The hideous form of the tall creature stood up. His entire body had transformed into a grey and almost rocky body.

Powerful energy exploded out and caused the entire team to shiver.

Even Dyne felt the powerful form of the monster before him.

“This is bad! Dyne! You have to escape!” Jedo could gauge the power of the enemy and urged him to flee.

“No. Let him fight. He was at the Martial Advent stage and could fight and kill a creature that only high-leveled Martial Novices can!”

“I could sense that battle! Lord Tieg! That Stone Serpent was wounded! Dyne only won through trickery to deplete that enemy!”

“Is he afraid? He looks excited.” Strafe laughed.

“That monster is probably at the fifth level of the Martial Formation stage!”

“He has a team with him.”

“They are at the second level of the Martial Formation! That monster has a physical body that could easily kill cultivators of that level! I can sense the vast difference between that monster and Dyne’s group.”

“You haven’t seen his memories. He is an amazing leader. Let’s see who this soldier-gamer handles and commands a team of Cultivators. We’ve heard his plans earlier. Let’s see if the execution is as good as the plan itself.” Strafe brushed it off.

“Yeah. Relax, Jedo!” Dyne laughed.

“Master Dyne! We will distract him! You-”

“Listen up, guys. That monster has a great defense and terrifying offense! But there are six of us, and if we get this priest to help, we’d have more. Jaden, Chad, and Laden… Take the front row. Your objective is to do as much damage as you can from him!”

“But Master Dyne!”

“Calm down. He’s not that strong! I am stronger! And besides, you guys are with me! Remember what we talked about! We made a plan remember? Let’s fight it! Chad, Jaden, Landen! Get on formation at the front!” Dyne then began to harness the energy in his body as the trio followed instinctively.

“Who are you?!” The Ogre glanced at Dyne.

There was a strange mark on the Ogre’s chest that was closing. Dyne’s full attack was unable to do any severe damage on the Ogre.

“Diggin! WoW!” Dyne shouted as he activated his two spells.

The three at the front received a strange power as their body grew stronger from the power.

“Infusing fire energy that follows the same circulation of Spirit to increase offense. You then used Earth to imitate defense! Monster!” Strafe was stunned at what he saw.

Jaden and the three were shocked at what they felt.

“Useless!” The Ogre suddenly roared. Everyone felt a powerful fear linger in their heart.

“Directing Dark energy straight to the body and creating fear... So that’s how Nighto’s attack. Darkness sent through sound! Interesting!” Dyne smiled and channeled the Imaginarium Bond’s power.

The love of the souls in the Imaginarium Bond was drawn out. He was using his soul to draw out Light energy that exploded and affected everyone on his side.

“Purify!” Dyne shouted as he channeled the white energy.

The stiff sensation that everyone felt was suddenly removed.

Dyne took out some of the berries and herbs he had gathered and ate them as it slowly recovered the MP he wasted.

“This is too slow… Luckily, I’ve been preparing that!” Dyne laughed as he moved forward.

“Are you the Hero of Light?” The Ogre laughed as he looked at Dyne.

“It’s interesting that you would be something that even Ressulews couldn’t see through…”

Dyne ignored his taunts and gave his orders.

“Attack now! Let me lead the way!” Dyne charged off suddenly.

The team acted a bit too late and moved a second right after Dyne’s charge.

The Ogre laughed and moved forward.

But as it took its first step, he noticed it.

“What? Slow?” He saw a strange power that was hindering his movements.

Dyne ordered Jedo to release as much time and space energy it could. When they attacked the Afarit’s soul, Jedo had absorbed the dispersing time magic as a bonus. Although it was not enough to help Jedo develop his powers, it allowed him to keep rich time energy. And this energy was being released now.

The angry Ogre roared as it lunged towards Dyne. While the slow magic was affecting him, his cultivation still allowed him to move fast.

It was then that Dyne released it. During their time in the caravan, Dyne had been busy mixing herbs and poisons he would seal and store in the Monster Hive.

And during that time, he concocted a mist inspired by the Star Ocean 2 series. Paralysis Mist was from the many herbs he used. Dyne also received a lot of Confounding powder; These were the things Landen surrendered after taking over the barricade that he had manned for the secret passageway.

And all of these two types were mixed and made to create the Confounding Mist and Paralysis Mist.

Dyne burned so much of the Paralysis herb, stored the smoke in the Monster Hive, and compressed it by creating a small chamber where all the smoke couldn’t escape. And now, Dyne had let it all out.

A thick dark smog erupted out and surprised the Ogre, causing it to miss his attack.

Thanks to the slow magic, Dyne was able to tell just where the attack would land.

Grim appeared, and he harnessed all the AP he could and contained it within Grim’s point.

Dyne swung Grim like a hammer, and the point which contained all the Brimstone energy exploded.

BOOM!

The Ogre was once again struck in the chest.

“Attack the fire!” Dyne ordered as he retreated.

