Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

Will I win?

I couldn’t see the ogre’s stats because it was too far, but for some reason I felt that way. I thought about how it would be worth trying if I received a full buff and polymorphed to Abomination.

It would be impossible for me to defeat a normal ogre, but that guy who came out of the cave was smaller than an average ogre. Being big doesn’t necessarily mean being strong, but in the world of monsters, it’s usually the norm.

I opened the dimensional door and borrowed Yoohyeon’s paper airplane.

-There are people there?

-Yeah. They are talking to the ogre right now, so go listen.

-What? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?

-Even though Ahjussi sometimes did crazy stuff, he is not a person to lie, oppa.

This…looks like it’s Yeowool’s words.

Anyway, the two of them sent the paper airplanes through the portal at about the same time. And they told me the contents of the conversation.

-Hmm… People from the Ezekium side come to the village and ask where the ogre are hiding.

-The ogre talks very briefly, and only speaks singular words with no clear meaning, such as scary, me, a little strong.

It seems to have intelligence, but not very high. Or maybe it’s just that it doesn’t know how to speak.

Anyway, to summarize the information:

-The village of those people is receiving a lot of help from the Ezekium Military Post.

-The Ezekium Military Post was very interested in the intelligent ogre and set out to find it.

-The people of the villages are hiding its location, but they don’t think it’ll last long.

In response to their request, the ogre cried, touched by the people who thought of him kindly.

An ogre is crying… Such absurdity…

The reason for the ogre’s intelligence wasn’t being brought up in the conversation, but one thing was certain. There’s someone with enough power in the Ezekium Military Post to capture an ogre alive.

Well, it’s only natural since Ezekium was the very empire that made the Kingdom of Ruat its de facto vassal state.

-Be careful. The Transcendence Knights are looking for you.

-Thank you. Me, afraid

-I think you should move now… Do you have a suitable place in mind?

-It’s nice to live here. Food, a lot. You guys are nice too.

-What should we do about this…

-The Transcendence Knights are suspicious of us. They are asking whether we are stopping the monsters around here with the help of that ogre.

-Those guys, until they get what they want, they won’t back down.

Now I know a little bit about the situation.

The Transcendence Knights dispatched from the Ezekium Military Post seemed to be suspicious of the village. However, the villagers seemed to have no intention of exposing the ogre.

No matter how I thought about it, it’s a perfect premise for a bad ending. I could picture a future where the ogre was caught and the villagers were massacred.

As there was no proper countermeasure, people just asked the ogre to stay hidden in the end. The ogre nodded his head eagerly with its frightened face. It was an unbelievable sight which stayed there even after I rubbed my eyes.

After a while the people went back and the ogre went into the cave while scratching its head.

-Yoohyeon-ah, follow those guys. And Yeowool, watch over the cave.

-Then the dimensional door should remain open…

-Don’t worry, I won’t close right now.

I planned to close it and reopen it after meeting Geom-in in Ruat capital. But now that I need to use one door here, I could use the second dimension door there, but it was difficult to give up the location where it was currently since it was close to the sea. There might be fish in the lake that I can use as a food source, but it was incomparable to the number and taste of the fishes in the sea.

In other words, with the current arrangement, the forest shelter, Korea Shelter, and the seaside shelter were connected.

After making a decision, I called Geom-in.

-I’m going to be a little late because I have something to look into here, okay?

-From the ogre, you mean?

-That guy is very timid. He’ll surely tell me what I want at the slightest threat.

-Uh… well, take your time.

-Anyway, I really can’t believe that a cowardly ogre exists.

-Could it be that it’s another monster wearing an ogre’s mask?

Just like me, people found it hard to believe too. Da-jeong even told me to quickly go to the cave and open the dimensional door. She really wanted to meet a talking ogre.

-If you come out, it will be a mess. So wait a bit.

-Che…

I received a full buff like always and approached the ogre’s cave. When I looked inside the cave, I could see a mess of furniture. And the ogre who found me in the dark revealed its teeth and warned me.

Grrrrr….

But I ignored its warning and went inside.

Suddenly, a heavy, thick voice was heard.

“Do-don’t come!”

This guy… he’s really not fit to be an ogre.

.

.

.

The ogre, Little Fist, glared at Seongho warily. For a second, he thought that the Transcendence Knights the Ruat people had been talking about had come. Turns out, the man wasn’t one. After all, the man’s armament was poor.

Transcendence Knights were always heavily armed with armor and weapons. On top of it, the Transcendence Knights he remembered never travels alone. In many ways, it was clear that the dark-haired man in front of him was not one of the Transcendence Knights.

“You, knight, no.”

Seongho was surprised by his unexpected words. He certainly wasn’t a knight. The important thing was that the ogre had the eyes that knew how to judge a knight.

‘Even though his tone is slurred, his thoughts are fine.’

Then the story speeds up.

He raised both hands and stepped back.

“As you said, I am not a knight.”

“Cave, purpose, speak.”

“I came here out of curiosity. I’ve never seen a talking ogre before.”

The ogre shrugged his shoulders, quickly getting smug.

“I, a special, being.”

“You are definitely special. Were you always this special?”

