Battle

The Ogre, seeing the two "little bugs" make a move to "flee," roared and lumbered after them.

Soon, the Ogre was led by Punk and Kane to about two hundred meters away from the little donkey. The man-eating Ogre hadn't even considered the option of "giving up on Punk and the others to go after the donkey."

As the Ogre raised its large club, still stained with the blood of an unknown animal, a ferocious smile appeared on its scarred face, and saliva dripped from its black and yellow tusks.

"Damn, this thing's evil expression is just too damn disgusting!"

Kane cursed, channeling battle qi into his lance in a single breath. He then began to circle the Ogre clockwise at the speed of a sports car, avoiding the Ogre's massive club while closing in.

A large amount of light battle qi gathered at the tip of his lance, its shimmering golden light making the entire lance appear as if it were cast from pure gold. As a Combatant, Kane's greatest strength was unleashed in close combat.

Meanwhile, empowered by Lesser Haste, Punk circled the Ogre counter-clockwise at a speed no less than Kane's, while keeping as far away from the Ogre as possible. As a spellcaster, ranged combat was the best guarantee for safe output.

The clumsy Ogre, confused by their opposing movements—one advancing and one retreating—couldn't decide on a target. "Should I eat this self-offered cheese danish to satisfy my hunger first, or continue chasing that maple syrup cake darting around in the distance?"

The Ogre was momentarily undecided. Caught in a "choice dilemma," it stopped its charge.

"Hah!!!"

Kane seized the opportunity. Battle qi converged at his feet, and with a roar, he unleashed his Battle Skill—Charge—at full power. A violent sonic boom echoed through the air as Kane shot towards the Ogre like a bullet. A shockwave sent the wild grass within a two-meter radius of Kane's position swaying wildly, and a one-meter diameter pit formed at his feet, scattering dirt clods everywhere. His pupils were dyed gold by the battle qi. His lance, imbued with Light Battle Qi, carried a conical blast wave as it fiercely thrust towards the Ogre's heart.

The Ogre never expected the small figure before it to attack. The speed of the attack, which had almost turned into a golden beam, far exceeded its reaction limit. However, the Ogre's instinct for danger drove it to turn its body, avoiding the fatal thrust to its heart.

Kane's lance tore a bowl-sized gash in its flank, and a torrent of blood gushed out, drenching Kane's armor in red.

Stung by the pain, the Ogre howled, swiping at Kane with its claws. But seeing that the Ogre hadn't fallen, Kane forcefully pushed off its reddened skin, yanked his lance free, and retreated rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the Ogre's claws grazed past Kane's chest plate, leaving only a scorching scratch on the silver-white armor from its black middle finger's nail before it amounted to nothing.

The severe injury did not make the Ogre cower; instead, the blood ignited its ferocity. It let out another howl, raising its voice by an octave, and swung its club fiercely at Kane. Although the wound on its abdomen was so severe that its writhing innards were visible, the torn arteries had stopped bleeding. The Ogre's abdominal muscles tightly sealed the blood vessels. Excessive blood loss was simply not in the Ogre's vocabulary!

Just as the Ogre brought its club down, Punk's spell arrived.

Apprentice Level Abjuration Spell—Lesser Stun. As a curse-type spell, its effect was instantaneous and ignored distance. The only way to evade it was to predict the Mage's casting and avoid it, but this "advanced" skill was clearly beyond the Ogre's pathetic brain.

Aether Energy was converted into a mass of chaotic mental power, violently impacting the Ogre's mind. The enraged Ogre was clearly unprepared for mental attacks. Hit by the spell, it became disoriented, like a drunkard, and its massive club swung harmlessly over Kane's head.

"Good opportunity!" Kane rejoiced inwardly. He once again used his Battle Skill—Charge, this time infusing it with more battle qi to increase his speed, aiming for a killing blow.

"Roar~~~" The Ogre, still in a dazed state, couldn't dodge this fatal thrust. Its heart was shattered by the lance, and a large amount of heart fragments mixed with blood sprayed out from the hole in its back, soaking a large patch of grass in a mess of flesh and blood.

Despite the fatal blow, the Ogre showed no weakness. With a roar mixed with despair and rage, every muscle in its body swelled as if inflated, causing its size to increase significantly. Its crimson skin became covered in vein-like green lines, and its eyeballs were entangled with bloodshot capillaries. The dazed state was almost instantly dispelled!

It stopped roaring and simply exhaled a puff of hot air before swinging its club at Kane at nearly three times the normal speed.

"What the hell, this Ogre can even go berserk!"

Kane, who had just used the same tactic to leap into the air, cursed while raising his shield in front of him, hiding as much of his body behind it as possible. With a massive amount of battle qi being poured into the shield, its brightness was comparable to the sun in the sky.

This time, it was impossible for Kane to dodge the attack that was three times faster. With no leverage in mid-air, gathering battle qi to resist was his only option.

The airflow from the club seemed to flow along its grain as it slammed into Kane's shield with the speed of a blur.

The blinding golden light on Kane's shield immediately dimmed. A visible shockwave erupted from the point of impact between the club and the shield. Punk, who was further away, only heard a muffled thud, like a giant pile driver hitting granite, echoing across the entire grassland. Kane, on the other hand, was sent flying nearly a hundred meters away at twice the speed of his charge, bouncing off the ground like a skipping stone three times before coming to a halt in a newly created crater.

The Ogre no longer paid attention to the battered Kane. It was now leaping towards Punk, one crater after another.

If anyone were to ask when a beast is most powerful, the answer would undoubtedly be—a beast at bay.

The Ogre, having had its heart wounded, was considered as good as dead. Its current unbelievable vitality was entirely the result of its desperate berserk state. The moment the berserk state ended would be the moment of its death, so the Ogre now had only one goal—mutual destruction!

But Punk's spell was ready. This was the Apprentice Level Abjuration Spell with the highest destructive power that Punk currently mastered—Lesser Damage. Of course, this was a curse-type spell, and Punk, standing far away, had no desire to test the strength of his "Minor Mage Armor" against the club of the berserk Ogre.

Punk looked at the small gray mist-like ball floating in his hand. Blade-like energy, emitting a chilling aura, was constantly being born and extinguished within the ball. Just looking at that energy gave the illusion of being cut by one's eyes!

Punk calmly watched the Ogre, whose entire body was radiating heat, and with a gentle extension of his hand, the gray ball instantly vanished...

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