A Relatively Powerful Mage

Zhaire and the knights continued their miserable trudge through the swampy wetlands for another two days. Everyone was on high alert for another of the acid snakes. Fortunately, they were not attacked again, though they noticed the ferocious creatures lurking within the water on more than one occasion. The snakes mostly appeared content eating their fill of the large rodent creatures that were everywhere. Running into the particularly brazen snake had simply been unlucky.

The knights followed the snakes’ example, conserving their supplies by eating the abundant large rodents for every meal. Unfortunately, they were gamey and chewy, and everyone was sick of eating them by the second day. They also added their cores to a growing collection, though level 3 or 4 cores wouldn’t be worth much.

As they traveled, Zhaire continued to use the mana reader as he had promised Imri. Unsurprisingly, the mana density was slightly higher here than on the plains and was similar to the levels found near Celestia. This partially explained why the snakes were so high leveled, with others suggesting it was their steady diet of rodents to eat.

The ground slowly grew firmer as they neared the end of flood plains. There was a subdued but slightly jubilant mood within the camp for the first time since Ravi had died. Zhaire did his best to join in the joyful atmosphere, though he didn’t feel he deserved to. He moved to sit near a crackling fire, enjoying the warmth as the last of damp clothing dried.

The next morning was another change in routine. Instead of traveling, they had a number of the knights undergo the heritage rank up. Most of the knights had been around level 10 or 11 before the battle against the snake. Having gained a level or two, many now met the requirements for the elixirs that Zhaire had purchased before they had left Celestia. Zhaire hadn’t planned it, but they had an even split between the three different heritages that Caroline had produced. The three mages, Veronica, Antonio, and Una, would have the Starseeker heritage. He, Brad, and a lancer named Clay were the three with the Drake heritage. Eric, Maddison, and Ray were all ranged and agility specialists and would take the Umbral Tiger heritage.

After today, only Clay and Una would be missing their heritage rank-up, giving the knights a significant boost in power. With four people taking the elixir, Zhaire decided it was prudent to split them into two groups of two. The first group would take the elixir in the morning, while the second would take it in the afternoon.

Zhaire was immediately glad he had shown caution when the loud noises of two of the knights transforming attracted unwanted attention.

A trio of the doglike ogres were spotted, headed straight for their camp with long strides. They were almost eight feet tall, with dark matted fur with occasional bald spots where fur was missing in large clumps. At first, they appeared somewhat pudgy, but it was mostly just saggy excess skin that concealed powerful muscles. To top it off, they had long, wolf-like snouts with proportionally massive canines.

Fortunately, the trio hadn’t been particularly stealthy, and the knights had spotted them well before they arrived. All the practice and drilling paid off, as no one panicked, quickly mounting their Starseeker and getting into formation.

Zhaire charged atop Betelgeuse, meeting the charging creatures head-on in an attempt to keep them away from the two knights who couldn’t defend themselves. The other six knights rode in formation beside him. A quick Identify told Zhaire the creatures were called Ogrog, between levels 15 to 17.

The seven combat-ready knights rode to meet the charging creatures. While the Ogrogs were more than a foot taller than Zhaire and two feet taller than an average person, they were still relatively small compared to the nearly rhino-sized Starseekers. Bettlegeuse slammed into the lead Ogrog with tremendous force, nearly jolting Zhaire from the saddle in a car-like collision between the dog-ogre and the rhino-horse. While Bettleguese was a bit dazed, the Ogrog fared far worse as it was bowled over and trampled on by several tons of Starseeker.

The other two Ogrogs didn’t fare much better, though they avoided headlong collisions. The dog-ogre creatures were ill-prepared to fight something that they couldn’t physically overwhelm, only able to futilely reach out in a clumsy attempt to unseat the riders that harassed them. The knights expertly evaded the telegraphed attacks by approaching them two at a time from different angles, with the rider who had the creature’s attention staying out of reach. Meanwhile, the other rider would slowly whittle them down with a series of strafing attacks or harass them at range with spells and arrows. The brawny creatures were tough, and it took a while before the final one collapsed from dozens of smaller wounds.

Zhaire smiled as he gained two levels in Beast Tamer thanks to Betelguese’s efforts, though his class hadn’t gained much, if anything. The decisive victory boosted morale as the knights congratulated each other as they returned to the camp. The twins were a notable exception, sharing a concerned look amongst themselves.

“What’s wrong?” Zhaire asked as he rode up beside them.

“We’re just surprised to see them this far north; we’re not even halfway to Kansas City. If they made it this far, what happened to everyone south of here?” Veronica asked.

