Chapter 545: Chapter 545: The Ogre Governor

In the perspective of the ogres, it seemed to be the case that humans were not much different from grazing animals like cattle or sheep. One of the only disparities between both species would be that human meat tasted a little more tender, albeit it was troublesome to continue consuming them. Humans took aggravatingly longer to reproduce more of their kind, and it was more taxing to cultivate them compared to unassuming cattle herds.

Because of this, the ogres would not normally slaughter humans for simple meals or for no reason at all. Rather, they were reserved for special occasions. The ogres kept the humans alive until it was appropriate to slaughter a portion of them during grand festivals and celebratory feasts.

Apart from their grand occasions and extensive banquets, the ogres had also begun killing humans for their sacrificial rites which happened every now and then. It was a complete anxiety-ridden, fearful, and traumatic experience for the human beings on the pasture, as they dreaded the days wherein they would be murdered for the ogres' pleasure. Every time they held such events, a dozen or so people had been butchered for the sake of their rites.

From time to time, there were indeed some humans who would rise to stubbornly resist against the imposing ogres. However, that kind of resistance proved to be futile on every occasion and had always resulted to absolutely nothing. It had always despairingly concluded in the same way even if their defiance stemmed from the need to live. No matter how much they had fought and no matter how desperate the humans had been, they could not change their fate—ending up in the hands of the ogres one way or another. Additionally, those who fought harder and struggled more to resist their impending doom typically died a more miserable and pathetic death, as their rebellious behaviors only angered the ogres more.

Lying on the bed, Zen's posture reflected his composure and his eyes looked calm as the tranquil waves of the sea.

In the eyes of the ogres, however, Zen merely appeared to be a sheep that could bite, not at all a threat to be concerned over.

What they were not aware of was that Zen considered them as ants despite their impressive heights and enormous builds.

As the group of ogres advanced towards him, the boy named Craig looked apprehensively with a stick held tightly in his sweaty palm. The boy appeared to be nervous as he made a visible gulp and slightly shivered. 'What is this piece of wood going to do against them?' the young man thought as he gripped the twig closer to his trembling body. Just like the others who had attempted before, Craig initially possessed a sense of courage to resist. It seemed inherent for human beings to be defiant in the face of great threats, with the need to stand up for themselves and to survive. However, Craig knew deep inside that he did not have the strength to defeat his enemy.

The exact moment the ogres arrived within arms' reach of the cowering boy, Zen's eyes immediately flashed. Within a blink of an eye, his soul whooshed out of his body and wreaked havoc among the group. The soul of the man had transformed into a mighty weapon that looked like a machete as it swept across the cluster of ogres as fast as an eagle soaring through the wind.

Without the ogres even having recognized the fact that they were being attacked, the amorphous machete had already entered into the minds of the ogres. Just as quick as Zen's soul had passed into their minds, the ogres' souls instantaneously shattered into pieces.

��Lub-dub! Lub-dub!”

The bodies of the ogres visibly reacted to the intrusion, as they violently jerked the moment their minds had been tampered with and promptly destroyed. After a second had passed, the previously brawny bodies of the ogres stiffened momentarily before collapsing and falling down hard on the ground.

There was no apparent change in Zen's stoic expression as he obliterated the ogres within a span of mere seconds. With an apathetic look on his face, he raised his head and fixed his gaze on the astonished leader of the group who numbly stood in the distance. Breathing out deeply, Zen closed his eyes in concentration.

In contrast to Zen's calm and indifferent behavior, Craig, who was previously terrified of the large ogres before Zen had attacked, appeared to be dumbstruck at what he had just witnessed.

The boy was formerly positioned close to Zen when the ogres approached. Upon sighting the six or seven ogres getting nearer and nearer to where they had stood, a brief moment of hopelessness washed over him and he was prepared to die in their hands. 'I would rather fight the ogres until my last breath than be eaten by them, ' he had thought in despondency as he had closed his eyes tightly with his knees almost buckling from nervousness and terror.

However, it turned out that he did not need to die by their hands when the soul of the young man charged ostentatiously and zipped between the ogres.

What he just saw was completely beyond him and it left him with a gaping mouth and eyes the size of saucers. The boy barely had any time to react before all of the ogres attacking them plummeted to the ground like fallen dominoes.

