Then, I turned and faced the Young Swordsman. I walked right up to him and looked him in the eyes. His eyes were tired, but he had a fire in his spirit, something that I really liked. To kill this man who shows no fear to me would be a waste. To eat his flesh and blood when I had not been able to fight him yet would be a waste. To kill him would be a waste.
I decided that I would capture them and bring them with me. I stated that I was not going to kill them, but on the condition that they came with me. Hearing this, the Young Swordsman looked in to my eyes for several minutes, then agreed.
I was able to obtain several Fomorian bodies, as well as the Flesh of the Giant King today. Furthermore, I managed to gather several strong humans as well. A bonus was that there were several beauties mixed in with the group.
After the Young Swordsman agreed to my request, he showed no signs of hostility, though the others were cautious. I proceeded to treat them one by one. First, I set out to work on the Shield warrior, as he could die at any moment. I gave him one of Alchemist-san's life potions to stabilize his condition while I also treated the two Beast people.
The Cleric and Magician would be able to recover naturally, but even so, I forced them to drink mana recovery potions, courtesy of Alchemist-san's work.
During the battle they drained their power greatly. In cases where it is drained too quickly, it can have negative effects on the body, something that I wanted to avoid.
I could have used my [Blood Elixir] to treat them to full health, but I thought better of it. The risks of having that information come into circulation was too great of a risk. All of their wounds were stabilized and would heal naturally if left alone.
They slowly began to lessen their caution around me as I continued healing them. They probably assumed that I was an Ogre Mage, entities known for their great power but almost never attacked humans.
The fact that my killing intent was so powerful also further served to deter thoughts of attacking me.
I was asked what happened to the corpses, and I simply fed them a lie that I had used a magic item to store them.
In the circumstances, there was still a risk towards my own survival, even though the party is still weak, the fact remains that the Youthful Swordsman could still fight me evenly. I wasn't willing to become greedy for several items at the cost of my life, so the next best option was to win them over to my side. Some of them were still not fully convinced, but for the moment, they didn't make any moves on me. The tension slowly fell.
I was also tempted to take the women for myself, but I quickly dismissed that thought due to the risks involved with capturing the beauties. It would certainly put me at odds with the Young Swordsman. After I finished healing them, I was asked why I went out of my way to help them. My response being that I was in the area and was interested in gathering the materials. Since they were about to be wiped out, I made my decision to stop waiting and took my chances.
The group was pretty suspicious of my story, there were quite a few points that I'd have suspicions with if I had been on the receiving end. Though everything I had said was more or less true, I did want the materials, and only acted once they were about to be destroyed. The only one of the party that could accept this was the Youthful Swordsman who bowed his head and gave me his thanks.
The great build up of tension was broken with that sign of good will from the Youthful Swordsman. I hadn't gathered up all of the materials from the Fomorians, so I set out to take care of that as well.
While I was doing that, I decided that since we were on a mission, it wouldn't be best to bring more hands with us, putting the risk on our group. So in the end, we went our separate ways, I passed up on several parts of the Fomorians and that was the end of it.
I quickly made my way from the area since the time was running short on my ability to eat my prizes. My anxiety was still present because when I begin to eat, I would become open to attack and would risk losing my prize in a bad situation.
I spent roughly ten minutes at full speed to find a safe place to begin eating my spoils.
Although the head was gone, the body of the beast was quite large. It would take me far too long to ingest the entire thing, so I decided It would be time to test out one of my theories. With that I turned my body into that of a massive slime using [Metamorphosis]. I wrapped the entire body of the Giant King in a layer of my body to absorb the materials. The body was unreasonably large to begin with, and it would have taken hours to eat normally, but this way proved perfect for experimentation.
