Boom! Boom! Boom!
The running of the two ogres made the ground shake.
Leader Dosari fell back while rapidly issuing commands.
"Ler, Rand, you two go block the one on the left. Stall it while conserving as much stamina as you can."
"Bask! You and I will take down this one. Prioritize its eyes and throat."
He spoke loudly and clearly.
"Got it, Captain!"
"No problem!"
Ler and Rand answered together, raised the shields on their arms, and charged toward the ogre on the left.
"I'll cover." Bask drew his bowstring and loosed an arrow at the right ogre's eye.
Whoosh!
The arrow flew.
The right ogre raised its broad, rough hand at the last second to shield its face.
Pff—
The arrow buried itself in the ogre's palm, but failed to pierce through.
"Humans. Food!"
The sharp pain fully focused the ogre's attention. It yanked out the arrow and flung it to the ground, then bellowed and charged furiously at Bask.
"Good."
Seeing that they had drawn this ogre's aggro, Dosari nodded, though his expression remained grim.
For Bask's shot not to penetrate even the ogre's palm spoke volumes about how thick its hide was.
Smack!
Dosari's backward steps suddenly stopped. He stomped hard with both legs, bent his knees, and crossed his twin blades in front of him, pointing them at the charging ogre. "Acceleration!"
A pale blue glow flashed across his body.
Immediately after,
Dosari's body surged forward, moving far faster than he had before, and in a blink he was right in front of the ogre.
In that same instant,
he brought both crossed swords down in a heavy slash at the ogre's chest.
Pshff! Pshff!
Two deep gashes opened in its flesh.
However—
despite the heavy blow, aside from some blood welling out, the wounds were nothing close to fatal on a creature that large.
"ROAAAR!!"
The ogre howled in agony and brought a massive fist crashing down at Dosari.
Thud!
Dosari's face changed. He quickly raised both swords above his head to block.
Even so, the weight of the blow traveled straight down through the blades, numbing his arms and nearly knocking the weapons from his grip.
At that dangerous moment—
"Double Shot!" Bask's steady voice rang out, along with the twin shrieks of arrows cutting through the air.
Just as the ogre was about to follow up its attack, its world suddenly went dark, and a wave of blinding pain exploded in its brain.
"ROOOOAAAAR!!"
The ogre clutched at its ruined eyes and toppled to the ground, rolling and thrashing in agony.
Dosari quickly fell back, putting distance between himself and the flailing brute, then let out a small breath. "Thanks, Bask."
"Now's not the time for thanks. We need to finish this one while it's blind."
"The brothers on the other side can't hold out much longer. Damn thick skin—taking arrows to the eyes and it still won't die."
Bask spoke while cursing under his breath.
Watching the prompts on his status panel as Rock's members used their Martial Arts, Aaron did not spend any skill points.
Those techniques were not strong.
"The gap between demi-humans and humans really is obvious."
He had been watching the fight closely and thought quietly to himself.
Ogres were a subspecies of ogre-kind. Compared to true ogres, who had the "Rapid Regeneration" talent, regular ogres were merely tougher and more durable.
Yet even this kind of minor racial perk, which would be negligible in the game, became terrifying in the real world once you added size and weight to the equation, enough that the entire Rock party was being hard-pressed.
At the same level, there was almost no way for human adventurers in this world to defeat demi-humans or heteromorphic races.
No wonder humanity had nearly gone extinct before players ever arrived.
In YGGDRASIL, once human players hit level 50 and refined their class builds, they could gradually close the racial gap against demi-humans and heteromorphs.
But in this world, humans topped out around level 40…
"Haa." Dosari exhaled, shook out his numb arms, and strode toward the ogre writhing on the ground in pain.
He aimed for where its heart would be.
Then he lifted the sword in his left hand and drove it in with all his strength.
Pshhk!
Greenish-red blood spurted out as the ogre's struggling body suddenly went rigid. Its massive arms fell limply to the ground.
Seeing one ogre down, everyone relaxed a little.
Dosari lifted his head, glanced toward where the twins were fighting, then yanked his sword free and got ready to rush over.
However—
"GRRAAAAH—!"
The ogre that should have died with a sword through its heart suddenly spasmed, then let out a final, desperate roar and swung a massive hand at him.
A dying counterattack.
The abrupt change made everyone freeze.
"Captain, dodge!!" Bask shouted, face going pale.
The sudden reversal
made even Dosari react a beat late. He had not expected his earlier thrust to fail to kill the ogre. Even so, his instincts as an adventurer had not dulled.
"Acceleration!"
Blue light flashed over his body again as his speed surged.
The ogre's hand, which had been reaching for his waist, closed on empty air—but clamped down on his ankle instead.
Crunch!
"AAAGH!!!"
With the crack of shattering bone came Dosari's painful scream.
"Captain!"
Bask's face went white.
At the same time,
Ler and Rand, who were struggling to hold off the other ogre, heard their leader's scream and faltered for a heartbeat.
In that instant,
their previously tight coordination broke. By the time they recovered, it was already too late.
Thud!
Ler took a brutal kick and went flying.
With the situation already tilted against them, Rand alone facing the ogre was now in dire straits.
In the blink of an eye, a stable situation had fallen apart.
All Bask could do was shoot desperately to cover Rand.
But—
while ogres were not geniuses, they were far smarter than goblins. After seeing what had happened to its kin, this one naturally guarded against arrows, keeping one hand over its face while hammering away with the other.
Rand was clearly about to be overwhelmed.
Face set, Aaron made no move to step in.
He would have to be insane.
There was a powerhouse here; there was no need for him to risk himself.
"Grandmother!" Pale-faced on the wagon, Nfirea turned to Lizzie when he saw Rock in such dire straits.
"With this level of skill, and they think they're ready for Gold rank."
Lizzie spoke in a flat voice. Her words were harsh, but she still raised a finger, where a blinding blue-white light began to gather.
"Lightning!"
Crack!
A terrifying charge of power condensed into a blue bolt of lightning that shot straight ahead.
It first blew off the arm of the ogre gripping Dosari's ankle, then, without losing momentum, blasted into the other ogre.
Boom—
As the blue light faded, a massive charred hole gaped in the second ogre's chest.
Thud!
The ogre's body, scorched black all over, tilted backward and crashed to the ground with a heavy thump.