Part 1

The metal clang of sword and shield. The thunderous roars of man and beast.

It was a battlefield of great carnage. It was a battlefield of rare example.

It was a clash of valiant heroes against both human and inhuman foes. As pillars of flame rose to vanquish their great foes.

Such was the legendary battle within Ganga Village.

The strategy employed by the mercenary heroes was fairly simple. The long to mid-range fighters would provide support from the rear as those more suited to close range scuffles delivered the finishing blows.

Matuzo found himself in the supporting role of the long to mid-range fighter as he projected more and more flames of Degir.

The tactic worked surprisingly well for the myriad Demonic Beasts but fell short when it came to the humanoid foes known as ogres.

The 6-meter ogres were mighty foes. Not only were they agile but also bearers of unique martial skill and power.

Their keen senses and instincts somehow allowed them to evade many of Matuzo’s flames of Degir. Only the nearby demonic beasts were caught in the onslaught.

Matuzo soon adjusted to their erratic and quick movements and managed to catch one of them.

The ogre let out a cry of unabated agony before falling over itself and facing the ground.

However, the flames of Degir surrounding it soon turned from a golden yellow to a lilac hue before finally disappearing.

The severe burns that his enemy had endured were already beginning to heal.

“As expected, this isn’t efficient at all. Time to switch.”

The book in his hand suddenly disappeared in a flash of white light and was replaced with a loaded cross bow.

He aimed it not at the beasts themselves but at the sky above them. The arrow shot out at an incredible speed arching towards one of the ogres that was being kept at bay by his fellow adventurers.

Seeing the speeding projectile, the behemoth attempted to parry it.

He succeeded but was suddenly met with an onslaught of a dozen more. They pieced through his flesh with an explosive burst of power.

Just one of these arrows would have likely torn through entire houses. It was a wonder that the ogre’s form managed to stay coherent at all after being pierced by so many.

Nevertheless, he fell to his knees as the fiery light in his eyes dimmed out.

The arrows disappeared and Matuzo loaded his crossbow with a new arrow.

“What in blazes!? Just who is that spectacled annoyance and how is he doing this nonsense!?”

“Kaw!! (“The arrow he shot multiplied the instant it got deflected. He’s probably using his spirit weapon.)”

“What?”

“Kaw!!(“He realized that the flames of a mere Djinn like Degir wouldn’t be enough to damage the ogres so he switched to something that can. Divine aura. The arrows direct Shindo’s divine prowess into the ogres’ bodies. That way they won’t be able to heal as easily.”)

“I see. So that crossbow’s his spirit weapon? If that’s the case…”

He gestured to one of his subordinates. They immediately brought him his most trusted weapon. He aimed it at Matuzo before throwing a club heavier than a young child a distance of over 200m.

Its absurd speed was enough to even catch Matuzo off guard. The crossbow he wielded was soundly knocked off his hands.

In the same instant, an explosion of blackish purple mud burst forth around him revealing the forms of 6 metre ogres. The moment they saw Matuzo they wasted no time in doing the necessary.

As weapons larger than his torso sped towards him, Matuzo dodged the swing of the ogre nearest to him and jumped onto their shoulder.

He grabbed onto the behemoth’s horned helmet and a sphere of white aura surrounded it.

In the next instant, the helmet turned into a 3-metre sword that cut straight through the giant’s skull.

As he pulled it out, the blade shrunk to a more manageable size. He then proceeded to use it to take out the other ogres by rapidly changing its size.

As a certain witch bore witness to this through her crow familiar, she couldn’t help but remark at the absurdity of what Matuzo was doing.

“Kaw!! (Is his spirit weapon really the ability to change any object he holds into any weapon of his choice? No… any spirit weapon!?)”

“That’s beyond absurd!! It has to be something else!!!”

“Kaw!!(We need to kill him and right now!! He’s too much of a wild card!!)”

Their assessment was valid. Matuzo’s ability essentially meant he could bring out all sorts of unkown weapons at the drop of a hat. Killing him before he gets the chance would be their best option.

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Part 2

“DUNI PASWE !!! [That they burst forth!!!]”

Latisha put everything she had into those words.

A sea of darkened mud burst forth all around them. It completely immobilized Matuzo’s allies by rapidly encasing their legs in hardened mud casings.

Even Rena’s absurd physical prowess had failed her. She was someone capable of ripping out the head of a 4 m tall demonic beast and caving an ogre's skull with it.

To restrain her was an impressive feat of mysticism.

As for Matuzo, he had resisted the attack with a talisman and continued to do so.

However, he was now faced with a larger onslaught than ever before as all the nearby demonic beasts, witches and bandits focused their attacks onto him.

Flying monstrosities shot at him from the skies, rabid bandits and powerful witches shot both curses and all manner of projectiles at him from the ground. The remaining ogres unleashed their own torrent of attacks.

He switched his weapon into a large shield that could deflect both the physical and spiritual attacks but it was only a matter of time until they closed in on him.

He didn’t have enough power and speed to take them all on at once. He knew it.

“Let go of the barrier. You can’t keep this up if you don’t.”

These simple instructions were shot into his mind in a fraction of a second. Mawazo’s words of wisdom held true but...

"You know I can't do that."

The barrier projected by the metal sphere he had shot into the village was the only thing keeping his comrades from burning into a pile of ash. It had to stay.

As his death seemed to draw near, he prepared to go deeper into Final State in hopes of using the extra power to find a solution to his conundrum.

However, Mawazo’s aura doesn’t grant direct increase in combat prowess. That was Shindo’s Authority not Mawazo’s.

