Garbage Brave – Vol 2 Chapter 2 Part 6

I’ll post the next one along with this week’s chapter.
Enjoy~

Editor: Onihikage

 

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Chapter 2 Part 6

 

The next swarm the trainees fought was composed of 30 ogres, 10 red ogres, 10 ogre riders, and one ogre general. When I confronted them in the past, there were only one or two red ogres mixed in with a group of ogres, but this was my first encounter with a group of ogre riders or a group led by an ogre general.

The ogres were level 80, red ogres level 90, the ogre rider was level 95, and the ogre general was level 100, so considering the current trainees’ levels, this might have been a good match. The ogre riders were just like ordinary ogres, but had black skin and rode a monster resembling a wild boar, a creature with rushing attacks and destructive power. The ogre general wore armor and wielded a sword even bigger than Goliath’s.

By the way, general-type monsters are apparently famous because they can boost the abilities of the same type of monster, but I didn’t know about this at the time.

The battle started with Oburi’s [Spirit Magic] and Schwarz’s [Strong Shot]. An arrow punched through a red ogre’s chest, and Tornado Cutter dealt damage to enemies in a vast range, its tantrums destroying the position of the ogres and red ogres. At the same time, its wind blades, which attacked from all directions, cut through their robust bodies. The surprise attack seems to have been a success.

The ogre riders and ogre general were in the back, so they were unscathed, but that first attack had massacred the small-fry ogres and red ogres. The red ogre that was hit by Schwarz’s [Strong Shot] got finished off by Oburi’s Tornado Cutter.

[Strong Shot] is a Bow-Fighter skill that lets any given bow and arrow exert twice their normal power. Although there are downsides such as decreased accuracy, the Bow-Fighter also has the [Concentration] skill which can increase accuracy, and [Target Lock] to guarantee a hit, so in combination with those skills, the downside of [Strong Shot] doesn’t matter.

The ogre riders who managed to escape the Tornado Cutter rushed toward the trainees. Their bloodshot eyes looked as though they’d lost all sense of reason, but ordinary humans would freeze up at the sight of it, soon to be reduced to lumps of meat.

An arrow hit the chest of one approaching ogre rider. More arrows pierced the left thigh and the right upper arm, and when it reached Edel, Bulga immediately activated his [Explosive Spear] skill, annihilating the ogre rider’s head.

The name of the [Explosive Spear] skill doesn’t mean the spear will explode, but simply that it releases a powerful shockwave as it hits, causing the wound to look like it exploded. A normal spearman would rarely be able to manifest this skill, but a Spear-Fighter like Bulga has a good chance of developing it on their own.

Surprisingly, when the black ogre dies, the wild boar dies with it. I wonder what they are… they seem to be a rare type of monster.

Another ogre rider lost its head after crossing paths with Goliath. The power of Goliath’s huge sword was enhanced further by the riders’ own speed as they rushed towards him.

However, Goliath also suffered a wound on his right arm from an ogre rider’s ax. It’s because of his own stupidity anyway. Even though he was injured, he didn’t stop, and continued attacking the remaining ogre riders. He looked like he was in pain — grinding his teeth in a harsh grimace, but he continued to face the ogres.

The effect of Tornado Cutter had worn off, and the ogres, now full of gouges, started running toward the trainees. Bulga’s proud spear ran through one of the two ogres Edel was holding off, and Rotten took out another one without giving it time to counterattack by making the most of his dual swords. These two were already above level 90, so they had the capability to take down an injured ogre in a short time. Schwarz also attacked an ogre with his certain hit arrows; the ogres suffered considerable damage from the ranged attacks.

A large number of ogres surrounded Edel. He didn’t use [Anger Lock], which dramatically raises monsters’ hostility against you, but since he leveled up, he’d learned the [Substitute] skill.

This skill’s effect was that when someone on your side uses an aggro-raising attack or extreme recovery, the aggro the ally would normally gain goes to you instead. So this time he took on the aggro caused by Oburi’s Tornado Cutter, making the ogres go after him instead of anyone else.

Edel was on his fourth greatshield now, and his third set of armor. I could see he was under intense attack. The equipment provided by the count had protected his vitals, but while other trainees have exchanged weapons once, Edel had replaced his shield three times and his armor twice; his equipment loss rate was incredible.

The greatshield that was brand new right before this battle started squealed from the strain of the ogres’ club attacks. At the beginning of the training, he was pushed into tanking hordes of ogres, but now he was caught up in a horde of red ogres. Since he’s a bear-beastman, he has a huge body, more than two meters tall, but he still looks small compared to ogres and red ogres. He might have grown the most from this training.

