The next blast from the caster hit the trackside slope. It hit with a sickening crack, stone shearing and exploding in a plume of dust and fractured rock. The world pitched sideways for a breathless second. Gravel pelted the train car in a clatter of blunt strikes. Xander shielded his head from the larger chunks, boots bracing as shards bounced across the flatbed. Jo staggered but kept her feet, sword out, eyes narrowed through the gray.

She didn't curse. Just turned toward the ridge like she was daring it to do better.

"Cover!" Zoey shouted from the roof. "Caster's still active!"

Another flash of violet rippled along the embankment.

Xander was already moving.

He vaulted over the crate behind him, spear in hand, and landed hard near the train's coupling. The world snapped into triage mode. Priorities, positions, threats. He caught movement on the eastern ridge, where archers from the support crew were returning fire, and on the west as Darvos's team rushed the incline to blunt the high-ground advantage.

Then, a deafening crunch rang out from the engine, like someone had struck a massive bell with a sledgehammer.

A boulder hit. No, not just a boulder. A carved slab of stone slammed into the reinforced armor plating above the boiler stack. The impact shrieked like metal in a press. One of the fresh steel panels crumpled inward with a tortured groan. The train held, but now a shiny dent marred its once pristine armor.

Near the front, the large ogre reared back and howled.

The sound wasn't just loud. It rolled, echoing across the berms around the overpass like thunder, thick with blood, hunger, and purpose. It raised the harpoon.

Jo's voice cut through the grit. "Incoming!"

The harpoon flew like a siege bolt, chain trailing behind it like a leash. Kane stepped into its path, shield high, stance locked. A dull glow pulsed across the metal. Xander didn't recognize the ability, though he'd seen enough brawls with Kane to know what it meant. Kane was bracing for impact, and whatever hit him was going to feel it too.

The edge of the harpoon rang off the curve of Kane's shield and twisted away in a spinning arc, carving a groove into the rocky wall nearby. The chain snapped taut, rebounded, and began slithering backward like a living thing.

Xander didn't wait around to give it another shot. Power surged at his call. Radiant Aegis swept across him in a tight shimmer of light, pale gold crackling with static. It settled like a warm blanket over his frame. The next spell snapped into his grip, and his spear lit with smite, the steel humming low like it knew what came next.

[Analyze] Ogre Warcaller | Level: 10 Rare | Status: Hostile | Class: Shaman [Analyze] Ogre Shaman | Level: 10 Rare | Status: Hostile | Class: Battle Master [Analyze] Ogre Brute | Level 9 | Status: Hostile | Class: Guard [Analyze] Ogre Brute | Level 9 | Status: Hostile | Class: Guard

His eyes darted toward the ogres just as they began to move. The Analyze finished sweeping, data snapping into place like cards hitting a table. Two of them flagged immediately as rare spawns. The brute with the harpoon was bigger than the rest, heavier through the shoulders, with that coiled chain wrapped tight like a leash waiting to snap. The one behind him, smaller and half-starved-looking, never stopped whispering. That one was bad news too.

Those were the two that needed to die quickly, or else things were going to get out of hand.

The other two were standard types, but no less deadly. One dropped low through the rocks on the left, the other vanished behind a broken rise on the right.

That was four he could confirm.

Xander pivoted around, scanning quickly across the train line, but terrain and steam cut his sightlines short. He could see only the four. The rest were somewhere in the vapor, or worse, moving closer.

He tightened his grip on the spear. The others would have to handle what he couldn't see.

One on the left dropped from cover and started down the slope, picking a path behind boulders. Another circled wide from the right, dropping below the ridgeline to break sightlines.

Behind the leader, the gaunt shaman raised its hands again, fingers curled like claws around invisible thread. A faint blue shimmer pulsed outward. The leader's skin caught the light then darkened. Shield spell.

Jo didn't wait for the two flanking ogres to reach the train.

She sprinted to the edge of the flatbed and launched, boots clearing the railing in a single leap. She hit the slope hard and dropped into a crouch between the first ogre and the rail line. No battle cry. No warning. Just steel and momentum.

"Zoey," Xander called. "That shaman needs to go!"

"Already got him marked," she called back. "Left ogre's mine too!"

Two sharp thwack-thwack sounds cracked from above.

The first arrow struck the shaman's shoulder and exploded in a burst of frost, but the ice fractured against a shimmer of deflecting magic. Shielded just like the Warcaller.

Zoey didn't hesitate. The second shot followed a heartbeat later, aimed at center mass. It hit lower, near the ribs, and this time the frost bit deeper. The shaman staggered but didn't fall.

Ford followed up Zoey's attack with several of his own holy bolts.

The train hissed near the front, a sharp venting of pressure that cut through the chaos.

Steam burst from the nose in a sharp, industrial venting, a column of vapor rising in a ten-foot curtain around the front three cars. The eastward ogres vanished into white.

The engineer had triggered something. Maybe just a smokescreen or some special engineer ability.

Xander stepped up beside Kane as the chain snapped back into the ogre leader's hand. Across the ridge, the chant began again. The shaman wasn't done.

And neither were they.

