Chirp, chirp—
Chatter, chatter—
Above the dense jungle, several birds flew past the treetops, while faint insect noises rose now and then from all directions.
Aaron hid behind a thick tree trunk and some shrubs, calmly observing the small goblin tribe.
The absence of "elder" goblins was still within expectations.
After all, goblins were omnivores. When food was scarce, injured or old goblins could easily become backup rations.
The lack of any young goblins, however, was strange.
Aaron did not claim to understand goblins deeply, but he had learned quite a bit about their habits from the Rock party.
The months of June and July were when goblins were at their most active.
That was their peak breeding season, so not only would they hunt large numbers of forest monsters and beasts, they would even leave the Great Forest of Tob to prey on nearby villagers.
Inside this small goblin settlement,
the return of the goblins carrying five human corpses instantly stirred up the ones that had stayed behind, who began shouting excitedly.
The goblins at the rear, panting as they bore the bodies, did not put them down right away. Instead, they carried them all the way to the low, roughly built grass hut in the center.
There, they laid the five human corpses down at the entrance.
Then they quickly backed off a short distance, watching the little hut with a mix of anticipation and fear.
Aaron's eyelid twitched at the sight.
Boom—
A heavy thud came from inside the hut, like a beast's low growl.
The next instant,
a massive, over two-meter-tall figure with a bulky, heavy body and dark-yellow skin lumbered out on unsteady legs.
An ogre.
Understanding flashed in Aaron's eyes.
It was the same species that had nearly wiped out the Rock party not long ago; no wonder the impression it left was vivid.
"Hungry… hungry…"
The ogre groaned thickly as two huge arms groped forward, bracing on the ground to help it stand up.
Its bald head was covered in lumps of flesh in all shapes and sizes, enough to make one's skin crawl at a glance.
As it lifted its head,
Aaron saw that a small goblin was clamped between its jaws.
The goblin made no sound, its limp body hanging from the ogre's mouth. It was clearly long dead.
A moment later,
its palm-sized tongue flicked out, curling the half-eaten goblin fully into its mouth, where it began to chew with loud crunching noises.
Pale green blood sprayed from its gaping maw.
All around, the goblins trembled where they stood, not daring even to breathe too loudly.
Seeing such raw brutality,
Aaron's brows knit deeply, a wave of nausea rising inside.
He finally understood why this small goblin tribe had no young.
The ogre was injured.
Even from a distance, he could clearly see that there was a massive wound on its chest, larger than a washbasin.
Flies swarmed thick around the torn flesh.
No wonder it had moved so slowly climbing out of the hut and getting to its feet.
For a monster like an ogre, gorging itself was the best way to heal.
"Food."
The ogre's vicious gaze fell on the five human corpses, and it bellowed in excitement.
It immediately grabbed one with a huge hand and began to devour it.
Hard human bones cracked like brittle twigs between its teeth.
Aaron turned his eyes away and took a deep breath.
"What an introduction. Quite the welcome gift from another world," he muttered, then opened his eyes again, a deep chill in them.
In his previous world, humanity had truly been lord of nature. Every other creature was divided into "edible" and "inedible."
Here, in this other world,
humans seemed to have become just another link in the food chain, hunted and eaten as prey. The sight shook something deep in Aaron's heart.
Right now,
alongside his disgust, a surge of inexpressible fury rose within him.
It did not come from the mere fact of the ogre eating human corpses.
It came from somewhere deep in the soul of his former life—from that primal wildness rooted in humanity's very core, the will that had clawed its way up from eating raw meat and blood to stand atop the food chain.
Shff!
He lifted his iron sword and held it horizontally before his chest.
Cold-eyed, he watched the ogre in the distance. It was even larger than the one that had attacked the Rock party.
Aside from the ogre, the goblins were no concern.
The ogre, injured as it was, presented the perfect opportunity to eliminate it.
Even so,
Aaron did not rush in right away. He waited for the right moment.
Any creature, once it had eaten its fill, would have slower reactions and poorer coordination than when it was hungry.
He was not being overly timid—just realistic.
Without any detection abilities, he had no way to see the ogre's exact level. All he could do was rely on the survival tips adventurers used in the wild.
And frankly, he had very little experience judging monsters.
With only one life, he had no intention of losing it to carelessness or overconfidence.
For demi-human monsters like this, whose huge bodies and far greater physical strength already put them two to three "effective levels" above a human of the same tier, it was only safe to estimate them well above that.
He went over what he knew of ogres.
They had some unusual racial traits. Most ogres, following their instincts, lived alongside goblins.
The ogres handled combat, while the goblins provided food, forming a mutually beneficial relationship.
Most goblin groups in this forest probably had at least one ogre. The larger the goblin tribe, the more ogres it likely boasted.
Hmm.
He watched as the ogre stuffed three corpses down in one sitting before finally stopping.
Its swelling belly and the laziness creeping into its brutal expression left no doubt: the monster was full.
Expressionless, Aaron hefted his iron sword and began to move, quietly but quickly closing in on the small goblin camp.
With the ogre finished eating, the goblins finally relaxed, some cheering as they began to gnaw on forest fruits, rotten small-animal carcasses, and even leaves.
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