Going Hunting

Asher went up to Leah and Willow with the news that there wouldn't be any matches for two days. At least not for him. Leah balked, "Why would they exclude you?"

"The receptionist told me I am a fan favorite and they don't want me to fight until the semifinals and the final matches. I don't quite understand the reasoning myself, but there's no point in arguing with them about it," Asher explained.

"I'm not bothering to attend any of the matches until you reappear in them," Leah stated. She looked beyond angry at what Asher had told her.

"That's up to you. I've got other things I can do in the meantime," Asher replied.

Willow who was cross legged on the floor looked up at Asher and asked, "Like what?"

"I've got a couple of leads nearby for potential hiding spots of those men who ambushed me, as well as a couple of powerful monsters. If I can manage to deal with either one of them while I'm out of the tournament, I'll consider that a win."

"When do we start?" Willow asked.

Asher was taken back by her sudden change in attitude. She had been very standoffish and had done little to nothing in order to help the group. Now she seemed to be enthusiastic about assisting them in the task. 'Was it the possibility of assassins being after her, or something else?' Asher wondered.

Either way, it didn't change the fact that he now had one more willing ally that was truly on his side. There were only three of them in the group, but that would be more than enough for now. Asher looked at the two of them, both ready for his order. He finally told them, "Let's find our would be assassins."

They left the city, following the trails shown on his map. Leah had a suspicion how he came to track down the group, but she said nothing. Asher had seemed to have some level of control over his minions from a distance. She wondered how far that power would stretch. Regardless, she knew he had valuable information on the people after him. They came to a cave entrance with a couple of guards standing outside.

Asher took a look at Leah and nodded. Both of them then crept towards the cave and dealt with the guards quickly. Asher immediately threw fireballs into the cave, hurling them aimlessly. He figured one of them would hit something important, and he was right. A bundle of kindling began to catch fire and smoked out the rest of the group. They fell one by one as Leah and Asher sliced through them while Willow stood back and let them do their work.

They left one alive for that moment and tried to question him. Just like the last one, he was defiant to the end. Asher had already reached the end of his patience and just shoved his sword through the man's open mouth. As he walked past the man, he twisted the blade with a sickening crunch which dropped the rest of the man's head to the ground.

Leah was wide eyed at the brutality of the scene, but she didn't say anything. She didn't necessarily disagree with leaving a statement behind. It was better than what they were likely planning on doing to Asher.

"Onto the next," Asher stated. Leah replied, "Lead the way." After that, they made their way to a cliff above a camp by a river. Asher asked Leah, "How good are you with that?" gesturing towards her bow.

She shrugged before answering, "Decent," as she nocked an arrow into the silvery bow. Now that Asher had a chance to get a decent look at the weapon, he noted that the giants had inscribed runes along the length of the metal that made up the bow.

As soon as Leah let go, there was a sound of lightning. The group below them scrambled for cover, but it made no difference. Every shot blew through their cover as if it was made of paper. Asher chuckled as he admired Leah's skill with a bow as she fired arrow after arrow with rapid succession. She had obviously used one before. Quite a bit actually, by the look of things.

Within a few minutes, there was no one left alive below them. Willow stared at the vast destruction left behind by Leah and shuddered at the scene before her. The enchanted bow that Leah wielded had split boulders like butter and left craters under the water where the arrows had continued past whatever object they had gone through.

"Are we done here?" Leah asked Asher politely.

"We are done with this task, but we have one more thing to do before we head back to town. There is an ogre cave not far from here. That beast would give me quite an edge with the power it wields," Asher explained.

Leah looked confused and asked him, "How exactly are you fineing all of these groups and monsters?"

"Later," Asher said. Leah already knew it was no use arguing with him about it, he wasn't going to budge either way. When he felt it was time to tell her, he would. Asher had been far more open with her recently, he trusted her completely.

They continued on without another word and approached a mountainside. There was a tunnel drilled through it, similar to the ice giants they had gone against before, but instead of smooth walls like an artisan had done it, there were rough edges and spikes left behind. It was also significantly smaller than the one they had discovered before.

Asher gave them the rundown, "Ogres are not the smartest by any means, they're more intelligent than the common creatures out here, like hobgoblins, but they're nothing like the frost giant's we fought. Ogres are also extremely resilient to harm, it is extremely hard to kill them. In addition to that, they are extremely strong. Keep in mind, even though they are smarter than our typical foes in this area, they are still incredibly stupid."

Leah piped up asking, "Is there any weakness that you know of?"

Asher shrugged slightly before answering, "There is sunlight, they're nocturnal, but that doesn't help us much because the creature will avoid it."

"So what would you say the best strategy is?" Willow asked.

"Ah, Willow. Honestly, I forgot you were even here for a moment. The strategy here is to not get hit. These creatures pack a massive amount of raw strength that befits their size. They may be smaller than the frost giant's, but don't let that fool you by any means. If you have some ideas on how to make the beast leave the cave, be my guest to share them now," Asher stated.

Willow wasn't particularly amused by the attitude, but she bit her tongue for the moment. She hadn't exactly done anything to inspire faith in either one of her allies. At every turn, she had complained and attempted to get out of almost every situation they had found themselves in. That was why she simply tried to offer a solution. "You say that these ogres are extremely stupid. Might we be able to trick it into thinking it's in direct sunlight?"

Asher seemed intrigued by the thought and had paused in thought. "You might be onto something, Willow," he mused quietly. "We might be able to draw it out if we can trick it into thinking there's no use in being inside the cave."

From there, they began to construct a complex device using Willow's powers of hardening to create mirror-like objects to redirect the sunlight into the large cave. "I can't keep this up for long," Willow explained quickly. "Using my power on this many objects is going to take a toll on me quickly. We will have to hurry."

After that, Asher and Leah got to work setting up the objects to mirror inside the cave. Before they set up the final pieces of the contraption, Asher went in to draw the ogre's attention. He found the fifteen foot tall bronze skinned beast, gnawing on the remnants of some guild member that had already tried to hunt it. Asher felt slightly nervous for a moment as the creature would be considered a B rank job on account of its near impervious hide and massive strength.

He shook those thoughts away quickly, he knew hesitation would mean death against this strong of a foe. The creature stood up tall and grabbed a massive club. It swung the weapon with surprising speed and Asher blocked with his gauntlet. The blow felt like it broke his arm for a moment before the energy was absorbed into his armored hand. With that strength harnessed within a second, he sent out a blast of power that lit up the room and knocked the beast down onto it's back. Asher shouted, "Now!"

Within a moment, the entire room was lit up like it was daylight. The ogre hid its face from the blinding light as it approached Asher. As they went to the outside, a streak of lightning shot by Asher from Leah's silver bow that passed straight through the creature.

Asher proceeded to climb on top of the ogre and slashed away, looking for any weak points in it's hide. In the end, another shot from Leah gave him the perfect opportunity. The arrow had passed through the ogre's chest and Asher took his blade and sawed through the already open wound. Within the space of another moment, he stabbed his blade into the creature's heart.

As the beast fell, Asher once again felt a powerful surge of warmth going through his body. He scratched his hand as it went itchy. When he looked down, he saw flakes of skin falling down. Asher didn't see any visible differences in his flesh, but he could feel it. His body had become harder to match the ogre's.

It didn't make him impervious to harm, but he was sure it would come in handy in the near future now that he had discovered he had new enemies to deal with. The only thing he had accomplished from dealing with their camps was send a message. He was sure that would only delay the inevitable. They would be after him for revenge now. Asher had already made his decision that he would be ready for anything that came his way.