"Attack." Aldritch said with an emotionless face.
On his command, every single ogre charged forward. Aldritch expected them to charge in like savages, but to his surprise, they were not like the zombies he thought them to be.
The ogres could fight, even the females, and that was exactly what the ogres that had become vampire ghouls did. They fought just as they would normally, but the opposition was stronger and more experienced. In fact, what helped their side was the possession of experience, since those that had become vampire ghouls had lost some sense of pain and also became more physically resilient and their physical capabilities increased a little.
'Hmm, the outcome is as expected, and as expected, the ghouls can't turn those that they bite and stuff.' Aldritch summed from the scuffle he was monitoring closely.
He ordered Rhyuku not to do anything and remain back, while Lina was not to engage too deeply.
Thirty minutes later, the battle was over, and Ren lost all his minions while the ogres also lost all their warriors, leaving behind the chief, the vice chief, and one other, a female warrior.
'That should do it.' He thought to himself.
"Lina, that is enough." He said, stopping Lina when she was just about to strike dead, the last female ogre warrior.
"Warriors!" Aldritch called out, causing the three ogres to look at him, but that was all he needed. Once their eyes met, he used his hypnosis to brainwash them. After leveling up the skill, this much had become easy. It was like writing a code and just executing it. If he wanted to do something unplanned though, he would need to say out the set of instructions and whatnot.
"Rhyuku, heal them up."
Rhyuku didn't question Aldritch and did as he said.
Once he was done healing the ogres, they were back to peak condition. He called for them to stand a couple feet away.
"The rules are simple. If you don't want to die, you will have to prove your worth, Lina, that goes for you too." Aldritch said, without any emotion in his voice or face. He was serious, and she could feel it. Aldritch could see the saddened look that came over her briefly, but he couldn't be bothered. He only needed the best, besides, he was already doing enough, keeping such monsters by him. The ogres were more useful, but not Lina, she was not so special in the large scheme of things.
"First of all, what direction is the closest human settlement?" Aldritch asked. He was immediately pointed to the direction.
'That's probably Pint village since it's closest.'
"Now, each one of you will fight Lina here. Your performance will determine your fate, so take it seriously." Aldritch said, then he walked back some more, to give space.
"Now, who will go first?"
…
The female ogre came forward first and got in the ring which was a makeshift circle that had been drawn on the hard ground. It was quite wide, giving them enough space. From the middle to each side was about 6 metres.
The female ogre and Lina stood facing each other, waiting for Aldritch to call it. Lina had already drunk enough blood to make sure she was at full capacity at this point, so it was a fair fight. Once he did, the female ogre was the first to move as she lounged forward with her big sword that she wielded using both hands.
Lina dodged at the very last moment, but it seemed like that was just a strategy and not because her opponent was too fast. Even then, the big sword didn't feel so heavy for her opponent who quickly swung it towards her, this time, she blocked it using her own sword which she had taken from an ogre guard.
'They're evenly matched as much as I can see.' Aldritch thought to himself. Given the fact that Lina was already strengthened from being a vampire which was a superior race, which meant she was supposed to be more powerful than someone who had equal stats as her since she had a better physique, putting skills and abilities aside.
'That means the ogre is better than her.'
The match ended with Lina coming out on top. She was given some time to rest, then she had to fight again.
After fighting the other two, it was clear that Lina could not hold her own. Now, Aldritch could see why his army of ghouls lost. She could somehow match her strength with the vice chief, but that didn't last long, and even though she gave it her absolute all as if she was in a death match, she still lost to the chief.
'That will do just fine. I just need them to collect blood for me.'
Since they didn't have blood bank, they could only do it the old fashion way.
"The three of you have passed, now for the final test." Aldritch said as he called them to come closer. Before he commenced, he asked them for a way back to their world, but none of them knew. Well, it was expected.
He didn't have to bite them, so he just gave them a bit of his blood that contained the catalyst, then he kept some ogre blood ready. From his experience, those that turned into vampires experienced some sort of twitching first which would prompt him to feed them blood. Of course, Lina was the only proof to that claim.
'Maybe I should just give them the blood after a few seconds.' It was also possible that Lina was different and everyone showed signs differently, or maybe not even at all.
Just as planned, Aldritch didn't wait for any twitching and fed them some blood after some time passed. Alas, it didn't work, as their skin started drying up fast and became almost shriveled.
'As expected.'
Just then, Aldritch saw one notification that was different.
[Success]
[The ogre has successfully been turned into a ghoul]
.
[Success]
[The ogre has successfully been turned into a vampire ghoul]
.
[Success]
[The ogre has successfully been turned into a ghoul]
.
'Vampire ghoul? There's a difference?'
While in that thought, he saw the ogre chief go down on one knee immediately.
"My Lord." He said firmly.
'Oh, so he doesn't lose his mind if he's a vampire ghoul and is still very useful?' He thought to himself.
"Rise." Aldritch said.
Then he did something in the system…
[Are you sure you want to put the ghoul to eternal rest?]
"Yes."
Just like that, the little light in the other ogres' eyes vanished, and their bodies collapsed to the ground.
Aldritch quickly turned to Rhyuku and did the same. Unfortunately, he turned into a ghoul and had to be let go.
'Should have kept him around longer for his mounts.' With that, they waited until the sun had gone down and it felt much more comfortable before they set out.
...
A/N: Hi everyone, how are you all doing?
I have some updates to share with you guys concerning bonus chapters.
After every week;
100 power stones - 1 bonus chapter
200 power stones - 2 bonus chapters
300 power stones - 3 bonus chapters... And so on.
=====
50 Golden Tickets - 1 bonus chapter
100 Golden Tickets - 3 bonus chapters
And so on.
All the bonus chapters will be delivered the following week, if possible, all at once