Ty looked thoughtful. He blithely tossed a typically sized red brick and caught it firmly in his hand. “It is a pretty damn sturdy brick,” he mused.

The others weren’t listening though. They were focused on walking in the direction that Christopher had sensed a magical disturbance. The professor’s skill was very versatile, but nobody other than him had ever used it before. Regardless of how it worked though, Christopher had been able to pick up on the presence of something nearby.

Their faces were somewhat stern as they had been trading ideas and questions for the past few minutes after taking inventory, so to speak. Overall, things weren’t looking too good. Even five level ones couldn’t do too much to anything over level twenty. If all the ogres were over that limit, then they would have to level on some weaker enemies first.

Of course, nobody wanted to do that.

“We should find a way to conceal our scent. Ogres have a really good sense of smell, which is essentially their only redeeming quality other than brute strength.” said Christopher, still being pushed through the field by Amelia.

“’Ey, ogres have layers,” chortled Ty, tossing and catching the brick again.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

The quintet of newly respawned friends reached the top of a relatively tall hill a few paces later. Immediately visible was a column of smoke rising from the other side of a copse trees in a valley below. They all looked at each other knowingly. Even Allen could smell the smoke with a three for perception, but the scent of ogres was still lost on him.

Ty, on the other hand, instantly recognized what they were looking for. “Yuh, that’s ogres. Smells like a roadkill,” he commented.

“If you want us to rub piss on ourselves, I’m out,” Camila asserted.

“Mud is fine,” Christopher replied, not showing any visibly reaction to Camila’s statement.

Allen started walking down into the valley with the grove of trees. The terrain as a whole had become more wooded; there was probably an actual forest nearby. If it were him, he would try to get close to the ogre camp through the foliage first to assess their levels.

The others followed closely behind Allen. The camp was still another ten minutes away while the edge of the grove was only a few strides down the rolling hills they had been walking along.

The group had only made it to the base of the slope before Ty gestured for them to stop. He pointed out at an indistinct spot in the brush and looked back at the rest of the group. “There’s our guy,” he said.

“Indeed, I sense it too,” Christopher replied.

It wasn’t until Allen strained his eyes that he was able to make out some rustling in the trees from the considerable distance. “Damn, my perception really is low huh?” he thought to himself.

“Plan?” Camila asked the group.

“Well, this might just be our chance to get one of them away from the camp. It doesn’t feel too big, so we might as well give it a shot,” Christopher said. “As for a plan, Ty and Camila, you two should approach. Ty will be the shield and Camila will be Camila.”

“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” Camila hissed.

Christopher continued as if nothing had been said. “Allen will get into position somewhere and you two can guide the ogre to him so he can take it out with his Assassinate skill.”

“Fine by me,” Allen supplied. The others either nodded or shrugged.

After thoroughly rolling around in the grass and smearing dirt on their faces, they were ready. Allen retrieved the brick from Ty and made his way towards were the ogre was foraging around. He didn’t go straight for it though, veering off to the side instead.

In a few moments, he was at the edge of the woods. The first thing he did was climb up the nearest tree. It was low enough that he could nimbly sit concealed in one of the branches about four meters in the air.

Looking over, he could actually get a good view of the thing from about twenty meters away. It snorted loudly as it dug around in the mud, probably looking for some bugs to eat or something.

Trying to make out its nametag from a distance was a simple matter of focusing on it until the message popped up in his head.

Name: Ogre Runt

Ogre – Monster – Level 16

“A runt huh,” Allen thought. “It shouldn’t be too bad… is that a club? That’s better for us than a blade I guess.”

Figuring it would be fine to engage, Allen waved his hands around. Apparently, that would be enough for Christopher to pick up a change in the mana flow around him. Allen had his doubts about that, but it’s not like the skill cards said everything about how each skill worked or how it could be used.

The quiet was then promptly broken by a shout from the hills. “Hey ugly bitch!” came the loud voice of Camila as she ran towards the ogre’s general position. Ty was a losing ground behind her and considerably less conspicuous without his reflector vest.

Down on the ground, the ogre lifted its head on high alert, already sniffing at the air. The monster grunted dumbly before grabbing its stumpy club with one meaty hand and scratching its ass with the other.

Other than a relatively emaciated looking frame and weaker looking, leathery skin, it was the same as any other ogre: About two and a half meters tall, pot belied, green, ugly, and above all else, too stupid and prideful to call for backup.

The ogre stepped out into the open plains with another guttural snort, hefting its club up to its shoulder. Camila was upon it a moment later, bat in hand.

The ogre swept its club downwards at the woman, but it was far too slow. Camila dodged to the outside of the swing and whacked the monster’s exposed ankle as hard as she could.

There was a loud crack, though it was probably from the shitty baseball bat. Still, the ogre recoiled with an angry growl and swung backhandedly at Camila once again. The woman dodged the swing and circled behind the monster. It spun around with her, growling each time the baseball bat hit its rather sturdy ankles and knees.

The ogre roared after a few seconds of futilely chasing Camila around its legs. It grabbed the club with both hands and spun around wildly, whipping the club around at ground level.

The ogre’s dumb spin attack actually caught Camila by a leg and flung her to the floor.

“Fucker,” she cursed, hitting the ground stunned but uninjured.

The ogre grinned around its massive tusks and brought its club down towards Camila as she scrambled away. Ty reached the monster just in time to intercept the attack with the trashcan lid. The piece of metal bent inward as the man’s arm buckled. He grunted in pain as his arm was almost certainly broken.

“Lure it to that thick tree over there!” yelled Christopher, motioning with both hands at the tree Allen was sitting in. The professor was, obviously, still in his wheelchair with Amelia pushing him. Needless to say, there wasn’t really a whole lot that he could do offensively.

Camila whacked the monster’s nearest kneecap and shouted at it again. It snarled back and chased after her as she ran towards the tree line. Ty was close behind, but the ogre wasn’t focused on him. Even without skills to direct its aggression, it was still more angry with the one who had been hitting it.

The three of them raced toward the brush. Camila stopped abruptly in front of the tree just below Allen, then dodged to the side as the ogre dropped a shoulder and barreled into it with a grunt.

The tree shook for a moment as the ogre pushed off it and turned around. It got half a roar out before a brick flew into the back of its head with an audible crunch. The ogre’s eyes rolled back in its head and it lurched forward.

“Headshot; Silent kill,” Allen mused to himself, still in the tree.

Ty was there moments later to ram the ogre back into the tree with his trashcan lid. The monster slumped to a knee with a pained groan. Camila smacked it with the bat a few more times, the monster flailing its arms around futility as it struggled to stay conscious.

Finally, the woman cracked the ogre over its head hard enough to break the bat in two. The monster fell to the floor with a wet gurgle. Only when Allen jumped down on it from up in the tree did it die.

“Goodnight,” he whispered as he stood up. A series of messages popped into his head a moment later.

Your group has defeated Ogre Runt – Level 16

Your contribution: 84% Damage

Awarded: 2798 XP

Congratulations, you are now level 2.

Requirements met: 512 XP

Awarded: 5 Stat points – 1 Skill point.

Congratulations, you are now level 3.

Requirements met: 770 XP

Awarded: 5 Stat points – 1 Skill point.

Congratulations, you are now level 4.

Requirements met: 1028 XP

Awarded: 5 Stat points – 1 Skill point.

“Huh, three times ey?” Allen thought to himself with a smile, “Gotta love the lower levels.”