Several arrows could be heard, but the Ogre raised its hands to block it.

TING! TING! TING!

"Brat! Your slow magic is fading! How weak!" The Ogre laughed but noticed that the mist was so thick that it shrouded everything around him.

The entire area was now covered from the two kinds of smoke and mist. The group knew they shouldn’t inhale it, as Dyne had warned them in the caravan.

Suddenly, one attack that struck the Ogre's chest was burning among the continuous bow attacks.

Jaden brandished his sword and stabbed it with all his might.

STAB!

The sword managed to stab a bit, and a pained howl was heard. But right before the Ogre could attack, a powerful drop-kick smashed on his face.

When he heard the roar, Chad immediately attacked and used his strongest attack without hesitation.

The twin-feet struck the Ogre at its jaw and caused it to step back.

“Jaden! Chad! Retreat!” Amorien’s voice was heard, and the two immediately followed and leaped back.

Arrows began to strike the Ogre. While it couldn’t penetrate deeply, the arrows would sting and wound the Ogre by a bit.

The Ogre roared angrily at the attacks and didn’t notice Landen was already at the back.

Landen swung his large ax and smashed at the back of the Ogre.

BANG!

The Ogre gave a wide sweeping attack but missed as Landen had already retreated.

STAB! BANG!

Jaden and Chan rushed back again, delivered another round of attack, and then fled after knocking the Ogre down.

Amorien’s arrows rained down continuously at the Ogre.

“It’s working! His speed is slower!” Jaden shouted.

The Ogre roared as it tried to stand up. It then noticed that its movements were slower than usual as a strange numbing sensation could be felt on its arms and shoulders.

“The mist?!” The Ogre roared angrily. Because of the Confounding mist, he had a hard time telling where he was or the enemy.

Yet another arrow stabbed him. The Ogre stood up and began to attack the direction of where the arrow was.

“I need to get out of the Mist!” The Ogre thought.

It rushed out of the mist and ignored the many arrows that kept striking him.

He finally stepped out of the mist and was met with a large fireball.

Ishreth had been channeling this fireball since the start. Then, just as Dyne had ordered her too, and knowing that the Ogre would attack the pesky archer first, she stood by and attacked at Dyne’s signal.

The Ogre had a horrified expression as it did its best to brace for the attack.

BOOM!

A large explosion occurred, and the force blew away all the mist and fog. The concentrated power of a Martial Formation mage was showcased in this attack.

As the dust settled, the Ogre still stood his ground. His entire body was leaking strange dark energy.

The Ogre began to move as soon as it recovered from the fiery attack and charged for the two women, but when it took the first step, Dyne was already waiting.

After making his first move, Dyne moved to the side and began to channel Spirit. But as Dyne now had a Ra-Seru, he was able to channel twice the amount of Spirit. And when Ishreth shot her all-out fireball attack, Dyne had already moved in even before the fire of the explosion dispersed.

Dyne slashed upwards and timed the attack's impact, just like how he exploded the Brimstone at the precise moment.

BOOM!

The Gunblade inspired scythe attack struck the jaw of the Ogre and vaulted it backward. The strange paralysis in its body hadn’t disappeared, and he was unable to resist the attack.

As it was stumbling backward, Landen was already in position. It made an upward cleave just like Dyne did. The only difference is, with Landen’s Martial Formation cultivation, the Ogre was sent flying upwards.

“Alright, guys! Do as planned! Juggle this monster to death!” Dyne ordered.

Dyne was the next one to attack as it used Grim’s beak end to stab and create a spirit explosion with Brimstone that sent the Ogre flying back up again.

Chad jumped up and delivered a twin punch to send the flying Ogre, hurling even higher.

The arrows continued to strike the Ogre and disrupt its attempts to regain balance. The Ogre defenses were now weak because of the leaking dark energy, and the arrows began to dig deeper and had more force in them. As such, the Ogre found itself in a spot where it could not forcibly regain balance as it fell.

“I swear I’ll kill you!” The Ogre roared.

Jaden and Landen attacked together by swinging sword and ax upward and throwing it higher.

Dyne jumped up and made another Spirit-exploding stab attack to send it higher as it began to fly.

As such, the cycle began. First, Jaden and Landen would make a collaborated attack to vault the monster up. Then, Dyne or Chad would jump and attack it to go higher, allowing Jaden and Landen to prepare for another ascending strike.

Amorien kept harassing the Ogre with her arrow attacks throughout this process. It paused for a bit at times to get another quiver of arrows. Finally, the Ogre caught a glimpse of her and found what looked like a small mound of quivers.

“HOW!?” The Ogre was shocked as he saw the pile of arrows and quivers.

The Ogre’s stubborn and challenging demeanor grew lesser and lesser as it was soon shouting in pain.

“Hey, Ishreth! How long till you’re next big boom attack?”

“Ready whenever you command, Master Dyne!" Ishreth’s voice answered back.

The Ogre wept.