Ogre-devouring Wizard

That's not an ordinary Ogre

Noah could remember the day the Ogre attacked him and Hallel like it was yesterday.

They were on their regular scavenge for dinner, still children, when Noah heard something rummaging through the trash. 

Driven by hunger, bravado, and ignorance in thinking it was a rat, he had the bright idea to catch and eat it.

He and Hallel ended up chasing the scurrying sound all the way to a part of the trash heap with almost no one else.

Then, an Ogre with the head of a demon and the body of a toddler jumped out and bit Noah's left arm so hard that it almost ripped it clean off. 

But unfortunately for Noah, his brother, in a panicked mix of screams and tears, awakened to his unique magic in that moment.

And with one wave of his hand and a powerful scream, Hallel wrung the Ogre like a wet towel, blood and all, killing it instantly.

In front of them…

Hallel was taken because of that damned Ogre that left a nasty scar on Noah's left arm.

“Slumrat!“ Red Jacket yelled, pinned under a wyvogre: a ten-foot-tall, winged lizard-like Ogre. “Use my sword to distract it! Quickly!“

Noah looked down at the sword lying at his feet, heart pounding in his chest. It'd been twenty-two hours since they'd entered the dungeon, and he'd not so much as scratched an Ogre.

After forcing him out of the magic police station, they passed through the gates of Gaia—the infinitely tall, nearly two kilometres thick wall wrapping around the continent of Eden that guards civilisation from Ogres—and forced him through the mist-covered woods outside of Eden, and into the level six dungeon.

All without so much as a briefing on how to survive in a dungeon, or removing the magic-hindering chains on his hands and feet.

And his 'teammates' didn't make it any better.

From the moment they set foot in the dungeon and the doors locked behind them—the only reason he didn't immediately run—they pretended like he didn't even exist.

On the first floor of the dungeon, a swarm of harpogres—flying bird-like Ogres with human-like heads—attacked their team immediately.

All four of the adventurers Noah was with—Red Jacket, the Ginger, the Triad, and the Nixen—were all wizards and used their abilities to quickly dispatch the harpogres that targeted them.

Red Jacket could use something like telekinesis, allowing him to squeeze his fists and strangle the Harpogres at a distance.

The Triad, after opening his third eye, could hyper-accelerate for a split second—faster than anything Noah could track—and slash five Harpogres in one breath with his twin blades.

The Nixen, using his bow, could shoot elastic arrows made of spirit energy—the energy all magic is composed of—which he could change the shape of at will, wiping them out in different ways.

And the Ginger seemed like she could augment her strength, swinging the massive hunk of metal she called a sword like it was a kitchen knife.

Then there was Noah, who couldn't kill a single harpogre, and instead almost got killed by two particular harpogres that took turns swooping down and clawing at him.

And it's not like he couldn't fight.

Noah had to be a fighter.

Growing up in the slums of Pison didn't leave any room for the weak. You either knew how to fight, were good at running away, or you were incredibly smart.

Ideally all three.

And Noah hadn't survived on pure luck living alone in the slums for six years. 

He knew how to use a knife at the very least. 

How to cut open a pocket with a razor and steal whatever was inside just by brushing against someone. He could hunt vermin and hold his own against other slumrats that tried stealing his dinner.

Granted, he never got away without some injury, but that was just reality for Noah. 

Fighting against those with a greater biology automatically reduced his chances of success, and yet he always came out on top when it mattered.

So it wasn't Noah's fighting skills that were lacking. It was magic.

The dagger they'd given him was a runic dagger, meaning it had special magic inscriptions on it, giving it specific effects that could be activated by your average civilian.

But Noah wasn't your average civilian.

He couldn't activate whatever rune was inscribed on it.

And Ogres were resistant to non-magic attacks.

So even when Noah tried slashing the weak spot of the level one Ogres, they either dodged him completely or brushed off his attack and simply returned a stronger one of their own.

It took the greediness of his teammates to save him, as some Ogre parts fetched a fair price back in Eden and harpogre wings made for excellent fashion material. 

Or so he'd heard.

And when he tried just taking the heads of the Ogres they killed, his teammates went out of their way to destroy their heads, stating that they'd be damned if some slumrat took advantage of their strength.

After that, floor by floor, Noah kept running into Ogres that were too fast or too strong for him to do anything against—having to be constantly saved by his teammates, who didn't seem to give him even a glance until they were done killing their own Ogres and greedy for more potential money, destroying the heads each time.

By the time they made it to the last floor, right outside the boss room, they ran into a wyvogre—a massive, lizard-like fire-breather—and, like always, they completely ignored him as they went into battle.

Red Jacket used his telekinetic ability to keep the wyvogre's snout shut, so it couldn't scorch all of them with its fire. 

The Triad chopped away at its limbs, grounding it. 

The Nixen charged up an attack, reciting chants that Noah couldn't understand. 

