Chapter 91: Group Class Raid 7
"Ukkk!" The beast staggered, letting out a raw, guttural shriek as its immense rage finally twisted into blinding, debilitating pain.
Kael’s eyes flicked to the last member of the strike team. "Now, Selene!"
From the corner of the battlefield, the omnipresent shadows surged and coalesced. Selene Whitmore didn’t run or leap; she simply emerged as if she had been born from the darkness itself. Her movement was a terrifying blur of focused speed, a true apex predator weaving through the gloom. In an instant, she materialized directly behind the kneeling, crippled ogre.
She drove the blades into the exact same deep wound that both Kael and Octavia had opened. Flesh tore like wet paper, and thick, black blood sprayed violently across the damp stone floor.
The team moved in seamless sync, every strike, every motion, every placement layered on top of the last with flawless efficiency.
The ogre bellowed once more, a hollow, defeated sound, as it stumbled forward completely onto its knees.
Selene’s lips curled into a delighted, almost feral smile. "This is fun," she purred, her eyes glittering with a sharp, almost manic delight. There was no pity in her tone, only the pure, uncomplicated thrill of the surgical kill. She twisted her blade inside the wound before pulling back with a clean, precise movement, letting the creature howl its misery into the stone vault.
Kael steadied his shield once more, his entire being a bulwark, as he stepped forward to press the ogre down, preventing it from recovering as it writhed in agony. His voice carried a tone of calm, unshakable authority, completely unaffected by the chaos he had just commanded. "Focus fire on the wound. Break its rhythm. Don’t give it a single second to recover. Keep the pressure on, people."
Kael Vi-rel POV
Selene Whitmore was a whirlwind of honed efficiency. She had grown sharper, faster, and far stronger since they began working as a unit. The shadows were no longer mere backdrop; they clung to her like loyal, protective companions, and every step she took every feint and every thrust cut through the battlefield with lethal precision.
Still, Kael Vi-rel’s expression remained grim, a mask of strategic focus, as he kept the monster’s failing attention pinned squarely on him. We may have the upper hand now, he thought, his eyes narrowing slightly behind the raised edge of his shield, but landing the final, decisive blow will not be simple. This creature won’t go down quietly, and it certainly won’t collapse on my schedule.
His calculating gaze flicked rapidly across the chaotic battlefield, monitoring the positions and readiness of his allies. Selene was a flickering shadow, darting from deep gloom to deeper gloom, waiting with palpable anticipation for her final, critical moment. Octavia’s arrows glittered faintly with their delicate runic enchantments, always seeking the deepest wound, the weakest point. Julie’s hands crackled with restrained fire magic, ready to unleash a torrent the instant Kael gave the signal. They were primed. They were ready. They wanted their spotlight moment.
Kael’s jaw tightened beneath the sweat and grime of the fight. "This raid isn’t supposed to include me," he muttered under his breath, the confession almost lost in the ogre’s ragged breathing. "In the original game’s lore, my character, The Five-Hundredth Tank, never stood here. Which means... I have to set them up. I have to create the gap and give them the finish. This specific, high-stakes moment is supposed to be theirs."
His grip on his massive shield and his spatial sword shifted slightly, a conscious effort to restrain his full power. Hold back, Kael. Don’t end this in one accidental strike. This isn’t for a new record, it’s for their growth.
His gaze lifted back to the ogre, whose huge, tattered chest rose and fell with a ragged, defeated fury. Its shoulder was a shredded ruin, one side hanging limp and useless, but it still managed to stand tall enough to tower menacingly over the four adventurers. Kael narrowed his eyes, choosing his next target carefully. "Just a little stab. The stomach. Nothing remotely fatal. An ogre won’t die from that—not immediately. It’ll simply feel the pain."
He drew back, not focusing on power, but precision, gathering spatial energy around the tip of his weapon. The subtle distortion bent the air around the blade, a faint, almost invisible shimmer sparking along the metal edge. He moved in with a cautious, calculated step, aiming carefully for the lower torso, away from any vital organs.
But the ogre, even in its weakened, pain-addled state, possessed an animalistic, heightened survival instinct. It sensed the subtle, localized bending of spacethe undeniable, terrifying presence of killing intent. With a sudden, desperate twist, it lurched violently to the side, throwing its body straight into the path Kael wasn’t aiming for, hoping to ruin his angle.
The strike connected anyway, hitting what was now directly in front of his trajectory.
A sharp, controlled burst of warped space detonated with a silent, concentrated force.
In an instant, one of the ogre’s massive, swinging legs dissolved into a grey cloud of fine dust, vanishing completely from existence from the knee down.
Kael’s eyes widened in genuine shock, the sudden failure of his control stunning him. "That stupid jerk!" He grit his teeth, the words a strained curse. "I was holding back! If I hadn’t mentally restrained the skill, that would’ve been its head instead of its leg! It moved right into a self-destruct path!"
His shield trembled slightly in his grip as he slowly exhaled, frustration tightening his chest. "I almost killed it outright. Damn it, this is bad. If it dies now from my accidental, controlled strike, none of the others will have the chance to contribute the finishing blow. This hard-won raid will mean nothing for their internal system progression!"
He snapped his head back toward the group, his voice sharp with sudden urgency. "Attack it! Attack it now before it collapses! Drive the final nails!"
The sheer panic and urgency in his voice instantly broke the moment’s tactical hesitation among his allies.
Octavia Blake loosed three arrows in lightning-fast succession, each one finding purchase in the ogre’s heaving torso.
Julie Wartin thrust her wand forward, fire magic igniting into a roaring torrent of bright, consuming flames that immediately engulfed the monster’s injured side.
Selene Whitmore emerged from the deepest shadow in a blinding blur, her specialized Shadow Slash technique carving deep into the same gaping wound Kael had opened earlier.