Dawn Of Twilight

Even as the human mercenaries realized this, they also realized what was amiss. The ogres' goal was practically to further incite chaos among the humans.

Most importantly, pursuing the scattered humans was a chance that literally could not be lost.

"How many members are still active at the front?" A mercenary asked with a stern voice with a mix of scorn. Tobi looked at the person, he guesses it was a captain of a medium-sized group.

"Barely any except the valkyrie Anomander who is trying to gain control of the noble wagon, that's why I returned to ask for reinforcement," Tobi said as he rejoined the group.

"Some things seemed to be wrong over here. How did the ogres know our position with enough precision that they could lay an awaiting ambush? Yet they ain't supposed to be this intelligent." The female sorcerer said, making the group bewildered.

"What's your point?" Urara-a asked as he stared at the sorcerer, who looked at him for a moment before replying.

"My point is captain, we have been locked upon by a shaman." The sorcerer said leaving the group confused, except Tobi and Urara-a.

"Also, the report from the big cities says they are supposed to be dumb, at least not as United as the skeleto group. Yet, if that was true they should either be charging at us like some mindless creature or at least come at us with full force. Yet nothing of such has happened, captain, I feel like we are being led into a trap, right under our nose."

"If you don't mind, black sorcerer. Could you please tell us what a shaman is exactly and capable of?" A middle-aged mercenary asked, with a bit of wariness.

"This is the first time, we would be coming across such. First, a shaman is a rare magical creature even among ogres, even the cities don't have an accurate knowledge of them. Even our group only possesses as much as this detail, only the big kingdom possesses a well-detailed record of them. And I have already shared with you what I know as a sorcerer, now is the time to prepare." The sorcerer said, with a bit of palpable uneasiness in her voice.

'This whole group is green, with the mercenaries full of red and they want to survive against an ogre shaman?' Tobi thought to himself silently. 'Either they are dead dumb or underestimating a shaman.'

'Or maybe these humans are overestimating themselves. I think that at this point they should have already figured out that they are doomed, and they are also putting their hope on a bunch of strangers.'

'I wish they know how dead they are, maybe they could share the captain's optimism and corporate much better. Until I know what kind of abilities and tricks this ogre shaman is capable of, the only thing I can make sure of is that I can allow a few to survive even if I can probably allow all of them to survive, there is nothing beneficial except, gathering some praise, hate, and scorn from a bunch of strangers.'

'I need to keep at least one or two people's alive, otherwise, if everyone were to dies, Horus would definitely blame me and wouldn't spare me the long lectures of being Pride Dracula.'

At the moment the few mercenaries group could mostly defend and sluggishly advance through with a chaotic fight.

"It's a trap indeed." The female sorcerer said, after casting an aerial spell.

"Also, there seems to be an ogre settlement in the northeast right at the front, the settlement has four ogres guard but no ogres soldiers. The four ogres guard are spread outside which I presume is mostly the ogres being on guard and armed."

"What about the shaman?" Captain Urara-a asked, his eyes impressed with worry and concern. 

"My spell seemed to be blocked, it's likely the ogres' shaman doing. Maybe he's inside the bony tent, but I can't see through the wall spell."

'So she knows about the ogres, why isn't she telling them to run? Or is it part of captain  Urara-a plan, to avoid another round of chaos?' Tobi was surprised. Due to his stats being on a hybrid awakened level, Tobi had a clear idea of the enemy's strength, at least he knew it was below his. The group at this point literally, only had one path of survival.

If they could manage to focus and corporate, they would survive, otherwise, it would be a one-sided slaughter.

Inside the bony palace, Tobi could spot a rank 1 liquid cored ogre that was likely to be the ogres' shaman, although the shaman was bulky it wasn't in comparison to guards standing outside, with the exception of them having a lower level core.

Within the ogres' palace, there was something Tobi noticed as well that he had never seen before, an ogre statue which was practically the size of a four-year-old child 3'6" tall, that seems dead but also seem to possess a little sentient.

The ogres' shaman also seems to be protecting the ogre child statue, like it was some kind of priceless treasure, this made Tobi inwardly surprise. 

'Is that the ogres' gods?'

"The Ogres shaman is definitely inside the bony tent, we must avoid going to that place at all cost, otherwise the ogres' shaman might attack us on sight." Captain Urara-a said, with a stern voice.

"Also, the ogres' gods are inside if we could get our hands on it, we would be able to threaten them. But the ogres considered it more precious than their lives, and they would rather die than let anyone hold it."

"What is our main priority captain?" Tobi asked, not getting the gist. "Saving our ȧss or trying to retrieve an impossible thing?"

"Our primary objective is to clear a path of retreat." Captain Urara-a said as he looked at Tobi as well as the others. He had almost forgotten the group wasn't on a suicidal mission.

"The secondary objective is not dying before, we are able to retreat successfully."

The more they understood their situation, the more they realized it was more suicidal in their eyes. If they couldn't control their fear and instinct of survival, their chance of successfully escaping would be non existent.

Captain Urara-a gave a light briefing of a shaman's features, abilities, and nature.