After nightfall, a group of five people were in the forest watching out for a huge horde of ogres that were feeding in the middle of a canyon. With the appearance of an ogre king, a huge group with about five hundred ogres had gathered. Because the forest they were gathering in was close to the city, this put people's safety at risk.

"Kaname, are you sure this plan will work?" The slender cheetahkin with short dark yellow hair asked the black-haired young man.

"Nothing is one hundred percent certain, but I have confidence in my plan," Kaname replied.

They have been hired by the newly formed Merchants' Federation. Their mission is to eliminate the mob of ogres they are watching over before it gets any closer to the capital.

Obviously, the people in the small group of five that Kaname was in weren't the only ones there, there were others with them as well. Adding the mercenaries and the magic hunters, there are a total of one hundred and two people ready to fight at any moment.

Although he was still young, because of his experience, Kaname was charged with leading the huge group. Even though this generated some dissatisfied looks, his personal strength made him accepted.

Because they were outnumbered by ogres, Kaname did not plan for direct combat, as each of them would need to deal with five ogres simultaneously. Even if some could accomplish this feat, due to the overwhelming strength of their opponents, this was something difficult to achieve.

To have a better chance of victory with as few casualties as possible, Kaname spent the entire day preparing a plan.

The plan is relatively simple, the first step was to wait until nightfall to take advantage of the ogres' horrible sight. The second step was to lure them into a small canyon and then cause a rock slide to reduce their numbers.

After that, they will launch a flurry of long distance attacks and only then go into close combat to kill the surviving ogres. However, that was the easy part of the plan, the hard part was finding a way to lure the ogres to the right place.

Luckily, Kaname already had something up his sleeve to solve this. As bait to attract the ogres, they made a trail of goblin corpses that led the ogres into the canyon. Thanks to the good sense of smell of the ogres and the strong smell of blood that was well spread in the canyon, it was not as difficult a task as expected.

Having divided the one hundred and two people into smaller groups like his own, Kaname was waiting for the right moment to begin the final phase of his plan.

At that moment, on the other side of the canyon, a bright reflection came into his line of sight. This was the sign that all the ogres nearby had walked into the trap.

"Get ready, we're about to start," Kaname told his group.

The plan was as follows, when the scouts confirm that the ogres have entered the canyon, they must count to fifty and begin the rock slide they prepared.

Before they could get to a third of the count, a small fireball came approaching from the horizon as it lit up the dark forest. As it approached rapidly, the circumference of the fireball grew larger. Thanks to his good eyesight, Kaname spotted a person who seemed to be fighting something inside this fireball.

A few seconds later, the man was thrown out of the fireball. Approaching the ground like a comet engulfed in flames, he hit right in the center of where the ogres were standing.

Due to the impact, several ogres flew through the air and many were probably killed, but one could not be sure due to the curtain of dust that took over the place.

At that moment, a burst of air erupted from the epicenter of where the man fell, and there he was standing. Making his strength clear, he looked fine and didn't have a single scratch on him after forming a crater several tens of meters in diameter during his fall.

As if nothing had happened, the man looked around nonchalantly. The clothes he wore were befitting a nobleman.

As he kept watching, Kaname had a strange feeling that he had seen this person before. However, he wasn't sure, since the other times he saw him, he was always wearing a patched cloak and Milka was always by his side, but at the moment, she was nowhere to be seen.

Whether it was him or not, Kaname chose not to get in touch, since even if it was the person he knows, he is not someone who is sociable.

Because he paid so much attention to the man, Kaname only belatedly noticed that due to the tremor caused by his fall, the rockslide started earlier than planned.

It was not only the stones that were heading towards the man, the ogres were also running towards him with bloodshot eyes.

While Kaname just watched, something jaw-dropping and wide-eyed happened.

Without any explanation, whether it was the ogres or the giant stones, everything in a radius of about a hundred meters around the man was cut into several horizontal slices.

While Kaname swallowed dryly at the thought of what might happen to them if the man saw them, the ogres seemed to have the same concern. However, before he could flee, a fierce roar stopped them, that was the cry of their king.

Even though he was one of those who were feeding right where the center of the crater was, he seems to have managed to survive. Judging that he is now missing an arm and his body is full of blood, it seems that he wants revenge.

With a second shout from the ogre king, all the ogres that could move went like a wave to attack the man.

Seemingly unbothered, the man looked up at the fireball tens of meters in diameter that hung in the sky above him.

"If you keep taking it easy like this, it won't serve as training," the man shouted. "You better be careful, this time I'm going all out."

The instant he finished his words, a black halberd appeared in his hand.

With the appearance of this black halberd, a sense of fear spread throughout Kaname's body and his heart raced. Even though nothing was impeding his airway, he could barely breathe.

Looking at his teammates, they were in a similar situation.