And the Ginger managed to lop off one of its forearms with a massive strike.

Noah hid in the corner during all of this.

All in all, they were doing pretty great.

Till ten seconds ago.

They hadn't found its weak spot and wasted too much time dealing damage it could simply heal from.

It managed to heal itself enough to catch Ginger off guard and send her smashing into the wall of the dungeon with a whip of its tail.

That attack then distracted the Triad enough for the wyvogre to use its tail once more, but this time like a judge's gavel, and smash the Triad into the ground.

The Nixen wasn't done prepping for his attack, so Red Jacket—who'd been perching on the wall to keep its mouth shut—tried dealing damage by leaping onto its head and stabbing it repeatedly in the eye.

But the moment he jumped, it stood on its hind legs and tried swallowing him whole.

A last-minute block using his sword sent it flying through the air and landing on the floor, skidding to a stop right at Noah's feet. 

Red Jacket fell to the floor, under the wyvogre, keeping it at bay using his telekinesis as it tried to stomp him.

“Slumrat!“ Red Jacket yelled a second time, hands stretched to the creature above him, using his ability to keep it at bay. “Distract it! Now!“

Noah's heart started pounding. Maybe he should try something!? Like throwing the sword at the wyvogre. 

But then what? If it targeted him, there'd be no surviving that.

And judging by the way they'd treated him thus far, saving him would be the last thing on his teammates' mind.

Noah took a step back from the sword and lowered his head. 

Helping was a death sentence. 

He'd rather take his chances with the wyvogre getting full off eating the four of them and leaving him alone—since Ogres loved eating magic users the most—than trusting Red Jacket.

Red Jacket gritted his teeth. “Bastard!“ he yelled. “I've seen its weak spot—underneath its belly!“ Noah still didn't budge. Red Jacket gritted his teeth. “Do it, or I'll kill you!“

Noah wasn't fazed by that threat. Even if Red Jacket could easily kill him, death threats were basically a greeting in the slums. 

He wouldn't put his life on the line because of a threat.

“Damn it!“ Red Jacket grunted, turning back to the wyvogre still swinging away at him. 

Then the Ginger, having struggled to her feet, took her massive sword on her shoulder and locked her gaze on the wyvogre.

She was still heavily injured, but just barely able to move. 

Using what strength she had, she threw the sword straight at the wyvogre. It sailed through the air and clanked against its head, barely leaving a scratch.

But it was enough to distract it. It turned to her.

Just then the Nixen finished chanting. From the shadows, two arrows coated in a blue aura whistled through the air right at the wyvogre. “Split!“ said the Nixen.

The blue aura around each arrow then split in two, forming a total of four arrows.

With the wyvogre's gaze fixed on the Ginger, two arrows pierced through the back of the wyvogre's head, tore out through its eyes, and then lodged themselves in the dungeon walls.

While the other two blue arrows curved through the air unnaturally, stretching and growing in size before piercing through the snout that Red Jacket had been holding shut, wrapping around it in a knot, forming a blue mouth guard.

Now even if Red Jacket didn't use his unique magic, it couldn't breathe fire.

With its focus off of him, Red Jacket left one hand above himself—probably to ward off any physical attacks—and stretched the other towards the sword. 

It immediately shot in his direction and into his hands.

He picked himself up and ran underneath the wyvogre, sword in hand. The moment he was right under its belly, he thrust upwards without breaking his stride, stabbing its weak spot and tearing open its guts as he ran.

The moment he did, the life in the wyvogre's eyes vanished. It collapsed.

A massive thud echoed through the room they were in as its body collapsed. Dust kicked up everywhere. Guts and golden blood oozed from underneath it. The blue aura wrapping its mouth fizzled out.

The Nixen jumped down from his secluded spot with sweat running down his face. “That was close!“ he said, panting. 

The Triad got up groggily. The Ginger fell to her knees, panting. 

Red Jacket wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned around, his furious gaze locked on Noah.

Shit!

Noah panicked, knowing fully well there was nowhere to run—no excuse he could give. He'd just angered the strongest person in the room.

As Red Jacket walked towards Noah, the Nixen stretched out his hands and cast healing magic on the other two. When Red Jacket got close enough, the Nixen stretched out a hand to heal him, but he simply walked past.

“I was scared!“ Noah blurted as Red Jacket marched faster. “I was frozen and I couldn't—”

Red Jacket cocked his arm back and slugged him straight in the jaw. Noah immediately fell over, blood pooling in his mouth.

Red Jacket climbed on Noah as he lay on the floor. “Wait! Seriously, I was too scared to—“Another one landed square in his face. Blood spilt from Noah's nose. 

He tried raising his hand to defend himself, but Red Jacket used his ability to hold both of Noah's arms to the side, socking Noah over and over and over again in the face while their teammates didn't even pay attention.

Noah started panicking.

