Chapter 132: Mountain of Spears, Forest of Swords

Crockta discovered stars on the people’s foreheads.

‘They are players.’

The information about the Forest of Monsters became known to players after the north opened up. Players began to visit the forest as a new hunting ground thanks to Crockta and his friends getting rid of the Behemoth.

The group of players were calmly carrying out their formation and engaging in a battle with the herd of trolls.

The warriors held back the enemies at the front, and the attackers from behind bombarded the enemy. It was a classic combat strategy, but they lacked firepower.

The trolls were incredibly strong thanks to the mana of the Black Forest, and their wounds healed immediately. They aggressively swung their clubs and crude weapons at the players.

A troll drove a rusty axe into a player.

“Ack!”

“Pull him back!”

“It’s too late!”

The trolls abandoned their opponents and charged at the injured player. They singled him out and ruthlessly swung their weapons at him, rendering him to a bloody pulp.

The players stepped back at the grotesque sight. The corpse soon dissolved into white particles and began to disappear.

“Crazy trolls!”

Although the trolls had been injured as well, they healed rapidly as blood foamed up at the site of their injuries. Although the source of the mana that had saturated the Forest of Monsters had disappeared, its effects still lingered.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

According to the message from the system, it would take fifty years for the effects to completely disappear. The trolls that had been exposed to such dark energy were different from the trolls the players knew. They were monsters whose abilities had been enhanced to diabolical levels!

The trolls charged again. They paid no heed to the magicians’ bombardment and clung onto the players, forcing the players to raise their shields at the trolls’ indiscriminate approach.

“Help!”

But not all of them were swordsmen with shields. Those who didn’t use shields had no way of blocking the troll’s attacks and were forced to engage in fierce combat with the trolls.

“I should have gotten a shield, dammit!”

A warrior with a huge greatsword broke away from the formation.

“What are you doing?!”

“There’s no point in just standing there! Let’s fight!”

“You crazy...!”

“Everyone, let’s fight!”

He swung his huge claymore. Despite his recklessness, he displayed precise swordsmanship.

The trolls quickly moved to surround him, but he persistently retreated to blind spots to avoid being surrounded.

The magicians launched fireballs at the horde of trolls. A few trolls collapsed and writhed in pain from the burns.

With the opening, the man swung his greatsword at the troll’s neck. The troll’s head fell off.

Even trolls with astounding regenerative abilities couldn’t recover after their heads were cut off, but it didn’t matter; there were still a lot of trolls left.

The other players came forward to help the man with the greatsword. They charged at the trolls with their shields, leading to a close combat battle.

The magicians, no longer able to discern who their enemies or allies were, refrained from using attack spells and resorted to strengthening their allies’ weapons with magical power.

“Die!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

Crockta, Tiyo, and Anor observed the fierce battle with their arms crossed.

“Ohh, they are quite good,” commented Tiyo.

“They still have a long way to go,” replied Crockta.

“Is it okay if we don’t help?” asked Tiyo.

“They are all players. They have received the curse of the stars. They will come alive again,” Crockta grumbled.

“The trolls are getting pushed back. The troll named Drog at the Black Forest was much better at fighting than them,” said Anor.

“That guy is a monster, not a troll!” shouted Tiyo.

The momentum on both sides intensified. There was a man with a greatsword at the front of the players’ side. He fiercely swung his greatsword and was putting on an impressive performance

But he failed to live up to Crockta’s standards. “He has too many useless movements.” But he still eyed the man warily.

Although the man’s greatsword was much smaller than the Ogre Slayer, it was a claymore that could be categorized as a greatsword. Crockta couldn’t help but pay attention as someone who used the same type of weapon.

The moment he thought the players would end up winning if things continued like this, a shriek shook the forest.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

A new monster appeared. The players’ faces fell as despair crept up inside them. A creature much larger than them had appeared when they were about to finally defeat the trolls. An ogre that had feasted on the dark energy of the forest and turned into a mutant—the two-headed ogre had appeared.

“You moron! Look what happened!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“How can a guide lead us all the way to the end of the forest?”

