"The concealment is about to end, let's go!"
I reminded them. Though it's not needed it's a necessary call to hasten their pace.
We're still halfway down the narrow pathway. From afar, we could already hear the approaching footsteps of those 50 Ogres who left earlier.
"We might have no choice but to fight. Get in formation."
Yumiko judged. She looked at me for confirmation in which I nodded as an answer.
Not hearing any word from me, the others quickly get into our formation.
With Yumiko and me at the front, Jayna behind us, and the other three enclosing her inside the formation.
Jayna has the convenient vines that could slip under our feet. Paired with her phenomenal control on Spirit Energy, she's really fit to be in the center of our formation.
The fight is unavoidable but we also need to get as far away as possible from that lair to avoid reinforcements from the enemy. Fighting 8 times our numbers, we need to be swift or it will take too long of a time if they became cautious and just decided to block our way.
When we exited the narrow pathway, we sprinted away from there. With only a few seconds left, we didn't get very far before the Concealment Aura ran out of time.
The 50 Ogres who were marching back with disgruntled ugly faces upon not seeing the reason they went out were all startled when the six of us suddenly appeared not far from them.
However, that surprise didn't last long as they immediately recognized us as enemies. They all look alike which makes anyone who looks different from them as enemies.
The Ogres at the second row of their formation aimed at us without a second thought. Throwing their stone clubs, they all howled in joy, probably thinking we wouldn't be able to dodge it.
Unluckily for them, Yumiko and I were at the front.
Being a Hero and someone almost as strong as the Spirit King, Yumiko is still considered a Mortal by that old man's standard.
But yeah, in the World of Spirits, she's as invincible as him. The Council of Twenty will always have a headache whenever she appears in this world. Though I only met one of those from the Council, it's not wrong to imagine that they're a bunch of uptight old men.
By raising the Energy Shield skill and Energy Shield Augmented Skill, I got myself two layers of protection.
The others were also buffed with the Energy Shield Augmented Skill. I even used my Streams to strengthen it. That's why, unlike earlier, those stone clubs they threw bounced back when it hit me and got diverted easily by Yumiko.
When the first wave of attacks subsided, Yumiko raised her gohei and took a stance as if she would use it as a spear.
Materializing a River, she shaped it and turned it into a materialized blade of Spirit Energy which she attached on her gohei's tip.
To turn that shrine maiden exclusive staff like that. Why didn't she just get herself a real spear?
Err… it's probably another preference of those Higher Spirits, eh?
With her gohei-turned-spear, she stabbed the first Ogre she could reach. Along with the fluttering of the streamers on both sides of it, the howling of the Ogre signalled the start of this battle of six against fifty.
After lodging that materialized blade inside the Ogre, she twisted her gohei before pulling it out of its body, leaving a bloody hole.
Enraged upon seeing that, the other Ogres at the front aimed at her. However, Yumiko just smiled slightly and 4 of her Rivers materialized into four gohei-turned-spear, mimicking her weapon.
These Ogres didn't know that if she willed it, Yumiko could probably kill all of them if they give her enough time. That's how large of a gap she had on them.
Those four materialized weapons made from her Rivers took advantage of their surprise from seeing those goheis appear out of nowhere as they stabbed at four different targets. It might be slightly weaker than her own direct attack but the four stabbed ogres fell down, bleeding profusely.
Seeing five of them taken out like that, the other Ogres started to encircle us.
Upon seeing that, Jayna didn't wait any longer to show what she could do
Materializing her 5 Rivers, she turned them all to the same blazing red vines that she used before to encircle the 4-leaf Dark Elf. With the enhancement from her Earthfire, the flames produced by it grew in intensity and became the same greenish-red color. And by using all 5 of them for the same type of vine, the effect stacks making the place feel like hell.
Well, only for the Ogres.
Enclosing us along with them. The circle of greenish-red flames started to compress the area.
The unlucky Ogres who were touched by the flames started screaming horribly as the part of their bodies which made contact with it melted the flesh along with their bones in a matter of seconds.
The touch of that flame had the same effect as that one-meter mark in the 10-meter Scorched Area Formation. Those who were touched in their arms could see their own flesh melted by it before it dug deep into their bones.
Even if the Ogres were not that intelligent, they understood the horror of touching that greenish-red flames.
