These newly appeared ogres stood under two meters tall — dwarves by ogre standards — yet their bodies were covered in elaborate tattoos and savage runes of unknown purpose.
"Ogre shamans!"
The black-robed mage cried out inwardly. Ogre shamans were bloodline bearers among the ogre race, awakening several spell-like abilities as they matured.
Within ogre tribes, these ogre shamans held positions of tremendous influence. To think they had all been lying in ambush here!
A sudden sense of impending doom washed over the black-robed mage.
"Roar roar..." The ogre shamans across from her gave the black-robed mage no time to think. As they roared, the tattoos and runes on their bodies blazed to life, layer by layer. The gift of bloodline bearers allowed them to cast spells without needing to study or memorize them — though they still depended on the
Mana converged, and several enormous fireballs, blazing with orange-red radiance, tore through the fragile magical defenses wrapping the mage, reducing her and the warhorse beneath her to charred cinders.
"Reina!" Siegfried's eyes went red. Even though he had already broken free from the encirclement, he spun back around and charged straight toward those ogre shamans.
Though cold and selfish by nature, Siegfried truly valued his real friends and the woman he loved.
With Reina slain before his eyes, blood surged to his head, his mind consumed by the impulse and desperate craving for vengeance.
Bang!
His silver-white longsword met a massive black war hammer in midair with a deafening, muffled crash.
The tremendous recoil jolted Siegfried back to his senses. He stared at the opponent before him — a two-headed ogre towering over four meters tall, its skin a shocking blood-red covered in a layer of scales. Two grotesque heads, one larger and one smaller, dripped with revolting saliva from their black fangs. Beneath the two-headed ogre sat a deformed land lizard, which also possessed two heads. But the second head was like a massive tumor, bearing only blurred facial features.
"Roar roar..."
The two-headed ogre roared and charged at Siegfried, swinging a colossal black war hammer it had obtained from who knew where.
The terrifying strength born of its extraordinary physique forced Siegfried to retreat again and again. Though his warhorse was a magnificent steed, it was no match for a magical beast — it was already foaming at the mouth, clearly on the verge of collapse.
Once the other ogre shamans and ordinary ogres saw the two-headed ogre appear, they seemed to find their backbone and began hunting down the remaining mercenaries.
With the shamans' aid, the mercenaries suffered devastating casualties. Only a scant few lucky ones broke through the encirclement, not daring to look back as they fled for their lives.
"There's even a two-headed ogre chieftain and ogre shamans!"
Lei Lin watched in amazement, the light in his eyes flickering ceaselessly as the opponent's data unfolded.
[Name Unknown. Race: Ogre (Mutant). Sex: Male. Strength: 16. Agility: 7. Constitution: 15. Spirit: 6. Description: The two-headed ogre is a rare mutant that appears sporadically among ogre populations. The twin brains leave the creature in a perpetual state of mental confusion — though exceptions exist, where a sudden surge in intelligence may occur. After mutation, the two-headed ogre possesses far greater abilities than a common ogre, and those whose intellect has dramatically improved often rise to become leaders of ogre tribes.]
[Name Unknown. Race: Ogre (Shaman). Sex: Female. Strength: 5. Agility: 4. Constitution: 9. Spirit: 10. Innate Talents: 1. Regeneration: Ogres possess extraordinary regenerative abilities — they can survive for a remarkably long time even after decapitation. 2. Bloodline Carrier: Ogre shamans who have awakened fragments of an ancient spellcaster's bloodline gain quasi-magical abilities, though the type and daily number of spells available depend on the degree of bloodline awakening.]
"All solid data. If I could devour them all, it would be even more perfect..."
The Devil's Blood Dagger materialized soundlessly in Lei Lin's palm, the demonic head atop the hilt moaning softly, as though expressing its craving for flesh and blood.
"Now!"
Lei Lin burst from stealth, the Devil's Blood Dagger already buried in the throat of a common ogre.
A terrifying surge of devouring power erupted, turning his target into a desiccated husk in an instant. A wave of warmth flowed from the dagger into his hand, then crept up his arm, while the Chip's notification chimed in his mind.
[Ding! The host has completed one Devil's Blood Dagger enhancement! Strength +0.1, Constitution +0.05!]
"As expected of an ogre — that thick, abundant Life Energy!"
Lei Lin murmured in admiration. Without pausing his steps, he danced forward like the Grim Reaper, the dagger trailing broad swathes of crimson light.
Then, in one fluid motion, he vaulted onto a masterless warhorse wandering along the roadside and rode off in a cloud of dust.
