"More than a few have wondered how big, hulking predators like Orgryns could even exist at all in a place as hostile to life as the El-Maroof desert. Their continued prevalence is mostly attributable to their decidedly odd biology.

Despite looking like - and being - ferocious predators, Orgryns are in practice the ultimate omnivores, capable of eating most literally anything they can get into their bellies, and even to subsist on rocks and sand when the going gets tough.

They also needed very little water for their body size, and their skin was able to absorb moisture from the air around them. The humps on their backs are secondary fat storages, to keep themselves fueled during lean times when prey were few and far between, while water was very effectively retained within their blood.

Despite all these advantages though, they were unabashedly predatory by nature, and there are little more Orgryns love than live prey to devour. More than a few travellers fell to Orgryn attacks each year, though the beasts were at least clever enough to avoid large parties." Safira madi Mudrasah, creature and monster researcher from El-Hassid.

"Can you split them up for the girls?" Cal asked Kino as she eyed the orgryns, now less than fifty meters or so away from their small group.

"Sure thing! Watch!" Kino replied as she snapped a finger and foreboding vertical lines of void appeared before the charging orgryns. Even dumb monsters like them instinctually felt the danger from those lines, and they parted around them, giving the lines a wide berth and simultaneously splitting themselves neatly as Cal wanted.

"Okay girls, go ahead and deal with your portions," she said as she playfully twirled her halberd while eyeing the three orgryns in front of her. "Last one to finish gets to do the dishes!"

As Cal ran forward to meet the monsters, she could feel the magic emanating from them. Blood affinity magic, very much like her own, though far lower in intensity. It would make for good practice for her nieces and students at least, as fortunately all of them were actually well suited to fight a blood affinity opponent.

All three orgryns before Cal had charged her together, in a neat line that prevented her from evading to the side, their wicked claws swinging towards her. Cal had not bothered to dodge, as she instead pirouetted around and slammed her halberd - hammer end first - into the side of the leftmost orgryns before their arms could reach her.

The blow was moderated, strong enough to throw the three meter orgryn into the other two with plenty of force, but not so hard that she would have torn it into halves instead. Cal took the moment it bought her to assess how everybody else was doing.

A glance to her left showed two headless orgryns slumped down on the ground, ochre blood flowing from the stumps of their necks, while the third eyed Kino with evident fear and was backing away from her.

It was futile, as with another snap of her fingers, a sphere of void appeared where the orgryn's head was, and when it vanished a moment later, so did its head. A section of its trunk that got cut off as well as its headless body then fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and Kino looked at Cal as she gave a friendly wave.

Cal just shook her head and felt glad she didn't take the bet with Kino as she saw the remaining two orgryns before her rise and went for her, with more caution this time. The third one, which took the brunt of her blow, was folded over in a very unnatural angle on the ground, its innate blood magic failing against the catastrophic damage, and only served to prolong its suffering instead.

She casually swatted away their swinging claws with her halberd, then distracted one with a quick flick of her left hand, which sent a throwing dagger into one of its eyes and got it rearing back as it clutched at it. Cal took that time to dive in beneath the second orgryn's reaching hands and strike at its backwards knees with her halberd instead.

The left knee parted before the keen mithril blade, but it was tough enough that it stole enough momentum from the blow that Cal only sliced halfway into the right knee. It was still enough to send the orgryn to a fall, right towards her. She just took the falling orgryn's chest on her shoulder, and heaved, throwing the wailing creature onto its back instead.

One vicious strike to the head of the disoriented monster ended it, as its skull caved in and brain matter splattered over the sand. Cal turned to look at the third orgryn, only to see the poor thing still clutching at its eye. She dispatched it quickly and cleanly, a decapitating strike to the back of its neck, then looked over to where her nieces and Ying Xiao were fighting.

Elaina's orgryn was looking the worse for wear, with many lighting burn marks over its body, and its left arm blown off. Its movement were rather jerky, and it seemed to avoid the blade of Elaina's spear like the plague, likely having received a painful experience from the heavily charged weapon.

Sidonie had just finished off her orgryn, as she had electrocuted the poor thing until it could barely move properly, then just sliced its head off once it was left kneeling and unable to resist, the many stab wounds on its body a testament to just how many blows the girl landed on it in the short time they fought.

Leila's was still alive, wailing in pain as it was coated by molten lava, but trying to escape still. Leila herself kept herself at a safe distance with her blade in hand, but did not look like she had needed to use the weapon at all so far.

Cal was most pleased with Ying Xiao's progress however, as one of the girl's two opponents already laid still on the ground, its lifeblood spurting freely into the sandy soil from its throat, which was just connected together by a thin layer of skin, with most of the rest crudely torn out.

The young girl's polearm was not as keen as Cal's own, and against the tough flesh of the creatures she fought, she couldn't cut through that cleanly, so instead she just relied on brute force and tore chunks out of the creatures instead.

Even as Cal watched, Ying Xiao's halberd found purchase on the orgryn's left armpit, and a violent yank from the girl pulled the spear out, along with the orgryn's entire arm, now detached from its body, as the creature wailed in pain.

Overall, Cal was satisfied that none of them had needed any help to deal with their opponents, so she walked back to their encampment, and found Dan gawking as he watched the feared desert monsters being literally torn apart before his eyes.

"Hey now, I thought I told you to watch the stew for us!" Cal said, snapping him out of his stupor, before she took the wooden spoon from his hand and resumed stirring the simmering stew, giving it a taste in passing. "Well, at least it didn't overcook or anything. So no harm done I guess."

Leila ended up doing the dishes that night, as while her magic was quite effective at countering the blood affinity orgryn, it needed time to work, and everyone else finished theirs a good while before hers died in horrible agony. She sulked a bit but did the dishes anyway.