Chương 45

The battlefield had turned silent in response to the brutal roar from the gigantic ogre. However, that barely lasted a few seconds before the alpha buffalo rose to the challenge with a mighty roar of its own. It then charged towards the ogre boss, glowing a deeper and deeper maroon with every step it took. The ogre boss also charged, its tribal tattoos gaining a stronger blue hue with each stride. It jumped as it reached close, raising its cleaver high in the air.

The alpha buffalo, refusing to be outdone, jumped high as well, leading with its horns. The two clashed in the middle, and that's all I saw, as the next moment the shockwave from their impact tore everything asunder. Debris flew across the battlefield, striking everything indiscriminately. I saw bodies thrown up and goblin huts exploding into splinters before I ducked down low in desperation, but the shockwave caught up and threw me away.

Everything was a blur as I was hit with debris from all sides before crashing to the ground and rolling to a stop. My ears were ringing and my vision swam as I tried to get my bearings. I was vaguely aware of massive impacts sounding out from somewhere, but it wasn't clear from which direction they were coming from. What felt like an eternity passed with me trying to get my bearings, before suddenly my vision and hearing fixed. Must've been the health regen kicking in… I thought distractedly.

I looked towards the place where the impacts were coming from. Both massive beasts were locked in a confrontation that no one else was qualified to enter. The gigantic ogre was swinging its massive cleaver so fast that shockwaves were tearing the ground around it, yet it was having no visible impact on the alpha buffalo, who was using its horns and its front hooves to keep the ogre at bay.

Their clashes were unbelievably powerful, but even more surprising was the fact that there were absolutely no injuries on either of them. Tearing my eyes away from the conflict, I saw bodies everywhere. Dead monster bodies littered the ground, while the still-moving forms of humans could be seen here and there. All around me, people were groaning and trying to get up. Some had limbs bending in the wrong direction, while others had been impaled through by pieces of wood or other debris.

Buffaloes also littered the ground, but some were already standing up while others were alive but had damage to their legs. Further away, I could see trees nearest to the massive clash had been uprooted, but luckily the group of ranged fighters had come out relatively unscathed. I got up, stumbling as my balance was still off somehow, intending to start helping the others around me so we could get away from here. However, something else stirred, catching my eye.

I looked with dread as three ogres who were still alive moved towards us. They were the ones who had been running behind the alpha buffalo to stop it, and had presumably been able to shrug off the damage from the shockwave. Their horrible faces were twisted in gleeful grins as they took in the sights of their prey laying helpless on the ground. One of them locked eyes with me, and its grin turned even more sinister. It started sauntering towards me.

Its gait was arrogant and slow, like it knew it had all the time in the world. My eyes were locked onto its, but something waving about caused me to shift my focus behind the ogre. It was Marcus. He was waving his hands about frantically and moving towards the battle, followed by Omar and the other ranged fighters. Understanding instantly dawned within me, and I nodded my head and shouted "Yes, do it!" as loudly as I could.

Mercifully, either my shout or my nod reached Marcus, as he stopped just past the ruined goblin base wall and shut his eyes in concentration. Marcus was undoubtedly our strongest healer, and yet he had been left behind beside the other ranged fighters, away from the conflict. Without any ranged option to heal, he had been basically useless. Perhaps he had done some healing if some goblins had attacked the ranged fighters, but it was doubtful.

He started glowing strongly with a white light, as the reason for him being away from the conflict revealed itself – his ability. The white light spread from him across the battlefield, reaching everything and making the ogre that was advancing towards me pause in confusion. In real-time, I saw all humans and buffaloes get back to perfect health, while the hobgoblins and ogres were ignored. I felt amazing and completely rejuvenated as the light passed over me, feeling as if I was now bursting with energy.

Once the white light had passed over everything, Marcus dropped to the ground, unconscious. His ability was called 'Sacrifice', and allowed him to use all but 1 each from his mana, stamina, and health, in order to release a burst of healing for all allies in the vicinity. It affected a large area, and worked only on those Marcus considered allies. However, it could only be used once a day, and Marcus dropped unconscious after using it, out of commission for more than an hour.

During his unconsciousness, his regenerations were also halted, so he had to wait further even after waking up to have his resources refilled. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. It was a real trump card if used at the right moment. I saw Marcus's limp body being carefully carried back towards the trees by a few others. I looked around and saw that the ability had changed everything.

