Each of the ogre’s brothers lay in a pool of their own blood; the surprise attack had proven effective thus far. However, the instinct of a creature in danger is nothing to scoff at. As soon as the magical chains erupted from the ground, the ogre strained to fight against them. It saw the arrow coming for its throat and, at that moment, dropped his chin and crushed the arrow with his teeth. The wind reinforcement burst from his mouth with a furious gust!

“I can’t hold him anymore. Hurry and finish him off!” Efrain shouted

The magic chains binding the ogre creaked furiously under the creature’s strength, before snapping and disintegrating into the mana from whence they came.

The ogre roared, towering nine feet over them.

“I will hold its attention!” Gungnir shouted. “Everyone, focus it down and attack! Bull’s Rush!”

The ogre trembled with rage as it reached over and grabbed its large stone axe. A red aura began to emanate from the creature.

“Shit! It’s going berserk!”

“YOU! KILL! AVENGE! FAMILY!”

The axe collided with Gungnir’s shield, shattering it and flinging him nearly all the way across the room.

“AWOOOOOO! LION STRIKE!”

With a leap, Fido’s claymore struck with a vicious fury towards the exposed throat of the rampaging creature. However, it was faster. Much faster. With a supernatural fury, it twisted its head to lock eyes on Fido, and punched him in the chest with the force of a cannon. The canian was sent flying back towards the cooking pot as blood sprayed from his mouth.

Diane quickly changed her trajectory. She dodged to the side just as the ogre brought its axe crashing to the floor. A moment later and she would have been crushed. She quickly rolled backwards, dodging another brutal blow.

“Fireball!”

The ogre was struck by the fierce explosion to its chest and took a step back, before leaning forward through the flames and roaring.

“Grease!” Efrain launched a quick cast spell to throw the ogre further off balance, “Emily, Gungnir, now!”

Emily quickly launched a series of arrows at the ogre, one of which pierced the creature’s eye.

With his left arm dangling by his side, Gungnir drew his longsword and blitzed towards the blinded creature, dodging a wild swing before piercing its throat, unleashing a fountain of blood.

The creature’s body crashed to the floor.

“That… was just one?” Huff. “I hate to think what would happen if we hadn’t surprised the others.”

“Damn, Sayomi,” Gungnir said, “if there are more, we might not be able to save your brother.” [Gungnir]

“W-what? But we have already come this far. We can’t leave him now!”

In the meantime, Thistleman hurriedly slipped to his chest stashed in the corner of the room and took a seat with an audible sigh.

“Hmm? Hey Thistle, what are you sitting on there? Is that a chest?”

“Eh, what? This?”

“No, that’s definitely a chest! C’mon, let me open it!”

As Diane opened the chest, Efrain’s eyes went wide.

“Careful with that! What if it’s trapped?”

Inside the chest was a single tome, bound in beast leather and imprinted with a skull. Its clasp was sealed with bone, and a dark energy seemed to almost pour from its pages.

“This energy… this book clearly isn’t safe.” Efrain boldly tried to slip his hand in to snatch the book, his eyes filled with greed, but Diane was quicker.

“Hey! Finders keepers! If this book is so dangerous, then why are you trying to grab it?”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“I am an experienced mage!”

“Come now, girl, you should trust him,” Gungnir said. “Efrain has always been a good ally and friend! As party leader, it is my duty to ensure rewards are adequately distributed! Just give up the book.”

“Hey guys, now shouldn’t be the time to be arguing! I can hear something coming down the hallway. A lot of something!”

The chorus of howls echoing throughout the cavern sent shivers down everyone’s spine. They had charged in to the belly of the beast without a full team and unprepared, and now they were going to suffer for it. All thought of the book dropped out of Gungnir and Efrain’s minds as they prepared themselves for what was to come.

Thistleman was furious. His plan to get a team into the ogre dungeon had been too successful. These idiots had lost a hold of their senses and put everything at risk. Now, that risk was bearing down on Diane.

Sayomi ran back behind Gungnir as Emily fired an arrow down the hall, before she too turned to run. An ogre burst into the cavern and swung faster than she could react. With a sickening thunk, Emily was sent flying into a wall and dropped to the ground, unconscious. Haraldr disappeared back in to the shadows, clearly shaking in fear. Another ogre charged in to the room, and then another.

“Thistle, don’t worry about me!” Diane shouted. “Grab Emily and get out of here!”

Gungnir and Fido locked eyes with each other, before turning to charge at the ogres. Diane launches another fireball, but they continue to charge right through it as if it is nothing more than a nuisance.

