Chapter 33: Ogres Again?

“So, what do you say, Ogres again?” I propose while getting up from the ground, 20hp missing from Rand’s armored charge.

“Really? Isn’t there anything else?” Rand’s makes his little enthusiasm known, both by his dragging voice and his exasperated gestures. I bet, though, the real reason is he’s still not happy with how they toss him around.

“They are high level, plus controlling a pair with my new spell and making them wait by the city outskirts could come handy tomorrow. With a bit of luck, I’ll make them ram the enemies’ backline.” It’s a plan I had been thinking about for quite some time.

“Oh, I see that working!” Dorian gets on the Ogre train! Way to go!

“Right!? Now imagine if we could get one more of those field bosses!” I imitate heavy steps stomping on the ground.

“No jokes! If we get one and you manage to strike their backline…”

“Then... Ogres?” I hopefully ask.

With my plan drawn, although far from perfect, we decide on hunting ogres once more. It’s not like we know how field bosses are supposed to work. Do they simply randomly appear? Do they need some time to respawn? I guess nobody has answers to these yet. Either way, it’s worth it for us. Worst case scenario, we don’t find any but we still level up a few times.

Now that we know the strategy, fighting them is a child’s game. I bait them, the same as we’ve been doing, turn Specter, Rand charges, and we burst it down. Easy!

Just like so, we spend the next two to three hours hunting and killing them. Empowered by our newfound confidence, fruit of being able to handle them like it’s nothing, we venture further than we did before. Of course, with an Ogre Spirit in tow. My friends have already recovered the level they lost, but other than that, we only have a few tusks.

I wonder, where did all those rats go? Back to the mines? Certainly not here in the north. We’ve begun exploring the plains beyond the small hills we could see before. They are the same, though, the occasional ogre here or there and barely any wildlife or plants. Further north, somewhere we don’t have plans to go yet, we can see a wide and deep forest.

We’ve just hunted or 6th ogre, when all of us at once notice something different.

“Does anyone smell it too?” Rand’s the first to voice our doubts.

“Smoke, right?” Mike confirms it.

I bring my eyes up from the ogre’s body and my quest against their tusks and see it. A column of whitish smoke raising from afar. Covered by the only mass of trees in a whole kilometer around.

“Do you think that’s a camp?” I ask, half knowing there is not another explanation.

“I certainly hope so!”

“Eager to fight them, eh Rand!” This man, whenever it’s about fighting, he lightens up.

“Dorian, can you go ahead and scout a bit? I don’t think it’s a good idea to just irrupt there.”

“Sure, we’ll meet just before the trees.”

By the time we get up and start going there, he is already halfway there. At this rate, he’ll finish even before we reach there.

“I’ll need your help, buddy! Dominate Soul!”

Much like before, a spirit rises from the corpse. But instead of materializing, it goes back to its very own body. I would have loved that it entered through the nose, mouth, and eyes, rather than simply fading right above his chest. What a lost opportunity…

“Hey there, got a name?” I ask my own ogre. It would make it easier to command him if it had.

“Grrrr!” Good name, I ironically think to myself.

“I guess if you couldn’t talk and understand us before, you won’t be able to magically do so now. Then… you are Pete!” I grim at the stupid name for an ogre.

It lets another growl, to my ear identical to the one before. Is it acknowledging I’m talking to it? I don’t think I’ll ever know. And truth be told, I don’t plan on keeping Pete for long. Actually, I’ll sacrifice him without any hint of doubt if it comes to it.

With Pete and its phantasmagoric brother following us, we calmly approach the woods. Once in a while, it’s good to take a light stroll and not rush. And it seems we made the right decision. Barely before arriving, we see Dorian emerge from the shadows. Is he getting faster?

“So, what can you tell us?”

“It indeed seems to be their base. It’s as crude and salvage as their own minds. There are no defenses in their perimeter, and the camp consists of 5 structures.”

“Really? Looking good for us!”

“I must warn you all, one of those buildings is way bigger than the rest. I bet you know what that means, right?”

“Field Boss?” My eyes flash with greed, although I know what that means. “It’s probably 4 normal ones and a boss… it’s gonna be tought.”

“Tough? You want to attempt it? Don’t you remember what happened last time?”

“But we can kill the other 4 quite fast. As long as we keep the scary one busy, it will be fine. I mean, if they were intelligent, they would go for our backline and just wipe us. But come on, you’ve seen them!”

“What do you propose then?”

“Our best chance at containing the boss is letting my spirit take him. Rand can throw him the abyss to whittle it down and then focus on the other ones. Pete will tank one normal, ano-”

“Pete?” Dorian interrupts me, weirded looks on his face.

“Oh! Haha! Right, you weren’t there. The other ogre I control. As I was saying, Rand can take one more, Lillia another. The last one… I guess I’ll have to manage?”

“This is… quite a stretch to pull out.”

“If we let them move first, it might be impossible. Their charge combined with the boss’ shockwaves would break our formation too easily. If we move first, however…”

“That might work, yeah… I still have my doubts, but we would have a chance at least. I agree; the key is not letting them move.”

“Exactly. Do you think we can attack them before they notice?”

“It’s hard… but maybe not impossible? Do you think they’d see there’s something wrong with Pete?” His hand is pointed towards our newest addition.

“I don’t think so? He appears completely normal, at least to me.” I shrug, making sure he knows I really have no clue.

“Then let him go first, attack the boss and cause a commotion. We’ll use it to attack the other ones.”

“That’s an excellent idea! If it doesn’t work, we’ll only lose Pete, which is okay. Just a thing, tho. My spirit has a bonus on physical resistance, which Pete does not. Going this route would mean we have one less ogre to worry about, but we must finish the other 3 and focus the boss even faster.”

“Okay, let’s try this.”

“Everyone else, do you agree?” Dorian and I have been going on and on, but no one else has said anything.

Rand nods with his head like a madman, clearly demonstrating his eagerness, while the rest barely smile. Well, it’s normal, the mood is far from optimal, and the mission is quite risky.

“Actually…” Lillia says, “can Pete do all of that?”

“Communication is hardly possible, as you saw earlier, but until now, they’ve carried my orders just fine. We’ll have to take our chances.” And then again, he is disposable. I shrug once more.

“Okay then, let’s do it!”

“Listen now, Pete!” There’s no need to say it out loud, my intention has proven to be more than enough, but I want the others to hear it too. “You must go to the camp,” I point at the white column, “follow the smoke until you reach it. When you are there, act normal and locate the biggest ogre, the boss. You must get close to him without any animosity, and just when you are next to him, strike hard!”

“Grrr!” Pete growls again and starts walking in the direction of the fire.

“Well, he at least got this part! Let’s follow closely behind; we must be able to act quickly after him.”

Running after it to make up for the height difference, we soon reach the camp. Exactly as depressing as Dorian said. You might as well call it abandoned tents, as that is what it looks like. Come on, some of them have even holes! They must get wet when it rains; are they so dense to even notice that?

Oh, there he goes! Pete gets near enough for the other ogres to take him seriously. He gets what I would say are curious looks, maybe weirded out to see a stranger moving around so casually. But, either case, they let him walk as he pleases.

“Ready, he is getting close to the boss!” I whisper to my friends. The Specter is still a bit behind us, hidden in the wood. Nothing its charge can’t solve in an instant.

“Okay... Okay, ready!”