Chương 48

A cry of desperation sounded out as Lucas ran as fast as he could towards Sara. The two bosses carried on fighting. For them, Sara's brief interruption probably felt no different than an insect that had come too close and was subsequently swatted away. I looked on as Lucas reached Sara's body and bent over her, followed closely by two healers reaching them too. I hoped that Sara would be alright, but there was nothing I could do for her right now.

Instead, what I could do was help put this large bastard down for good. I used my ability once more, causing the ogre to stumble yet again on some raised ground, but perhaps it was getting used to what I was doing, as it quickly righted itself before the alpha buffalo could take advantage. I need to change things. I looked around to see Sara's plight had caused everyone to hesitate. They were all looking over at the small crowd around Sara instead of trying to end this fight first.

However, one group was unbothered by it all – the buffaloes. Fresh from killing off the remaining ogres, they were now surrounding the ogre from all sides. Once they had it surrounded, the alpha roared again and used the berserk skill from earlier once again. The buffaloes, including the alpha, all glowed red, and the ogre was suddenly faced with charging buffaloes from all sides.

Not one to go down without a fight, I saw its cleaver start glowing with a green hue once again, similar to what it had done when it had broken off the alpha's horn earlier. The ogre then bent down, preparing to jump, and I saw my chance. I focused with all my might on my ability, and asked it to make the ground beneath the ogre's feet soft and muddy. I felt a headache form, but I pushed through and suddenly felt my ability activate successfully. The ogre suddenly found its feet sink into the newly mushy ground.

It looked down in surprise, but tried to jump nevertheless. One of its feet slipped whereas the other was able to jump, making it do a weird and uncontrolled one-sided hop. The foot slipping also caused it to wave its arms about instinctively. All of this happened while the buffaloes were charging, and the out-of-balance ogre soon found itself be rammed from all sides by the buffaloes.

The herd lined their rams beautifully, with each buffalo ramming a split second after one another, making it so that the ogre was always out of balance. The alpha buffalo, which had backed away while the other buffaloes charged in, let out a short snort and darted in with immense speed. It was glowing so brightly red that I had to squeeze my eyes. Through my eyelids, I saw the alpha buffalo, led with its one remaining horn, crash straight into the chest of the ogre with a sickening crunch.

The ogre flew back, losing its gigantic cleaver along the way, and crashed to the ground, rolling to a stop a few feet away from me. Its chest was caved in and there was a deep hole which had started bleeding profusely. It was groaning and looked to be completely out of it at the moment. Not willing to let go of this chance, I used quick step and darted in, preparing a hasty wind bullet in my left hand that I sent inside the hole in its chest while jamming my dagger straight into its eye as deeply as I could.

I immediately let go of the dagger and used quick step to jump away. The ogre's hand passed inches from me, and the wave of air pressure form its passing pushed me away. I span out of control in the air, the world spinning around in flashes, before I crashed to the ground and rolled to a stop. I groaned but immediately sat back up, looking around in confusion before I realized I was facing the wrong way. Turning around, I saw the ogre still laying down, with the alpha buffalo stomping it repeatedly. Yes!

I got up quickly, but then had to immediately sit back down again as my world spun around uncontrollably. However, I kept my eyes on the two bosses, eager to see this finally get over with. The alpha stomped repeatedly and without mercy on the ogre, making fresh bruises with each passing second. The ogre waved its arms and tried to find some leverage repeatedly, but nothing seemed to be working. Suddenly, a desperate hit by the ogre connected with the alpha's face, twisting it to the side.

The ogre tried to capitalize on the opportunity by trying to stand up, but its movements were slowed down due to its injury. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The alpha shook its head and stomped the ogre, making it go down yet again. My dagger was still in its eye, and a lucky stomp by the alpha landed directly on top of it. With a squelch, the dagger went hilt-deep into the eye, and the ogre screamed in pain.