The sound of Fido’s ribs breaking could be clearly heard.

Gungnir was knocked out cold.

Efrain shrieked before fainting in fear. The only ones left now were Diane, Sayomi, and Thistleman.

Thistleman looked at Sayomi and pointed to Emily’s limp body, and she nodded.

Diane used her magic to maximize her speed. She dodged a titanic fist and leaped towards the wall before flipping around, her feet landing on the side and her legs fully squatting. She launched towards the nearest charging ogre, pouring all her mana into her rapier as she stabbed into its eye!

The creature screamed and thrashed in its death throes, collapsing in a tower of muscle.

And, right over top of it, a stone sledge flew in and struck Diane in the side with a resounding crack. Terror and pain were the last expressions on her face before she was knocked out cold.

As the ogres charged towards Thistleman and Sayomi, they stumbled, then shrieked in surprise. Both of them had disappeared right before their eyes. Most shocked of all, was the ogre that reached down to grab Diane’s body, which lay like a bloodied rag, only to have his fist bounce off the floor. His hands grabbed nothing at all.

Outside the cave, Thistleman was furious.

“GOD DAMN IT ALL! DAMN THESE FUCKING OGRES! DAMN THESE USELESS SILVERS!”

The earth shook a little as Sayomi set Emily down.

“But we were able to get her your book,” she said. “Even if it didn’t all go according to plan, in the end, it still worked out, Master! They are just some small injuries anyways!”

“Small injuries? SMALL INJURIES?! SHE ALMOST DIED, MY PLAN ALMOST KILLED HER, AND YOU WANT TO JUST WAVE THIS OFF?”

“I-I am sorry, Master, but next time… I promise it will go better!”

“I do not need you for a ‘next time.’”

“No! Master! I promise that I can still be useful to you!”

“I have no interest in what you think. Go bother Orion, he is over at Brownrock Mountain. You can find your own way. There is nothing more I need from you. I must not allow myself to fail again, not like this.”

Thistleman carefully picked up Diane and then began to walk back towards the city.

Sayomi turned her scathing gaze back towards the cave, tears of rage dripping down her face.

“Why couldn’t you all have just died like the obedient pawns you were meant to be? Well, I can still make a small detour before going to find Orion. If I have to suffer this humiliation, then all of you… all of you will pay for this!”

Gungnir woke with a groan. His whole body was pain.

“Mama, one little hooman has waked,” said the largest ogre.

As the female ogre lurched forward, Gungnir closed his eyes. This is the end.

“Hooman, why you attack us? We do no harm, we live far and in peace. Why you come and kill my children?”

The voice was full of pain and suffering. Gungnir opened his eyes, and looked into her face, and in spite of her terrible visage, he could see it racked with tears and pain.

“What? You… you kidnapped a man and brought him here to eat him.”

“What you say? I tell you, we do no harm, take no people, eat no people! Why, why you attack us and hurt family?”

A sinking feeling started to overwhelm Gungnir, a terrible realization setting in. If they didn’t kidnap anyone, then why did they come here?

A horrible scream, far more terrible than anything he had heard before, echoed down the hall.

All of the ogres’ faces turned pale. They grabbed their clubs, axes and hammers and turn to the entrance to the hall.

“WHY? WHY YOU HUNT US?! WHAT WE DO?!” Mother Ogre yelled.

A chorus of malicious laughs echoed down the hall, followed by a creeping cold wind. The torches blew out one by one. In the flickering light of the last torch, the figure of a woman stepped out of the shadows.

“Sayomi?”

Gungnir wanted to shout at her to run but then, he saw it, the skin of an ogre being dragged in one hand, the tail and wings made of darkness behind her, blood covering her entire body and a malicious smile across her face as a maddening laugh escaping her lips.

The ogres screamed and bellowed as they charged her, as the last torch flickered out. In the darkness, all Gungnir could hear were the shrieks of the ogres. He tried to crawl away from the noise and the terror as fast as he could. Flesh was rending, blood spraying and landing on his face and body.

“Hehehehe, are you scared?”

Gungnir felt something soft press into his back and the voice sent a cold shiver down his spine.

“Now it’s your turn. Where to start? I have already peeled so many skins. Maybe, lets open you up, and see how many organs I can remove, one at a time, before you die. Ehehehehehe!”

A searing pain pierced his side as something entered his body—a hand, grasping, and catching hold of his kidney.

After a few more minutes, the shrieks were silenced and all that could be heard was laughter.