"So that's why we had choices. Well, let's hope we get more rewards for more trouble," Rin chuckled. "That's how it usually works, right?"
"Indeed, but we'll see," Erix nodded as he sat down. "Let's recover our mana first."
"Yea, I also spent a lot of blade energy, so I need to recovery it before fighting the boss."
"Erix, why is your Life Orb not recovering even after resting like our Vitality?" Isabella confusedly asked.
Erix shook his head, "I need blood to fill it up. It doesn't recover naturally for me because of my race."
"Oh…" Isabella was surprised, and then as if remembering something, a realization dawned on her. "So, that's why you stopped at that blood bank when we were in the city."
"Yep," Erix nodded as he put his hand inside his leather armor and took out a blood pouch. "Human blood is perfect for me since I am half-human and half-zombie. I can quickly recover it even if I drink a bit."
Erix opened the pouch and took a big sip, causing his Life Orb to fill up to full.
It was only 23 points short, so that sip was enough to fill it up.
Afterward, the trio sat in meditation to recover their mana and absorb the origin cores of Ogres.
Fifteen minutes later, they finished recovering to full and proceeded to the last cave.
"Let's give it our all right from the start since a fifty percent boost to a boss is no small amount," Erix said with a serious expression.
"Then let's kiss," Rin smiled as she wrapped her arms around Erix and then planted her lips on his.
Ignis Ad Intimacy, activated.
The trio arrived at the passage's exit and saw an Ogre four-meter tall! It had a dark gold crown on top of its head and a club with dark gold patterns as its weapon.
Moreover, it immediately noticed when Erix stepped out of the passage and rushed towards them with red eyes and a dark aura around it, similar to Rage Rush!
"It started with a skill right off the bat," Rin was dumbfounded, and so were the other two.
*ROAR!!*
Isabella quickly used her Frost Shield and hurled toward the incoming Ogre Chief.
*Boom!*
The moment it hit the shield, it almost broke with cracks all over it.
"Legs! We have to impair it," Rin said and immediately saw Nether Grasp forming to the left side of the cave.
Rin understood and quickly used 300 of her blade energy for her Blade Tune to harmonize with the Nether Grasp.
When Chief Ogre neared the transformed Nether Grasp, Rin immediately controlled it and grabbed its legs!
*Chaa!*
Its left leg broke out of the Nether Grasp, but its right leg couldn't, so the blades skewed its flesh and bones, finally stopping its rush!
-1496!
The damage was great, but the vitality of this Ogre Chief was also high!
[Ogre Chief]
_Level: 60
_Vitality: [4504/6000]
_Attack: 550
_Defence: 465
_Skills:
—> Rage Rush, Destructive Stomp, Break Swing, Call To Chieftess.
Despite Rin using 300 of her blade energy that managed to kill three Ogres while injuring four and raising their overall power by 30% with Ignis Ad Intimacy, it only dealt 1496 damage to this Ogre Chief.
*Roar!!*
"I'll distract it. You all rain attacks!" Erix flew towards the Ogre while Iron elements gathered around from the ground!
The Ogre saw Erix and quickly swung its club while standing on one leg!
Erix narrowly dodged the attack and arrived behind it before using Crimson Blood Flare on its head!
*Growl!!*
The crimson blood flare covered its head in an intense burning flame, causing it to growl ragefully.
-783!
This 2nd Tier skill was truly powerful to be able to deal this much damage with just 50 mana! It was also the only attack skill that scaled with dual stats: Strength and Magic.
Meanwhile, Rin unleashed her Sword Beams from her Blade Eater sword that had digested Butcher's festive sword, and Isabella used her Flame Whips while holding her Crimson Hell staff.
Damage rained down on the Ogre chief in just a few seconds, bringing its Vitality down to roughly 50% of its original.
*Roar!*
Suffering such injuries without being able to hit anyone, the Ogre Chief angrily roared and jumped with its single leg!
It glowed dark as the trio could sense powerful energy gathering towards its single leg!
"Erix!"
Erix quickly backed away because the shockwave would still severely injure him if he remained in the attack's range, even if he was flying.
*BOOM!*
Alas, none of them had expected that the range of this Destructive Stomp would be so extensive!
