Chapter 24: Painful Nostalgia

A masked man appeared with a flick of reality, and walked towards the now dead ogre, then leaned down while poking the body with his black umbrella, as he says, "Life has been cruel to you, hasn't she? How tragic. Your village was ravaged and laid waste upon by the humans, and now you have been killed by the very same race you hated. I am proud that you never accepted the reality of the world we lived in and instead decided to fight against it by doing the very same thing to them. And, if you manage to kill him, then I'll give you life once again. Now rise, Garrogan, The Ogre!"

The masked man then touched the forehead of the ogre, and a dark brilliant light shone on the tip of his finger to the forehead of the ogre.

The masked man then stood straight, tapping his umbrella on the ground now and then. The white mask he was wearing covered his entire head, and it had no holes for him to see or breath, only pure whiteness. He has a black fedora on top of his head, and he wore a black suit with white gloves on.

He also wore several rings with bright gems on them but one, in particular, stood out; a ring that has a black skull in it.

The ogre slowly stood up as it grew in size, then its growth fully stopped when it reached 200 feet. The ogre was dead, yet it was alive; an undead. Its only goal was to kill the one who destroyed its village and protect its offspring. The ogre stood up, and then it growled as its eyes turned redder than the crimson moon of the crimson twilight.

The masked man just tapped the ground with the tip of his umbrella, and a black portal appeared behind him.

"Now, dear ogre, kill him and a prize you shall get. For thee to liveth once again, you hath to kill the one gifted by the heavens, and kill you shalt." Then, the masked man slowly backed away to the black portal behind him and disappeared as the portal vanished without any trace.

The zombie-ogre simply growled, and faster than the sound itself, it appeared in front of its charred house. Its height and weight simply didn't matter as its power had already grown far, far stronger than the average ogre.

The remaining goblins had their eyes lit up as they saw their leader rise once again. They were happy, joyful that it lived for them once more.

Present time…

Jumping on the roof of the house, I used my speed to run away, only to see the ogre in front of me. 

'How can it move so fast!?'

I was slapped away by its huge hand, but luckily, I had my barrier up, so it only broke my barrier. But the impact still sent me flying into the air, up in the clouds, and I looked down, and to my shock, I saw the ogre gone from his spot and felt a giant shadow looming over me.

I focused all of my mana on my barrier, making it harder than ever before!

The ogre then grabbed onto me, and threw me to the ground from the sky!

Like a speeding rock, I descended to the ground with a speed that's faster than sound itself! I landed in a nearby forest with a loud crash, and even making a deep hole in the ground. I managed to survive as I used my barrier to soften my landing and protect me from the impact. But even after all of that, I still felt like shit. My organs are being crushed for some reason, and I threw up blood inside my barrier.

With another 5000KP gone, I ate a rejuvenation pill and every part of my body just healed up so perfectly.

Thinking fast, I stomped on the ground to boost myself so that I could run away from the gigantic ogre but only found myself in front of its feet. It grabbed me, and this time, it made sure to firmly hold its grasp on me as it raised its hand to its face.

It looked at me, and then roared with rage.

"Graaaahh!!"

I felt my ears ring after its roar.

Then It threw me in the sky and opened its mouth.

'It's going to eat me!' I smashed my palms together and controlled the earth below it to form a large spike that can kill it, and when the giant spike rose to its below, it only broke as it couldn't pierce its skin.

Despair took over me, and as I was about to get eaten, Alexander arrived in the nick of time and caught me in the sky. Then landed on the ground.

"My, my, what trouble have you walked into, Auguste?" He said while carrying in his arms.

"I-I don't know, it just appeared so suddenly. I couldn't even sense it! We have to run away, Alexander, it's something we cannot beat."  I frantically said, panic entering my mind.

"You'll have to rephrase that. YOU cannot beat it, and that is understandable because you are still but a child. I, though, am different." He put me down on the soft patch of grass, "Run away, for now, I'll be fighting this thing myself."

With a bit of hesitation, I ran away. A coward I may be, but… I can't die now, not here…

I arrived in the ruined goblin village, panting. I saw the few remaining goblins standing in front of me with farming weapons in their hands. Unlike last time where their eyes no longer had light, this time their eyes are brighter than before. A change of moral is what happened to them because their leader had woken up from its death.

There are 20 of them, all are average goblins that have no fighting skills whatsoever.

"Get out of my way!" Having no time at all, I rushed towards them with my poisoned dagger in hand and sliced through them.

With each swing of my dagger, one of them died. I did not leave a single one alive, because who knows what they might do in the future.

After I was done with them, I ran straight to the shed where the tunnel lies.

When I finally got to the small tunnel, I relaxed a bit. I sat down with my back against the wall, and rested to get back my stamina.

"Tutorial bot… what was that? How could you not sense such a thing coming towards me?" I asked, simply mad that he couldn't warn me about that monster's reappearance.

[It's not my fault, Auguste. The magic used to reanimate the corpse of that ogre and make it stronger than when it was alive is something even I cannot sense. But I can assure you that someone was behind this, someone who can use undead magic. Be careful from now on, Auguste, if by chance that the one behind this was sent by one of the gods that your creator had as enemies, we might as well be dead. We cannot face a demigod right now, in your current state. But something is strange… if it was a demigod, why didn't they confront you personally? Something is suspicious about all this]

I sat there, on the ground of the tunnel, thinking of tutorial bot's words. A demigod? Forget that, I can barely fight an ogre! A demigod is strong, stronger than the average human. It's probably at the peak of the Imprisonment Stage according to its power level.

"By the way, how strong was that undead ogre?" I asked.

[Around seven to eight-million power levels. It's a strong one. It's barely even a miracle you survived!]

"Yeah, yeah. I'm tired. I'll wait for Alexander here, tell me if an enemy is coming, just to be ready." I said.

Meanwhile, with Alexander…

*ROOOOOOOOOOAAR!*

The ogre roared, and the ground shook with the trees being uprooted by the shockwave that roar made.

"So cruel, how could they turn you into that? You are now but a mindless beast, following its master's orders. I don't know which necromancer did this to you but I'll put an end to their charade!"

The time slowed down around him as his features grew sharper, and his skin became paler.

In less than the blink of an eye, the zombified ogre turned to mincemeat as Alexander had punched it.

In less than a second, the ogre finally died, permanently.

His features receded to his usual appearance, but he was panting and sweating. The burden of turning into a vampire is slowly taking over him, he needs to find a way to cure him of his vampiric transformation soon.

He put his hands together and went to pay respect to the dead ogre.

"May you rest in peace, o unfortunate creature." He said, then turned around to leave.

Yet, as he walked away and disappeared into the forest, the masked man from earlier stood around the ruined corpse of the ogre, staring at the fading figure of Alexander.

"How nostalgic…" He said with no apparent emotions in his deep and monotone voice.