Day 31-40/Day 35

I woke up due to a strange urge. The lighting was dim, but I didn’t mind that very much.

I was stirred by a strange hunger that was unlike any I’d ever felt before, so I reached for the corpse of the nearby Red Bear. After removing the bowie knife that I had lodged deeply in the bear’s forehead, I used raw strength to tear its head off. When I brutally ripped off the skin, flesh, and cervical vertebrae, the sound could be heard from afar.

I hadn’t fully regained consciousness yet, so I was munching on the Red Bear’s head that was in my hand.

Ability [Lord of the Mountain's Piercing Roar] learned Ability [Intimidating Glare] learned Ability [All Elemental Resistance] learned

After I tore the hair off the head, crushed the cranium and slurped the brain for a few seconds, I judged that the bear’s pelt was needed, so I took the bowie knife that had somehow seemed smaller and carefully peeled it off.

I got the feeling that the Red Bear became smaller since I fainted, but my head wasn’t working right, so I couldn’t find a reason to why I felt that way.

It just felt right peeling the skin off the bear, I did it for no other reason.

Any other thoughts didn’t enter my mind.

My left hand from the elbow down was gone, however, this much could be fixed by my abilities so there was no problem.

Using my [Metamorphosis] ability, I was able to make slender fingers for my arm, which was gone from the elbow down, and pick up the pelt.

Though having difficulty using a small knife with my prosthetic fingers, I was able to finish flaying the pelt from the bear. After that, I started eating the flesh of the now naked bear.

As if suffering from intense starvation, I single-mindedly devoured its flesh and blood until nothing remained.

Ability [Lord of the Mountain's Stout Hide] learned. Ability [Lord of the Mountain's Strong, Supple muscle] learned.

Ability [Consecutive Raging Strikes] learned. Ability [Tyranny of the Beast King] learned.

Ability [Demigod of Fire's Divine Protection] learned. Ability [Complete Fire Resistance] learned.

Even chewing and tearing brought out its flavor, truly the best meat I have ever had, I drank the thick blood that almost tasted like wine, I could feel the Red Bear’s vitality as soon as I swallowed a mouthful of its innards, I devoured its crunchy bones and exhausted its bone marrow just like the minerals of a cave, at that point my mind has finally been cleared and started working.

I then looked at my body.

My body remained black, and although there were large quantities of blood covering it, I noticed some unfamiliar red lines that seemed to have some religious significance—–wonder if I should call it a tattoo?—-all over my body. And the size of my body is a full human arm length taller than that of an adult male, my belly has also turned into a 6-pack abs, it’s easy to realize that I am not a Hobgoblin anymore but a different species entirely.

And my hair, I am sure it wasn’t this long. Although my hair grew when I turned into a Hobgoblin, it couldn’t even reach up to my shoulders, comparing it to now, it feels like my hair has already reached below my shoulder blades. Aside from growing longer, it has also turned gray.

Lastly, two sharp horns had grown out from my forehead. When I touched them, they felt extremely hard. If I charged like a bull, I’m sure there’d be a “buzuri” sound when I stab the target. While I was checking out my new body in various ways, I remembered the message I recieved before I lost consciousness.

Yeah, it seems I have turned into a Great Ogre.

Not a subspecies at that, oddly enough I evolved into a rare type.

Well, if you kill this much then you’ll get enough to rank up, it can’t be helped if I turned into a rare species. I convinced myself that it wasn’t a bad thing at all.

In the same manner as when I became a Hobgoblin from a Goblin, when I turned into a rare Ogre, all of my abilities have been enhanced and my body is filled with a temporary feeling of omnipotence. However, I decided to leave the verifying of the enhancements for another time. I think it’s about time for me to head back. The others are probably worried since I haven’t returned yet.

As I picked up the halberd that might be reusable if repaired, I noticed something when I was about to leave. My clothes were so tattered up to the point where it didn’t cover the parts that need to be hidden. As a side effect of when my body grew, the clothes that I was wearing got torn to shreds.

Basically, I am currently naked.

My member was swinging and hanging out between my legs; it was so amazing I had to gaze at it for a while. When I got worried as to what I should do, I solved the problem by taking the Red Bear’s pelt, which I had already skinned off, and strapped it around my waist to cover it.

I see, that’s why I skinned the Red Bear’s pelt, because I had a premonition that such a situation would occur, I thought while using a wind-blade to cut the tree and threads that I’d been using as a shield causing a “zuban” sound to occur.

Because my power had increased, even if I held back, it turned into a one-hit kill.

Judging by the position of the Sun, I’m guessing it’s around two o’clock now. I had slept for a pretty long time, I should hurry back to the base.

On the way back I found my backpack and field bag lying around, after that I recovered as many Estocs and Bowie Knives as I could; at least those that can still be repaired.

The Three-Horned Horse leg that I placed in my backpack was already stolen, it can’t be helped if the materials that remained such as the shell of the demon spider are damaged, I gave up.

