Bang! Bang! Bang!
The ground trembled under the heavy footsteps of the two Ogres.
Captain Dosari retreated rapidly, issuing commands. "Ler, Rand, you two stop the one on the left. Hold it off while conserving as much stamina as possible. Basck! We'll handle this one. Prioritize its eyes and throat!" he shouted.
"Alright, Captain!" "No problem!"
Ler and Rand responded in unison, raising their shields and charging towards the Ogre on the left.
"I'll provide cover!" Basck drew his bowstring, aiming an arrow at the right Ogre's eye.
Whoosh!
The arrow flew. The Ogre immediately raised its broad, rough palm to block its face.
Pfft—
The arrow pierced the Ogre's palm but didn't even penetrate fully.
"Humans, food!"
The intense pain successfully enraged the Ogre. It angrily ripped the arrow from its hand, threw it to the ground, and roared as it charged toward the archer Basck.
"Good," Captain Dosari nodded, seeing the Ogre's attention successfully drawn, but his expression remained grim. Even Basck's skilled shot couldn't pierce the Ogre's palm, demonstrating just how thick-skinned and tough its hide was.
Smack!
Captain Dosari's retreat paused. He stomped hard, bent his knees, and crossed his twin swords, aiming them at the charging Ogre. "Flow Acceleration!"
A pale blue light flashed around him. Immediately, his body shot forward with speed far exceeding his previous display, bringing him quickly in front of the Ogre. In that instant, his crossed twin swords slashed heavily across the Ogre's chest.
Pfft! Pfft!
Two deep sword marks appeared! However, such a heavy blow, aside from a slight oozing of blood, was not a serious injury relative to the Ogre's massive size.
"Arooo!!" The Ogre cried out in immense pain, its thick fist smashing down toward Captain Dosari.
Bang!
Captain Dosari's face changed. He quickly raised his twin swords to block overhead, but the immense force still transferred through the blades, numbing his arms and nearly making him lose his grip.
At this critical moment! "Twin Arrows!"The steady voice of archer Basck rang out, accompanied by two whooshing sounds.
The Ogre, about to press its advantage, suddenly felt its vision go black, followed by an excruciating pain spreading through its brain.
"Arooo ah!!" The Ogre clutched its blinded eyes, fell to the ground, and writhed in agony.
Captain Dosari quickly retreated from the struggling Ogre and let out a slight sigh of relief. "Thank you, Basck."
"Now's not the time for thanks. While its eyes are blinded, let's finish this one off first. Brother Rand's side is about to collapse. It's really thick-skinned; it didn't even die after being shot in the eye," Basck replied, muttering a curse.
Irvine Wolf looked at his status panel, where prompts for the combat skills used by the "Stone" team members appeared, but he didn't waste any skill points learning them. These skills weren't particularly powerful.
"The difference between demi-humans and humans is really obvious," Irvine observed, watching the battle. Ogres were a subspecies of trolls. Compared to trolls, who possessed the "High-Speed Regeneration" talent, Ogres were merely thick-skinned and tough . This trait, negligible in a game, combined with their size advantage in this real world, allowed them to completely suppress the entire "Stone" team.
At equivalent levels, it was nearly impossible for humans in this New World to defeat demi-humans and heteromorphic races! It was no wonder that before the Players descended, humanity had been on the verge of extinction .
In YGGDRASIL, human players could gradually catch up to the racial advantages of demi-humans and heteromorphs through optimized class builds by level 50. But in this world, the human level cap was only around 40…
Hoo. Captain Dosari exhaled, shook his numb arm, and with sharp eyes, approached the Ogre writhing on the ground in agony. He aimed for its heart, raised the longsword in his left hand, and plunged it in forcefully.
Pfft!
Pale green-tinged red blood spurted out. The Ogre's violently thrashing body stiffened, and its thick arms flopped to the ground.
Seeing one Ogre dealt with, everyone present let out a slight sigh of relief. Captain Dosari looked toward the Rand brothers, pulled hard on the sword hilt, and stood up, preparing to assist.
However! "Wahoo—"
The Ogre, which should have died from the heart strike, suddenly twitched, struggled, and cried out, raising its thick arm to grab Captain Dosari. It was clearly a death throe counterattack!
The sudden change stunned everyone. "Captain,look out!!" Archer Basck shouted, his face paling.
The abrupt turn of events caught even Captain Dosari off guard. He hadn't expected his strike to fail to kill the Ogre instantly, but his adventurer's instincts kicked in. "Flow Acceleration!"
A blue light flashed around him, and his speed suddenly increased. The Ogre's grab, aimed at his waist, missed but caught his ankle instead, squeezing hard.
Crack! "Ah ah!!!"The sound of breaking bones and Captain Dosari's scream rang out.
"Captain!" Archer Basck's face turned ashen.
Simultaneously, the Rand brothers, hearing their captain's scream, instinctively faltered for a moment. In that instant, their coordinated defense broke. By the time they reacted, it was too late.
Bang! Ler was kicked hard by the Ogre and sent flying.
Already at a disadvantage, Rand, now facing the Ogre alone, was in even greater peril!
Seeing the previously stable situation collapse in moments, Archer Basck could only fire arrows frantically, trying to aid the endangered Rand.
However, though Ogres had low intelligence, they were much smarter than Goblins. With one companion already blinded, this Ogre was naturally on guard, protecting its eyes with one hand while striking continuously with the other. Rand was on the verge of being overwhelmed!
Facing this situation, Irvine, though serious, showed no intention of stepping forward. Are you kidding? With a powerhouse present, why would I need to take risks?
"Grandma!" Nfirea, sitting in the carriage, saw the "Stone" team's惨状 (note: Chinese term for tragic state) plight and looked at Grandma Lizzie with a pale face.
"With this level of skill, they still plan to become a 'Gold-rank' adventurer team," Grandma Lizzie stated expressionlessly. Though her words were harsh, she raised a finger, and a dazzling blue-white light bloomed at its tip. "Lightning!"
Crack!
An astonishingly powerful energy condensed into a bolt of blue lightning, shooting straight forward. The lightning first severed the arm of the Ogre gripping Captain Dosari's ankle, then, with undiminished force, struck the other Ogre!
Boom—
As the blue electric light dissipated, a huge, charred hole appeared in the second Ogre's chest!
Bang! The Ogre was completely burnt,its body tilting backward before falling to the ground with a heavy thud.