Chapter 42
"Shit, shit, shit! This is bad!" Aria grumbled beneath her breath as she rapidly pulled her bowstring, unleashing arrows after arrows and refusing to let the beasts get close.
Rapidly and swiftly drawing the bowstring again and again made her fingers ache. The skin on them was peeling, stinging, and turning numb, yet she dared not stop.
Because the ogres were closing in quickly. Currently, she was up against two of the fast ones—monsters that always swatted her arrows out of the air the mont they drew near. Being only a D ranker, she was unable to hunt for gear above her level.
That ant her arrows had little effect, bouncing harmlessly off the tougher hides of the ogres.
"Co on!" she roared, refusing to falter as she kept pulling her string while the creatures lumbered closer and closer.
’An archer’s advantage is their range. Always keep a distance away from your target,’ she reminded herself inwardly, slowly backing away while loosing one arrow after another.
GROWL!
BOOM!
The beasts, unwilling to waste any more ti, dashed forward at full speed toward her. Aria was about to draw her bow again when...
WACK!
One of them smashed its crude club against her hands, sending her weapon flying. Before she could react, another swung upward, the massive club cracking against her jaw and sending her stumbling back, blood spilling from her mouth.
Her vision blurred instantly, the sheer weight of the strike rattling her body. Dropping to her knees, she glared at the ogres charging again.
’We... we... we can st... still get out of this alive. We... we won’t give up,’ Aria thought stubbornly, trying to stand. But one of the two ogres rushed her, its massive club already mid-swing toward her face.
"Shit. I was wrong." She muttered, shutting her eyes in fear.
"No. You are right. We can still get out of this."
The words ca smooth, cold, and emotionless, yet oddly steadying. A feminine voice washed into her ears like an unexpected lifeline.
BANG!
A deafening bang followed as a wave of hot air rippled around her. Aria’s eyes snapped open to see Erin, brown cloak draped across her shoulders, standing calmly in front of her.
Further ahead, Kael braced himself, his shield now coated in layers of jagged rock, blocking the ogre’s strike.
"Why give her false hope when our death is practically sitting down and enjoying the show?" Kael snapped, his voice carrying raw anger. "Our death is practically aura farming on that damned throne and you’re giving her hope? Tch!"
He yanked his shield away and swung his leg, rock spreading over it in jagged plates.
BANG!
His foot slamd into the ogre’s abdon. The creature’s eyes bulged and rolled back as it hunched forward in pain.
"Earth Veil: Slice and Dice." Kael muttered grimly, swinging his stone-clad shield in a brutal arc. It smashed into the ogre’s skull, splitting its head clean in two.
Blood splattered as the corpse dropped with a heavy thud. But before Kael could recover, the second beast lunged at him, catching him off guard with its speed.
"Think positively and logically at tis." Erin’s cold reply cut through the tension. Her feet began to freeze, the frost spreading as she shifted into a stance, her dominant foot trailing behind her.
Then, in a flash, she moved.
Her body slid with uncanny grace, skating across the frost she conjured beneath her. Sword angled behind her, gripped tight in both hands, Erin glided like an ice dancer on a battlefield of death.
In the blink of an eye, she slid beneath Kael’s open stance, weaving under his legs before rising upright directly in front of the onrushing ogre, her blade gleaming as it prepared to et the monster’s wild swing.
"Cold death." she mumbled as she swung her sword forward. The blade sliced through the beast’s hand that held the club, severing it cleanly. The weapon fell to the ground with a heavy, muted thud that echoed across the stone floor.
From the stump, frost spread instantly, freezing over like a creeping plague of ice. Kael bolted forward without hesitation, his shield flashing as he slamd it hard into the beast’s chest, sending the massive creature hurling backward through the air.
While airborne, the beast froze rapidly, its entire body turning rigid. Within two seconds, it was completely encased in ice.
The frozen figure crashed against the wall and shattered on impact, breaking apart into dozens of jagged ice cubes that scattered across the ground.
"That was so sick move." Kael comnted with a grin, glancing down at himself before breaking into a laugh. "Oh look! My clothes are still on."
"Focus, you fool!" Erin snapped angrily and smacked him on the head with the flat side of her sword.
"Than..." Aria began, but her voice trailed off when she saw Erin’s eyes widen in warning. Acting on instinct, she rolled forward just in ti.
A massive club smashed into the ground where she had been kneeling only monts ago, shaking the ground and kicking up heavy chunks of stone.
As she rolled, her fingers brushed against sothing familiar. Her bow!
In one smooth motion, she snatched it up. Without hesitation, she notched an arrow, pulled the string back with all the strength she could muster, until it trembled as though about to snap. Then she released.
The arrow tore through the air with such speed it nearly broke the sound barrier. In a blink, it buried itself deep into the ogre’s skull, punching straight through.
The towering beast collapsed with a thunderous crash, lifeless before it hit the ground.
"Pheww. That was close." Aria muttered, exhaling deeply as relief washed over her.
"Wait a mont." Kael’s tone shifted sharply. He spun around, scanning the battlefield. Jace was locked in combat with two beasts of his own, and Zen fought with raw determination, but one person was conspicuously absent. "Where’s our healer?"
At his words, both Erin and Aria froze, their eyes widening in sudden alarm. They quickly searched the chamber, frantically scanning every corner, but Rina was nowhere to be found.
"Shit. We need to find and protect her." Aria hissed, gritting her injured jaw tightly while her gaze hardened at the circle of ogres closing in on them. "If anything happens to her, we’re finished."
"And I doubt these ugly bastards are going to let us stroll out in peace." Erin said, stepping into position, her blade gleaming as her stance sharpened.
"I guess that ans we bulldoze our way through." Kael growled, his grin returning as he slamd his palm against his shield, the sound ringing out like a war drum. "Co on! Try !"
The ogres answered with an ear-splitting roar as they charged, the ground trembling beneath their pounding footsteps.
Dust rose, stones cracked, and in the next instant, the room shook with chaos as the horde lunged at the trio with savage intent, eager to tear them apart.
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