“Magic, Human, Magic.”

“Humans used magic on you, you mean?”

The ogre shook his head vigorously. It seemed like he didn’t know how he got his intelligence.

Instead, he warned Seong-ho.

“Here, danger, humans, seek.”

“But do you know why they are looking for you”

“I don’t know, humans, strength, like.”

“For strength… I don’t think they looked for it since you are not strong.”

“I am strong.”

“A bit strong.”

“You, eavesdrop, offended.”

Seongho was taken aback when the ogre suddenly snorted. However, if he thinks about it carefully, this cave was indeed his territory. It doesn’t make sense for someone to come and just ask questions.

‘For housewarming, a gift is needed.’

“Wait a minute.”

Seongho went outside and opened the dimensional warehouse. He quickly walked towards the hind leg of a cow that had been butchered in Texas. Even that big friend will be satisfied with it.

The ogre was startled when he lifted the hind legs.

“That, gift?”

“If someone needs to ask something, they need to give up something first.”

“You, good, human.”

The ogre was very happy to receive the hind legs. Then, he looked at it and asked if he could eat it.

“If I eat, human, surprised.”

“You mean I shouldn’t be surprised if you eat it raw?”

“Friends, know, me. You don’t know.”

“I’m confident that I won’t be surprised, so just eat it.”

Seongho had seen all kinds of bad things while going through the apocalypse. Not only that, he was aware that he even made those bad things happen by himself. Since that was the case, there was no reason to be surprised after seeing a talking ogre eating raw meat.

The guy chewed the meat and looked at his eyes.

“I eat. You starving.”

Did he feel sorry for eating alone?

Seongho took out beef jerky from his backpack. It was something he prepared to eat in situations where it was difficult to reveal one’s abilities. Since he had dimensional gates and dimensional warehouses, it was rare for him to eat such emergency food.

“I’m okay. I can eat this.”

“Too small.”

It seemed like he wanted to share some of the meat with Seongho, but Seongho politely declined.

“Thank you, but it’s okay. By the way, talking about the people earlier… Where did they come from? Rest assured, I won’t harm them.”

“Town, nearby, lake.”

“Are they from the Ruat Kingdom?”

“Yes. They, me, you, friends.”

Is he using the principle of friends of a friend is also a friend?

“Okay. From now on we are friends. So what’s your name?”

“Little Fist. Good friends, give me.”

It seems that the name ‘Little Fist’ was given to him because of his small size.

“I…” Just when Little Fist opened his mouth, a paper airplane suddenly flew into the cave. At the same time, Seongho felt something approaching them outside. In terms of movement, one is a human and the other is an animal.

‘This footsteps sound… Hornbill?’ It was clear that someone had come riding a hornbill.

The ogre wondered and Seongho put a finger to his mouth.

“Shhh… there’s someone out there.”

“Friends, looking for me.”

“I don’t think your friends rode hornbills though.”

Little Fist’s impression became grim.

“Not friend.”

“Then it should be someone from Ezekium. Transcendence Knight was after your friends.”

It was the lies of the Transcendence knights that they were suspicious. They didn’t trust the villagers from the beginning.

The suspicious movement quickly disappeared, but Seongho was able to guess. The Transcendence Knights would soon arrive.

“Those Transcendence knights will come looking for you. Can you handle them?”

“Little Fist, weak.”

“I thought you said that you’re a bit strong before.”

“Special, humans, strong.”

“Have you ever fought before?”

“Long ago.”

Seongho looked into Little Fist’s stats by analyzing his abilities. Even though he didn’t know the stats of ordinary ogres, he certainly didn’t think the stats of Little Fist was on par with it. It was so low to the point that he thought Seokhyun would be able to win against Little Fist in an one-on-one battle if he polymorphed into an Abomination.

On top of it, the skills that defined an ogre, a roar and the Stone Skin skill were nowhere to be seen.

‘Just where did it go?’

Seongho said with strength in his voice. “Soon they will come. If you can’t kick them out, there’s only one way for you to survive. You will have to run away right now.”

“Here, my home.”

“There are scoundrels coming to that house right now.”

“House, precious.”

“It’s just a cave, isn’t it? You can find it again.”

“This cave, my house.”

It was really a weird thing. Ordinary ogres had no concept of a home whatsoever. They had such a strong body to the point they could live anywhere undisturbed. However, Little Fist had an attachment to this cave. Well, in the first place, it was not easy to find a cave like this.

Seongho had a lot of questions about him, but he couldn’t help it if he was stubborn like this.

“Then, I will go first.”

“Friend, see you tomorrow.”

“If they come, they will fight you matter what, so can we really meet again?”

Little Fist deliberately knocked on his chest.

“I, humans, kick out.”

“Even if you kick them out, they won’t give up easily, won’t they? If the current group doesn’t have enough people, they’ll come back with more reinforcements.”

“…” The guy’s shoulders slumped, as if he had nothing to say.

Seongho looked at him for a while and said, “There is only one way for you to live as peacefully as you are now. It was running away. If you don’t like that, you have to raise your fist and fight.”

In life someone had to take care of themselves. He might be able to get help from others, but in the end, the only thing he could trust was himself. Little Fist pushed his chest out intentionally and blew out his nose.