All three of them were affected and got slammed by the shockwave and pushed back as they fell. Blood rushed into their throats before it came out forcibly, indicating the internal injury they just suffered.
But it was not serious since they were still not in danger range of the skill, so they quickly stood up and resumed the attack while feeling slight internal pain due to injuries.
Meanwhile, Erix finished forming a new structure as a sort of iron armor covered him from head to toe!
He even poured 100 mana into this iron armor to strengthen it and flew toward the Ogre Chief at full speed!
*Boom!*
-283!
Slamming into Chief Ogre's back, Erix caused it to fall down before he flew up again and descended with force for another slam! Right on its head!
*Boom!
-382!
Isabella and Rin resumed their attacks as the Ogre Chief quickly reached 30% of its Vitality when it finally stood up!
*Roar!!*
A strange aura oozed out of it before a portal manifested beside it, bringing with it another terrible and angry roar!
"Call of Chieftess," Erix murmured before the trio saw another giant Ogre coming out. A female Ogre. However, this Ogre had rotten flesh and a stench of death on it.
'Undead?!' Erix exclaimed upon seeing its status. 'It looks like the Ogre Chief's skill calls her from death to aid him.'
She was weaker than Ogre Chief, but their trouble still doubled. To finish this without significant loss, they must quickly kill the Ogre Chief!
"Continue attack! I'll hold them off!"
Erix put another layer of iron metal over his body from head to toe as he increased his toughness and slammed into Chief Ogre, who had barely stood up!
Meanwhile, Rin closed in and started slashing the Ogre Chief's chest with her sword while using blade energy to enhance her Blade Eater sword for more damage.
Her damage per second was highest with that, so with Isabella using her Flame Whip, the Ogre Chief was quickly brought down to 10% of its health.
But the Chieftess didn't remain idle for even a second and immediately slammed Erix with her Rage Rush.
-58 life orb!
'Shit!'
Erix quickly retreated but didn't plan to leave their range since he was sort of a tank in the battle.
He continued with his antics to let Rin and Isabella freely attack but suddenly got an idea.
'Imposing Fist through this metal fist… It should have a higher impact!'
Erix didn't hesitate and quickly empowered his fist and also conducted the metal glove over his fist with mana!
*Boom!*
Without hesitation, he punched the Chieftess's face!
-841!
With his Punch Force passive skill that literally increased his punch damage by 50%, it dealt massive damage to the Chieftess and threw her several meters, causing Ogre Chieftess to slam into a pillar!
On the other hand, Rin and Isabella finally finished off the Ogre Chief!
"I'll deal her the killing blow, so I can complete one of my tasks," Erix said before he flew towards the Ogre Chieftess with the fastest speed he could muster and slammed into her again.
From behind, Rin dashed forward and quickly started slashing her while Isabella used her Flame Whip.
Erix's mana was almost empty, so he just physically brawled with her in exchange for several points of his Life Orb dropping.
In the end, he dealt a killing blow and successfully completed a task of his task.
Now, he only needed to kill a holy being of supra-order and absorb their origin core.
"Finally, it's over."
[ Congratulations, you have successfully cleared the dungeon and completed the hidden task of killing all Ogres and enraging Ogre Chief ]
[ Extra Reward for completing the hidden task: a random Tier-1 passive skill scroll. ]
Erix removed his full-body iron armor and felt wobbly in his head.
"Are you okay?" Rin quickly grabbed him before he fell.
"Yeah, it's just that the loss of Life Orb seemed to reflect first in my mind," Erix stabilized himself and sat down before taking out the blood pouch to heal himself.
"You two should absorb the cores," Isabella arrived with Ogre Chief's origin core and put it on the ground before she also sat down to recover.
"Nah, you two should absorb it," Rin said before she handed over the Ogre Chief's origin core to Isabella and gave Ogre Chieftess's origin core to Erix.
"I am more powerful, so you two should power up this time."
[ You can exit the dungeon within ten minutes. After ten minutes, you will be automatically kicked out.]
[The rewards will enter your inventory once you exit the dungeon.]
An exit portal appeared at the center of the cave as the trio heard and saw the notifications.