The ogres that were running towards the man suddenly ignored the king's order and started to run away in desperation. But it was too late for them, with what seemed to be a simple twist of the halberd, they were all torn in half.

No matter how far away, all the ogres surrounding the man were cut in half.

Fortunately, since Kaname and the rest of the teams were in a high place, nothing had happened to them. But his happiness was short-lived when an immense pressure paralyzed him, preventing him from moving a single muscle.

Being able to move only his eyes, Kaname realized that the same thing happened to his companions.

Although he had been expecting the worst, nothing happened and all he saw was the halberd shaking uncontrollably in the man's hand.

"It's just a few little fish, it's not worth the effort," the man said.

However, the halberd that seemed to have a life of its own didn't seem to agree with this and began to shake even more uncontrollably, as if it wanted to get rid of the man's hands.

"Hey, I'm in charge here, you fucking halberd!"

With the man's shout not making the slightest difference, the halberd suddenly pointed at one of the groups that were scattered at the top of the canyon and began to glow with a black light.

Seeming to use all his strength to keep the halberd under control, the man lamented, "If you weren't so good, I would have already melted you down and made another one. It seems I'm still too weak to control you without outside help."

At the end of his words, a full-body black armor enveloped him. The oppressive aura coming off the halberd was suppressed, allowing everyone to move and breathe normally.

With no time to relax, Kaname soon felt a wave of heat coming from the sky. A huge blast of fire shot from the fireball descended towards the man, and even though Kaname was not the target of the attack, it was unbearably hot. Showing the power of this attack, what was once night now seemed like day.

However, the seemingly powerful attack was broken in half by the man's halberd. It was a clean cut that split the blast of fire in half, and even the clouds in the sky did not escape its attack.

As a side effect, the fire quickly spread through the canyon, burning the bodies of the ogres and the vegetation in the place.

"Time for round two!"

After his shout, the man disappeared and in the next instant, an explosion occurred in the sky.

When it was hit, the giant fireball took the form of a firebird.

"Screeee~"

Seeing such a bird composed entirely of flames, the only monster Kaname could think of was the legendary phoenix, which is rarer to find than dragons.

Facing the man, the phoenix quickly slid to the side and where it was previously appeared a slash that seemed to tear the air.

Counter-attacking, the phoenix launched a red laser from its beak. But instead of attacking the man in front of it, it targeted it right side, where there was no one.

Surprising Kaname, in the place where there was supposed to be no one, the man appeared as he repelled the attack, redirecting it into the forest.

Hitting the ground, the laser opened a long, deep ditch filled with flames.

As for the man in front of the phoenix, he slowly disappeared as if he were just an illusion.

As if avoiding direct combat, the phoenix began to take distance while launching powerful lasers.

Although he wasn't sure, Kaname believed the reason for this was the scary halberd in the man's hands. If they were to engage in direct combat, due to its size, the phoenix would be at a disadvantage.

When Kaname finally felt relieved to see the two of them dragging the fight elsewhere, another problem arose. The direction in which the battle between two absurdly powerful beings was heading was to the capital of the federation.

Looking at the trail of destruction, Kaname took a deep breath. If these two were to pass through the city, many lives would be taken without even understanding what had happened.

 "I know I can't do anything against these two freaks of nature, but I want to save as many people as possible after they pass through the city," he told his group. "You guys stay here, and help eliminate any ogre that may have survived."

"No!" what appeared to be a hobgoblin said firmly. "We're going too!"

When Kaname looked at his companions, they all had a similar look.

Scratching his head awkwardly, he laughed, "It seems that as a leader, I still don't have a handle on my subordinates."

Without further delay, Kaname and his teammates followed the trail of destruction.

To keep themselves safe, they kept their distance as they followed the destruction caused by the two's fight.

Trying to minimize the damage to the forest, Kaname was using water magic to put out the fire that was within his reach.

When the fight of the two reached above the city, a huge explosion occurred and the phoenix plummeted like lightning towards the castle. Upon hearing the second explosion, Kaname and his companions hurried up and climbed the city wall. 

Then, even from hundreds of feet away, the man in the black armor looked at him and his group. But before anything could happen, the hobgoblin took the lead of the group while pointing her large two-handed sword at the man.

With a burst of power, her body glowed a blinding red as all her muscles tensed. She was exercising her abilities to the fullest and ready for battle at any moment.

However, without leaving a word, the man simply disappeared.

When he looked around in the city, Kaname felt relieved, luckily, even though they had done a lot of damage by the time they reached the city. The fighting ended when they got there and what was destroyed was only part of the castle.

"Given the destruction they were causing, that was already much better than I expected," Kaname sighed.

Since the city was safe and the people in the palace could afford the consequences, Kaname and his group returned to where they had prepared the ambush for the ogres.