Chapter 47: 47. Charge

The darkness was supposed to be silent; still, nothing bypasses the darkness and nothing moves it. However, tonight, it was different. Led by a slim and perfectly built lady, the darkness seemed to be moving along their whims.

A beautiful lady, she fiery red hair and finely toned muscle, she had particularly long limbs but not so long that it was distractingly so. She was perfect, from head to toe, she was beautiful and her aura was akin to that of a sharpened knife.

However, she was no human, she had a black horn protruding on her forehead and it was the sign that she was an Ogre. This beautiful Ogre was no ordinary Ogre, for she was named Eve.

She blended with the shadows despite her red hair. To others, she was nothing but the shadow of the Priestess, unseen unless she reveals herself.

She was one of the first five picked by the Priestess to accompany her in a hunt, and now, eve had been elevated to a new form just like the other daemons/

She had evolved like the others, to an Ogre variant known as a [Shadow Shifter]. She lurks in the shadows and was capable of traveling through the shadows of her allies and enemies alike.

Such mutation to her evolution happened through unknown means, but the Priestess noted that it might have occurred because she had been training for assassination under Dhampy.

'Not many of you learned from Dhampy's methods, she traverses the darkness and moves with swiftness. This is the result of that.'

It was not just her who trained under Dhampy as many others evolved to a close variant known as [Shadow Ogres] and [Shadow Pixies]. 

The Shadow Ogres have a slimmer body than normal Ogres but unlike Eve they had no ability to traverse the darkness.

As for the Shadow Pixies who evolved after several Pixies who wanted to learn under the one who freed them from the Tyrant, their wings were now black similar to their hair. Their muscles were leaner and stronger than before.

They were not still attuned to combat, but they now lean over to being experts of recoinassance.

These two groups of variants were now moving together with her under the veil of the dark.

They move faster under the dark, moving along the shadows like it was their second nature. Though they could not match Eve who move directly into the shadows, they were still moving impressively considering they just achieved said form.

However, despite Eve being the most trained and having the most appropriate skills to become the most powerful assassin of the village, she was not the one leading the Shadow Ogres and Shadow Pixies but another black-cloaked figure, Dhampy... their teacher.

Stopping atop a tree, Dhampy observed the area for any disturbed terrain. Her eyes were biologically attuned to dark places, thus, Dhampy got to see everything clearer than during the day.

"Are there signs of humans, Master?" Eve questioned.

Dhampy didn't answer so quickly, but soon enough, she looked west.

"No, let us continue moving, come on, they should be near the Neutral Area, we have to hurry and began before the others get here."

"Yes, Master." All of them responded quicker than normal.

Dhampy moved, and so did the other Ogres and Pixies. Their tiny group of nine moved like the shadows that they were.

Dhampy at the moment was nothing but a Rare-tier, no one in the hierarchy of daemons should follow her if this was normal daemon behavior. However, Dhampy was a direct follower of the Priestess and she was the master of every Ogre who knows how to use the weapon and their bodies to fight.

Even the Ogre Champions bow before her skill.

Even if the Ogres were stronger physically than Dhampy, none of them would be able to beat her because the root of their techniques came from her.

And with the respect of the Ogres to this little undead nearly reaching the levels of their respect to the Priestess, many of the Pixies were tempted to follow and train under her. Even the Pixie Guardians came to her to be trained.

In the span of a few days since the unification of the two tribes, Dhampy had already become the master of more than a hundred Pixies. She was gaining her own followers, thus, no one dares to go against her orders.

And with the evolution of the other Races, the group under Dhampy finally received a name of their own — [Shadow Troops].

While the Shadow Troops were on the move searching for the enemy, another troop was marching to the Neutral Areas of Section 6 and 5 in a straight line. Under their feet were the blood of the men ambushed by the Shadow Troops.

They were a mix of Ogres and Pixies, though this group was comprised mostly by Ogres, none of it mattered for they were all strong and buffed — including the Pixies. The frail arms and legs of the Pixies were replaced by strong limbs that almost matched the Ogres.

Their build was nothing compared to before.

Their wings that could not take flight could now be used to soar any time they wanted and their cowardice towards combat was no more. These were [Combat Pixies], they were closed to Pixie Guardians but not quite as they were those influenced by the Ogres' desire for combat.

They were not as fast as Pixie Guardians and as tanky but were instead stronger than them by two notches. Their skin was as white as before, and their hair the same as always, but their wings had a tinge of scarlet that burns in the face of fire.

The peace-loving Pixies evolved this way due to the influence of war, their training together with the Ogres under  Dhampy, and their wish to fight and protect others. They sought after the power to protect the one who gave them light, the Priestess, and of course their kin the Pixies and now, also the Ogres.

Many of the Ogres evolved to an [Ogre Champion], none evolved to an Ogre Berserker but there were those who became [Ogre Paladins] and [Ogre Brawler]! This troop led by the Ogre Berkserker marched with dignity with his kin, the Ogres and the Pixies.

And as they marched, none could stop them; the force of their steps was strong, and as they continued forward, a single knife flew and stabbed the ground in front of Chief.

