He took the right flank because he was trying to be cautious. He knew the chances of hitting its back-left were low, almost 10%.
But from the right angle, while it's locked on Reon and the others, that 10% just might become 40.
Enough to increase their chances of survival—or at least, he hoped.
He darted through the right side of the battle, often glancing at the fight between the ogre and the elite individuals. It was intense, as he expected, since they weren't called elites for nothing.
'They're proving their worth. This should be enough to keep it busy until I find a way to strike its back-left.'
It was pure chaos on their end, but golden boy held the line—just like he knew he would.
He stopped close to a hill, then climbed on it to get a weapon he saw someone toss when they flew from the ogre's hit.
He stared down at the scythe. 'This should be good enough.'
He picked it up, then turned over to the ogre. Then he turned to Reon, trying to grab his attention, but he was too focused on the ogre—everyone was.
'This won't work, I need something shiny.'
He glanced around the hill, but nothing seemed shiny enough to grab someone's attention—or at least something eye-catching.
Then he remembered the flare he packed in his bag for emergency cases. Immediately, he reached for it and pulled it out.
'Good thing I carried this bag here. Now I just need to light it.'
Immediately, a thought popped into his head, and he turned toward the wall behind him and struck it multiple times with the flare.
After some failed attempts, the flare finally went on. Then he turned toward Reon again and waved the flare continuously to gain his attention.
But something even better happened—Reon and the others noticed the flare and turned toward him while they protected themselves from the rampaging ogre.
Then he gestured for them to drive the ogre toward this corner, since he had an interesting idea he wanted to test out in mind.
Surprisingly, they understood the signs. 'Was expecting it to take longer though. Guess they aren't as dumb as I thought.'
Then they increased their attack power and started driving the ogre toward where he was, while he stood above the hill preparing what he had in mind.
'First, I'll try paralysing it with this vial. But obviously, with its incredible speed, it won't hit directly. So I'll just have to keep this thing busy from behind as Reon takes care of paralysing it.'
'But I don't have any abilities up my sleeve.'
He fixed the first vial to an arrow. The second, he used to wipe the scythe in case it came in contact with any part of the ogre. Then the third, he held in hand with the intention of handing it over to the only available mage, since the rest were injured.
'Wait, I do have this new system, don't I?'
Then he summoned the system's skill set, activating the skill tree for any available skills he could use presently.
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
«Narrative Points Earned: +10»
«Reason: Deviation from scripted timeline detected»
«Skill Tree Unlocked: Anchor Path – Tier 1»
Usable against beasts up to Level 10
Available Skills:
• «Pierce Line» – Your next strike goes through armor for 1 hit〔5 narrative points〕
• «Lure Step» – Draw enemy aggro toward you for 5 sec〔3 narrative points〕
• «Instinct Flash» – Auto-dodge 1 close-range attack〔8 narrative points〕
• «Mark Weakpoint» – Highlight enemy weak spot (10 sec cooldown)〔6 narrative points〕
•«Split Throw» – Curve-throw an item toward target»〔4 narrative points〕
Locked Skills – Tier 3 Required (For use on Level 100+ foes)
• «Zone Rewrite» – Change small terrain area (illusion trap, slow field, etc.)〔600 cipher/ 800 narrative points〕
• «Absolute Feint» – Evade even unavoidable attacks once〔150 cipher points〕
• «Command Rewrite» – Force enemy to repeat last move〔180 cipher points〕
• «Second Life» – Survive fatal damage with 1 HP (once per battle)〔300 cipher points〕
•«Shadow Feint» – Create a brief afterimage to dodge one non-magical attack〔250 cipher points〕
•«Beast Control» – Command one weaker beast〔100 cipher points/ 150 narrative points〕
•«Rewind Step» – Undo one movement (3 sec max)〔250 cipher points〕
«Narrative Points: +10»
«Cipher Points: 0»
«Progress to Tier 2: 08%»
He stared at the stats that appeared before him. "The only abilities from Tier One that are reasonable enough for this fight are Instinct Flash, Pierce Line, and Split Throw."
Then he glared back at the battle between the ogre and the others. "I guess this should work out."
He prepared himself to ambush the ogre from above. Though he knew it was a stupid move that wouldn't work, it was still worth the try anyway.
They had all managed to drive the ogre toward the corner as he'd demanded—now it was left for him to try his luck.
He jumped down, using gravity to boost his average speed. But as he expected, the ogre noticed him and aimed a kick at his chest, hoping to break his ribs.
"Good thing I expected this," he smirked.
Then he used part of his leg to change trajectory and landed safely on the ground.
"You did a good job," he glanced at Reon, who took his time to relieve himself from exhaustion.
"Of course I did, I'm not mid"
"Tsk!, take this and aim directly at the ogre. Endeavour not to miss these three shots. They're the only thing that's going to keep all of us from dying or evacuating this dungeon."
He handed the arrow to him, along with the bow associated with it. "Don't miss."
Then he sprinted forward to help the others with the little he could.
He stopped by the mage, handing them the vial. "This is a paralysis potion. Aim directly at the ogre if Reon misses his shots. You're our only hope at winning or surviving this—don't mess things up."
Then he took off without hearing a word from the mage.
"Everyone, fall back!" he shouted as he ran.
They all turned to him, then nodded and immediately started falling back to reassemble.
"Now, it's either one of us paralyses this thing or we all die trying."
After they all fell back, the ogre watched in confusion—probably because it was only him running forward at that point. The weakest of them all sprinted toward it... to fight? It must've been really disappointed.
It Flash-stepped right in front of him, causing him to slip and fall in front of it.
"Shit! It's way faster than I anticipated."
Then it smirked and raised a foot to stomp on him—but it jumped up and spun around instead.
Kael glanced back and noticed golden boy had fired the first shot. Now it was remaining two more to go.
'Great timing!'
He used the opportunity to stand up on his feet and grab the scythe to try again—more careful this time.
"I will have to proceed more carefully now, or I'll die before I can even get out of this shit hole."
He swung the scythe at the landing ogre, but it missed—though it didn't miss by very much. He skidded back and took his stance again, then moved toward the ogre to keep it busy enough to ignore the arrows aimed at it.
He swung the scythe in desperate arcs, trying his best to land one strike on it, but he continued missing. It was like the ogre was mocking his weakness!
Then its expression changed and it went straight for his head, completely ignoring the shot aimed at it.
It appeared in front of him—too fast to dodge. Then, everything went dark.