“I’m sure this was just a scouting party. It's still likely there are plenty of survivors,” Zhaire said, doing his best to reassure the anxious teenagers. They nodded but didn’t look convinced.

From everything Zhaire had learned about the Ogrog, which admittedly wasn’t much, they were ferocious and warlike creatures who were individually stronger than the Chixel or the Azala. However, unlike those two alien races, the Ogrog didn’t seem to view other species as resources. They would have little reason to hunt down groups of refugees.

The rest of the transformations occurred without interruption. Despite still having several hours of daylight, there was little reason to push themselves when almost half their numbers were exhausted from the strenuous rank-up process. Zhaire also wanted their scouts to be on full alert for more Ogrogs. While this group had likely been ahead of any larger contingent, he thought they would likely start encountering them in greater numbers.

The next day, they continued their journey southward, moving far faster without fear of the Starseekers getting stuck in the muck. Zhaire also relented on the strenuous drills and time spent walking, not wanting to tire the knights out when a potential skirmish could happen at any time.

As he took mana readings, he noticed it dropped precipitously as they moved away from the flood plains and closer to the levels in the stone forest. The strange seagrass they had all grown accustomed to was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the terrain had more mundane seeming patches of grass and an almost completely flat incline. There was little chance either Ogrogs or Starseekers wouldn’t be spotted from miles away.

The twins' concerns about the survivors from Kansas City were somewhat assuaged when Eric returned with a report of a large human camp. As they rode up, the scope of the camp took them all by surprise. It was a massive camp with hundreds, if not thousands, of tents pitched along dusty dirt. The packed ground also suggested the camp had been here for at least a few days.

Zhaire frowned as he studied the camp. How had such a large group been ignored by the trio of Ogrog scouts?

The knights were spotted well before reaching the camp, which was now bustling with activity. A small delegation of people gathered to greet them, grim expressions on their faces. None wore any weapons, not even the knife the system had given.

A tall, slender Asian woman in her mid-to-late twenties, presumably the camp leader, stepped forward. “I’m not sure who you people are, but please stay away from this camp, or you’ll attract the Ogrog.”

Zhaire frowned, not having expected this reaction. He understood they were wary of strangers, but this seemed absurd. The rest of the knights seemed equally perplexed by the reception.

“I know we only just met, but we rode down here to help in the war…” Zhaire started to explain before the woman cut him off.

“War? There is no war, only senseless slaughter of anyone who tries fighting those monsters,” she said derisively.

“We can handle ourselves, don’t worry about that. We killed three of those bastards already,” Brad boasted.

“You did what?” She asked with a mixture of surprise and horror. The group behind her started talking amongst themselves with frenetic energy.

“A trio of them attacked our camp yesterday,” Zhaire explained.

“All of you need to leave right now,” the woman yelled at him.

“Can you at least tell us if there are other survivors? How many people are still alive?” Veronica asked.

“Leave,” she shouted at them insistently, ignoring the question.

A deep howl sounded in the distance, reverberating through the camp as if to emphasize her point. More and more Ogrogs picked up the sound and added their voices to the unnatural effect, forming a deep chorus that shook the ground and terrified everyone in the camp. Even many of the knights seemed unnerved by the sound and the numbers it implied.

“You’ve killed us all,” the woman said, sounding more depressed than angry

“Was there some sort of truce that we broke?” Zhaire asked.

“Truce might be a stretch, but in effect, yes. Those monsters love fighting, and as long as we didn’t fight back, they eventually got bored and left us alone,” the woman said.

“You let them kill you?” Veronica asked in horror.

“Better that than all of us,” she replied.

Silence hung over them until Brad broke it, “Zhaire, are you part Ogrog?”

“Coach did always say I was a dog,” Zhaire said with a smile as he hefted his glaive. “This should be fun.”

“Definitely part Ogrog; that’s the only explanation for how he is so big,” Veronica added with a chuckle, getting a few knights to join in and break the tense atmosphere.

“Are you people all mad?” the woman asked, shaking her head.

“Maybe, but we’ve faced similar odds and come out of it stronger. We’ll do the same here,” Zhaire said with determination.

It wasn’t long before the Ogrogs started to come into view. Hundreds of the massive dog ogres surround the camp, encircling it. Fortunately, that gave them a glimmer of hope, as their line was thin, so they could cover the entire distance.

“No matter what, we keep moving. We have to break through their line,” Zhaire said, raising his glaive into a ready position. “For humanity,” he shouted as he mentally spurred the massive Starseeker forward, plunging them headlong into a charge.