My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Responding to Kyousuke’s desperate shout, I managed to slide the "night blade god" between the demon’s claws and my body just before I was ripped apart.

Still, I hadn’t been able to get my stance in order, so there was no way I could fully take the blow. Blown away, I couldn’t even land a proper roll—something that hadn’t happened since those low-level days in the Cantinen Labyrinth.

After a long hang time, I slammed into a tree on my back, quite far from Kyousuke and Mr. Zeal.

“Akira-kun!!”

“It’s fine! Don’t worry about me!”

I shouted back toward Mr. Zeal’s voice far off and forced myself up.

For the first time since coming to this world, I was grateful for my monster-like defense and durability.

Despite being slammed with considerable force, I was only lightly injured—able to move almost immediately.

Even though I could hear Mr. Zeal’s voice in the distance, no reinforcements could be expected at this range.

The trees obscured most of the view; I could barely make out the hulking figure over there.

Blocking my way was a monster larger than the two near me—huge enough to cover my whole body—standing between me and Kyousuke’s group.

Even though it was right in front of me, neither my presence detection nor my danger sense reacted.

Before I knew it, the three of us were surrounded by a pack of giant monsters.

Their forms weren’t like the vaguely animal-like demons I’d met before; they resembled the drawings of devils you see in picture books.

Wings like a bat’s, long thin arms and legs, and multiple red, spider-like eyes glared down at us.

From where its mouth should have been, squid-like tentacles extended and writhed as if they had a will of their own.

Its whole body was pitch black, and its hideous shape instinctively repelled me.

Compared to the monsters so far, these were disgustingly ugly—definitely creepy rather than oddly cute.

While watching it, I glanced at my ring and realized the red light was linked to the monster in front of me.

“So that’s an Ogre.”

It made sense that such a being would drop a Demon Stone larger than my height.

Until now, the bigger Demon Stones had come from humanoid-ish monsters, and looking at this thing’s eyes made the reason obvious.

This one—and the others—possessed intelligence close to a human’s.

Probably not as clever as a human, but definitely more formidable than the mindless creatures that’d been attacking people before.

Great. Is this what happens as you get closer to the Demon Clan territory—do monsters like this just increase in number?

Please, take a page from our cute, fluffy Yoru and calm down.

“Oi!”

If I stayed merely observing without moving, the ogre, impatient, extended its claws again.

Because the previous strike came from an unpredicted angle, we’d been caught off guard, but with a clear target this was an attack that could be dodged or parried.

Despite its bulk, its arms were only about as thick as mine, yet with minimal movement its raised claws sheared several nearby trees from the roots.

Instead of trying to stop it and risk being blown away like before, I deflected the blow.

If someone else had taken that hit instead of me, their internal organs might have ruptured.

Why did it pick me out of the three humans? It could’ve targeted anyone—everyone had been ambushed.

The wild monsters in this forest seemed eerily accurate in sizing up and attacking the weakest member of a party by instinct.

Before we reached our base, Amaryllis would likely have been the first to be attacked.

So why did the ogre choose me, who technically has the highest status values among us?

I used the deflection’s rebound to put distance between us, then activated world eye to check the ogre’s stats.

―――――――――――――――――――

Ogre King

Species / Monster

HP: 32000 / 32000 Attack: 600000 Defense: 45000 Magical Power: 50000 / 50000

Skills: Command Lv7 Wind Claw Lv5 Healing Magic Lv6 Intelligence Lv3

Extra Skills: Concealment Penetration