"With us, the Pale Eagles, holding the line behind you, go ahead and charge!"
Siegfried reined in his horse, letting his squad form yet another defensive line at the rear.
"The bounty for beheading them, as well as the merit points and payouts from the Mercenary Guild — all of that will be yours!"
Well-acquainted with human weakness, the seasoned Siegfried immediately threw out yet another temptation.
Several mid-sized mercenary companies perked up at the offer, but before they could even deliberate, the ogres across the field had already lost their patience.
"ROAARRR!!!"
The ogre at the very front bared its massive jaws and unleashed a terrifying roar, the huge hammer gripped in its hands — crafted from the bones of some unknown creature — stirring up a vicious gale.
BOOM!
The bone hammer smashed into the shields of the foremost shield warriors with a muffled crash. Several mercenaries were sent flying backward, the sound of snapping bones even reaching their ears — ogres typically possessed a Strength of five to seven, equivalent to the elite power of a fifth-tier warrior, far beyond what ordinary mercenaries could hope to contend with.
As if answering their chieftain's earlier roar, the ogres behind raised their massive clubs and hammers, and some even charged forward empty-handed.
The battle lines of several mid-sized mercenary companies practically collapsed on contact. No matter how their commanders screamed, it was to no avail — and the sight of it turned Siegfried's face dark as iron.
"The data and attributes in this world… it doesn't seem to be a simple matter of adding numbers together…"
Watching the scene unfold, Lin Lei found himself entertaining a different thought.
After spending so long in the world of the gods, he had finally come to recognize how different attribute data worked here.
"Although the average level for ordinary people is one, the increase grows progressively harder the further you go. Back when I was trying to break past the bottleneck of having all attributes at one, it took me considerable effort… and after reaching five, each subsequent increase is several times harder than before… After reaching ten, the gap will probably become even more pronounced…"
Lin Lei had a premonition that once the average standard reached ten, each additional attribute point would be equivalent to several of the earlier increases combined, bringing about a significant jump in overall power.
This method of growth was vastly different from the data patterns he had observed in previous encounters.
WHOOSH!
A sharp gust of wind rushed toward his face, and Lin Lei instinctively dodged — it was a shard of shattered armor, still flecked with dried blood.
This pulled Lin Lei's attention back to the battlefield.
"Kill these black-skinned brats!" the leader of a mid-sized mercenary group roared, a massive aura of battle qi radiating from his body.
The ogres were, after all, few in number — not even a tenth of the combined forces of several mid-sized groups. Once the mid-tier professionals moved in to hold the ogres at bay, their numerical superiority immediately came into play.
"Hyah! Kill!"
A dozen low-ranked mercenaries gripped their long spears and formed a simple spear formation, surrounding a single ogre in a tight ring.
Even such a coordinated attack was more than an ogre's simple brain could handle. At their captain's command, a dozen spears thrust outward like venomous serpents.
"Arrrgh..." the ogre roared. Although its hands managed to seize two spearheads, far more spears drove deep into its body.
That layer of natural armor — a hardened mix of grease, mud, and other substances — did little more than briefly slow the spears' advance before being pierced through without the slightest suspense.
A torrent of blood gushed out. The ogre thrashed desperately, but the iron cage of spears held it fast.
A dozen low-ranked professionals working together could still suppress the strength of an ogre already grievously wounded.
The mercenaries' spears appeared to have been modified — the spearheads bore blood-grooves and barbs that would greatly tear open any wound and cause massive hemorrhaging once embedded in a target.
Blood surged forth like a fountain. At this point, even the ogre's remarkable regeneration, of which it was so proud, could not save its life.
Its roars grew weaker and weaker, and the light in the ogre's eyes gradually dimmed.
At last, the massive corpse collapsed to the ground, blood and dirt mingling together to form a strange pattern.
"Arrrgh! Arrrgh!!!"
Watching its kin being cut off and surrounded one by one, even the most dim-witted brain could sense something was wrong. The ogre chieftain let out a frenzied roar, clutching the severed arm of some unfortunate mercenary in its grip.
Its cries were starkly different from the earlier madness — sharp and clipped. Upon hearing this sound, the remaining ogres began to retreat, some deliberately exposing their backs, willing to take several mercenary blows in order to break away from the battlefield.
"Ha! Don't even think about running! Cowards!"
At that moment, Lin Lei felt the black warhorse beneath him surge forward at full gallop, charging straight toward the ogre chieftain.
It was obvious that the young female Knight had been fired up by the battle, and was no longer thinking about anything else.