The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness

An Ogre seen from a close distance was something else. He was breathing heavily and his steel skin shone with a mysterious luster. I felt a strong heat from him, perhaps his body temperature was higher than a human’s.

However, even when a giant fist was swung down on me, I still didn’t flinch.

Humanoid creatures are nothing compared to giant dogs the size of food stalls. The ogre’s flesh squeaked. Fittingly, his shocking visage contorted. “Impossible… this is… impossible…”

“Not bad, Champion.”

I couldn’t just evade his fist. His iron-colored fist, that was one size larger than me, contained tremendous strength in it. However, while Ogres seem to be very powerful – they still aren’t the enemies of vampires, who have grown stronger by drinking only the finest quality blood.

His fist caught in the palm of my hand creaked. Blood vessels appeared on the face of the ogre with bared sharp fangs, making him look tense. However, even with all that force, he couldn’t make me budge. I’m still fine. He might be twice my size in everything, including thickness of his arms, weight and physique, but I’m still stronger. I divert the fist I caught to the side. His giant body grandly loses its footing. I try to land a blow on my enemy’s body, but my body is thrown in the air with a violent impact. I feel my bones break and my flesh twist. After drawing a high arc in the air, I somehow manage to land on the ground.

I was kicked in my solar plexus, but I did not feel much pain. I also managed to land a blow on his chest. My wound has already healed too. “A-aghhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The ogre roars and kicks the ground with force, but perhaps the blow I did to his body dealt a lot of damage, as his movements aren’t as sharp as before and his center of gravity seems to have shifted too. Looks like my durability and regeneration abilities are better than his.

We exchange fists head on, just like he had done with another ogre a while ago. I could avoid his punches, but there were no real reasons to. Ogres have claws and fangs and their fists are so boney, they’re closer to a blunt weapon, but they’re not made of silver. I only played along because this seemed to be their way of fighting.

I let him hit me as many times as I hit him. My field of vision blurs, my flesh squeaks and my body shakes from the impact, I take hits to my head, my shoulders, my stomach, and my legs.

Still, even if we take the same damage, Champion is the one who slows down. Champion’s vigor was fierce, as expected from the winner of the previous battle, but he couldn’t escape from the limits of his body. After taking a hit to his chin, Champion’s head shook and he finally kneeled over. How inconvenient it is for living beings; to become immobile after just having their brains shaken.

The result has already been decided. Well, I did have a handicap, but now I’m the Champion. And I’m still ready to fight some more. My wounds have healed and I don’t feel any fatigue.

Thus, I ask other ogres who have been watching us with bated breaths.

“I’m feeling good. Who’s the next challenger?”

??????

Too strong. The scenery unfolding before Monica was unbelievable for her, even if she had prior knowledge about it.

An ogre, species known for their superior physical strength, was losing to somebody two heads smaller than him.. The palm that used the center of gravity to its advantage was raised, and yet the ogre, who put in so much effort until his face turned red, still could not make him budge. End, himself, looked undisturbed. It was natural, as his body was already dead.

She only wanted to test his strength, but even just a slight test was enough to ascertain that he would be the natural enemy for Demon King Rainel’s army. To start with, this was the opponent that even Oliver, who boasted of his regeneration ability and his superhuman strength, regarded as out of his league. All things had their good and bad matches. Undead, humans and the Demon King’s army were in a three-way deadlock. The Demon King’s army, where a lot of individuals with superior physical abilities gathered, tend to overpower humans. They would not lose easily even against Death Knights. However, on the other hand, they are very weak against high-ranked undead, the beings out of this world, that possess excellent physical abilities and regeneration, along with an untiring body.

The reason for that was because, unlike the demons like Monica, for most of the races that made up the Demon King’s army, their power was the source of their pride. Vampires have a lot of weaknesses to offset their enormous power, but the Demon King will not try to use those to his advantage. He might try to swap the weapons for the ones made of silver, but using flowing water, crosses or garlic is out of the question. It’s because he thinks that using those would make him fall to the same level as humans, who he looks down on.

