As Lexil stood firm without fleeing, his sons, daughters, and younger brothers cried out urgently.
Eventually, the Ogre's massive body approached right before him. The pressure and tension were tremendous. Cold sweat poured down Lexil's forehead like rain.
He stared at the Ogre with extreme concentration. And at what seemed the right moment, he jumped with all his might, pushing off the ground. Thus, he threw himself sideways.
'Success...!'
The moment he thought he'd succeeded, the Ogre's large palm filled Lexil's view. The Ogre's long arm had stretched out to grab him.
He clenched his molars, preparing for the pain that would soon come.
But at that very moment, something whitish flashed before his eyes like a ghost. Black hair fluttered in the wind. Through the black hair, he glimpsed long ears like leaves.
'An elf?'
The black-haired elf leaped across the air. The elf's hand touched the Ogre's wrist.
Immediately afterward, Lexil witnessed a mysterious sight.
The elf's entire body rotated. As the elf's arm drew a semicircle, the Ogre's arm followed that semicircular trajectory. The Ogre's body attached to the end of that arm also followed.
The Ogre's massive body turned half a circle in the air and fell to the ground.
Turn Body and Throw.
The Tai Chi movement of Turn Body and Throw was deployed from the black-haired elf's hand.
BOOM!
The Ogre's mouth gaped open as it fell back-first to the ground. Amidst the thick dust rising, it gasped with strange breathing sounds, "Kuh-uhh, kuh-uhh."
The black-haired elf who had slammed the Ogre to the ground landed as lightly as weightless mist. Then he walked calmly into the dust.
He looked down intently at the Ogre, which was foaming at the mouth with its eyes rolled back in the dust. Then suddenly, he raised one hand.
Grasp the Phoenix and Strike Diagonally.
His right hand struck the Ogre's forehead like a pounding stake. His palm sank deep into the Ogre's forehead.
Following that, cracks spread like a spider web across the Ogre's face, centered on the palm print. The Ogre, with its brain turned to mush, died instantly.
The dust gradually settled afterward.
The beast warriors saw the Ogre, already dead. They saw the black-haired elf standing calmly in front of the Ogre.
Silence hung in the air.
※※※
Xu Xin approached Lexil, who was sitting dumbfounded, and extended his hand.
"Fortunately, it seems I intervened just in time."
Lexil blankly looked back and forth between Xu Xin's extended hand and his face. Then he grasped that hand.
After pulling Lexil up with the clasped hand, Xu Xin suddenly turned his head.
Beyond the burned and collapsed barriers and fortifications, a group of Dwarves hurriedly approached. They were carrying something like a large crossbow on a large cart.
"What! Where did the Ogre go?"
"We rushed to bring our secret large crossbow..."
"Huh? Th-there!"
The Dwarves made a commotion after discovering the Ogre lying with its head broken. They scurried over to the beast warriors and asked:
"Did you kill the Ogre?"
To this, the beast warriors looked at each other once, then all turned their gazes toward Xu Xin.
The Dwarves, turning their heads to where the beast warriors' gazes were directed, were startled.
"A-an elf?"
"Why is an elf here?"
The Dwarves, scurrying toward Xu Xin, asked:
"Did you kill the Ogre?"
Xu Xin, glancing at the dead Ogre lying spread-eagled, nodded.
"It seems that I did."
"That's amazing!"
"They say all elves use magic. Indeed, it seems an Ogre is nothing to them."
The Dwarves whispered among themselves. Among them, a Dwarf with unusually bushy beard stepped forward and said:
"We have a rule. We make anything our helpers want. Since you killed the Ogre for us, according to our rule, we'll make whatever you want."
Xu Xin blinked.
"Whatever I want?"
"Yes. What do you want? Just name it."
After thinking for a moment, he answered concisely:
"I'll tell you after all the bodies have been recovered. I don't wish to discuss rewards in front of the dead."