A Relatively Powerful Mage

Zhaire continued the march, pushing closer and closer to the ruins of Kansas City. They had been making steady progress over the last week. Every day or two, there was another skirmish, with the resistance stamped out brutally. Each time, the number of Ogrogs following him increased. At this point, they could be considered large enough to be an army.

In addition to the Ogrogs, their numbers swelled with human followers as they liberated more people from squalid camps. Most were sent on their way toward Celestia, but there were always a few that still had some spirit. Zhaire always repeated his offer, a core in exchange for obedience and service, with the possibility of future rewards for exemplary actions.

His offer became more tempting as those who had already taken the oath grew stronger. While the human contingent had some casualties, Zhaire hadn’t pressed them into the vanguard. However, the fighting had tempered them into a passable fighting force, though their equipment was still atrocious. A few of them had even fought well enough to earn the promised second core.

Eric rode up, a scowl plastered across his face. “We’re nearing what’s left of the city. From what I could see, the Ogrogs had taken up residence inside. There were easily tens of thousands of them, though many appeared younger. Many might be noncombatants, but it's hard to tell with them,” he reported.

“Even you can’t take on those odds, we would be outnumbered almost 10 to 1,” Christina said.

“I didn’t march down here just to turn around,” Zhaire grumbled, though he had to agree those weren’t winnable odds.

“There is one thing we could try,” Antonio said. “I’ve been delving into their minds as much as I can manage, and I’m starting to understand them. They respect individual strength above all else, but any perceived weakness will be challenged.”

“I don’t see how that helps us,” Zhaire said.

“They also think of humans as weak and insignificant. If you directly challenged the alpha, it would probably be forced to accept your challenge or lose control of its pack,” Antonio explained.

“Can you win? If it has this many Ogrog under its command, it's bound to be stronger than any of the other alphas,” Christina pointed out.

“Good, I’ve been getting bored and could use a good workout,” Zhaire said, stretching his arms dramatically. The knights grinned while Christina just rolled her eyes.

“If you lose, we’re pretty much fucked,” Veronica pointed out.

“The losers pack would normally surrender, but…” Antonio started to explain before Zhaire cut him off.

“I won’t lose.”

Despite needing less sleep, Zhaire made sure to get a good night’s rest. However, he didn’t forgo his typical nighttime escapades with an enthusiastic brunette whose name he couldn’t remember.

The next morning, they began their final march before reaching the city. Despite Zhaire’s confidence, he didn’t take it lightly, gathering as many items as he could use. His main precaution was to take all of the Temporal Expansion rings, having them fully charged and adjusted to a slightly higher amplitude. He also had two potions that would provide temporary stat boosts, one for strength and one for agility.

Finally, he absorbed some of the precious tier 2 core, pushing his level as high as possible. With satisfaction, he reviewed his progress over the last week of constant fighting.

Achievement Upgraded

Butcher 1 to 2

Zhaire Reeves has reached level 29 (+3) in Frenzied Berserker (2F)

Zhaire Reeves has reached level 29 (+3) in Human (1E)

Zhaire Reeves has reached level 16 (+3) in Beast Tamer (1E)

Primary Stats

Strength 175 (+3)

Agility 144 (+2)

Constitution 158 (+3)

Willpower 130 (+2)

Charisma 107 (+1)

Secondary Stats

HP 385 (+27)

FP 283 (+13)

MP 130 (+3)

Attack Efficiency 359 (+18)

As they approached, the city came into view. It was obviously in disrepair, with many buildings in the process of being reclaimed by nature. There were also signs of the new occupants, with larger entryways covered with animal pelts and animal bones adorning the nearby walls.

A massive force of Ogrog stood between them and the city. There were several thousand, easily outnumbering Zhaire’s forces several times over, but not by as much as Eric had seen. It was likely the rest were noncombatants.

Zhaire signaled everyone to stop and then strode out alone. He removed any loose clothing, stripping down to just a pair of tight-fitting athletic shorts, his armor having been destroyed.

“Come get some,” Zhaire shouted, beckoning for a challenger to approach him.

A lone Ogrog strode out, accepting his challenge. It towered over its brethren, standing at over four meters in height, almost a full meter taller than the first alpha he had faced. While the first alpha had been more toned than their more common brethren's typically slightly pudgy build, this alpha was on an entirely different level. It was a mass of hardened muscle and fur, looking closer to the typical werewolves in movies.

The massive alpha raised its head up and let out a deep sound that was a cross between a bellow and a howl. The noise reverberated with physical force, nearly toppling some of the lower-level people. The alpha loped forward, appearing to move casually but rapidly closing the distance between them with deceptive speed.

Zhaire frowned as a quick Identify returned no information. This meant the creature had quite a few levels on him and potentially even had a tier advantage. Zhaire just smiled as he envisioned the achievements he would earn after defeating this beast.

