Chương 32: The Ogre

Among the swarm of Kobolds, one stood out. While most were between 1. 3 to 1. 4 meters tall, this individual reached 1. 6 meters. His attire was equally distinct: adorned with ornaments of beast bone and clad in animal pelts, he clutched a staff made from a bovine femur in his right hand. He was a Kobold Shaman. The Shaman looked at the small hillside in the distance, where fewer than a hundred Goblins stood in a line with wooden spears and stones, appearing ready for a pitched battle. He let out a scoffing laugh.

High-born Kobold skin was natural armor; their claws and fangs were natural weapons. Now, with an Ogre slave at their command, what could these inherently wretched Goblins possibly do against them? Still, it was peculiar that these cowardly creatures dared to stay and face them head-on. The Shaman's snout twitched as he caught a scent—a strange aroma he had never smelled before, yet it was quite fragrant.

In the Magic Forest, the rule was simple: the better an animal smelled, the weaker its combat ability and the tenderer its meat. Thus, the Shaman ignored the faint scent of humans. He swept his bone staff forward.

"Kill them! Turn them into food!" The Kobolds erupted in a chorus of barks and yaps. One Kobold lashed the Ogre's hindquarters with a thorned whip. The Ogre let out a roar of primal fury but, despite the whip barely scratching its hide, it chose to obey, dragging its heavy steps toward the Goblins. Li Qinwu's eyes were locked on the giant. He clearly saw the humiliation on the Ogre's face; it was submitting only out of coercion.

"So his kids really were snatched by the Kobolds," Li Qinwu muttered. Seeing the target close within 150 meters, he bellowed, "TO THE BALLISTAE!" He vaulted out of the potato vines, ripping away the camouflage. He adjusted his aim at the Ogre and pulled the trigger. SWISH! A massive bolt streaked through the air, instantly slamming into the Ogre's bloated stomach. The iron spearhead tore through the leathery, scaled skin; 50 centimeters of the 1. 5-meter shaft buried themselves deep inside.

"ROAAAAAR!!!" The Ogre let out an earth-shattering howl of agony. He stared at the bolt in his gut with a mix of confusion and rage, reaching down to pull it out. At that moment, the other four ballistae fired. Two bolts missed, plowing into the Kobold swarm following the Ogre and impaling them like kebabs. The other two struck true—one in the Ogre's chest and the other in his shoulder.

"Gah... huff..." The Ogre cried out again, then violently vomited a large spray of blood. The chest bolt had punctured his lung, making every breath a struggle. He collapsed to his knees. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The Kobolds were thrown into an immediate frenzy. Their invincible Ogre was wounded?

Before their dim wits could process what was happening, the Hobgoblins on Li Qinwu's side raised their crossbows and unleashed a volley, toppling several more Kobolds. Li Qinwu fired his Noble Bow in rapid volleys while screaming at his troops, "CHARGE! KILL THEM ALL! FOR MILITARY MERIT!" The Goblins with melee weapons leapt up in a green wave. Three hundred Goblins screamed, leveling their spears and polearms as they charged down the slope.

With the speed bonus from the incline, the front-line spearmen slammed into the chaotic Kobold ranks, skewering a dozen of them in the first clash. Behind them came the Goblins wielding modified hoes, sickles, and axes. Though they were numerous, their lethality was lower; it often took seven or eight hacks to bring a Kobold down, leaving them yelping on the ground. By comparison, the spear truly proved itself the king of melee weapons—one thrust was usually enough to end a Kobold's life.

Regardless, deprived of their Ogre, peppered by bolts, and outnumbered three-to-one in close quarters, the Kobolds began to panic. Signs of a rout were appearing. Seeing the tides turn, the Kobold Shaman was struck with alarm. He raised his staff and began chanting an obscure incantation, hopping and dancing like a man possessed. After ten seconds of this ritual, he slammed the bone staff into the ground and howled at the sky. The Kobolds who heard the howl began to breathe heavily, their eyes turning crimson.

They lunged at the Goblins with reckless abandon, tearing at flesh with claws and gnashing with teeth, shredding Goblin skin into a bloody mess in seconds. With this Berserk Hex, the Shaman temporarily stabilized his line. He looked up at the hillside and saw the Hobgoblins firing from a distance. A few were operating those powerful machines. He noticed two Goblins frantically cranking the winches and realized the weapon needed a "recharge" time, much like his own sorcery.

"That weapon must not fire a second time!" Gritting his teeth, the Shaman looked at the Ogre kneeling in his own blood and began another ritual. A mass of purplish-black energy coalesced around the bone staff.

"Go!" Once the energy solidified, he pointed at the Ogre. The dark mist surged forward and sank into the Ogre's body. The giant's pupils were instantly clouded by the purple haze. In the Ogre's hallucination, his entire family had been slaughtered. His century-old father, his eighty-year-old child, his brawling wife—all dead. And their killers were the little green things on the hillside!

"GRAAAAAAAAGH!!!" The Ogre let out a roar that shook the heavens, spraying blood with the force of his lungs. Ignoring the agony of the bolts, he pushed off with his massive feet and began a lumbering sprint up the slope, crushing several Kobolds and Goblins alike under his weight. Li Qinwu watched the mountain of flesh charging directly at him, the ground thumping rhythmically under the Ogre's stride. It was like a landslide in motion. His skin crawled.

He glanced at the ballistae—the Hobgoblins were still cranking, but they weren't going to make it in time.

"Shit!" Li Qinwu had to meet the charge to buy them those precious seconds. He leveled his bow and fired two shots at the Ogre's eyes, but both missed. Dropping the bow, he drew the massive greatsword from his back, lowering his center of gravity into a combat stance.

"ROAR!!!" The Ogre reached him, face contorted in a demonic sneer. He swung the massive tree trunk—thicker than Li Qinwu's waist—straight down. Li Qinwu rolled desperately to the left. The trunk slammed into his former position, sending black soil flying and leaving a massive crater in the earth. Li Qinwu sprang to his feet, seizing the opening during the Ogre's post-swing recovery. He swung the heavy blade with all his might into the Ogre's thick, fleshy waist.