“What an appetizing scent you have. Looks like you’ll be quite the satisfying meal,” the ogre said, his voice positively ravenous.
“A ha ha, it seems you’ve finally gotten serious, Mr. Ogre. But, it’s too late—ha!”
Phillippo, who spoke in an ear-piercing, high-pitched voice reminiscent of an insect’s buzzing, blurred and vanished. In the next instant, he reappeared behind the ogre, the six massive tentacles striking out where they protruded from his abdomen.
However, the ogre seemed to have anticipated this move. He turned around and, in the same motion, sliced off three of the tentacles at their roots with his halberd. Blue fluids spurted from the severed stumps as the remaining three tentacles continued their assault. Then two of those, too, were cut down by a suddenly ignited blade of flame, and the last one was crushed in the ogre’s silver left hand.
Without giving Phillippo a chance to retaliate, the ogre followed up with a brutal punch to Phillippo’s torso, launching him backward. As Phillippo flew through the air, the ogre hurled a black spear of rapidly conjured magic.
The spear would have been powerful enough to kill Phillippo, but he dodged it, his wings performing a rapid deceleration and acceleration maneuver while a torrent of blue blood spewed from his mantis-like mouth. Apparently, the damage Phillippo had sustained from losing all his tentacles was severe.
“Gah… I didn’t expect you to evade and counterattack so harshly, Mr. Ogre… It’s really a mystery why someone like you isn’t a Psalm Awakened,” Phillippo coughed out, spitting more blue blood.
Just as he was about to finish him off, the ogre paused at the unfamiliar term. “What is this Psalm Awakened you speak of?”
“Heh, I’m not going to tell you. You ignored me plenty, so now you have to find out for yourself,” Phillippo replied, grinning defiantly despite his injuries.
“Fine, I get it. I guess I’ll have to force it out of you,” the ogre said, resuming his charge.
Each step shattered the ground beneath him, and his halberd sped through the air, a deadly blur. Phillippo met the attack with his transformed arms and the new insect legs that had sprouted. Even the tentacles regenerated quickly, and an intense battle ensued, one that ordinary humans wouldn’t have been able to withstand for even a second.
The clash between these two monstrous beings had a massive impact on their surroundings; many died from the shockwaves alone. The sight of the ogre and the insect-like Phillippo tearing into each other stood out gruesomely on the battlefield, and their combat only grew fiercer with every passing moment.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Well, this has been fun. Okay, let’s call for a temporary truce,” Phillippo said abruptly after narrowly dodging the halberd aimed at his neck. Using his tentacles, he threw up a mixture of bloody earth and corpse parts to momentarily obscure the ogre’s vision, then leaped back to put some distance between them. His voice was filled with a clear sense of satisfaction, as if he’d fully enjoyed himself.
“… You think I’m going to let you escape?” the ogre asked calmly, a frown creasing his brow. Unlike when the battle had begun, he was now clad in an insect-like, red-black armor that covered his entire body. He bore several small holes in his arms and abdomen, evidence of the Brave’s fierce attacks, as well as numerous wounds of various sizes all over his armor, caked with oxidized ogre blood.
Phillippo’s condition was even worse. His right arm had been twisted off at the elbow, half of his wings were torn from his back, and one of his compound eyes was crushed. Blue blood covered half his body. But despite their severe injuries, both combatants moved fluidly, their immense vitality preventing any of their wounds from being fatal.
“I doubt it, but I’m gonna try my best to escape anyway,” Phillippo said with another defiant smile—though his insect-like face made it hard for an ordinary person to discern his expression. He slowly backed away, while the ogre silently closed in on him.
The battle had been in the ogre’s favor from the start. The idea that an ogre could corner a Brave like Phillippo, a chosen hero among those with divine Blessings, was almost unbelievable. But there was no hesitation in the ogre’s actions. No matter the counterattack, he advanced with relentless determination, intent on crushing everything in his path.
“Scary, really scary, Mr. Ogre. But you know, I’m pretty confident when it comes to running away,” Phillippo said, his voice filled with an unnerving blend of fear and confidence. Despite being pierced by the ogre’s sharp gaze, he, too, acted without hesitation. The ogre moved to stop him, then paused at the strange sight before him.
First, Phillippo’s back split vertically. Then, emerging from a mess of wet, semi-transparent liquid came a completely naked Phillippo, looking as he did when the ogre had first met him, free of any insect-like features except his compound eyes. His twisted-off right arm was restored, and there wasn’t a single wound on his body.
It was like an insect being reborn from its chrysalis. The discarded exoskeleton made a sickening sound as it hit the ground.
“See you later, Mr. Ogre,” Phillippo called out. “Next time we fight, let’s go all out and really have a good time.”
Still naked, Phillippo turned his back to the ogre and started to run away. He sprinted at full speed without looking back, trampling or leaping over the armor and debris scattered on the ground.
“Tsk.” Momentarily taken aback, the ogre started running a few moments later. His speed was far greater than Phillippo’s in his human form, and he seemed to be closing in quickly.
However, there was an obstacle in his path.
“Out of my way!”
It was the discarded exoskeleton.
Structurally unstable, it wobbled erratically from side to side, its battered appearance making it look like a zombie. The compound eyes glowed a pale blue, countless tiny fangs were visible in its insect-like mouth, dripping with semi-transparent fluid, and the tentacles extending from its abdomen writhed, seeking prey.
With a high-pitched scream, the exoskeleton stepped in front of the ogre, who swung his halberd downward without hesitation. The exoskeleton crossed its arms and layered its tentacles in a desperate attempt to block the descending halberd, but the ogre’s strike cleaved through them and split the ground beneath.
Riding the momentum, the ogre ran through the center of the bisected exoskeleton, searching for Phillippo. But Phillippo had already blended into the battlefield, making it impossible to find him.
“I could still catch up… but it’s time to put an end to this.”
Crushing the tentacles still writhing at his feet with a sense of disgust, the ogre looked in the direction Phillippo had fled. The exoskeleton, dealt a finishing blow, soon melted away into formless goo.
After glaring for a few more seconds, the ogre turned his back and left the battlefield.
And so, this battle came to an end—but their next encounter was not far off.