Not only Cyrene but also Gilly and Snoo need to be carried towards the first camp by the summons as the number of Ogres dwindles. Patrols routinely go from one location to another, so they will have to stick close to the main force unless Misha's summons take care of it on their own.
The group of Succubus she Summoned and the Wrath Bringers, plus the Mysterious Disciple that is her Supporter have all gone forward to fight. Leaving the Agility type Bodyguards and the magic type Sorcerors hanging out in the back with her, Nemu and Evangeline, as well as helping carry the disoriented newbies.
Today she picked forms of Succubus for both, expecting that they'd need to carry fallen comrades, but she overlooked the downside to using Succubus for the task. They're playful creatures and not above tickling the ones they've been instructed to carry; at least they weren't until she ordered them to stop torturing the children.
Back at the primary battle, Laura has transformed back into a dragon, and Cain has chosen his Demon Progenitor form to triple the number of Demon species summons they get.
Seeing six copies of Vala around is a strange experience for Misha, as the bookish Demon tends to be nearly invisible when not in action, simply hiding somewhere comfortable and taking in new knowledge. But today, the duplication of her healing on hit ability has made it almost unnecessary for Misha to do anything other than cast her holy fire on the Ogres with area heals to keep the random buffs active.
The increase in numbers was more than enough to match the Ogre Camp, and with a level advantage plus Cain himself in combat, they're dropping every few seconds, unable to withstand the onslaught.
He's not letting up, though, sending a copy of Vala to grab a patrol and bring them back to where they're fighting, keeping the number of enemies up until the very last moments of the fight.
No time is wasted once the numbers dwindle either, as Cain immediately sends half the force to the next encampment to continue the battle while he finishes this one before following them.
Misha feels he's in some sort of hurry today for no real reason. Until she sees him check his watch and smile, she knows that look, the smile that means he's planning something that most would find somewhere between cruel and outright evil.
[What are you planning? I know that look.] The private message from Misha makes Cain laugh as he fights.
[A few more skill points after lunch should be fine, too, right?]
The thought of doing this twice makes Misha hide a laugh. Maybe the second time, they'll all get to see what's going on instead of having half the group spending the entire run passed out from a flood of notifications?
Two patrols arrive at once as Cain is fighting the second camp, and Misha sends a bolt of Holy Fire over to grab the attention of one of them before calling a few of the Wrath Bringers she Summoned back to tank them.
With the Wrath Bringers keeping them off the spell casters, she and the Succubus Pain Witches she Summoned as Sorcerors have little trouble dealing with the two Ogre patrol. They're big and strong but only carrying clubs and not heavily Armored.
Every strike of magical fire scorched their skin, and every strike from the Wrath Bringers dug deep into their bodies, the damage enhanced by the curse effect applied by the Pain Witches.
They're not the most powerful of Succubus spell casters, but they compliment the random buffs and debuffs that her magic applies, giving a reliable source of increased damage taken in addition to whatever random effect Misha herself grants.
This camp had the first boss they would be fighting today, the fire magic Wielding Ettin. Currently, it is distracted by the Oath Breakers, but Cain is just waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
He's learned that Ogre and human physiology are very similar regarding organ placement, so when the opportunity presents itself, Cain hurls himself forward with a mighty thrust of his black feathered wings and drives his spear deep into the Ettin's heart from behind.
A full stack of Might of Many, as well as the attack power buff from the Five Tiger Spear, is far more than the two-headed boss can handle, and the spear critically punctures the heart, dropping the mighty dungeon boss with a single strike.
[Cain has Received an Ability Book]
[Book of Superior Mental Domination] has dropped.
[Superior Mental Domination] Rank A. Usable by Ancients, Obsession Demons, Magic Demons, Kitsune. See or control the thoughts of any or all targets within 20 meters. Maintaining the effects requires 100 mana per target every 15 seconds.
