Chapter 799: Ogre
Kilometres away from Asher’s location, Ryaen could be seen running on the ground through a forest, sand tearing backwards as she increased her speed. At this moment, she was being chased by two Fang-class Ogres.
Although Asher had made killing Mark-class Lizardfolks look extremely easy and simple, that was because he was simply too powerful, and people who could pull off such feats like him were upperclassmen. After all, the Fang-class was the 4th rank, and it wasn’t so easily killed by any first-year student, with or without Astra energy and abilities.
Such was the fate of the first-year students.
Although gathering points might seem too easy and simple due to Asher’s ridiculous speed and power, and other top ten rankers’ speed and efficiency, it had to be known that most Viel-class Monsters netted one hundred (100) points, and just unlocking Astra energy alone cost four thousand (4000) points. It meant that the first-year students would have to kill forty (40) Viel-class Monsters before they could gain enough points to unlock their Astra energy.
And it wasn’t only that, they still had to hustle for more points to unlock their abilities, affinities, and even stay on the ranking.
All in all, they simply had no hope of qualifying and entering the top fifty (50) without any Positive Zone in their favour. Fighting forty Viel-class Monsters was simply madness to them.
Now, one had to consider a talent like Ryaen. Although talented and a monster in her own right, she couldn’t one-shot Fang-class Monsters and Beasts without her Bloodline ability; they weren’t made of paper after all, which was why she was running at this moment while they chased her. If she had four thousand (4000) points, she could have put up a fight and won.
But it wasn’t that she didn’t plan to fight these Fang-class Monsters, no, she planned to. She needed the points as she couldn’t spend all her time farming Viel-class Monsters. But it wouldn’t be so easy.
Luckily for her, Ogres were a bit... dumb.
As she moved, she immediately dove to the side, and the moment she did, a club slammed into the position where she had been a second ago. An explosion erupted outwards as a small crater tore open.
Ryaen immediately rolled to her feet. The moment she did, the second Ogre was already on the move, swinging its own club at her. Ryaen didn’t dare take it head-on. While she was a hand-to-hand specialist and possessed a bit more strength than others of her rank due to her bloodline providing stronger bones, it had to be known that these were Ogres, Monsters that were of the strength type.
She immediately squatted, the weapon tearing through the air. But she didn’t just dodge, she closed the distance. With a single leap, she jumped into the air, reaching the face of the second Ogre. She snapped her hand backwards as she punched forward. With a booming sound, her fist crashed into the Ogre’s left eye.
The sound of flesh tearing open rippled through the air as green blood splattered across her body. While she might not be able to overpower them through sheer strength, it didn’t mean she couldn’t target their weaknesses whenever she saw an opening.
Gravity claimed her. The moment she landed on her feet, she immediately turned and made a run for it, making sure to keep a speed the Ogres could follow as they possessed immense strength but slow speed.
The second Ogre roared in pain as it clutched its bleeding and now-blind eye. It stared at the fleeing Ryaen with wickedness and immediately gave chase. The first Ogre also followed behind as both of them chased her, determined to kill and eat her flesh.
Seeing them follow, Ryaen immediately went into another phase of her plan. She shot towards a tree at the side, and with a booming sound, she destroyed it with a punch, the tree falling forward. She caught it, then stared at the approaching Ogre. Without a shred of hesitation, she swung the long tree, smashing it into the ankle of the injured Ogre.
The tree immediately exploded into splinters as the Ogre roared in pain and dropped to one knee. Ryaen closed the distance once again as she moved to blind the second eye and cripple it completely. But the moment she closed the distance, the club of the first Ogre streaked forward as it was thrown at her with immense force.
She had been caught off guard.
The other Ogre was still a step behind and sne wanted to capitalize on that; she just hadn’t expected that the Ogre would throw its club.
She had no choice but to abandon her attack and defend, there was no time to dodge. She immediately raised her hands in front of her face and chest as she braced for impact. With a bam, the club crashed into her body, throwing her backwards, her legs digging into the sand as she tried to remain balanced on her feet.
