Volume 2 Chapter 39

When I noticed the appearance of the ogre, what came to my mind was intense frustration.
Considering how strong the orcs were, there was no way the ogre was only as strong as the one we usually fought.
At the very least, the threat would be greater than a party of liches and ogres, the worst of the Lower-layer.

……For an opponent like that, the current Wargod’s Greatsword down a warrior and a healer.

「If it weren’t for her…!」

Intense hatred toward the blue-haired martial artist that incapacitated Wargod’s Greatsword’s warrior and healer surged.
But there was no point in doing that now.
In any case, we now have to get through this situation somehow.
The choice of using the adventurers as decoys and running away flickered in my mind.

It was then, Louis, the leader of Spirit of Wind and Fire, commanded.

「All members, kill the ogre first! Stall it!」

That command made me understand that Louis also considered the ogre to be a big threat like I was.
Looking in the direction of the voice, I could see Louis chanting to make sure the ogre was dead while the vanguards were assaulting the ogre to buy him the time for chanting.

「If it’s Spirit of Wind and Fire…」

I was relieved at the sight.

Spirit of Wind and Fire led by Louis was a party based on Louis’s overwhelming magic.
The party consisted of Louis as the magician, three warriors, and a martial artist.
Based on that alone, outside of there were more of them compared to other party’s vanguards, the vanguard didn’t sound different from other parties, however, Louis’s party’s vanguard wore heavy equipment for the sake of buying time.
Unlike usual, they didn’t have shields with them this time, but they wore strong full-body armor
While the warriors buying time, Louis cast super-high firepower magic into the monsters, that was what I was told about how Spirit of Wind and Fire fought before.

From the fighting style, Louis’s party wasn’t good at fighting opponents like lich’s party, but they were strong in the situations where there was only an ogre like this time.
That was why I had no doubt the ogre would be easily defeated by Louis’s party.
I was convinced that if it was Spirit of Wind and Fire, they wouldn’t lose to the ogre.

……However, the reality didn’t go the way I imagined it would.

The Spirit of Wind and Fire’s warriors roared as they charged toward the ogre.

「Dieeeee!」

「Oraaaaaa!」

「Oraoraora!」

To distract the ogre from Louis and the martial artist, the warriors showered it with blows from the greatsword they had equipped.
It was purely for distraction and couldn’t be called an attack.
None of the warriors would think about defeating the ogre with only that.
The figure that stood to protect Louis, who was single-mindedly chanting, was the best proof of this.

It was then my experience as a warrior told me an abnormality.

「…After getting hit this much, it still bears no wound?」

Even if inflicting injury was not the main point of the attack, an attack made with a greatsword should carry decent force behind it.
The greatsword the warriors with their reinforced body used was just that heavy.

Despite this, the ogre didn’t seem to be injured.
If anything, it didn’t even try to prevent them from attacking and just looking at them like they were a bother.
And then, the ogre slowly raised its hand.

「Kh-! Run away!」

At that moment, I felt unpleasant premonition and reflexively shouted.
However, my warning was too late.

……Because the ogre had already swung down its arm on one of the warriors.

「Arghhhhhhh!」

The strong armor protecting the warrior dented and a deafening scream rose.
The remaining warriors stood in a daze, not knowing what happened.

「H-Help! Help me!」

However, seeing their companion walking around in a dented armor that obstructed his movement, asking for help, the remaining warriors finally understood,

Our armor is useless against the ogre’s attack.

「N-No way…!」

「W-What should we do! What should we do!」

And the warriors quickly fell into panic.
Those warriors, while they wore armor, as seen from the fact they were here, could move to some extent.
Despite this, they just stood still and made no attempt to run away.

It was a side effect of always wearing strong armor and feeling protected by it.
When it became useless, they become frightened and helpless, as if they were standing naked in front of monsters.

I had seen the sight once.
Yes, it was when I went to subjugate super-high difficulty monster.

「Are you saying the ogre’s attack is on par to super-high difficulty monsters’ attack…!」

Once, I formed a temporary party with other first-class adventurers and participated in the super-high difficulty monster subjugation.
The Spirit of Wind and Fire’s warriors also had shields, so it might not be the same, strictly speaking.
Even so, the sight of their miserable panic as their armor was crushed by the monster was very similar to that time in the past.

……Because I could understand that, I couldn’t hide the despair I felt from how hopeless the situation was.

At the time of monster subjugation, in addition to Wargod’s Greatsword and Spirit of Wind and Fire, two other first-class parties participated and were quick to provide follow-up.
However, now that even I, who was the closest to the ogre, couldn’t get closer right away, there was nothing that could save Spirit of Wind and Fire’s warriors.

「SO WEAK.」

「Gyaaaaaa!」

Along with brief death throes, the warrior with dented armor was killed by the ogre, despair flashed across the faces of the other warriors.
Even in such a situation, only Louis didn’t lose his composure.
In order to bring his comrades back to their senses, Louis desperately raised his voice.

「Don’t panic!」

……But his action led to an even worse situation.

「Get a grip! We can still fight! We have to fight.」

「SO YOU’RE THE LEADER.」

「Dying is… huh?」

The next moment, the ogre targeted Louis, ignoring the dumbfounded warriors and the martial artist who was rooted in place from fear.
It lifted a scrap of iron, formerly the warrior it just killed, with its incredible strength and threw it at Louis.
Noticing that, Louis tried to dodge, but being a rearguard, Louis couldn’t avoid such a high-speed object.

Along with a dull sound, what used to be the warrior crashed into Louis and he collapsed.
I didn’t know if he died.
However, it was clear that he had been incapacitated.

It was then that I realized the destruction of the Spirit of Wind and Fire.

「What are we dealing with!」

I let out a trembling voice as I saw the ogre mowed down Spirit of Wind and Fire who couldn’t hide their turmoil now that their leader was incapacitated.
I couldn’t have imagined such a scene.
At that time, what came to my mind was the words Raust said.

It was about how a lich was trying to shoot tactical-class magic.

「Shit!」

At this late hour, I regretted not believing him.

However, I wasn’t even given the time to be shocked or regretted.
Suddenly, a high-pitched roar that threatened to burst my eardrums echoed across the grassland.

「Fii————i!」

「Wha-!?」

Shocked by that, I turned to the source of the roar and saw a white giant that was not inferior to the super-high difficulty monsters, like the hydra, I had seen before and a group of monsters led by it.
Clad in purple lightning, it had a ferocious wolf-like face.
With trembling voice, I say its name,

「Fen… rir…! Lightning speed super-high difficulty monster!?」

——It was then I realized we were in the worst situation, the appearance of a super-high difficulty monster.

「Are you fucking kidding me! Why, why …!」

The rapidly changing situation made me curse at no one.
Fenrir was a super-high difficulty monster with a speed that deserved the top spot among the super-high difficulty monsters.
It was the worst thing to encounter in the current situation.

For a moment, I prepared for my own death.
However, I suppressed that timid thought and glared at the ogre.

「I’m not going to die in the place like this!」

It’s not certain we’re going to die here yet, I encouraged myself.
……Be that as it may, there is only one way to survive this.
Understanding that clearly, I shouted to my comrades.

「You guys, run with all your might!」

「Gh-!」

I threw my greatsword and held Alex, who was still dumbfounded and started running toward the neighboring town.
This wasn’t a situation where I could worry about the guild employees anymore.
Having decided the other adventurers would be the decoys, I ran without looking back.

……Burned in my mind was the regret for making light of labyrinth runaway and leaving the labyrinth city.