In the end, there was no problem and I absorbed the corpses with ease:
Ability Learned: 【Deadly Evil Eye】
Ability Learned: 【Overkill】
Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Supreme Strike】
Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Dignity】
Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Wisdom】
Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Flesh and Blood】
Ability Learned: 【Giant King's Body】
Ability Learned: 【Vitality of the Mysterious Giant】
Ability Learned: 【Giant's Iron Hammer】
Ability Learned: 【Giant Killing】
Ability Learned: 【Aspect of the Giants】
Ability Learned: 【Left Arm of Penetrating Storms (Parjanya)】
Ability Learned: 【Right Arm of Roaring Thunder (Ilatiki)】
Ability Learned: 【Complete Aqua Resistance】
Ability Learned: 【Complete Lightning Resistance】
Ability Learned: 【Complete Evil Eye Resistance】
Ability Learned: 【Complete Earth Resistance】
Ability Learned: 【Region Ruler】
Ability Learned: 【Tyranny of the King】
Ability Learned: 【Lesser Summoning: Giant】
Ability Learned: 【Language of the Giants】
Never before, have I gained so many abilities from a single species; over twenty abilities were gained in one go.
I can't say that I could have hidden my surprise even if I wanted to.
To imagine that these creatures were so powerful, but for now, I needed to calm myself and return.
I want to spend some time with my children, so it is necessary to call my hunt to a close here.
On my way, I decided to test several of my abilities as I walked. Once, there appeared a snow rabbit and I chose [Giant King's Iron Hammer] to use against it. In a flash, there was an illusion of something massive in my arms. When I swung, the rabbit formed a flower of red blood and disappeared. Quite the scary weapon, but it is quite usable.
After that, nothing else interesting occurred, and I found myself back at the cave. I embraced my children involuntarily.
Just then, I heard "Papa." Apparently, the Sisters had taught some words to the children while I was away. The one who had said this was my son Argento. Ah, it's too good, I want a camera to record this scene. I'll remember these memories for years to come.
At any rate, I contacted the Dwarves and Elves back at the base to report the growth experienced by the children. It was just generally assumed that since I was so greatly abnormal, that my children would be similarly so.
After I play with Auro and Argento for some time, I ground a part of the White Stag's antler into powder form and put it in to their breast milk from the Sisters. Both of Auro and Argento's bodies began to glow slightly and their Ogre orbs began to shine. It's quite possible that they might indeed have capabilities similar to my own, they will indeed become great warriors in the future.
The White Stag must be powerful. With how large these antlers are, it will last for quite some time for supplementing my children's growth. It will suffice in small quantities. Given the power of the beast, doing this should surely increase their power potential as they grow up.
After thinking for a short time, I pass a small piece to Redhead, who after only a small bite her eye's glowed a deep red and her entire body began to shake from the sheer raw power imbued within the antlers.
Seeing this I grew far too tempted and took a small portion for myself:
Ability unlocked [Protection of the ■ Beast]
Ability unlocked [Beloved child of ■■■]
Seeing this, it was clear that I had misjudged this beast entirely. This beast could be on par with ancient gods. His power was so great, that I was conceited to think that I even had a percent of a chance to defeat this creature. In reality, there was a zero percent chance that I would have survived.
The fact that I hadn't been killed was from the White Stag's mercy.
I had been far too immature and hasty. From there, I swore to myself that I would grow more powerful than the White Stag.
Well, if I ever encounter it again, I will exercise a great caution and respect its strength.
The White Stag is probably so delicious, I would never be able to comprehend the taste.
My mind then went back to my children, I wondered if they had gained some of my abilities, or rather if they had gained my ability to absorb abilities. Either would be quite useful in the long run.
On that same thought, I was curious to discover whether or not there were other beings, other than myself, with the ability to absorb the abilities of their prey.
By the way, Redhead got a new profession [Job-Sacred Beast Eater]. Seeing as a similar event happened to my children, they might have picked up the same profession, or they might have also gained the [Protection of the ■ Beast]
Well, the children are still too young to grasp the situation. Besides, I'm exhausted today.
With that, I surrendered to sleep.
[Level has surpassed the specified value]
[Special Conditions fulfilled « Army Massacre »« Pseudo Divinity »« Landlord Killing »« Giant King Killing »« ■■ Declaration» and has unlocked [Apostle Lord Extinct Species] for [Rank-Up] is now possible].
[Do you wish to [Rank-Up]?]
[«YES» «NO»]
I selected «YES» with the last shreds of my consciousness before I pass in to the darkness of sleep.
[Ogarou had Ranked-up to the required rank]
[True name granted by ※※※ is no