I moved for a few minutes, scattering Strong Acid behind me.
Chiiiiiik—
The Ogre that had taken the blow from Strong Acid was looking up at me with a face that seemed to say it had adapted to such an attack, waiting for me to drop down.
‘If I focus on one of them, I could deal more damage than now. At this rate, I’ll be wasting time. These annoying little guys.’
I clicked my tongue inwardly at the dreadful regeneration ability of the Ogre.
“······!”
My companions saw me flying while being chased by no less than eleven Ogres.
They were flabbergasted and quickly braced themselves.
After the 32 members of the Rakan squad discovered the group of Ogres, they raised their claws in excitement, ready for the massive battle ahead.
Seeing those ridiculously strong monsters only fueled the battle spirit of the Werewolves even more.
Although they were a bit hard to handle, they had the right attitude, making me look forward to working with them in the future.
Thud—! Thud— Thudthudthud—!
The group of Ogres trailing me seemed to catch the scent of the Werewolves, and suddenly started charging forward, stomping the ground with force.
– Ughhhhh… Is, is that really an Ogre?
– Why are there suddenly so many Ogres?!
As the massive group of Ogres approached, just steps away from me, my companions couldn’t hide their tension even though they were under the protection of the Castle.
When the Ogres finally came within 30 meters of the Elder Golem…
“Hah— Hah—”
My companions’ breathing grew more ragged.
But there was a look in their eyes that said they knew exactly what they needed to do.
And the Rakan squad standing in front of them was practically quivering with excitement, ready to charge at the oncoming Ogres at a moment’s notice.
Just before they could leap forward, a strong swarm of black smoke rained down from the sky, engulfing the Ogres.
Kwahhh—
It was the Shadow Drake’s finishing move.
Even though it didn’t have a specific skill name and was basically just exuding its inherent power, its strength was something I had experienced before.
In the dense forest, it couldn’t spread its wings completely, limiting its movement, but there appeared to be no issues with using its abilities.
“Bwwoooooo!”
The skin of the Ogres within range of the breath was instantly stripped away, and blood sprayed into the air.
“Nice.”
She nodded in satisfaction at the sight of the Ogres writhing in pain, and then canceled the summoning of the Sword Dragon.
It seemed that she planned to resummon it once the breath’s cooldown was up. This was a tactic made possible by her significantly increased magic power.
With the Castle, the Rakan squad, and the Shadow Drake.
Before taking the Elixir, managing these combinations would have been challenging, but it seemed like Yeon-hee could now do so with ease.
Immediately after releasing the Shadow Drake, she began merging the Orc squad.
Her skill in managing a large unit was dazzlingly improving day by day.
“Kruuuurrrr!!”
‘The breath attack hit well. Maybe it doesn’t qualify as magic?’
The Ogres, who were hit directly by the Sword Dragon’s attack, skidded backward for quite a distance.
Seeing their brows knit tightly and dark red blood constantly spewing from their mouths, it seemed they had received quite the shock.
– Huuuuuh, huuuh—
The Ogres struggled to recover from the shock of the breath.
‘Indeed, the Sword Dragon is the real deal.’
It was certified as a ‘great success’ by the system, so its performance was assured.
[Lightning Step]
[Flame Cut]
Swish—
Taking advantage of the Ogres’ disoriented state, I collected more marks one by one.
I focused my attacks primarily on their protruding calves, thoroughly enjoying the slicing sensation.
‘Cutting through them is a bit much, huh.’
I thought I could do it, but their skin was unbelievably tough, like paper folded dozens of times.
Whooooosh—
‘Ugh! Danger!’
I had approached stealthily to slice, but to my shock, two of them immediately retaliated.
Swoosh—
As their club swung past me, my Flame Armor slightly burst.
‘What the heck are these guys?’
Among the eleven, a few had particularly outstanding stats.
Even one good hit would cause serious damage, surpassing my defense and heavy loss in health.
Their reaction speeds were top-notch, and it felt like their specs were significantly higher than I remembered from the Ogres.
‘This isn’t easy.’
If it was just one, I might have considered it a practice match against the Residue of Chaos, but with three paired tightly next to each other, it was hard to approach.
It would be safest to torment them continuously, steadily building up my marks one by one.
‘If I get caught by them, I’d have to self-destruct right away…’
Or at least cut off the part that got caught.
They noticed that the Flame Mark draped over their shoulders had increased, but they couldn’t charge at me.
“Kraaaah—!”
“Yiiiiiiiik!!”
The Rakan squad, waiting atop the Castle, finally couldn’t hold back and charged at the group of Ogres.
Like rabid dogs, the Rakan squad rushed madly at the Ogres, drooling.
The Ogres couldn’t easily dismiss the surge of the Rakan squad, and their attention turned entirely away from the marks.