"Daisuke, I couldn't maintain this state for too long. They're all scared now. Use this chance to defeat them."
Jayna whispered to me. The use of her 5 rivers to produce this effect was surely draining. Even if I continue using Spirit Boost on her, the rate at which her Spirit Energy was being drained was higher than what the Spirit Boost could regenerate over a certain period of time.
With how disoriented the enemies are right now, we started cutting down those who were still going after us first.
Pulling out my sword, I used the Haste Blessing as well as the Spiritual Twin Phantom. The orb of enhancement still has a few minutes of cooldown so I have to make do with this.
Using Flash Step, I appeared before an Ogre who was about to throw his club, stabbing directly at the center of his chest, it offered no resistance as it exploded instantly which made him fall backwards onto another Ogre.
Next, I changed my target to another Ogre at my right who was only about to react to what I just did. Sending an Air Bullet right into its eye socket, an Energy Slash came slicing next, separating its head from its neck.
Lastly from my back, another Ogre was about to smash me with its club, however, I used the other Sword Skill, Counter, which created an illusory sword around me through the use of Flux Energy. It could block an enemy's attack and restrict it with the duration depending on its strength difference between us.
Being on the weaker side, he was restricted for a few seconds as if he froze and grew rigid. Using that opportunity, I turned around towards it and stabbed at it three times, leaving three Energy Explosions inside.
I went back into our formation before the explosions blew its chest away.
On the other side, I saw Rei and Ren also started cutting down a group of five Ogres. As always, the two moved together, with Rei immobilizing them and with Ren doing the finishing touches. With the equipment they got from the necklace storages, it became easier for them to finish.
Jagu on the other hand transformed back to his original form. He jumped right into a group of three Ogres, clawing the first one which sent it into Jayna's flame wall. Biting the second one on its shoulder and chomping away almost half of its chest and lastly kicking the third one backwards and had it stumble with other Ogres behind him.
Just like that, the Ogre numbers decreased while those who were in panic started to look for a way out.
All of that happened in less than a minute and with none of us breaking a sweat. Well, we are now because Jayna's flame wall is fast approaching.
There's still about 10 or so who were ferociously looking at us but none of them was a threat anymore.
With Jayna's crowd controlling, it became easier for us to pick our target and chip away their numbers one by one.
When her Flame Wall dissipated due to the exhaustion of Spirit Energy, there's only a handful of them left.
Though it's ideal to kill them now, the Ogres inside the lair who heard the commotion were already fast approaching.
Due to that, we decided to leave it unfinished to gain some distance and to start looking for a place where we could rest and plan on how to storm the lair and rescue those captives.
"Daisuke, do you have a plan in mind?"
After finding a safe place, we huddled together to take a break as well as plan for it.
This time, Yumiko wanted me to propose my idea first. Looking at their eager eyes, I smiled in defeat as I laid what I had in mind.
"We'll go in disguise. Just like how we did it in that fortress but this time, we don't need to create a distraction. Even if you're strong it'll be hard if an unexpected situation happened."
I directed my last sentence to Yumiko, who after pondering for a bit, accepted my words.
There were those incarnations like the old man, lying somewhere in wait. Even if the possibility is low, leaving her alone is not an option for me.
"Alright, my disguise was also improved by Earthfire."
Jayna proudly declared with a silly smile on her lips.
Err. It's already perfect, how can that perfect disguise be improved further?
"We'll rely on you Jayna."
I patted her head and that instantly made her happy.
"Of course since we'll be disguising ourselves, we need to ambush another set of patrols that they will send. Because of that, the rescue might be delayed for a day or two."
Considering what has just happened, those Ogres will be on high alert. During that time, we wouldn't be able to enact any plan of rescue if we don't want a full confrontation against them.
That will also give me time to make another breakthrough and realize the last Augmented Skill I had in mind.
"After infiltrating their lair, what's next?"
Jagu asked. He has no idea about disguises but seeing our confident looks he probably decided to trust us on this one.
"Take the captives out and also steal from them. Yumiko, I think that Pole will be perfect for you."
I smirked and then told Yumiko what I was thinking. Though I haven't been able to touch it yet, considering its functions, it might be helpful for her Spirit Channeling.
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