A muffled clang like metal striking metal rang out, and the young hunter instantly felt his arms go numb, as if his blade had struck not a creature, but solid stone.

“Wha—” Before the young hunter could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a heavy blow to his chest. There was the sound of ribs breaking, and his whole body was knocked to the ground, sliding several meters away.

When the others saw the newcomer clearly, the experienced old hunter cried out, “Ogre!” The faces of the other hunters immediately turned grim.

Ogres could hardly be considered magical beasts anymore; in some sense, they belonged to a branch of the demihumans. They possessed immense strength and a savage nature, but their intelligence was pitifully low—far inferior even to that of orcs.

“Roar!” The ogre threw back its head and howled, swinging its rusted spiked club as it charged at one of the hunters.

“Fall back! The rest of you, aim for its eyes!” The experienced old hunter drew his bow and aimed at the ogre’s mouth, shouting, “Where’s Unknown? Hasn’t he come back from fetching water yet? Stall for time! Wait for Unknown to return!”

Hearing the old hunter call out Unknown’s name, the panicked hunters quickly regained their composure. They scattered, surrounding the ogre and using its relatively slow movements to harass it with hit-and-run tactics.

Arrows struck the ogre’s body as if hitting stone, unable to pierce its flesh at all. This gave everyone an even deeper understanding of just how tough and thick-skinned ogres were.

The dim-witted ogre was lured back and forth by the hunters, unable to harm a single one of them. The experienced old hunter said happily, “Good! Keep it up! Keep harassing him—once Unknown is back, we can kill him!”

Harried by the hunters, the ogre grew increasingly irritable. With a furious roar, it suddenly hurled its rusted spiked club like a javelin at an unsuspecting hunter.

No one had expected the slow-witted ogre to try such a move. By the time the hunter tried to dodge, it was too late. In desperation, he barely managed to raise his steel blade to his chest in defense.

Against the massive spiked club, the hunter’s steel blade was like an insect trying to stop a chariot. In an instant, the huge club smashed the hunter into a bloody pulp.

Seeing the success of its thrown club, the ogre casually picked up a stone the size of a human head and hurled it at another hunter.

With the stone suddenly upon him, the hunter had no time to dodge. In shock, he could only close his eyes and await death.

“Bang!”

The doomed hunter heard the sound of the stone striking something. Slowly opening his eyes, he was overjoyed to see before him a man who was not particularly burly, yet had effortlessly caught the ogre’s thousand-pound throw with one hand, his face showing only a faint, sorrowful expression.

“Unknown! You’re back!” The hunters who had narrowly escaped death cried out in delight to Unknown, who had intercepted the stone with his left hand: “That’s the ogre! Be careful! Dali is already…”

Unknown nodded silently. Empty-handed, he walked up to the ogre and stood before it, carefully sizing it up.

The ogre was infuriated that Unknown, who was only of ordinary human height, dared to stand before it without a trace of fear. With its simple mind, it failed to notice that Unknown had caught the stone it had thrown with all its might, and that there was not the slightest sign of pain on his face.

“Roar!” Enraged by Unknown’s indifference, the ogre let out a furious roar and swung a fist powerful enough to shatter rock straight at Unknown’s head.

Lowering his stance, dashing forward, and throwing a left punch—Unknown’s three movements flowed together seamlessly, both concise and swift. The left hand that had just blocked the stone now plunged deep into the ogre’s body, which even a hunter’s javelin could not pierce. Red blood slowly trickled down Unknown’s left arm.

The ogre stared in disbelief at Unknown, who was much shorter than itself. This utterly ordinary human had managed to pierce its chest with one hand and pull out the “core” that sustained its life.

With the last of its strength, the ogre raised its right hand and fiercely grabbed at Unknown’s left arm, which had just been withdrawn from its body.

Its sharp claws struck Unknown’s left arm with a metallic clang. The ogre stared in shock as its claws, which could cut through stone, shattered into pieces after merely slicing the skin of this human’s arm.

“Roar!” The ogre let out an unwilling roar to the sky and collapsed. In its final moment, it saw a glint of metal flash beneath the skin of the man’s left arm.

Unknown raised his right hand and wiped the ogre’s blood from his face, his expression blank as he turned and said, “It’s dead.”

The hunters swarmed forward and, following the wound Unknown had made, quickly butchered the ogre. In the eyes of these hunters, every part of an ogre was a treasure: its hard bones could be made into spears as strong as steel but much lighter, its deep blue skin could be sewn into sturdy clothing or shields, its sinews made excellent bowstrings, and its flesh could be eaten.