Chapter 8

Makai Hongi

I was holding a wooden club and facing Iribo.

Iribo was at a distance where his bow would give him an advantage, but I didn’t really care.

(Uhh. What were the special abilities of a bow?)

I had learned a lot in preparation for times like these, but there weren’t a lot of ogres with such knowledge in the first place.

And so I recalled what I had once heard from a wandering hunter.

The common special abilities of a bow were the ‘fast-shot,’ ‘curve-shot,’ and ‘rapid-shot.’

“I guess I’ll find out as I go.”

I slowly walked up to Iribo.

An arrow came flying, but I hit it out of the air with my club. It wasn’t hard, because there was still some distance between us.

(He would have hidden behind something if he could do curve-shots. But he also seemed calm even though I was getting closer. So he could likely do rapid-shots.)

There were rocks and boulders of various sizes here, so the fact he wasn’t using them as a shield made it unthinkable that he could do curve-shots. It was a move that allowed you to shoot an arrow in an arc from behind a wall without showing yourself.

As for rapid-shot, it was when you carried multiple arrows and unleashed them in rapid succession. However, once you were done shooting those, it took a while to prepare them again.

And that could have grave consequences.

Arrows came at me one after another, but it still didn’t look like he was using rapid-shot. So for now, I would assume he just had fast-shot.

With fast-shot, it was as if they had an arrow in their hand before you even realized what was happening. Kind of like a gunman’s quickdraw.

If that was indeed Iribo’s ability, he would start to use it after I had come closer.

Right when he was nearly within range of my club. When I raised it to show that I was going to hit him. That’s when he would shoot.

The fact that all of his arrows up until now seemed like they were just trying to check me was proof of that. I aimed my club at his face.

(…Soon.)

Three more steps until the wooden club would reach him. That meant he would likely shoot after I took two steps.

And so I had to do something before he attacked. Before my club could even reach him.

“Haaaahhh!”

I suddenly pushed back hard on my foot and lunged forward, unleashing a kendo thrust.

The distance didn’t matter. A thrust could be stretched.

It was something I had practice a hundred thousand times. It was carved into my body.

I could feel the impact at the tip.

As I had thrust while still out of range, it didn’t quite drill a hole in his throat. But it still had the power of an ogre behind it. He would not be okay.

Iribo went flying into the air and landed on his back. He didn’t move a muscle.

There was no need to check up on him.

“Who’s next?”