Staggering behind the man in shock, his hand flew up to his mouth and he gasped; what Zen had just executed could only be done by a God! Looking at the man who couldn't move on the bed with fascination, the young boy was definitely certain that he was a God sent by the heavens above. This was due to the fact that Craig had never seen such a feat achieved by a mere mortal before.

The boy felt his chest fill with undulated excitement and exhilaration at his realization; it was an absolute honor to stand by the side of a God. Moreover, he could not help but feel relieved at the fact that a powerful deity had protected him from being in the clutches of the ogres.

With mild exasperation, Zen did not know that Craig would be this thrilled because of him. Not minding the eager looks the boy was sending his way, he furrowed his eyebrows and intensely focused on expelling the troublesome force of space from his body. At the very least, he needed to be able to move his body properly.

According to what Mist had told him, the continent where he was currently in was also a mainland and it was significantly larger than the entirety of the Central Region. If it was to be compared with the others, it could be considered as on par with the continent wherein the four divine kingdoms were situated in. Pondering by himself, Zen deduced that there were also some ogre masters in this continent. With a newfound determination, he reflected that before the powerful ones managed to get him, he had to recover to his strongest and most powerful state.

The head of the pack who had given the orders for some of the ogres to attack stood not far away and blinked at the immobile man with shock, clearly astounded by the stunt Zen had just pulled. The feeling of being threatened had never washed over him before and it was definitely the first time the ogre had felt daunted. Just like a human had never undergone fear or trepidation when faced with sheep, he had never felt threatened by a human before.

However, witnessing a sheep that could kill a group of humans with simply a look, any man would be petrified. As his legs were seemingly stuck on the ground refusing to move, the head of the group of ogres undoubtedly felt the same. ṚâＮỐ𝔟Ɛꞩ

Wobbling on his foot while he took a step backwards, the ogre stammered, “D..devil…”

The leader hurriedly mounted his horse and with a whip, he swiftly fled from the scene.

The martial artist originally planned to kill the head of the ogres along with the others. Unfortunately, the leader was beyond the reach of his soul power as he stood farther from the group, and Zen could not gather the strength to move as of the moment. It was definitely a pity that he could not slay him like the rest.

Sighing to himself, Zen decided to let him go for now. His priority right now was to make himself able to move as soon as possible due to the fact that they were not sure when the next threat would appear.

After having expelled the force of space from his spine, Zen began to focus his energy in expelling the force of space in his legs. Being unable to move had always been a nuisance to him and it became his most urgent problem to solve.

Right when Zen fixated on enabling his body to move once more, the boy standing next to him suddenly knelt down in veneration.

Upon seeing Craig go down on his knees and bow his head at the man, more and more people strode out of their tents and bent down on their knees in front of Zen.

It was as if they had seen a miracle happening right before their very eyes as someone singlehandedly managed to kill all of those ogres in an instant. These long suffering human beings who had been kept against their will in the pasture as livestock thought that only God would be able to accomplish such an impossible task. It was as if in their eyes, Zen was the God they had been waiting for.

Living in the pasture, no one was willing to be eaten by the ogres. Perhaps it was their survival-of-the-fittest mentality working that they gave up a few members of their race every year in exchange for the existence of their tribe. It was a sacrifice no one wanted to do themselves but was something direly needed for their continuation.

With the sudden showcase of Zen's prowess in slaying the ogres, they had seen a silver lining in the midst of heavy and grey rain clouds.

It was a possibility they had suddenly considered; maybe Zen was the God that had been sent to this forsaken place to save them from the ogres.

Despite their display of respect and gratitude, Zen turned a blind eye to them. With his heart thudding loudly in his chest, he knew he did not have much time left. It was evident in his mind that the enemies about to come would be stronger ones, and all he could think about was to recover as soon as possible.

A couple of hours had passed by when Zen finally regained his senses in his legs. With the new ability to use the muscles on his legs, the young man turned over slightly and managed to sit upright. At the very least, he was not confined to lying completely still on the hard bed on the ground.