“Humans, meet. talk.”

“I don’t think conversation will be possible though… but do as you like.”

Leaving those words behind, Seongho went out of the cave. Of course, he didn’t leave completely. He entered the dimensional door and spoke to Yoohyeon.

“The guy from earlier, is he running away?”

“Yes, the hornbill is really fast. I can barely follow him even now.”

“Explode your paper airplane near him. I will go there.”

“Wi-will you kill him?”

“No, I will capture him alive. Can you do it?”

In the past, I couldn’t entrust this kind of task to Yoohyeon because he couldn’t control it delicately. But it’s different now. He could control the paper plane expertly and control the intensity of the explosion as well.

“I can.”

Seongho patted him on the shoulder with a happy face. These days, whenever he asked the shelter members to do something, the answer he got was always ‘they can do it’ right away. It was evidence of their growth.

“Do it now, please.”

“Okay.”

At that time, two intruders quietly appeared. Amongst the two, Seokhyun’s face told him that he wanted to leave right away.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll take care of this. Do you know the details?”

“I even heard that the Transcendence Knàights or something is coming to catch the ogre.”

“I think of stopping him first before contacting you.”

“And? Do you want me to dig up any information?”

“Since he’s from the Ezekium side, he must know a lot.”

“He wouldn’t say it easily.”

The scarab sitting on Da-jeong’s head handed Seongho a note at that moment.

“They are called Transcendence Knights because they truly have ‘transcended’ humans? They are not only strong but also use various items… They will surely be a hard opponent.”

“They even use an ether blade. What it is… Isn’t it a lightsaber? It even cuts rocks.”

“Aren’t they a complete monster?”

Seongho stuck his tongue out at the specs of the Transcendence Knights. Of course, not all Transcendence Knights would have ether blades, only some.

Seokhyun clenched his fists.

“I want to fight him.”

“We haven’t even stopped him, yet you want to fight already?”

“If he’s stopped already, won’t he be unable to fight anymore?”

Ah, yeah…

Anyway, Seongho asked the scarab.

“You guys are still interpreting the journal that Geom-in found in the palace, right?”

Nod.

Even now, he was living alone in the palace. I don’t know whether he’s struggling or sipping honey leisurely, but the point still stands.

“Continue the interpretation, especially learn a little about the Ezekium Empire and the Transcendence Knights. There must be a reason they want to find the talking ogre.”

After requesting that, Yoohyeon hurriedly opened her mouth.

“Hyung, I succeed! The guy passed out!”

Judging from the fact that the man fainted from a mere explosion, it seemed that he was not a Transcendence Knight, but just a scout.

“What about the hornbill?”

“They fell down together, but the hornbill got up right away!”

“Okay.”

Seongho hurriedly drove out of the motorcycle. Soon after, he could see a collapsed man on the floor and an adult hornbill. It poked its master with its beak, before seeing Seongho and welcomed him with its little wings.

“It seems like these guys like all humans.”

Seongho immediately ran to the man and tied him up with a rope. Then he put him on the seat of his motorcycle, driving back, and set him down near the cave.

Now, the hornbill displayed even more affection to Seongho by rubbing its beak at him.

“If anyone sees it, they will think that I am your owner.”

Seongho opened the dimensional door and let the guy in. Then he went back to where the man was located and covered the man’s eyes with a piece of cloth he got from the shelter before waking him up.

“Hey, wake up.”

“Uh… what, what is it? Ugh!”

“I’m the one who will do the asking. All you need to do is give me the answer. Got it?”

“Huh… To think the Ruat guys who said they didn’t know anything had friends… With this, their deaths have been decided.”

“I’m sorry, but I have nothing to do with those Ruat or something people.”

“Then there is no reason for you to do this, isn’t there? I am a scout of the Transcendence Knights, the sword of Great Ezekium. And I know you aren’t someone from the empire either.”

“Didn’t I tell you I have nothing to do with them?”

“There can be no such guy!”

He suddenly started to get angry. Judging from the shameless attitude, it seemed that this was common sense on this continent.

Seongho lowered his voice.

“Stop talking nonsense and answer my questions. Why did you come to see the ogre?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

Seongho asked several times, but he kept his silent.

Seongho put his fist on his cheek.

“I’m not a very nice guy, so I’m willing to use violence. Give me the answer I want unless you want to be thrown into a monster nest with broken limbs.”

“Huh… I’ve heard countless low-quality threats like that. You can’t be a scout if you don’t have a warrior’s heart.”

“Why did a mere scout talk about a warrior’s heart?”

“Are you insulting me?”

He trembled with rage.

Seongho scratched his head and called Seokhyun. Then he undid the man’s blindfold.

“What… what are you?”

The man was greatly taken aback by the appearance of a monster wearing only something similar to underwear.

“I am Rabbit Pwincess.”

“Wh-where are you looking at?”

“Um… I just need to get information from this guy, right?”

Nod.

Then, their eyes met.

“No matter what kind of torture you guys do…”

As Seokhyun silently lowered his pants, the man suddenly began to break out in a cold sweat.

“What, what do you want to know?”