Chapter 4:
Devouring the Strong
RIN FELT DEVOID of fear despite the beast of a monster looming over him.
When he fought the orc general, he had to suppress his emotions and stick to his hit-and-retreat strategy to come out on top. This time, he didn’t need a cautious battle plan. In fact, he didn’t need a battle plan at all.
His new power could overwhelm the high ogre completely.
“Time Zero!”
He blinked out of existence. Only the afterimage of his blade was visible as he slashed at the high ogre. It bellowed and swung its greatsword as if to drive away a pesky insect. Rin was already gone, having teleported to his next location.
“You sure you wanna try that again?” Rin taunted. “You won’t activate Harden in time.”
Fearful of Rin’s power, the high ogre focused on shifting Harden to defend itself, but the attempt was futile. It couldn’t see where Rin was until it was too late. None of its senses clued it in to Rin’s location—until the sword decisively pierced its skin.
The high ogre roared in pain, but Rin didn’t get cocky. Success was so close, close enough to taste. He attacked.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What am I seeing?” Yagami whispered.
This kid wasn’t even twenty years old, yet he was cutting the level 40,000 high ogre—the monster that pushed his entire party to the brink—down to size.
Strength, speed, spirit…there were many things Yagami could praise him for, but the most amazing was how he dodged the high ogre’s attacks and then reappeared to slash its blind spots.
His unique skill.
One of his party members spoke up as they watched Rin fight the high ogre.
“Leader, who is this guy? I heard he was over level 10,000, but that doesn’t explain those moves!”
Yagami didn’t answer. He wasn’t ignoring his guildmate. He was too deep in thought to notice the question.
Nineteen years old. One year of adventurer experience. Someone the guild master had his eye on. And teleportation.
One year ago, he heard rumors around the adventurer circles about a unique skill like that. Rin must be that skill’s owner. If he was right, he could understand why this young man was special, and why the guild master would recruit him. Still, he couldn’t grasp how Rin could earn so many levels! He’d only become an adventurer at eighteen, hadn’t he?
Even if the math didn’t add up, Amane Rin reached this tier somehow. Could his method help him outpace the young woman Yagami respected so much…?
That’s impossible!
Yagami, who knew a piece of what made her special, didn’t believe anyone could surpass her. Nevertheless, the heated battle before his eyes was so unlikely that it shook his faith. Amane Rin’s strength was real.
I’ll watch him carefully until I know the truth.
Reason and instinct dueled within him as fiercely as Rin dueled the high ogre. Watching this fight would decide exactly which side would win.
✦ ✦ ✦
While anxiety and confusion still hung over the party members, a giddiness rippled through them as the climax of Rin’s battle with the high ogre approached.
He’d easily landed over one hundred strikes. He only slowed when he recognized the renewed defensiveness of the ogre’s hide.
Any defensive maneuver limited to a specific area wouldn’t work on him. Increasing its overall defense to stave off some of the damage was better than nothing.
Returning Harden to its original stat, huh? Not a bad choice, but…
Time Zero allowed Rin to attack relentlessly. It was too late for this monster to depend on such a cheap trick. He had cornered it.
“Greed.”
The command summoned his short sword Greed, gleaming crimson, into his left hand. Rin had considered absorbing magic from Yagami to pull off his battle plan, but he realized now that he didn’t need it.
Definitively, he stabbed the high ogre’s largest wound—now barely defended by Harden—with Greed’s hungry blade.
“You’ve had your fun,” he told the monster. “Release!”
The only spell that remained within Greed, the salamander’s fire, unleashed inside the high ogre’s body.
The ogre howled in agony as the fire rushed through its organs and burned it from the inside out. Based on the sounds tearing out of the monster’s throat, the pain was excruciating. Fire burst like blood from the many wounds gouged into its torso.
Rin worried that a level 10,000 salamander’s fire might not work on a level 40,000 creature, but Harden couldn’t protect it from the inside, so the damage it dealt was substantial.
“Time’s up,” he said.
Rin teleported back to Yagami and the rest of the party, away from the ogre. Would they need to strike its wounds before it could regenerate? Rin felt their questioning gazes prickle his back.
They were right to wonder. Chain attacks with Time Zero were powerful, but all the teleporting made it difficult to put force into his attacks. The only way to gather real momentum for his final blow was to reach maximum speed. He blasted toward the ogre once again, his shoulders set. This monster wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“Graaaaaaaar!!!”
The high ogre stamped and writhed as fire ate it from the inside. Survival instinct compelled it to swing wildly with its greatsword. Call it the strength of a cornered animal; the raw power and speed behind its swinging was immense. The brutal weapon descended on Rin with the energy to crush anything in its path.
The attack would pulverize Rin’s body, but he didn’t—couldn’t stop.
“Time Zero,” he said.
Just as the greatsword smashed into the ground and the dungeon trembled with aftershocks, Rin vanished and reappeared several meters ahead. To everyone but Rin, it looked as if he moved so fast, barely slipping beyond the point of impact.
Hanging in the air, he drew Nameless back like he’d draw a bow. His back, shoulders, elbows, and every other muscle in his body curved into the attack.
“Rarrrrrrrgh!”
Whirling past the dying ogre’s strikes, Rin unleashed his undeniable strength. His new attack was one of unparalleled speed and coordination, and he dubbed it Invisible Penetration. A piercing attack that burrowed through the high ogre’s tough hide and shattered it until not even a magic stone remained. Even the high ogre’s final scream was broken as it shattered into pieces.
Rin turned his back on his enemy and shook the remaining blood off of Nameless. That was it.
Yagami and his party understood that—how could they not after what they’d seen? They were speechless.
There was only one way to describe a mere teenager who struck down such a great and terrible enemy.
“Giant Eater.”
Despite his slight appearance, it was the perfect description for him and the silver longsword he wielded.
The system spoke into everyone’s mind and confirmed that yes, what they witnessed was real. Proof of the end of the battle, and that it was Rin who overpowered the high ogre.
And with that…the show was over.