Bruce turned his head, taking a full look at the sneak attacker behind him, and instantly gasped.
“Holy shit?! What kind of wild mob is this? It's hideous!”
His expression was one of complete shock.
The thing was more than twice his height. Its skin was as rough as old tree bark, its bulging muscles flexed with power, and sharp fangs protruded outward from its lips, its wide mouth capable of swallowing half a watermelon whole.
Worst of all was its face—the features squished together as if someone had slapped it flat and forcibly pulled it back out.
Bruce's first reaction wasn't fear; instead, he pulled out the system's built-in screenshot feature and snapped a picture with a click.
An ugliness of this caliber simply had to be preserved.
Although the ambush just now looked terrifying, luckily, Iluvia had provided players with a pain adjustment setting. Bruce had dialed his pain sensitivity down to 1% on day one.
So that blow had merely left him slightly dazed, but caused no actual pain.
Of course, his health bar was honest.
He glanced at his status bar: 50%.
“...Tsk, hits pretty hard.”
Several nearby Dawn Covenant veterans instantly swarmed over, raising their weapons and armor in a defensive stance, not forgetting to banter:
“Damn, we just talked about relocating, and now our quest is getting delayed again.”
“Stop blabbering and check its level first!”
One of the mage players raised a hand and cast Appraisal, a flash of white light sweeping over the ogre.
A second later, the appraisal panel popped up, filled with a dense wall of question marks where the level info should be.
“Holy shit! All question marks? Don't tell me this thing is a BOSS-level monster!”
Their hearts sank.
They were all around Level 30, sitting at Bronze Rank mid-stage. Being unable to read even the basic information meant the opponent was at least one major rank above them—Silver Rank mid-stage at minimum.
A direct fight would be pure suicide.
The guild members exchanged glances, the air falling dead silent for about half a second.
And then—
“Retreat!”
Without any hesitation, they turned in unison and bolted, their movements so synchronized they looked as though they had rehearsed it a hundred times.
As they ran, they didn't forget to wave at the group of rookie players watching the show:
“What are you standing there for?! Run!! This isn't something we can handle!!”
The rookies had actually sensed something wrong long ago. Some had already sprinted several hundred paces away as if their feet were greased with oil.
Upon hearing the guild players' shouts, those remaining abandoned all lingering doubts, turned, and ran for their lives.
In an instant, only Bruce and the ogre were left on the open ground, staring at each other.
From a distance, the shouts of those guild players could still be heard faintly:
“Vice Guild Master, hold out for just two seconds! We're going back to town to rally a team! We'll definitely avenge you!”
Hearing those words, it was obvious this was hardly their first time selling out a teammate.
Bruce: “...”
No need, really. By the time you guys come back, my body will already be cold. I might as well kill myself and respawn in town.
“Heh heh, trying to run?”
Bonebreaker let out a low, sinister laugh.
Behind him, two equally massive ogres surged forward at his command. One pounced toward the fleeing guild veterans, while the other rushed toward the scattering rookies. Rather than a pursuit, it looked more like a brutal battle royale in the woods.
In the chaos, a slow-running rookie was grabbed by his collar by an ogre.
The ogre opened its foul, bloody maw and bit viciously into his neck.
The player's body twitched violently twice before quickly going still.
Yet, right as the ogre prepared to tear into the flesh and blood, a soft white light suddenly flashed, and the human body vanished into thin air.
The ogre froze on the spot.
Maintaining its open-mouthed stance, it froze for three whole seconds, looking down at its empty claws, then looking up at the deserted forest, its claws subconsciously clutching at the air twice.
?
Where did that huge, living human go?
Where did the meat in its mouth go?
How did it vanish just like that?
While it stood there utterly bewildered, the remaining rookies had long since vanished without a trace.
As for the guild veterans, the clumsy ogres naturally couldn't catch those slippery veterans, especially since those two ogres lacked Bonebreaker's strength.
Soon, only the three ogres including Bonebreaker, along with Bruce, remained on the ground.
Watching his teammates successfully escape, Bruce breathed a quiet sigh of relief, his entire body instantly relaxing. He even stretched his neck, turned to look at Bonebreaker, and said with an impatient face:
“Dawdling around... can you give me a quick death or what? I'm in a rush to go back and keep grinding the Veteran Assistance Quest.”
Bonebreaker was still wondering why his subordinates were making no progress when hearing these words left him completely stunned.
He had seen humans beg for mercy, he had seen them hurl curses, but he had never seen a human urge someone to kill him.
“You... are not afraid of dying?” he asked in a deep, raspy voice, his tone filled with astonishment.
Bruce scoffed and threw his hands up. “Everyone dies eventually! Dying sooner or later makes no difference.”
He raised his chin, his expression begging for a beating:
“Cut the nonsense and hurry it up. Your daddy here is rushing back to keep grinding quests. If I'm late, who's going to give me my EXP and Merit Points?”
“Presumptuous!!”
Bonebreaker had never suffered such humiliation. Exploding in rage on the spot, he roared and grabbed Bruce by the collar with one hand, snapping Bruce's neck directly with a vicious bite.
Yet in the next second, something bizarre occurred.
With a flash of white light, the severed head and Bruce's entire body vanished completely into thin air, without leaving even a single drop of blood on the ground.
Bonebreaker froze where he stood, staring down at his empty palm, his thick brow furrowed tight.
“What... what is going on?”
Just as he was completely stumped, hurried footsteps echoed from the forest.
Bladefang rushed over with a squad of kobold warriors, his scale-covered face filled with suppressed fury, his vertical pupils glaring coldly at the ogre.
“His Grace sent you to assist us in investigating the situation in Starfall Forest—” Bladefang's tone carried clear dissatisfaction, “—why did you act on your own?”
However, he ultimately saved face for the ogre. After all, they weren't part of the tribe, and they were powerful; pushing things too far wouldn't benefit anyone.
Bonebreaker turned slowly and glanced at Bladefang, his hideous face expressionless. After a few seconds, he finally spoke slowly:
“...It's nothing.”
“I just saw a few straggling humans and handled them in passing.”
Bladefang stared at him for a few seconds, his eyes full of suspicion, but in the end, he didn't press further.
Rate on N.U.
