23 22. YOU DISTURBED THE RESTING PLACE OF THE WRONG MOTHERFUCKER, YOU GODDAMN BRAT

Not everyone has the fortune of landing in a forest inhabited by weak creatures, or what zoomers might call living at "recruit difficulty."

Some men, however, are quite unfortunate and end up in places forsaken even by the gods themselves. And whatever resides in those places is most of the time better left alone.

「Somewhere else deep inside a forest with a difficulty rating: Survival」

The sound of dried leaves getting stomped echoed through the forest as a boy, starved to the bone, was running away from something far more sinister.

An ear-piercing roar erupted behind him, and a monster tore the bushes around it with each step it took as it chased the young kid.

Not daring to turn around, the boy kept running while being closely followed by five skeletons. These five had rusting equipment and followed any command of their master.

Filled with desperation, the young child gasped, "Three of you, hold that creature back and distract it as much as possible. As for the rest, continue following me."

After nodding to each other, three skeletons immediately split from the group, ready to face the creature that had been plaguing the kid.

By now, everyone knew that even if they fought together against that thing, none of them would survive even if they used plot armor and the power of friendship.

A tear ran down the kid's cheeks as a fleeting thought shot through his head. 'I am sorry that I need to sacrifice all of you for my survival. If I could pick any other path, I would.'

A rough voice transmitted to him via thoughts, "We don't mind it, Az. The deceased were never meant to roam the surface of the world again. But for now, we want to protect the living before going back to our neverending sleep."

(Author note: Az is the youngest of Luz's five siblings. First appearance: in the first chapter.)

Tears began streaming down Az's cheeks before he stuttered as quietly as possible, "Thanks," before running into a cave.

Running in open space was probably the worse choice, especially in a forest known for battle royals.

As Az entered and advanced further into the cave, he stumbled upon an ancient but silvery humanoid skeleton covered in spider webs.

Filled with hopes, Az prayed, 'Hopefully, that man was a strong warrior in his past life. If not, I'll be dying here with him.' Calmly, Az placed his hand onto the silvery skull as the cave began trembling due to the creature attacking the cave. After taking a deep breath, Az exclaimed in desperation, "「Awaken my minion.」"

Upon casting that spell, the ground started quivering, and an ominous feeling enveloped the whole surrounding. The crunching sounds of the monster chomping away at Az's subordinates stopped instantly as a deep voice echoed through the forest.

"Which ignorant fool dares to disturb my resting place?!" the unknown entity roared as the skeleton's eyes slowly began glowing.

The sheer pressure released from that entity was enough to force Az onto his knees, and out of desperation, Az ordered his two remaining skeletons to position themselves in front of him. But unfortunately, even they were forced onto the ground.

Slowly, the slumped skeleton rose onto his feet, and a dust cloud immediately arose, blocking his view.

But the sound that followed afterward sent shivers running down Az's spine as the former crushed the skulls of his minions with ease while staring right at Az with his bloody red glowing eyes.

Az shrieked out of desperation before trying to get as far as possible away from the entity. Unfortunally for him, however, a hand grabbed his ankle before lifting him up with ease.

Terrified by the skeleton, Az stuttered in panic, "Plea-Please, have mercy with me," while looking at it.

A pale but silvery skeleton with a dirty body filled with cracks silently examined the child from head to toe.

What Az didn't expect to see was that his minion was stunned.

"A brat, huh? We truly live in strange times," muttered the skeleton in a rough voice as it began wondering if he was supposed to babysit a child.

Horrified, Az stuttered with eyes ripped open, "H-How c-can you talk!?"

"YEAH, HOW CAN I, THE GREAT OGRON TALK? Good question. MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE YOU DISTURBED THE RESTING PLACE OF THE WRONG MOTHERFUCKER, YOU GODDAMN BRAT!!" cursed Ogron before letting go of Az's ankle.

The latter immediately crashed against the ground before pleading, "I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I need all the help I can possibly get to survive here."

However, Ogron merely shook his head before making his way towards the exit while remarking coldly, "Young lad, I have plenty of questions, and you will answer them all. But first, I'll be taking care of the annoyance outside as I don't like the way it breathes."

Even though Az was scared shitless by Ogron, his excitement didn't dwindle the least. Hence the brat followed behind his almighty minion with trembling steps while being excited about how strong Ogron truly was.

As they got closer to the exit, Az heard the monster's loud and unrhythmic breaths as the creature that had been hunting him for the whole day stood there frozen.

It was an enormous humanoid creature the size of an elephant while also having the body of a bodybuilder, filled with testosterone as his muscles and veins were bulging with every breath it took. His skin was a kind of glowing orange and filled with scars everywhere. As for his face… Az didn't dare to look up.

'Yeah, I would have died if I faced that thing. But why isn't it doing anything?' Az wondered as he saw his minion comment in amusement, "Hoho, we got a big one here. Lad, watch and learn."

Horrified and scared shitless of being unable to move, the monster starred in terror as a silvery skeleton hand slowly bore right through its chest before casually crushing its heart.

"That thing is done," commented Ogron before turning his back onto the monster that immediately collapsed onto the ground as blood dripped off his silvery skeleton hand. "Now back to you, child. You are quite lucky that you aren't an adult, or else you would have been a head shorter the moment I set my eyes on you."

Sighing, Ogron slowly sat onto the creature's back before looking into the forest. It didn't take a genius to realize that Az's chances of survival were rather slim if left to his own devices.

"It seems like I really have to babysit you," cursed Ogron before sighing loudly, "be thankful that I have a heart for children. Anyway, in which year are we right now, and what is your name, kid?"

"My name is Az, Master Ogron," responded Az with a grin going from ear to ear.

"Don't call me master. I don't want to be called like that by a child who dares to disturb the peace of someone resting," Ogron lectured Az while shaking his head.

"Ok, master Ogron," Az replied with a smile.

"Be careful, brat. Didn't your parents teach you to respect elders?" Ogron grumbled while picking up a stick from the ground.

"Ogron, do you actually know where we can find the northern conifer forest ?" Az asked in curiosity.

Author note: The village of the siblings was in the northern conifer forest.

"No. I don't remember any coniferous forest, and which year is it actually?" asked Ogron.

"It's the year 23.505," replied Az.

"23.505, hmm? I must have been asleep for a thousand years. Let's see what has become of my descendants and the different kingdoms that existed during my lifetime," mumbled Ogron.

Shocked by such a revelation, Az stared at the two-meter tall skeleton with sparkling eyes. "Ogron, what rank were you before you died?"

"Talking to you about mage levels is kinda pointless since you're better off not knowing them. To keep it short, I used to be a strong and feared man," he stated with a puffed chest before quickly adding, "feared by all men but loved by women of all ages."

"Well, you might add that you are now the strongest babysitter, hehe," Az commented in amusement, and the breaking of a stick, followed by a sharp cry, echoed through the forest.

"Listen here, you little shit, since I'm your guardian, you will follow my words, or I will leave you alone. Anyway. My first command is that you awaken that ugly Oger as your minion. He will be carrying us."

"But, he is way too strong for me to control," whimpered Az in pain.

"I don't care. I will beat that stupid Oger into submission until he accepts to serve you," commented Ogron casually while throwing the broken stick onto the ground.