The East, War Monger's Fort

A cloaked figure walked through the hallways of the fort nonchalantly. This figure was supposed to be hurriedly sneaking around, checking room by room for what he was searching for but that was simply too much of a hassle for him. He preferred to be slow and laid-back. He basically had all the time in the world to complete his mission after all. When he came across a huge door protected by two kobold guards, he assumed he found his target.

"Hey there!"

He yelled, waving at the kobolds. They looked at each other, confused then back at him.

"I am referring to you two obviously. Do you see anyone else present?"

The two guard began to bark at him.

"Um… I don't understand your language. Sorry, but I need the person behind that door."

He appeared behind both kobolds and placed his hands on their shoulders. The two were immediately petrified with fear and ears flinched.

"You see, if you just let me through, nothing bad will happen."

One guard started barking again.

SNAP

The kobold fell on the ground, dead.

"I warned you."

He walked towards the door and opened it. The other kobold guard fell on his knees, crying out of fear. He had just met a monster and he knew for sure that there was no surviving. He couldn't even muster up the will to bark, let alone run. This was the end. The message came to him bright as day when he looked at his partner.

When the strange person entered, he was met with a huge room, filled with a ginormous bed and all sorts of necessities for a princess. He scanned the room and sitting on the bed while staring at him with an annoyed expression was an ogress. She was dressed in baggy white robes. She had dark-grey skin with two short black horns protruding from her head. Her irises shown a brilliant golden and her straight hair that reached down to her back was violet. She was Kara, the ogre tyrant's youngest child.

"Who are you and how dare you enter here without permission or notice?"

The man looked around the room while whistling.

"Quite the nice place, you've got. Will be a shame when it all gets destroyed though."

"Huh? Answer my question. Or else…"

The girl's skin crackled with powerful purple lightning as she glared at the man. The man rose his hand as a form of surrender.

"Sheesh. Tone it down. I am a friend of your father. You can call me Grimm."

The stranger who named himself as Grimm then got closer to the girl. She wanted to shoot a bolt at him to warn him not to get too close, but her the lightning suddenly disappeared. She looked down on her body, confused, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"You… what have you done to me?"

"I just blocked your Magic circuits with my ice needles. Don't worry its temporary. Now, I just need to slow down your blood flow and you will be feeling dizzy, riiight abooouuut… Now."

"Eh? What are you talki-"

She spun about and fell face flat on her bed. He went over and touched her forehead. She was definitely as cold as ice. He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

"Are you done?"

A voice asked and turned his head. The owner of the voice was a fat man with goat legs, a scruffy brown goatee with leave green eyes and little goat horns protruding from his curly haired head.

"Yo, Derby. Long time no see pal."

Grimm tried for a friendly tone, however Derbyshire was not in the mood for his silly antics today.

"Did you get it?"

The stranger took a scroll out of his jacket and threw it at the satyr.

"Yep. Although I don't know what you need this for. It's not like the boss is gonna use it."

He had to waste a lot of time moving about in the fort's treasury, library and even the master's personal space. It took him a great deal of effort and time to do this, spanning over a few days of careful sneaking about and information collection. Grimm could confidently say he knew every nook and cranny of the fort better than the person who built it.

"Hurry up and leave, before more guards find you."

The satyr wasted no time in ordering the strange fellow about.

"Still giving me the cold shoulder, huh? I told you I'm sorry about that time with the iced beer."

Grimm wore a black face mask, with a red jewel on the forehead which made it hard to know exactly what kind of expression he wore, but he sounded apologetic.

"Tell the boss that I will be proceeding to the desert to collect the package as planned. Since you can't teleport me there, I'll just stroll by to see if the West survives."

Derbyshire ignored Grimm.

"Huh? I thought you said the Mad Witch wasn't participating."

"She isn't. However there is an interesting creature there that is leading them against Krull."

"You don't mean a new Imperial or Supreme class monster, do you?"

"No. She was only at the peak of the advanced monster class when I met her."

"So the West stands no chance, right?"

"Humph. Logically speaking, yes. I just want to see how much worth the creature has. Don't you think a creature that gave a tyrant trouble will be a nice present for the master?"

The satyr grinned, contorting his face. Grimm shivered at the sight and opened up a portal behind himself.

