Chương 44

The ogre was blind-sided by a buffalo that was glowing red for some reason. The impact moved the ogre two steps to the right and caused it to stumble, before it quickly managed to right itself up again. However, just as it got its footing, another glowing red buffalo barreled into it, making it stumble once again and this time, it went down to one knee. Another buffalo then crashed into it, making it fall to the ground with a roar of anger and pain. Lucas had backpedaled rapidly and was now away from the ogre.

It felt as if everything around had stopped fighting and instead watched as glowing red buffaloes repeatedly smashed into the ogre, not letting it find an opportunity to get up. I managed to tear my eyes away from the ogre, and saw all the buffaloes were glowing red, with the alpha buffalo glowing the brightest and actually pushing back the four ogres which had constantly been harassing it singlehandedly. That roar! That must have been the alpha using a skill!

It must have been a berserker skill of some sort, allowing it to affect the whole herd. The buffaloes were now able to push back against the ogres, and were absolutely decimating the hobgoblins. However, while they were able to push the ogres now, they weren't really doing much damage. The repeated impacts were making the ogres stumble, and fall on occasion, but that was basically it. Still, this was an opportunity that we should capitalize on, as we had no idea how long this berserk skill would last.

"Lucas!" I shouted while running over to him. He turned around and ran over towards me. As soon as he was within earshot, I told him my idea.

"We should get the weaker ones among us to kill off the hobgoblins, while those of us over level 10 should try and kill off some ogres while we have the chance. This is an opportunity we should definitely take advantage of!"

"I was thinking the same thing!" agreed Lucas.

"I'll get the plan rolling right away." He then sped off to communicate the plan to the others. I looked over at the ogre who was still on its knees, trying to get up but failing due to five buffaloes constantly attacking it with their charges. I gripped my dagger tightly and tried to go under concealed presence, but it failed. Right… too many eyes around me. I looked around and spotted a pile of debris that looked like the demolished remains of a goblin hut.

Making my way over, I crouched down and once I was certain I was out of sight, I tried concealed presence again. This time, the shift happened and I got up again, feeling comforted due to being in the hidden embrace of my most used skill. The ogre, visibly frustrated, was waving its massive club erratically to dissuade the buffaloes while still trying to get to its feet. It wasn't working, as the berserk skill had made the buffaloes ignore everything else in favour of just smashing any enemy in their sight.

However, a lucky wild swing from the ogre caught a buffalo right in its face, twisting its neck unnaturally and throwing it sideways where it slid to a halt on the ground, unmoving. I ran over to the ogre in a hurry, wanting to get to it before it managed to rise to its feet. Tactical Insight was screaming its displeasure at my actions, but I didn't have the time to think of a better plan. It was on one knee now, and just about to get up. I stepped forward with quick step, aiming for its large eye.

The dagger struck the eye cleanly, surprising me with how much resistance it faced. My dagger sank in a few inches before stopping. I wrenched it away from the eye with some effort, and quick stepped away from the retaliatory swing from the ogre. Its massive club almost reached me and I felt a heavy rush of air pressure push me sideways as quick step ended. If its eye is this hard, no wonder the buffaloes were doing close to no damage.

The ogre let out a roar of rage and jumped up, locking its one remaining eye on me. It roared again and charged straight at me, shockingly fast for something so large! I quick stepped away, once again barely getting out of the way of the swing. The ogre turned sharply, and followed me while raising its club again, snarling angrily. I used quick step again desperately, once again feeling the wind rush by due to its passing swing. Looking ahead, I saw a glowing red buffalo coming towards me.

As soon as quick step ended, I turned my foot to the right and activated it once again, narrowly missing the collision between the berserk buffalo and the furious ogre. I looked around to see the ogre had its wind knocked out due to the buffalo crashing straight into its torso, and two more buffaloes chose the moment to crash into it as well, staggering it once again and causing it to fall over, wheezing terribly. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

This is probably stupid… Nevertheless, I had to take advantage of the downed monster. Going in again with quick step, I was able to strike it in its other eye, blinding it successfully. Its roar of immense pain had a physical presence to it, and it clutched its eye with one hand while swinging its club all over in blind rage with the other. I was about to rush in again when I noticed something. The eye I had just hit was bleeding heavily.

A steady stream of blood was going from its eye all the way past its massive tusks, and then dripping down from its squared chin. The other eye, the one I had hit first, had comparatively less blood around it. I realized what had happened right away. The Bleed effect from my dagger! The ogre was actually having trouble with its bleeding eye, and its wild swings were slowing down. I had another thought, and opened my inventory to take out the poison sac I still had with me.