He then immediately ordered his men to lower their bodies and hide behind the cover of the foliage. He too hid and a Shadow Pixie appeared beside him, whispering, "Humans."

Chief nodded his head and continued lowering his body. He looked ahead and as the voice had said, there were two humans in front of them.

The two sat atop a boulder, in their hands were bottles of alcohol they snuck out with them.

 "How long are we going to be here anyway? Two weeks? I already miss my wife and daughter. Come here, I'll show you a picture of my angel smiling at his dearest father…"

"Bah, here you go again, with your daughter. Don't make me smack you; you bastard know that I am already sick and tired of hearing your stories!"

"You see the other day, when she called…"

"Ugh, he's not listening." the man complained but kept quiet to let his friend speak.

In front, there were two humans, he commanded them to lower their bodies.

Chief and the other Ogres could not understand a word being uttered. The words that came out of the human's mouth were a mere whisper that cannot reach their ears. They were a hundred meters away, it was impossible to hear.

They could not gather information, but that was okay because their goal was not their goal.

Chief focused his perception and looked at the soldiers. He was patient, even when his feet begged him to dash fort and kill the two, he didn't make a move.

He had been taught by the Priestess that his impatience was his weakness, and after some trial and error that almost cost his life, Chief managed to right his wrongs.

He knew the consequence of ignoring orders and strategy, the death of his kin, so… he waited, and waited; and waited, until…

Swoosh!

Under the casted shadows of a tree, a shadowy figure emerged.

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One of the humans sensed something was amiss and turned to look behind and noticed the peculiar movement of the shadow from the behind. He was startled and jumped back, he was about to draw his weapon and shout when boney fingers grabbed his face from behind and dragged him down on the ground.

He and his partner fell down on their backs. They saw the night sky and a descending dark-cloak.

Stab!

The two had their head stabbed by a sword right in the middle of their forehead.

Dhampy looked at Eve who came out of the shadow, "Move quicker next time."

"Yes, Master."

With the death of the two guards, the stench of blood wafted over to the Ogres that are waiting for the signal. And as Dhampy looked ahead and saw the flashing lights of the human's temporary camp, she raised her sword and ten LVL 45 Skeleton Soldiers appeared from another world.

And as her sword descend, their orders became clear.

"Kill."

The first wave of the attack came forward. The ten Skeletons moved without fear and started the attack. And even without Dhampy and Eve in their line of sight, they could still hear it, the alerted screams of the humans!

The echoing screams of the humans, the whirring sound of the Ogres and Pixies passing Dhampy and Eve penetrated the silence of the night.

And with such a simple setup. A human slaughter began.

Dhampy looked at Eve.

"Let's also make our move."

They disappeared through the darkness of the night.

"It's high-level undead, pick up your weapons, defend the camp!"

The Skeleton Soldier consisted of Beasts and some human-like figures here and there. Their white frame tore through the human camps, drawing blood and taking lives.

They were fearless and merciless making them the perfect killer.

Slash!

One of the Skeleton Soldiers fell under the might of a sword slash from a swordsman.

The Skeleton Soldier tried moving about; it crawled on the ground, trying to kill one more and take them to hell with them, but the skull of the Skeleton shattered under the pressure of a Hunter's feet.

"What are these undeads? I didn't hear anything about this in the briefings!"

In the human camp, a man wearing armor that had the head of the Dragon on its chest and the tail on its back appeared, hacking through the Skeleton Soldiers as he complained.

"Fergus is here!"

"Fergus, the Dragon Slayer is here at last!?"

Fergus reveled under their cheers as he began cleaning up the Skeleton Soldiers.

His sword killed one and then the chain of attacks began. His movement weaved together a wonderful dance that cut through the number of the Skeletons, and as he finished killing the last one, he looked around and creased his brows.

"This is strange."

Fergus had been a hunter for five years now. He had hunted a lot of daemons and the undead that appeared tonight were the strongest undead he had ever faced before.

Undead were rare beings even in dungeons. 

A number of coincidences must first happen before an undead can be created after all.

Something was strange, and he could feel that it would become stranger as they head deeper into Section 5.

It was such a shame, however, because as he continued his train of thought, the wind was penetrated when a sharp whirring sound echoed.

He looked behind in fear of more undead appearing.

But as he picked up his sword and turned around, a sword penetrated his stomach with so much force that it nailed him to the tree nearby.

"Fergus!"

"Fergus!"

Many screamed his name but what did it matter? He was going to die, he knew that he was, and as his life was about to end, he saw it, a bronze skin figure descending from the skies and landing right on the edge of their camp.

He had seen that daemon in one of the reports, it was an Ogre Berserker that's supposed to be found in middle of Section 5.

"What the hell is that thing doing here?"

It didn't make sense. 

When the life in his eyes was just about extinguished, he managed to witness it.

The Ogre Berserker raising his hand and shouting in full force…

"CHARGE!"

And from all directions, Ogres and Pixies emerged.

'Impossible!'

They had just arrived in the Neutral Area and the daemons were already attacking? This didn't make sense. He didn't think the daemons would actually do something like a Night Raid.

He soon died, but it was alright for he did not walk on the path to hell alone as every Hunter in the camp was slaughtered without mercy