Zhaire quickly downed three potions, the potions that increased his strength and agility, and preemptively took a stamina potion. He slowly moved to meet the beast near the center between their two forces.

As if by some unspoken agreement, they burst into motion simultaneously. Zhaire activated the first of his enchantments as the alpha blurred towards him. The powerful effect of the Temporal Expansion allowed him to keep up with the incredibly swift alpha; without it, he would never have been able to follow its movements.

Zhaire strained his body, using every bit of his nearly 200 strength and almost equally high agility. Despite his inhuman combination of speed and power, he barely managed to sidestep the alpha's opening blow. Its claws dug into the ground where Zhaire had been only a fraction of a second before. Dirt sprayed into the air as it dug into the ground with the efficiency of heavy machinery.

Zhaire lashed out with a longsword that the fallen Ravi had previously wielded. He had anticipated fighting a monstrous Ogrog and selected a weapon with more power than his side sword but was still light enough to strike quickly. He used his Unstoppable Blow, channeling an extra 3 stamina into the attack skill, hoping it would be enough to dismember the creature's exposed arm.

The sword met flesh and carved inward, cutting a deep gash across the alpha’s forearm. It was significant damage but was far from the decisive blow Zhaire had hoped for. The alpha withdrew its arm and looked at it. It seemed to be in shock, either that its strike hadn’t ended Zhaire’s life or that a small lower-level creature had injured it.

A cheer went up from the human spectators, reveling in the achievement of having drawn first blood. It was quickly overwhelmed by the sound of alpha’s bellowing fury. It launched into a flurry of rapid attacks, each one possessing more than enough force to grind Zhaire into a bloody paste. Fortunately, it emphasized power and force with each strike rather than control and efficiency. It was ultimately wasteful to try to land such a decisive strike, as even a small graze from such a monstrous creature would have likely doomed Zhaire.

Zhaire saw his fighting style mirrored in the massive alpha, using its overwhelming power and anger to crush physically inferior opponents. In this case, Zhaire was forced to adapt, adopting an entirely different style. He was smaller and weaker than his opponent, but he was faster with the potions and enchantments. It reminded him of when he had sparred with Teresa. She had always given him trouble with her greater speed and agility, preventing him from using his overwhelming physical abilities to end the fight quickly.

Zhaire easily dodged the alpha’s attacks, patiently waiting for an opening to present itself. With each dodge, the creature grew more and more enraged. Its onslaught was ferocious, but eventually, the alpha overextended itself, presenting an opening for Zhaire to exploit. However, Zhaire stepped further into the creature's reach instead of continuing his hit-and-run tactic. He closed in so he was practically shoulder to hip with the power monster that could crush him like a pimple. He raked his blade across the tree trunk-sized thigh of the creature, opening another deep gash that would hopefully limit its mobility.

Zhaire continued his attack, feinting like he was trying to turn the corner and get behind it. By the time it had spun around, Zhaire had already planted his leg and reversed his direction. Zhaire brought his blade down again, using an Unstoppable Blow to inflict maximum damage. The sword bit into the back of its leg, cleaving through muscles and tendons before striking into bone.

The alpha let out a deep yelp of pain as it fell forward, unable to put any weight on its injured leg. Zhaire took the opening, activating a second Temporal Expansion ring while using his Frenzy skill. He rapidly attacked the same spot with a pair of maxed Unstoppable Blows. The first one slammed into the bone, shattering it with an audible crunch. The third blow cut through what little remained of the knee, dismembering the leg and intensifying the creature’s blood loss from a stream to a geyser.

Zhaire retreated from the monster’s reach as it flailed ineffectually. While it might take longer for a tier 2 creature to bleed out, he felt certain it couldn’t recover from this severity of an injury. He just needed to wait it out. The alpha rolled to face him, and its lips curled in a snarl that exposed its sword-sized canines.

With a sudden burst of speed, the beast lunged towards him. Its motion was that of a wolf, a creature that moved on all four legs. While the alpha only had 3 limbs, that was more than enough to lunge forward in a final act of defiance.

Zhaire dove out of its path as he attempted to avoid the creature’s massive maw. He just barely managed to evade it, feeling the wind from the force of its jaw clamping shut just inches away from him.

He turned to face his attacker, now no longer so confident to assume his victory was a foregone conclusion. As he moved, something felt off, as if he was somehow unbalanced. That’s when he noticed what had happened.

His left arm was gone, with a stub remaining where it had once been. It had happened so fast that his nerves didn’t have time to register what had happened.

The monster licked its muzzle as if it had just enjoyed a tasty snack and wanted to enjoy every drop of blood. It let out another earth-shaking bellow before loping after the now debilitated Zhaire.