Four more hours later, both of Zen's hands had fully regained consciousness. At the same time, he took out a pill from his space ring and swallowed it unceremoniously. When he passed through the purple space windstorm which had already taken a great toll on him to begin with, his body retained many hidden injuries and deep gashes that were different from the space power remaining on his being.

Several hours passed by agonizingly slow as Zen continued to try his best and heal himself from the inside.

Blinking his eyes open, Zen scanned his surroundings and his vision picked up on something appearing on the verge of the prairie. It seemed as if the clump-like objects were too far away to identify clearly. Just by where Zen was sitting, it looked more like a black line in the distance.

Rubbing his eyes, Zen made sure that his vision was perfect before narrowing his eyes. Leaning closer, Zen finally made out that what he had seen just moments before was a line of numerous ogres who were offensively running towards him.

“Hundreds... No, thousands of ogres?”

Zen mumbled as he squinted his eyes further.

Although Zen had cultivated the killing way due to his experience of being challenged and provoked, he had not killed that many people up until that moment. Truthfully speaking, he had made sure that the people he slayed were usually those individuals who he thought deserved to die.

However, in Zen's line of reasoning, the army of ogres marching towards him were aliens, therefore, they were not the same species as him.

Standing up and looking at them with ferociousness, his tone echoed a sense of indifference when he stated with such conviction, “Since all of you like courting death so much, I hope you are ready to be killed and turn into my malicious aura.”

The reactions of the other humans were much different than his. This was because when they had first heard the bold shouts of the ogres and subsequently turned to see them stomping towards where they stood, they all shrieked and immediately fled behind Zen, choosing to look at the man from afar.

Although the humans believed in their theory that Zen was a man of divinity, they still held doubt in their hearts about him possibly defeating thousands of ogres by himself. With feelings of trepidation and anxiety running through the human beings as they crowded in a corner, they muttered among themselves about the odds of Zen making it out of this encounter alive. However, they knew that a deity had the ability to work miracles on impossible situations. Although they lacked sense and were ignorant of the outside world, they still had high hopes that Zen would triumph over their doubts and surprise them once more with his strength.

“Ha!” Among the faceless mass of ogres, there proudly stood an ogre who adorned himself with a golden helmet and a matching golden armor. His booming voice rose through the throng of ogres which made his other comrades hold the reins of their tall horses and peer menacingly at Zen from hundreds of feet away.

“Human, have you come from the Purple Heart Sacred Place?”

The ogre leading the army inquired in a heavy, bellowing voice. All of the ogres behind him assented and yelled at their leader's question as a form of support.

'Purple Heart Sacred Place?' he frowned as he thought, the name of the place not ringing a bell or even giving him a blurry recollection of a memory. After much consideration, Zen's eyebrows shot up at the realization. “Is there a sacred place on this continent?” he mumbled to himself as a vague thought started to form in his head. Judging from the ogre's tone and how they had reacted to his demand, the location he had mentioned seemed to be a sacred place created by humans themselves.

Perhaps, he had mistaken on one thing: the status of humans on this particular continent was not as miserably low as he had imagined. There was a possibility that more of his race roamed the lands of the strange place.

Shaking his head at the threatening interrogation by the leader of the ogres, his expression visibly darkened. “You do not need to know where I come from,” he spat out venomously.

Chuckling arrogantly, the ogre peered at him with condescending eyes before speaking once more, “I am not interested to know where you come from since you are not from the Purple Heart Sacred Place.” Pointing a stubby finger towards him while the other ogres sniggered behind him, the ogre continued, “I will care no more about who you are! A puny seventh level war fighter like you dared to come to my territory and killed my people. You shall regret facing me and looking for death!”

After the leader of the army finished his spiel, he then promptly raised his arm and waved his hand as a command for the others to start attacking him. Within a short moment, the ground rumbled as if an earthquake passed by due to the thousands of ogres descending upon Zen hurriedly.

Briefly thinking back on what the ogre had called him, he quickly became angry at being titled a seventh level war fighter more than anything.

The face of Zen slightly hardened and there was a visible tick on his eyebrow from irritation. While the ogre talked, Zen realized that perhaps he called him the seventh level war fighter because he was at the seventh level of the Illuminating Soul Realm. 'Maybe this continent has marginally different terms for the realms, ' he hummed as he mused at the words of the head of the troop. It could also have been possible that only the ogres called realms this way.

