Chapter 26 - 25: The First Kill

Chapter 26: Chapter 25: The First Kill

Chapter 25: The First Kill

Noah looked toward their group.

Charles’s alliance was among the groups that had suffered the fewest losses. A few of its members had sustained minor injuries from falling and the crush of bodies, but none of them had died during the withdrawal.

As for the group of the plump boy Raphael, whose name Noah now knew, the same fat boy from the earlier Chapters it had lost two of its members. The rest reached the circle carrying various injuries, while Raphael himself was pale-faced and struggling to catch his breath.

It seemed he had survived by luck.

Silva mixed-blood escort who had driven the carriage alongside Noahreturned to the defensive circle with his clothes stained in blood. When he saw Noah standing near one of the carriages, he stopped in front of him.

"Aren’t you afraid?"

Noah answered:

"Would fear do me any good now?"

Silva steadied his rifle in his hands.

"Ogres aren’t completely stupid. If we make them realize we’re not easy prey, and that killing us will cost them heavy losses, they might retreat."

Noah did not know whether Silva truly believed his own words or was merely trying to calm the candidates nearby, but he said nothing.

The ogres had finished killing those who had failed to reach the carriages. As the smell of blood spread, their cries rose and they surged toward the circle.

Silva shouted:

"Get ready! We’ll try to hold them off as much as we can, but our numbers are limited and we won’t be able to stop them all. If one of them breaks through our line, you’ll have to fight for your lives!"

The members of the escort party lined up in front of the carriages and raised their rifles.

"Fire!"

The shots rang out at the same moment.

Some of the bullets pierced the ogres’ eyes and mouths, and two of them fell. As for the rest, the bullets struck their thick skin and did no more than slow their advance.

The escorts reloaded their rifles quickly, but the ogres did not give them enough time.

One of the beasts raised a rock and hurled it toward the defensive line. One of the escorts dodged it, and it struck a carriage wheel, smashing part of it.

A second volley of shots rang out.

Another ogre fell, but the rest of the group kept advancing.

The members of the escort party formed a barrier in front of the carriages, but the gaps that appeared while they were reloading allowed some of the ogres to close in on the circle.

Noah’s gaze shifted towards the rear carriages.

The noble mages supervising the caravan remained in their places. It was clear they did not intend to intervene as long as the escort party could keep the situation under control.

Charles approached Noah.

"We have to fight too. We need to ease the pressure on the escort party."

Noah answered:

"If things continue like this, the escorts will be worn down and we’ll all be in danger."

Charles raised his hand.

"Alliance members, get ready!"

The nobles capable of fighting gathered behind him. Balls of fire, blades of wind, and small blocks of stone appeared around their hands.

They advanced behind the escort party and began launching their attacks at the ogres from the sides.

Most of their spells were not powerful enough to kill the beasts, but they scattered their attention and slowed their advance.

The sounds of rifles mixed with the shouts of the nobles and the roars of the ogres.

One of the ogres broke through the gap between two of the escorts, then charged toward the carriages.

Its height neared three meters, and it gripped a heavy stone club with both hands. Scars covered its face and chest, while blood trickled from a shallow wound in its shoulder.

It stopped in front of Noah.

It let out a roar that carried the foul stench of its breath to him, then raised its club above its head.

Noah watched the movement of its shoulders and feet.

The club came down.

Noah raised his hand, and the mana gathered before him and turned into a slanted barrier of ice.

The club struck the barrier.

A loud sound burst out and cracks spread across the ice. The force of the blow traveled through the barrier into Noah’s arms, forcing him back two steps.

Compared to an ordinary knight, the ogre had far greater physical strength.

If he used the same way to block the blows, the ogre would keep attacking until his defence collapsed.

The barrier cracked further before shattering into scattered pieces of ice.

Noah lowered his arms and began breathing with difficulty. He let his shoulders tremble, and showed signs of exhaustion on his face, as if creating the barrier had drained most of his mana.

The ogre raised its club again.

Noah let a small amount of frost gather at the tips of his two fingers.

The ice needles required a tiny amount of mana compared to the barrier, but striking a small, moving target demanded precise control.

He waited until the ogre began to bring down its club.

He fired the two needles.

They shot out like two thin white lines.

One needle entered the right eye, while the second pierced the left eye at the same instant.

The ogre froze and raised its head, letting out a loud cry of pain. The club fell from its hands, and it began flailing its arms wildly, trying to grab the enemy it could no longer see.

Charles was fighting at close range, and he turned at the sound of the cry.

He saw the two needles buried in the ogre’s eyes, then looked toward Noah.

The force of the attack had not been great, but hitting both eyes at once while the club was coming down was not something any ordinary candidate could do.

Before the ogre could regain its balance, the sound of a rifle rose.

Silva had seized the opportunity.

The bullet entered through the eye the ice needle had pierced, then continued on its way into the ogre’s head.

Its massive body shuddered, then fell forward.

Noah stepped back once, and the ogre’s body struck the ground before his feet.

The two needles had robbed it of its sight and opened a path for the bullet, but it was Silva’s shot that had ended its life.

Noah was not the only one who had killed it.

Charles looked at him for a moment.

Noah was still breathing with difficulty, having made his face pale as if he had spent most of his mana creating the barrier and firing the two needles.

But Charles was not focused on the amount of mana he had used.

What caught his attention was his precision.

Under the attack of an ogre that surpassed him in size and strength, Noah had managed to direct two small spells toward two targets, each no more than a few centimeters wide.

Charles said nothing, but he no longer looked at Noah the same way.

Noah raised his head.

Beyond the ogre’s corpse, the battle was still raging.

Cries rose again among the mountains and huge shadows advanced towards the circle of carriages.

The first ogre had fallen before him, but the attack was far from over.