At first glance, the ogre warrior and End seemed to be equal. The ogre’s fist made End stagger and easily sent him flying. End’s kick made the ogre’s body that was hard as steel, creak. It seemed that the vampires were superior in terms of power, but it wasn’t like the strength of the ogres was limited only to their superhuman power either.

Even in the eyes of a layman, End’s combat abilities were not very high. However, even if he wasn’t very skilled, the durability of the two were far too different. The regeneration ability of the ogres was superior to humans, but a vampire’s regeneration ability exceeded even that. While the movements of the opposing ogre warrior became duller, there were no changes in End’s movements even since the start of the fight. Even when he was hit on the head, even when he was knocked off his feet, he attacked back without showing any signs of weakening.

[They’re… really no match for him.] This vampire would most likely have no problems even going against 100 ogres in a row. Truly, a peerless warrior. In addition, End hasn’t used any of his vampire’s abilities either.

The eyes of the ogres known for their bravery distort in fear. Monica had yet to fully grasp End’s true strength, however, just how many beings in the Demon King’s army could even match him?

They would be eaten. In this army, where everything was decided through battles, vampires who felt neither fatigue nor damage were the worst. Just like Oliver, whose powers rivaled End’s and who silenced every rebel against him with pure power, word of End’s existence would spread in the blink of an eye. And, Oliver couldn’t have picked a worse time to turn incompetent. Rainel is a powerful Demon King. He wouldn’t easily lose to a vampire, but, on the other hand, he also wasn’t the type to go against the law of the jungle he made himself.

Finally unable to endure any more hits, the ogre warrior fell to his knees. Nobody cheered. Ogre warriors, that took pride in fighting, were completely swallowed by the atmosphere. This wasn’t something that could even be called a duel. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like End had killed the ogre. Vampires were known for being violent, but perhaps Monica’s insistence over and over before the match had helped. If they played their cards right, there was a chance that End would ally with them. If he did, they would have a considerable advantage over the armies of other Demon Kings.

While Monica was busy making calculations in her mind, End spoke up with a laid-back tone.

??????

I can fight. I can hold my own against them. The ogres were strong and agile, but not as much as the current me. They had endurance and their wounds healed quite fast, but not as much as the current me. After I defeated the Champion, I ambushed the new challenger ogre. After knocking down 5 of them, the challengers disappeared and I stopped fighting. Looks like a vampire’s body is of higher quality than I thought. This is only talking about the case I forget about my weaknesses, but it doesn’t seem like I would have problems fighting multiple opponents at the same time if they’re as strong as an ogre.

Naturally, my opponents weren’t fighting seriously. They didn’t have any weapons. Had they had silver weapons, they could wound me, and even without that, they could incapacitate me if they broke me apart. That’s why I can’t afford to get overconfident. But it’s not like I showed my all either.

Rainel’s army is going to be a great training ground for me. I don’t have much experience fighting humanoid creatures, and there are a lot of demons here. I wonder if I can also use of the fighting techniques that the ogres use. The one that makes use of their superhuman strength? There should be beings stronger than me in the Demon King’s army. I don’t particularly attach much importance to strength, but I want to gain as much experience as possible. In my opinion, I’ve been too unlucky so far. “You are truly powerful to be able to defeat so many ogres in a row. Even in this army… you would most likely completely overpower most opponents.” Monica, who was observing us from a distance, praised me, but from her scent, I could easily discern what she truly thought. I felt how careful she was when choosing her words. Maybe she was trying to avoid arousing my animosity.

“I want to fight somebody strong. You see, I lack combat experience.”

“… I have somebody in mind. You will definitely clash against them if you desire to obtain living humans.”

Monica trembled and her expression turned serious. Then, she said something unexpected.

“There… is a precious prisoner of war right now in this army ―― A Death Knight. One of the executives, ‘Man-Eater’, should also be participating in a battle for this prisoner. When Lord End defeats ‘Man-Eater’, your strength will be acknowledged even within this army.”

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