Blood splashed from an ogre’s neck as Falken, the Stealth-Dagger, sliced at them quickly, concealing himself again before the blood even hit the ground. His attack has no immediate effect on an ogre with strong vitality, but if they lost a large amount of blood, over time their movements would slow down and their defenses would weaken.

While not immediately fatal, Falken’s attacks were still very effective on the ogres. Those weakened by his attacks would become easy prey for damage dealers such as Goliath, Rotten, and Bulga.

A lot of ogres were gathering around Edel, so this meant Oburi couldn’t attack them with his [Spirit Magic]. This was a frustrating time for the Spiritualist whose specialty was using wide-area magic to soften up the enemy. Yet, in his eyes, he only saw the one ogre that was separated from the others.

“An ogre general… should I try it?”

I didn’t miss his muttering whisper. Oburi can shoot his magic without chanting — because if he does chant, my fists would punish him worse than the ogres. Still, he apparently needed quite a bit of time to solidify the image of his magic, sweating bullets all the while.

Next to Oburi was the Healer, Akramakan, and the Magic Guider, Jamaran, neither of whom could go without chanting yet. They bit their lips, frustrated, but they couldn’t escape the feeling of just spinning their wheels. Oburi solidified the image of his [Spirit Magic] away from those two people.

“Elemental Storm!”

A huge wind vortex rose around the ogre general, along with a thunderous roar. The colossal vortex of wind lifted the giant ogre general into the air as it was watching the battle with a composed expression. The blades of wind gouged into its flesh all over.

The ogre general screamed loudly enough to stop even its own subordinates.

“It wasn’t enough to kill it, but that should have done a lot of damage…” said Oburi, out of breath.

I was sure it indeed did a great deal of damage, but that also meant Oburi gained the ogre general’s aggro. It started to run, an angry glare directed right at Oburi. The armored giant would be a threat not only to Oburi but to all of the trainees, and it rushed over with a guttural growl, its every step shaking the ground.

When the ogre general passed by Edel, the vanguard activated [Anger Lock]. However, the ogre general didn’t so much as glance at Edel, instead gunning straight for Oburi. Edel hadn’t activated [Substitution], and Oburi’s [Spirit Magic] already did a lot of damage, earning him more aggro than [Anger Lock] could catch up to.

“This is bad! Oburi, run!” Goliath shouted as he crossed blades with a red ogre.

As Oburi shrieked in fear, the ogre general roared vigorously and smashed into Oburi with a shoulder tackle, blowing him away. Oburi bounced on the ground several times, landing over a dozen meters away and suffering significant damage; he was on the verge of death.

If he wasn’t such a high level, he would have died instantly, but then, he also wouldn’t have dealt enough damage to take on so much aggro. The ogre general finally stopped when Rotten caught up and cut into it with all his power, and Schwarz pinned its foot to the ground with a well-placed arrow.

Canaan and I were away from Oburi when the ogre general headed toward him. This was supposed to be actual combat training, so if Canaan and I had our fingers in the pie, it wouldn’t be training anymore. They had to gain the instincts needed to survive in such harsh conditions. If Oburi survived this time, he should be able to accomplish that since he’s experienced that danger with his own body.

Akramakan and Jamaran, who were also near Oburi, nearly went mad calling his name, rushing over to the Spiritualist who now lay unmoving on the ground.

“Don’t die, Oburi! I’ll heal you!”

Akramakan activated [Recovery Magic] to heal Oburi. Jamaran looked at Oburi’s bloody body and turned around in anger, activating his [Ice Magic] to fire several Icicle Spears toward the ogre general.

The ogre general roared in agony after being struck by Rotten’s sword, Schwarz’s arrow, and Jamaran’s [Ice Magic] barrage attacks, but it couldn’t move to fight back.

“Don’t die don’t die don’t die don’t die, Oburiiiiiii!”

Akramakan desperately activated [Recovery Magic] repeatedly while tears ran down his face. Jamaran was also barely standing after continuously shooting Icicle Spears until his magic power ran out.

In spite of that, the ogre general had yet to fall. It was wounded all over, but its pride as the ogre general prevented it from kneeling. However, everything has a limit. When the ogre general stepped its arrow-sewn foot one step ahead, Jamaran had collapsed. The moment I saw it, the ogre general also fell over, its limbs splayed out like 大.

Goliath and the other vanguards who rushed to drive out the ogres were relieved to see the state of Jamaran and Oburi. Jamaran blacked out from magic depletion, and Oburi almost died, surviving thanks to Akramakan’s timely healing.

I stood in front of Akramakan, who sat stupidly on the ground near Oburi. He noticed me and looked up.

“You were able to do it, weren’t you? Don’t ever forget how that felt.”

“Eh…?”

