As I expected, I was paralyzed by the Roar.
[The Fanged Ogre has a stronger POW than the user.]
[You have been paralyzed for 6 seconds.]
I laid on my back, not only paralyzed in fear, but also just in general. '6 seconds? That's twice as long as Screech!' I thought, cursing the unfairness of the situation.
Desperately, I fought against the paralysis, but it was no use. As I willed my body to move, just like my Instinct had been trying to warn me, the Ogre gave a nasty grin as it saw its move had worked. It looked up to the sky and howled triumphantly, clapping its hands together like a toddler. Calming down, it slapped its fat, dirty hands by either side of my head, and roared again.
[Fanged Ogre used the Skill Roar.]
[Skill is still in cooldown. Skill failed.]
The gross smile on the brute's face disappeared. Clearly, it hadn't expected that. I hadn't either, honestly, with the fear that I might just be forever paralyzed by this thing stacking the skill on itself.
A second later, my arm twitched. 'Yes, yes yes yes!'
[Paralysis has been lifted.]
Like a bullet out of a gun, I used every point in my Agility to get my feet under me and bolt several feet away. I stumbled every other step, even tumbling and rolling, but I needed as much distance as I could in the next few seconds.
The Ogre screeched angrily. It probably wasn't happy that the toy it had found wasn't willing to be a toy.
[Ogre has activated the Skill Predator's Glare.]
[The Ogre can now track you for 3 miles.]
I ignored the message and kept running. Gradually, my clumsiness faded as my long, panicked strides grew faster with each step, until finally I stopped to catch my breath.
[Stamina: 10/35]
"Was that… three… miles?"
Ding!
[The Fanged Ogre is tracking you.]
"Fuck!"
I screamed. I couldn't keep running now; I'd drop from exhaustion before I could get out of range and be an easy target.
I sighed. The Ogre had low AGI, so I should have some time to recover my Stamina before I had to fight. Pulling out my Inventory, I grabbed the box that held the Crude Dagger, and pulled it from the screen. Swiping it a couple times, I sat, focusing on controlling my breathing.
2 minutes later, I had rested enough to speed up my Stamina regeneration. I watched it tick up steadily, sighing in relief. Barely more than a minute later, I heard crashing from in front of me. I frowned. "It can't be… That's way too fast."
[Stamina: 21/35]
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Please don't be the Ogre," I muttered, standing on my feet and holding the dagger out. The primitive blade was just a few inches longer than my forearm; it was right in between the length of a shortsword and a dagger.
A grubby, barely white hand reached around the tree trunk of one of the trees in front of me. Slowly, a misshapen humanlike head peeked from behind it, small black eyes like watery boba glaring at me.
The truly unnerving part was the fangs, though, which had gone from a slightly yellowed white to a deep red. They had gone from just above the chin to a couple inches below it, and looked hollow with two diagonal struts to reinforce them. The two fangs reminded me of the tusks of the Boar, and I groaned internally. 'Why are things always trying to skewer me?'
The Ogre must have heard my thoughts, because it leapt into the air with a loud roar.
[Fanged Ogre activated the Skill Skewer Bite.]
A red mist, which I knew by now was Mana, exploded from the Ogre's mouth and swirled around the fangs. They now jutted outwards at a strange angle, and the Mana added to the ends of them to extend the length of the human-skewering weapons a few feet.
The Ogre fell exceptionally fast, as if someone had grabbed it and pulled it back down. The fangs bore down on me, and I willed my legs to move to their limit.
CRRRASH!
The Mana-covered fangs slammed into the ground where I had just been, and as soon as they made contact, the Mana began spinning at high speed, drilling deeper into the dirt before dissolving with a loud 'poof.'
I skid to a stop, falling on my ass and dropping the blade roughly 15 feet to the Ogre's right. I stared grimly at the two new holes as the fangs righted themselves in the Ogre's gas chamber of a mouth.
Ding!
[The user dodged a One-Shot blow!
This achievement forcefully rose one or more stats.
+1 INT]
[The user is pushing their body past their limits against a much stronger foe.
This achievement forcefully rose one or more stats.