“Even if I increase my precognitive abilities by going deeper into Final State it means nothing if my body can’t keep up. I need to use my own aura for that.”

It would only give Matuzo a more powerful means of dispelling mystic techniques like the cursed mud.

Even if he succeeded in freeing his allies, it was likely they wouldn’t make it in time to help him.

“What a way for me to go out…”

As the elated roars of all but Matuzo’s comrades littered the battlefield and pillars of purple flame descended upon him, he was still desperately trying to find a way out.

Suddenly, the earth shook with a thunderous force that shut down his enemies’ war cries.

A rapid rush of protruding earth knocked back his relentless pursuers on land.

An onslaught of large boulders knocked down the flying monstrosities in the air with expert marksmanship.

A large earthen wall stifled the purple flames arching towards him.

The sound of a speeding Rungu club arching through the air before blowing out the heads of multiple demonic beasts was the final clue Matuzo needed to know who his savior was.

“No…No!! How is he already here!?”

As Latisha looked through the eyes of her Demonic Crow, she zoomed in on the figure of a majestic war rhino being ridden by a blue and white figure.

They were over 700 m away from the battlefield and yet they had managed to easily disrupt its flow and shift it entirely.

His golden yellow eyes and immense aura were a dead giveaway to any who could perceive it.

Gesa’s most proficient shaman had reached Ganga Village.

Part 3

The ground trembled with the mighty footsteps of a certain divine beast. The 700m distance soon turned to less than a hundred.

The immense and impossible speed of this beast was enough to alarm all that beheld it.

The remaining ogres took no delay in attacking the oncoming duo of Gesa’s most proficient shaman and his most unlikely ally.

However, their efforts were in vain. The synchronized Land Manipulation from both Oraki and the War Rhino was too powerful a combination.

One would trap them in their tracks as the other unleashed a thunderous explosion of earthen spikes that would seal their fate.

The entire exchange was too brief and too shocking for both the opposing forces. They couldn’t believe how quickly those with a Chief God’s power could overcome those 6m monstrosities.

As Oraki approached Matuzo, he asked a simple question.

“Are you alright?”

“Hmm. I’m in one piece, at least. You on the other hand look worse than how I feel. What’s with that exhausted expression?”

“It..It was all of them…”

“Hmm? What was?”

Oraki silently pointed to the bundled booklet sticking out of his pouch.

“Oh…Ahh…Ahahahaha!!”

Matuzo took one glance with his eyes and immediately knew what ordeal Oraki had endured.

“Please don't laugh...”

“You seriously ran into all of them!? Honestly, you have to be the most convenient monster bait in existence!!”

“…”

Oraki was silent.

“Let me guess. There was also a random old lady, wasn’t there? Never mind I’ve already seen it. Ahahahahaha!!!”

Matuzo definitely enjoyed this way more than he needed to.

“Don’t just use your clairvoyance on me without permission….”

“In any case, with you here things should be more under control. I can finally stop funneling all that power into the sphere I placed.”

“Sphere? Oh, you mean that ridiculous ball that was pumping out all that aura. I had a feeling only you would make something like that.”

“I’ll have you know that it is a highly advanced magical tool that would fetch quite a high price in the black market.”

“Self-confident as ever, I see…” Oraki remarked while being too exhausted to challenge Matuzo’s assertion.

The remaining enemy forces retreated further into Ganga Village’s central area. Regrouping was the natural course of action when faced with Gesa’s most proficient shaman.

The mood had shifted drastically as soon as Oraki had arrived. They could feel it.

The witch leader of a certain cult had felt this feeling most of all. An even larger territory around Ganga Village was being stripped away. Oraki’s addition had made the cursed defenses she had set up all but useless.

Latisha of a 100 Demons had summoned all manner of Demonic Beast to halt Oraki’s approach and yet he still made it to her in record time.

Her frustration was so tangible that it made the air itself crackle.

“No worries…I’m almost done. Besides, I still have a final move to play…”

These thoughts of reassurance held a vicious and sinister meaning to them.

She redirected the immense aura she was using to keep the cursed multilayer barriers and focused it into the corpses of the unfortunate ogres.

Their inanimate mass shifted into a fluid black sludge that shot up into the air and coalesced above the village center.

“Latisha. What are you plotting?”

The chief bandit inquired.

“Kaw!!! (I’m summoning him.)”

“I see. Now would definitely be a good time.”

The Chief Bandit understood all too well that the threat before him would warrant such an escalation.

He relayed the necessary instructions to their subordinates. Buy as much time as possible.

Latisha’s subordinates placed their strongest anti clairvoyant curses.

The bandits released their most powerful long-range attacks.

A necessary distraction that allowed the coalescing mass to become the size of a large building.

“What are they plotting?”

Oraki enquired while blocking their attacks and sheltering the villagers from any collateral.

“They seem to be trying to summon something.”

Blackish purple mud shot up from the ground and merged with the levitating mass.

The coalesced mass of all the ogres was then clad in a brilliant burst of lilac flames before a hulking behemoth emerged and descended upon the earth.

The entirety of Ganga Village trembled from its devastating mass.

A more than 30m giant. A pot-bellied monstrosity with a mountainous and sinister demonic aura.

“Hmm. So, that’s really what they summoned? The origin…”

Matuzo thought as he examined the great Buffalo like horns of the being before him as well as the bloody red crest engraved into its armor.

The monster that stood before them closely resembled the legendary beast known as the great ancestor of the Ogre Tribes of Vutenia.

“The Ox King…”