Akramakan didn’t even realize he was releasing magic without a chant. Goliath, who was checking Oburi’s condition, also smacked him on the back with his huge palm, saying, “Well done!” Akramakan gradually came to his senses and began to shed tears. I don’t know if those tears were the joy of being able to activate magic without chanting, the pain of being hit by Goliath, or the relief of saving Oburi.

Oburi’s life was safe, but since Akramakan’s [Recovery Magic] was just a barrage of basic heals, his broken bones had started healing in odd directions.

“S-sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Oburi smiled bitterly at the awkward Akramakan, waving it off.

“Geez… this guy just can’t stop sobbing.”

I poked Akramakan’s head and instructed Canaan to properly restore Oburi’s bones with [Light Magic]. I think even I’ve become half-hearted.

Although still unskilled, Akramakan and Jamaran were able to cast magic chantless, so I decided to finish up their training. After that, all they had to do was go back to Algria now and polish their skills.

Then something suddenly appeared in front of the trainees — a giant bird similar to a condor. It’s a level 140 monster called the Great Bird, a much more potent monster than the ogre general.

It made a rustling sound, then grabbed an ogre’s corpse and flew into the sky. Goliath and the others were surprised and couldn’t react, but Canaan calmly shot through the thieving bird’s wings. It crashed to the ground, still alive.

Goliath raised his sword when he saw it, but the Great Bird had already released its [Wind Magic], which Canaan blocked with an invisible barrier of [Light Magic].

“Hey, that bird is a level 140 monster, a Great Bird. Go kill it, you guys.”

The trainees hesitated after hearing it was level 140, but what did they have to fear from a Great Bird that couldn’t fly? They were scared, but after I kicked their asses into gear, they started slashing at it.

The Great Bird only showed its strength when it was in the sky, but on the ground, it’s weaker than an ogre. However, it could still use [Wind Magic], so one needed to be very vigilant all the same. Its [Wing Cutter] was also relatively strong, but if they surrounded and whaled on it, they could kill it instantly, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

Edel and Goliath were blown away by the Great Bird’s struggling, but their injuries weren’t a big deal. Soon after, the Great Bird was silenced when Bulga pierced its throat with his proud spear.

“All right, this creature’s meat is delicious! We’ll have a banquet when we get home!”

The trainees cheered. It was a lower level monster in the Great Borf Forest, but its meat was delicious. Still, the Great Bird’s habitat should have been a little deeper in. As far as I know, the monsters of the Great Borf Forest never leave their habitats. They weren’t supposed to appear around here, so I was a little concerned.

 

▼▼▼

 

When I got home after the high school entrance exam, there was a note.

“We will have a party to celebrate your entrance exam, so the three of us will go shopping.”

It seems that my father, mother and little sister went shopping. There was a stew in the kitchen and chicken meat with a dipping sauce. This is what mother made for me, but there’s a problem. Yes, the problem is, my mother is bad at cooking. Devastatingly so, too…

Both of my parents are doctors, and my mother didn’t usually cook. That only really happened maybe once a year. Her blood was strong in my sister, Ayumi, so no one around was better at cooking than I was.

The phone rang when I was working on fixing the stew my mother made, and the chicken that was supposed to become karaage. The phone call made me feel hopeless for the second time in my life.

“Is that so… Yes, I understand. Yes…… I’ll be right there…”

The person on the phone was a police officer, and he told me that my parents and Ayumi had been in a car accident. The cause of the accident was a large truck that went too fast on a curve, crossed the lane markings, and collided head-on with their car.

When I hung up the phone, I noticed there were a lot of tears in my eyes. I hurried to the hospital where the police officer told me to go, but when I arrived, they were already…

On that day, I lost my parents and my sister. What happened after that is a blur. I was kicked out of my house by my aunt, moved into a shabby apartment, and passed my high school exams, but I’ve been living in a fog since then.

“…A dream, huh?”

I had a dream for the first time in a long time. It was the worst dream.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed that my vision was blurry. I thought it was because I just woke up, but it seemed I’d been crying. I closed my eyes, rubbed them, and opened them again.

Canaan’s face was right in front of me, and our eyes met. Apparently, I had been sleeping on her lap.

“Master, you were crying…”

“Me? You’re misunderstanding things.”

I would like to enjoy the comfort of her lap pillow as usual, but I don’t feel that way right now.

“But…”

I’m grateful that Canaan is worried about me, but I don’t want to remember it. When she looks at me with such concern in her eyes, the memories grow even stronger; it’s so unpleasant.

“It’s just a misunderstanding. Don’t mention it again!”

“Okay…”

Canaan wasn’t really in the wrong, but she’s surprisingly sharp. I know it’s not good to be like this, but I just want a little more time.

“I’m sorry, I’m getting irritated because of a strange dream.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Canaan’s sad eyes pierced my heart like thorns. Canaan loves me dearly, and I made her look like that. I’m the worst.

 

 

 

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