"Hold the nose," Xander said.

Kane grunted in response, shield coming up again.

Steam blurred the line between them and the battlefield. Heat and pressure hissed around his boots, drowning the world in white.

Xander tightened his grip on the spear and took one step forward.

The Warcaller hit the track like a dropped anvil.

Xander saw the railbed shudder under the impact, gravel and steel groaning in protest. One of the ogre's boots landed against the concrete slope just off the line, cracking a shallow piece of retaining wall where the overpass began. The chain unspooled behind him as the harpoon dragged in a wide arc. It spun once, controlled, then snapped back into his grip. Not a flourish. Just a clearing move, meant to stake out space no one else wanted to occupy.

The first swing came low and brutal, aimed to sweep legs and shields in a single pass. Kane stepped into it, body braced, and caught the blow full-on. His shield rang like a gong but didn't give. The glow across its surface brightened for a second, then faded.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The second swing came higher, meant for heads.

Xander ducked under it, felt the rush of air like a passing truck. The moment the arc carried past him, he drove forward.

His spear punched low, angled for the gut.

The Warcaller moved to block, but Xander slipped his spear under its defenses. Smite flared at the moment of contact, a rush of heat and divine force that didn't just strike. It burned. The spear bit through the ward wrapped around the ogre's frame, light shattering against skin like glass under pressure. The Warcaller roared.

That did it. If it wasn't angry before, it was clearly pissed now.

The ogre pivoted toward Xander fully now, harpoon snapping to his side like a banner drawn to the wind. Attention earned.

Then Kane stepped in again, shield raised, and let out a short, guttural shout while slamming his sword against the metal.

The Warcaller flinched as if something pulled a string behind its eyes, then turned back toward Kane with renewed fury.

To the left, Jo's fight turned into a grapple.

The first ogre reached her with both arms wide, going for a crush instead of a swing. It was bigger and heavier but not faster. She twisted out of the first grab, rolled under the second, and came up with her blade already moving. Steel flashed once as lightning arced across its edges. Blood sprayed wide across the slope.

She didn't stop. She scrambled uphill instead, forcing the ogre to turn and follow her on uncertain footing as a healing spell from Ford enveloped her in a soft golden glow.

To the right, stone shattered.

Another ogre, the one Xander couldn't fully see, was tearing chunks from the ridge and hurling them over the steam curtain. The first chunk slammed into the side of the train, denting a crate. The second flew higher, aimed toward the roof of a passenger.

"Of course you throw rocks," Zoey called out, nocking another arrow. "Because subtlety's for losers

She was sprinting low across the passenger car roof as another rock slammed into the car she'd just vacated. Two more arrows left her bow before she finished crossing, both aimed back the way she came.

The sounds of battle echoed from the ridgelines now, both east and west.

Xander couldn't see through the steam, but he didn't need to. The thwack of crossbows and the sharp crack of spellfire were near constant to the east, where the support crew still rained fire on the ridge. On the west, Darvos's team had gone fully loud. He could hear the shouting. Blade work. Something big bellowed in pain.

Movement snapped Xander's focus forward again.

The Warcaller lunged, trying to drive Kane sideways toward the embankment wall. The chain uncoiled in his other hand like a whip, ready to snare whoever stepped wrong. Kane shoved back with his shield, breaking the ogre's forward momentum for half a second.

Xander took the opening. Another spear thrust landed, this one angled for the thigh. It didn't cut as cleanly as the first, but it still left a mark.

The Warcaller roared again, raised the harpoon high, and slammed it into the ground as if he meant to split the earth in half.

The steel tip hit the gravel beside the rail and drove through into packed earth with a sharp clang, the vibration racing up the haft and through the line like a faultline snapping. The ground lurched. Xander staggered back a half-step, catching himself. Pebbles bounced. Loose gravel rolled.

And then the ridge above them cracked.

A chunk of stone, dislodged from the overpass retaining wall, sheared free and slammed down just behind the flatbed with a thunderclap. More followed. Rocks rained across the slope, punching into dirt, bouncing off crates, and slamming into the roof of the train in a deafening staccato. One hit a passenger car near the middle of the line with a metallic clang. A second later, someone screamed from inside the cloud of steam.

The scream was male and close but not anyone Xander could identify.

Didn't matter. The scream was enough. Another reminder that this fight was dragging out too long. Every second they failed to finish it increased the chances of something going wrong.

The rest of the battlefield didn't stop moving.

To the east, beyond the white wall of vapor, the rhythm of combat carried on in a steady percussion. Arrows. Bolts. Flashes of spelllight. Somewhere beyond that curtain, the support crew was still engaged with the ogres on the hill. No one was calling for help yet.

To the west, Darvos's team was still in it. The clash of steel echoed across the berm. Someone shouted an order. A creature howled in reply. The battle was still live.

In front of him, the Warcaller lifted its head and howled again.

But this one felt different.

It wasn't just noise. It punched through the air. The other ogres across the field twitched and turned. A red shimmer bled into their outlines like someone had overexposed the world.

The Simulation pinged.