"Your grin is still as disturbing as ever. That's why you can't even get a harlot to spend your night with at the Tyvn Broth."

Derbyshire lost his grin and was now scowling at the man in black. The cloaked figure walked through the portal with the princess over his shoulder. The satyr raised his hand over the scroll and said a few words over it. A wind sprite appeared before him. It was a delicate creature with a petite build and little to no coverings over its body. If only Derbyshire could capture this creature for his nefarious purposes. It took the scroll from him and teleported them both somewhere.

______________________________________________

Day 23

The air stained with the scent of blood, the ground broken and torn apart, the creatures littering the ground with their corpses and injured bodies, the smell of agony and rage. The battlefield had been opened and boy, was I bewildered. Everything had actually gone according to my plans.

First, I assumed the Ogre Tyrant would be wary of us, especially after Diane told me that Derbyshire ran off to the east to seek refuge. So him stopping at the wolf hills, seemed the likeliest thing for him to do, although I had stationed a bunch of rat men at other possible locations for him. You see, to get to the center of Larm, you needed to pass through a few hilly areas. According to Diane, the shortest possible route from East to West was through the center and so, using the Wolf Hills was a given.

Him being wary of us, he stopped just at the wolf hills to come explore. Next, I assumed he also possessed the skill [Overlord] so he would simply use it to scan us, not control us. He was probably scared that Minerva might use her [Overlord] skill as well and they would cancel out, so there was no point (I only just realized that the skill only works in one's territory, not another's). So because of that, he would sense the large army that was hiding behind the thick forest in the valley – the place we chose for battle. I couldn't have him finding out about the ambush squad so early, so I made the actual army move out and back to confuse them.

You wouldn't think that would work, right? I mean, an experienced War Mongrel versus not even a month old chick. Was that even a battle? The answer was, yes, yes it was. I was using his experience to my advantage. Surely he would have met someone who had use this method before. I was hoping he would overthink this situation, leading him to think that this was not an actual trap, but simply us realizing we were being foolish in front of his numbers.

How it worked? Don't ask me. Krull was probably the biggest dumb ass of a villain I had ever seen. He sent in the trolls first. The ambush squad did an excellent job whittling down the opponents' numbers before they came out to meet the actual fight.

Damn, the trolls were strong, but the Assault Force was even stronger. They beat the trolls black and blue and forced the orcs and ogres to interfere. Everything seriously was going according to plan and I almost felt like a tactical genius, but I wasn't. This was all luck. Still, it gave me the opportunity to say cringey lines like, "Your first mistake was making an enemy out of me", or "Fall before my tactical might you imbeciles from the east!"

This was fun… Fun till everything went to shit. There really was no smooth sailing. All it took, was one death to change the morale of the goblins. Oda died. Gorm lost composure and almost died. Suddenly, all the goblins froze. Kings joined in on the fun. Oda started glowing creepily then started shooting lightning bolts at everyone. Timber wolves descended and started beating the east. None of this was according to plan. Ah… shit really took a turn for the worse.

At least, Ulva was safe. She was with Diane so she wouldn't be facing stupid situations like this. I mean, our deal was that as long as we kept the fight as far away as possible from their trees, she would give me her word that she would keep the kid safe, so I knew she was definitely safe.

I noticed a huge creature with black scales flying just above the army. There was a fat creature on its back waving a massive butcher's knife around. I could tell that it was the ogre tyrant. I used [Analyst] on him, trying to see just how much of a powerhouse he was.

STATUS

[Name: Krull

[Species: War Ogre      Lvl 55/90

[Status: [Anxious]

[Age: 15 years                         

[Rank: B+

[Race Tank: Tier 2

[Titles: |Of World|, |Cannibal|, |Survivor|, |Merciless|, |Persistent|, |Man-Eater|, |Monster Slayer|, |War Monger|, |Man Slayer|, |Tyrant of the East|, |Ogre Lord|, |Troll Lord|, |Orc Lord|, |Governor|

[Blessings: [Demi-god of War's Blessings]

[Level: 125       

[Health: 40000/40000      Stamina: 50000/50000    Strength: 13530      Speed: 11000    Defense: 15700      Dexterity: 12000    Intelligence: 300        Luck: 70

[Skills: … Calculating…]

'Just like Minerva, he has no aptitude for magic. He can't even produce mana. Other than that, what in the actual fuck is up with his stats? And he is only B+ in rank? I don't even want to go to the wyvern on his back.'

