Suddenly, the largest ogre, the one wielding the spine, did the unexpected. With a roar that shook the leaves from the trees, it leaped high into the air, defying its immense bulk then hung for a moment, a monstrous silhouette against the sky, before slamming down onto the earth.
The impact was catastrophic. A concussive WHUMP of displaced air blasted outwards. The ground for fifty meters around the ogre spiderwebbed with cracks, and the entire area rumbled and shook violently.
The six lightning wolves surrounding it stumbled, thrown off balance by the tremor, their volley of lightning bolts faltering.
Seizing the moment, the ogre charged. Its eyes were locked on one of the wolves, a young that was struggling to regain its footing.
With surprising speed for its size, it rushed forward, raising the massive spine weapon high. An arc of pure, destructive intent shone along the bone's edge as it began to slam down.
There was no doubt the force behind the strike would pulverize the wolf into a red mist. The lightning wolf saw death coming and froze, its limbs trembling, its body paralyzed by fear and could only watch the white death descend.
Right when the spine weapon was about to squash the wolf, a sharp voice rang out from the treeline.
"Luna! [Symbiotic Merge] and [Damage Absorb]!" Lyssandra screamed, her voice cracking.
In a blur, her body, clad in the translucent [Ice Armor], moved between the ogre and the wolf. As she moved, her hand flowed and morphed, expanding into a huge shield of solid, clear ice. It was large enough to cover not just her, but the terrified wolf cowering behind her.
THWACK-CRUNCH!
The spine slammed into the ice shield in a bone-jarring impact. A spiderweb of fractures immediately appeared on the shield's surface, but it held. Lyssandra grunted, her feet slid back as she absorbed the brunt of the impact, the blue armor on her body glowing with energy to mitigate the damage
A thin, crimson line appeared at the corner of Lyssandra's mouth, stark against her pale skin. She quickly wiped it away with the back of a gloved hand, her eyes narrowing as she assessed the situation. Her health had dropped to 428/615.
'With all my buffs to my stats and even with [Ice Armor] active, that one hit took nearly 200 HP,' she calculated. 'If I had tried to block that with my normal body… I don't even want to think about it.'
Peering over the rim of her cracking ice shield, she got her first good look at the monster. The ogre was even more terrifying up close, its muscles like thick knotted ropes beneath its hide. She quickly scanned it with her skill.
Race: Ogre
Level: 20
Its stats were a nightmare to behold, massive numbers in Strength and Defense, a walking fortress of brute power. But it was one of the skills listed that truly caught her eye and sent a thrill of lust and avarice down her spine: [Skybreaker Descent].
The description flashed in her mind: Launches high into the air before crashing down with overwhelming force, shattering the ground and unleashing a shockwave that disorients and destabilizes nearby enemies. Targets caught within the impact zone lose balance, suffer brief dizziness, or have their movements interrupted.
'Such a fine specimen,' Lyssandra thought, a wicked smile spreading across her face. 'That raw, untamed power… it's magnificent. I wonder what kind of sounds it would make if I were to break it.'
For a moment, she and the ogre simply observed each other. It was a tense standoff.
The ogre panted, its small, piggy eyes filled with a mixture of rage and confusion at the wall of ice that had stopped its killing blow.
Lyssandra's thoughts pulsed outwards, a swift mental query.
'How is the situation with the other ogres?' she asked the two beta wolves leading the other teams.
The replies came back almost instantly.
'All subjugated. Harmed but not dead.'
'Same.'
Satisfaction curled through Lyssandra. "Good. Bring them back to the dungeon. Remember to use the handcarts I prepared beforehand."
With the matter settled, she turned her full attention back to the gargantuan ogre before her. "All of the wolves who aren't needed to carry the ogres, gather behind this one. Await my command. At my mark, you will shoot at the enemy."
She could have simply let the pack finish the job. That would have been quicker, safer. But a primal urge, a thirst for battle, surged within her.
"It's been too long since I've fought something properly," she mused. "My skills might go rusty. This monster will be my practice dummy."
The ogre seemed to understand her intent, its eyes glinting with a sudden, cunning rage. With a speed that belied its size, it charged forward, its feet pounding the earth and swung the white spine in a devastating horizontal arc, the bone whistling through the air, aimed directly at Lyssandra's head.
There was no time to parry or block. Instead, Lyssandra activated her skill.
[Night Passage].
A pool of inky, dark liquid, black as a void, materialized directly beneath her feet. She dropped into it without a sound, vanishing from the ogre's view just as the weapon whistled through the space where her head had been a second before. The attack struck only empty air with a loud woosh.
Above the ogre's head, the black pool of [Night Passage] reappeared. Lyssandra shot out of it, landing with a cat-like on the ogre's shoulder.
Before it could react to her weight, her hands flickered, shooting out a sticky, translucent thread of silken web from fingertips. The web splattered directly across the beast's face, clinging to its eyes and nostrils.
The brute bellowed in fury, its vision instantly obscured. It swiped a hand at its face, trying to tear the web away, but the silken threads were surprisingly strong and clung tenaciously.
"Oh no you don't," Lyssandra murmured, her voice a whisper against the ogre's ear.
She launched herself from its shoulder, her body a dark blur against the jungle canopy. As she closed the distance, her right hand transformed.
The flesh and bone flowed, hardening into a long, wickedly sharp, single-edged blade of chitin. With a swift, precise strike, she aimed the blade at the thick wrist, hoping to sever the tendons controlling its hand.
TINK!
The blade connected, but it only sparked and slid across the monster's hide, leaving a shallow scratch that oozed a thick, dark blood. The creature's skin was like armored plate, far tougher than she had anticipated.
Finished with yanking at the web, the ogre roared. Its eyes, now blazing with pure rage, locked onto Lyssandra. It lunged, its spine weapon raised to crush her.
This time, she had a different tactic. Lyssandra slammed a hand to the ground and casted [Fire Ball], launching a small, controlled orb of fire not at the opponent but at the dry, leaf-strewn earth between them.
The orb impacted and a thick plume of grey and brown dust erupted into the air. The cloud billowed upwards, engulfing the ogre's head and shoulders, temporarily blinding it again and filling nostrils with the acrid scent of burnt foliage.
The giant thrashed in the cloud of dust, swinging its weapon wildly, but Lyssandra was already gone, melting back into the shadows of the trees, a ghost in the jungle.
"Too slow, you big ass," she whispered to herself, a teasing grin on her lips. "You rely on your size, your strength. But when you can't see me, you're just a blind, stumbling beast."
A new shadow detached from a tree trunk to the ogre's left. It was Lyssandra, her body low to the ground, moving with predatory grace. She reappeared at its flank, her chitinous blade forming again on her arm.
SWIPE!
She struck the back of the ogre's other wrist, aiming for the gap between its radius and ulna. This time, the blade bit deeper, slicing through the tough hide and gristle. The ogre bellowed, its roar now laced with pain as its grip on the spine weapon faltered.
It spun, swinging the weapon in a blind arc, but Lyssandra had already vanished again. She reappeared on its right, ducking under a swipe of its clumsy hand.
"You're getting predictable," she taunted, her voice echoing from all directions as she used the terrain to mask her movements.
Another flick of her wrist, a fresh strand of web shot out, this time looping around the beast's ankle. It wasn't strong enough to trip this behemoth, but enough to make it stumble, breaking its rhythm.