[Analyze] Ogre Warcaller | Level: 10 Rare | Status: Enraged | Class: Shaman [Analyze] Ogre Shaman | Level: 10 Rare | Status: Enraged | Class: Battle Master [Analyze] Ogre Brute | Level 9 | Status: Enraged | Class: Guard [Analyze] Ogre Brute | Level 9 | Status: Enraged | Class: Guard

Xander's grip tightened. That roar wasn't just fury. It was a battle lust ability, and now the entire field was about to tip sideways.

The Warcaller yanked the harpoon free and lunged for Kane.

Not with a strike this time, but grapple. The chain snapped out like a striking snake and wrapped around Kane's forearm, just above the shield strap. The ogre yanked.

Kane didn't budge.

He dropped low and give primal scream back at the ogre, driving one boot into the gravel as the chain pulled taut. The muscles across his shoulder locked, and for a second, it looked like the two of them might just tear each other in half.

Then Kane slipped his bloodied arm free as a healing spell from Ford immediately surrounded him.

The chain snapped loose with a metallic whip crack. Kane came up with his sword already moving and drove the blade across the ogre's chest in a brutal arc of force.

The ogre stumbled, off balance for the first time.

Xander moved.

He stepped in from a low angle and drove his spear straight for the Warcaller's weapon hand. The tip caught just above the wrist. Divine energy surged, a flare of gold-white light burning on impact. The flesh gave way. The harpoon dropped with a clang, sliding down the gravel slope in a slow spin.

Unarmed didn't mean harmless.

The ogre snarled and turned toward him, hand bleeding, other arm already cocked to swing with a fist the size of a cinder block. Even weaponless, the monster still had the height, weight, and strength advantage over Xander.

A wild haymaker, more rage than technique, but with enough force behind it to turn bones into paste. Xander twisted to the side and brought his spear up to catch the worst of it. The angle was good. The timing was not.

The impact hit like a hammer. His guard absorbed most of it, but not all. Pain lanced through his side as the force rolled across his ribs and dumped him backward into the gravel.

He hit the ground hard with the wind knocked out of lungs and his vision blurred.

Then Kane stepped over him.

The fighter braced, shield raised, just as the Warcaller came in again. Another fist slammed against steel, rattling the frame with a deep clang. Kane didn't flinch. He planted his back foot, absorbed the blow, and answered with a sharp counter. His blade rose in a punishing arc that scraped across the ogre's torso.

Xander had never doubted Kane's tenacity, but the way he put himself in harm's way was certainly above and beyond.

Xander rolled to his side and pushed up to one knee, ribs screaming in protest. Gravel stuck to the blood on his arm, and his spear was half-buried in the dust nearby. He reached out, dragged it back into his grip, and cast a healing spell.

A soft light crawled up his arm, wrapping around his chest like a second skin. Not much, but enough to take the edge off. He forced himself upright, legs unsteady but holding.

Behind him, Jo's voice rang out.

"Downhill, asshole!"

Her ogre was already bloodied, one arm dragging. It raised a full rail tie overhead like a makeshift club, but Jo was faster. She slipped inside the swing and drove her shoulder into its gut with enough force to send it teetering back.

It lost its balance.

Momentum took care of the rest. The brute fell backward down the slope, arms flailing for a handhold that wasn't there.

Zoey's arrow caught it mid-air, straight through the neck.

The ogre landed hard, dead before it hit the gravel.

Another stone flew in from the right, crashing into the crates behind Xander and sending splinters flying. The second ogre was still hidden under the ridge, using the ledge as partial cover. Its throws were getting more accurate.

The shaman, still standing near the edge of the upper slope, raised his hands again. A soft green light built between its palms.

Xander didn't recognize the casting pattern, but the glow was familiar. Healing magic.

Zoey did too, judging by the snap of her next shot.

A frost-imbued arrow punched into the shaman's chest just below the collarbone, the burst of ice scattering its concentration and freezing the spell mid-gesture. The light winked out as it screamed in pain.

Ford stepped between two cars farther down the line, staff raised high. A shimmer of golden energy rippled outward in a tight radius. A field heal. Xander felt it take the edge off the ringing in his skull and the bruises forming across his ribs.

The rocks hadn't stopped falling, but at least they weren't dead yet.

But the Warcaller wasn't finished.

It let out yet another roar, throat raw and ragged, louder than before.

The shaman screamed in return. Not in pain this time, but something closer to fury. It staggered toward the edge of the overpass, hand raised again, tracing jagged lines through the air that shimmered violet with every pass. Whatever it was channeling now, it wasn't healing.

A bolt of force cracked down from the sky and split the ridge behind it.

Jo cursed from somewhere left of the train. "We need to drop that caster. Now!"

Xander gritted his teeth and moved, spear tight in his grip, half a plan forming in his head. He had one more smite left in him before running his mana lower than he would like, and he'd need it to punch through whatever came next.

The Warcaller turned toward him again, nostrils flaring, one fist dragging against the ground like a wrecking ball.

Behind it, the shaman's casting flared brighter. Raw light twisted through the haze.

Xander didn't know what spell it was, but he knew they didn't want to find out.

And then the ridge exploded in light.

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