Sevirea gritted his teeth. The ogre's heat scorched his horns, but he kept pushing, his hooves digging trenches in the scorched earth. Around them, molten crystal bushes cracked, releasing toxic vapors that shrouded the battlefield in a greenish haze.
The ogre chuckled, molten entrails dripping onto the ground.
"You think your little sacrifice will be enough?" he growled, his voice carrying embers. "I was born a goblin, became an ogre… and look at me now."
With a brutal heave of his hips, he hurled Sevirea backward. The satyr rolled, barely dodging a sharp shard of crystal that embedded itself where his head had been a second earlier.
"…I learned to fight in the bowels of the earth!"
The ogre slammed his remaining fist into the ground. A crack zigzagged toward Sevirea, spewing tongues of fire. The satyr leapt onto a fallen pillar, using it as a springboard to dive toward his foe. But the ogre had anticipated it.