Facing the ogres who viciously stomped towards him, he inaudibly inhaled and exhaled before preparing himself. The ogres were terribly wrong if they had assumed that Zen would retreat upon seeing their sheer number. Instead, he smirked to himself slightly before steadily walking forward.

Cracking his knuckles and stretching his neck from side to side, he grinned at the fact that it was fortunate that they did not know who Zen was--they also did not know what was coming for them. Just then, a soul at the Fighting Soul Realm emitted an extremely strong destructive power that made the field rumble. The source of it was Zen who had used his soul to crush the souls of his opponents, something that was easier for him to do than using his cultivation to defeat his enemies.

All of the ogres who had been savagely advancing towards him trembled and their eyes rolled towards the back of their head. The stallions whinnied in fright before taking off confusedly amidst the chaos as the ogres riding them fell of their saddles and crashed onto the ground.

From the beginning of the attack until the end, Zen did not even feel the need to raise his hands even once. The man who had radiated such an immense amount of power just silently walked in the middle of the staggering troops that consisted of thousands of infuriated ogres.

A rogue ogre that emerged from the crowd suddenly waved his wolf fang hammer and stormed towards Zen. Even though Zen had caught on his presence and instantly killed his soul, the brawny ogre still managed to swing his hammer at Zen before collapsing himself.

“Bam!” a loud sound echoed throughout the field as the hammer made contact.

The man was sent flying by the wolf fang hammer over the heads of the ogres and landed on the ground with a faint thud. Although he could have been seriously harmed by such an offensive attack, Zen merely brushed off the stray grass on his pants before getting up from the ground unharmed. Similar to Death going for a stroll in the middle of a catastrophic event, he determinedly continued to slowly walk forward.

Gasping aloud, the humans recoiling from behind Zen all covered their mouths with their hands full of shock. Never before had they seen someone so extraordinary and powerful that could withstand such an upfront attack and survive like nothing had happened. With tears flowing to his cheeks, Craig clasped his hands together and preached, “Goodness, he is the God!”

Just like human beings, it was an undeniable fact that ogres were also living creatures. As such, it was the inherent instinct of all living beings that cohabitated this world to dread the act of dying. Although the ogres embodied the reputation of being fearsome, valiant, and fierce, it would be idiotic of them to be unafraid of death itself.

Upon witnessing all of their fellow ogres that approached the nonchalant man all perish in the exact same strange way, they all became hesitant in moving forward. Moreover, who would dare rush over after seeing the power the man held right before their eyes? With the abrupt and horrifying realization, the ogres reined in their horses and frantically moved to the sides to avoid Zen.

The ogre army all sported looks of panic as the man passed by, silently daring anyone to block his way and suffer the same fate of the ogres who had perished before. It was a dramatic sight indeed, as the once formidable army charging towards the man like a raging torrent was now split apart by Zen's force alone, as if a powerful wave separated them into two sides.

Arriving at his destination, right in front of Zen stood the towering golden-armored ogre leader. Looking at him with a half-lidded gaze and a lazy grin, Zen was definitely sure he was like the others who had underestimated him and talked trash before fighting him themselves.

The ogre was the governor of this army and in his eyes, Zen's cultivation base was at a pathetically low level that would not withstand the brunt of their attacks. With a shiver running up his spine, he suddenly came upon the knowledge that Zen was attacking with his soul instead of his cultivation unlike what they had expected of a warrior.

The ogre leader hesitated for a moment and glanced at his petrified squad before taking matters into his own hands and rushing towards Zen ferociously. As their leader, he should be able to show bravery as an example to his doubtful army—he was labelled the strongest one out of all of them for something after all.

Gritting his teeth, he was well aware of the fact that ogres did not specialize in soul attacks and enduring the power from it. In this chaotic and complex continent, every race had to strengthen themselves to make up for their shortcomings and the skills that they lacked to ward off others. What Zen did not know was the fact that the ogre governor had a secret weapon that could resist soul attacks.

'As long as his soul attacks are useless on me, he will be at my mercy!' the ogre sadistically thought to himself as his eyes darkened with purpose. It was the only thought running through the mind of the governor when he yelled a battle cry and rushed towards Zen.