Its movements instantly started slowing down, and the other buffaloes joined in with the alpha. Soon, the ogre's bloody, torn apart body moved no more. A wave of relief spread over me, as the buffaloes also stopped their stomps and the reddish glow on their bodies went away. However, my relief was short-lived. The alpha buffalo suddenly looked towards me; its eyes locked onto mine with rage. Shit! It took a step towards me, and I scrambled to get up.

It took another step forward, and I stepped back, heart hammering in my chest. Although it was some distance away, its large and muscular body loomed over me like I was right beneath it. Its body was battered and bruised all over, with a few wounds still bleeding, but I was under no delusion that I was any match for it. The alpha stopped and suddenly looked towards the right, and I followed its gaze, seeing all the destruction and all the bodies littered all around.

Most importantly, at all the buffalo bodies around. I looked back and saw it staring at me again. I gulped, taking another step back, mind racing. What can I do? Concealed Presence won't work, I think I'm out of mana anyways with how hard my head is aching. What else…? I don't even have my dagger! Why am I making a habit of facing off against monsters clearly out of my league without my dagger? That doesn't matter, think, Alex! Think! The alpha took one more step forward and then roared.

It felt like it was letting out all its anger, and all its sorrow at losing its brethren with the roar. It kept the roar ongoing for about thirty seconds, although it felt much, much longer. It finally stopped, and looked at me again. It snorted in disdain, and mercifully turned around, going towards the direction it had originally come from. Its much smaller herd followed behind it in silence. My heart kept hammering away, and I couldn't do anything to slow it down.

I took a few deep gulps of breath, but they didn't help. I think the alpha knew that I had helped it take down the ogre, and that was the only reason it had let me go. I wasn't sure though; it could simply be that the alpha was tired of all the fighting and didn't view me as a threat to take down. My heart, which had just started to slow down, sped up again at the thought of what would have happened if the alpha knew that it had been tricked into coming here by us.

I gulped and took another look around before slowly making my way over to the dead ogre boss. Its large body was absolutely torn to shred and blood was still spurting out from all over. I saw what I had come here for – a mere tip of the hilt barely visible from its eye. I caught the tip and tried to lift it out, but it was jammed in too deep. Bracing myself, I put my hand deeper, pushing through the revolting feeling of wet flesh and instead focusing on gripping my dagger tightly.

I pulled again, my grip much firmer this time, and thankfully the dagger started sliding out. I got it out, and washed both it and my hand with a bowl of water from my inventory, and then I examined it. Unbelievably, the dagger looked as good as new. Even the bottom of the hilt, which had taken the whole force of the alpha's stomp, had just a few scruff marks on it. That's amazing! Is it because it's a rare item? I stopped admiring my dagger and slid it into its sheath, before I did a careful look all around.

All I could see was destruction and dead bodies. The ground was soaked a deep, dark red in places, and I just realized how bad the smell had become. What I could not see; however, was anything living besides humans, which was a great thing. Feeling better now that I was sure there was nothing around to attack us, I started jogging over to the crowd that had now formed around where Sara had gone down. I reached the crowd and pushed my way through.

That impact that had hit Sara had been immense, no doubt about it, but she was tough and had been wearing armour. Not to mention that she had invested a lot into Vitality, so she presumably had a large health pool. I wasn't sure exactly how health worked yet, but a larger health pool had to help, didn't it. Therefore, when I pushed through and reached the center, I was of the belief that I would be seeing the healers hard at work patching Sara's battered body up, with Lucas berating her at her impatience.

What I found instead, was Lucas, with his head down, holding a limp Sara. She was not moving, and the healers were not doing anything, instead just standing with their heads down as well. Madelline was trying to comfort Lucas, with tears streaming down her eyes. Sara's body was crushed, her armour folding so deep within her chest that it was almost reaching her back. She was completely pale, and her eyes were halfway open. I felt like she was staring straight at me with those vacant eyes, blaming me for her death.