There was just a smidgen of poison left in it, but it would be more than enough for a few generous applications on my dagger. I applied a few drops of poison on my dagger, focusing mainly on the tip. Then I put away the sac back in my inventory and hurried over to the ogre. I waited till a buffalo had rammed into the ogre yet again, and then activated quick step. Ducking under its wild swing, I pierced the eye I had struck first once again, renewing the damage and hopefully adding a bit of poison to the mix.

The ogre cried out in pain again, and swung its club, but I was long gone. I turned back around and saw the eye now had a hint of green bubbling away, the poison working admirably. I distractedly thought that perhaps this poison worked better when directed into the body instead of being ingested, but I had other things to focus on at the moment. The other eye was still bleeding away, and the ogre was now facing actual trouble due to the bleeding, the poison, and the repeated buffalo attacks.

I hit it in the poisoned eye twice more before it, too, started bleeding profusely. I was breathing heavily at this point, and my stamina was running low, so I had to step back a bit and let the buffaloes attack it. The ogre's eyes kept bleeding, and its movements started slowing down as time passed. A few minutes later, with a final crash by a buffalo, it toppled over and stayed down, unmoving. I breathed a sigh of relief at the realization that these things can be beaten.

I looked over towards Lucas, and saw the entire group battling another one of the ogres. Lucas had activated his ability 'Anchor', and it was having a huge morale effect on everyone around, including the buffaloes it seemed like. Moreover, his ability boosted the defense of all allies surrounding him, which also surprisingly included the buffaloes. Ben was also using his ability to great effect.

His 'Momentum' ability kept increasing his attacks the longer the fight dragged on, and these ogres took a long time to kill. Furthermore, Sara was also harassing the ogre, repeatedly darting in and scoring light cuts around its ankles and thighs. The others in the group were also doing their best at attacking the ogre, to limited effect. However, it meant that the ogre had too many opponents to keep track of. It kept turning towards the five buffaloes harassing it, which were rightly the biggest threats.

It also hit them with its clubs on more than one occasion, but Lucas's ability allowed the buffaloes to keep going. Sara and Ben kept their focus on one leg, and soon, the leg was damaged enough that a particularly large crash by a buffalo straight on its leg finally did the trick. It toppled over and crashed to the ground, immediately getting swarmed by the massive buffaloes and the comparatively tiny humans.

Turning away from their battle, I saw the alpha buffalo, glowing a deep maroon, finally break through the encirclement of the four ogres that had tied it down since it had arrived. It started picking up speed, the four ogres running behind it but too slow. Soon, it was moving in a maroon blur, and it jumped and rammed straight into the back of an unsuspecting ogre. A loud crack echoed through the battlefield, and the ogre was bent in half and thrown away before landing hard. It stayed down, unmoving.

The alpha buffalo didn't stop, and it had soon taken down another two ogres with the same jumping attack. We can do this! My stamina had recovered to a sufficient level by now, so I got up and prepared to head back into the battlefield. The alpha buffalo took down yet another ogre, and I noticed one of the four ogres who had been trying and failing to catch up to the alpha stop. It then turned around and ran towards the center of the camp, towards the largest hut which had remained untouched throughout the battle.

Even the alpha buffalo hadn't gone near it. I kept watching the ogre, a feeling of dread rising within me. The ogre ducked and went inside, and two minutes later its battered body was thrown out with extreme force. A few seconds later, an absolutely gigantic being stepped out from the hut. The ogres were already large enough, standing at around 10 feet tall and packed with muscles. However, this thing made the ogres look like children. Its face looked even more brutish than the ogres.

Its head had two massive horns growing from the temples and curving towards each other before ending at points above the middle of its head. Its tusks jutted out straight from its lower jaw for about two feet before curling up and ending in sharp points. It was easily over 15 feet tall, and its body radiated absolute domination. The massively muscular arms and legs were covered in swirling tribal tattoos that were glowing with a blue hue, and it had a huge cleaver clutched in its right hand.

A buffalo, crazed due to the still-active berserk skill, made the frankly idiotic decision to charge towards it. The massive monster ignored it and looked around the destruction. The buffalo drew near, and in a blur of motion, was bisected cleanly in half! The huge monster hadn't even glanced at its direction. Instead, its furious gaze found the alpha buffalo. Every instinct within me was screaming at me to run away, but I was frozen in fear.

It stared at the alpha and roared, and everyone stopped in respect and awe.