In the chaos of the melee, the mercenaries had no idea what had just happened. And the dim-witted ogres were equally incapable of understanding what a Devil was — all they saw was an irritating human leaping out and slaughtering several of their companions!
"Roaaar!"
Amid furious roars, an ogre shaman rallied several elite ogre warriors and gave chase.
Meanwhile, the two-headed ogre chieftain was still locked in combat with Siegfried. The latter was, after all, a high-ranking human warrior and not so easily subdued. Seeing the pursuit unfold, the chieftain could only let out a few meaningless roars, spurring the remaining ogres to work their weapons faster.
A brown steed thundered down the road, with several haste-spell-buffed ogres close behind.
This bizarre pair of pursuer and pursued raced onward, covering a vast distance in a matter of moments.
The haste spell's duration was ultimately limited. Just as the ogre shaman let out a roar tinged with despair, it caught sight, with a jolt of surprise, that the human Knight up ahead had stopped riding.
"Only a single ogre shaman? That's terribly disappointing!"
Raylin reined in his war horse, gazing at the squad of ogres closing in on him, his face wearing an expression of disappointment.
But these simple-minded ogres couldn't have cared less about whatever expression Raylin was wearing. In truth, if it weren't for the two-headed ogre leading them, they wouldn't even be capable of setting up the simplest of traps.
And so, upon catching sight of Raylin—their sworn enemy—the ogres charged forward without hesitation.
The ogre shaman's tattoos flared with luminous energy, coalescing into several small fireballs.
[Agile Flight]!
A flash of spell-light swept across Raylin's body, and in the next instant, he launched himself from the saddle and soared skyward at a breathtakingly swift and graceful speed.
This advanced variant of the flight spell granted mages far superior aerial maneuverability, and for someone with Raylin's exceptional control, it was like putting wings on a tiger.
Boom! The war horse struck by the fireballs didn't even have time to cry out before it was reduced to a pile of charred cinders, while Raylin's figure dove down from midair like a stooping eagle.
"Roar! Roar!"
Several fireballs were easily dodged by Raylin. Then a crimson light flickered as he slashed straight through an ogre's throat.
After a few deft provocations, the enraged ogre shaman had burned through its entire daily spell quota, reducing it to something even weaker than a common ogre.
Stripped of its magical abilities, the ogre shaman was now inferior to even an ordinary ogre.
"Even with magic at your disposal, a mind too simple to wield it properly is still utterly useless!"
A crimson whirlwind swept through the battlefield. Without their protector, the remaining ogres were nothing but perfect live targets in Raylin's eyes from above. After several diving passes, the ogres fell one by one, until finally the crimson dagger plunged straight into the ogre shaman's forehead.
[Ding! The host has completed a Devil's Blood Dagger enhancement! Constitution +0.2! Agility +0.1! Strength +0.2!]
The Chip's notification chimed once more.
Targets like ogres, who possessed abundant physical power comparable to that of mid-rank warriors, were not so easy to come by—let alone in sufficient numbers and with minimal fallout.
Yet his mental power remained completely stagnant at this stage, which left Raylin somewhat disappointed.
After hitting the bottleneck at 10 points, the enhancement effect of the Devil's Blood Dagger had diminished dramatically.
Otherwise, the former Lord of
"Now that their position has been confirmed..."
Raylin thought for a moment, then scattered a handful of dust around himself.
"Shadow Concealment Dust! Invisibility!"
Under the spell's effect, his silhouette gradually became transparent until he vanished entirely into the air.
As a mage, Raylin had of course considered using the Fly spell to traverse this area, but ultimately decided against it.
The ogre-occupied territory was far too vast for him to pinpoint their exact positions, and the Fly spell carried its own limitations. If his landing spot happened to fall within their patrol range, or if the ogres noticed him and struck with magic or crossbow bolts... even Raylin was unwilling to face those consequences.
In his current state, he stood no chance against the two-headed ogre chieftain in a face-to-face confrontation, let alone being swarmed by a horde of ogres.
But now, with the ogres' exact positions known and most of their attention drawn by the human merchant caravan and mercenaries, Raylin felt confident about sneaking back in.
After all, an opportunity like an ogre tribe didn't come along often, and Raylin was eager to raise all of his attributes to the 10-point threshold as quickly as possible.
With the help of the Invisibility spell, Raylin slipped back into the battlefield without any difficulty.
The ordinary ogres were completely unable to detect his presence.
Unless an ogre shaman happened to have awakened a detection-type spell and used it immediately, there was nothing they could do about it.
By now, the battle had reached its final stages. Mercenary corpses littered the ground everywhere, some even becoming food for the ogres. Only from the very center did the sounds of fighting still ring out.