Red Jacket didn't stop. 

He was serious about killing Noah. 

Another punch landed, dislodging a tooth; another and he was seeing black; another and he started seeing red, blood gushing out of his nose. 

“Stop—“A punch landed. “I—” Another landed. “Please!—“ An even harder one landed.

Tears streamed down Noah's face. Another punch came crashing down on his face, and Red Jacket finally paused.

“I told you I'd kill you, didn't I!? Slumrat!“ He socked him again. “You've got some nerve! Trying to get us killed!“ This time he slapped him. “Human waste like you should know your place!“ He threw his next punch, but the Nixen caught his arm.

“That's enough,” he said. Red Jacket looked at him, still furious.

“What!? This bastard almost—”

“Not the Slumrat,“ said the Nixen, holding Red Jacket's arm a bit firmer. Red Jacket winced. “Your fists are injured. Don't worsen it on this byproduct of lust.“

Red Jacket's demeanour softened, and he got off of Noah, looking at him like everyone except Hallel did.

Like an annoying shit stain.

Noah could only see through one eye at this point. His entire face hurt. Tears ran down his cheeks, mixing with the snot, spit, and blood that ran down his nose and mouth. “S… so… rry,” he managed to let out.

The best thing he could do was try to look as sorry as possible. Just enough that Red Jacket would deem him not worth the effort.

Red Jacket clicked his tongue and turned his back to Noah. “Let's go,” he said. “He's not worth it.“ Red Jacket and the Nixen left and joined the ginger and the Triad.

Internally, Noah breathed a sigh of relief. It worked. He'd escaped death somehow. Now all he needed to do was to somehow kill an Ogre in less than two hours.

It was common knowledge that most boss rooms still had a few low-level Ogres in them. While the rest of them dealt with it, he could pick off one with the dagger somehow and survive this death clock.

Reaching down, Noah checked if the runic dagger was still by his waist. 

It was. 

According to the officers, it should be strong enough to seriously injure a level three Ogre. So it should kill low-level grunts fine. 

He struggled to breathe but managed to get up to his knees.

Luckily, he was used to this kind of pain.

The group turned to the door that led to the boss's room. Red Jacket turned to the group. “Alright. Remember the plan. Kill the dungeon's boss, get the Blackstone, and get out.“ He turned to the group. “The only thing that stands between us and becoming level six wizards is what lies beyond this door.“

Noah ignored them and turned towards the dead wyvogre, a plan suddenly jumping into his mind.

He couldn't take that thing's head back to the surface, but there was something else he could do. He crawled towards the dead wyvogre, making sure to look as pathetic as possible to avoid irritating them.

Being a slumrat, nobody really needed a reason to beat you up. The only thing that protected you in the slums was being so pathetic that your oppressor lost interest, or being a big enough threat that they couldn't harm you and come out unscathed.

The gap between Noah and normal people was already huge; there's no way he could pose any threat to level three wizards.

The Ginger—fully healed—turned to him, drawing the group's attention. “That traitorous slumrat…” she said with disgust in her tone. “What's he up to!?“

The Triad shrugged. “Poor thing probably hasn't eaten in days. Let's leave it alone.“

The Nixen shook his head. “Disgusting!“

They turned to the massive door to the boss's room and started pulling it open, not minding Noah.

Noah kept crawling, but faster, with one thought in his mind.

He was crawling towards the dead Ogre because he needed magic to activate the runic dagger. With no magic of his own, all he needed was something that had magic. 

Something practically made of magic.

The one thing he kept his eyes on.

The wyvogre's blood.

Every part of an Ogre had some magic to it. So even its blood, especially from a high-level Ogre, should be able to activate the effect of the dagger, whatever it was.

A loud creak echoed through the room they were in as the group pushed open the door to the boss's room. Noah got close enough to its body and smeared his left hand in its blood as much as he could.

The loud creak stopped suddenly. 

Noah turned, grabbing his dagger with his right hand, careful not to accidentally trigger whatever effect he had.

The moment he turned, something fairly large and round bounced on the floor in front of him and rolled to a stop, lightly thudding against his leg.

He looked down slowly, a feeling of dread washing over him.

The moment his eyes met what lay at his feet, Noah's blood ran cold.

Staring back at him was the Triad's head, third eye open, detached from his body. Still frozen in shock, Noah raised his head and looked at the door to the boss's room.

Red Jacket, the Nixen, and the Ginger, all with their hands still on the door to the boss's room, watched in shocked silence as the Triad's body slumped to the floor with a light thud, blood squirting from his neck.

Everyone wore the same look of dread.

Noah's heart pounded against his ribs. His eyes drifted to the figure inside the boss's room.

In the middle, stark naked, with hauntingly perfect silver hair, two short horns, and two small tusks curving up from its lower lip, was an Ogre that looked exactly like a human.

And it was staring right back at Noah.