Read Novel Full Chapter 1156 - 1157: Savage Beast
Chapter 1156: Chapter 1157: Savage Beast
"Don’t step on that."
The merman boy suddenly reached out and grabbed Ric’s wrist just as his foot hovered above a patch of strange blue grass.
Ric froze mid-step and glanced down.
"The grass screams when you step on it," the merman boy whispered, his voice barely audible. "And monsters follow the scream."
Ric slowly withdrew his foot, careful not to brush even a single blade of grass.
"Don’t make any noise here," one of the girls warned, looking nervously into the darkness. "Hordes of strange humanoid monsters live below. If they hear us, they’ll know we’re here."
Ric and Ranar exchanged a glance, both feeling a cold chill creep down their backs.
Without another word, they followed the children as they carefully climbed the jagged walls of the cave.
The climb was steep and uneven.
Sharp rocks scraped their palms while loose gravel crumbled beneath their feet.
Eventually they reached a narrow ledge high above the cavern floor.
When Ranar pulled herself onto the ledge, curiosity got the better of her.
She cautiously leaned over the edge and activated the Nightlight Spell in her eyes.
At first she only heard distant murmurs.
Then...
She saw them.
Far below, a vast camp stretched through the darkness.
Hundreds of crude tents surrounded blazing bonfires.
Moving between them were creatures that looked somewhat like orcs, yet not quite.
They were smaller.
Roughly human sized.
Their green skin was covered in scars and grime, their posture hunched, their movements savage and animalistic.
Soon more of them gathered around the fires.
Ranar quietly pulled herself back from the edge.
Ric reached out and helped her onto the slanted ledge before taking her place beside the others.
From this height they could barely make out the camp itself.
Only the flickering firelight and countless moving silhouettes below.
One of the older boys carefully pulled out a crude spyglass made from polished crystal and leather.
He looked through it for several moments before finally letting out a relieved breath.
"Phew..."
"That was close."
"We almost got caught."
"Luckily they didn’t catch our scent."
His shoulders finally relaxed.
"What happens if they do?" Ric asked quietly.
The older boy fell silent.
The other children lowered their heads.
None of them answered.
Instead, he handed the spyglass to Ric.
"Why don’t you see for yourself?"
Ric looked at the spyglass before gently pushing it back.
"I don’t need it."
He slowly crouched near the edge and peered into the camp with his own eyes.
At the Second Class Advancement, his eyesight was already far beyond that of an ordinary person.
Below...
Sitting upon the trunk of an enormous ancient tree was a fat lesser orc.
His greasy beard had been braided together with strips of skin.
Upon his head rested a grotesque crown fashioned from human bones.
Even without anyone saying it...
Ric immediately knew.
That thing was their leader.
Around him the lesser orcs danced wildly around the bonfires, beating crude drums made from stretched hide and chanting in a language neither Ric nor Ranar understood.
Then...
Several lesser orcs dragged something into the center of the camp.
No.
Someone.
Ric’s breathing slowed.
A woman.
She was completely naked.
Bruises covered her body.
Her wrists and ankles were bound tightly to wooden poles.
She struggled weakly, barely able to move.
The lesser orcs laughed.
They carried her toward the largest fire.
Then...
Without hesitation...
They laid her across it.
Her scream pierced the cavern.
Flames swallowed her body.
The smell of burning flesh drifted upward with the smoke.
Ranar’s small fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Her entire body trembled.
She had seen death before.
She had killed monsters.
But this...
This was something else.
This was cruelty.
The woman’s screams gradually faded until only the crackling fire remained.
Then the lesser orcs stepped forward with crude knives.
They sliced pieces from her charred body.
They laughed.
They ate.
Ric’s pupils shrank.
Without thinking, he pulled his sword free.
His legs tensed, ready to leap.
Ranar reacted instantly.
She grabbed the back of his shirt with both hands and pulled him down before he could move.
She slowly shook her head.
It was too late.
They couldn’t save her anymore.
Charging in now would only get everyone killed.
"Why..." Ric whispered, his voice trembling.
The children didn’t even look toward the camp anymore.
They simply remained hidden in silence.
The older boy answered without emotion.
"Because..."
"This is what they are."
Ric tightened his grip around his sword until his fingers hurt.
"What even are they?"
"They’re natives of these mountains."
The older boy kept his voice low.
"Legends say they share the same ancestors as ordinary orcs."
"A long time ago, many orcs and the other non-goddess races left this continent."
"But the Temple continued hunting those who remained."
"Some fled into the Anarchy Mountains."
"Thousands of years passed."
"They changed."
"They became... this."
"Not quite orcs."
"Not quite beasts."
Ric had met real orcs before.
He had even lived among them.
Orcs respected strength.
They fought.
They conquered.
But they had rules.
A warrior who proved his strength earned respect.
These creatures...
They had no honor.
No pride.
No code.
They were simply savage.
"The woman..." Ranar asked quietly, unable to tear her gaze away from the dying fire.
"Where did she come from?"
This time it was the fat Beastkin boy who answered.
"She could’ve come from Anarchy City."
"Or one of the hidden tribes nearby."
He lowered his ears sadly.
"Or..."
"She may have been someone who tried to leave the mountains..."
"And had the misfortune of meeting them first."
"Ahh... zeeee... hazeee..."
The laughter and shrill cries of the creatures echoed through the night while Ric and Ranar remained hidden in the darkness.
For the first time...
...the world showed them its true fangs.
And it was cruel.
How could something like this exist in the same world they had grown up in?
Ric bit his lip until it almost bled.
"We have to kill them."
His voice was low, almost trembling