Cain looks over the description and shakes his head. The first book he's gotten in a while, and it's not a combat skill. But there's still more dungeon here, and he's got a good feeling about this group. Someone is going to get something unique for sure.
He will copy the book later and put the original in the Guild Library, but first, he needs to check for patrols.
They've all been taken care of while he was waiting on his moment to strike down the boss, and Cain is about to move on when a quest notification comes through.
[Class Quest: Dominant Life Form. Random Reward for defeating targets under a [Fear] [Mind Control] or [Hypnosis] type effect. Quest completes when instance has no remaining targets.]
That's an easy one for Cain to accomplish. He only needs to change appearances back to his Ancient Form, and everything that he kills will be under a Fear type effect unless they resist.
"I'm going to change forms back to Ancient. Did you see the quest notice?" Cain asks Misha; the only noncompanion that is still coherent.
"I saw the notice. Go ahead; this should be very interesting to see." With her confirmation, Cain transforms.
Not into the human-sized version, but into the ten meter tall monstrosity best suited to fighting Ogres and other Giant creatures. He charges the next camp, the wings propelling the gigantic body at tremendous speed, while all the summons chase him.
In this form, he can only really use one weapon, so he keeps the spear out and leaves the Scimitar equipped on the side that is now a mass of tentacles. He hasn't really experimented with this form yet, but it lets him equip a weapon for that 'hand' despite it not appearing, so he's curious whether strikes with the tentacles will apply the debuffs and damage from that weapon.
The first swipe of his tentacles proves it does. The damage is incredible, mangling Ogre bodies and hurling them through the air, but it also applies an improved version of pestilence, as the Scimitar would. Even those only receiving glancing blows by the tentacles receive the debuff, so Cain wades into the heart of the battle.
The Ogres are beginning to flee, so for the first time in his Ancient Form, Cain uses an actual spell [Acid Rain].
[Racial Ability Active: Ancient]
At first, he isn't sure exactly what that means until he reads the buff description.
[External Spell Effects are cast at Ancient Quality]
Simple but devastating. The Area of Effect of Acid Rain has tripled, more than covering the entire camp he's fighting in, and the damage seems to be better than usual as well, though that's hard to guage with how infrequently he casts attack spells.
Every raindrop causes a sizzling effect on the Ogre's skin, burning through flesh even as the summons charge into the fray. Ogres aren't all that bright, and many look up to see what's attacking them, only for the rain to burn their eyes, causing them to scream in agony as they're slaughtered.
He can see Misha is frantically writing something, using her wing to keep a notepad dry, and guesses that the pain of the acid on the Ogres caused Cyrene to have a vision.
The tank-type boss is in the next encampment, and the commotion has drawn his attention. They've begun sounding horns, causing even more Ogres to start heading towards the dark clouds and Cain prepares for the worst.
"Misha, move everyone behind me and get ready to be attacked. The Acid Rain pulled the rest of the dungeon all at once."
It is too far for her to get the others back to the safety of the entrance before the Ogres get to them, so Misha calls back her Wrath Bringers to protect the group.
Cain focuses on what his summons outside the dungeon are doing, finding that the Primal Echoes are simply playing cards in a cave and waiting for it to get dark so they can continue their kill count competition.
If they've got time for that, they can help out, then use the Dark Phoenix to fly back afterward, so Cain brings them both, adding two shadowy versions of his giant Ancient Form to the instance, as well as a mighty army of summons, as the Echoes call everything they've got. Magic and Plague Demons this time, for the in their contest.
The Legendary Magic Demon is a simple one, a two-headed version of the Record Keeper, but the Legendary Plague Demon is not at all what Cain expected. The Epic Plague Demon, The Lord of Decay, is a gigantic bloated creature taller than the Wrath Bringers. The Legendary Plague Demon is a human sized version of the Fallen angels.
The single pair of wings are still covered in black feathers, but the rest of the Demons' body seems to have withered and dried out to a mere husk of their former glory. Some are male, some are female, but all look more like mummies than living creatures.
