Chương 48: Chapter 47 The Tyrant of the Forest

The moment Karath realized the creature was an ogre, rage did not suddenly overwhelm him. The ogre responsible for his father's death had already been reduced to a skull and hide resting inside their home. Besides, Garthon had died before Karath was born. To Karath, he was little more than his biological father. There were no personal memories to stir powerful emotions. Perhaps that was because Karath still did not consider himself a complete orc.

"What is that?" Unlike Karath, Krog and Kaden did not recognize the unfamiliar monster.

"An ogre." Their eyes widened.

"That thing?"

"How do you know, Karath? Have you seen one before?"

"The skull and hide inside Karath's house look exactly like it."

"Ah." The three concealed themselves within the undergrowth and spoke as quietly as possible to avoid attracting the ogre's attention. None of them appeared frightened. Like Karath, Krog and Kaden had orc blood flowing through their bodies. Their eyes were already bloodshot, and they looked ready to leap from hiding and challenge the creature immediately. The patience they had developed while training beside Karath since childhood was the only reason they restrained themselves.

Karath could easily see that both wanted to hunt it. Instead of charging forward, however, he began calculating. Could they actually kill the creature? The ogre was still some distance away, and the vegetation concealed parts of its body, making its exact size difficult to determine. Its head rose above most of the surrounding trees. That alone revealed that it belonged to an entirely different class from every monster Karath had hunted so far. He did not even need to judge it by sight. Thump. Thump.

Merely recognizing the ogre's presence made his heart pound fiercely. Orc blood awakened the desire to fight whenever danger appeared. In a sense, that instinct lay at the foundation of the entire orc race. The blood within Karath surged violently in response to the ogre. Perhaps it was an instinct created through countless generations of survival. The creature before them was dangerous. An ogre was known as the tyrant of the forest.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. It was a walking natural disaster capable of destroying an entire orc tribe alone. Was this the creature that destroyed the Giant Wolf pack? Karath remembered Grild's warning. A monster might have appeared nearby with enough strength to scatter or annihilate a full pack of Giant Wolves. The ogre before him seemed like the most likely culprit.

Even at a conservative estimate, a Giant Wolf pack possessed strength equal to at least twenty orc warriors. That was approximately seventy percent of the Bloodclaw Tribe's current fighting force. Could Karath kill a monster capable of destroying such a pack alone? Impossible. But what if the tribe's warriors fought together? The locations and designs of the traps they had added to the map over the previous month passed through Karath's mind.

He imagined the uncles and older warriors who had finally begun coordinating their movements and fighting according to simple strategies. Perhaps they had a real chance. The tribe's military strength had undoubtedly improved. Even so, Karath had never fought an ogre and could not calculate the outcome accurately. He had no intention of dragging the tribespeople into a reckless battle merely to test whether they could win. His own safety and that of the tribe always came first.

If this were a game and the ogre were a boss that rewarded equipment, experience, or levels, the risk might have been worthwhile. In reality, killing it might provide nothing more than several days of food. Karath refused to throw his people into a fire simply to satisfy his curiosity. He continued calculating. Could the ogre be hunted without losing anyone? Then he recognized something he had overlooked. The question was not whether they could hunt it. They had to hunt it.

As long as the ogre wandered through the tribe's hunting grounds, it might eventually approach the settlement. Waiting until it arrived at the village would be foolish. It would be far better to fight in a location they had prepared and where every advantage belonged to them. Only around three seconds passed while Karath debated whether to hunt the creature. That was enough for him to reach a decision.

"Karath intends to hunt that ogre."

"Are you serious?" Krog's voice contained a trace of worry unusual for an orc. Kaden bared his tusks in delight.

"Krahaha! As expected of Karath. We had the same thought!"

"The three of us cannot kill it. We need to gather the warriors and lure it into a trap."

"Oh. Then it might work."

"Hmm. Kaden would rather fight the ogre directly."

"Kaden, stop talking nonsense."

"Hmph!" Kaden snorted, but he did not do anything stupid like charging alone.

"Karath will follow the ogre and keep track of its position. Krog, move through the hunting areas and gather the uncles and older warriors. Kaden, return toward the settlement and bring the warriors currently patrolling nearby." The map had divided the hunters into assigned areas. Finding and gathering them would take some time, but it should not be difficult.

"Understood," Kaden replied immediately. Krog noticed another problem.

"How will we know where the ogre went? More importantly, how will we find Karath while he follows it?"

"We can leave that to Buddy." Karath stroked the wolf's head. Even when Buddy hunted alone, he always returned and found Karath afterward. His sense of smell was extraordinary. Karath washed with soap before every hunt, yet Buddy could still identify his scent and track him without difficulty. If the wolf were following the smell of soap, he should occasionally approach another warrior. Instead, he always found Karath.

"Oh. That will work!"

"Krahaha! We are counting on you, Buddy." Krog and Kaden looked at the wolf with shining eyes. Buddy wagged his tail and nodded as though assuring them that everything would be fine.

"Gather every warrior near the thirteenth trap north of the settlement. Once everyone is there, Krog will return with Buddy and find Karath. Then Karath will lure the ogre toward the trap."

"Is that where we will kill it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Let us begin."

"Keh heh heh. Ogre meat for dinner. Kaden has never tasted anything so rare." After finishing their discussion, Krog and Kaden quietly withdrew through the undergrowth with Buddy and departed to complete their assigned tasks. Karath remained behind and followed the ogre from a safe distance. When tracking ordinary prey, dense vegetation often concealed the target just as effectively as it concealed the hunter. That usually forced hunters to remain fairly close. The ogre was different.

Its body was so enormous that Karath could continue spotting it through gaps in the vegetation even from a considerable distance. He followed the creature carefully for more than an hour. Rustle. A quiet sound came from the bushes beside him. Buddy pushed his head through the vegetation, and Krog appeared immediately behind him.

"Did everyone gather?"

"Yes. They are all waiting near the thirteenth trap."

"Good. Then it is time to begin." A smile spread across Karath's face. He had spent more than an hour suppressing his presence and following the ogre. Thump. Thump. His orc blood had raged without pause during that entire time. Remaining hidden while every instinct demanded battle had created an unbearable frustration within his body. It felt as though he had swallowed an aphrodisiac, been tied down, and forced to do nothing more than kiss for an entire hour.

At last, the moment had arrived to release everything he had restrained.