Chương 56: Chapter 55 Three Days Without Karath

"Hiss..." After releasing its breath, the drake panted heavily while producing the unpleasant sound unique to reptiles. Breathing fire consumed an enormous amount of energy. Even a drake could not use such an attack carelessly. However, the tiny prey dancing around in front of it had continued escaping for far too long, irritating the drake until it finally lost patience. Its body strained by the sudden expenditure of energy, the drake breathed heavily and examined the scene it had created.

The land extending dozens of meters ahead had been reduced to ruins. Trees and undergrowth burned everywhere. There was no possibility that such a small creature could have survived within that inferno.

"Hiss?" The drake tilted its head in confusion. It could not see the irritating prey anywhere. Its tongue flicked through the air. Perhaps the flames had consumed the creature so completely that nothing remained. The drake quickly lost interest and began moving again. It had used its breath because of that troublesome prey, but the flames had also burned the surrounding trees, animals, and monsters. Food now lay scattered across the ground.

Already forgetting its failure to eat Karath, the drake moved toward the charred creatures. Drip. Drip. Drip. Rain began falling from the sky. It was almost as though the heavens intended to extinguish the forest fire created by the drake. The monsoon had arrived in the Grimwood Mountains. Three days had passed since Karath lured the enormous lizard away. Rain poured over the Bloodclaw settlement. Only silence remained within the village. During the first day, every tribesperson believed Karath would return.

On the second, they forced themselves to insist that everything would be fine even as darker possibilities entered their minds. By the third day, no one spoke. They merely waited beneath the endless rain, as though hoping the water falling from the sky might wash away their grief. Only one orc refused to waste time in despair.

"What is it, Krog?" Grild had already been growing old. After losing Karath as he had once lost Garthon, the chief seemed to age rapidly with every passing hour. He endlessly regretted repeating the same mistake. He had failed to make Garthon chief before his death. Now he believed he had also waited too long to surrender the position to Karath. Grild had barely eaten or moved during the past three days.

Every warrior in the settlement had gathered inside his house because Krog insisted there was something they needed to discuss. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"There is something Krog must tell everyone."

"Then speak." The chief answered without strength. Krog looked around the room.

"What are all of you doing? Sitting here because Karath disappeared is not how warriors of the Bloodclaw Tribe should behave."

"Disappeared?"

"Karath will return!"

"He will come back. Karath always comes back!" Several warriors rejected Krog's words desperately. Others accepted them through silence.

"On the day Karath left, he gave Krog and Kaden an order. He told us to prepare to hunt that enormous monster."

"That is true!" Kaden added loudly.

"Karath told us exactly that!"

"Krog intends to obey him and prepare to kill the creature." Krog had spoken calmly until then. Suddenly, his voice rose with the force of a speech. It was one of the skills he had unconsciously learned after spending so many years beside Karath.

"We are warriors of the Bloodclaw Tribe!" Every eye turned toward him.

"We should not sit here mourning Karath! We should be preparing to take revenge upon the monster that stole him from us!" Krog swept his gaze across the assembled warriors, meeting their eyes as though challenging each one. He had completed his coming-of-age ceremony, but he was still only fifteen. Without Karath, the village would have considered him little more than a young and inexperienced warrior.

"Krahahaha! Krog speaks the truth!"

"Of course! That is what a Bloodclaw warrior should do!" Power filled Krog's voice. One after another, light returned to the warriors' lifeless eyes.

"Krog and Kaden saw the creature beside Karath," one of the veterans said.

"Have you considered how we might kill it?" The question itself revealed how much Karath had changed the tribe. In the past, the words hunting a monster would have meant finding it and swinging a weapon at its skull. If the prey was weak, the orcs approached quietly so it could not escape. If it was powerful, they simply gathered more warriors and charged together. Now, after learning Karath's methods, they instinctively understood that hunting something stronger than themselves required a strategy.

"Yes. Karath taught Krog what must be done." Krog answered confidently. His hands, however, were clenched tightly from nervousness. Uncertainty filled his mind. Could he truly lead these warriors and kill such a monster? What if one of his decisions caused their deaths? Most frightening of all, could Krog possibly replace Karath? An ordinary orc warrior would never have worried in such a way. Krog had spent more time beside Karath than anyone else, and his way of thinking had gradually changed.

More precisely, Krog had spent years trying to imitate the orc he admired. That influence also gave him the courage to stand before the tribe now. He had begun by asking himself what Karath would do. Krog could not know the exact answer because he was not Karath. He was certain of one thing. Karath would never want the tribe to remain helpless like this. He also would not charge blindly into certain death. Karath would search for a solution.

That was why Krog, one of the youngest warriors present, had stepped forward. He wanted to fill even a small part of the space Karath had left behind and continue what Karath had begun. Accomplishing that might require a small lie, something an honorable orc warrior normally avoided. Krog silently asked Karath for forgiveness. Karath had discussed several ideas for improving the settlement, but he had never explained how to kill the enormous reptile. Krog was now pretending that he had.

"First, we must strengthen our weapons enough to wound the monster."

"How do we do that?"

"We use the bones of the ogre we killed several days ago. They are the hardest material in the settlement. We can use them to grind our stone blades and bone weapons until they become as sharp and pointed as possible." That much truly came from Karath. He had once explained that the ogre's bones could be used to improve the tribe's existing weapons. Karath had also said they needed to locate something called iron, but Krog had no idea what iron was and left that part unmentioned.

"We also need to dig a pit large enough to trap the creature. It will require an enormous amount of work, but the monsoon can hide the noise."

"Krahahaha! Then that is what we shall do!"

"We can trap it and attack in turns, just as we did with the ogre!" The warriors, their energy returning, began contributing ideas of their own.

"Whenever the rain is heavy, the warriors will dig the pit," Krog continued.

"On days without rain, we must hunt for food. The women should sharpen and repair the weapons."

"Hmm. There will be little prey to butcher during the storms, so they can work on the weapons then." As the meeting continued, even Grild slowly regained some strength. He had lost Karath, but Krog's awakening offered him a small measure of comfort. Perhaps someone capable of becoming the tribe's next chief still remained. The warriors continued their discussion, occasionally filling the house with the powerful laughter of Bloodclaw orcs. When the meeting ended and everyone began leaving, Krog stopped Kaden.

"Kaden."

"What?" Kaden turned with a puzzled expression. Then his eyes widened. Krog was holding out his ogre femur.

"Take it."

"Why are you giving this to Kaden?" Only three such weapons had existed in the settlement. With Karath gone, only two remained. Kaden could not understand why Krog would surrender one of the tribe's strongest weapons.

"You should use it against the monster. It will be more effective in your hands than Krog's." Krog's reasoning was simple. Regardless of fighting skill or hunting ability, Kaden possessed more raw strength than any warrior in the settlement. Ordinary attacks would probably fail to harm the massive reptile. If the tribe's strongest warrior wielded its strongest weapon, perhaps he could inflict real damage.

"Use it to crush that monster's skull. If you fail, Krog will use it to crush yours." Although Krog knew the decision was logical, his hand trembled as he surrendered the precious weapon. His pride as an orc warrior had not disappeared entirely.

"Krahahaha! Do not worry, Krog. Kaden will shatter its skull with a single strike!" Understanding the meaning behind the gesture, Kaden accepted the ogre femur with a confident laugh.