My eyes go to the wyvern and I almost pass out. That creature was at C+ with some really good stats. In what world is a wyvern only C rank? Then what about dragons? Were they only rank A or something? Then… the beasts at the top. The S ranks. What the hell were they?

The wyvern came in close. It didn't have a high level, neither did it possess any significant amount of skills. Basically put, the wyvern was the average or standard wyvern. Meaning, from birth these wyverns were living it up at Class C. Damn, the privileged.

I could feel the cold glares of the Ogre Tyrant on my being and I shivered.

"So you are the one standing up against me?"

His body was covered in weird red tattoos much like the hob-goblin leader from Krav. Probably signs that he was blessed by the [Demi-God of War] too.

'System Master! I can't do this! Show some mercy and give me a short power boost or something. You know? The usual Isekai protagonist good luck stuff.'

Then a screen popped up in front of me

[System Master ##### has refused your request for aid]

'… Wow. Ok… Screw you! Since when don't the system master's cheat for the protagonists!? Whoever is above the system master I call for a refund on mine! I think my system master's broken!'

[System Master ##### has subtracted 5 points from your defense stats]

'Oi! What the hell! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I take it back! You are great! The best!'

[System Master ##### agrees with you]

'Where's my stat points? Oi! My stat points!? System Master!?'

"I see, so you can't speak. Does that mean it was the wench who organized this? She doesn't seem smart enough though."

He voice was cool and it sounded like he wasn't a simple muscle-head. Maybe I could reason my way out of this?

He looked down, scanning through the forest. His eyes moved from the battle field and just looked about, as if he was searching for something. Probably Minerva. The look on his face suggested that he was thinking critically over something. Then now wouldn't be a good time to bother him, right? But then, when else would be a good time?

'Oh, um sorry. I guess this is the first time we are meeting, huh? My name is Hinotori and I'm guessing that you must be War Monger Krull?'

He looked surprised, but then his eyes relaxed.

"So then what the satyr said is true? You led a resistance against me?"

'Huh? Derbyshire? Don't listen to hi-'

"Humph… Silence! I did not give you permission to speak."

His voice boomed and I could feel my eardrums popping. I immediately hunched back and felt overwhelmed.

"The insolence. You! You, a mere chicken dare defy me?!"

He pointed his huge weapon at me and my heart sunk.

'Um… chickens don't fly.'

"Shut your mouth! I will cleave you in half and never speak of this day again. I have never felt so embarrassed before. I was hoping the Mad Witch was just coming up with a good plan I would simply stomp through. Ugh… sigh."

He vented out, making me feel quite insignificant. But at the same time making me feel angry. Everyone only paid attention to me because I knew Minerva. That wasn't all I was good for and I would show them all.

'Ok… Ouch. Mind your tone when speaking to the future ruler of all beasts, and never, ever, look down on me.'

I was using [Devil's Miasma] as well as [Terror] to hopefully cause him to flinch.

He didn't flinch. Instead, he looked angrier than before.

"A mere chicken dares?! I don't know if you know this, but let it be known here and now. I will not fall for any tricks you have planned for me. Even if I do, I'll just break right through them, because I am the War Monger Krull. Destroyer of armies and current Tyrant of the East!"

The wyvern flew at me. I ducked, going underneath it and attempting to [Peck] its underbelly. Its defense was too great for me to overcome. I had to fly out of the way before its tail could hit me. Now that the ogre tyrant wasn't looking at me, I tried using [Fire breath] to attack him from behind, mostly just to see how fast he would react to it.

He did so easily with his huge butcher knife and said something odd.

"Huh? That fire ball wasn't magic? You produce actual fire, I see."

Wondering why he said that, I checked out his sword.

[Item Name: Reflective Butcher Knife]

[Item Rank: Low Epic]

[Description: A sword that can reflect an elemental or magical attack of a certain level.

# Thirty uses per day. 

# Magic Attack storage (Temporary)

+150 attack power.]

