"No. I had… a lucky encounter." Lith had no other way to explain his mastery of magic. He had learned from life and death fights against Irtu and Gerda (*), and by fighting alongside Protector.
If he had not met so many magical beasts, he wouldn't be half the mage he was.
Lith left them to ponder about his words, resuming his position in the backline.
Even if fighting was getting easier, it was still exhausting both physically and psychologically, so the group rested again, this time with a proper guard-duty order. Lith didn't sleep, only pretended to, using Invigoration to recover his strength.
When they started moving again, they passed through several corridors and caves, sometimes ending up in dead ends, but never losing the way thanks to the map. They kept finding traces of past struggles and goblin's bones chewed clean, but they met no enemies.
Phloria could feel the tension in the air, they were getting inside the territory of a bigger predator.
"Wait!" Yurial said, stopping the group.
"The next corner is too narrow. If we get attacked while crossing it, the group would be split in half, making hard for us to coordinate properly."
"I know, but it's not like we can make it wider or see through the walls." Phloria replied.
Lith inwardly smiled, since he had just done that with Life Vision.
"True, but we can set up the board properly. It's an ambush only if you are unaware of it."
Yurial casted one array after the other, marking their borders with true magic to make it easier for his teammates to spot them. When he finished, Phloria moved several steps in front of the others, keeping the shield up in front of her and ready to retreat.
She peeked behind the corner, discovering a short corridor leading to another sharp curve. Phloria was about to signal the others to move forward, when she heard sounds of battle.
There were screams and yelling in a guttural language she was unable to identify. The source of the noise kept getting closer, until a group of humanoids came rushing toward her.
They were all very tall, above 2 meters (6'7") high, with muscular bodies that could have passed for humans if not for the greenish skin, the spiky red hair and the long and pointy ears and nose.
"Ogres!" Phloria yelled.
"Um-pha!" Yelled an ogre, pointing at her with a claw ending finger.
Unlike goblins, they wore clothes, mostly made out the skin of other ogres, goblins and whatever they usually had for lunch. An ogre wearing a necklace made of skulls from small animals waved a huge staff toward Phloria hiding spot.
"In-foi!" A fireball flew from the staff, leaving Phloria only enough time to step back and take cover behind her tower shield before being engulfed by the explosion. Her magic shield shattered, but still took the brunt of the spell.
Her uniform was burned in more than one spot, and her hears were ringing, making hard for Phloria keep her balance. Friya took point, while Quylla started healing her injured friend and Yurial casted another array.
As soon as the ogres stepped inside the first array, Yurial activated it, turning the space they were into a thunderstorm that burned many to a crisp, lightnings assaulted them from all directions. Even the survivors didn't come out unscathed.
The ogres were already looking forward for the rare taste of human flesh when the second array activated, turning the ground into quicksand and making them drown.
- "Yes!" Yurial thought. "A clean victory without having to attack even once. Wardens rock!"–
The ogre shaman was as clever as ruthless. He had survived the thunderstorm by using the other ogres as meat shields while casting a protective earth spell only for himself, shielding others would have required time and compassion, and he lacked both.
He also survived the quicksand by using the others as stepping stones, brandishing his staff as a club towards the nearest enemy, Friya.
Despite being injured and smaller than the other ogres, the shaman still hit with the strength of a kicking horse, almost shattering the magical shield from the impact.
Friya was at disadvantage, the opponent was heavier, stronger and had a longer attack range than her, since the staff was over 2 meters (6'7") long. The shaman followed up with a kick, catching her unprepared and sending her tumbling on the ground.
The shaman smiled, pressing forward and ready to crush her skull like a melon.
"Joruna Harti!"
Quylla's ice spears pierced the ogre from all side. Blood instantly gurgled from its mouth while its knees hit the ground, having no more strength to stand.
Lith felt flattered, the spell closely resembled his Checkmate Spears.
"In-foi!" The shaman weaved his staff one last time, unwilling to die alone.
Alas, Yurial had already completed a very small array that negated fire magic. He had prepared it since the moment he had noticed that one of the enemies was crazy enough to use fire magic inside the corridor.
The shaman looked at his staff with a dumbfounded expression, the pain from the betrayal of its only true friend showed on his rough visage.
Friya expressed her condolences by piercing its head in one fluid motion.
The group was about to celebrate, when something else walked past the corner.
It looked like an alligator, but it was humanoid. It stood on two legs, at least 2.5 metres (8'2") high not considering the tail.
It wore a belt to which were hanged several trinkets, while his hands wielded a double headed axe and a hammer axe respectively. It was chewing what seemed to be an ogre's still bleeding thigh.
It stared at them with a playful look, before taking the thigh out of its mouth and saying:
"Ah, fresh meat!"