“Ice Field!”
“Boulder Slam!”
Joo-ah and Noh Ha-yoon’s magic landed right on time as they faced the charging Ogres.
Ham Eun-young peeked her face out of the Castle, singing a song to boost the magical attack power.
“In the place filled with stars and moonlight— the wind’s play and the melody of eternity— from mountain peaks to the ends of the sea, this magical song will last forever—♪”
The sound of the song resonated gently, imbuing the two mages with intangible strength.
As a result, the now-empowered mages’ attacks demonstrated effects much greater than usual.
Thud—Thud—
“Crack?!”
A few Ogres, with their legs frozen by the ice magic, panicked significantly, clutching their knees and struggling to move them somehow.
‘Whoa… Did they really freeze the Ogres?’
Even though they had high magic resistance and abilities to remove status ailments, it still worked.
The moment their legs froze, hundreds of stone fists formed in midair, swirling like a storm.
Paff—Paff!
As the stones struck the frozen legs, cracks appeared, and the legs shattered like glass.
‘O… the ice and rock combo is indeed powerful.’
Especially impressive was the skill that Joo-ah had first showcased.
It wasn’t just ordinary gravel.
The carefully shaped round stones felt much harder than an average stone.
‘Joo-ah’s skill activation is fast. How many spells has she used already?’
However, the Ogre’s legs that had burst healed at an astonishing speed.
“W-What the! They recover that quickly!”
“Isn’t it way faster than we heard?!”
Joo-ah and Noh Ha-yoon, leaning against the Castle’s wall and watching the spectacle, were shocked.
The mages were not mistaken.
While they looked similar to the standard Ogres one might encounter in dungeons in our world, they were far more powerful.
‘But if they keep regenerating from this level of injury, they’ll eventually run out of power.’
No being can regenerate infinitely.
Both the Residue of Chaos and those guys must have their limits.
Kwahchik—Pfff—!
Shortly after, for every one Ogre, two or three Werewolves clung onto them, clawing and biting wildly.
The relentless attacks only heightened the Ogres’ thrashing.
Bang!
Soon, one of the Ogres caught a member of the Rakan squad and smashed them into the ground, bursting apart like a firecracker.
Another one had its neck twisted so far that it looked like a pretzel.
Ah-rin and I took the chance while they were distracted attacking the Rakan members, aiming for their legs again.
Swish—
I struck and immediately darted back as they reacted, repeating the cycle of looking for opportunities to strike again.
‘It’s been a while since I played around like this with Ah-rin.’
The two Hunters, carrying two bolts of lightning, prowled the battlefield ceaselessly, searching for empty spots in the Ogres’ defenses.
This was a strategy only possible for us, who possessed the top-level mobility skill [Lightning Step].
Before long, I had stacked three marks on most of the Ogres.
A brief smile appeared on Ah-rin’s face as she fought alongside me.
She seemed to have been worried a lot today, but as we synchronized, her true self was starting to shine through again.
Especially now that her magic power had increased, she could unleash her skills without any hindrances, granting her more freedom.
“Hah— Hah!”
Even with an Ogre directly in front of her, she calmly evaded their attacks at close range while gradually building up damage.
“Hah— Hah—”
Her health was still low, but considering how she used to deplete in less than 30 seconds, this was a remarkable improvement.
I remembered that using [Lightning Step] successively had side effects for her, but it seemed those restrictions had eased considerably now.
Kwahwang—
“Ugh!”
Her breathing wavered while using the movement skill, causing her to get hit by an Ogre’s attack, sending her flying for quite a distance.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be badly hurt, but judging by her expression, her health had taken a significant hit.
‘If only her health could be reinforced…’
I constantly pondered in my mind how to remedy my companion’s shortcomings.
“Krrrrr—”
Ogres are certainly strong.
Had they faced the 32 members of the Rakan squad alone, they would have overrun them in mere minutes.
But with us providing unending support by their side, the Ogres were forced to prioritize blocking our attacks.
Moreover, the two merged Lizardman brothers had also joined in the fray.
Especially the merged Dotti 1 initiated a sandstorm, greatly distracting the Ogres.
‘Oooh— Finally using a sand attack in actual combat!’
The Ogres, obscured by the sandstorm, could only grab nearby Rakan and slam them down or crush them to the ground in a limited counterattack.
Furthermore, since Yeon-hee kept summoning back the already dismissed Rakans, it must be sheer torture for them.
“Grrruuuu!”
Was it getting too tough for them to handle?
The greatly weakened Ogres began to swell, signaling a transformation.
An incredible ability that even the high-rank hunters feared Ogres with.
All of their attributes skyrocketed, and randomly assigned elemental properties were granted to their ordinary punches— this was madness!
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