[Value: 600 Gold pieces]

'Huh? A sword that can reflect magical attacks? Pretty nifty.'

I said to him, honestly just wanting to infuriate him. He squeezed his face and the wyvern let out a roar, probably just as annoyed as its rider. My best option here was probably using [Size Manipulation] to make myself bigger. That would boost my strength stat as well, but then my stamina will go down fast and a bigger me would be an easy target for the ogre tyrant.

Maybe with [Slime body] I could ignore some damage, but if he got serious and chopped me right in half, I would die in that moment. I couldn't find a way out of this to be honest. Maybe I should have eaten more to get more stats using [Predator], but that wasn't really an option since it all depended on my eating capacity. I thought it was big, but it really wasn't.

'Aaarrgghhh! All of this would have been way easier if only Minerva wasn't being a brat about it all!'

So last night, we found out that Minerva wasn't going to participate. She said I got myself into this so I should get myself out. Apparently she never said anything about fighting if I fought. That damned Diane lied to me. There was no way she made a simple mistake like that. When I was free, I would attempt to get revenge at her.

I used [Size Manipulation] to shrink myself and with [Sprint] I was now definitely not an easy target for the wyvern. According to [Hunter], wyverns were mostly calm creatures that weren't used to being startled since they were so big and strong. They mostly lived in mountainous regions with the cold, thin air and their skins were so tough not even fire would hurt them. Magma would though. And their eye sight is poor for some apparent reason. They can't really see anything too close or too far, but their sense of smell was top notch, so startling them definitely wasn't something one could do easily. Also their hearing is horrible and they are sort of like the hyenas of the dragon world. That was weird information.

At least now I knew how to deal with it.

I activated [Devil Miasma] and [Terror] at the wyvern. Krull just calmly watched me, his eye twitching at my every movement. I started to fly around them, creating a cloud of poison gas while sprinkling my [Sap Spores] about so I could be draining life from them while fighting. I flew in front of the wyvern and shot a spider web at it. Krull cut it however and he snarled at me.

"What is this? Is this all you've got?"

'Excuse you, but that took a bit of thinking to do, especially while under all this pressure!'

"Enough of this. I'm going back."

The war ogre held his weapon tightly and it glowed with a green aura. With one thoughtless flicker, he swung it at me causing a powerful shockwave to be sent through the air.  I used [King Viper Scales] with [Centipede Armor] and [Beetle Armor], while making my body absorb the shock with [Slime body]. The damage was so much that I wasn't able to go unscathed even though I attempted to dodge as well.

[You have received 100 damage]

The shockwave continued behind me, creating a huge boom behind me and causing the clouds to separate.

'W-What the hell?! Isn't that too powerful.'

There was a powerful roar. When I looked I saw the tyrant charging at me. His wyvern looked quite pissed, probably because the wyvern's don't like loud sounds and it was forced to hear that. With its beak like mouth open, I could see its sharp yellow fangs in their full glory.

'I'm in trouble! Sike… been waiting for this.'

When the wyvern came close enough, I shot a fireball into its mouth. A trick I learnt from that one cartoon about the guy training a dragon. You know? Was it "How to pilot your dragon"? Ah well, anyway, as tough as its exterior may be, its innards definitely weren't so strong.

I had been wondering about stats, but they really were just representations of what was physically possible for the people of this world. What I meant by that was that, stats basically give a numerical information about how well you trained your body or something like that. And since there is no known way to train your insides, you were definitely weak in there.

Basically, you could have the strongest of defenses, but on the inside, you were just a weak baby in a suit of armor. Did the same apply to the tyrants? Obviously yes. But the problem was actually getting to attack them on the inside. Getting close to them was probably impossible for me.

The wyvern's eyes lit up as it suddenly caught fire out of nowhere. That shouldn't have been possible unless it had a bit of dragon descent. As in its father or grandfather or great grandfather or ancestor had to be a dragon. That would allow to it to breathe out fire and stuff. Meaning, it had the necessary organs to create fire. Which meant its internal organs produced a substance that was highly flammable. It would catch fire real quick.