“I was confused!”

The players began fighting among themselves. It seemed like they hadn’t planned to venture so deeply into the forest, but the guide had gotten lost and they had ended up here.

The players and the trolls tentatively stepped back from the ogres. When an overwhelming predator appeared, even foxes and wolves had to exercise caution.

A two-headed ogre picked up a rock. Although it was a giant rock, it lifted it up with ease as if it was a small pebble. The ogre threw it.

Thud!

It hit a troll’s head and crushed it into pieces. The troll’s headless body dropped on its knees and collapsed. Bubbles of blood foamed up at the site of the amputation to regenerate flesh, but it wasn’t possible to restore a whole head. The corpse writhed and then went limp.

The players’ faces grew pale at the sight of the tenacious trolls collapsing in an instant.

The ogre roared, “Keuhhhhhhhh!”

Then, it stomped its feet and charged at the trolls and the players. It swung its fists and club indiscriminately, sending its victims flying in the air.

“Ahhhhhh!” screamed a player.

The ogre grabbed a player and began devouring them with loud crunching noises. As the player’s lifeless form dissolved into white particles and vanished, the ogre’s face twisted into a scowl, and it began to attack its surroundings even more violently.

“I should take action.”

Crockta wasn’t worried about the players who could come back to life after being killed, but their travels were getting delayed as the battle intensified. He wanted to quickly return to Quantes and enjoy a hot bath and delicious food. Crockta raised his Ogre Slayer.

“As expected of the chieftain,” teased Tiyo.

“Indeed, he leads by example,” chimed in Anor.

Crockta ignored what Tiyo and Anor said and stepped forward. The ogre was ruthlessly slaughtering trolls and players. The completely dismantled party of players scattered in all directions as they fled in chaos.

“What? Dammit! There’s even an orc!” A player saw Crockta and stopped in his tracks, but Crockta just walked past him.

“Huh...?”

The player looked back in surprise as Crockta ignored him and walked forward. The orc went past all of the fleeing players and advanced toward the ogre. The orc’s huge blade flashed brilliantly.

“Greatsword...?”

Orcs typically wielded axes, hammers, and halberds. Although there were orcs who carried greatswords, they were extremely rare, and among the rare group of orcs, one very famous orc stood out.

“Could it be..? Nah, it can’t be...”

But he couldn’t take his eyes off of the orc. A faint energy like heat waves rose from his body. He seemed completely separated from the world. Although the orc was just walking, he seemed to be moving in a completely different method. There was something different about that orc.

The ogre discovered the orc and approached him as he swung his huge club. The orc walked toward him without showing any signs of fear. The distance between them narrowed.

“Keuooooooh!” The ogres struck the ground with its club. With an explosive sound, dust and dirt scattered everywhere. His field of vision blurred.

“Ugh!”

“What!”

The orc’s destructive power shook the ground. He couldn’t see anything because of the aftermath of the blow. The players coughed among the cloud of dust.

Suddenly, a warm liquid splattered over them. A player who was flailing around amid the dust ran his fingers through his hair. “Huh...?”

He saw dark red liquid on his fingers.

Eventually, the dust settled, and the players raised their heads. They exclaimed at the sight that was revealed in front of them.

“...!”

The two-headed ogre was slumped down, and his two heads were rolling across the ground. The red liquid on them was the fountain of blood that had scattered from the ogre’s heads as they flew across the sky.

As soon as he realized it, the metallic smell of blood stung his nose.

“Oh my god...”

The orc who had beheaded the ogre in an instant was now walking in search of another opponent. His greatsword was immaculate without even a spot of blood. The dark tattoos that seemed to be vibrating on the orc’s body caught his eye

‘Terrifying face, red bandana, an entire body full of tattoos, and a greatsword...’

“Could it be...!”

He realized who the orc was and exclaimed, “That orc is...!” He was about to excitedly shout at the players around him when he realized that everyone had run off and disappeared. There were only trolls around him now.

He met eyes with a troll. “Um...”