The buffaloes previously struggling with battered or twisted legs started rising again. Everyone around who had been groaning and a few who had been seriously injured were now miraculously healed. I watched a person who had been impaled by a large wooden piece through his leg, gape in shock as his leg healed and the impaled piece move out of his leg and topple to the floor. While the ability was certainly miraculous, it could not do anything about the dead.

And there were quite a few dead bodies that I could still see around me. They were ones who had either been killed off by a hobgoblin or ogre, or just gotten extremely unlucky during the earlier shockwave. There was nothing that could be done about them, and I looked away from the bodies to focus on the matter at hand. The immense clashes from the two boss monsters were still going strong, the white light completely ignored by them both.

However, what had changed was that now there were just three ogres remaining, and they were suddenly facing an army of around twenty buffaloes and thirty humans. Time for round two! The buffaloes started charging, moving as a herd this time. They no longer had the maroon glow surrounding them, but they had the advantage of focusing on just a few targets now.

As a result, each ogre was suddenly faced with around seven buffaloes each, and I noticed with glee that their faces no longer had the same sinister grin as earlier. I looked over at Lucas and our eyes met. I nodded, and he returned the gesture. Holding his shield high, he let out a loud rallying cry and activated his ability, charging behind the buffaloes. I had noticed his ability had a mental effect as well, with everyone around Lucas feeling that they could absolutely trust and rely on Lucas.

I saw the others get up and charge as well, with Sara soon going past Lucas and almost reaching the buffaloes before they crashed into the ogres. Omar and the other mages also joined in, raining down spells and arrows as everyone focused on bringing the three ogres down. I stepped forward as well, intending to activate quick step and join the fight when something caught my eye yet again. Someone was running towards me, waving their hands about and trying to get my attention. Madelline…? What does she want?

Madelline's POV I had always been interested in why someone did something. Probably why I had been studying psychology. And it was definitely why I had been given my ability. I found it so interesting. Whenever I used it, I could see thin threads branching out from everyone, showing their emotional attachments to the people around. I thought it only allowed me to sense how strong the connection was based on the thickness of the threads, but the more I used it, the more I could understand that it was so much more.

I could vaguely sense what someone was feeling towards me when I focused on their thread, and also what I was feeling towards them. The latter sounded useless, but I thought it could come in handy. There are times when a passing conversation has no impact on me consciously, but what if my subconscious mind filed something away without me even being aware of it? This ability allowed me to feel those thoughts as well.

For now, it was limited to only vague thoughts about what others felt about me, and what I felt about them. The other threads where I wasn't involved didn't have any feelings associated with them, just their thickness. But I had been learning how to use those varying thicknesses to glean information that could be useful. Like right now. Everyone was focused on what Marcus had done, and then their focus had shifted towards the three ogres.

I don't think anyone apart from me had noticed one thick thread that had been severed amongst our group, and I was feeling overwhelmingly sad. However, I couldn't bring myself to speak about the death to the others, not right now. And it wasn't just because of the ongoing war. It was also because I had noticed the thickest thread that I had ever seen, and it wasn't coming from a human. It wasn't even the first time I had been surprised at the thickness of the threads amongst monsters.

The buffaloes all had extremely thick and strong threads interlocking them all. However, this thread made even them look like strands of hair next to a thick rope. The fight between the two bosses was being largely ignored by everyone else, as we all knew that we could do nothing about it. Going anywhere near that fight was just simply asking to die. However, the ogre boss had a huge thread which was going off into the distance.

Even the combined threads of the entire herd of buffaloes merging into one within the alpha buffalo was no match. I kept my eyes on the fight, mesmerized by the large thread. There was something constantly flowing within the thread, going inside the ogre boss. Blinking my eyes rapidly, I focused on the boss fight. The two seemed evenly matched on the outside, but I noticed that the reality was far from them being evenly matched.

The alpha buffalo just had its injuries healed by Marcus, and yet it was already showing cuts and small injuries. Injuries which were getting more serious as time went on. On the other hand, the boss ogre looked completely unscathed. I instantly knew that something was going on, and started running towards the others to let them know. I waved my arms to get their attention, but Lucas and Sara were single-mindedly rushing towards the ogre, and they were also partially blocked by the massive buffaloes in the way.

Luckily, Alex was off to the side and I had a clear view of him. I jumped up and down, thankfully managing to catch his attention. He rushed towards me, his speed magnitudes above my own. He was soon within earshot, and immediately asked what was wrong. I stopped and tried but failed to catch my breath. Gulping down air and distractedly thinking that I need more stat points in the physical stats, I started speaking urgently.

"The boss ogre! There's something inside there!" I said, pointing towards the massive hut the boss ogre had exited from.