Its mouth started smoking and it was shaking about dangerously. The ogre tyrant kept on pulling at its reigns, trying to control it, but the wyvern kept on shaking as its body was slowly catching on fire. I saw its scales turning red and smoke literally escaping its very body. Soon, it proved too difficult for the ogre tyrant to control.

The tyrant lost the reigns and plummeted to the ground. I looked at him and he was glaring at me, not even screaming or anything. Then again, with his defenses he should probably have been able to survive that fall no problem.

Still, I noticed too late that the wyvern wasn't actually in pain. In fact, behind me, its mouth was open and I could see bright light coming from it. The way its body was on fire just scared the crap out of me and the breath of fire it produced was so much that [Fire Resistance] was weak to it. Its range was so wide that I couldn't avoid most of the damage and the force behind it was just absurd.

[You have received 400 damage]

[You have been inflicted with the status [Severe Burn]]

[You will lose 30 health points every second]

[You have received 147 damage]

[You have been inflicted with the status [Broken Bones]]

[Due to [Pain Nullification] you will not receive the penalty for this]

The pain was absurd. I started plummeting to the ground, my mind going in and out. I just wanted to zone out. Before I had realized it, I was about a few feet above the ground. I twisted my body and flapped hard so I wouldn't just hit the ground. However, the quick maneuvers weren't enough. My fall was hard and painful since I lost some of my feathers.

[You have received 100 damage]

'S-Sa sa! This hurts! This hurts really badly.'

While I was screaming, I hadn't noticed the royally pissed ogre tyrant standing over me. He had his weapon raised to the sky and his blood red eyes burned as they glared at me. Was this it?

***

All the creatures on the battlefield paused when they heard a loud explosion in the air. They saw a huge black flames that soon disappeared and in the air, were three creatures. There was the fat ogre riding on a black wyvern, and then the bird with four wings and golden and black feathers. What was happening?

The creatures couldn't even think about their own fights when they saw the chase. The ogres and orcs began to cheer their tyrant on and the members of the west cheered Hinotori on. The warriors that were on each other's necks soon turned into spectators when they saw their leaders fighting. Even the Wicked Witch stopped in her random acts of violence as soon as she saw the two. Her lips curled interestingly at the sight of the two fighting.

Their fights didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was which of the leaders won.

"So that's War Monger Krull, huh?"

"He looks really tough."

"Yea, but I'm sure my money senses tell me he is going down."

"Of course he is going down. The mad witch is intervening."

"Keke… if that's what you think, where has she been this entire time?"

"Ah…"

The two hob-goblins were interrupted by the leader of the rat men.

"Hmmm… I would suggest you stop arguing amongst yourselves. We are doomed either way."

"What do you mean?"

He let out a sigh and scratched his head, thinking crazily.

"With the kind of plan she has, we are all most likely going to die! The fact the ogre tyrant is in the air was not part of her plan makes it even worse. Just say your final prayers to your gods."

"Huh? You… are you ok?"

"No. No I am not ok… When Lady Hinotori came to my place last night, she asked me to set up some stuff to lure the Tyrant of the West to a certain point."

"Eh? But wouldn't the tyrant notice you doing this?"

"I thought so, but she told me that the Mad Witch does not usually check up on things like that. Still, not wanting to get caught, I had a bunch of rat men run about, dropping the traps in a seemingly random order so no one would even be able to notice that it was a trap."

"Huh… but why would you need to do that?"

"Well, it turns out that the Mad Witch never agreed to fight."

"What?!"

The rat man put his hands to his ears to avoid receiving any form of damage to his sensitive ears.

"Yes, yes. Lady Hinotori was angry when she found out so she said she was going to forcefully include the tyrant into this."

"Is that not a bit too selfish of her?"

The Zamp leader asked.

"Kukuku… nothing is ever too selfish in war! My money senses were right on the mark to trust the bird."

"Still… That's it? That was her master plan!?"

The little goblin next to them asked. He couldn't believe all their lives were riding on such an incompetent plan. He would not have noticed this were he not always learning from Gorm.

"Simple but effective, right?"

"Yea, now that you mention it. It sounds like something anyone should or could have come up with."

"Not anyone. The Mad witch would probably kill the person who got her involved."

"True."

Suddenly, the black wyvern exploded with white flames and plummeted to the ground. All those watching followed with their eyes and tried to get closer. Even the kings put a ceasefire on their combat and rushed towards the site.