Her body skidded to a stop. She felt the pain, her hands were numb, her bones throbbing from the impact as her forearms were now injured. But she didn’t react to the injury or pain as she knew that if any first year aside from Asher had been in her predicament, just blocking that attack would have been enough to cripple their entire upper body due to the immense force behind the throw and momentum.
But she was able to survive due to her Bloodline, which granted stronger bones and a stronger body to go with it.
Ryaen didn’t stand on ceremony, there was no time to delay on a battlefield. Since the enemy had thrown its weapon at her, she would simply use it against them. Without missing a beat, she raised her leg and flung it towards the club. She kicked it as though it were a ball, her aim? The kneeling half-blind Ogre.
With a boom, the club streaked forward, and with a blasting sound, it crashed into the face of the half-blind Ogre, its head snapping backwards from the collision, but still not enough to kill it.
The first Ogre had already arrived. Without missing a beat, it punched towards Ryaen. But Ryaen simply dodged by sliding through its legs. She didn’t have time to fight this perfectly healthy Ogre; it was best to finish off the half-dead one.
The moment she was through the Ogre’s legs, she rose to her feet and blurred towards the half-kneeling Ogre, arriving in a blur through the Ogre’s blinded-eye side, her fist clenched, her muscles straining as she leaped and unleashed a punch to the throat with rocketing force.
And with a booming sound, the Ogre toppled backwards, falling onto its back. Ryaen didn’t hesitate, she blurred across its belly as she appeared on its chest, her fist clenching once again as she aimed to punch its throat one more time.
But the other Ogre was already on the move. It had picked up its weapon and smashed it towards Ryaen’s position. Seeing this, Ryaen simply smirked and dodged to the side in a burst of motion, as she had already planned and orchestrated this particular moment. The moment she dodged, the Ogre’s club immediately smashed into the other Ogre’s head, and with a sickening flesh-tearing sound, the Ogre’s head burst apart.
The Ogre was stunned. It froze for a moment, shocked that it had killed its teammate by mistake. But Ryaen wasn’t stunned, she saw an opening, and she took it. She jumped upon the Ogre’s club, then leaped towards the last Ogre’s face.
Before the Ogre could even react, Ryaen’s two hands stabbed forward like spears, plunging into its eyes, tearing through them like a hot knife through butter. But that wasn’t enough to kill it, and Ryaen knew this. Before the Ogre could thrash around to get her off, Ryaen’s hands moved again, her forearms that were pointed forward immediately shot upwards and, with grotesque ease, her hands tore through the Ogre’s brain from within.
With a boom, the Ogre’s body collapsed backwards, and atop its head stood Ryaen, who stared at her own body that was covered in green blood.
She sighed, sitting on the Ogre’s chest to catch her breath. She wasn’t physically exhausted or anything like that, but since there was no one chasing her anymore, she simply sat there and allowed herself a brief moment of respite. The sounds of the forest slowly returned, replacing the noise of battle that had filled the area only moments ago.
Her bracelet beeped. Staring at it, she saw that she had gained one thousand three hundred (1300) points, as each Ogre had given her six hundred and fifty (650) points.
She stared at her rank and sighed. She was ranked two hundred and fourteenth (214th) at the moment, which was by every means impressive. After all, this was a competition involving one thousand seven hundred and forty (1740) geniuses from across the world, and those who stood above her in the rankings were all third-year students from other Academies.
Her rank was considered a miracle by every standard, as no other first-year student from any Academy across the planet was higher than her at the moment on the ranking.
Her eyes shifted towards the top rankings. It was filled with unfamiliar names, but she recognised three of them: the Wargrave brothers and the Velkarin guy who had been talking to her at the gala two days ago.
She couldn’t help but shake her head, wondering how Asher was still dominating even in times like these. The gap between him and the rest seemed almost absurd, as though he was participating in an entirely different competition. She sighed, deciding to forget about it. She had almost two thousand points; she was halfway through unlocking her Astra energy, and that was what truly mattered right now.
____
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I hope this Chapter reminds you all that monsters above the Veil-class aren’t so easy to farm and annihilate. Lol.
