Chapter 38 –– Ababiel Squad part I: Fang Ogre vs Ninja
Meanwhile, outside of the palace, the Ababiel Squad fought the ogres that were attacking the citizens of Noctilio City.
There were 3 ogres in three different places within the area of the Royal Residence. Naganobu fought against a shell ogre at a garden nearby the fountain; Kamikawa fought against a fang ogre at the swamp park; while Shibomusa fought a furry ogre near the entrance of the Royal Residence’s gate.
The fang ogre led Kamikawa to the swamp park on purpose, to have advantage of the lush area filled with trees and plants. The jaw ogre was the smallest in size compared to the other two ogres. It had sharp canines as teeth and claws that could cut through flesh in a single swing. It also had very long arms and a small body, perfect for jumping and climbing from trees to trees.
As the commander-in-chief for the Ninja Department of the Royal Guards, Kamikawa had the skills of fighting discreetly, including assassination. She also took advantage of the widely available hidden spots around the swamp.
Kamikawa’s fyx skill was "Light Shuriken". She could shoot rotating light shurikens at enemies that can could through their skin in addition to some burning sensation of lumina sorcery. She was also able to redirect of her shurikens mid air by throwing another one that would clash with it and change its course of direction.
Right when she was scouting the area to look for the ogre, she suddenly noticed some sounds coming from behind her. She then immediately turned her body around out of reflex. The fang ogre jumped from behind her and swung its hand at her, attempting to scratch her with its sharp claws. Kamikawa leaped backwards to dodge the attack.
Turned out, not only the ogre could attack from a close distance, but also from afar. The scratch that it did made some slashing projectiles that shot out to Kamikawa. Unable to dodge it, she got scratched on her torso.
“Ugh!”
The fang ogre made some wounds on Kamikawa. Fortunately, Kamikawa leaped backwards to increase the distance between her and the ogre, thus reducing the depth of the wound.
Kamikawa realised that the fang ogre was good at close to middle range combat, unlike what she expected previously. Meanwhile, Kamikawa preferred a middle to long range combat, which put her at a disadvantage when fighting up close. She then tried her best to keep the distance between her and the ogre in order to take control of the battle.
Kamikawa then remembered what Yumi said. Every monster had a core somewhere in its body, which acted as the main source of their fyx energy. Once destroyed, it would stop generating any fyx thus stop regenerating and eventually vanished. Her main priority was then to search for the ogre’s core.
However, inside this lush swamp forest, it was hard to detect its core especially when the ogre was moving around by jumping and climbing around the forest as it pleased. Kamikawa had to find a way to have the ogre stand still for at least 5 seconds to get a good look at it. She then came up with a plan to capture the ogre.
At a branch of a tree, Kamikawa used herself as a bait by standing still, looking defenceless. Without much thinking, the ogre immediately charged towards her to attack her. Kamikawa moved a few steps back to avoid its attack, while conjuring a light shield to protect her from the slashing projectiles. The ogre then tried to bite her using its sharp teeth. Kamikawa immediately let herself fall to her side to dodge the ogre’s attack and fall from the branch. Little did the ogre know that she was leading it to the stem of the tree. The ogre then bit deeply into the stem of the tree and got its teeth stuck into it, unable to pull its teeth out.
Kamikawa stabbed a kunai under the branch that they were standing on and hung her body with it. She then jumped to get back on the branch and landed behind the ogre to scan the ogre’s core.
Before she showed up as a bait, Kamikawa knew that the trees from the swamp secreted some kind of sticky sap when the stem was grazed. She then made some scratches on the stem on purpose to have the ogre stuck once it tried to bite into it. Once the ogre was stuck on the tree, Kamikawa would use that to her advantage to scan its core by sensing the most concentrated area of the ogre’s fyx source.
Knowing that Kamikawa had found its core, the ogre scratched the stem above its head with full power and cut the tree. The huge tree then fell towards itself and Kamikawa. Before it landed on her, Kamikawa dodged by jumping to another tree to avoid the falling tree.
After the tree fell, the ogre disappeared. It managed to unstuck its teeth and get away from the scene. Kamikawa turned her head around repeatedly, trying to look for the missing ogre. She didn’t see it at all.
Suddenly, the ogre jumped towards her from behind after hiding behind the trees. It tried to bite her head off and captured her with both of its claws.
The moment the ogre’s teeth made contact with Kamikawa’s head, her body disappeared into coloured air. Turned out, it was not Kamikawa’s true body. It was an illusion Kamikawa made using chroma sorcery as part of her ninja substitution technique. She then appeared from a branch above it and fell right above the ogre.
Upon landing to the branch where the ogre was standing, Kamikawa landed behind the ogre while holding a light kunai. She then held the ogre’s body using her arm from behind, and slit its throat using the kunai, assassin-style.
Kamikawa destroyed the ogre’s core that was in its neck. She noticed that whenever she tried to shoot shurikens towards its slender neck, it always covered its neck with its huge hands. After she scanned its body, she figured out that its core was indeed in its neck.
After getting its core destroyed, the ogre screamed as its body slowly disappeared. It then finally vanished, leaving nothing behind except for wounds on Kamikawa’s body. After having bled so much, Kamikawa felt light-headed. She then blacked out and passed out on the branch of a tree in the swamp.