The Wicked Witch who heard all of this only smiled. She wanted that bird as a pet now. And from the looks of the battle, it wouldn't be too difficult to capture it. It wasn't really strong, but it possessed potential. She was about to move towards where they landed to save the creature, but then she froze in place.

"Huh? What's a dead creature doing back in this realm?"

Slowly and hesitantly, she turned back and met stormy grey eyes. Her heart sunk as she recognized the person and she had no other option. Escape was impossible. Fighting was impossible. She could only go on her knees and bow.

"L-Lord Goliath. You have returned?""

"Yes. Not for long though. Same can be said of though goblin."

"W-what?"

"Leave that body and let its original soul return."

Before the Wicked Witch could say a word, her body fell to the ground.

____________________________________________

"Tsu… You were the great beast that was supposed to consume me? Ha! I really do need to teach my daughter a thing when I get back home."

The ogre tyrant said something I didn't understand then drove his weapon into my wing and I felt a whole lot of pain. I never imagined that reincarnating in another would be this painful. This was actually the first time in a while I had seen my own blood.

[You have lost 20 health points]

With [Slime Body] I managed to ignore a lot of the damage that came with me losing a wing. My [Severe Burn] status was now [Burn] and so the health points going would be less. [Slime Body] was really useful.

I put up all my defensive abilities as the ogre tyrant brought his fist down on my body, easily stealing a hundred points of life.

This was really absurd. I could tell that he wasn't even trying with that punch. Normally I should have been grateful, but for some reason, that pissed me off. It was so annoying I couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny? Your army will be crushed. I will kill you soon and I will have all these resources to myself then can export them all I want. You lost. No good sides for you."

'…You see… The truth is, I've just won this battle."

[You have lost 10 health points]

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Are you blind?"

[You have lost 10 health points]

The ogre tyrant looked around him, but I could see that he didn't know what I meant. When his eyes met mine again, I wanted to laugh so bad at him, but the pain I felt just made my laugh sound forced.

[You have lost 10 health points]

"Tch… Now you're just saying things. I won't fall for any tricks you have planned for me. Even if I do, I'll just break right through them, because…"

[You have lost 10 health points]

He began another one of his annoying boasting and I wasn't really in the mood for it.

[You have lost 10 health points]

'Yes, yes, because you are the war monger, Tyrant of the East, blah, blah, blah. Dude, give it a rest. It's really annoying to hear you say that over and over again."

[You have lost 10 health points]

Krull glared at me, then he lifted me up, crushing my neck.

[Your neck is being crushed]

[Damage will be taken in response to the amount of force applied]

[You are losing 10 health points]

[You are losing 20 health points]

[You are losing 40 health points]

[You are losing 80 health points]

[You have lost 10 health points]

"Why aren't you laughing now, you stupid bird?"

'You have no idea how screwed you are.'

I spat the blood that was in my beak at his face.

[You have acquired the skill [Taunt]]

[You have acquired the skill [Shoot]]

'Are you shitting me!? Is now the time to tell me something so stupid!?'

The ogre was about to punch me, but then he froze. I could understand why he did. If I were in his shoes I would definitely have frozen. Faster than my eye could see, Krull was sent flying and he left my body to fall weakly on the ground.

[Warning: HP is low!]

[Warning: You have 3HP remaining]

[Warning: Stamina is low!]

'3HP, huh? So this is where I die. So lame.'

I closed my eyes in defeat, waiting for my death, but then it never came. Rather, I felt better. The pain I was feeling was slowly, but surely disappearing. I could hear somebody mentioning my name.

"Hin…!"

"…Tori…!"

"Hinotori!"

I opened my eyes and standing over me with her hand clasped was the tree sprite from Diane's tree. I began to ask questions. Like for instance, how the hell did I understand everybody when the [Agent] was M.I.A. Was the strawberry milkshake at Ma's better than the Banana slurry? Did I actually make it out of this or did I die?

When I looked up, I saw a various messages from the system.

[You have unlocked the title: Sturdy body]

[You have unlocked the title: Lucky one]

'I unlocked titles? So I'm not dead?'

Then I passed out from low stamina.