Looking into the distance, Atlas' eyes narrowed. The reality was these markers had screwed him and heavily at that. Originally he would've simply hidden away and continued treasuring hunting until he ran out the time. But now his plans were foiled. 'On the bright side its practically impossible for them to ambush me....but how am I going to kill all of them?'
The four red beams began approaching his location and swiftly at that. Clearly they were not only enraged at the death of their comrade, but wanted to finish the conflict as quickly as possible. Seeing how fast they were moving, Atlas reckoned he only had a few minutes at best. Because of this he began running through his possible courses of action.
'Going back into the caves could work but it would be a bad idea. I'd have no pathway of retreat, and they'll be prepared for it now considering I killed one of them in that exact environment. Trying to tire them out isn't an option either. While my stamina has improved now, those creatures seem almost tireless a war of attrition won't work. My only option might be, divide and conquer....'
His mind raced as he tried to figure out some solutions. But unfortunately with his waning time, and the fact he was alone against 4 bloodthirsty monstrosities his options were limited. 'If only I wasn't alone in this fight.' He sighed to himself. Before although it was definitely minute, he held hope that some others were still alive but now with the markers it was clear he was truly alone in this fight.
'They're about two minutes away.' Noting the distance between them Atlas immediately began running away. The direction he selected wasn't random, he decided to run towards the lake this was all part of his plan. Although he didn't know if it would truly work Atlas wasn't one to just lie down and accept death.
Fortunately during his journey he confirmed that he was now indeed at least faster than the Ogres, as assuming they were holding their clubs, they couldn't keep up with him in the slightest. A few minutes later the young man arrived at the lake, and positioned himself on the other end from where the Ogres would approach. He then gathered a few nearby rocks and placed them near the edge of the lake.
Almost three minutes later the four Ogres appeared. Their eyes were bloodshot, and they were clearly enraged. Atlas guessed that after how easily they slaughtered the rest they didn't expect him to even injure one of them, let alone kill.
"RAGHHHH!"
The Ogres roared in unison as they set their sights upon Atlas. But before they could make a move, Atlas grabbed a stone and flung it as hard as he could at a particular Ogre. With one swift motion the stone flew and hit the Ogre square on his forehead. This merely left a superficial wound on the Ogre at best, but this further enraged the Ogre, and its first instinct was naturally to throw an object back at Atlas. And so it did.
"BOOM!"
With one mighty throw the Ogre launched its club across the lake and towards Atlas. Unfortunately the creature overestimated its own strength or underestimated the distance between them, as after crossing a bit over half the lake's surface the club began losing speed and ultimately fell into the lake. The Ogre seeing this was now angrier than ever. Not only had it been provoked by this tiny being, but now it even embarrassingly tossed its club into the lake.
Immediately it rushed towards Atlas, traversing around the lake as fast as it could leaving its allies behind him. Not only had he ran off on his own without warning, he was significantly faster now that he wasn't lugging his club around meaning the remaining 3 Ogres couldn't hope to catch up with him.
"Rah! Ra ga thuk hwa!"
A number of odd sounds came out of one of the Ogres mouths. The young man assumed this was their way of trying to reason with their comrade, but unfortunately Ogres weren't known for their level headedness and reasonability. Their friend was already lost to rage, and there was no bringing him back. 'All a part of my plan.'
Once the Ogre reached within 50 meters of Atlas, he rushed into the forest. He maintained a speed just slightly faster than the pursuing Ogre so that the brute would continue chasing him, but not too slow either as otherwise the other Ogres would catch up. His whole plan was banking on the fact that the other Ogres wouldn't forsake their clubs to catch up with him, and it seemed as though his bet had panned out.
Atlas and the Ogre ran and ran. Second by second, minute by minute, they put more and more distance between them and the other Ogres. Eventually they reached a deep part of the forest. There was a large boulder here surrounded by trees. During his exploration of the forest Atlas had come across it but at the time he didn't think much of it, that was until now.
Upon reaching near the boulder Atlas stopped running and turned towards the Ogre. It was still charging madly at him like a bull. Standing in front of the boulder, Atlas took a stance and pulled his right arm back, getting ready to stab towards the Ogre. Now without his club, the Ogre pulled his own arm back making a fist. It then punched out towards Atlas as if challenging the inferior being to meet his fist with his sword. But he had no such plans.
Atlas watched as the punch approached, and just as it was about to make contact with him he jumped to the side.
"BOOM!"
The Ogre's fist collided with the boulder, a crack running through it and the Ogre's fist now bloodied. Momentarily the hulking creature was stunned. Atlas swiftly rose to his feet and rushed towards the Ogre. There was merely a meter between them at this moment, but he knew his window was short. With a swift slash Atlas aimed for the Ogre's achilles tendon, and like a knife through butter, he severed it in one swing.
"GAHHH!"
The Ogre stumbled forward slightly, supporting itself on the boulder. With its leg now taken out it was basically neutralised but Atlas wasn't one to dawdle. With a single jump and a pierce of his sword Atlas penetrated the back of the Ogre's skull killing it. "If it ain't broke don't fix it." With that Atlas had slain his second Ogre.
Its corpse then slouched before falling to the ground. Atlas waved his sword to the side slightly to get the Ogre chunks off it but his eyes never left the Ogre's corpse. The red beam which was previously marking its location fell from the heavens and seemingly merged with the Ogre's body before disappearing, and then a familiar shimmering light emerged from its body.
Immediately Atlas reached towards it. As the light faded it was naturally Ogre's Essence, and as he made contact with it the essence once again penetrated his body and began empowering it. 'I guess my physical stats are still below FF-Grade but that works for me.' The red glow once again appeared across his body, before disappearing just as quickly.
His fatigue was now washed away, and his body stronger than ever. Looking towards the 3 remaining markers, he knew separating them wouldn't be nearly as easy now. The only saving grace was that through the run he had widened the distance between the other 3 significantly, and now after consuming the essence he felt this was his best chance.
Grabbing the leg of the corpse with one easy motion Atlas flung it into the nearby trees. This was proof that at least his raw strength now was significantly higher than before. 'I should test a sword slash on the boulder.' Rushing towards the boulder, Atlas slashed his sword forth as powerfully as he could.
"SSSHHHINKKK!"
Steel clashed against stone, and in less than a second a deep gash was left of the boulder. 'Comparing it with the Ogre's attack mine seems to be of comparable depth. While its not exactly concrete due to differing methods of attack, this should mean I am near the level of an Ogre at this point at least in strength.'
With his preparations now complete, the young man simply turned towards the 3 approaching markers, and waited.