Chapter 39 –– Ababiel Squad part II: Shell Ogre vs Samurai
At the garden in front of the palace, a shell ogre appeared and destroyed the plants there, including flowers and vegetables. Naganobu fought against it while the samurais from his department were busy evacuating the citizens safely towards the exit.
As a samurai, Naganobu fought with a katana as his main weapon. By imbuing it with fyx and using his fyx skill, he could shoot out light slashes by swinging his katana towards the enemy. Not only that his slashes had a burning effect, they also had slicing effect that could cut their way through.
Naganobu tried swinging his katana to attack the ogre. However, its rock-hard shell prevented it from receiving any damage from Naganobu, even with his fyx skill imbued. Naganobu then realised that its shell was stronger than he expected.
The shell ogre was the size of a giant, about 42 feet tall. It was the second largest after the furry ogre. It had some crystal-like shell attached on its skin everywhere on its body with the exceptions on its joints and neck, resembling an armour. The shell was so strong that even Naganobu’s Slicing Light fyx skill could not cut through it. With its hardening ability, it relied on durability and striking power as its main prowess to overwhelm its opponents.
The ogre tried to stomp on Naganobu several times, which Naganobu could barely dodge. Every stomp the ogre made create some shock that shook the ground, making leaves fall everywhere. With the overwhelming difference in size, Naganobu had a hard time landing any hit on the ogre.
Despite its size, the ogre was moving relatively fast. It didn’t even give any time for Naganobu to stop his movements. Naganobu realised that, the longer the fight went on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. He then came up with a strategy to end the fight as soon as possible.
The first thing Naganobu had to do was to identify the location of the ogre’s core. He could only do this if he could get a full scan of the ogre’s whole body, which was not possible at the moment. In order to make that happen, Naganobu must first made the ogre fall so that he could scan its whole body.
Naganobu tried to slice the inner part of its joints located behind its knees. Since that part did not have any hardened shell, Naganobu was able to slice it through.
Naganobu did manage to cut the ogre’s right leg’s joint. However, before he could land another hit on its other leg, the ogre hardened its joint and prevented Naganobu from slicing him. Even though he made the ogre fall with one knee on the ground, he was not able to make it fully fall to the ground.
The shell ogre then swung its hand around to push Naganobu away. Too late to dodge the attack, Naganobu got hit by its palm and was thrown far away. He landed on some bushes that he crashed into.
Before he was sent flying, Naganobu managed to take a look at the sole of the ogre’s right foot. He sensed some concentrated fyx energy flowing from it. He then suspected that its core might be inside its right foot.
While Naganobu was trying to get up, the shell ogre managed to fully regenerate its wound from getting cut by Naganobu. It finally got up on its own and tried to look for him.
In order to expose its feet, Naganobu must make it fall once more. After seeing his attack previously, Naganobu doubted that it could get attacked the same way twice. He then thought of a way to make the ogre fall without it having the time to get up.
The shell ogre looked for Naganobu around the bushes. With such a difference in size, the ogre also had a hard time looking for such a tiny human. It tried to look into the bushes to find him, but it didn’t see him anywhere.
“I’m here!”
Naganobu shouted at the ogre to announce his location. Taking the bait, the ogre chased after him like a predator chasing its prey. Naganobu stood still, waiting for the ogre to come.
Before the ogre reached him, his feet stumbled upon a rope made out of leaves and twigs. It then fell to the ground.
Naganobu deliberately made the trap beforehand in order to make the ogre fall so that it could expose its feet. By using himself as a bait, he then lured the ogre to come after him without it realising a trap was set up without it knowing.
Yet, before the ogre fully fell to the ground, it spread both of its palms on the ground to support it from free-falling. Without much difficulty, it then got back on its feet, not giving any time for Naganobu to attack him while he was on the ground.
“Seriously....”
The ogre came chasing after Naganobu again after standing up on its two feet. However, it suddenly changed its direction.
Naganobu was confused to see the ogre’s sudden change of action. He then turned his head towards the direction where the ogre was going, trying to see what the ogre was chasing after. He then saw a child behind the bushes, hiding in fear.
“Oh no....”
Naganobu immediately chased after the ogre before it took away the child. He was running as fast as he could, catching up to the ogre.
Right when the ogre was a step away from the child, Naganobu charged in.
“In the name of the Royal Guards, you shall not pass!”
With the intention of trying to protect the child, Naganobu subconsciously activated his medix and unintentionally coated his katana with it. He then used his fyx skill to slice through the ogre’s hardened shell on its calves.
Much to his surprise, he was able to slice through the ogre’s armour and sliced its legs. Without having its legs to support him, the ogre then fell to the ground before reaching the child. The ogre tried to get up, but it couldn’t move its legs after they got sliced with deep wounds.
Seeing the ogre’s feet exposed, Naganobu immediately ran towards its right foot to destroy its core. Suddenly, the ogre hardened its foot with double the shell, making it extra thicker. This then confirmed Naganobu’s suspicion that its core was in fact in its right foot.
Naganobu tried to cut its foot, but to no avail. Its armous was even thicker than before, making it impossible for him to cut.
Naganobu then accidentally made an eye contact with the child. The child was trembling in fear as he watched the ogre trying to reach for him. He looked traumatized.
Suddenly, Naganobu felt the same feeling as before: the sense of protection towards the weak. He then coated his katana once again with medix by accident and tried to slice the ogre’s foot once more, before it regenerated its wounds.
“Kiyosu Slash!”
Naganobu slit its foot open and sliced the ogre’s core, destroying it. After its core got destroyed, the ogre slowly vanished into thin air.
Naganobu then walked with a limp towards the child to soothe him.
“Are you okay, child?”
The child cried and hugged Naganobu.
Naganobu succeeded in dispelling the ogre.