+1 VIT, +1 AGI]
[The user is in an unwinnable situation, yet chooses to fight.
This achievement forcefully rose one or more stats.
+1 STR]
[New stats taking effect in 3…]
"I didn't choose to fight, this damn beast forced me to," I grumbled, picking up myself and the blade. I didn't have time to complain. All I can do now is do everything I can to survive.
"Yo, ugly ass," I called out, calling its attention over to me. Even though I doubted it would understand, I raised my middle finger at it, then spat at the ground. "You're leaving a shitty taste in my mouth."
[New stats have taken effect.]
[Target is in sight.]
[Critical Eye Skill activated.]
Whether or not it understood, it didn't seem to like the gestures I was making, as it screeched loudly, slamming the floor like it was throwing a tantrum. It opened its mouth and I saw a red ring forming around its black tar-like lips. Yet, my Instinct kicked in again. Maybe it was due to its rapid growth, but it seemed to be getting stronger and more clear by leaps and bounds.
'GO.'
Leaning forward, I dashed towards the beast as it unleashed a loud, Mana-filled roar.
[Fanged Ogre activated the Skill Roar.]
[Skill failed to take effect.]
The immature brat screeched and jumped up and down with little hops in anger that its favorite skill hadn't worked. By now, I figured that it was still the equivalent of a child — Analyze had told me it was quite young, but I hadn't realized that it was this much so. But it was good; I could use that.
Leaping up, I slashed at its throat. It knew it couldn't dodge, as my AGI was much higher than the heavy Ogre. So, it did exactly as I hoped, and raised its arm to protect the neck. I drew my blade back close to my body, completely missing the neck and arm and swinging past it. I twisted my elbow around, using all the strength in my arm to cut back upwards at the vomit-inducing face in front of me. My feint worked, and it didn't have time to react as the dagger cut into its face, splitting one of its small eyes as it ran across it. It screamed in pain, but I smiled happily as the message I was waiting to see popped up.
[Critical Mark has been hit. Dmg was adjusted to 350%.]
WHAP!
Large spurts of blood flew from the cut as extra damage was applied, but I knew it wasn't right. Narrowing my eyes, I activated Analyze and skipped to its health.
[Health: 24/63]
Double checking its Defense, I clicked my tongue. It had only done about 14 base Dmg, even though I should be able to do 20. 'Why?'
The Critical Mark had been on the inside of the Ogre's eyebrow, and even if I had just skimmed it, I still hit it…
Wait.
The unlucky goblin I had killed had only taken the stick's damage worth. At first, I thought that was just because I hadn't swung it, but it wouldn't make sense, since it had jumped at me full speed. But I had only skimmed the Critical Mark, which was located a little to the left of the dude's groin.
It did less damage because it was the difference between actually hitting a target versus skimming it. The Critical Hit only amplified the power that hit the Critical Mark.
My head spun slightly as I finally reached that conclusion. At least I understood why it required 15 ACC, now.
Ding!
A message popped up, but I quickly pushed it to the side as I saw the Ogre regaining most of its composure. It glared hatefully at me before opening its mouth to attempt to Roar again. With a groan, I pulled one of the 6 remaining sticks from my Inventory.
"Shut up, man."
[Target in sight.]
[Critical Eye Skill activated.]
I wound up and chucked the stick at the Ogre, and the stick snapped almost uselessly against its arm. Except—
[Critical Mark has been hit. Dmg was adjusted to 350%.]
CRACK!
The sound of the breaking of the stick was suddenly amplified, and though it didn't do much damage, it was enough to stagger the brat into canceling the skill.
[Health: 21/63]
Hopefully, the end was nearing.
Letting out a long breath, I pulled the blade of the dagger up near my shoulder. Most of the fear I had felt had already dissipated after realizing I was only fighting a juvenile beast. It was still strong, but I could outsmart it.
Moving my Mana around, I directed it towards the dagger.
[Slash Skill activated.]
A small humming sound could be heard for a moment as the purple glow grew over the rough edges of the weapon, and I pointed it confidently at the Ogre.
"Let's go then, kiddo."