed.

“Ah……”

……I won?

I couldn’t believe it.

17 battles.

16 losses.

And now, 1 win.

The taste of victory I haven’t felt in quite a while.

It tasted sweet and also amazing.

Quest

Foreigner of Sky Mountain

Victory against Ormerush in arm wrestling: 1/1 (Completed)

You are awarded ‘Pride of the ogres of Sky Mountain’.

You are now respected by all the ogres.

Ormerush opened his mouth.

“I lost. Completely. Ruin Ardell, you surprise me at every turn.”

Ormerush didn’t call me ‘human’ like he used to, but referred to me by my name for the first time.

His expression was filled with respect for me.

“It seems the preparations are now over.”

“Preparations? What preparations?”

Then, I instinctively felt it.

“……Wait, is it finished?”

“It’s been finished for a long time. I was just waiting for the right time to hand it to you.”

“……”

Kunkhan’s Tooth had been produced into my first weapon.

* * *

“Ormerush. What was the reason that you didn’t give me the weapon when it was done?”

“Like I told you before, I was waiting. Waiting for the day you defeat me.”

“What if I never beat you?”

“I wasn’t going to give it to you until you won. The will of the chieftain is an important object for us.”

“……”

This damned ogre.

I nearly got robbed in broad daylight.

But thankfully, I defeated Ormerush within the timeframe, and because of this, I could check out the weapon I had ‘commissioned’.

“Come in.”

Ormerush’s forge wasn’t a simple hut, but a huge repurposed cave near the Middle Summit.

I came to this place every day for the arm wrestle, but this was my first time entering the forge itself.

My first impression of the inside…

“Hoo.”

was that it was incredibly hot.

As soon as I passed through the entrance, the essence of heat washed over my face from the equipment.

The second thing I felt…

“……Is that it?”

“Yes.”

I had expected something grand to appear inside this sweltering smithy.

But inside the forge, there were just three ‘steel handlers’ other than Ormerush that were hitting something with metal hammers.

The thing they were hitting with their hammers was the weapon that I commissioned.

A pair of gloves.

“Come closer, here.”

As I approached, the steel handler ogre struck the glove again with his metal hammer.

However…

Klang!

Even after being struck by the heavy metal hammer, there was no dent nor damage to the glove.

Rather, the hammer had bounced back from how hard it was.

This was because of the fragments of Kunkhan’s Tooth that were attached to the outside of the gloves.

“As you wished, Kunkhan’s Tooth was separated into 10 pieces.”

They had attached 5 of these 10 pieces to each glove.

It was like a brass knuckle.

These types of weapons weren’t widely used, and were usually wielded by back-alley thugs or monsters that plundered for a living.

However, for me, whose main weapon was his fist, this form was worth more to me than any famous sword.

I didn’t have to think twice.

“The tooth is separated into 10 pieces, but the chieftain’s will is still there. No, it was amplified.”

Ormerush handed the knuckles to me.

And I accepted them.

Simultaneously, a status window appeared.

Knuckles of Kunkhan’s Will

Creator: Ormerush

<★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ >

The knuckles were created by attaching the tooth fragments of Sky Mountain ogre’s first chieftain. The 10 tooth fragments will not break from any physical force and will destroy anything and everything.

Upon equipping, strength will increase by 2000.

You have learned the unique skill, “Chieftan’s Will”.

There is potential for growth.

There is potential for growth.

“……”

I asked Ormerush with a blank expression,

“How many ogre warriors are there on Sky Mountain?”

“Hm? We have about 120. Why are you asking this suddenly?”

“……”

I didn’t know for certain, but after equipping the knuckles…

I became overflowing with confidence for some unknown reason…

And I wanted to try it at least once.

I smiled brightly and asked him one thing.

“Can you call them all?”

——