Before he could even say anything, the troll swung its club. The world around him spun. His body soared through the air, and his vision shook. Although he had experienced death in

Elder Lord

many times, it felt unnerving each time. Within the haze of death, he thought he saw the orc splitting another ogre’s stomach.

***

More ogres appeared from the forest, but Crockta got rid of all of them. In the past, he had leveled up as he struggled against them, but he now felt like he was massacring low-level opponents. Things were getting tedious.

He looked around him.

“Tsk, tsk.”

He didn’t see any players. They had either become corpses and disappeared or ran off to the Forest of Monsters. Those who escaped would die in the hands of monsters anyway, so it didn’t matter. If they had resisted until the end while maintaining their formation, a few could have survived.

“Nothing has changed.”

Aside from high-ranking players who always aimed higher or clans that instigated war, regular players were a mess in large groups.

The few remaining trolls eyed Crockta warily and then disappeared into the forest.

Tiyo and Anor drove their karuks toward Crockta.

“Good work Crockta,” said Tiyo.

“Everyone ran away. They could have survived if they had stayed still,” remarked Anor.

“Can’t believe they left without saying thanks. How pathetic.”

Crockta shrugged. The players probably hadn’t expected a single orc to slaughter all of these ogres. It couldn’t be helped.

They would have to start over after being killed by the monsters. Crockta expected them to die several more times before they could escape the Forest of Monsters.

Crockta got on his karuk again. They were heading straight to Quantes from the Forest of Monsters. “Then, let’s get going again.”

As soon as they were about to resume their travels, they felt a presence behind them. Crockta and his friends turned their heads to look. A player was tentatively walking toward them.

“Hmm...?”

It was the player they saw earlier, the one who used a greatsword. He looked at Crockta, Tiyo, and Anor in succession. He hesitated first, and then asked, “Are you guys leaving the Forest of Monsters?”

Crockta nodded.

“Then, if you don’t mind, can I please go with you guys? It’s hard for me to get out of here on my own...”

He had an extremely cautious attitude after witnessing Crockta’s prowess and realizing that Crockta was a monster who could easily defeat several ogres on his own. It was hard for even a high-ranker to display such skill. The player was certain that Crockta was a royal NPC with a title or a named NPC on that level.

Crockta exchanged looks with Tiyo and Anor. They shrugged. Crockta nodded. “Sure, why not?”

Thus, they ended up traveling with the player named Kenzo, who was also a warrior.

Crockta believed Kenzo was just a hardcore gamer who didn’t know much about trending videos or news about high-rankers. He didn’t seem to know about Crockta at all and thought of him as just a super strong NPC.

Without exchanging much conversation, they continued to make their way out of the forest. Monsters didn’t dare approach them because they smelled like ogre blood.

They occasionally ran into groups of players hunting monsters, but they were able to reach the end of the forest without any conflict thanks to Kenzo carefully explaining their situation to the players. As they exited the dense forest,

Elder Lord’s

sky spread out in front of them. Crockta was happy to see the sky of the continent again.

“I have returned! Yahoooo!” shouted Tiyo.

Anor was excited at seeing the continent’s scenery for the first time. “It’s nice.”

The continent looked much livelier compared to the empty wastelands of the north. Crockta took a deep breath. He felt like he had returned home.

Then, he suddenly locked eyes with Kenzo. “Ah, good work. You will be fine from this point.”

There was nothing dangerous from here and onward. Crockta grinned and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Although Kenzo was just a brief acquaintance, Crockta felt a strange closeness with this man who also wielded the weapon of real men—the greatsword.

“I wish you luck,” said Crockta.

“Let’s go, Crockta!” urged Tiyo.

“Are we going to Quantes? I have to see it for myself after Tiyo boasted about it so much. I can’t believe hot water comes out from the faucets.”

“Haha, you country bumpkin dark elf!”

The others paid no heed to Kenzo. Crockta was about to head to Quantes with his friends after bidding farewell to Kenzo when...

"Wait!" shouted Kenzo.

Crockta's friends looked back. “...?”

Kenzo hesitated and then stood in front of Crockta. Then, he dropped to his knees. “Please accept me as your disciple!”