Chương 49: Chapter 48 The Thirteenth Trap

"You bald bastard!" Karath rose from the undergrowth and hurled the enormous rock he had prepared. Thud! The stone struck the back of the ogre's head precisely. Karath had thrown it with strength comparable to an Olympic shot put champion. The ogre merely turned around with an expression that seemed to ask who had thrown such a harmless object at it. Then it saw Karath.

"GRAAAAAAAH!" Although nearly fifty meters separated them, the roar crossed the distance and slammed into Karath's eardrums. The entire forest seemed to tremble. Then the ogre charged. Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Until that moment, it had moved with slow, relaxed steps. Perhaps it had merely been conserving its strength. Once it began running, the speed produced by its massive body was terrifying.

"Damn it!"

"Why is that thing so fast?" Karath and Krog had prepared to flee before the stone was thrown. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. They began running the instant the ogre moved. When Karath glanced back, however, he saw the distance between them gradually shrinking. Crash! Crack! Trees and bushes shattered against the ogre's body without slowing it. Had those obstacles not interfered, the creature might already have caught them.

There was hardly any need to look behind.

"GRAAAAAH!" Crash! Thud! Thud! The ogre's roars, the sound of trees breaking, and the vibrations created by its footsteps constantly revealed its position. Karath felt like the protagonist of a horror film. Even while fleeing, he reconstructed the map inside his head and calculated their current location.

"Left!" Karath changed direction while guiding the ogre. Krog followed without questioning him.

"Jump at the point ahead!"

"Krog knows!" They leaped from exactly the same place as though their movements had been mirrored. A moment later, the ogre stepped into the concealed trigger. Thwack!

"GRAAAAAH!" A heavy log swung from the side and struck the monster. Karath and Krog continued leading it across the routes they had mapped, passing one trap after another. Whenever the ogre began closing the distance, another mechanism struck it. Its eyes became increasingly bloodshot as rage consumed it, and it pursued them while roaring without pause.

"What is that bastard's hide made of?" Karath found nothing amusing about the sight. Some of the traps were powerful enough to injure most medium-sized monsters severely. The ogre had merely become angrier. None of the mechanisms had produced anything that could be called a serious wound. Its body showed only shallow scratches and abrasions. The sight made Karath uneasy. It was already too late to reconsider. He continued guiding the monster toward the trap where the Bloodclaw warriors had gathered.

"This way!" Before long, the waiting orcs appeared ahead. Kaden stood at the front and called toward them. Karath, Krog, and Buddy continued running straight until they neared the warriors. Then they separated, darting to opposite sides and joining the group.

"GRAAAAAAAH!" The enraged ogre continued charging directly forward. Crack! The ground collapsed beneath it. The thirteenth trap was the most elaborate mechanism the tribe had constructed during the previous month. It was a pit approximately five meters long and wide, with a depth of around two and a half meters. The bottom was packed with sharpened wooden stakes tipped with stone blades.

"GRAAAAAAAH!" Even after falling into the pit, the insane creature continued roaring as though it had suffered no meaningful injury.

"Attack!" Karath shouted with enough force to tear his own throat.

"Kill it!"

"Krahahahaha!" At his command, the warriors of the Bloodclaw Tribe charged toward the trapped ogre.