Allen’s strings, so to speak, brought him around to the side of the ogre’s encampment that faced the plains. He controlled his breathing while he ran between tents and walls of fire. The crude structures were actually more like semi-permanent huts, complete with all the amenities an ogre could ever need. Whatever they were, they burned rapidly and filled the walkways with smoke flaming debris.

There were sounds of ogres roaring over the fire, with Camila’s shouts interspersed every few seconds. Allen’s brow knotted. He wasn’t sure what Christopher’s plan was, but it really sounded like they could use some help.

He felt another strong tug straight towards a stack of flaming barrels filled with what looked like oats. The ogres had probably stolen them from somewhere, along with everything else in the camp. They showed no indication of having ever farmed anything. Now the barrels of oats were toppled over and on fire, blocking the path between tents.

When Allen dashed towards the fiery barrels, he was more concerned with the waste of food than running directly into a fire. He trusted his group. Well, more accurately, he trusted Christopher.

Sure enough, the fire parted just enough for Allen to jump up and over the fallen debris. He was met by an ogre running past on the other side. With a split second to react, Allen twisted in the air and came down on the monster with his metal shank. He missed the neck with his attack, but that alone wasn’t enough to give up.

The ogre roared in pain as the blade sunk into its upper shoulder, dealing double the damage with the help of Assassinate.

Name: Ogre Brute

Ogre – Monster – Level 19

He quickly followed up with two punches to the ogre’s head, each supplemented with Surge of Pain. The monster howled as its head was pummeled by magic. Then it seemed to go wild after that, spinning in circles and flailing its club around. It couldn’t reach Allen though; the Rogue was firmly clinging to its back with the knife embedded in the monster’s flesh.

“It’s not dying,” Allen thought.

He got three more hits in on the ogre’s head. The thing roared at him, but it was more anger than pain. He soon realized that his punches alone probably weren’t doing anything to its thick skull, and all the damage was coming from Surge of Pain.

Then Allen’s eyes narrowed as the ogre stopped spinning and growled deeply. It turned towards the closest flaming tent and dropped a shoulder.

“Alright, time to leave.”

Using the monster’s sudden burst of momentum to his favor, Allen wrenched the shank out and landed in a backwards roll. The ogre’s wound spurted thick, dark green blood like a fountain, then the monster was gone, crashing madly through the flaming tent in front of it.

With his assassination bonus gone, along with the element of surprise, Allen figured he probably wasn’t going to deal any more damage. Instead, he rushed off in in the direction Christopher pulled him.

He ran a few meters before the pull abruptly and forcefully reversed directions. Allen skidded to a halt and ran in the back the way he had come. Then he was yanked to the right, so he dashed off between two rather closely situated tents.

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He stopped suddenly near the corner of one of the structures as his mana was pulled downward. He waited for a moment, feeling the vibrations of multiple heavy footsteps approaching from around the corner.

Camila’s already loud voice was getting louder.

Allen peeked around the tent to find Ty sprinting down the path, panting and looking around frantically. He was carrying a club instead of his lid, an upgrade to be sure.

Camila was close behind, holding her club and shouting at a dozen ogres chasing after her. At the font of the pursuing mass of monsters, and a few paces ahead, was the ogre carrying a claymore and a tower shield. It had a helmet, but that was all it was wearing besides a loincloth. Its nametag revealed nothing particularly interesting.

Name: Ogre Knight

Ogre – Monster – Level 20

Just as Ty and Camila reached Allen’s position, a fire swelled from one of the tents, cutting off all but the helmeted ogre. Ty stopped in the pathway right across from Allen, followed closely Camila.

“COME ON FUCKER!” Camila shouted, her War Cry skill making both Ty and Allen flinch.

Sword raised; the ogre roared with rage. It charged the Berserker and Shield Bearer, reaching them in just five long bounds. Camila jumped to the side while Ty put his shoulder against his club and slammed it into the ogre. The shield bearer was flung a couple meters away, but so was the ogre, albeit to a lesser extent.

“Rebound,” Allen guessed. The Rebound skill could reverse a portion of any impact force. Still, he was sprawled out on the ground, wincing and clutching his left arm. “Gonna have to work on that Ty.”

Allen confirmed that Ty was alright before he turned back to the ogre. It was facing towards Camila with its back turned to him. The helmeted ogre was smart enough to keep the Berserker from circling it, but not smart enough to watch its own back at all times.

“Oh boy, here I go killing again.” Allen chuckled at his own meme reference.

Leaping out from behind the tent, he took the opportunity to rush at the ogre. Rather than risk aiming for its neck with the helmet in the way, he plunged his metal scrap knife as deep as it would go into the ogre’s back.

“Just left of the spine, and four ribs down… the perfect backstab.”

The ogre howled in agony at being shanked in the behind. It arched backwards with pain and dropped its shield in favor of frantically reaching for the knife. The monster was probably too chunky for the blade to reach its heart, but the damage was still doubled.

Allen ducked down and deftly hopped to the side. From his lowered position he punched the inside of the monster’s knee with Surge of Pain, causing it to buckle. Camila moved in a moment later and smashed her club into the ogre’s face with a downward swing, denting the helmet inwards and toppling it over.

The helmeted ogre landed on its back with a heavy crash. It let out one final howl as the shank was driven into its heart, then its head was smashed in by Camila.

The two of them stood over the dead ogre in silence for just a few seconds. Both of them had only really been thinking in the moment and there was a little moment of relief at killing one of the stronger enemies.

“Tusks,” Allen said, pointing at the ogre’s tusks that were protruding from beneath its destroyed helmet.

He spoke simply and directly, knowing that Camila’s Rage skill was still in full effect. At tier one it only made her descend into a battle crazed state of bloodlust that was supposed to make her more dangerous. Tiers two and three added a boost that scaled with the bloodlust to the strength and speed stats respectively, making the skill actually useful.

It certainly showed as Camila, eyes filled with anger and teeth clenched, reached down and snapped the ogre’s tusks off as if they were dry twigs. She then lightly tossed him the two improvised weapons, showing remarkable control over her state of mind.

Allen switched the two tusks to a reverse grip as Camila picked up the dead ogre’s claymore. Ty was there a moment later to retrieve up the tower shield.

“Much fucking better,” he said with a sigh, “My shoulder is broken by the way, I need a heal soon.”

Allen didn’t have the time to answer the Defender. The wrathful roars of ogres coming from every direction interrupted their short talk. He figured they would be surrounded in a matter of seconds.

Allen looked back over at Camila. “Kill more?” he asked.

The woman hissed and nodded slowly.

Allen grunted as he refocused himself and felt for Christopher’s pull again. It was directing him back to the outskirts of the camp. He looked over at Ty and pointed that way, receiving a nod in return.

“Alright then.”