Chapter 304
Clementine:
Ignoring Oriana, we focused on the mission.
“Do you see any more ogres in there?” Yorick yelled as I reached the window again.
There was a narrow opening into the inner hall.
I dragged a stool over and climbed on top, peeking through the gap.
The moment I saw what was inside, my heart stopped for a second.
“Oh, fuck!” I groaned, stepping down quickly and backing away from the hall.
It looked like someone had gathered every ogre inside.
“There are too many in there!” I shouted, watching my squadmates rush toward me.
“Then we should leave!” Oriana cried again, panic rising in her voice as she tried once again to pull them away.
Something about her wasn’t right.
She was far too afraid of everything now, and because of her fear, we couldn’t fight properly.
I remembered the Oriana who had first come to the academy, confident, proud, even a little deceitful, but never this scared.
Somewhere along the way, she had lost her confidence, thinking that depending on others was the right thing to do.
“Okay, so I guess that’s why we didn’t find more ogres outside. Most of them are in there,” Troy said, climbing onto the stool to take a look for himself.
Sure enough, the hall was packed with sleeping ogres.
“We each need six flags, so we have to go in there,” Yorick reminded us, glancing toward Oriana.
His tone made it clear that refusing wasn’t an option.
Without enough flags, we couldn’t return to the mainland.
At this point, we were doing well.
According to the rules we’d set, each of us had to gather 6 flags, so we still had a long way to go.
“Well, then how are we going to get in there? It looks like the door’s locked with heavy chains,” Troy said, pointing toward the large metal door secured tightly.
I climbed back onto the stool, scanning the area as much as I could.
That’s when I noticed a small door at the back.
It seemed to be locked from the inside, but it was narrow enough that the ogres could never squeeze through.
We could, though.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” I said, jumping down from the stool again. “We’ll go inside through the small window and unlock the small door for the others p>
We turned to Oriana. She was the smallest among us, but she quickly shook her head.
“I’m not going in there,” she said firmly. “It doesn’t matter if they’re sleeping or not. They’ll wake up, and no, I’m not going in there p>
Her refusal made it clear there was nothing we could do to convince her.
I was next in line. Though I was a bit thick in certain parts of my body, I decided to squeeze through.
The others stood below, beside the stool, ready to lift my legs and feet and help me through the small window.
As soon as I got to the other side, I began to sniff around.
The smell hit me. It was awful and heavy. At times, I almost gagged, ready to throw up.
I carefully stepped away from the ogres. They were sleeping so closely together that hardly any floor was visible beneath them.
Still, I managed to move past and reach the small door.
I turned back toward the window and gestured for the others, who were watching me, to come toward the small door.
I unlocked it and stepped aside.
They all walked in, and within a few minutes, we whispered among ourselves and decided to go one by one.
Each of us would stand beside an ogre, line up, and stab the mark on its arm to kill it.
Then we would repeat the process.
We each needed six flags. The entire hall was packed with ogres lying over one another.
If we had counted correctly, no one would be left without flags.
Apart from the one who would refuse to fight. And I didn’t want that to be me.
Oriana stayed near the door, then moved to the small opening nearby and sat down, hugging her knees.
I guessed she’d be the one to end up without any flags.
If the others were foolish enough to give her theirs, that was their choice.
As soon as we stabbed the first five ogres, they began thrashing and waking up, just as we expected.
That caused the rest to stir too. Chaos spread.
As their arms swung wildly, we jumped and ducked to avoid them.
Sometimes one of us got hit, but we kept moving toward the waking ogres.
I clung to one of their arms, trying to aim at the small mark, but he kept moving, half awake.
When he finally noticed me, I struck before he could fully rise.
I stabbed him right in the spot, and the cycle began again.
Every time we stabbed one, it went wild, moving like it had lost control of its body.
It was surprising because all of us had been doing well until only six were left.
We had killed many of them and taken as many flags as we could.
“Retreat! Retreat!” Haiden shouted, motioning toward the small door.
There were too many dead bodies, and whenever they tried to reach someone, they tripped over one another and fell.
We, on the other hand, used our heads and managed to stay on our feet better than the brainless ogres.
Whatever I had collected, I set aside next to one of the tables in the hall while backing away, rushing toward the small door at the back.
“How many have you collected?” Troy asked as we stepped outside the door.
The ogres tried to come out, but they couldn’t.
Their arms swung through the opening, reaching for us.
Oriana was panicking, her hands completely empty.
“I guess I got all six,” I said, but their eyes showed they didn’t believe me.
“But you don’t have any on you. Did you drop them?” Yorick asked, looking confused.
“No, I placed them right in there. They’re fine. Don’t worry, they’re safe,” I replied.
“All we have to do is go back and finish the rest of them, then we’re good,” Troy said, noticing that almost everyone had six except for Oriana.
“What about me?” she asked, speaking up just as I expected.