The backpack is still useful even though it was already worn out.

Because I’d gotten bigger, and by abusing some of my abilities, I arrived at the mining base in the blink of an eye, where they were noticeably wary of me.

And since I had a large body and, with the use of my abilities, I have invaded the mining base very quickly, they’re all wary to an extent that I could only find admirable. Yeah, if an unknown ogre suddenly appeared, this is what’d happen, I thought with a wry smile.

Also they’re more afraid of me than they used to be.

Ah, since I’d turned into an Ogre I probably have a face filled with evil, I’m sure of it. I’m confident that it would be something like this:

Goblin?Ugly Hobgoblin ? Human-like?Ogre ? Some kind of Berserker?

My current state.

Something like this, I’m sure.

By the way, there’s no concrete proof, but I’m probably around two meters tall right now.

So in comparison to the shorter goblins that were surrounding me, there was a huge difference in perspective.

I’m completely looking down at them. “They’d be in my blind spot if they got too close; I’d completely lose sight of them.”

Soon after, Gobumi-chan came out from the back and realized that it was me. Just like that, the rest of the goblin’s wariness vanished. Gobumi-chan who identified me in an instant, had her facial expression turned into that of anger. And with all her might, kicked me in the shin.

It didn’t hurt at all, though I acted like I was in pain. However the one who truly felt pain was Gobumi-chan, so I casually healed her with my healing skills to ease her discomfort. As soon as her pain subsided, Gobumi-chan made me do seiza.

[T/N: Seiza means an upright kneeling position that is traditionally used in Japan in meditation and as part of the preparation in martial arts.]

She was really worried, saying things like “What were you doing?”, “How did you turn into an Ogre?”. I was being nagged. Since I lost my left hand, I couldn’t refute her nagging. Besides, I can’t talk back when I could notice her tearing up a little. I was about to say sorry for making you worry, but then Gobukichi and Redhead arrived after hearing the commotion.

Of course, they were surprised. So surprised they couldn’t even stop their mouths from hanging open.

Well, of course they would if they were worried because I didn’t return the first day, and then came back as an Ogre the next.

To offer a tentative explanation of the events, once the key members such as Gobue-chan, Hobusei-san, Hobusato-san, and Gobujii had been gathered, I started explaining. I chased the other goblins out saying that I will tell them later.

Eh…, when I thought I should return soon after hunting I found a ‘Red Bear’. To test my strength, and partially because of instinct, I attacked it.

After that, the fighting that started in the evening continued through the night, it only concluded when the sun came up yesterday morning.

After that I couldn’t move because I had taken heavy damage, so I erected a barrier using my thread and slept in an attempt to recover my strength.

Then, a while ago when I opened my eyes I had become an ogre. A rare variant at that, too. My equipment had become worn out, but I had the Red Bear’s pelt as a trophy, so it wasn’t much of a loss.

Well, I was just thankful to be alive.

After telling them that much, I noticed Hobusei-san, Hobusato-san and also Gobujii show a stupid look with their jaws hanging as if dislocated.

What is it Gobujii? Eh? Did I kill the Red Bear? I told you already didn’t I, while saying that I patted the fur wrapped around my waist to draw their attention to it.

Hmm? What is it Hobusei-san? Hm hm, so there’s a considerably strong, almost peerless bear-type monster called “Hind Bear” living in these forests, but it’s generally grey in color and can go up to three meters long.

Additionally, among those bears there are individuals that belong to a subspecies whose fur was red in color. That subspecies is unable to wield magic like a mage, but they have high intelligence and the ability to breathe fire, and they are also on a separate level compared to common Hind Bears in things like physical strength and sense of smell.

So in short, because that thing was the strongest among Hind Bears, it was the strongest in the entire area.

Therefore that Hind Bear subspecies was called the “Lord of the Mountain”. It has enough strength to easily kill and eat an ogre, right?

I see. Somehow I doubt such a monster would be spotted twice, given its rarity in this wide world.

“Ouch, Stop attacking my head Hobusato-san.” Though it really doesn’t hurt. “Eh? You want to take a better look at the fur? It can’t be helped.” As I showed it to her, she said it was definitely the real thing.

Well, I even turned into an ogre after fighting it, and of the abilities I got, there was even one named [Lord of the Mountain's Strong, Supple Muscle], so there’s no doubt.

Also, she said I who became an Ogre in such a short amount of time stopped being ‘abnormal’ and became an ‘impossible existence’. Although I retorted that this was unavoidable, she replied saying such a thing can’t be said so easily without knowing.

It’s unreasonable.

So we talked about various things for an hour before ending the meeting.

No, as expected the current situation is not good since I’m as exposed as a newborn. So I want to get some new clothes quickly. I feel ashamed; as expected, one can’t remain calm in such an embarrassing state.

Afterwards, I took sneak peeks around the place.

I decided to go to my workshop, but soon realized Gobumi-chan and Redhead had followed me. “What are you, my parents?”, I felt like telling them, but I refrained. I let them do as they please since there was no harm done, I went and greeted the rest of the women for now. I wanted to check if anything had happened since my absence.

