What they found when scouting out the situation turned out to be anything else but under control. The moment they peeked at the scene, they witnessed two adventurers being slung backwards by a heavy back hand of the ogre.

It looked like one utterly lazy swing with its massive forearm, but it sent the two of them soaring through the air like they were nothing. They crashed into the rocky ground. A normal human being would’ve been crushed upon impact, maybe even upon contact with the ogres arm.

These ones were lucky though. With their heavy armor and their adventurer's constitution they seemed to have survived the impact, but they were clearly out of the fight.

The little showcase of the ogres might have left quite an impact on the rest of the party though. There was serious doubt written in most of their faces now. With one swing the ogre had managed to steal the fighting spirit from over a dozen adventurers. All but one of them looked ready to flee.

“That’s what you call a swing?” The man taunted the monster. He was clad in a golden shimmering armor and excuded not just an air of power, but also of cadence. “Don’t let that thing get under your skin with that. We were prepared for that and we won't be stopped by it.”

The man’s talk seemed to have some effect as a second later a volley of arrows thundered towards the ogre. The monster lazily swatted them away and walked stomped towards the group of them.

Another row of fighters sprang up between It and their party's backline. Four warriors with even heavier armor than the two of them before. Marcel noticed that the man in his golden shining armor wasn’t among them.

“Noble group,” Messy said. There was some horror in her voice Marcel didn’t quite understand.

“What does it mean?”

“It means you were likely right and those might actually be first tier adventures.” Will said.

“How do you know?”

“They’re not strong enough.”

The more they saw of the battle, the clearer Will’s assumption became. These people were good to be sure. They moved quickly and efficiently, but they definitely weren’t in the second grade. Some of them, Marcel judged, might even be somewhat slower than him.

Still the group managed to work around the ogre. Their front line, consisting out of four always changing fighters danced in circles around the slow beast. They didn’t really land any blows, but after a while Marcel realized that wasn’t even their intention.

It was the backline that was doing all the damage.

Rows upon rows of spells were slung and the monster. Fireballs, crackling lightning and magic missiles all mingled through the air and honed onto the red giant. They managed to make the beast howl in pain, and transformed parts of its skin into bleeding charred pieces of flesh.

In between the spells volleys of arrows followed.There was only a handful of archers that Marcel saw in the group, but in mere moments the ogre had arrows protruding all over its body.

Each of the fighters was pulling his weight in the fight, and Marcel could see the group had fought like that together for quite some time. Whatever early mistake had led to two of their fighters getting wounded was soon recovered from when a small group of them had managed to extricate the fighters from the ground and gave them a brief heal up. It seemed they even had a healer in their midst, for at some point Marcel saw one of the two men back in the midst.

Marcel and the twins found themselves bound in the spot watching that spectacle. The dynamic between the party was something to behold, and there was more than one maneuver Marcel took note of.

The only one who wasn’t fighting was the man in the golden armor. Marcel kept observing him, waiting for him to do something or show something of his abilities, but other than the small motivation in the beginning to rally his party, the man wasn’t doing much. Was he some sort of supporter class maybe? But then why the shining armor?

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“Don’t waste your time watching that one Marcel,” Messy said. “I don’t think you will see much of him during this fight.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a noble. And if my instincts are right, probably also the leader of that party.”

“Is he having a support class then?”

Will chuckled. “That’s Brendon Thornys over there. That man is everything else but a support class?”

“Thornys?”

“You’ve met him in the lobby once.”

Realization dawned on Marcel. That was the bully he had seen in the lobby? The one who had mocked the squad of girls? Marcel had a bitter taste on his tongue all of a sudden.

“How do you know it's that guy?” It could be anyone behind this visor.

“His armor is kind of famous. As is his class. Rumor has it it’s a very rare combination of fighter and wizard.”

“So why isn’t he joining then?”

“Because he doesn’t need to. The way it’s going his squad is handling things pretty well on their own.”

And that was true.

As the ogre was accumulating wound after wound, the party grew more confident. The beast grew more enraged. Everytime it tried to hit one of the warriors in front of it, they either managed to avoid the monster's swings, or stayed out of its range completely. Then it was rewarded with another barrage of spells and arrows.

Despite the gallons of blood the party had managed to free from the ogre's body, and in contrast to all logical belief upon seeing the ogre being hit by fireballs over and over again, the thing didn’t seem to slow down. In fact, it seemed to only be growing more and more angry.

It marched down towards the adventurers ruthlessly. Slowly but surely Marcel could see some sort of doubts creep back into the mens and womens faces.

The momentum broke when another heavy swing connected with one of the party's frontline warriors. The man crashed to the floor with an audible crunch. The front line rotated a little, closing the gap in their ranks and leading the ogre away

A beam of light exploded into the ogres chest. Two mages stood behind it and bundled their spells into one giant beam. It was strong enough that Marcel could feel its heat all the way to the back of him, but it merely managed to push the ogre backwards.

That was all the mages wanted though as the fighters immediately filled the space.The healer rushed in afterwards and knelt down to the man.

He dragged the man a little over the floor, to Marcel’s shock somewhat in their direction. He wanted to duck behind the rock, but the healer had other business in his head. His hands started glowing white and he muttered words while kneeling over the fallen man.

They were close enough for Marcel’s increased perception skill to see details now. He could almost see the blood flow stopping and the flesh reknitting. He had never seen a real healer in action, but it was marvelous.

The scene was interrupted suddenly though when a giant rock crashed down on top of the man., followed by a giant gush of blood.

It happened so quickly. One moment the healer was doing his best to bring their party member back into fighting condition, the next moment a stone the size of a horse sat there. The only thing still visible of the pair was a single arm hanging out underneath the rock.

Marcel was shocked, but it was nothing compared to the party's reaction. It only took the attention of the adventurers for one second, but suddenly another one of them was grabbed by the ogre.

He lifted him up in his giant hand. With one squeeze the man's head popped into a splutter of blood and the ogre simply threw him into his mouth. The rest of the party stared in horror.

The still enraged beast picked up a boulder and threw it at the backline. They gathered their wits in time and dodged, but they didn’t fire back. Marcel could see it in their eyes. They weren’t there mentally.

There was one thing they had all collectively just realized. They hadn’t just lost three adventuring colleagues, friends most certainly, in the blink of an eye. They had also lost their healer. The one thing that somewhat guaranteed their safety.

It was safe to say that now they were panicking.

Marcel turned towards the twins. Both of them also stared pale in shock. But they weren’t paralyzed. Messy took a step forward and unslung the bow from her back. Will followed her lead and Marcel could feel him circulating mana immediately.

He himself shrugged off his spear from his back and activated his ability. It transformed into the trident. He felt more than saw the surprised glance from Will.

“More on that later,” he silenced his friend.

Then the three of them charged in to join the battle.

It was chaotic. At first the other group didn’t recognize them. They almost started firing on them, but realized they were reinforcements.

They didn’t quite fit in with the group the same way their mates did. But they didn’t need to.This was a battle for survival. Something they were well versed in.

Marcel often found himself looking back to that moment and was surprised how easily and readily they had jumped in. How quickly they had put their lives on the line for some people they didn't know.

But then again, he was never surprised. They were adventurers after all.