Thud! Thud! Thud!
The two ogres' pounding steps shook the ground.
Captain Dosari retreated, barking orders.
"Ler, Rand, hold the left one! Conserve stamina and stall it."
"Bask, we'll take this one. Target its eyes and throat."
"Got it, Captain!"
"No problem!"
Ler and Rand responded in unison, raising their shields and charging the left ogre.
"I'll cover." Bask said, nocking an arrow and aiming for the right ogre's eyes.
Whoosh!
The arrow flew.
The ogre raised a broad, calloused hand, blocking its face.
Thwack!
The arrow lodged in its palm, failing to pierce through.
"Human, food!" The ogre roared, pain fueling its rage. It yanked the arrow out, tossing it aside, and charged Bask.
"Good." Dosari muttered, nodding, though his expression was grave.
Bask's skill hadn't even penetrated the ogre's hand, a testament to its thick hide.
Snap!
Dosari halted his retreat, planting his feet and bending his knees. His twin swords crossed before the charging ogre. "Accelerate!"
A faint blue glow flickered over him.
In a blur, Dosari surged forward, far faster than before, closing the gap instantly.
His crossed swords slashed heavily into the ogre's chest.
Slash! Slash!
Two deep gashes appeared.
Yet, compared to the ogre's massive frame, the wounds barely bled, far from critical.
"Argh!" The ogre bellowed, its meaty fist swinging at Dosari.
Boom!
Dosari's face tightened. He raised his swords overhead to block.
The crushing force reverberated through the blades, numbing his arms, nearly loosening his grip.
At that critical moment...
"Double Shot!" Bask's steady voice rang out, followed by two whistling arrows.
The ogre, poised to press its advantage, reeled as searing pain exploded in its skull, its eyes pierced.
"Graaah!" It clutched its blinded face, collapsing and writhing in agony.
Dosari retreated from the thrashing beast, exhaling. "Thanks, Bask."
"No time for thanks. Its eyes are done, finish it." Bask replied. "The twins can't hold much longer. Damn, it's tough. Arrows in its eyes, and it's still alive."
He cursed under his breath.
Adam glanced at his status panel, noting the Rock team's Martial Arts, none worth spending skill points on.
They were weak.
"The gap between demi-humans and humans is stark." Adam thought, observing the fight.
Ogres, a subspecies of trolls, lacked the trolls' Rapid Regeneration but were still thick-skinned brutes.
In YGGDRASIL, such traits were negligible. In the New World, paired with their size, they overwhelmed the Rock team.
At equal levels, humans rarely bested demi-humans or heteromorphs.
No wonder humanity neared extinction before Players arrived.
In YGGDRASIL, human Players could bridge the racial gap by level 50 through job builds. In the New World, humans capped at level 40.
Dosari shook his tingling arms, his gaze sharpening. He approached the writhing ogre, targeting its heart.
Raising his left sword, he thrust with force.
Splurch!
Greenish-red blood sprayed. The ogre's thrashing stilled, its thick arms slumping.
The group exhaled, relieved to have felled one.
Dosari looked toward the twins, yanking his sword free to assist.
But...
"Raaar!"
The "dead" Ogre twitched, then roared, its arm lashing out at Dosari in a dying spasm.
The sudden move stunned everyone.
"Captain, dodge!" Bask shouted, paling.
Caught off guard, Dosari was a beat slow. He hadn't expected his heart-strike to fail, but his adventurer's instincts kicked in.
"Accelerate!"
Blue light flared, and he moved, fast.
The ogre's grab for his waist missed, but it seized his ankle, squeezing.
Crunch!
"Aaagh!" Dosari's scream mingled with the sound of shattering bone.
"Captain!" Bask whitened.
Across the field, Ler and Rand, battling the second ogre, faltered at Dosari's cry.
Their tight coordination broke. By the time they reacted, it was too late.
Boom!
Ler was kicked flying by the ogre.
Now alone, Rand faced the beast, teetering on the brink.
The stable fight unraveled in seconds.
Bask, frantic, fired arrows to aid Rand.
But ogres, though dim, were smarter than goblins. Having seen its kin blinded, this one shielded its eyes with one hand, hammering with the other.
Rand was moments from collapse.
Adam's expression grew serious, but he didn't move.
Why risk it when a powerhouse was present?
"Grandmother!" Nfirea, pale at the Rock team's plight, turned to Lizzie.
"This is their level, and they aim for Gold rank?" Lizzie said coldly, her face blank. Yet she raised a finger, a dazzling blue-white light sparking at its tip.
"Lightning Bolt!"
Crack!
A surge of energy coalesced into a blue bolt, streaking forward.
It severed the arm clutching Dosari's ankle, then blasted the second ogre unabated.
Boom!
As the electric glow faded, a charred crater gaped in the second ogre's chest.
Thud!
Blackened and smoking, it toppled backward, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
***
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