They were really afraid. They were all screaming at me from the sudden meeting. I got tired quickly since the other goblins started gathering to check the commotion and I had to drive them away.

The girl’s reaction made me want to cry, I told them what happened and even used my flames and threads, finally they realized who I am. I could still notice them shivering from fear, but I was glad that they finally each showed a relieved smile towards the end. I felt like saying “Good job!” since they all looked so cute.

“Ouch!”. I felt a little bit of pain from both my arms as the two girls behind me pinched me. Though I refrained from hardening my skin, since I thought of it as a punishment game for making them worry about me, afterwards we talked about various things.

I’ve asked Blacksmith-san to do some maintenance on the halberd that was damaged badly. I got scolded again for a while, “You’ve really done well making it so tattered”.

After the scolding, it seems like she’s using a spirit stone on weapons like I did with my old knife, I was told to check it later. “And if it’s okay with you I would like to try and create a new weapon for you”, I nodded immediately as soon as she asked me this.

I find it cute seeing her getting happy, albeit briefly, smiling with beet red cheeks. It made me involuntarily pat her head. So as not to hurt her I tried my best to control my strength. Still, I think it was nice seeing her look like a cute child getting tickled. As expected, a woman’s smile is the best.

For some reason the two pinched me even harder. Why?

I got fired up when I was told they would be making bear stew, so I went Hind Bear hunting for the [Cook] sisters. “If you want bear stew, you will need to get this and this and that.” And so I ordered the goblin minions to go and gather them.

Lately I’ve been working these guys so much, their level should be around 100, perhaps some of them could become hobgoblins soon.

As expected, it’s hard for the two to do all the work, I wanted to at least help them cut some of the ingredients, so I appointed three female goblins of my generation from the Patri group to assist the girls.

Though I took the consideration that it’s still dangerous for them to be with the males, these girls are incredibly tough.

Anyone; friends, acquaintances, relatives or even lovers that are killed or kidnapped by the goblins will see them as enemies, yet you can see the difference when you look at these two, the mental strength and the adaptability they possessed are remarkable even though such a short time has passed since their kidnapping.

Really, these two are amazing. Even if it is a miscalculation on my part, I’m still glad.

“You girls would really make good wives. Will it be okay if I made you two my wives?” I told them this as a joke.

As I was looking forward to tonight’s dinner, I told them that I’m not gonna stay any longer.

When they faced me blushing, showing their blissful smile, I found it really cute.

As soon as I left, I was struck in the back of the head by the two with wooden swords.

Though it didn’t hurt, it was still unreasonable.

Alchemist-san was concocting a potion as usual, there’s some kind of poisonous gas mixed inside. Though it’s not the type of poison that could painfully kill you, it will quickly enter your body and paralyze you.

I gave her a bitter smile and softly whispered to her the ways in which to use the poison. Whatever, this is for self-protection and the likes.

Because she understood that just like how there are all kinds of humans, someone like me exists among the goblins that tried to assault them, she didn’t feel anything like wanting to mix in poison into the food, however she still made them because it’s scary to not be the least bit prepared, that’s how it was.

If asked “Don’t you hate them enough to want to kill them?”, then sure, there are goblins she hates to the point of wanting to kill, but she’s become able to trust me ever since the matter that night. Besides, I think she managed to trust even the likes of Gobukichi-kun lately.

At the same time, she told me I show too much strength as an ogre. I am of the impression that my body is beyond weird. My red tattoos were also a little frightening.

“I can’t help it though”, I said as I extended both my hands and stretched out my prosthetic fingers toward her and jokingly picked her up, then I sensed icy glares coming from the two behind me.

So strong were their glares, I thought, “Oh crap, I’m going to get killed”.

That being the case, I did the same to the two to appease them. Then, I did the same thing to Blacksmith-san and the sisters too.

My body aside, I felt emotionally tired because I had to be careful not to break everyone’s fragile bodies.

After that, I finally arrived at my workshop, my clothes feeling itchy.

The Red Bear pelt that I considered making into new armor could not be processed yet, so I decided to leave it for now. In the meantime, I made shorts out of the Armored Tanuki hide that I had already tanned beforehand.

I don’t really feel cold being an ogre, and since I thought that making a pair of trousers in my size would use up too much hide, so to save on materials I made shorts instead.

At the same time, I think that armor made out of Red Bear hide, like any other hide, will be enough protection. However, it’s from the Red Bear and I endured great pains to obtain it after all. I think that rather than making hide armor, it is better to make hard leather armor that has higher defense.

I nimbly finished making the shorts and put them on immediately.

With this I can protect my dignity as a person. That was what I felt.

After that, I went on to making the Red Bear hide harder by boiling it. Tomorrow I will work hard at making equipment to go hunting with, I thought. Although I have a different motive as well, since I’m now too big for the weapons we have at the moment.